Firstly, this isn't my story. This is based on numerous conversations with cousins, friends, and co-workers. It isn't a story per say, because it lacks a theme and a direction.   This isn't pure fiction for I have gathered stories from people. As with any writing of this nature, I did, however, exaggerate certain events.  TGIF - Random Musings  The car hugged the road with a jerky finesse that comes from too many years of running the same track day after day, a sort of sloppy monotony; the engine bored with the route and the wheels tired of their eternal trek. (And yes, I am talking about my life. But Fridays are different, right? TGIF?)   ____________________________________________________________ 07:30 am   “Could I please get a venti, skinny, half sugar-free hazelnut, half sugar-free vanilla, no-whip, iced coffee with a shot of espresso, please?” The lady behind the counter gave us a coerced smile as she began preparing Kathy’s order. “Also, could you please leave a quarter empty? I plan to add something to my drink!”(way too be discreet, K, I thought) “What? Why are you looking at me weird? I plan to get caffeinated, and then alcholonated, girl!”. Kathy sounded like a newly initiated sorority freshman. “Its 7:30 in the morning K!”   “Spiked Coffee Fridays” started our sophomore year when we figured out that the only way to get through Professor Sanning’s 8 am calculus lecture was to be a little inebriated. Now that we were working, I stopped pouring a shot of Sailor Jerry into my mocha. K, however, worked for a “non-profit” organization “helping latino kids go to college”, so I doubt her performance would be affected much by a little booze.   “Remind me why I’m friends with you?” I asked Kathy as I went through at the cds for sale at the counter. (Really, who pays 15 bucks to listen to Maroon 5?)  “ Coz you love me!”   9:00 am   Conference Room – a place where everybody talks, nobody listens & everybody disagrees later on.   A 411 about my workplace would butcher the brevity I’m aiming for, so I’ll get straight to the point.   I was literally passed out on the table until Drew singled me out for the fourth time. “Can you give Shawn a rundown of the costs by 4, Prawthiisstaa?”   If only you could pronounce my name right, you SOB!   “Yeah Drew, I’ll get on it right away!”  “Did I say it right? Its Prawthiisstaa, right?”  “Close enough” I faked a smile as I grabbed the bulky folder that was going to ruin the rest of my day and walked out of the room.   Mr. Patel was busy crunching numbers, and David, our intern watched him as if he was actually learning something. After working with him for a month and a half, David seemed to be accustomed to the pungent smell of the coconut oil that neatly parted Mr. Patel’s air.  I swear Patel sir (as I liked to call him) must have brought an entire suitcase full of that oil on his trip back from Chattisgarh. There is no way FDA (or whoever it is that regulates the sale of products) would allow anything that stenchy in the US markets.   14:00   I completed the assigned task three hours too early, but submitting it now would mean more work on my table, so I pretended to look busy for the rest of the day. After reading everything on Buzzfeed and Reddit, I decided to get on facebook to “connect” with the world.    The F word was ubiquitous in my newsfeed. The rape incidents in Delhi and Tribhuwan airport had enthused all my girl friends back home to post status updates about rape. My American girlfriends seemed more concerned about the decision to lift the ban on woman serving in combat units. If one were to solely consider social media, the rise (for the lack of a better term) of FEMINISM was apparent – second-wave back home, third-wave out here.   In other news, Aastha di had uploaded her third honeymoon album; Girish bhinaju and di looked euphoric on the beaches of Koh Chang. Shristi had uploaded her forty-seventh duck-face selfie. As if the picture wasn’t too annoying by itself, her boyfriend had commented- “Ur mah PuMpKin PumPkin HeLLo HuNNy BunnY”.   "So, any plans for the weekend, Miss Thapa? " The only time Andy talked to me in the office was right before weekends and he always seemed really interested in my plans. "Nah, not really. What about you?" "You know , the same deal, hang out with friends, wings and football on Sunday" "Ah, that sounds like fun, well you have a great weekend!" "You too!"    19:04   I made the same arugula salad for the fourth time in the week and watched another episode of Grey’s Anatomy. (juicy details, I know!)   “Lets pre-game Joey’s party!”  I removed my headphones and pretended to attend to Kathy as she walked into my room with a bottle of Jose Cuervo.  “You sound like such an alcoholic, K!”  Although the A word was frowned upon in our house since Madeline found out her mom had recently joined AA, I could not find a more fitting term.  “It’s Friday though! TGIF! It’s been a long f**king week!”  I hated the “fake-baby” look Kathy made whenever she tried to guilt trip me into doing something, but for some unknown reason, it worked every time.  “You and your reasons, K, one shot and I’m done! I gotta skype with the fam later!”   19:30   “नानी, सुनिरको छस? ?” It had been about five years since my mom and I started skyping, but the opening line was always the same. “हजूर, मा, भनिस्यो”. I adjusted the laptop to give her a better view of my face. “हरे, खाना खान नि छोडिस  कि  क्या  हो  नानी , हाड र  छाला मात्र बाकि  छ .” (only if she knew how hard I had to work to get rid of my freshman fifteen, I thought) “खाइरको छु मा, कति मोटाउनु पर्यो त ?”, I made sure I was respectful but got the message across at the same time. “अनि अस्ति Connecticut गाकी रैछेस, सुमन अङ्कल ले भेट्न आइन भनेर गुनासो गर्दै थिए  ” Someone had to explain to my mom that CT was about 5500 sq miles.   “उसको छोरा ले नि आजकल कम्पुटर सम्बन्धि काम गर्छ रे, बच्चै देखि ट्यालेन्ट हो उ पनि ” Shikhar dai started off with Slake, an Indian consultancy a couple months ago.  He was making about 30 bucks an hour doing QA, but people back home exaggerated his vocations as if he had designed the new Iphone.   After about ten minutes of my mom rubbing off my relatives’ successes on me, we started talking about family again.   “अनि पुकार दाइ १५ गते फर्किदै छन्, केहि पठाउनु पर्छ नानि? ”  “केहि पनि चाहिदैन मा, ऐले सबथोक पुगीराकै छ ”, I could make an infinite list of things I wanted – titaura, maccha ko achar …but I declined anyways.   23:45   I escaped the party fifteen minutes too early and found a clean spot on the sidewalk. As I sat down and lit my third Marb light for the night, I was interrupted by Joey.   “I can’t figure out Mads sometimes, you know.” Joey sounded distraught and confused at the same time. “She’s a girl. We are like that sometimes.” I was in no position to give Joey any sort of relationship advice, but he sounded desperate. “Anyways, forget it, how are you doing?” Joey lit his Camel 99 and sat down right next to me on the sidewalk. “All good, can’t complain.” I wasn’t going to share my deep dark secrets with a guy my friend had been dating on and off for three weeks. “So, I have always wanted to ask you, how are things back home? Didn’t you say there was a revolution going on a while ago?” “Yeah, so the king was in power you see, and people revolted against him. We are the “Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal" now, whatever that means. “ I didn’t feel like delving into the depths of the revolution. “That’s long as f**k” “That’s what she said?”, although the “thatswhatshesaid” joke was overdone, I couldn’t let go of that opportune moment. “So are things fine now? I mean back home?” “I guess. We have a President, and the prime minister is a maoist fellow, I’ve heard he is pretty smart.” “Ah, that’s cool”   _______________________________________________________________ 24:00   So another Friday was over. I was still standing, the cab drivers were still smoking while waiting for people to get out of the party, and the homeless guy 10 ft away from me was still sipping his unidentified drink out of his brown bag.   Fridays are something you look forward to the entire week. The ray of hope at the end of the dark tunnel, the reason you fake smiles at your boss and pretend to love your colleagues. However, in an attempt to “live it up” every Friday, sometimes I just ignore the simple things in life that make you happy. ………………a conversation with your mom, a game of magic with a couple friends (did I mention I’m a huge nerd?), a LOTR movie marathon………….   Although the Buzzfeed staff wrote this about “Why New Years is the Worst?”, I think a lot of it applies to Fridays.   ·      There's SO MUCH PRESSURE to have the "night of your week" on Friday. ·      Everyone you know keeps asking what you're doing on Friday when you have no plans and don't care about having plans. ·      The amount of time you spend planning your outfit and getting ready to go to a party is never actually worth it. ·      Wearing your elaborate party outfit in the cold weather never works out. ·      The cover charges at nightclubs are insanely expensive. ·      Even if you decide to try the nightclub thing, you'll get inside and be instantly annoyed. ·      Drunk people everywhere.     TGIF, people!   Last edited: 26-Jan-13 04:58 PM