I chose the red pill » Blogging

Dork, Robin ‘Einstien’ Varghese, Sidin Vadukut and A review!

hari — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:10:18 +0000

When a pro-blogger like Sidin writes a book, he’s bound by the collective yoke of expectations. History proves that in most cases, such expectations about the ‘authorati’ tend to dissappoint readers to a great extent – Dan Brown’s latest being a case in the point.

But Sidin has bashed all his critics in style with Dork: The Adventures of Robin Einstein Varghese - his debut book, published by Penguin.

In a way, the book is an extension of Sidin’s blog. So is the story. So we have our unassuming hero Robin Varghese (with an interesting moniker of ‘Einstein’)who has a penchant for FRIENDS episodes and being unintentionally dumb; not to mention his proclivity for wild hangovers (some of which make you guffaw like the eponymous movie). So, Robin gets a ‘zero’th day’ placement at Dufresne Partners – a second rung consulting firm, as he passes out with 41st Rank from his prestigious ‘Ahmedabad BSchool’ (IIMA, obviously!). The story revolves around how his work-life at Mumbai spawns a series of blunders and misadventures, thanks to his ‘Einstein-ish’ abilities.

The plot unfolds in the form of a Compact-disc Word Document diary which Vadukut supposedly recovers from beneath a kitchen sink at his newly-rented flat! (Duh! whatay’ surprise! But Sidin almost makes you believe its true with perhaps, the world’s best ‘Introduction’) This diary-ish narrative, though tried and tested, is greatly invigorating. The high point of ‘Dork’ is Sidin’s insane humor. It’s earthy, and untiring. Each page offers you something to guffaw your lungs out – you actually have to exercise a wee bit of self-control when reading the book in public places (Yeah, I’m serious about this!!) There’s again a heady mix of mallu humour – Sidin’s forte. The book is fast moving and before you notice it, you’d have covered a hundred pages. The characterization (especially, of the protagonist) is also brilliant. Robin’s screwed up mind is brilliantly portrayed. Which brings us serious doubts of whether Robin is a pepped-down version of Sidin himself! He’s also strived his best to include references to modern times – ushering in a healthy mix of YouTube, Camera Phones, laptops, MS Excel and even a movie-obsessed protagonist!

But as the book’s title inexorably suggests, ‘Dork’ has a deeper, probing intent. Robin unveils a full-scale Tehelka style ‘sting’ of Office culture! Every unethical practice in the corporate world is portrayed. We have cut-throat competition among employees, prostrate toe-licking of bosses by employees, plagiarism, and what not! At the end of the book, if you’re involved with a consulting company in some way or the other, you’d end that contract the very moment! And your mind would hesitate if you’re going to take up that fat pay check consulting job! Now, this is what I call laughable activism!

Nonetheless, Dork does disappoint at some levels. The book is not for a non-management enthusiast – so if you aren’t too enamoured with office culture et al. you’d find Dork a long read, even with the humor. Not just that, the story has a very abrupt ending. Just when you thought Robin would have a stupendous ending, the plot comes to a nasty halt. Besides, there’s too much dissing of the corporate culture involved. At one point, the criticism reaches nauseating levels. Then again, there’s always a profusion of details – a veritable blitzkrieg actually, that flusters you.

Yet, Sidin’s style and humour continue to be the saving grace of this hugely endearing and satisfying book. Perhaps, on Part II (yes, there’s even more Robin on the cards!), Sidin should do a serious revamp.

A must-read, in any case.

My Rating: 9.6/10

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FakeMECian – Another blogging crusader.

hari — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:02:42 +0000

"Everything is hostile. The whole place is now a cage, a zoo.
Now this move by the authority is more psychological."

"Where do you see the "technical excellence" that we are supposed to be
receiving here."

"If Smokey gets a fleeting glance at it or has a gut instinct that
something’s not right about your chaddie, you are obliged to strip and
prove your innocence/crime."

Before you glance at the above lines condescendingly, brace yourself.

*Mild-Drumroll*

There’s a hot new blogger in the block. Or rather, on the prowl. He (uh, I can’t conclusively say if it’s a ‘he’, but for sake of convenience, I allow myself to be sued by womens’ lib groups) blogs from an undisclosed location, apparently within the environs of a certain ‘Model Engineering College’ at Kochi (one of the best engineering colleges in the state, for that matter). And there’s a hell lot of caged emotion and angst involved, seemingly for valid reasons.

*Exalted Drumroll*

Behold, ladies an gentlemen, make way for FakeMECian – a home grown blogger from the bustling ‘metro’ of Cochin, Kerala. And he’s no mean deal; he’s a razor sharp tongue and a style that’d even put Adiga to shame. And he’s the guts to put out some gross injustices going on in his educational institution, under an anonymous garb, nonetheless.

*Drumroll concludes*.

Visit the FakeMECian at – http://fakemecian.blogspot.com/

Ostensibly, FakeMECian has taken inspiration from this celebrity counterpart – FakeIPLPlayer. His blog talks about the numerous flaws and foibles going around in his college, which he tries to uncover in a light hearted manner. So, we have exquisite (and insanely-funny) narrations about a (supposedly) unruly Principal of the institution whose hobby is to confiscate mobile phones and laptops and make students live in hell. He reads messages from confiscated phones, and causes immense problems to the students, who are towards the end of it, screwed. Plus, many student-unfriendly and academically discouraging policies are being dissed in a lighter vein.

Having bogged down by these and many such instances, a strict gag-order in-place within the campus, FakeMECian decided to take the law unto his arms and harnessed the power of the Internet to protest against the atrocities.

And he’s hit jackpot.

His blog posts average 30 comments within a couple of days’ of publishing. The first and the most famous post – “Laptop Ban” – has around 122 comments (when this post was being written), and that too within a week of being published. The blog already has 84 followers. And if the comments are to be believed, many of the incidents narrated by the MECian are true. Students, alumni and faculty have posted there comments in the blog posts – most supportive of the MECian, and others pledging concrete action.

Apparently, the Principal found about the blog and conducted an en-masse raid in the Men’s hostel of the college – but in vein. MECian is still continuing his covert operations in full form. And his gang of supporters is growing.

There’s a possiblity that MECian is just another miscreant hell-bent on creating a ruckus: but there’s every reason to believe that the possiblity is baseless. There’s an entire community of students and alumni vouching for the FakeMECian, who’s now being vocally praised as a champion within the college campus. If the allegations raised by the MECian are true, the success of his plan of action is quite guaranteed – the world will come to know of what’s happening within the college premises and hopefully, corrective action will be taken soon.

Allow me to conclude with a quote by the blogger – and don’t forget to visit the blog and feast yourself with all the juicy details!

“Vendetta?? No way. We are either too lazy or too busy to take action against such atrocities even if it questioned our own Privacy. We got assignments and home works to do. So lets get back to our “busy” life and do nothing about it.”

A.M.D.G.

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Makeover!

hari — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:26:12 +0000

Another makeover!

No reasons, this time. The old template was good enough, apart from being mind-numbingly crimson-red. I always wanted to go clean, white and pure. Like the erstwhile template of my blogger blog. A couple of hours of toil, and bingo!

Notable Additions:

The image gallery
Better commenting
Improved index page.
Better navigation.
Advanced and more accurate search results.

The work’s not all over. I’m in the process of coding up a twitter gadget. There seem to be a few chinks with the one I made, so will have to keep trying for better results.

So, how did you like the new look of ‘I chose the red pill’?

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I lost my posts! So, I rant! :-D

hari — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:20:29 +0000

Apparently, two of my latest blog posts got deleted for no valid reason that I can comprehend. Those posts were intact, when I’d logged in early in the morning, to switch off downloads. When I visited the blog at around 11:30 AM today, just before I left for college, I was dumbfound – two of my latest posts, the latest – ‘ഞാന്‍ ആരാ’ one and the previous ‘iM dA NeRD’ had vanished into thin air. I did everything possible, downloaded my Blog’s database and queried it like a madman using all SQL commands I knew – to no avail. Lost an hour of valid last-minute-prep time to the lost posts. Not a good decision from a future-’manager’, but yeah, the blog comes first anyday! \m/

CC Credits: vramak

After I got back home after today’s exam, I did a bit of research myself. I knew for a fact that WordPress doesn’t delete posts on its own. Then how could the posts go? Quite likely to be a server-side issue. I must send a support-ticked to my friendly-neighbourhood WebHost (which has been working awesome for me, apart from a few minor glitches like this ).

The incident caught me unawares and bang, I’m in one of those ‘desperate’ moods today. I’ve tonnes to mug, and I’m looking up a few slides at the moment – but this mood-swing (complicated by delicate ‘matters of the heart) has terribly killed my interest to learn.

Now, that has left me thinking. How would a seemingly simple, mundane external event leave me depressed? More than ‘how’, the question could be rephrased into ‘why’. Can’t I ignore the whole damn thing and be happy again? Is happiness an easy choice to make? Theoretically, yes. But at times, it’s way more than a choice. Happiness is a state of mind which has a lot to do with external stimuli, I sadly realized. And stimuli weren’t exactly in my favour. So I had to do something intellectually stimulating so as to rejuvenate my mind. No, I can’t do a song again – two songs a month is way above my quota and, not all the reviews are positive! I can’t post on a dedicated topic for want of time and patience.

So, ta dah, here I am doing another arbit-post. \m/

If you ask me, arbit posts are a lot more fun than a carefully thought-about post. The thought process itself requires significant time and mental effort, not to mention finger-crunching at 75 WPM – but arbit posts are exercises in mental-outpour. I just open my mind to my fingers – which do the typing. So, rest assured, this is a straight from the heart post! Besides, the satisfaction of seeing the vagaries of your mind printed out in nice typeface, in grammatical perfection (not always! ) is satiating to a great extent.

As regards to ‘matters of the heart’, well, I’m in a dilemma. I have to take a decision, an immediate decision on a very delicate issue, a relationship. Yes sir, being a ‘young adult’, I’ve all rights to engage myself in feminine company – which I’ve actually not had for a while now, sadly. Somehow, the stars don’t seem to be right for me, it seems. I deliberately suppressed my feelings for the fairer sex, after a very embarrassing debacle, and lived as if they didn’t exist – I refused outright to get closer to girls, but I did keep existing female friends and sisters. Maybe its high time I found a person who completes me, I guess. Hopefully, I’ll get the girl of my dreams, soon enough. (Girl, if you’re reading this… lol, you know what to do! )

He gives his harness bells a shake,
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep,
Of easy wind and downy flake.

Ah, time out. Nightout Phase 1 begins!

See, I told you, blogging is the best way to recharge your mind. Wish me luck for tomorrow’s exams. Until then I’ve miles to go, before I sleep! Adios!

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Life, Decisions and Blogging

hari — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:57:44 +0000

Those of you who’ve been visiting this blog for the past week might’ve noticed a sharp increase in my posting frequency – to be more precise, I’ve been blogging, daily for the past four days, straight!

CC Credits: dead_squid

Not because I’m jobless, actually I’m everything but jobless! I’ve got lab exams right now – yet, I took some time out of my busy schedule and blogged. Not because I’m neglecting studies or anything – I’ve made a landmark decision about my life.

For a while now, I was going through a Quarter Life crisis – which is at its peak, right now. For everything I did, for everywhere I turned, some problem or other would pounce upon me, like a vicious and hungry tigress attacking its prey. I’ve become masochistic about life’s problems – I’ve almost begun to enjoy, while basking in this multitude of issues posed by life. By now, I’ve been embroiled in (almost) all sorts of problems a teenager could get himself into- oops forgot, I ceased to exist as a teen as I turned 20 a year back!

And amid all this, I made an amazing self-discovery, I found my true love, my calling!

You guessed that right, I’ve chosen the red pill again – My sojourn from dreams to reality has got a whole new meaning now, that I’m a PRO-blogger!

Those of you who know me personally and bother to read my tags might’ve already got the hint not-so-long-ago. But for others, I’m just making it official. And don’t get ideas about the ‘PRO’ prefix – no, I’m not professional yet, I haven’t made HUGE amounts of money like Amit Aggarwal, I haven’t even made a single authoritative post, like Arun. Yet, I have my moments of fame. I did take a session on blogging at FOSSMeet, NIT Calicut, on invitation! I’m unofficially the CTO of a budding Quiz Blog, and I’ve even hosted a quiz to boot!

And as a first step towards my goal, I’m goanna start blogging, daily.

A huge thank you, to all my readers/commenters who’ve been with me through thick and thin, commenting even in the worst of posts and lifting my feeble morale. A hug and a kiss to all of you!!

If you find visiting everyday a tad hard,you may get updates hot-delivered to your mailbox!

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Hundred!!

hari — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 18:03:27 +0000

I ought to do a tag a month,now! Tags are refreshing and rejuvenating! So I stole this one from Sriram! Nothing special, I just have to answer a few questions this time – new readers will know a lot about me from this post. Old ones might already know a lot, but just read through. I know you’re jobless. Why else would you visit my blog?

As the title suggests, it’s an understatement to call this HUGE!

1. Last beverage – Frooti! (It was my lunch, that day! )
2. Last phone call- Vidya Chechi
3. Last text message – Vishnu
4. Last song you listened to – Black or White – Michael Jackson *sniff* Amen to his soul!
5. Last time you cried – A month ago… due to ‘matters of the heart’,in solitude!

HAVE YOU EVER..

6.Dated someone twice? – Yes (10-15 times, actually! )
7. Been cheated on? –Loads of times!
8. Cried yourself to sleep? –No, per se.
9. Lost someone special? –I miss a lot of people, yes.
10. Been depressed? – I am depressed as I write this post! Depression has so hopelessly become a part of my life!
11. Seen ghosts –Duh!!
12.LIST THREE FAVORITE COLORS.
Blue, Red, White

THIS YEAR HAVE YOU
15.Made new friends – A lot!
16. Fallen out of love – Nopes
17. Laughed until you cried – You bet, I’ve lost count of that!
18. Met someone who changed you – Hmmm… maybe.
19. Found out who your true friends were – I knew it ages ago.
20. Found out someone was talking about you – Came as a pleasant surprise
21. Kissed anyone on your friend’s list – Er… I choose to avoid this question for fear of prejudice!
22. How many people on your friends list do you know in real life ? – 90% of them
23. How many kids do you want to have – Two. A lovely guy and a sweet girl.
24. Do you have any pets – Nada.
25. Do you want to change your name – I hated my name once, but Now I’m in love with it. So the answer is: NO WAY!
26. What did you do for your last birthday – Well, It was among my happiest birthdays… Got a record number of gifts and cards, and of course studied for my series exams starting the very next day!
27. What time did you wake up today – 7:10 AM. Mom woke me up reminding me to do household chores for a change!
28. What were you doing at midnight last night – Reading ‘Roots‘ by Alex Haley. AWESOME book!
29. Name something you CANNOT wait for – Day 1 @ IIM Ahmedabad *Sigh*
30. Last time you saw your father – two hours ago, when I was bidding him goodbye.
31. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life – Ah.. lots *sigh*
32. What are you listening to right now – Dreams on Fire: Slumdog Millionaire (I’m in love with the movie’s soundtrack!)
33. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom – A lot of times! There’s a junior in my college, of that name.And there’s my favourite blogger Thomman – whom I’ve talked to at school!
34. What’s getting on your nerves right now? Certain very nice people in my college who’re making my life hell for no reason whatsoever!
36. Whats your real name – Neo – after I chose the red pill! (DUH!!!)
37. Relationship Status – Single
38. Zodiac sign – Scorpio
39. Male or female – Male
40. Natural Hair color? – Black
41. Hair color now – Kinda dark brownish to black.
42. Pet Peeve – The want for intellectual freedom, which I don’t get
43. Need Glasses- Nope, wearing glasses is a nightmare for me!
44. Long or short –Er… is this question about some body part?
45. Height – Five eleven
46. Do you have a crush on someone – Used to have loads, none right now. It’s pointless
47. What do you like about yourself? – The fact that I can write reasonably well.
48. Piercings – None.
49. Tattoos – Aaargh!!
50. Righty or lefty – Right.

FIRSTS.
51. First surgery – to fix my mangled left clavicle – was an experience.
52. First piercing –None yet!
53. First tattoo – Don’t remember – was some removable one.
54. First best friend – Godly
55. First sport you joined – Cricket
56. First pet – A hen. We used to have four of them at home.
57. First vacation – Trip to Delhi, when I was in 7 years old. Barely remember anything about it now!
59. First crush- Name’s Lakshmi. Now, there’s a whole blog post about it! I still see her around
60. First alcoholic drink – None yet! Sworn teetotaller here.

RIGHT NOW.
61. Eating – A sweet laddu (At 11:26 PM, mind you! )!
62. Wearing – A grey tee with “No Fear’ emblazoned on it, black pants (from school) [Why would anyone wanna know this? ]
63. I’m about to – Code away to glory! I’ve found my true calling.
64. Speaking to – I’ve kept my chat client (Pidgin) off at the moment. I don’t chat when I blog.
65. Waiting to – talk to someone special (If you’re reading this, call me now! Dying to listen to your voice! )
66. Want kids? – Not in the near future
67. Want to get married? – Ditto.
68. Careers in mind? – Wanna be a pro-blogger-cum-coder-cum-filmmaker-cum-entrepreneur!

WHICH IS BETTER WITH THE OPPOSITE SEX?
69. Lips or eyes – Eyes.
70. Hugs or kisses – I love hugs. The warmth of the female body as it presses on to you is GREAT!
71. Shorter or taller- Shorter
72. Older or Younger – Not older anyway.
73. Romantic or spontaneous – Hopeless-romantic
74. Nice stomach or nice arms – Arms will be fine. The tummy must be okay.
75. Tattoos or piercings- Nada to both.
76. Sensitive or loud- Loud to a certain degree. Sensitive also is as nice.
77. Hook-up or relationship – Relationship
78. Trouble maker or hesitant- Hesitant

HAVE YOU EVER.
79. Kissed a stranger – Nopes and NEVER!
80. Drank hard liquor – Won’t do that in my lifetime!
81. Lost glasses/contacts – Haven’t owned any yet and hope not to!
82. Sex on first date – Not yet. But Not so early, anyway.
83. Broken someone’s heart – Very much. Parents being on top of the list.
84. Had your own heartbroken – You bet!
85. Been arrested?- Was close to being so a couple of times, but escaped!
86. Turned someone down –a couple of times.
87. Cried when someone died – Frequently
88. Got someone into trouble intentionally –Hmmm… naah!

DO YOU BELIEVE IN.
89. Yourself – Started to lose belief, but I still cling on to myself
90. Miracles – Yup!
91. Love at first sight – I even dreamt about it the other day !:|
92. Heaven – too far-fetched, but being religious. yes.
93. Santa Claus – NO WAY!
94. Kissing on the first date? – Probable
95. Angels – Metaphorically, yes.

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY.

96. Is there one person you want to be with right now? – Sure!
97. Had more than one boyfriend/ girlfriend at one time? – No and never.
98. Do you believe it’s possible to remain faithful forever? – It is.
99. What’s the one thing you cannot live without? – Friends and family, Computer, Internet
100. Posting this as 100 truths? – Err… I confess that two or three points at the most, are mildly inaccurate. Apart from that, there are about 97 truths here. Honestly.

There goes! Bored? Jobless? Be my guest and take this up! Please acknowledge me when you do it, btw.

No related posts.

15 tips to make a great blog

hari — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:20:41 +0000

Here are 15 short (and hopefully sweet) tips for you if blogging is in your blood. Even if it isn’t, no worries. ‘Coz, anyone can blog! Keep these 15 simple points in your mind and you can excel in the blogosphere – trust me!

Work on your language – well-presented is half done!
Write relevant content, don’t beat around the bush.
Re-read what you’ve written, and make as many edits as you need.
Pep your post with great images – CC Licensed ones are the best.
NEVER copy content from other blogs!
Consider blogging as a passion, and great posts will come.
Add a personal touch to your posts – readers are the biggest voyeurs!
Don’t blog just for money, it’ll eventually ruin your blog!
If you’re not that good with english, write in your regional language.
The more you blog, the better. 10 posts a month is optimum!
Cut down on swear words, filters will cut down your blog’s reach.
Try to add an element of humour to whatever you write.
Don’t focus too much on your theme. Content is always king!
Simplify your posts such that even a layman can get what you say.
Blog and comment responsibly – even you can make a difference!

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Life and times of a Fake IPL Player

hari — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 18:05:29 +0000

CC Credits: rochakchauhan

Are u ready, sit down,
Let me tell you a lil story,
’bout 2 cool cats,
yeah, BubLee aur Babli,
comin’ at an angle,
that they hotter than the rest,
when ya look at them,
them do pass the test.

Don’ t look back,
He’ s comin’ into attack,
He’ s takin’ it side by side,
He’ s takin’ it front to back,
He’ s takin’ it all around the world,
Never, never will he stop this
BubLee

Deja vu? No I didn’t plagiarize these lines from the “Are you ready” song from Bunty Aur Babli, but Fake IPL Player did. The hottest new kid in the blogosphere, Fake IPL Player is a self-proclaimed ‘Kolkata Knight Rider‘ who is determined to provide an inside scoop into the goings on of IPL. And he’s not doing a bad job, really!

The blog http://fakeiplplayer.blogpost.com/ is in fact a great read. The dude has an acerbic sense of humour and goes on kicking quite a lot of ass! We have inventive names for the players, including a Phoren baba, Kishen Kanhaiyya, Mr. Batlivala, Big Sister, Sheikh of Tweak, Little Monster, and Prince Charles of Patiala. There are brutally unkind references to the ‘megalomaniac star owner’ of Kolkata Knight Riders, Shah Rukh Khan. Our IPL guy goes on to name him ‘Baadshah Di!d0′! The guy looks like one pissed dude!!

There are no clues whatsoever as to who this Fake IPL Player actually is. I don’t think it’s a publicity stunt by the team, for, no team would ever want to sling mud on itself… Poor ol’ SRK (and his sexuality) is bashed up bigtime in here, as a matter of fact! Our blogger, who began on a humble note, now seems to be to bask in the wine of his popularity and often refers to himself as the ‘Lord of the ring’.

But frankly, I don’t think the guy’s an insider. I feel it’s some third party blogger who gets some scoop from some IPL player. Or perhaps, the stuff written in the blog could be sheer bullshit! Did anyone notice the disclaimer about the content being fake on the bottom of that blog? I think it’s pretty much true. Btw, FakeIPL now has over 2100 followers, and the latest post has a staggering 1400+ comments! Whoa!

Anyways, the blog drives home one point. Blogging is here to stay, and it is one among the biggest ways to express yourself.
Three cheers to the IPL Blogger!

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Life blog

hari — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 19:20:09 +0000

I’ve always been enamoured by the term, ever since I saw it discreetly mentioned in a Nokia N series ad. No, I’m not talking about the f amed mobile blogging application these guys package with Series 60 Nokia phones! But this post is about the literal implications of the phrase: “Life blog”. Yeah, what would it be like, when your entire life is an unending blog, complete with categories, tags, permalinks, images and videos. Wacky interpretation? Not really. For ‘pro-bloggers’ like me, cest la vie!

As I wake up every morning and rush to my PC to switch off downloads, the thought that drives me would be: “What would be my next blog post?” As I bathe, as I brush my teeth, as I pee and shit, as I breakfast, while I walk to college, this thought bothers me, in the back of my mind, stinging me like a bee. Bogged down by good ol’ writer’s block, poor souls like us need some fresh air to get great ideas for posts, and until that idea clicks in, life would be hell!

That’s when this concept of a Life Blog hit my head. Why not make an entire life a blog post. I could post on the fly, in my mind. I don’t need any content management system in my mind’s blog! So, as I spend my day doing different stuff, a part of me simultaneously composes a blog post (literally!). It narrates everything I see, do, listen and talk in third person. It’s not streaming video from the eye, it’s plain text – pepped with images. As the day gets over and I retire to my bedroom, the blog post would almost be complete. Before I sleep, I read through the published draft. The day would flash before me, and I’d sleep, content and satisfied.

My Life

Now you know why I prefer personal posts, over reviews and tech post. All I need to do is to copy-paste from my ‘life blog’! Of course, I’d have to type that out with my hands, but yeah, for someone with 75 WPM typing speed, that’s cakewalk.

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