BEST FRIENDS!!!

Life is amazing.. There must have been ups.. There must have been downs. It’s not just for you and me. It is a theory every living creature faces. Life’s like that.. In the end, when you look back, you will notice that some people came to your life.. stayed for a little while… make you happy.. and they go away… Some people… they come to your life… make you sad and then…. they just leave you and go away.. Sometimes.. there are people who come to your life.. stay with you… but it doesn’t make a difference in your life. They just stay that way forever. Some people.. they just come to your life.. shower your life with happiness.. change the colour of your life… and they just stay with you. They never leave you. They’ll be there with you forever.. whenever you’re happy or sad… because.. that’s what they just do….. What do you call them?? You call them.. BEST FRIENDS… Yeah.. everybody deserves to have a best friend. It sure makes you feel that you’re not alone in this world!!

Hey Konga… are you there?? Hope you’re reading this too. I know you do. I’m going to write about you nutcase!! Yeah.. I’m really going to tell my friends what a nutcase you are… and if they ever meet you.. I’m warning them to stay away from you loony girl!! J J Hehe!

Anyways guys…that’s her.. My best friend.. Let’s call her Konga cz that’s her pet name. Yeah yeah.. what an odd name!! That’s what you thought, right? Well.. her cousin brother invented that name of cause. Some think it’s African.. like um… ‘Kongo’.. And NO!! It’s not the female version of ‘King- Kong’..

One sunny day in 1993, I met her for the 1st time.. back in school. I was in year 7 then. She was a newcomer to the class. At that time.. I was suppose to hang around with this other girl cz she has chosen me for this… well.. how shall I put it?? Ok.. it was like.. when she wanted to go to the principal’s office.. she would grab me & go.. And when she wanted to go to the library.. she wanted me to come too. That was all. I was so sad. Konga came from this girl’s school.. and this girl.. introduced me to Konga… That’s how it began.. Little by little.. we became best friends..

My friends know what a bookworm.. what a music maniac and what a movie addict I am! I clearly accuse you Konga!! You see… She told me Enid Blyton’s books are interesting.. So I wanted to know what’s so interesting about them too. In the end.. we ended up with a competition… “Who finishes reading the library 1st, wins”!! She was the one who introduced me the ‘concept’ of keeping a songbook. I decorated my songbook with pictures.. stickers… and drawings… specially with little red hearts.. I was so little then. One day my mom saw it and yelled “What are these hearts doing in this book?? You’re only 12!!” So.. I had to transform the hearts into circles.. to make my mom happy. In those days.. Boyzone was like… “Ohmigooood”.. and BSB was like “Gracious! Look at them!!”.. Ace of Base.. Brain Adams.. (He’s soooooo handsome…that was us in the 8th Grade) What about Peter Andre?? Wow.. What a cool haircut he had then?? (But hey…look how they have aged now!! Scary!) She was very good at smuggling their pictures into school.. clever girl…(sorry Konga!! Don’t kill me ok?) So.. she used to show me the pictures of them in magazines.. The mega movie mania started with Titanic. One day.. she showed me Jack Dawson’s ( Leo Di Caprio) picture.. For us.. he was too cute then. I saw him on Blood Diamond last year… He was totally like… stricken by lighting or something.. See what has happened to me and Konga’s school time hero?? Anyways.. that’s how it all started.

I used to collect feathers back then.. & we would roam around the school everyday.. with our noses close to the ground… searching for feathers. Whenever we find a new one.. it was like… we just discovered a new bird specie… Then came the netball times.. We used to practice netball after school.. before the school vans come to pick us up. We played as a team of cause.. My team represented by me.. and her team… proudly represented by her. Waiting for the school vans was interesting too.. There was this cute guy in a cab.. who comes to pick her sister. His mom drives… and he sits in the front seat.. Me and Konga.. we decided ‘we’ll share the dude’ and ummm… we purposely became friendly with the little girl.. to know the guy’s name and school.. I can’t remember the guy’s name now.. but I can remember the other guy’s name… It was Suresh. He too.. we see everyday after school.. in a school bus. He was so cute.. and we named him “Eeshwara”… named after the sacred Hindu god… hehe..

We had a secret society at school.. and Konga was the leader. I remember me creating the badges.. and we had a secret pass and a password.. Konga & me.. we still remember the pass.. & we clap our hands to that pass…sometimes even now… The sole purpose of our secret society was to find out what ‘The Misfits’ were up to.. The Misfits were our rival society… Their inspiration was then-so-famous cartoon ‘Gem’.. which comprised of 4 singing girls. Once we created a treasure hunt for The Misfits. They had to follow the clues hidden in places around school. I can’t remember what the treasure was.. but I remember not giving them the prize.. a kiddies chocolate.. I don’t know why we didn’t give it.. Maybe they asked for other’s help I think…

Konga’s real name is Seegiri.. Since we were the bestest best friends in the school… (I believe we were, truly).. we ended up having a nickname too…Our friends started calling us Seegiri – Dambulu…

Before every vacation.. we shared ‘happy holidays’ cards. We made our own cards.. and gave to our friends. 2 years ago.. when I visited her place.. she showed me all of those cards… Wesak cards… Christmas cards… New year cards as well.. We used to write to each other during the vacations.. They were not ordinary letters… They ran for pages and pages… pictures.. drawings… stickers and all… In every letter.. you get a beautiful surprise… Some nice sticker or a beautiful card. The bundle of letters… was really heavy. Really heavy!! Once we started to write a detective story. It was about a treasure hunt. She still keeps it with her.. and we had a good laugh reading it again.

Konga and I.. we needed to be in the same class always.. When we were ‘promoted’ to year 9, we had to select Commerce, Agriculture or Home Science as a subject. I really wanted to select Agriculture… She was interested in Commerce.. But.. definitely.. we’ll be in 2 classes then. Commerce was OK for me as well.. but she hated Agriculture.. So I decided to take Commerce, instead.. Lucky us!! The teachers divided the ‘Commerce’ people into 3 classes.. and we got separated… Damn! In the A/L classes too.. we were in 2 classes.. but we were best friends.. always.. I only told you the nutty part of us.. Now I’m going to tell you the best part about a best friend.

Konga is the kind of a best friend every girl should have. She’s so fun to be with.. totally crazy.. and she’s good to talk to.. always.. She is a good listener and a good talker too.. All this time… whenever I have a problem.. I always talk to her.. sometimes we talk for hours and hours.. Let me tell you some of those moments. When her boyfriend cheated on her (Oh I hate that guy!) we had a long talk. We were sitting in the staircase of the BMICH.. and talked for hours.. When my boyfriend dumped me… uh… actually.. when he cheated on me.. I really needed to talk to somebody.. So we talked and talked… An year later.. when I still couldn’t forget him.. she asked me to come over to her place. We went out.. had a late night chat… spent hours and hours talking… and when the weekend was over.. I was completely over with my guy.. No strings attached!! I thought it will never happen.. I thought I’d never be able to forget him and move on… For me.. it was impossible.. But my best friend did it… It was like magic. Today.. I’m happily moving on… having a wonderful time.. enjoying life at its best… thanks to her. I can’t thank her enough for doing it.

Sometimes… we go to a movie.. go for a lunch.. or.. meet up for a talk.. We usually meet in the chat too… It feels great to have such a good and crazy best friend.. That’s one good thing my life gave me.. and I’m so very thankful for that. Anyways guys… she has a blog too.. drop in.. have a read and see for yourself if she’s really crazy or not.. The blog address is.. http://city-ofangels.blogspot.com/ The crazy comments in my blog are mostly her handiwork!! One last thing… Guys… she’s single.. She’s super slim.. fair.. has long hair.. and good looking.. (Er… the ‘good looking part’, Konga.. I had to add.. otherwise it’s not nice I guess!!).. Seriously guys.. she looks good… Yes I’m looking for a good guy for her (She’s gonna kill me men!).. But.. the guy who gets my best friend… will be the luckiest guy in the whole world.. She’s the perfect girl for a guy.. So guys.. Once again.. she’s single ok??

Before I wind up.. I wanna say…. A biiig “Thank Yoooooooo” for all of you my friends, including my best friend Konga… You guys are the reason I’m so happy in this world…

WHY YOU SHOULD DRINK GREEN TEA…

In the last week of November 2007, we (we being the people of my project in the office) went a trip to the Cinnamon Lodge, Habarana. It was a great trip. We had so much fun. Now.. you must be wondering what’s the relationship between my trip and green tea!! Hold on.. let me tell you slowly…cz this trip was my pathway to find the wonders of green tea. Me.. with 2 of my friends.. we cycled our way around a lake for 2 hours. I always loved cycling. But being a puffy pig.. I ended up with aching ribs and torturing legs. Actually.. my whole body was aching. No wonder there of cause!! We sit in front of computers almost 12 hours a day, without any exercise and gobbling up junk food. And when we start some exercise all of a sudden, this happens.

That’s the time I started to wonder why I’m turning in to a shapeless barrel. After a few days, the aching was over, and I started exercising. I was skeleton thin some years back.. and I loved it. So sad to remember those good days… Anyways.. then I heard about green tea.. a good medicine for all you want-to-be-slim girls. Yes… good news, isn’t it? It sure reduces weight! I feel that I’m loosing weight in a good speed. Believe me…! It really REALLY works! Now.. I only gave you girls the best thing about green tea. I went through an interesting PowerPoint presentation today, which listed the benefits of green tea. So.. have a look people.. Here you go!

- Green tea leaf extract contains EGCG, a powerful antioxidant, 200 times more potent than vitamin E.
- It’s rich in bioflavonoid and protects against digestive and respiratory infections.
- It has thermogenic effects that aids in weight loss without causing jitters or other unwanted side effects.
- Green tea extract helps decrease hormone activity and is an effective treatment for acne.
- Reduces high blood pressure
- Lowers blood sugar
- Green tea helps to reduce the incidences of colon, bladder, esophageal, pancreas, rectal and stomach cancer by up to 60%. The antioxidant epigallocatechin gallate in green tea is very effective in fighting these forms of cancers.
- Increases metabolic rate
- Boosts immune system and mental alertness
- Green tea extract also protects against liver damage.
- Green tea helps to stop the development of blood clots which lead to strokes and heart attacks.
- Green tea helps to promote oral health by destroying the bacteria that forms plaque.
- Green tea helps todestroy free radicals.

There you go!! Interesting, isn’t it? So….What are you waiting for??

AGE DIFFERENCE... DOES IT MATTER??

This particular thing, which I’m going to tell you today, was never even a subject of concern for me all this time…. In the past few months, observing some of the incidents that happened to some of the people around me and hearing about such incidents, I began to wonder about this particular topic. “The impact of age difference in a relationship”... Well.. this is not the ordinary case of the guy being older than the girl. It’s the other way around… er.. yeah.. the guy being younger than the girl. But first.. let me share some stories with you.

Case 1 : It’s about this uncle and the aunt of one of my school friends. Her uncle is 10 years younger than her aunty. This came as a big surprise to me.. something like.. um.. abnormal to be precise. So I wanted to dig into this story a little more. When I asked, “There are no problems among them cz of their age difference?”….she said… “my uncle is a very handsome man and you can’t even tell his age just by looking at him.. He looks much younger for his age. But my aunty looks much older than her real age even. So when they’re walking side by side, it’s like son and mom walking! Uncle is a very social person, so when he hangs around the women of his age… my aunt always suspects him.. She’s completely jealous!”. Well… that’s case 1.

Case 2 : My sister has a friend in her university, whose having a relationship with a guy, 2 years junior to her. Neither the guy’s or girl’s parents know about their affair, but they both are worried whether their age difference will be a problem to their parents.

Case 3 : Back in the campus, there was a couple.. the girl was 2 years older than the guy. It went well, from what I heard, and their parents too approved it. No problem there!

Case 4 : One of my friends… a guy, is in love with a girl, 3 years senior to him. The girl’s mother already knows about it. But this time, the girl is worried whether the guy’s parents will approve her or not.

Case 5 : Another friend of mine, a guy this time too.. has fallen for this particular girl, in his workplace. They were so close… they call each other.. sms.. chat…go here and there together.. But my friend, the guy, didn’t declare his feelings to her, the ONLY reason.. she being older than him in 2 years. He told me that he has felt that the girl loved him too.. What he said was “maybe she also pulled back cz I was younger than her..”.. So.. after some time, the girl got married to an older guy… and my friend is still single. Sad story, ha?

Case 6 : This time.. it’s about a girl.. who fell in love with a guy, 3 years junior to her. She was like .. “oh.. wow.. “ over this guy. I saw the guy.. and he was actually quite a bit matured looking for his age. One day.. during a casual conversation.. he has told her.. “I would actually ask you out if you were just 1 or 2 years older than me.. Bad luck! You’re 3 years older than me.. out of bound already! Hard luck for me!” It was supposed to be a joke, but it has broken her heart. The girl… a friend of a good friend of mine… has related the whole story to my friend.. and in the end.. she has asked.. “Why? Why? Why..? Why does age matter?” and she was crying.

Why? That’s a good question, isn’t it? When I asked for the opinions of my friends.. what most of them said was “at this time.. the girl being 1 or 2 years older than the guy, is not a big deal at all! It’s 2008!” Some said… “Sometimes it will lead to problems. Imagine the girl saying ‘hey, I’m older than you.. lived longer than you… have more experience in life than you.. so you better take my opinion on this’.. well.. it will raise problems.” Some also said “When the girl is very much older than the guy.. and when they get older, it starts to show clearly. A jealousy will come between the two by then.. by the female counterpart that is.. And for the man.. there will be a possibility of him being attracted to younger women.. and that.. would go much further even”

What do you think guys? What’s your opinion on this? In western countries, there’s no such problem I guess.. in most countries maybe. In them, women and men are mostly treated as equals. In Asian countries, we’re firmly into the weaker sex – stronger sex criteria, where the man is treated as the decision maker.. the protector.. the main source of income of the family.. etc. Maybe this ‘guy should be older than the girl’ theory is based on this.. or is it? Honestly.. with me, I have only this theory. On the other hand.. love is not based on any theories or boundaries. Love is just love. So.. I can’t honestly say what’s wrong.. what’s right or… whether it doesn’t matter at all. Perhaps you guys can tell me more. I’d like to hear your opinion too.

A DISTANT MEMORY….

An empty room can be so deafening…….

The silence makes you wanna scream…..

It drives you crazy…

I chased away the shadows of your name…..

And burned the picture in a frame…..

But it couldn't save me…….

And how could we quit something we never even tried….

Well you still can't tell me why…….

We built it up…..

To watch it fall…..

Like we meant nothing at all……

I gave and gave the best of me…..

You walked away……

You stole my life…..

Just to find what you’re looking for…….

But no matter how I try…….

I can't hate you anymore…..

^ Lyrics from Nick Lachey’s
“I Can’t Hate You Anymore”

GONE.. FOREVER....

It’s 1 a.m. in the morning. The date is 09th January 2007. Tried to sleep… tried to read a book… tried to listen to some music; but nothing worked. Logged in to the chat… and everybody’s status read ‘idle’ or ‘offline’… so… here I am.. can’t find anybody to have a chat… everybody’s asleep. At this time.. I want to talk with someone so badly... Never in my life I felt this need of talking to someone this badly.... What else can I do.. rather than summing up all the things in my head to my diary. So.. this is what I have to write in my diary about today.

3 hours ago… There was a funeral which took place in West California; the funeral of the most wonderful guy in this whole universe. Yeah… My best guy friend. Angels took him to heaven 2 days ago. Cancer… Leukemia.. And he was just 28. I’m still wondering how it happened, cz for me.. it’s absolutely and totally impossible. I’ll just tell you why it’s so impossible. You just keep on reading.

3 years back, when I met this guy for the 1st time ever, he was an Engineering student in the University. You just say “hi” or “how are you” to a person you meet for the 1st time. But this guy. Guess what his 1st reaction was! He just said “hey.. why is your hair so short?” You talk to a person for 2 hours.. and you feel that person is so open, honest, reliable and fun to be with?? Well.. That’s what started our friendship. I believe in the fact that a guy and a girl can be best friends. I truly do.. And.. we ended up being best friends.

You chat… call… or talk to someone everyday… you just tell that person all your gossips of the day.. Then you get used to it. You get addicted to it. You have someone very close to talk to.. to share your secrets… share your thoughts… Then you don’t feel alone in this world, cz you know there’s always somebody you can turn to.. and that somebody is always there for you. Then, all of a sudden, what if you loose that somebody forever? Have you ever had that feeling ever? Believe me.. it’s a very hard feeling to get rid of. Your heart is not powerful enough to face the truth that this somebody is gone…Your whole world is empty… At this moment.. I feel like an empty room. I feel that the world is so empty.. and every happiness in this world has been taken away.. You just can’t help feeling that way. Cancer.. Leukemia…

A lot of people in this world today are not good listeners. They just love to talk about themselves. There are people like that. But he… he was a good listener. He listens to you well. Really well. He does it differently. I don’t know how to explain it further; but he was a totally different listener. He gets into your shoes so deeply, in the end, you hear yourself talking to you through somebody else.

He’s completely the ‘every girl’s dream’ type-of-a guy. Smart.. funny.. good looking… honest…. What I loved most about him was he was very open and extremely fun to be with. He shouts at the top of his lungs.. and whenever he’s around, everybody around him is smiling. He was never EVER big headed about what a ‘bright case’ he was. He was really good in his studies; actually. A really funky cool guy…You know.. being tall and having good hair completes half the handsomeness in a guy. He was extremely good looking and most of my friends who knew him were like “ooo “ and ‘ahh” whenever I mentioned him.

He was in SL when I broke up with my boyfriend.. or rather I’d say.. in the days that my boyfriend cheated on me. I was badly hurt and I thought I’d never recover from it. So.. my best friend.. he was watching my every move those days.. telling this and that.. lecturing me about the whole ‘guys who cheat’ concept… and how lucky I was for it to end this way. The sad fact was, this was the time the doctors had recognized that he’s having a cancer.. and he.. he never told it to me cz he has thought I’d be upset over it too.

Most people go abroad.. and they simply forget what they had back here before they go. With him; it was totally different. When he went to UK for the M.Sc. I though we’d fall apart even by a little bit. He made sure not to make it happen. I never felt my crazy brother was that far away from me. However, as I remember, it was last September that he told me about the cancer. By then, he has moved to US with his family. I felt that he was getting better.. so I never worried. In fact, he promised me that he’ll never die.. and said he’ll be back with a mountain of white chocolates for me.

Last Sunday night, he called me from the hospital. He sounded so alive and cheery. He said he’s getting better.. coming back to SL soon.. promised me to bring this and that… so on and on. When I told him that I went to Gangarama temple on January 2nd, he said “I’ve never been to there, the ‘seema malakaya’ in the middle of the beire lake. Let’s all go there when we come back”.. Yesterday… I went there once again.. and I remembered all of this. Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined lighting lamps to remember him. Never. I can’t still believe that he’s gone. Sitting under the Bo tree in the temple, I was thinking.. “maybe this is a bad dream.. and when I wake up.. all things will be fine”… And when I opened my eyes.. still he was gone.

I wanted to share this with you, because I have a very good reason to do so. When he called me that night, he told me something like this. “When we’re alive, we don’t show our loved ones how much we care for them. When they’re gone away from your life… then it’s too late to tell them how much you loved them and how much they mean to you. You should never hold back what’s in your heart for others… because.. tomorrow can be too late. That’s why I want to come back to SL.. All the people I love and care are in SL.. I’m coming back to tell them how much they mean to me… I couldn’t spent enough time with you ever. So.. when I come back.. let’s spend some quality time together..”.. We were planning to go here and there.. to do this and that and.. well.. 6 hours passed.. His brother called me to tell that he was gone.. That phone call.. that moment.. my heart really stopped. The world stopped. Suddenly… the whole world was empty…

Yesterday, I told what happened to some of my best friends;. Had a long talk with two of my best friends too. Some, who knew him well; they too cried…I didn’t want to talk about what happened that much. It hurts. There were 2 other friends I talked with .. through chat, that I went into detail of what happened. I didn’t know them for that long, but they sure made me feel better. It’s like…sometimes, you just feel comfortable talking to some people for no reason at all. Maybe because they’re good people and that’s a sign to recognize them, I guess.

Now that I’m telling you all this.. what I want to tell you is.. PLEASE.. for god’s sake… tell the people you love and care that you love them so much. Now I’m thinking.. I should’ve done more things for him. I should have spent more time with him. I should have talked with him some more. I should have laughed with him a bit more. But now it’s too late for me. My dear friends.. don’t make this mistake. Maybe you don’t realize the value of the people around you today. But when they’re gone.. it’s too late. You’ll regret it. Don’t delay to speak your heart out. And especially.. if you’re in love with someone today.. don’t hide it. Don’t waste a single moment. Just tell them that you love them. Please.. just do it.

I hope he’s in heaven now… among all the angels. Maybe god wanted him this early; just maybe… the heaven must be lacking good people these days. It took me almost an year to forget the guy who cheated on me.. so.. then.. what about this guy?? No.. I won’t be able to forget him as long as I live. That’s when I wish .. “hey.. can somebody please invent a way to erase some memories from your life…?”

My friends.. again I’m telling…. please… if you care for someone.. or love someone.. you say it right then.. or.. the moment just passes by…. By then, it’s too late.

DO YOURSELF A FAVOUR... STOP AND REST FOR A WHILE...

I bet most of you had a great Christmas. In our school times, we get a holiday season for Christmas. When I was doing my degree too, we had a 2 month vacation period covering November and December. But what about all the working people? (including me too). We have to work 24/7 and we can’t take our time off for what you call as a holiday season. But this time I was able to take 10 days off my work to stay home for Christmas. We were working endlessly from May, dedicating weekends and other holidays for work, plus working long hours. Everyone in our team took a break within November and December. My holidays started in mid December. Great!

Some people say, “Staying at home is boring!”. Well… Let me tell you the 1000 things you can do, staying at home, and you tell me whether it’s boring or not ok? Why don’t all you busy people take a break from your heavy schedule and do yourselves a favor? Stay at home.. rest a few days…relax… Let me tell you about the best thing about it. You go to sleep everyday without the thought that you have to get up the very next morning and you have to go to work! So… here I start the rest of it!

You can start the day by getting up in the early morning, watching the morning sky and listening to the choir of birds. Go out and smell the beauty of the morning and the sweet fragrance of the blossoming flowers. You can’t do this everyday guys, cz you get up late, struggling to go to work.

A good morning exercise will do well on you. The toughness in your lazy muscles definitely goes away. You will feel the difference, believe me.

A good home-spa experience is the next thing you need. A bath in the morning keeps your whole day fresh and happy. Since you’re in no hurry to rush to work, have a good bath. When you’re done, the smell of the shower gel in your body and the smell of shampoo in your hair will give you a wonderful feeling.

The morning tea and breakfast. You don’t have to gobble it up and run away. You can just relax and “actually” taste your breakfast.

I actually bought some movies to watch; most of them, new movies. I’m a movie addict; I should tell you. You can watch a movie a day. Keeps your spirit in good shape. Well.. I still have 17 more to watch.

What’s the last time you called your old school friends? This is the best chance to call them up coz you can’t call them up in the middle of your work and have a free chat. I did call my old friends, located lost ones, heard the latest gossip and renewed the friendship.

What has become of your old photo albums? Didn’t have a look for a long time? I went through all our family albums these days. How skinny I was in those days, with waist length long hair. How small my brother was then! The guy is growing taller and taller now! How chubby my sister was then, my god. Grandma has grown much older now. I saw a different grandma with black hair in our albums. All those trips! It’s good to remember all those things again. It’s quite a nice thing to do. The photos since you were a toddler till the day you bought a digital camera! (Because most of your photos taken from the digicam are in your computer, isn’t it guys?). I say, why don’t you scan theses old photos and keep them in your PC as well. Now, that’s a good idea, isn’t it?

Did you ever write a diary? Well… I have travel logs as well. This time, I took out all my diaries and read each one f them from start to end. It’s like reading a novel: a real life novel. School.. friends… trips… movies I watched… the new songs…. guys in tution classes…. cousins…weddings.. parties… outings.. campus life… ex-boyfriend… the breakup… tears… happy moments… my job… everything was there! Isn’t it great to turn back once in a while and give yourself a flashback of your life? When you get a chance like this.. please do it.

It’s the Christmas season. There’s a lot on TV! Christmas cartoons and Christmas movies!! There’s aplenty! I usually don’t watch TV. But this time I did. There was a kiddies movie everyday at 8 in the morning. So, if you’re watching it, you have to get up early, brush, have a bath and finish breakfast. You don’t get times like these everyday my friend.

You can surf the net freely, cz when you’re at work, you can’t waist time doing it. It’s a perfect time to download some good movies and songs. You can type a mail to a long lost friend, rather than sending him/her a forwarded mail. Life is about keeping the bonds with loved ones. Never hesitate a moment to call, sms, chat or e-mail a friend whenever you can.

I went through all my “collections” these days. The 1st thing was my old songbooks. (When I was a teenager of cause!) Songs with pictures of singers, with beautiful decorations. Cool! I guess you guys still have them with you. Never throw them away ok? Keep then as memories. The next thing was my “Birds” books. I used to collect feathers when I was schooling. A description of the bird, the feather and a picture of the bird was in each page. There were feathers of Ostriches and Emus in it. I read them all over again. My CD collection came next. It was a great jumble of songs, pictures and documents. I arranged them neatly in the PC. The other thing was my paper cutting collection. There were articles and pictures I have collected since I was very small. Various places in the world.. places to visit in Sri Lanka… movies… actors.. actresses… animals… scientific stuff.. expeditions… historical facts…etc.. I realized how Tom Cruise has grown old after seeing his pictures in the movies “A Few Good Men”… Gracious! How good he looked then!

You could have a great time going out with your friends and visiting them. When you’re at work. Even your weekdays are booked with other stuff. Go out for a lunch or a dinner when you have the chance. How about a pj party?

Listen to some good music… Feels good!

Girls, you can try out a few good dishes. It’s fun. Guess what! I’m going to make cheese stuffed baked macaroni with chicken tomorrow! I don’t usually cook at home, but I can manage. Tomorrow is the January 1st. So, definitely there will be a special dinner tomorrow night. I’m just thinking what else to make. Goodness! Now that I remembered it; there’s a tin of sweetened milk in the cupboard and we didn’t make caramel wedges for a long long time.

You can do well with an evening walk. The sun is almost down and the surrounding is also inviting, so.. why not take a walk around the neighborhood? This is the last week my sister is staying at home with us. She’ll have to go to the University again this January. So, we had a chance to walk around. As usual, the neighbor’s dog joined. He’s our trusted protector, good old Brown. We played a bit of badminton too. Good exercise, you know.

There’s always work around the house. So.. you can help. Guys? Yes… guys too. Guys are not from Mars, right? So you can help as well. There was this end-of-the-year-cleaning-campaign and I helped a lot. Don’t do it as a good deed ok? That’s something you should do. That’s right. A “must” thing. Anyways, one question out of the topic: My brother’s room is a total mess. The table to the bed! Are all guys the same? Just be honest and tell me OK?

When your parents come home, You’re at home to greet them and talk to them. In fact, you can have a family chat with everyone at home. Now, when I think of the time of work, all I do is coming home at the late hours of the day, having a bath and squeezing myself to my room.

The last hours of the day are the time I like best. Time to read! Yes. I’m a bookworm. I love to cuddle myself up in the bed and read a book till I feel sleepy. When the book is very interesting, I forget to feel sleepy too. I lost track of reading books when I became busy with my higher studies. I don’t have much time to read now too. But I manage to find time to read everyday. Right now, there are 8 more unread books on my table. I can’t fall asleep at night if I don’t read something! Yesterday, I finished reading Stephen King’s “The Stand”. It was a classic masterpiece. Ok… I’ll talk about Stephen King some other time. Let’s just stick to our topic.

Well guys, those were some of the things you can do during a holiday. Did I forget to mention trips? Hell! No… The thing is… during the last 1 and half months, I had the chance to roam a bit around the country.. ( Habarana, Anuradhapura, Galle and Kandy)… So… enough trips for the time being I guess. Today is 31st of December 2007. It’s 7.15 P.M. and I can already hear the sound of crackers outside. My mom is making “Kokis” now. I have t go and help her. I’m glad that I ended this year in a good way… spending some quality time at home peacefully and sharing my thoughts with you all. So…Happy New Year everybody!! Hope you enjoyed my writings!

HORROR MOVIES, ANYONE??

Your life ain’t complete if you don’t have time to watch a movie or to read a book. Agree? I do. I think most of you do. I read and.. of cause, I watch movies too. What kinds of movies do you like most? Yeah.. a lot of girls like love stories. Guys; they mostly like war movies. Cartoons? Well.. I like them a lot. In fact, I have a large collection too. Ever heard of a girl who likes horror movies? No? Well… there’s one. ME!!

My friends holler at me coz I like horror movies. Even my sister keeps on asking me “Why do you have to buy a movie so you could get scared by watching it? I don’t understand!”. Well… horror movies always have different kinds of plots. Love stories have the same old story. A guy meets a girl accidentally… they fall in love… then the problems come… the girl gives up… and in the end… the guy comes up, gives one romantic speech and voila! the girl is back in his arms. Another famous happy ending is the guy rushing to the airport to stop the girl from flying away. He says how much he loves her, the people around them clap and they’re together again. Am I right or wrong guys?

I just want to share a little bit of my experience on horror movies with you guys. Those who watch them can agree or disagree with me. Those who don’t watch them, here’s a second chance to love or loath them. There are good horror movies, as well as bad ones. Let me tell you about the bad ones first. This week, I watched a movie called “Hatchet”. In the end, I was like “why the hell did I watch it?” Know why? Coz it contained a famous ending as same as in some of the American horror movies. The main characters… the guy and the girl survive in the end from the blood thirsty monster or the fierce ghostly spirit, and then again, in the last moment, they get killed! How disappointing! Hatchet falls to that category as well. I hated it.

Speaking of categorization, you could categorize horror movies, mainly into two types. Blood – shredding movies and non blood – shredding movies. But most of the horror stories are the first type: blood – shredding. I can remind you the names of a few non blood – shredding movie. “The Ring” is one such movie. Inspired by the original movie “Ringu” by Pang Brothers, this movie was a hit sometime back. The Ring 2 came in as a successful sequel after this movie, solving the mystery of the mysterious video tape. Pang Brothers are the masters of horror, as they call them. I believe it’s true too. I have watched the original movie of “The Ring” and 2 other movies from their movie squeal “The Eye”. Superb horror that is! “The Grudge 1 and 2” also has the same kind of the ghost; a woman. Step into her house, and you’re cursed forever; ands she will follow you to wherever you go, no matter if it’s the end of the world. Try the movies. You’ll be really scared. As for “Dark Water”… it’s fairly a good movie with a gloomy environment. You’ll feel like you’ve been isolated in the midst of the dark surrounding.

There are some movies I missed to watch. “The Blair Witch Project” and “Stigmata” are two of them. I read the background of these movies and found them quite interesting. Anyone got them? The other set of movies is the “Saw” series. Saw IV was out about 2 months back. Must find them the next time I visit the DVD shop.

“The Messengers” was one of the best horror movies I came across, which is also directed by Pang Brothers. The story consists of a quiet background of a sunflower farm, with less number of characters. The events take place in the broad daylight, unlike in most of the horror movies. Most horror movies end with the start of an infinite circle; that is, after the heroes kill the monsters, the movie ends up at the point where the heroes hearing a blood curdling scream. “The Messengers” has a wonderful ending for a horror movie. I recommend it to anyone who’d like to give a try on horror movies. I don’t know whether you can categorize “The Sleepy Hollow” and “Van Helsing” into horror movies. But I found them really thrilling. The story of Sleepy Hollow is woven around a legendary headless horseman who roams in the night in the haunted woods of the ancient village called “Sleepy Hollow”. The horseman rises from his grave to the call of a witch, who plays a role of an innocent stepmother in the story. The main characters are played by awesome Jhonny Depp and Christina Ricci. They comb the haunted forest together to find the grave of the horseman, in the foot of tree of the dead. Nice movie! Worth watching.

The second one, “Van Helsing” is all about a brave vampire hunter, played by Hugh Jackman, along with Kate Beckingsale. If you remember the ancient story of Count Dracula who conquered the land of Transylvania, Van Helsing has a lot to deal with it. Van Helsing was a famous vampire hunter, according to legends. You could see a lot of vampires and werewolves in this movie. It’s one of my personal favorites.

We’re still talking about non blood – shredding movies. Now I introduce you to another sub category; the movies with spirits… voodoo… curses… hexes and black magic. The oldest of this kind is “The Exorcist”. A little girl is controlled by an evil spirit and the story flows with the struggle to get rid of the evil spirit. This one is really scary. But take my advice; and don’t watch The Exorcist 2 and 3. They’re worthless. The magic of the 1st movie completely washes away if you watch them. “The Skeleton Key” is a story of voodoo and black magic, even if they come at the latter parts of the story. “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” was another good story. The plot goes the same way as in “The Exorcist”, but the only thing is, it leads to an unhappy ending. Let me tell you about another movie about spirits – “The American Haunting”. It is said that this is a true story and the only reported case of death, which was caused by spirits in the American History. This one is very creepy, believe me. And if you’re ever planning to watch “Pulse”, starring diva Christina Millian, don’t watch it. Cz the movie doesn’t even have a possible plot at least!

Let’s get to the ugly part now; the blood – shredding movies. The human-chop-choppers? Yes. The stories about butchers. This can get very very ugly, believe me. Let me name a few. The Wrong Turn, Hostel, Hills Have Eyes, The Hitcher and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Never watch Hostel ok? I blamed myself for watching it, cz it’s far too disgusting. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is also out now. It’s all about this beast of a creature that kills people with a chainsaw. “The Amityville Horror” was also made by the makers of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’. But it’s a better movie. A house stands alone in a beautiful surrounding. One day, the son of the family who lives in this house, slays all the members of the family, in their beds. The boy reveals that it was a certain video tape that hypnotized him and directed him to kill his family. This is the start of the story. Years later, another family moves in. The man of the house is haunted by voices and visions. The horror strikes again! “The House of Wax” is about a museum, made out of wax. Is that all? Why? The statues in the museum? They were turned into live size wax statues when they were alive. The group of youngsters (which includes Paris Hilton as well) who were having a night time cruising get lost inside this lost haunted town. I personally didn’t like this one much, but it has a good ending anyways.

I can go on and on telling about the stories. But I’ll finish my say for today after telling you about the movie I watched yesterday. It was “30 Days of Night”. Now, this one was really good. A small town in Alaska faces 30 days without sunlight. In the midst of it, a group of blood – thirsty vampires break into the town, killing whoever stands in their path. The main character is played by none other than cute Josh Hartnett. (WOW!) He’s looking his best in this movie, after “Pearl Harbor”, believe me girls! It’s a new movie and I loved it.

Well.. enough for today I guess. Before I wind up, let me give you a tip to choose a good movie. I know you people browse the net so much. So…. find the top 10 weekly UK & US movies whenever you can, and go the official websites of these movies. (Coz in the official website, you get more details about the movie). View the trailer, read the story and you’re into choosing a good movie of your choice. That’s the way I do it too! Best of luck guys!