Off on a Tangent ~ හිතුමතේ හී සර

last week I was in HongKong! Well Singapore too, but mostly in HK. And the trip was great! By far my best vacation ever! Sooo what can I say about HK?..Hmmm its a nice place...The people were friendly and it was soooo chinese ! OK I know HK belongs to China but I guess I was expecting something like Singapore which is very multi cultural. Supposedly it is winter in HK now but the weather never went below 22 - 24 degrees during my stay. Although everyone I saw were wearing jackets and sweaters and stuff..I was like 'Oh come on its not that cold' but later felt too self conscious to parade in the streets without wearing any warm clothes myself. Ha ha The food was...erm to be honest I skipped the local cuisine this time. I learned my lesson the last time I went to KL. So it was basically McDonalds and BurgerKing for me..Although I did try these small stuff called Dim Sums - which was OK. And I can now eat with chopsticks! yay! I achieved this while in Disneyland. Well obviously m...

On Saturday, I saw that grotesque video of the suicide bomb attack in Narahenpita. The sight of the woman's body getting blasted into two separate parts was ... unnerving to say the least. But the part that shook me to the core was that the girl (suicide bomber) was born in '83. Same age as me. Here was a person who was born in the same year as I. A girl like me. A girl like many of my friends. Correction : A girl who was so like and unlike me at the same time. What happened to her to make her do what she did? I am in NO way sympathizing with suicide bombers. But I cannot help but wonder what happened to the real girl - the one who played with kittens when she was small. The one who danced in front of the mirror when no one was looking. The one who could have grown up into a girl with dreams in her eyes. But she didnt...

Have you ever noticed how bright a full moon can be? Living in the 21st century means our nights are now soaked in artificial light. I have honestly never noticed the light the moon gives - that is not until recently... When I switch off the lights in my room, if I draw back the curtains from the windows, I can actually see stuff clear enough to walk about by the light of the moon! And if I open the windows, I can actually see the moon up in the sky... And its beautiful beautiful beautiful... The bit of land next to our house is still vacant. So there arent any god forsaken light bulbs burning up like a bloody pandol to ruin my starry skies yet. Which means I can go out into the garden and stare at the stars - and try to make out the constellations. No I am not crazy! Its called stargazing. There should be a word called 'moon-gazing' as well! Is it just me or is it this time of year? Somehow the days seem brighter, the sun seems gentler and everything is just...nice. No nice is...

Who shall declare whether it is a pain or a relief to the overcharged heart? The dignity of a crowned queen is capable of utterly dissolving and disappearing in a shower of tears, when Love's burning finger touches the pulse and marks its slow or rapid beatings.

Friday! Jubilation! Or not. Oh yeah I forgot. I have work on Saturday. Project deadline on 15th. Wake up. Office. Code code code. Bugs bugs bugs. Dont get me wrong, I love my job. But its when trying to locate some god forsaken bug that refuses to be reproduced on my computer (its malfunctioning on test environment perfectly! huh ) that I feel like throwing up. Seriously.

On love...

Yesterday was a complete bore. I tried fiddling with the computer a bit, but my job requires me to fiddle with them damn things for 8 hours per day. So I thought what the hell, its Sunday after all - and turned my attention to tv. Unfortunately brother dear had already seized the throne ; aka in possession of the remote. :( I had no choice but to sit and watch what his highness was watching...And we watched *drumroll*..... Batista Vs Kali on something called No Mercy. (?) First there was this huge yucky guy named Kali ( supposedly after the Hindu goddess - but why is a GUY named Kali?? Isnt Kali supposed to be FEMALE? huh ??) and he was inside a bamboo cage. He was strutting about for a bit and then another guy named Batista showed up. Batista was also yucky but less so because he was less huge and therefore appeared to be at least human and not a long lost brother of Hagrid. Anywayz he was also put in the bamboo cage - um two cages actually. It was a cage inside a cage. So the deal wa...

Yes! She's out! She's out at last! The gal with the flat voice and the fake accent shall cease to be an earache for ever more - well at least until some 'cassette kada karaya' picks her up to produce some kottu roti music. Ok look Im not a heartless person. Im sure the girl has some talent.I mean yeah I guess she's a better singer than ME. But does she have enough talent to be in that top 5? Erm I think not. Seriously not. Yes I too received those chain mails claiming to uncover Nadini's conspiracy to win the Super Star title ; that she's bought SIM cards worth 300,000 and how she can divert votes coz she works at Dialog and so on...I dont know about those stories. People wil always say what they want to say and people will always believe the sensational. What I DO know is that the girl is NOT a singer. I mean wot the hell was she singing on Saturday? Whats with that fake accent anyway? I couldnt even make out some words of the song! And her song on Sunday! ...

A convo I had with a friend of mine today triggered me to write this post...I've always been a Rain Person, aka someone who loves rain. I love watching the rain come down!, walking in the rain, listening to the sound of rain on a stormy night ...But most of all I love to curl up with a hot mug of coffee on a rainy afternoon and sit by my window and just...enjoy the show!! Anyway today morning was bright and sunny (like in those stupid essays we used to write in 7th grade) and my friend was saying how much she loves sunny days and how much she hates it when it rains! I was like 'WHAT? how can you not like rain??' (shudder shudder) This reminds me of some of my other friends who wouldnt put a foot out of the house if its raining. Honestly its just WATER for gods sake! Am I missing something here??? This brings me to another point: Apparently there are two kinds of people in the office - Those who want ALL the lights on and those who want to stay in the dim forgotten darkness....

I've done it! Ive read my first Dark Tower book! (For those of you ignorant people out there, Im talking about THE Dark Tower series by Stephen King) I went to the Book fair the day before the last day - loaded of course - on account of the First Salary (gloats at unemployed ppl) and boy was it crowded! It took 5 bloody minutes to walk 5 metres! And they didnt even hand out maps like earlier times :( So we had to wander aimlessly untill the book stall we wanted appeared in our line of sight... So anyway while walking around in Expographics I came across Stephen King and the Dark Tower series. Having been introduced to Roland the gunslinger and his Tower in Insomnia & Hearts in Atlantis , I was dying to read it. So I bought this one called "The Dark Tower: The Drawing of The Three" which is really cool. Yeah Roland is a cool guy. Intense but cool. I did NOT make the mistake of buying any programming books or books that are related to computers this time...The two HUGE...

Ive been hennaed!! as in Henna -ed. Yeah thats Henna. You know that stuff people put in their hair to make it black (or brown). This is what happened: Yesterday my mummy dearest made me sit down and apply henna on her hair. This has never been tried at home before due to the questionable domestic abilities of her first born. However due to the recent shifting houses thingie we're minus a beauty salon. So ...haha as they said in Oliver Twist, the lot fell on yours truly. Since we didnt have a hair dye brush in the house, ammi came up with the brainwave of using a toothbrush. So I put 2 packs of henna to a bit of tea and mixed it about, and started applying the muck on ammis hair. So there I was, happily spreading this brwnish-greenish goo with the toothbrush and not bothering to keep the goo out of my fingers...After all, I reasoned, henna is natural right? So its not like a toxic substance or whatever right? And it will go away right? And then halfway through, ammi suddenly says ...

Thanks to John , I have been forced to write this post...Anyway here goes: I love daydreaming. When I get bored at the office I look straight ahead of me and stare into the blank wall and pretend that there's a window and I can see a magical kingdom out of that window. There's always pink smoke...Hmm dont know why... I'm a Chocoholic! I love all things chocolate. My fav are chocs with nuts. And Hot chocolate! Yummm...Just imagine drinking a steaming mug of hot chocolate on a rainy afternoon... I am addicted to reading. I read and read and read. I cant stop it. I read in my room, in the car, in the bus, in the train, in the garden, at the dining table, in the bathroom, I cant stop!! Help!! I love playing around with ones and zeros aka programming! So I'm really lucky that I get to do that for a living... I hate fake accents. I still have a crush on Fox Mulder When I make cake I eat the batter. It has different tastes at different stages. Actually I enjoy eating the batte...

I love my campus. I love the shady trees that line Reid Avenue and Thurston Road and the pretty yellow flowers that bloom and fall ever so gently on the young lovers who underneath. On early mornings I enter uni through Thurston Road entrance, and walk down the path past the Open Canteen, past the Math department, along the campus grounds, and I have felt the eternal youth that resides in these quarters, of truth and beauty and freedom… And yet, sometimes I do wonder what is going on inside certain people’s heads. The way these people act is so illogical and perplexing – not to mention disgusting. What am I getting at here? For one thing, I have noticed there seems to be a new breed of male students who have taken up the habit of passing snide comments to their fellow female students (on the way they dress). Yes, I do know that this is common practice in our much ‘cultured’ isle but really, I have spent four years at UOC and no one had anything to say to me inside uni – until these ...

I recently came across this book 'PopCo' by Scarlett Thomas. Its what is apparently known as 'Mathematical Fiction'. Non-math ppl, don't go away though! Its not technical at all ...It discusses stuff ranging from Cryptography , Reimann Hypothesis and Alan Turing to homeopathic remedies when you're 'feeling like glass' and even a cake recipe for a cake called 'Let them eat cake'!.. This book is loads of fun and can send your imagination overdrive. I suppose its central character Alice being a sort of geek gal, it would appeal to fellow geeks (like me)! Apart from being a fun read, it also questions some things that we take for granted today. Like, how much lies are consumers forced to digest by the corporate propaganda. Certain info on how milk is produced freaked me out totally that I havent been able to drink milk without a guilty conscience for days! Closing comment from the book : Change the World

All good things must come to an end. All joyful welcomes must end in tearful adieus. And so I say goodbye to you, my most trusted and loyal canine friend. I wish I had talked to you more, given you more hugs, played more silly games … I wish … I wish … I hope you were brave in the face of death when the time came. I hope that Death’s scythe fell swiftly and caused you no pain. Were you really happy with us? Was the love and care that we gave you really enough? I only know that in a treacherous world, your love for me was unquestioning and unconditional, and for that I am thankful forevermore…

Woke up late on Wednesday morn and was immediately depressed because of the number of lecture notes I had to study before the 4 th . At 10 it occurred to my foggy mind that I was due at Queens to lunch with my old school buddies …or was I? Was it Wednesday or Thursday? And was it 12 or 1? Hmm… a phone call to London and her mom assures me ( London being unavailable at the time due to her annual bath) that the date is indeed today and the time is 12 pm. I decide to study a bit more and soon feel disgusted at my lecture notes, which contain gazillion definitions all in the size of micro print. Maybe they forgot to handout microscopes at the lecture. At 11.30, I abandon the heady world of wffs and FOPL and head for Queens . 12.30 – Arrive at Queens . All my friends minus one are already there! Awww its so good to see the gals again! Ooh Mad-Oori is wearing glasses!! Gonsi says she’s supposed to wear specks as well, but she doesn’t. ‘Umm why?’ we ask. ‘It looks so ugly’ comes ...

Why do we bother to blog? What is the compelling reason behind it? Why does someone feel the urge to tell the world what she feels about certain things in life? Why does he/she want to advertise what she did on that rainy afternoon when the electricity was out and dinner was burnt and the dog had run away? Why? Why? Why?!! I suppose we're all bit of egotists in a way...assuming that our lives are so important that they need to be documented, remembered(?) As for me I cant really give a straight answer to why I started blogging - it just occurred to me that it might be a fun thing to do! However, some people use blogs as a way to keep in touch with their family & friends. You can let your loved ones share your life even if you live thousands of miles apart : these are the personal type of blogs which record the events of the authors life just like a regular diary - well maybe not quite like a regular diary!- after all, who'd like to let their mom know how drunk he got at la...

It has forever plauged me how I manage to totally waste time by doing nothing. Yesterday, for instance I was supposed to read at least 2 research papers and finish studying the last lecture note on WASN. But despite the fact I stayed clear of the TV, and Terry Pratchett (I purposely borrowed Dostovsky so that I wont be able to read it in one go) I only finished the lecture note...and zero papers..So wot in the world did i do?? I vaugely remember staring blankly at the lecture note for ages though . Hmmmm....Oh right I did some playing around in Cygwin. But how could that take hours? I only did one small program...??? ! Maybe I was abducted by aliens. That'd explain the time loss. (ha ha)

Does any one know how many soaps are run on Lankan TV these days? And its not just TV, they're on radio as well...The thing is most of them are really stupid! Granted, soaps do not have to be based on 'Booker prize' scripts, but PUH LEEEEZE the plots these people come up with!! Just tune in to Swarnavahini's Gauthami or Sirasa's Kavya to get my point *rolls eyes* Why do these ppl have to copy-cat indian soaps?? Its not just the plots either! Why on earth is Vasuda (in Vasuda at Sirasa) wearing a mangala sutra ??? Hellooo Sirasa ! Get a reality check NOW! Since when did Sinhalese women weart those? And the garish make up plus the gaudy makeup these women seem to be smearing themselves with...! I personally have never met anyone who waers saris at home...My mother tells me that her mother, my grandmother wore saris at home ages ago... But the women in these soaps are wearing all these heavy gaudy saris at home all the time??? The recipe for a Lankan Soap: A her...

From Booked by 3 Name up to 3 books you think everyone should read. To kill a mocking bird The God of Small things Captain Corelli's mandolin Name up to 3 authors you think everyone should read. Terry Pratchett Dostovsky Issac Asimov Name up to 3 books no one should read. Anything by Jackie Collins - i've only read ONE book by her and i cant even remeber its name...It put me off her for good! Timeline by Micheal Crichton - Normally I love this guy, and normally i LOVE anything to do with quantum physics (because i love qubits) but this one was just too implausible...It started off well, but halfway through the book it lost its magic. Children of the Lion by Carl Muller - I'm a sucker for fantasy, but this had too much ! It was like drinking sherbet that had waaaaaaay too much sugar

I just had this crazy idea about blogs. as in where blogs would be in 1000 yrs? hmm maybe some researcher of socialogy or whatever will scavenge through the long-lost blogs of the present day to understand how ppl (we) lived, ...you know like a modern day historian digging up stone slabs...! blah i think i have way too much imagination !! :(

Jubilation! I finally finished the restructuring of my research project... So now all i have to do is train to on a few more data and finish the GUI..Ahh coding!! After ages and ages of error analysis and wrting xfst code and tons of regular expressions and after being submerged in finite state automatas it seems such fun to do some java :) maybe i should put some graph thingies in it.. although i dont rally think im going to get extra credit for adding fancy cutesy gui stuff. lol! but its sooo much fun to play around innit? thank god for netbeans!!

It just occurred to me the strange way that things come up when we're hoping they wont...Like, you have a big assignment due the next day, so you stay up all night typing, and think - Gosh I hope the printer wont run out of ink and the next day -> WHAM! Your cartridge's empty!! Or you're out of paper. (Cringes) Why do these things happen?!! Nobody knows...

Brain Lateralization Test Results Right Brain (64%) The right hemisphere is the visual, figurative, artistic, and intuitive side of the brain. Left Brain (40%) The left hemisphere is the logical, articulate, assertive, and practical side of the brain Are You Right or Left Brained? personality tests by similarminds.com

Having finished reviewing the paper on Quantum Computing I started on my research project. Well its supposed to be all finished (since i handed down the thesis a week ago) but i have a couple of weeks to add some finishing touches before the defence... Actually it IS finished and working, but something about the design bothers me. So im sort of re-designing the lexicon structure, in a way that wont affect the thesis!! :) i need to work on the GUI as well..Re-designing is boooring, since all i need to do is shuffle the contents of the lexicons so that i get ONE core lexicon and no redundencies. So the cerebral effort needed is zilch. i was going to start coding the GUI when i realized my working code is in the uni lab computer. bummer! so i have to start it tomo, as uni is opening tomo after the Vesak holidays. so meantime im stuck with shuffling the lexicons, trying to remove the redundant verb roots... For those of you who are wondering what the heck Im talking about, my research is...

From Booked by 3 at Shelly's Bookshelf . Name up to 3 characters: You wish were real so you could meet them. : Carrot in Discworld series - this guy is so charming- and honest and straight as an arrow : why dont i meet guys like this ?? Bridgett from Bridget Jones diary - she's so real and reflects all those 'girly' stuff that we go through Ted Brautigan from Hearts in Atlantis - i found his character fascinating, more so because this book only vaugely hints at what he is and what he does You would like to be. : Elizabeth from P&P - wow who wouldnt?! this is one tough gal! Go jane austen!! Arwen from LOTR - huh wishful thinking! Arwen is this elven princess... Angua from Discword - she's part warewolf but really shes not evil (...AND she's Carrot's sort of girl friend) That scare you. : Milady from The Three Musketeers...Yikes what a scheming witch! Read this about a deca...

Whoa the past two days have been pouring !!! Who said 'its always calmest before a storm'? It sould be 'its always HOTTEST before a storm'. Today was a little better. Yesterday we had torrential rain the whole day. Its pretty normal to have hot, humid, rainy weather in May so when it started raining yesterday morning, that was just typical May weather. But then just as I was measuring coconut milk to make watalappan Ammi started shouting that the lobby is flooded! It turned out that the balcony was being bombarded with the pouring rain, and water was coming inside!!! And i found that my room was getting wet too. The reason being out roof was leaking!!! Arghh!!! That has never happened before! Anyway, it meant that i have a personal indoor swimming pool. Cool huh? I think it was 'coz the rain was coming down almost horizontally. The roof was leaky in several places and we had to move furniture to avoid them getting wet. Damn it! There went my leasurely holiday :( A...

Owing to some random cerebral process, i suddenly decided that i should have a BLOG! It came out of the blue really...hmm weird how the mind works init? i mean, here i am with tons of work to do and im writing this ... i probably should be finishing my project..:( Arghhh only two more months to go! And the end of free education...Should i be feeling so happy that im finishing uni? i thought i would be bummed out. It'd mean the end of 'undergrad' status for one thing, and i'd be expected to be a resposible person with common sense !!! Well whatever...its too hot to get philosophical. Maybe its global warming- or is it? its always hot in May. I have to review a paper as well. Quantum Computing by Shor. hmm... maybe i should log off and do some work.