The internet at my house is still broken...
But for some reason I can use the connection in my building's semi-new "Business Center," which opened when Hotwire became our official in-house internet/cable/phone provider a few months back. I tried it last night (or, rather, last-last night, since it's, uh, Saturday now..
.) before I went back to school, but no love. I am frustrated and angry.
I overslept this morning and basically used it as an excuse not to go anywhere or do anything, and consequently I just happened to be home when Urban Cable showed up unannounced at 10:30 AM...
Those two guys, from the maintenance crew, were unable to detect anything wrong with my signal, and instead promised to send out someone from tech (again). "Are you going to be here all day?" they asked.
"I guess I am now," I said with a sigh. Of course, no one showed..
. Meanwhile, Dad called Urban, just to see if a male voice would get the wheels greased, and came to the conclusion that I'd already reached, that they're a bunch o' lazy morons. He also called Hotwire, and *they* wouldn't be able to do an install for at least a week from Monday, despite the fact that *my building is already wired.
*
In sum: I hate cable. I would get DSL (seriously) if I knew Verizon were better, but Ellie just switched *away* from Verizon because she hated them so much, so that's not an option. Seriously, how do people with real jobs -- jobs they *can't* decide not to attend and make up later -- handle these things?
Because real life, I am dreading it.
But. This is a *happy* post tonight, because I did angsty last night, and because right after I posted the angst, a friend arrived at school for talking, and then I made a very good discovery online: Some of my *India pictures* have arrived in my inbox.
Yay! (Not all of them, of course, but 11 rolls of 17, and I'd just like to plug here for the turnaround.)
Without further ado, then, I'd like to present a few of my favorites (NB: "A few" is subjective, and depends on how many, exactly, Blogger will let me post.
.. Also, I won't be dating the pics, but I will post them in chronological order, and link the first pic of any given day to that day's post.
):
The infamous goat butcher photo from my . This man had the goat skinned, I swear, in under sixty seconds. And ridiculously well!
Note how he didn't even damage the spermatic cord. We could've used him in gross anatomy.
Ignore the man who stepped into my shot; these women had stopped at a shrine near the Kaligat temple to pray to.
.. I'm not sure, but women pray there when they're married, or possibly also getting married, and there's vermillion involved, which incidentally is the color married women wear in the part of their hair.
People being ferried across the river not far from the Kaligat temple in Calcutta.
Kid bathing in said river.
Water buffalo on the shore of the Ganges in .
Cow by the Main Ghat in Varanasi. Cows are *everywhere.*
Me in Varanasi, next to a sign in Hebrew.
I swear, it is.
Monkey on a Varanasi roof.
I have no idea how I got this shot, but it's dusk on the Ganges in Varanasi.
Another one of the shore at dusk.
Preparations for the ceremony at the Main Ghat in Varanasi.
And the .
(Note that I managed to get this shot with no tripod, because I am the r0ckstar.)
Sightseeing boat ride the next morning.
Body floating in the river.
A ferry on the river. The boat appeared to be coming from the far shore, which is odd, because there wasn't much of anything on the far shore. Note the rocking architecture in the background.
Another shot I'm pretty proud of, the .
On the grounds of the Delhi Fort. All of those columns are *covered* in pietra dura.
And you've got to hand it to those architects: They knew what to do with patterns. (Incidentally, I feel like *all* the interior shots of Minas Tirith could have been filmed in India..
. I'm just saying..
.)
Another fairly common Mughal feature I'm fond of, where you lay out the rooms such that you can look through the (carved marble) screens from one to the other to the other..
.
"Hey, I'm the *greatest ruler ever*! I will build me a big ol' tower to celebrate my greatness!
" (The .)
Rockin' stonework at the Qutb Minar Complex. There is stuff like this all over India, or at least the parts where the Mughals made a dent.
First thought when I walked into this room: "Balin's Tomb!"
In India, apparently McDonald's delivers. By vespa.
The side tomb of the Humayun's Tomb complex where I had my inside-the-wall bat adventure.
The roof, accessible via the curved staircase inside the wall.
.
Monkey-feeding tout at Sikandra, Agra. I was *not* letting those things near me. They *shit* on *each other,* so what would they do to the great hairless (mostly, so shut up) ape in their midst?
Lizard at Sikandra. I just feel like this shot came out exceptionally well.
Screens at Sikandra.
I was obsessed with getting shots through the screens. I mean, it's *marble.* How the hell would you even carve that?
Parakeets against the Pietra Dura at Sikandra. Incidentally, they looked just like the parakeets of Hyde Park.
This shot had a nice "decline of man" feel to it -- a soft drizzle on an abandoned tomb overrun by monkeys.
If (and it's a big if) I follow through on my plan to get some of my pics reprinted, display-size, I think this'll be one of them.
The Baby Taj Mahal, also in Agra. It's *ornate,* kids.
EG its pietra dura, which is insane.
Agra Fort (I think.)
Also Agra Fort.
See what I mean about Gondor?
Everyone's friend, the Taj Mahal. (Don't worry, I have normal pics, too, but I just wanted to emphasize how *big* it is.
Bigger than any of the head-on shots make it seem.)
One white tree.
The view from the Taj at sunset.
The Taj at sunset.
Again, the Taj at sunset.
.
It's not enough to have pietra dura, no. It needs to be *mirrored.* (Jaigarh Fort (I think), Jaipur.
)
I woke up to . The field is where the lake should be. I have no idea what was up with the paper-mache animals on the roof of the hotel.
------
Anyway, a lot of pictures from Udaipur are, I hope, still to come, as are pics from Mumbai, Virar/Agashi, Goa, and elsewhere, I guess. (Some pics are still on the roll in the camera in my desk, too.) God, I have to get my real camera repaired.
.. I (heart) it.
Even if a lot of the pics do have a weird grainy effect that's more a consequence of my relationship with my light meter, rather than any fault of the camera.
But seriously: PICTURES!
[Placement of me?
Placement of myself? Placement of I? I blame all the grammar-blogging over at .
..]
Anyway, while watching *hours* of lecture online today (hello, eye cancer!
), I've been employing the unused neurons over on . And, lo, I cannot resist sharing when the internet tells me things about myself that, on reflection, I sort of already knew:
You like things edgy, subtle, and smart.
I guess that means you're probably an intellectual, but don't take that to mean pretentious. You realize 'dumb' can be witty--after all isn't that the Simpsons' philosophy?--but rudeness for its own sake, 'gross-out' humor and most other things found in a fraternity leave you totally flat.
I guess you just have a more cerebral approach than most. You have the perfect mindset for a joke writer or staff writer. Your sense of humor takes the most thought to appreciate, but it's also the best, in my opinion.
PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Jon Stewart - Woody Allen - Ricky Gervais [And, given the oblique flattery of the last paragraph, probably the author of this test...
]
Unfortunately, my intellectualism does *not* extend to common sense regarding, say, study habits.
Dammit.
Now a med student in Philadelphia, muddling my way through second year and trying not to let it get to me. Northeast (Oceanside, NY) to Southeast (Atlanta) to Midwest (Chicago) to Northeast again. Know me in real life?
. If you can't see my links, stop using IE.
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