Some updates and Some Bragging

       So two years is enough time between two posts or not? Like most adages there is another one 'Content is King'. I am non-blogging blogger. Maybe I am repeating my words from the last post but what is new in the world. Because I can't click portraits on my own maybe I could but I have my teams who make the models prim and proper and that reduces the time for post-processing. But the end result has still been the same for the last few weeks the camera is still in its bag and haven't shot anything at least on my camera and even very few photos with the phone. The computer has been down for months now because the part that is needed to fix it "Graphic Card" isn't a small investment. 

The whole result of everything is that I am reading a lot especially since I finally got myself a tablet that led to me subscribing to Kindle Unlimited which led to me finally being able to read White Sands by Brandon Sanderson the physical version was extra costly and I got them and many more through the program and I am super excited to read many more books and series and finally started playing some games on my PS4 Pro and the inciting incident was, of course, some youtube videos and also my Brother-in-Law was visiting for a few days so some games were downloaded for him but then I started playing Assassin's Creed - Odyssey and this time I am playing as Alexios, I had played this game earlier on my PC for about 60 hours but now following build guides from an awesome YouTuber T7 PDM who is still making videos about this game and I love watching his videos and learning from them. 

Another thing I finally finished the first book in the Stormlight Archives book "The Way of Kings" by Brandon Sanderson. This was as awesome as I had heard and as I expected it to be. I loved the book, I cried with the book, and I laughed but I am not going to jump over to Words of Radiance just yet because I have 67 books on my Currently Reading list and I am planning on reducing that number a bit before continuing with the series but I am a massive mood reader so don't be surprised if I start reading the book just after this post or another day or something like. Oh and I started the Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Diniman, I am currently in the middle of the second book in the series and this is a LitRPG series and it's fun to read this. I had read Solo Leveling first where something similar was the scenario but that was a Mahwa series and Dungeon Crawler Carl is a full-on novel and these are the first full-size books I have read on my tablet. 

My idea while trying to get the tablet was to read mangas through different manga sites for which I have a subscription and I read a few books on the phone but the tablet is a whole different experience and I realized that the tablet is perfect for reading most of the graphic novels that I am getting from Kindle Unlimited. Ah well. enough writing for now and I am itching to read on my tablet because due to office and gaming, I wasn't able to read any book on it so time to start reading a new graphic novel to increase the Current-Read list number to 68 :D I am sure this is never going to clear all the way but no I am stopping here after all it's a new post after a long time. Maybe finally read these words.

Office and then some more

Work from Home was a doozy despite increased productivity, ease of operations, and decreased cost. The companies learned a few lessons while forgetting many and reverting to the old ways. Because anything new is scary. Also, people would like to spend some more time in a few more meetings both local and online than to try a new approach to the things that have been done for the last few years.

As you would know that the normal shifts used to be 12 hours for all the jobs and granted most of the jobs were productions or mining jobs earlier but you get my drift. People fought and fought a bit more to make the 8-hour shift that's a standard now but unfortunately, that isn't the case for everyone. Maybe try talking to the humble guard standing or sitting outside your office entrance whom you have borrowed from an organization. The guards and other support staff are asked routinely to do 12 hours shifts maybe legally but more than likely illegally the company is charged for 3 8-hour shifts but then 2 guys cover the shifts in a day saving the company cost of 1 guard and the 2 guys covering 12-hour shifts they may or may not be paid for the extra 4 hours.

And that's the case for all the MNCs all around India so I would count myself lucky that I am asked to work only a 9-hour shift with a 1-hour break and have to clock 40 hours for a week and not something different. But then comes another notion where if you spend more time in the office it's considered more productive while it's anything but that. My brother works in a big MNC as a product manager and during the times when a product is being launched, he routinely works 14 - 15 hours to monitor the calls and complains all the time. How can you expect anyone to be productive when you ask them to do 15 hours shifts with no off time. But that's the norm and that's that is. 

I don't know what kind of chaos would erupt when 4 day work week is introduced in India, it's already a reality in a few countries and the result is increased productivity and happiness levels in the population. But who cares about the populations and the workers. We are just a cog in the machine and we have never worried about the machines.

Visual Novels - My Current Passion

 Hey beautiful people! how are you doing? How do you like to pass whatever time you get for yourself? What do you do for entertainment? Do you lose yourself in the endless well of content that is now youtube? or do you like to scroll and binge through what Netflix and other OTT platforms offer? Do you maybe like to read? Do you play video games? I do all these or did and these all are my passions and loves. I love reading but most of my time is right now devoted to another kind of reading which is 'Visual Novels'. 

VN or Visual Novels as the name is a novel or story supported by photos and animation or just photos. Most of the time these are rendered images so the updates take a long time but still we have 1000s of these VNs and games that have been completed. Now fair warning most of these VNs are what is classified as adult content but then most of the wonderful games for PS4 as well so there's that. I will be 40 this year so I am way above the age limit and enjoy whatever content I want. 

Now, these games or VNs offer varied stories, and many a time they allow branching or choosing your own adventure kind of a story allowing for different endings based on the choices you make. And yes they take full use of Adult nature and most of these VNs include sexual elements in their executions but there are so many VNs where the main focus stays on stories and I have enjoyed so many beautiful stories through these VNs that now for me Sexual interactions are no longer the primary focus for me but rather the beautiful interaction between the characters and I love reading through the lines of dialogues where people just talk about different things. 

I found these VNs during the first lockdown of the 2020s and they grabbed me immediately now I love playing these games and though there are multiple platforms the stories are told and there are different types of games and stories but my favorite is definitely VNs and I hope to enjoy reading through this medium as well. 

So while I enjoy my time the way I like you should do the same. Not the things I do but the things that give you pleasure and make sense of the world to you. The things that allow you to pass the little amount of free time you get for yourself. So then till next time.

Absenses

     I have been absent from my blogs and you can call it laziness or lack of motivation but it's also the fact that I am sometimes hesitant to say what I want to say even though not many people read these posts but it's still public so maybe it's better to moderate the things we say to everyone.

    My last post on this blog was maybe more than a year ago and it's not just this blog but every blog that I have there are no stories on my short stories blog, no photos on my photography blog, no thoughts on my ideas blog, a few book posts on my Books blog and nothing on my movies blog. 

     Yeah I am an idiot, I can't manage to keep one blog active and I have multiple blogs but I tried keeping one single blog but then I was always hesitant about where to put what kinds of posts there so that gave the fruition to the idea of blogs focused on a few ideas. 

     So yeah now you know why I have so many blogs and let's come now to the title of the post, why have I been absent, well it's life ain't it? I have been working and then the weekends are mostly busy with either the photoshoots or shopping trips. I have been reading, watching movies, or simply on Youtube in my free time, and yeah most exciting update has been that I have started using fountain pens again and have got many beautiful pens and inks and I love writing in alternate inks on my pages. Yes, I have been finally getting back to writing as well after many years of just typing. 

       

       For the first time since I started my blogs, I wrote my first stories in notebooks and have not typed them yet. I have had a few books published in the Kindle book store and hopefully, these analog stories would be the first short stories published only in the books and available nowhere else. The level of distraction is so high that every time I would sit on the computer I would pivot to something else and the book hasn't moved beyond the prologue yet. So I thought to write it but was never happy with even the Rollerball Pen, then I got the Rollerball refill with the Medium nib and that changed the experience and I loved it and then I found the fountain pens again.

                                                                           

                                                             

     These are a few pics of my fountain pens and love them dearly. I have pens varied between 35 Rs. and much more. They have different colours and different types of nibs. I have learned that I like the nibs that are Medium and beyond better. I try to write at least two pages a day and thankfully I have been able to continue that practice for close to three weeks now and I would like to continue that to make sure that my pens are in rotation and in use. So I might be absent from my blogs but I am present in my life and you should also find something that gives you joy to make the life worthwhile.

My First Crush

       Let me tell you a short story from my past, a short story that would be similar for many other people as well. Well, it's more of a memory than a story this is the story of my first crush. Like all the first things I remember most things about crush but as it happens for me nothing came out of it sure but feelings and emotions are like that Stupid they don't understand the logic.

        I was 16 years old and met her in the tuition class. I was this nerdy, thin, dark, underconfident kid and she was beautiful, fair and cute and all that. Of course, we became friends after few days and the classes became enjoyable and I was eager to join the class and paid full attention and it didn't hurt that the trainer was good and we learned a lot from the classes as well.

        No names yet or ever because what's the point now also no need to be hung up on the names, she was beautiful and I was smitten. Well you know even 16 I was still a kid and so was she so used to dress as such in frocks etc. There was another girl in the class and two other guys and I was friendly with all and it's more than likely that other guys also had a crush on her. But I only knew about myself. I had started writing few poems by this time and during this time I wrote my first romantic couplet but, no, not going to write them here.

        I was young and stupid, I was happy in our day-to-day interaction and would walk together after the tuition class and it was enough for me. One day I blurted out - 

"You should wear Indian clothes sometimes."

"Why?" She asked

"I don't know, I just wanted to see you in Indian clothes."

"OK, I will see" She replied

    A few days later we were walking back home after the classes and suddenly we were stopped by a couple of guys. And of course, they threatened us telling us to stay away from the girls and my friend asked them why should we do so, and thump a slap hit him and another one for me, my first and last slap ever from someone other than family.

    We never saw the idiots again and our routine continued and now I would sheepishly like to tell that I don't remember if it was the new year or the end of our tuition classes but long story short we decided to celebrate the day/evening at the tuition class and I took a camera with me and it was a fun evening and one more thing. She wore a suit (Salwar-Kurti) for the first time in the classes, my request for an Indian dress and she looked stunning as usual. We enjoyed the snacks, danced away on the latest songs for the time. It was was many years ago I am 38 years old now so the camera was a Point and shoot analog camera with a 36 roll reel. No cell phones, no internet, and no social media. 

        Soon the classes were over that was our only meeting point and after that, we never met again. Years later I tried searching for her on Facebook but haven't had any success, but I still have the photos from the evening and though there were only 4-5 pics, at least they are there. It is just a memory now, a great memory but memory nonetheless. I thought I saw her in a Gurgaon mall after many years but before I could call her name she was gone from my view. RG you are my first crush and this would be the first time I have narrated this story.