snagabag

Liah’s cookie making primarily consisted of tasting the frosting…

I finally saw a great movie in a movie theater! A couple of nights ago Aparna & I went to go see Juno with Dimple & Rahul, and it was fantastic. It had been a long time since I saw a movie that i really enjoyed at movie theater, and it was a nice reminder of why going to the movies is so much fun. Despite the somewhat unsettling subject matter, high school student gets pregnant, Juno is a funny movie. It’s extremely well written and acted, and the directing is also quite good. I highly recommend it to anyone in the mood a movie during the holidays. FWIW, I wasn’t the only one who loved it; all four of us thought it was a great movie.

Liah’s fast asleep with a vague notion that someone named Santa is going to bring her something by the time she wakes up. We’ve asked Liah a bunch of times what she wants Santa to bring her, and her reply is the same every time. Cookies.

Merry Christmas everyone!

We’ve started sending out Christmas Holiday cards this year; always a major undertaking at the Goyal household.  For the card, we once again went with a picture of Liah, but had trouble deciding on which one.  Well, if you’ve seen the card, you know which one we went with, so I’m here to unveil the photo that didn’t make the cut.  Now you know why it was such a tough choice.

So turning 34 has not been good for my physical appearance. Multiple people (friends, family, coworkers) have commented on how I look tired, not well, or hung over. Specifically, my eyes. Yes, they do say this. One of the sides to fostering such open communication is folks feel comfortable giving me their opinion. Well, I decided to do something about this. As usual, this entailed me turning to Aparna and saying, “I need to do something about my eyes. Please help.”

A couple of days later, I walk into our bathroom to get ready for bed, and I spy a new container on my counter. Apparently, Aparna determined the best cure for what ails me is Chanel. Yep, I’ve got my very own eye cream, and Chanel to boot! Of course, me being me, I asked Aparna how much it cost, but I quickly reversed myself. I decided the only way I’m going to use this stuff is if I don’t know how much it costs.

So every morning and every night I “dab” just a “smidgen” of Chanel Sublimage Eye Precision underneath my eyes, and then I very lightly “smooth” the cream around my eyes using a “circular” motion “away from the eye.”

I figure it’s just a matter of time before people start calling me Rahul.

I took a second trip to Japan a couple of months back! It was similar to my first trip, and the more I experience Japan, the more I love it.However, this is not about Japan, but about coming home from Japan. On my return flight, I took a Japan Air Lines flight from Tokyo to San Francisco, and lo and behold, the plane was the classic and revered 747. Upon getting my boarding pass, I was informed I was sitting upstairs! I can’t quite explain it, but I was pretty excited. Maybe it’s because, as one of my coworkers told me, “you’re higher.” I think I do like the idea of sitting on the second story of a plane, and I like the idea of having essentially a small, private cabin on the plane. As it turns out, I had the first row, window seat upstairs, so the arrow above does indeed point to the exact seat I had.

I even vaguely remember the first, and only other, time I sat upstairs. I was flying back from India, I believe with my sister. I feel like our flight got canceled or something, but for some reason we were seated upstairs on our Air India flight, or at least I think it was Air India. Such great memory, eh?

The flight was great! The service on JAL was fantastic, the food was very tasty, and the seats were great. The seats even had built-in massagers! I highly recommend JAL.

So Liah’s basically potty trained by now. Aparna, as with most everything Liah related, did most of the work. Yes, there were some Number 1’s outside the confines of a diaper or toilet, and even some Number 2’s, but enough about me. Even though Aparna did most of the work, I have helped out some, and in helping potty train Liah, I’ve learned something about myself.

I have a fundamental lack of knowledge about female anatomy.
(This statement comes as no surprise to Aparna.)

On more than one occasion, Liah has told me, “Need to go pee-pee.” I promptly took her to the bathroom, took off her pants and such, and placed her on the toilet. Next thing I know, pee-pee is going everywhere like some kind of jacked up fountain! All the while, Liah’s giggling away as Daddy freaks out.

My response to this is to hold Liah such that she is suspended about halfway inside the toilet. Yeah, Liah doesn’t quite understand it, but that’s how she is about most of my parenting techniques.