Half-Blood Prince - Spoiler

I picked up the Half-Blood Prince on Saturday morning. Finished it up today. It had quite a surprise ending. I never expected Dumbledore to die and I least of all expected Snape to be the one who supposedly kills him. They do hold a funeral for Dumbledore at Hogwarts at the end of the book however I don't believe that he is really dead. Dumbledore believes in Snape wholeheartedly eventhough everyone else doesn't. I don't Dumbledore could be so wrong about someone. I think his death will turn out to be a well planned hoax so that he can come back and fight alongside Harry in the coming months. Eventhough Snape runs away with the Death-Eaters at the end of the book I don't believe that he is part of them. I think he faked killing Dumbledore to keep up appearances and not to give up his position with the Death-Eaters.

The book was great. Certainly a real page turner and an added plus was most of the main characters turning into young adults. Harry ends up with Ginny and most importantly Ron and Hermione are on their way to going out, or they will probably just get married at the end of the next book. Theirs has been a long brewing romance.

It is going to be a long wait till the 7th and last installment of the Potter series.

Blogging from India

I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Mumbai India, sipping on some chai. I got here last Thursday morning. The trip has been average so far. My dad's birthday celebration went extremely well last Saturday night. All our relatives came and his friends were there as well. My uncle organized the whole thing and MC'd the event. He recorded various memebers of the family saying a few words about my father and incorporated it into a montage which was played for everybody. I got up on stage and said a few words which were received quite well.
The food was great too. A whole slew of appetizers, a several course meal, and a large selection of deserts. My family definately outdid themselves here but a 60th birthday only comes around once and my dad is not one to really celebrate every birthday. He was very grateful.
Friday was the puja which is a traditional way of celebrating one's birthday in the Indian culture. It was a plethora of old traditions most of which I don't understand and am not too enthusiastic to learn. It was interesting to watch but after the 7th hour I started to get a little tired. You heard correctly, 7 hours! That is just a little extreme. If I ever have a puja done when I get older I will not go for one of these long winded ordeals. I would go for the abridged version of about 30 minutes. That would be more than enough for me.
Tonight my Aunt and Uncle are coming to pick me up from Thane (town) and take me to Bandra (another town in Mumbai). I'll spend the remainder of my vacation at my Aunt's place. This Aunt and Uncle of mine treat me as one of their own sons so it is always a pleasure spending time at their place.

No Gym

Since I had my surgery last week I have not been able to go to the gym. I can't strain myself otherwise I might tear the stitches in my nose. I'm going to India for 2 weeks so it'll be a full 4 weeks I'll be going without hitting the gym. I haven't stopped working out for that long since I started working out over 2 years ago. It feels wierd. I tend to lose size when I don't go to the gym. That is a feeling that I hate.
I can't wait to start lifting again. I'm hoping that septoplasty will enable me to sleep better and that I will be able to have more energy during the day and thus work out harder.
I'm going into the city today for my friend's girlfriend's birthday. I'm hoping to have a good time but it is difficult when you haven't accomplished a whole lot during the course of the week. For me, to let loose and have a good time I have to have my head clear and not be thinking about anything else. This is when I am the most fun. This is rare though because I always have something else on my mind.
Ideally I like going into all situations and looking at them as an adventure. I like the feeling that anything can happen, I can meet anyone. This is to be in the moment and enjoy the experience whatever it may be. So this is how I will approach tonight; by looking at it as an adventure.

My trip to India is coming up fast. I leave next Tuesday and I really don't want to. I haven't even started on all the stuff I've wanted to do this summer. By the time I get back, July will pretty much be over and I'll be looking at August.
I haven't done anything substantial since I left my job on June 10th. I'll be coming up on a month spent at home pretty soon. Time is flying, the summer is going by. How come the winter never goes by this fast? It seems like winter just drags on forever and then spring and summer are just a blur. I never do all the things I want to do in the summer. I want to turn that around though. I have all the time I can possibly ever ask for this summer. Gotta make moves, make moves!
I haven't even started looking for another job, not to mention, completed my resume yet.
On another note, I had made a promise to myself to stop drinking. That was back on June 20th and I haven't even thought about a sip of alcohol since then. And I have been surrounded by it. I've gone out several times since then with my friends while they got drunk.
I want to be able to have enough control over my emotions that I don't have to turn to alcohol for release and to have a good time. I think it is possible and once that confidence is gained and I know that at any time I can kick back and have a good time then I will never have a desire to drink.

I had a septoplasty done last Tuesday. The reason being it should help me breathe easier and lead to better sleep. I felt like I had gotten kicked in the faced for about 2 days after the surgery. My throat also got infected so I was pretty much confined to the house for all July 4th weekend.
I had a BBQ at my house yesterday with a couple of my friends. We bought $150 worth of fireworks which were definately the highlight of the evening. They were all ground based sparkle type fireworks. Definately fun but next time I'd like to find the aerial type.

Albums I've recently downloaded and am listening to:

Daft Punk - Discovery
Rob Thomas - Something to Be
Garden State Soundtrack
John Legend - Get Lifted
R.Kelly TP.3 Reloaded
Kanye West - College Dropout
Beck - Guero
Kanye West - Diamonds (Single)
The Killers - Hot Fuss
Coldplay - X&Y
Foo Fighters - In your honor
Common - Be
Jay Z - The Grey Album
Gorillaz - Demon Days
The Chemical Brothers - Push the button
Anthony Hamilton - Soulife

I've been using this site called "The Pirate Bay" to download albums using BitTorrent. The best part is the ability to download entire albums. I don' seed anything myself except for when I am downloading the album itself.
I love having new music at my fingertips. My IPOD is full of the best beats. It would be a shame if the RIAA or MPAA shuts down this site.