Kabini

This past weekend we went down to Kabini Jungle Lodges and Resorts to go on a wild jungle safari. It was a really lush resort area, monkeys all over the place, and we had two jungle safaris and a boat ride. We actually got up really close to some of the animals and those with better cameras than I got some great pictures.

Been doing some learning

I don't really talk about work all that much, but I am learning a lot. I'm a lot more comfortable with Java and application structure now. The workdays are fun, the people are great, and I'm excited to get onto a project after all of this. I'm probably most curious to hear about what it's like at other companies from friends at Diamond and Accenture.

On another note, I've grown to like foosball. We've got a foosball table in both offices and the game is a lot more fun than I remember. I've also gotten some good ping pong practice in during the off hours with Steve. He'll let me win one of these days.


No.

Karaoke

So there's this pub near the office called The Legends of Rock. Last week we ventured out there and had a good time, so we decided to head back there for karaoke night. If you take a look at the website and think a little bit about the name, you'll probably get a good grasp of what kind of music they play there. Of course, the music range isn't as constricted as I thought it would be. They playing RATM, NIN, Ozzy, but then they played:


You oughtta know.

Anyway, karaoke night was a blast. It really is nice to hear familiar tunes, even if its not exactly my favorite music. The coolest part is seeing this other side of India compared to the more conservative parts. Of course, we didn't just go to watch; we contributed our fair share: RATM's Renegades of Funk (Steve), Tom Petty's Free Fallin' (me), NIN's Head Like a Hole (Sherry), Def Leppard's Pour Some Sugar on Me (Julie), and Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart (Derek). Sadly the night ended before we could get Andrew, our token Australian, to sing American Woman.

Bannerghatta National Park

Today six of us went down to Bannerghatta National Park to see the zoo and go on a nature safari! The zoo area was pretty big and monkeys roamed around pretty freely throughout.



After the zoo, we went out on the safari and got to see some big animals up close. The animals here are supposedly all rescued from circuses and other shows like that. I also got to see a white Bengal tiger!







The real zoo was outside:

Pecha Kucha

Today I did my Pecha Kucha. It's a style of presentation where you create twenty slides that each transition on a twenty second timer. It's a good way to practice presenting, and it provides constraints that help boost creativity in presenting. The slides on the video might be a little hard to see, so if you want to follow along, you can find the slides here



Also, you should check out Steve's blog for an awesome video of him dancing.

Dream

Every once in a while, I have a really vivid dream - so vivid that I could draw every scene with precision. I started to write these down the second I wake up, so that the memory doesn't fade. This is last night's dream.


I’m in a house (looks like my old Dothan house) and with three unknown women, my mother, my brother and his wife. I get up and play some acoustic guitar for a bit. One of the girls gets up, claiming I was showing off and says that its her turn to show off. She wants to prove she’s better. We go to the other room – she’s carrying a guitar amplifier with her. She sets it down and hooks it up to an electric guitar on the ground. It looks like just the top half - no body of the guitar. She puts her foot on it and starts playing with her feet. She seems to be playing along to the tv, making up a soundtrack as the tv program plays. I start watching TV in the other room with my brother, his wife, and my mom. The Simpsons are playing. It’s a Halloween episode with the aliens and a big weather balloon, and they’re going through the forest. Kathy says she’s hungry but everyone else has eaten except for her. She tries to drag Michael along with her to go eat, but he doesn’t want to go. He claims that he hasn’t seen this episode of Simpsons, but I’m pretty sure that he has – he just really likes it. I almost forget about the girl in the other room, so I go back to listen to her playing guitar with her foot. I turn on the TV in this room to get a feel of how the music blends with the tv. This time I’m watching some show where Muhammad Ali is at a police station and he’s been caught for some petty crime. The sheriff chides Ali about how he couldn't just be patient.

Chillin with the kids

Today after work, we all went down to Angel's Orphanage in Bangalore to see some of the kids.





They even held a performance for us. It began with some fun little songs, including "If you're happy and you know it." Then they performed some traditional dance routines. However, there was a very clear turning point in the direction these performances were going. About seven of them stood and sang a bible hymn, which I wasn't expecting. Then immediately afterward, they blasted "Soulja Boy" and promptly began to break dance.

After that we all got up and dance partied for two hours and had a ton of fun. I don't know what they feed those kids there, but they had immense amounts of energy. All the guys were breakdancing, doing handstands, and rolling around. The girls were running around and teaching bharatanatyam to us.