Sometimes it is a great to have a weekend to yourself. No major plans, things to do but being so minor, they can wait and there is no rush. Do not get me wrong, I love my crazy weekends when I am rushing around and hardly have time to breathe but having nothing on the agenda is a great feeling. Yesterday I got a few things done, I got up around 7:30am (even though I must have only fallen asleep around 2:30am), had some breakfast, started the clear out and then headed into town around 10am. I had to drop my suit off at the dry cleaners and then just pop into Tesco. When I got back I had a continue the clear up process and realised that I could the remainder today. It was only then I noticed from the EPG on Freeview that Football Focus was not on until 13:15, so I headed onto the computer for a bit and downloaded this week’s Dollshouse (it was on break last week). I then decided to sit down and watch the previous two episodes because I had not watched them properly. Okay, in the first instance I had fallen asleep and the second time, I had decided to stop watching the show on the television back home in Wycombe. Then it was time for Football Focus. I did not have a proper lunch (just poppadoms and mango chutney that were leftover from Friday night) and then spent much of the rest of the afternoon on the computer (after putting the washing on). I sorted out my friend Reena’s laptops and then thought I would get my media PC up and running. However, although the AGP card does have DVI output it did not, so I will need to grab my VGA monitor cable from back home next weekend and try that with the onboard graphics card first before installing Windows Media Centre and getting this baby up and running. The plan is that the media PC will host all my files and serve them to my Squeezebox Boom and XBox Media Centre (or hopefully directly to the television) if I can get it working. We shall see, we are nearly there, hopefully next Monday everything will be up and running.
I ironed my shirts while watching the tail end of Robin Hood. I stopped watching the show a few episodes into the first series as I soon realised it was just going to be a cat and mouse game with the Sheriff every week. Shame really but I suppose I should appreciate that I am not the target demographic for the Saturday evening show. Afterwards, I watched John Barrowman’s Tonight’s The Night. Not a bad Saturday night show, is Barrowman the new Noel Edmonds (who can additionally sing and dance)? It was at this point in the evening I decided that I would go to the Tesco Extra on the edge of town now rather than on Sunday morning. It would be quieter, I could get everything I needed and not have to wait until after my crazy gym session. So just after 8pm, I headed into the car and up the road. The place was relatively quiet (compared to New Year’s Eve) and I filled my trolley with all the food I wanted, and a bit more. The problem of being at Tesco and not Sainsburys is that the store is so much bigger and I have to remember where everything is kept. I am more familiar with Sainsburys and can get around there within twenty minutes. I was looking for shoe polish (which I did not find) but instead I found a gym and fitness eisle, with several shelves dedicated to protein shakes. FlexSingh and Pav would have been very proud. They would have been over the moon if I had actually taken a £40 tub into my trolley!
My only mistake had been not to eat anything before I set out which meant I was rather hungry by the time I got back to the flat. I loaded the car and sat down, the dash time read 20:59. Perfect, I had wanted to be about an hour and was on schedule. I put on the radio. The opening to one my current favourite songs filled the car, I put the volume up. I was listening to Westwood simulcast on BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra. There is just something magical about hearing a song you like on the radio. The fact that other people will be listening to it (manly for the first time) but also the fact that the DJ appreciates the song too and feels the need to share it with his audience. Plus using it as the opening to your Saturday night show is a sign of intend and a ringing endorsement. The song I am talking about is Knock You Down by the beautifully talented Keri Hilson. I have decided to wait for the UK edition of her album to drop, mainly because it features three more songs (although only one new) and possibly two bonus tracks.
As I walked into the flat with my shopping, I could hear a voice in the lounge, I knew I had not left the television on and when I walked in, I realised it was my sister, Julie leaving a voicemail. I had missed her call by a matter of seconds. She said goodbye and hung up. I called back home. I then put on a pizza (mainly forced into that decision because it was too big to fit into the freezer). I then went to see what was on television, not much, it was 9.30pm and my options were limited. Casualty, The Greatest TV Adverts of the 21st Century, the movie Anti-Trust (which I would have liked to have watched from the beginning) and The Mitchell & Webb Look on Dave. I decided to stick with the television adverts for a while before jumping back on the computer.
While talking to Preeti earlier in the evening on MSN, I had decided to download American Desi. I came to this conclusion after discussions revolving around Hindu music, movies and comedy. Somehow, I was sent the link to Aap Jaisa Koi. I instantly recognised the song and the artist, it was Penn Masala. The American based Indian accapella group that my sister Natalie had introduced to me on July 2007. The video I was watching for the first time, was actually just clips from the movie American Desi and I realised that I had not seen the movie even though it had been released for over eight years. I recall stopping by a friend’s student house in Leicester around 2002 and she had the DVD on in the background on the television. So around 11pm, I decided to finally sit down and watch the movie. Preeti words were I would ‘relate’ to the story and the predicament of the main character. So what is my verdict? It was good and had some very funny moments. Kal Penn gives a standout performance which had me in stitches. There were a few laugh out loud moments and the story was convincing and believable. Did I relate to it? Well a little perhaps! But even though I have an angalised name (which is only used at work and in professional capacity, I rarely get called Andrew outside of work) I think the main character Krishna has lost respect for his roots which is different from my situation when I prefer to believe I just have a different point of view which is slightly radical and liberal. Plus my knowledge of Hindi movies and music is adequate (particularly from the 1980s action era which in my opinion was the best) I would struggle with most movies after 1992 onwards (when I gave up on Indian cinema and switched to Western cinema predominately). I can speak broken Punjabi which would get be enough to get me by a few days on the subcontinent and I understand Hindi (although not word for word, I can understand the gist of what is being said). I still stand by the comment that Hindi is the most romantic language in the world, when sun. Of course there is no question that French is the most beautiful spoken language on the planet. While I may not be the biggest fan of cricket in the universe, I know how to play and used to play every weekend with my neighbour Craig, in the early 1990s. Supporting England is just a passive past time, I pay little attention to the sport. My view on sport is that your allegiances should lie with the country of your birth, not the country of your parents / grandparents birth. It is quite a liberal point of view but then again, it is just a matter of complete coincidence of where you happen to be born.
This morning I got up around 7:15am and headed to the gym straight after breakfast. It was the first Sunday of my new gym programme. This session on the legs and shoulders is the longest and hence the movement from Thursday morning to Sunday (with cardio moving in the opposite direction). The gym was busy as they had a charity run in conjunction with the marathon taking place. Selective machines were not available and this was indicated by a balloon stuck on the treadmill or bike.
Talking of India, the last time I was in the motherland, was ironically the same year that American Desi was released. I hope there is no connection there but on her recently visit, I requested Preeti to obtained a photograph of some men’s perfume by Raymond. The closest she got was this photograph. Park Avenue had a really nice refreshing scent and I think I finished all the cans I had imported from my sisters’ visit several years ago.
I hit the ground running with my programme, but when it came to doing my bent over lateral raises with the dumbbells (2kg) I was not doing them right, so a guy using the cable machine in front of him came over and helped. He showed me how to do the lifts correctly and advised me also on my next exercise the lateral raise (4kg). I struggled but got there in the end. Meanwhile the guy who had just given me some advice, we can call him The Muscle, then brought two bench presses together, put a 45lb weight on his groin area and was dropping his body quite low to the ground and lifting it up again. Sorry I do not know what the actual exercise is called but I am sure Pav does and will correct me. I was just very impressed because I found it hard picking up the 45lb weight a little later when moving onto the calf raise and my tiny weight of 30lb. I must say the Plank Hold is very difficult and kills but at least you can feel it working. I skipped on two exercises, mainly due to tiredness, the leg pull ins and crunches on the Swiss Ball. I will do my best to get around to them next time but as the saying goes, steady step by step progress. Judgment Day comes on Friday morning. I finally meet my nemesis, a young pretender called Mr. Pavneet Singh Khural. The only problem is that it is on his turf, so I am a bit out of my comfort zone but we shall see how we roll.
