Online shopping is a curse

F*ck!...I had bought this book online called "The Brave New World" last week and even before it reached me, I blew up about 600 bucks on yet another book...just now!! I have been spending soo much money shopping online that its crazy. I cant help it..its soo damn convenient! The slightest of provocation makes me do it. For example, I was listening to Iron Maiden's Brave New World when I came to know that its inspired by the book with the same name. I went to flipkart and 3 clicks later, I was a "proud" owner. Just now, I was listening to Black Sabbath and reading a bit about them on the web when I came to know of this book called "The sound of the beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal". Seconds later, I found myself buying it! A few days back, I saw Assassin's Creed video and got reminded of how badly I wanted to play this game when my Xbox was wrecked. I had promised myself that I would get it as soon as my Xbox gets fixed. Suddenly, I started feeling guilty of going against my words!! It was crazy!! Needless to say, I bought it!

Its the ease with which one can get the stuff and the feeling that you are not spending cash from your pocket which makes it addictive and seem harmless. I am always like..its ok..just this once..I dont need anything else. But there's always "something else"! With every arriving shipment my folks give me a piece of their mind and seek an explanation. However, instead of controlling the urge, I changed the delivery address to get the shipment delivered at my office!! Damn..am soo screwed!

Good news galore

Things have been going great around me lately (touchwood). My bro's marriage has been finalized and the in-laws are super cool. They are a perfect extension of my family..and its real fun being around them. We went for this mini vacation to Mumbai last week and had truck loads of fun. We got to try all the street food of Mumbai and loved every moment of it. I also got to try out single malt for the first time in my life and although I dint get much to drink but whatever I had..it was awesome. Our stay was at the IIT Mumbai guest house which was a beautiful place to hang out. Our guest house was overlooking the Powai lake. I also got the chance to interact with some of the IIT professors who were dad's colleagues/friends. 

We went sightseeing to Lonavala which was another awesome experience. The drive there was super cool with us going at speeds upto 130 kmph in the car. The view offered by the place was breathtaking. All in all a nice vacation.

Back at home, I got another good news. It was almost 5:25 pm yesterday, me and Negi wanted to go out for some beers in the evening after the office when I got a call from my manager. When I went inside the conference room, he congratulated me. I dint know what the hell was happening. Thats when he told me that I had been promoted to Project Lead! It was really cool. I called up at home and got the lamest reaction ever from my folks!!Anyways, but I was happy. We ended up having an occasion for spending our evening with a couple of beers...which is always nice.

I also got my bike today all repaired and sh*t. It looks brand new and feels absolutely great. Although I had to shell out quite a bit, but hopefully insurance should cover most of it. Although the bike's still off limits for me..but the return of the bike somehow makes me feel that I have recovered fully from the accident..weird.. but thats how it is!

Anyways like a metaphorical cherry on top of the metaphorical ice-cream, I finally received Prince of Persia - Forgotten Sands and Red Dead Redemption. They are here for me to waste my precious time on. Reviews of those coming up shortly. The thing which is spoiling all this fun is the thought of my mid-sems next week :(

The new schedule

Things have changed after the accident.  My folks have confiscated the bike and I have being asked (strictly asked) to follow a strict time schedule. The result is...really awesome evenings. I go to the office by the office cab..which means that I have to get up at 6:30, get ready by 8 and reach the office sharp at 8:30. I come back at 5:30 in the evening and have the entire evening to myself. I get more time to practice my guitar, read stuff and also do a bit of studying for my mid-sems later this month. As I fully recover, I plan to continue my running as well. I lost 2 weeks due to the accident. Dunno how bad it would turn out to be. Hopefully this change is good for me.

The accident and Alan Wake

I was involved in a bike accident last week. It was crazy. I had a bruised fore arm and 8 stitches on my head. Fortunately no bones were broken and nothing major happened (touch wood)...the accident could have been a lot worse. Its a terrible thing to happen. I was kinda in a state of shock for about 2 days esp. during the nights when I used to lay on my bed waiting for sleep to come over. My mind kept racing about the events that happened. I did have a nightmare or two about the whole episode during the course of the week. Anyways I dont wanna talk about it much cuz it kinda brings back the experience to my mind which I really dont wanna go through again.

However, due to the accident, I was stuck at home for a week with absolutely nothing to do but rest. I used to wake up pretty late, have my breakfast in peace, plug in the Xbox and played till lunch. I had got this new game - Alan Wake, which once you start playing, is very difficult to put down. Its a thriller and its awesome. Its written by Sam Lake, the same guy who wrote Max Payne. Its a story driven game with loads of cut-scenes. The game is about an author called Alan Wake who writes thrillers and is facing his worst Writer's block. He is on a vacation with his wife Alice at a quiet li'l place called Bright Falls. Bright Falls is a nice picturesque place during the day. At night, its total nightmare. Anyways, Alice gets kidnapped by a mysterious force called the "darkness". While looking for his wife, Wake gets pulled into this "horror" story of which he has to write his way out. Most of the game takes place in the dark. You are equipped with just a torch and a gun. The torch, apart from showing you the way, serves the purpose of fighting against the Taken - ppl who are possessed by the "Darkness" and out to kill Wake. The Taken cannot attack in the light. The idea is to beam the torch and finish them off with the gun. Over the course, you get cool flares, a flare gun and flash bombs to take out multiple enemies. The best part is the sheer lack of resources and the degree of difficulty while facing your enemies. You cant go boom boom and finish off your enemies because you dont get that much ammo. You need to be accurate and most of the times, run away rather than be Gears of War about the entire thing. Running also does not guarantee safety since Wake gets tired pretty soon and the Taken on the other hand are pretty fast. You can dodge their attacks but you need to time your dodges to perfection. Its a thrill though when you get a successful dodge cuz its turns all cinematic and sh*t.

The presentation and the sound effects are awesome. The entire atmosphere is pretty scary with the Taken creeping up behind you or coming out of the bushes all of a sudden. You actually end up being really edgy while roaming about in the darkness at Bright Falls. You gatta look in all directions. There are some spectacular moments in the game. There's this one "boss" battle kinda thing where you are at this old house of 2 old rock stars who used to play heavy metal in their prime. Suddenly you are faced with an army of the Taken. What comes to the rescue is the pyrotechnics these guys had in their homes. When the pyrotechnics come on, heavy metal music also starts blaring from all sides. You have this amazing background score as you beat the crap out of the army of Taken with these super awesome fireworks all around you. It was sooo badass! Undoubtedly, the best moment in the game for me.

Anyways, over the course of the game, you get manuscripts pages and these TV clippings which give you clues and important pieces of the story. At first you would be tempted to leave them and go on with your objectives but as you play, you realize their importance. I am very keen to play the game once again. Once you finish the game, you get the nightmare mode. I am pretty interested to play the entire thing on the nightmare mode just to see what I missed esp during the first half of the game.
All in all a game which is really gripping and delivers what it promises. Next up, I am dying to buy Red Dead Redemption and/or Prince of Persia - Forgotten Sands.