Gosh! Rush is becoming such a family affair in my household!! This fine Sunday morning while tidying up, I just picked up my CD copy of Moving Pictures and played the song Vital Signs on a whim, on my stereo. Around a minute into the song, my mom comes into the room and remarks how good the song actually sounds and actually asks me who the artist is! As a Rush fan, I felt so proud! The last time my mom got this excited about a rock band, was way back in 1984, when my dad introduced her to Queen for the first time. Usually, my mom doesn't pay much attention to the music I play on my stereo, except of course, when I play a Queen song or an ABBA song. I guess such is the magic of Rush! I've read that usually a parent, in most cases the dad (or both parents in some cases) introduces the kids to Rush. But in my case, I introduced my parents to Rush!

That's so wonderful to hear, Morgan! Yep! The same is true for me too!

Thank you, E! It was wonderful, indeed!

Italian Feast tonight at my favourite Italian restaurant here in Bangalore, Little Italy as part of the joint birthday celebration for my mom and I. My folks and I set off at 7:30 PM and we arrived just in time at 8 PM. I must say that it was super crowded and I am so glad that I booked a table, well in advance. Basically, there are 4 courses: Antipasti (entree). Primi Piatti (first main course). Second Piatti (second main course - can include two dishes including slices of a wood burn pizza). Dolci (Desserts) Beware of the desserts and alcohol. These are bloody expensive and inflate the damn bill!! As usual, we had so many dishes to choose from, for each course that it was simply confusing and mind blowing! So, my lovely folks left the choice of dishes to me! Being a self-confessed foodie, this was a dream come true for me, tonight! For entree, we had roasted potato (with crispy skin) cooked in olive oil, sauteed with garlic and oregano and served with a gorgeous paprika flavoured mayonnaise. For the first main course, I went for Cheese Fondue, served with croutons and a variety of exciting and gorgeous boiled vegetables like belle pepper (the sweeter variant of capsicum, used to make paprika powder), broccoli (yep! Broccoli + cheese fondue = yum!), mushrooms, zucchini, corn, etc. See photos below On a side note, there were way too many lasagna variants for my liking on that menu for the main course! This annoyed me a little, as lasagna IMO, is such a common bloody dish these days (hell, even a cat like Garfield knows about it and loves it! How does that even happen?!), thereby making it pretty damn boring! Anyone who wants an AUTHENTIC Italian dinning experience should not order lasagna - be bold by trying something new for cryin' out loud! Here's the cheese fondue in all its glory: Here are all the gorgeous veggies and croutons (before being dipped or should I say submerged! ) in cheese fondue: After the submerging (as you can see, I went a bit mad here as I even doused the roasted potato from the entree with fondue!): For the second main course, we had a gorgeous and authentic thin crusted, wood burn pizza called Pavarotti, consisting of fresh tomato sauce, mozzarella, temphe, mushrooms, onions, sun-dried tomatoes and parmesan cheese. I could tell that the parmesan cheese had been prepared from scratch! It was tangy beyond my wildest dreams! The pizza was a gorgeous creation. A work of art! The last dish as part of the main course was good old ravioli! Oh and since that cheese fondue was the highlight for all of us, we requested that the same sauce be served with the ravioli! The restaurant manager was only too happy to oblige!

Slappin' da bass, man!!!

Gee, thank you, CP!

I have a sweet tooth! I love cheese cake ice cream and chocolate Swiss roll!

Well CP, that was the plan on Friday night but I got off work only at 8 PM and got home only at 8:45 PM and felt way too tired to go out and celebrate! My mom was sweet enough to plan an entire special meal just for me! Anyway, I FINALLY booked a table for my mom, dad and me this evening at Little Italy. Today is my mom's birthday and I have a joint celebration planned! Oh and Thayir Vadai is Vadai (the Southern Indian name) or Vada (the North Indian name) marinated in curd (laced with chilly powder and pre-heated mustard seeds). Vada is a common savoury fried snack. I also refer to it as Indian Dumplings! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vada_(food) Edited to add: Thayir is the Tamil word for curd (salted yogurt in American terms )

FINALLY!!!! Oh, yes, baby!!!

Check List of Things To Do Before Turning 40 (I am giving myself 10 plus years to achieve some of the stuff! ): Mend rocky relationship with dad Become comfortable with who I truly am as a person, learn to love myself and embrace my introverted (and sometimes goofy) personality Master the art of silence Read at least one complex and deeply philosophical book Find the love of my life Find a band whose music speaks to me and touches my heart like no other band / artist Complete Master's Degree Complete PhD Learn To Code in at least one Open Source Tool Find a career path that I am truly passionate about (despite what the 'critics' say and think) Learn to play guitar Meet up at least once, with all my special friends from the forum Go on a cruise Go hiking on an island *All tasks highlighted in bold have been accomplished

At last, I'm getting to listen to these two effin' gorgeous albums via big speakers and not just through a mere YT video, in bits and pieces!

That's great news, considering how devastatingly despicable Mr. Grim Reaper has been this year!! Whoa, just realized (after reading your post) Strider, that I and Kirk Douglas share the same birthday! Did not know that till now! Well, what are the odds of that happening. huh?!

Morgan, you never cease to amaze me with those super cool video game covers, man! Thanks again!! And it is so bleedin' obvious that I love that Rush meme you made! The I Got So Geddy part really made me LOL! Thanks, man! That was so creative! At the risk of repeating myself (just call me Polly, from now on! ), I gotta say, Morgan, you really made my day with that Rush meme and I thank you from the bottom of my heart!! What can I say, except that I love Rush so much. This may sound super corny and sentimental but If I actually get to meet the members of Rush, I'll probably break down in tears and thank them for the wonderful music which took me through a challenging period in my life. You know, I am really looking forward to my 30's! Yeah, you read that right! I feel so much more mature and better about myself, these days. My 20's (especially my mid-20's), well, they kinda sucked (to put it mildly!) As the old saying goes 'It's a new dawn. It's a new day. It's a new life, for me. And I'm feelin' good!'

Thank you guys, so very much!!!

Thanks, Strider! BTW, how on earth did you know I like Ren and Stimpy? The real celebrations begin today as I was busy with work, yesterday. Plus, my mom's birthday is today and a joint celebration is just what the doctor ordered!

Good old silence.

Thanks, Em! I'm glad at least you remembered!

This birthday was a strange one. I could only start celebrating from yesterday evening due to work commitments. Since it's my mom's birthday today (10th December), I have planned a joint celebration today. Some snacks, beverages and an incredibly special meal (thanks mom!) from last night: Here we have some fried rice laced with pav-bhaji masala, peas and onions. A bowl of cauliflower kurma and of course, a bowl of Thayir Vadai! More updates to come. I will be covering desserts, my experimentation with Italian cuisine courtesy of one of my favourite Italian restaurants here in Bangalore and of course, my whisky of choice for the evening!

As a die-hard Rush fan, something was really bothering me. Two albums that are revered even by the most casual fans, were sadly (and shockingly!) missing from my collection : Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures. It all boiled down to pricing and availability. I have all the other Rush albums (from the 70's, 80's, 90's, 00's and 010's), plus some live releases (both official and unofficial!) Living in India, record stores and book shops are almost a thing of the past. You just can't get into your car on a whim one day and decide to visit your favourite record store to browse and / or buy. You instead need to rely on the likes of online 'retailers' like Amazon. There is one record store here in Bangalore, which seems promising and gives me hope! Anyway, I used to constantly scour Amazon and 100's of other online retailers in search of these elusive albums, only to be greeted with either frustrating messages like 'out of stock' or outrageous price tags (the equivalent of US $25!) - I mean I am looking for the CD versions and these are not even double albums, for fucks sake!! Anyway, just a few days ago, Lady Luck FINALLY smiled upon me! For what seemed like the millionth fucking time, I (during my spare time), scoured Amazon and voila! A seller based in Mumbai had listed both the albums for incredibly reasonable prices (equivalent of US $4 and US $5!!) But, the catch was to act fast as there was only 1 of each album in stock! Believe me, there are Rush fans here, in India too! Albums listed at reasonable prices are snapped up within hours! The next 'lowest' price offered for both albums, were the equivalent of US $25 and US $28! Anyway, I just hit the buy button and I now, have both albums in my hands!

Thank you, Steve! Also, thank you for starting this great thread!!

My song on arrival : Freewill by Rush - as I love Rush (absolutely bleedin' mad about that band - if I actually get to meet the members of Rush, I'll probably break down in tears and thank them for the wonderful music which took me through a challenging period in my life) and I believe in the freedom of the individual (I find certain works by Ayn Rand to be mesmerizing) I would love to come to this party with my mom. I love her so much. She has been so supportive of all my life's choices and has been the one person who has stood by me, through the good times and bad. We share a bond like no other mom-daughter pair. Our birthdays are just 24 hours apart Eat: Indian food will be on the menu this year. I am super proud of my heritage. I will be feasting on Egg Fried Rice, Aloo Dum and Thayir Vadai Drink: What can I say? I am a whisky girl! Amrut Fusion Single Malt whisky. The spicy notes that one tastes in the palate are just too good to resist! Some of my favourite forum thread moments for 2016 are: Sharing my love for food with wonderful folks like CP, Strider and DD in the Food thread Sharing a lot of laughs with two fantastic blokes Sathington Willoughby and Reswati in a variety threads such as the Random Thoughts thread and the Make Me Laugh thread (to name a few ) Getting to know CP even better in the Random Thoughts thread Sharing memorable 'music moments' in the What Are You Listening To thread with Strider (like the time when I chose to celebrate Alex Lifeson's birthday or the time when I went completely over the top when I celebrated Freddie Mercury's 70th birthday ) Receiving incredibly happy news about Mrs. Walter, in the Happy thread! May she kick Cancer in the behind!! I also really enjoyed the Meeting Forum Members in the Flesh thread! What a wonderful way to document forum member meet ups!