Running Out Of Gas!!

Ms. Helpful: Hi, this is Ms.Helpful and we are having a wonderful day at Great apartments!

Me: (I am sure it’s a wonderful day for you..not for me!!) Hi, we had a gas leak in our building couple of days back and our gas was shut down. Hasn’t it been restored yet because my stove is not working?

Ms.Helpful: (After a few seconds of hesitation) It should have been sir, let me check into it and I will call you back.

(Fifteen agonizing minutes later)

Ms.Helpful: Sir, we are very sorry but it seems the work may have remained incomplete and the maintenance staff will have to get back to complete it.

Me: Fine, can you get it done as quickly as possible?

Ms.Helpful: I am afraid due to the Memorial Day weekend, the maintenance crew will only be back on Tuesday.

Me: (doing quick math to realize that will be three days without gas) Thank you letting me know, you just made my day!!

Ms.Helpful: I am so sorry sir. Have a great day!

Me: (surprisingly calm in spite of fuming with anger) Thanks, you have a great day too!

Barring the obvious change in names and address, this was pretty much the transcript of the conversation that I had at the start of weekend with my apartment guys. Actually it has been greater than three days that I haven’t had home cooked food but it was only in the last three days that I have begun feeling the real need for it. The lack of work, boredom and wonderful weather provide a heady cocktail for the searing appetite. It wasn’t that I wasn’t having enough food but I was just not loading up to my desired level and having the desired quality of food. For now, all the things that I have are things that are microwaveable. So its instant lunches, frozen dinners, noodles etc. etc. I know it sounds strange but I cannot tell how much I am craving for food made by own hands!! These cravings and my attempts to distract my mind from them have made me realize many different things.

1. Omelettes can be made in microwaves and they surprisingly still taste delicious. I know they are round, pot bellied and look funny but combine that with some potato skins, potato chips, coconut cookie and a wonderful juice cocktail of banana, apple, coriander etc. (the etc. because it’s something that my friend makes and I do not manage to remember the rest!!), can actually make you last the whole day without being hungry!!

My Breakfast

the_lost_symbol

2. I still love to read novels!! Considering I haven’t read one for the last two years, my reading speed is surprisingly still pretty awesome. But I have lost the patience of finishing them up quickly. All this I realized after my attempts to read Dan Brown’s latest the “The Lost Symbol” which two years back I would have finished in a day but three days since starting, I am just halfway through. So far it has been a very interesting read!!

3. Sci-fi series still typecast ominous characters as bald, 280px-TheObserverno-eyebrows.

So I started watching Fringe this weekend and the series held my attention. And then we had the episode with a freaky looking guy who always happened to be at places where freaky events occurred. The script seemed to imply he was an alien, but why did he look so much like one??!! Shouldn’t there be an element of surprise?!

4. When you lack good food for three days, your senses heighten! I am sure you have heard of people who lack auditory senses have great attention to visual details; vice versa blind people have amazing perception for sound. Lack of some really good food seemed to be doing the same for me. In three days, I had located pretty much the entire stock of spiders in my house (and squashed them all..sorry Spiderman!!). But you know things are not a coincidence, when you can actually hear a beetle walking on your phone when you are looking the other way!

But I don’t want any more heightened senses, any more realizations about reading speeds or finding new ways to cook food! All I want now is some good calorie-stuffed home cooked food and I want it now. I know I am sounding desperate but as the case is..I actually have been literally running out of gas!

12 scribbles:

TALON said...

lol @ the alien appearance. It's so true. Aliens are either 3 feet tall with huge eyes and no mouths (they don't need to eat apparently so a lack of gas doesn't bother them in the least) or just like you said - bald and eyebrowless.

I hope you get to enjoy some home-cooked food today, Gautam!

Unknown said...

You were close to becoming Spiderman. Too bad that won't happen with all of them squished. Hope Ms. Helpful does something about it.

Have a good day!:)

Rahul said...

Mu ha ha!! :D
You need to lose some weight, this could not have come at a better time for you!!

Unknown said...

I wish I could live with those food, so I can lose weight. I can't live without rice on my plate. It's our staple food.

The Lost Symbol - you have published this post four days ago. I can guess you're finished with the book by this time?

Have a good day G!

Gautam said...

@TALON: Well it took some time but I finally had lots of good food!! :)
@Mr S: Don't think Spiderman's outfit would have fit me well, especially with the lack of food..he he!!
@Rahul: Mu ha hax3 Gas is back and so is my good food!! And I need to lose weight?? Seriously??
@Cee: I am having loads of rice now!! :)
And yeah, finished the book..was OK for me, the ending was very predictable especially with the big noetic undercurrent in the book. Angels and Demons still is the best of Dan Brown in my thought.

Unknown said...

You are so correct about the ending. I just didn't want to express my bit of disappointment in my blog for the story ending. I didn't want to spoil my friends who have yet to read the book. It's Dan Brown's trademark anyway. We spent our time holding our breath while reading it - only to had those kinds of endings. But I was still entertained, it's just the ending.

I loved Angels and Demons too, though I loved the Deception point more.

Have a nice day G!

Gautam said...

@Cee: I agree with you, Deception Point was better but Angels and Demons is the best book with Langdon!
But considering how good almost 2/3rd of the book was it was disappointing to see such a tepid ending.

apples said...

How did you do the eggs??

I can't wait to read The Lost Symbol, but I refuse to buy it till the paperback comes out!

Great site, love the header! :)

Gautam said...

The wonderful round shaped eggs are thanks to a pretty ingenious but cheap device that I recently bought. Check it out:
http://i49.tinypic.com/iei9fk.jpg

Thanks for dropping by!! :)

TALON said...

Hope all is well, Gautam! Have a great weekend!

Jaleesa said...

LOL I love dialog script it's always funny to read in a blog post :D

Gautam said...

@Jaleesa:
Thanks for dropping by..glad u liked it! :)