A Very Long List of Favourites Past

August flew by in the most depressive haze I have ever experienced, so apologies for the skipped post. Since then, there has been too much going on for me to write blog-appropriate words, and then there have just been no words at all, but here's to trying. (Fair warning, this is probably the crappiest list of favourites I've ever written and I wouldn't publish it at all but for the fact that the idea of skipping months makes my Type A self uncomfortable. So let's all just move on to December, and 2017, which cannot get here soon enough, and pretend this never happened.)

August

1. That outstandingly brilliant apple I had on the first of August, that made it make sense why an apple was central to Snow White's story- crisp and red and juicy enough that juices ran down my wrist; big enough that it could have been a meal unto itself. 
2. Talking with Marshmallow, and reading Cookie's blog, and being overcome with love and sheer gratitude, realizing that these incredibly intelligent, witty, funny, kind, loyal, opinionated, thoughtful, talented and loving people were my best friends. 
3. Pot roast chicken, and pretty white shoes and a pale pink lace hairband and the scent of books and red velvet cupcakes and a lovely Sunday afternoon with Kinglsey, in what seems to have been another lifetime. 
4. Being a mermaid princess on my birthday, and wallowing in my cheesy chicken bake and banana cupcakes. 
5. Crashing with all of my favourite friends in my favourite city (a preview of what I hope will be a much better October than my last one) and wrapping myself in all their love. 4km early morning walks in lipstick and a skirt and sandals; free breakfast after; talking till 4:00 a.m. because we were enticed into wakefulness by junk food and excellent hosting; winning at Cards Against Humanity (HA); "I see the ocean in his eyes" and scandalous stories and ~ scandalous ~ stories; that famous sambar that I've been hearing about for four years; the beautiful pink necklace surprise and eyeshadow and my favourite new lipstick; The Book of Hugs; all of the Harry Potter merch, including the earwax-flavoured every-flavoured beans; new jeans after five hours of indecisive store-hopping and death threats from my favourites.
6. My very own Kindle! 
7. Nights by the basketball court, basking in the starry breeze and quiet chatter- until that last one, of course. A few moments, up on that rooftop, on my birthday, just us (and a million waiters). Terribly unhealthy food, devoured with what I thought was love. Writing that terrible but cathartic rant- writing, after so, so, so long. This song. 

September 

1. Learning I'd got the internship I'd craved this time last year; that I was going to spend a month in my favourite place on the planet with most of my most favourite people on the planet, just when I needed it the most. The internship itself, and wallowing in the simple pleasure of correcting other people's grammatical errors. 
2. Plavi and the Math Geek. Thank you. Empathy Horse. Thank you. Nyancat and the Mosquito- thank you. Dorothy Parker and variously appropriate internet memes, and that one interview that Jen did for Vanity Fair after she and Brad separated- thank you. 
3. A lovely, lovely birthday treat by Pllvi that served up distraction on a plate.
4. Fish and rice from that one delivery place that has ruined me for fish anywhere else, including fancy restaurants. * insert appropriately heart-eyed emoticon* 
5. Othello, finally. God bless you, Shakespeare. 
6. Watching Sarah Kay and a million other talented poets live, and absorbing every word of every poem, and wrapping it around myself in a giant protective blanket and finally, for those few moments, letting myself weep. The crowd at the slam, the most lovely and positive and inclusive bunch of beautiful strangers I have ever wanted to envelop in a group hug; hanging out with new people and new experiences; excellent kathi rolls and the best cookies and cream ice-cream I've ever had. Note to self: go for events in the distant corners of the city and indulge in cheap amazing food more often.
7. My denim skirt and stripey top and, finally, long layered gold necklace and sling bag (perfect apart from being half an inch too small for my wallet to fit into)! 
8. Old Hindi songs, courtesy the Math Geek again. 
9. Random dinner with Pllvishani and backseat bitching-cuddling sessions. 

October & November 

1. A month with my favourites; experiencing the sheer joy of being able to meet without months of planning, of extended sleepovers and a neverending stream of biryani. The beautiful room with the bed with the cushioned headboard and neat perfect bathroom; Starbucks rendezvouses and family-photographer baby showers; gorgeous haircuts and an overdose of Chicken McSpicy's.  Spaghetti and red velvet cupcakes and wife-ing with Koko; the Pirates of the Caribbean marathon and the time we all met just to nap and sing along to Blue. 
2. Prepping for my exchange at Zurich (god, please let that happen) with all of the coats and boots and winter warmness shopping.
3. Long walks with Doobie, just like first year, except that everything is completely different.
4. Dinner with the Doosh, at my favourite Mexican place, back when we could still spend Rs. 500s and I chose to pay by card instead because those are the kind of brilliant decisions I take under stress. 
5. Cosplaying as my favourite badass literally-man-eating witch Manon Blackbeak for Comic Con- all of the pictures and all of the merchandise. Meeting Kim Possible (!) and embracing my inner evilness. It was so much fun being fierce instead of cute that it didn't even matter than only one person kinda sorta knew who I was.
6. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. I don't even know where to begin expressing how I feel about this movie, so I won't.

There are other happy things that happened, but I can't remember them right now, and this has gone on long enough. 

~Sam 

September Favourites

Once again, I am late (though this time I don't care, because I was just so tired.) Once again, I have forgotten to keep a post running through the month, and that I do care about because- what did I even do in September? I have no memory of the past month, and not in the good way, so bear with me on this vague, generic list please.

1. One thing I am 100% certain was a favourite was the end of that exhausting, soul-sucking term, and equally horrendous set of exams. Just. Over. Goodbye. Please stay gone.
2. Cuddling. Always.
3. THIS "SEXY AND I KNOW IT" COVER! I must find a way to get myself over this, it has taken over my life (and now all my YouTube recommends for me is various other covers of the song. IT'S NOT THE SAME THING, YOUTUBE. STOP ACTING LIKE YOU KNOW WHAT I WANT.) 
4. The Voice (US), in general, especially Season 4, with Shakira and Usher. If I survived the week before exams in one piece, it was because Doobie kept spamming me with links from this season, and man does this show seem great. Blake and his dad-jokes, Shakira being the little...spitfire that she is, Usher just straight-up exuding chill, and Adam, my dear Adam and his puppy faces and sad, sweet efforts to get people on his team. I have to watch this show properly at some point. But for now, it's goodbye till next exam/project time, I suppose. 
5. Pizza in the quad yo. Because pizza, and also quad. And decent company is never amiss, I guess.
6. That moment, and evening, when Doobie and I found out we had another 6 days to work on our projects. Breathing a sigh of relief, actually breathing, feeling the weight of the world lift off my shoulders, where it had accumulated without my even having realized it, dropping everything and going out, laughing, laughing, and wandering the streets putting up posters, publicizing my favourite fest (ah, who am I kidding, I love them all), relaxed and happy and in control again.  I knew there was a god up there somewhere. 
7. Chatting with MathBoy, and liking my writing again, at least for that brief moment. And not hating it afterwards either. The joy of knowing that it makes at least someone, somewhere happy. 
8. Nyancat's treat! The company, certainly, and rolling our eyes at over-friendly, pushy waiters, and cherry pie with cream, and warm chocolate cake, and loving barbs and hugs and, in my case, free food. ^_^
9. This kind of happened after midnight on the 30th, but I maintain, usually, that it isn't the next day until you have slept and woken up and/or the sun has risen, so Imma just include it here: making up holiday homework questions. And answering some of them. 
10. Shopping with Popo and the Cat! I did not do any shopping myself (SUCCESSFUL EXERCISE OF SELF-CONTROL YAAS BITCHES) (okay except when I succumbed and bought that beautiful pair of earrings but they were so unique and do you know how difficult it is finding unique earrings (or clothes or anything, for that matter) these days when everything looks the same. That wasn't shopping, that was an investment.) but I love assisting other people shop as well, when I'm in the mood (i.e. have adequate food and sleep, both of which I did- who would've known bacon and sausages inside pancakes would taste so damn good?) so that was a really fun day even if I was dead on my feet by the end. Plus it was also nice going and trying out pretty clothes I found, even if I had no intention whatsoever of buying them. 
11. Oh, learning about the new One D album, and listening to their new single(s)! Drag me down. <3 
12. Being called terms of endearment. :3
13. Jackass, I suppose. *rolls eyes*
14. Talking, bistro pasta and that episode and a half of Boys over Flowers, with Popo. ^_^ 
15. Packing, McDonalds and half of a walk with Doobie. Chatting for hours, again, listening again, connecting again, companionship again.

Hey, turns out I can remember good things if I try hard enough.

~Sam 

September Favourites

September was...quite the month. Tumultuous, I think, would be the word to describe it.

1. I watched a movie by myself. The events-and feelings- just before and just after that were definitely not favourite-worthy, and pretty much sucked to the core, but watching the movie itself was an awesome experience that I'd like to repeat, even though I did subconsciously turn to laugh at something with my absent friends a couple of times. Then I wallowed in my sorrow of that day by indulging in some major retail therapy. I finally bought lipstick!! It's something I've been meaning to do for a while, and after being the highlight of the make-up-selling-woman's day with my total ignorance, I landed on a nice bright pink which is pretty much the opposite of what I was looking for, but with some lip balm to dull it a bit, I love it. Oh, I also bought lychee lip balm! I love it. And a new eye-liner, I was sick of sharpening my old one. Yes, make-up is now important enough to me to deserve a paragraph over here, go away. Oh, and I bought a pretty, princessy hair-clip (which I have since worn once- unsuccessfully- and broken twice) and a ring (too big for me), but they were so pretty and I wasn't exactly in a state of mind to be thinking through my decisions. I did hold myself back from buying this expensive, beautiful (Japanese Cherry Blossom) perfume, though in retrospect I feel I should've just bought it (I totally shouldn't have).
I did learn that feeling like shit and being left alone in a mall are not good for my wallet, though.

2. On to happier things, I did well-ish at that thing I'd mentioned, which means I now have to do another thing, which I'm scared to the bone about messing up, but since I have no choice, let's just hope I work through my fears and this becomes a February Favourite. (It's kind of a long-term thing. I suck at long-term things. Don't you love all of the details I'm giving you?) I also took a lovely walk with a lovely friend, and lay on my back on the cold wet road and looked at the bright starry sky and basically floated on peacefulness.

3. Oh, getting back to make-up, I started this little ritual that I picked up from a friend of mine (hi, you), where I put on make-up when I can't study or do whatever it is I'm supposed to be doing. And it works. It's also nice to finally have an opportunity to wear my make-up and earrings and rings and pretty things, since I usually don't have the time to do all that before heading to class in the mornings.

4. I swung on the faculty-kids' swings a lot, a lot and it was pretty amazing each time and I'm so happy I finally plucked up the courage to start going there, because I haven't stopped since, and it's my happy place.

5. My boots saw more of the world. Given that I've worn them four times since buying them four or five years ago, and given how much I nagged my mother to buy me a pair, and given how much I spent on them, I think this is a favourite-worthy fact, even if I'm not as fond of them as I once was.

6. All of the midnight make-up application means I finally know how to line my eyes, even the top, which is so awesome. It's basically been a month (and a term, for that matter) of doing things I usually would never have done, whether that be karaoke or a movie alone or make-up or that thing I keep talking about, and that is good, I think.

7. I wore my hair in two braids a lot. I like two braids. It was nice.

8. Doobie and I found a happy place far from the maddening crowd (or perhaps bang in the middle of it, from a more literal perspective).

9. I bought what I think are amazing presents for some of my friends, and also received definitely awesome presents from them in turn, which was wonderful. Gifting, both giving and receiving, makes me so incredibly happy. ^_^

10. But most of all, I ran away from law school, and came home. I needed that so, so much this time. Let's hope home is good to me.

This is all I can think of right now. I didn't keep a draft of my favourites this month, again, because busy and lazy, so I might update this later, but I think I covered everything.

Love, ^_^
~Sam