Its hard out here for a pimp!!

Saw the movie "Hustle and Flow", and the tittle track has become my new theme song - On the face of it, it doesn't seem like this would have much relevance to my life, or my goals for the year - but the lyrics are very profound (to maintain the PG rating of this blog, am not going to reproduce them here), and convey a message of rising above all odds and achieving your dreams - in fact the very last line of the movie is "Everyones' gotta have a dream"

This weekend saw a lot of activity in terms of the wedding planning - locked down a decorator and a DJ. We went to meet the decorator at her home and were asked questions like "what is the theme for your wedding" and "what color napkins do you plan to have". I was at least all at sea, and got increasingly tense that we had not been doing our homework - but as Keya pointed out to me later, we've got all the big stuff done, and we have enough time for all these little things to fall in place.

The other eye opening experience for me this weekend was going to see an actual wedding reception as guests of one of the DJ's who we had shortlisted to perform at our wedding - he had called us over to an event that he was doing. I have never been to an indian wedding reception in the US before, so had no idea of what to expect - I was really impressed with the decor and arrangements that had been made, which did nothing to alleviate my already heightened stress levels from the meeting earlier in the day. Anyways, the DJ was good, and we have decided to retain him for our event even though he is more expensive than some of the other options we had shortlisted.

Not much to report in terms of the other goals - did a lot of shopping for running gear - running shorts (why are they so short??), IPOD case, sport earphones - now if only I can run more regularly!

So far not much progress

Goal 1: Getting married - So far we've taken the biggest decisions as far as wedding planning is concerned; chosen a temple (Durga Temple in Fairfax), and a hall for the reception dinner (Hyatt, Arlington)

The temple was relatively easy to pick, as there are only 2-3 to chose from in this area, and I've always been partial to Durga; the reception hall was a whoooole different story...we looked at about half a dozen, called about a dozen more, laughed, cried, got totally stressed out but finally were able to settle on one that we liked - actually I liked (since Keya could not come to see it with me before we signed the contract): We went to see it today, and she didnt hate it, and actually loved it , so whew!!

Now there are only about a million other lose ends to tie up: guest lists, invitations, catering, decoration, makeup artists, travel logistics, honeymoon bookings.......you get the picture, we're not out the woods yet; but so far so good

Goal #2: Clear CFA Level 2: Have not had much time to study so far, but am planning on picking up the pace from this week: if I dont do it now, I'm pretty much sunk.

Goal #3: Run a marathon: Mixed reviews here: am running more than I have ever run so far (~4 miles), but on a treadmill: running outside is going to be pretty different, and I am going to start that now. Goal for next week is to continue running, but also look for a running group which I can train with; and also laying out a schedule of intermediate distance runs i.e. 5k's, 10k's etc.

Goal #4: Excel at work: Pretty big set backs to this one last week - can't believe Hurricane Katrina is still making my life miserable 6-7 months after it struck...whats funny is, I wasnt even in LA or MS at that time; but I'm the analyst responsible for my company's Katrina policies etc. so am plugging away. All in all, a bad week; my senior manager pretty much told me to go home and take a break

In other news, found out that a close friends Mom has cancer; for all those reading this post, In case you didn't know, my dad is currently undergoing chemotherapy for a brain tumor right now...so I was able to empathise with the feeling of utter and total helplessness my friend must be going through right now...as I was in the same position about 5 months ago...Hang in there buddy, and dont hesitate to ask for help...

This is what it's all about

This blog is meant to chronicle my attempt to achieve my 4 goals for the year - yeah I know, its a little late for new year resolutions - but hey, this is what it is, and hopefully being forced to post updates on my progress will actually encourage me to make some! So here goes - this is what I am going to be "lazerlikefocuss"ed on this year:

1. Get married : Current Status - done the toughest part , have found someone crazy enough to marry me

2. Clear CFA L2 - Current Status - still recovering from L1

3. Run a marathon - Current Status - Lets not go there

4. Get into the top bracket in terms of performance ratings at work - Current Status - working on it