Spring Break ends!

Ah! One more last post!

My last spring break ended yesterday. If all goes as I have thought of life right now, this would be my last spring break for I'd be done studying with this year. I planned to enjoy my best this spring break(yeah! yeah! I hear you say I do it all the time). But this time, I did my best to have all the fun possible, so much so that I didn't do much research this week. Don't let my advisor know about it, though! I did some number crunching and some tweaking but otherwise, it was a pretty slow week with regard to research. But with fun, it was very busy....

I had gone to Texas and had some really good time with my family and friends there. I caught up with some friends after a long time and had a great time with them. My nieces still retain the "most adorable kids in the world" title :) And B has perfected the art of disarming us with her smile. Every time she needs something from me, all she has to do is smile at me with her 17 teeth(yup! we counted!) and I'd be in poodles(I'd have melted already) and would be ready to do anything for her. Thankfully, for me, she asks simple requests like playing blocks with her or walking around the house with her. You wouldn't know how much time I spent putting five blocks through their corresponding holes over and over again. But I wouldn't trade it for anything else in this world. And, I couldn't resist photographing her every day, just to hear her say "cheese!" :D 

And, N! She is now the "big girl" and tries to throw her weight around. That is so funny! :) Its amazing to see how quickly her thought process changes and how she adapts to everyone. She is a perfect Leo, getting all that she wants through others! And, its amazing how B handles her big sister :D Reminds me of A and me, I'm sure my mom would have laughed at it all. With my sis and bil, it was a good time alltogether and it was a perfect getaway from school. 

Then came a potluck with friends. I had earlier decided not to cook because I was returning from Texas that day, but suddenly decided to do so and whipped up some great curry within 15 minutes. Guess I'm getting better at cooking! And, SB's pooris were just yummy! They were the best of the lot(guess I'm partial to pooris because I don't get to eat them here. In fact, that was the second time in two years that I ate pooris in US, the first being the time when my aunt visited us). Followed by that, some of my friend's friends came to town and we had great fun planning for it. Add a hectic day of shopping, driving, cooking and you get the picture. 

Finally came yesterday... THE LAST DAY of my spring break! We went to Luray Caverns and Shenandoah and had a great time there. I'll post some pics later. The different poses(can anyone forget the V picture and the Attitude-look picture? Thanks to GV for that! But the most hilarious was the K-A picture. It was totally unintentional but kept us in splits for a long time. Something more to tease K with.... ;) ) were just too good. It was great driving through highways and country roads and fog and after 7 hours of driving, my driving desire got quelled for some time and I gladly handed over the keys to S(thank God he was ready to drive! otherwise, I would have started hating driving because I had a serious backlog of sleep.... and sleep makes me irritable. Period.) After a blissful power nap and some teasing of K(becoming my favorite hobby, gonna miss them all when this year ends!), we returned and I got to chat with home. Then came a late night drive and some good talk. Tell me this, are you or do you know of people who don't expect anything from life but lead their lives mainly for the experience of doing something and work hard at it? S told me that such people exist but I'm finding it hard to relate to. Any help, anyone?

Now, back to work! This last two months(starting today to May 15th) would be "work hard, Alpine!" period. But even I burst out laughing reading it. I don't think I would be putting in long hours doing research day in and day out. I would burn out far too quickly and wouldn't get anything done. My strategy would be more to:

1) get work done in a schedule

2) work in short bursts interlaced with other mindless stuff and fun stuff so that I don't feel that I'm working too long and have to take an equally long break.

3) Not go to the site of novels(yeah, the online english and tamil novels sites or library) till I finish these two months. (It would be the hardest of all the points, trust me!)

4) Copy all the movies I decide to watch to my hard disk and spend two weeks after May 15th to go through that list. 

5) Make a list of all the to do stuff and do them based on importance. (Not declutter my cupboard or computer just because I don't want to do the most important thing(usually something related to my research!) but because I'm doing it for their importance is higher than other tasks(like laundry))

6) Write a post daily on my blog to keep myself to accountable to myself and others - just a short list of how my day went and what I did to get nearer to May 15th goal. The goal is to graduate. But as to how well I graduate, you'll get to know at the end of May 15th. I have a plan and a wish. I'm sure my plan will work, I hope my wish works!

In all, I want to thank all my friends and family for making this spring break a truly memorable one. And a special thanks to all Rutgers friends for doing that special trip with us! 

How did your last spring break go? Any memories of it? And any unforgettable incidents? Do share them all! And keep an eye out for these accountability posts!