A 4 AM ZOMBIE

A few days of working 14-20 hours a day, and I'm physically and mentally zapped. Right now, I have the sense of humor of a dead doorpost and the IQ of a teaspoon. The feeling of complete exhaustion has hit me so hard that I can't sleep. At first, I killed time by filling bottles with water. Now, since I can't stand up any longer, I'm catching up with my life, trying to type fast with only one live hand.

While I spent 7 hours one night cluelessly editing an AV on Movie Maker for an arbit presentation, I've stood and stared all day at the mounting of an extremely rare signage on a construction site in the Ahmedabad heat on another day. Having learnt tonnes, I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.. but I've also realised that the enthusiasm to learn can take one to freakish extremes of zombie-ness.

I also ended up discovering a few places and things to do which are very relaxing when one is completely stressed out.

• At the top of the new office building: The terrace overlooks a few pieces of farmland.. very green, with lazy buffaloes with swishing tails. [While "Bhains ki poonch!" is a commonly used term at my workplace to exemplify the ridiculous, we now actually get to see the Bhainses and their Poonches :) ]. A place that soothing in the 4pm sun would be heaven whilst having to burn the midnight oil.
  
• On the pot, at home: Saying that, I sound very unladylike, and more and more like my father.
• Filling up water and folding clothes: I know somebody who finds extreme relaxation in brainless chores like separating onions and potatoes, socks and hankies. Today, I understand. I spent a good 15 minutes staring longingly at construction workers who were mindlessly breaking tiles. I also wondered if they envied the arbit girl who appeared to be doing nothing but standing around asking nosy questions about why there were so many freakin' wires with loose ends if the LEDs were connected in series.
• Going on and on on one's blog: Is fun :)

I know and can foresee things that I shall get into deep shit about after Diwali, I have no time to deal with those now. I shall have more 20 hour days, more exhaustion and zero credit for successes, but I'm still climbing up the learning curve.. I'm a freckled zombie with the IQ of a teaspoon, but I'm a happy zombie:)

WONKY, SQUEAKY AND ME

Pouring with sweat, I clenched my hair in frustration. I was standing on a wonky chair which was propped up on a spongy bed and peering into the bedroom fan.

I’d been awakened by strange noises all of a sudden one night, a week ago. Now, typically, nothing wakes me up. And I really mean nothing. But this was a high pitched, shrill squeak that was like irritating chalk on a blackboard. While I half-expected to have the entire thing fall on me, the other half of my sleepy brain told me it was a mouse stuck inside the fan, protesting. Between having the fan put a dent in me and rescuing an icky mouse, I chose to spend the night sweltering. The next day, all was well. Maybe it’d been a cranky night for the fan, or maybe the mouse just ran off.. out of the house somewhere to tell the tale of its day out.

This evening, it started again, much louder than before. It squeaked and squeaked, and squeaked its li’l plasticky lungs out, driving me out of my mind. It was time for Action.

I dragged a chair from the dining table and onto the bed. I still wasn’t tall enough to get a good look. My three inch heels came on next. I was finally in a position to poke around the insides. As I flashed the light from my cellphone, I was dismayed to find a whole lot of wire-crap. Nothing was hanging loose that I could tape up! It was just a whole lot of dusty wires with a funny looking motor-thingy. I did notice that the ceiling-hole-blocking thingy had lost a screw-- maybe that was rubbing against the top thingy and thus being noisy? I scrambled for some cello tape and scissors, and was soon snipping of huge bits and sticking it to the ceiling. As I stepped back to look at my handiwork, I patted myself on the back for having been fairly neat.

With bated breath, I flipped the switch. A couple of tens of seconds passed, with only silent whirring. The feeling of victory was just taking over the frustrated soul when it started, yet again, and with more vigor than ever before. I gave up. I needed help. I'd poked, prodded and even fed it oil from a spoon like a baby, and it wouldn't give in.

I am now out of my bed, roomless and sleeping on the floor. If anybody dares remind me at this point that I am an Instrumentation engineer, I shall wail like the banshee in my fan!