Somewhere between my last blog and now, I turned 24. It was a so-so birthday. Started out very boring and ended up very nice. I worked for most of the day and when I came home, I was about to go to sleep when I heard the doorbell ring and I saw Ami's whole family at the door. Ami and my mom planned my birthday. Ami's mom also decorated her house. I was genuinely surprised. I guess that's what it means to be engaged. You have a foot in both houses.
The cake was awesome! They totally thought about me when they ordered it. It was chocolate with chocolate icing, chocolate filling and chocolate flakes on the top. Polished off that in two days...Nan and I. Now, until Nan's birthday on Saturday, both of us are the same age. According to Nan, it is the "worst 11 days of her life." She's referring to the 11 days between my birthday and hers when we are the same age. Personally, I love seeing the look on her face when she realizes that we are the same age. She coulda been my twin!
I've just finished reading "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri. It's a very good book and there were several things in there that I identified with. I was telling Ami today about the book and how one of the characters in the book was particularly fond of Russian Literature. I totally identified with that! Especially when it comes to loving Dostoevsky's novels. There is something in Russian Literature that you do not see in British or American literature. The transitions are smooth and the novels take you into a person's life from one day to another without ever skipping a day, month, or year. Dostoevsky and Tolstoy both write like this but lately, I've begun to lean more towards Dostoevsky. He wrote more about the middle class as opposed to Tolstoy and the upper classes/nobility. "The Brothers Karamazov" remain on my list of top three favorite books. It is awesome and really, a sociologist's playground.
Now, I'm a half-way through "The Idiot" by Dostoevsky and pausing to think. His novels do that. You have to put the book down, absorb what he says, and then begin reading again. The good thing though, is that you never lose track of where you stop. He's that good. I work literally ten steps away from a Border's bookstore and they've been running a special lately. Buy two and get the third free. I'm feasting! Right now, I have about 10 books in line to finish reading and I find myself reading two of them at a time.
Finally, I am not sure yet if I left my other job or if I am still there. Imagine that! It was such an informal environment that I really did not notice when the line between employee and "employee very much like family" became hazy. For the most part, the Indian boss looked forward to teatime and dancing around the store with me or singing classic songs from Bollywood oldies.....Believe me, it was informal in there! I guess it is a little while now but I haven't returned to the bookstore and yet, I am on very good terms with the bosses. On my birthday, both of them called me with birthday wishes. I guess they knew that eventually I would move on. Nan tells me that my "fan club" keeps asking for me and she tells them where they can find me.
Sometimes, I miss working for male bosses. They are very different from lady bosses. Very, very different. I guess it is the length of time I spent at the bookstore that made things different too. The discussions are markedly different...especially when it comes to gossip and dislikes. I've realized that maybe my little rats are not that bad to work with after all and I'm ready to get back into the full swing of things.
