May 27 2009

I did not want to write/post something before finding out whether I got the bell internship or not. because if I had failed to get the internship, I would just skip this whole event as if it had never happened. And for everyone else but me, it would be like I never wore that suit, I never opened that tie, never bought new shoes and did not do the presentation.

It began with reading the posting on jobs.sheridan.ca

I believe it's because of my updated/reformatted resume. I had been applying for so many jobs but I wasn't hearing back from any one of them. So when I was applying for this unpaid internship, I went through my resume, looked it over, and added a little splash of color to make the content more distinguishable.

I was pleasantly surprised to get an email from the PMP recruitment.  I read through it, and at first I was a little skeptical, because of the word 'survey' in the body of the email. I filled out the survey even though I was thinking this is probably just to do some market research and I'm not going to hear back from them again.

But I did. Brendan called me up while I was on the bus and scheduled an interview for monday 25th may 09. I guess that was my lucky day. Because despite of how freaking nervous I was about meeting these people, regardless of how unprepared I felt I was, I guess I did something very right. Right there, Brendan told me I should expect to get a call from them for a second interview. I was now in the 5th stage of the recruitment program.

How I spent the weekend before my interview (Or how I didn't prepare for the interview)

I will never forget that weekend. I went to Canada's wonderland on saturday 23rd may. It was an awesome trip and I really enjoyed. 8 thrilling rides in one day! Even hours after i was back home and resting on the bed, my head was feeling like I'm still going through a roller coaster. I was fatigued and I would randomly feel weightless or like I'm in a loop or corkscrew bend.

The next day, I was supposed to sit down and strictly work on some illustrations and put a portfolio book together to show at the interview. I woke up early, thought I would go get a haircut- look more presentable for the interview. But the saloon I went to, was closed on sunday. I got a call from Doni while I was out, about going grocery shopping. I walked around in Cloverdale mall-in front of food basics, to try and find a barber shop. Only one of the 3 was open at the time, and the price was $17. I decided not to get a haircut and just get over with the shopping and get to work.

After the shopping, I worked on my tiger illustration for a while. I had talked to Doni about borrowing his shoes for the interview, and I was supposed to go buy a shirt for the interview. Instead of going to eaton centre, which would take us much longer, we decided to go to Sherway garden mall. After changing two buses, we got there just before closing time... Still, lot of the smaller stores were closed. Only sears was open.

Uh Sir, you cannot keep opening and trying on shirts..

The shopping experience at Sears needs another blog entry for itself. For now, I got a white shirt that I didn't absolutely hate. It was going to be worn under my suit anyways, so it didn't matter that it was a little loose.

By the way, did you finish that portfolio you were planning to present to them?

I worked away on my illustration in Illustrator CS4 till about 3 am in the morning. I went to bed when I felt it was at a satisfactory level of finished-ness. Woke up again at 6 or something. I needed to find out if there was a Staples around their office so that I could go print out this PDF that I had been working on. I ended up buying two ipod touch applications for TTC bus routes and schedules. One of them was actually helpful in finding the numbers of buses I would need to take and names of stops where I'd have to get off.

Dressed in my suit, with the tie knotted perfectly, I head out with my backpack on my shoulder. (Damn that looked so out of place!) By the way, tying the tie wasn't as difficult as it was a few days ago - the day of Rajat's screening. Actually I also had some help in the form of instructions on the back of the box of the tie. Yes, I had never even worn the tie before!

So you're saying you ran into staples wearing a suit and carrying your jansport backpack?

Yeah, Doni said I was leaving too early for my interview but I knew finding the staples in a place I've never been before was going to take a while. I got off the second bus, and started walking around. I felt like an eskimo in a fur coat on a tropical beach. I was definitely feeling awkward having never worn this suit before. And I was walking down the road looking totally lost! Noone to ask for directions!

Upon finally finding the wretched Staples, I got my stuff printed off asap, and then started looking for the bus back. But I was in Missisauga now. No TTC bus would pass so I resorted to walking. I am trying to find creekbank road and the entrance to the office building without a gps, compass or map.  Took me a while. But in the end, I arrived in the lobby some 20 minutes before designated time.

"So what do you know about our program?"

Hehe.. I used my time wisely to catch up on reading their brochure pdf. I didn't think it helped me all that much though. Because the interview was.. now that I look back on it.. all about me and Henry. He is the senior director of PMP. And I don't know how, when he came in, he got me pumped up, just set me on fire and made me go! I remember going back and forth about the GPS/geotagging photo question he posed in front of me!

Brendan asked me some generic questions and I answered them honestly like I always do. They had my resume and the survey I filled out in their hands.. OH! THAT'S WHAT THAT WAS FOR! They were asking me questions relating to that, and some of the same questions to verify that what I filled out was actually true.
 
So the interview went good, yada yada yada.. you already told us you got called in for second interview. What happened next?

For that, I guess you'll have to wait for my next post!

The blog post I didn't finish about the dream I don't remember anymore

30th May 2009

Had a very weird dream last night. Weird because it came out of nowhere..

Let me set it up for you..

I was supposed to get my I20 form from SCAD. I had gotten a call from Fed Ex guy the day before, asking about the buzzer number. But the stupid apartment doesn't have a buzzer phone. So my wise ass landlord told me to tell the delivery guy to ask for the superintendent. However, the delivery guy came, while I was out, and left a note on the glass and left.

When I came back to see this, I got disgruntled. Waited for the landlord to get out of the bathroom and told him about it. He said he'll talk to the management office.. but the lady said she can't accept packages. He told me to go talk to the super, and he too, refused saying that he's not going to be in his suite all the time.

"Fuck all that!" I said, and texted Doni to ask for his address because I was going to redirect the shipment. However, even he didn't reply back with the address. He said he's going to give it to me when he gets back. Alright then! Now there's nothing left for me to do. So I just went to sleep.

Later that evening, I got a call from Rajat. Now he was going to be moving in with me from June onwards. he calls me up and tells me he might not be moving in with me, but instead go live with some of his relative. damn! My plan of paying less rent from the next month onwards were devastated. Fuck! I was in the lowest mood  in a long time! I haven't gotten a job yet, I still don't have my I20 form in my hand, and now this!

I couldn't go to sleep very easily because I had slept in the evening. But when I did, I know I had a dream I would have liked to blog about..

The answer is no

Last time I talked to mom, she was being.. a little too concerned. (You'd say this is normal for moms but this time was a little more than her usual) She was asking me in a very 'i don't even know the word for this-babying?' voice, why I didn't want to come to India this summer.

I didn't have a straight answer for her. So she went on.. "is it because you think if you come back home, dad won't let you go abroad?" I said "no, it's not that."

She continued on.. you're happy there? I assured her I was doing fine. Great, infact.

Then yesterday Manish bhaiya was very pissed off because of the email I sent him. found him online..
he said, "what the fuck is wrong with you"
"uh.."
I told him the same thing I said to mom. I have my convocation on 11th june and I have a visa interview appointment on 23rd. Can't make it.

manishpgupta
look for ur India trip dude..
manishpgupta
screw the convocation.. and ur Visa interview.. you can have it scheduled in India or come back to Canada by then..
manishpgupta
let me know what you think..
manishpgupta
see if you if you change ur mind again
manishpgupta
I am guessing it should be fun..
Yash Gupta
yeah the wedding will be fun
Yash Gupta
but not the travelling
Yash Gupta
and the weather
manishpgupta
k

And that's the end of it.

That was back on May 21st. And now we're into July. I didn't go, and I am loving it here!

Weird watchmen dream

This happened Last week but due to my irregularity, I didn't end up typing it. Me and Doni were in a streetcar on queen street. (I guess coming back from China Town or headed to Viztek the camera store) I saw a comic book store from the corner of my eye as we were moving and noticed there was a mannequin dressed up like Rorshach in the middle of the store.

I quickly told Doni to take a look but we had already passed that. I didn't think of it much then.. Just thought it was cool. (Leemrijse is one of the people who having never read the comic book, actually liked the watchmen movie.)

I didn't think of it at all after that. We had a whole bunch of activities going on the rest of the day to keep my mind busy. But subconsciously, I guess I did want to ponder over it. I did not want to let it go. Because that night, I had one of the most interesting dreams I've had in a long time. And I mean Long Time. Last one I remember was the one where I was 'Quick kick' the G.I.Joe character and destroyed a missile with my kick. (Harsh and Suraj should recall this one)

So, this one, started with one of the watchmen scenes.. plays out a lot like the novel all the way to the climax. (It's really hard for me to write this without giving away the ending of the novel...) The climax where we see all the characters assembled in Veidt's Antarctic hideout.. Veidt has won.. successful in killing millions of innocent people despite the best efforts by the other vigilante or super heroes. And as it dawns on everybody that it's all over..

Something weird starts happening to all the superheroes except Rorschach. Dr. Manhattan is not glowing anymore, Lori's voice gets deeper..Nite Owl's hair starts turning red and Veidt's stature is 'shrinking'..

They are all turning into Rorschach.

And they all look very pleased. Rorschach looks pleased. It seems as if all this while, all these vigilantes were alter-egos or manifestation of Rorschach himself. He is the all powerful, and he is the one who really has the powers of Dr. Manhattan. He was living all these duplicate/alternate lives... For his own pleasure/satisfaction.

...How insane is that?!! And what does that say about me and my brain, having cooked up this plot about one of my favourite heroes from my favourite graphic novel?!!  

-written 19th may 09

Nothing official about it

Contradicting myself(what I said in the last post) I am again going to try and be optimistic about sticking to the motto of 'trying to capture life'

Today again, I was feeling like making some nice breakfast. I have been noticing a pattern.. The morning after a good dinner, I crave breakfast, however, on the mornings after an unappetizing dinner, I couldn't care less for food. Like the following incident:

Doni had made 'Hamburger Helper' for dinner and I didn't like it at all! I didn't finish my portion and went to bed.. That night, I dreamt I was having some delicious fried Indian snack. Samosa? Kachori? something else? I don't know. But my mind was set. The next morning, after I woke up, I didn't even feel like breakfast. I was dead sure I was going to go to Gerard street and have some Indian food.

A little around lunch time, me and Doni went to 'Little India'. Not really sure what we were going to find, we surveyed the entire street without going into a store. There was a south Indian restaurant that I found very interesting. I told Doni we might go have dinner there. But first, we had kulfi, which tasted pretty much like any other vanilla ice cream. It was missing that texture of kulfi. But for 1 dollar, I didn't mind at all. It was the $5 glass of sugarcane Juice that pissed me off! We're never going back there again!

We shopped at an Indian grocery store that had a really nice uncle at the counter who talked to me in hindi. I picked up pilsbury rotis (which were too small and were only 5 in a pack that should have had 6) and peppered cashews. Didn't see any bhindi there, but I also got 4 packs of maggi vegetable atta noodles. How I wish they had the 'family pack' in stores!

After, we went to the South Indian restaurant and had idli-wada and masala Dosa. Very satisfying. The guy at the counter here as well talked to me, asked me if I was a resident or a student and what I am doing etc.

Now I know what I need to do, where I need to go next time I am down there. Also made a mental note of what I want to try out next time.

It's all Business

Title of my blog is "Trying to capture life". But I am not even trying. Last blog post I wrote was written on Monday and only got published several days later. I really don't know what's up with me. I don't even feel like talking to people about me. But I can converse and express/exchange opinion on any general topic of interest.

The other day, I chatted with Huzaifa on gtalk for about 20 minutes about need for career counselling in India where almost every other kid coming out of 12th grade is heading to an engineering college. Then the topic moved to education/studies in the 'multimedia' or entertainment business. And then to art and commissions.

That felt so much more productive than 'how was your day, what did you do?' and therefore, so much more satisfying than talking to mom or someone else who I don't know what to say to.. I don't expect a phone call from anybody, I am not excited about hearing anyone's voice. And I think my lack of enthusiasm shows in my voice when I talk. I feel like Jim Carey in the beginning of Yes Man...

Explosion

I can't not think about dreams that I have. And tonight's dream is one of the more convoluted ones. 

I was being told about the 911 attacks, was taking a look at the ruins of the world trade center from an aerial point of view. But then there were oddities in the pattern of destruction. The officer or whoever it was with me teling me about it, showed me the spot where the highest damage was done. and there was a straight line of destruction till a lot further away from it.

I know this is confusing. It is for me too. Maybe I was just associating it with 9-11 it probably wasnt that in the first place. It wasn't just one building.. it wasn't a round circle of destruction from a bomb or explosion. It was as if there was an missile launched from one end, and it destroyed everything in it's path and left this 'line of destruction'. Other reasons I can think of to explain what I saw are: it was an explosion in a train.. and everything along that line was destroyed. Now to explain the fact that this train was in a fairly urban setting, it could be that it was a underground subway line. And as the underground tunnel collapsed, so did everything on top.

Also, as I was surveying from the helicopter, I thought to myself, wow! I was watching a movie yesterday in a theater... with family or friends.. and I thought if we hadn't decided to go to inox instead of e square, we would have been dead. So I suppose I was in Pune now..

Next, I was on the ground, I was actually right next to the site of this event. I don't know what or who gave me the authority to be there..  Surveying the operations, I was surprised to find a bunch of poor people living in the destroyed ruins of the buildings. They could have been family and or the workers helping in the excavation/rescue operations.. It was like a photograph. Everyone or everything was stopped in time as I was walking across them all... Suddenly I noticed Golu bhaiya and Monu didi around that area.

I was really surprised and excited. I said hi, they said "hi!", (time was not frozen anymore) They were perfectly fine, I guess they were just here to check it out, or be in the news coverage etc. haha. They started with their usual teasing me, pulling my leg and all... I woke up just then.. and I wish I didn't think about the 'attack' anymore. But I can't do that. I always think about my dreams too much...