Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf ?

So I come back here after a really long time, sabbatical of sorts and i find that i already have an unfinished draft. It only has this title and nothing else in it. Nonetheless i am going to comment on this movie.

4 Characters - Old professor and wife and their guests a young professor and wife.

Venue - a shabbily kept home belonging to the older couple.

setting - starts late evening and a drama unfolds and a story is told through conversations of these people over the course of the night. It ends at day break.

Perfect setting for a play I thought.Turned out the movie was originally a play. The screenplay was adapted to suit the big screen, actors hated the screenplay and they reverted back to the original script dialogues et al.

This is one of those movies that was meant to be black and white. With characters as wonderful and colourful as these, you dont need any colour in the background. The dialogues are absolutely a delight. Sharp edged and delivered with perfection this movie can be watched simply for the brilliant performances by the leading cast -- Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor( she won the oscar for this).

The story as it unfolds through the night through the volley of words being hurled back forth and across between the four people first amuses, then shocks and lastly settles into understanding and sympathising if not empathising with the protagonists. Nothing I say about the story will help at this point. To put it crudely its about a reationship that is doomed, failed, a success and meant to be that way, all at once..

Do watch it if you get a chance. It certainly far exceeded my own expectations of it when i first rented it out.

My fav part from the movie. When you believe that everyone pretty much hates everyone else,

Martha: I disgust me. You know, there's only been one man in my whole life who's ever made me happy. Do you know that?
[pause]
Martha: George, my husband... George, who is out somewhere there in the dark, who is good to me - whom I revile, who can keep learning the games we play as quickly as I can change them. Who can make me happy and I do not wish to be happy. Yes, I do not wish to be happy. George and Martha - Sad, sad, sad. Whom I will not forgive for having come to rest; for having seen me and having said "yes, this will do."

-- courtesey IMDB

Okay enough said. Just go on and watch it.

Useful Tips

You may already know all of this but just somethings I found out the hard way:

1. When a recipe calls for grated onions, finely chopped is what they mean. If you want an option its onion powder that is available readily. Onion paste does not cook well at all.

2. While making Marinara sauce add a pinch of sugar if you are using vine ripened tomotoes. That will get rid of the acidity in the tomoatoes.

3. While doing weights of any form in the gym always exhale on the contraction and inhale on the relaxation. ex: bicep curl; exhale bring the wt up; inhale taking it down.

4. Circuit training ( cardio+wts) is the best calorie burner.

5. Do strength training or extreme cardio (running long distance) with gaps giving your body time to recover and build muscles.

6. While making any soup, half a potato boiled and blended into the soup can make it really creamy and great tasting.

So, Eat well, exercise well and stay healthy... :)

Some space to call my own. A Place I call my own.

Sometimes I wonder. Where my own space is? My own time is? My days so full of things to do, I yearn for a moment of solitude. Of doing nothing. For one afternoon of doing nothing. Its two months into the year already and time is flying past me. All I want to do is reach out and grab one moment just for myself.

Its amazing how easy it can be to take someones world and merge it with your own. To make their dreams your own. Their life your own. I would be lying if I said I didnt love every bit of it. It's hard to keep alive the space that is your own. That is filled with colours that you are made of and you alone. Stay,nevertheless, it must.

I have just finished cleaning up my kitchen. Been a while since I plonked on my couch with a bowl of cereal and TV for company. Cannot be staple diet, but I do get the cravings.

On the same note, I went to chk out an apt today. Apt hunting is something I have never really done in my life in the US so far. As a student, housing was never a matter of choice. It was always affordability that dictated the terms. Plus on campus it was limited there were not really very many options. In Seattle again I stayed in Intern- housing. When i moved to SD into this lovely apt that I currently live in, it was found for me by my Reloc help. She know someone looking for a roommate and recommended I stay here for a while till i found a place I liked. I ended up living here for 3.5 years :)

So why the move now? It is something I have been contemplating for a while. Rents being the way they are in SD it was never an easy decision.Plus I have always lived with people around me. So much that I have always had a mortal fear of loneliness. A fear that the silences of a empty home will take over my emotions. But I feel ready to take on those fears. It is about time I lived by myself for myself and discovered myself. Find a few more hours in a day that I could fill with colours and sounds and scents that are just my own.

Anyways, I knew what I was looking for. And sometimes empty spaces say a lot to you. They welcome you with open arms. The apt I saw today put a smile on my face. I have found it. A place to call my own.

On a totally different note, I am certified to teach Step aerobics. Phase I complete.

Phase II target. Audition to actually teach a class with 24hour Fit. :) **fingers crossed**