Aaaahhhh...weekend!

Ahh…the contentment of a weekend well spent – weird, considering the fact that no doses of alcohol or pretty women were involved!

Saturday started off like any other working day…and screwed all major chalked out plans that I had made. After listening to continuous lectures from the Big Man on “giving it our best shot”, “stretching ourselves” and similar cliches (part of motivational gyan to get us to achieve Oct targets), was getting quite sick –would be much more simpler to say: “Fatass, if u don’t get there, we wil sack you” – cuts through the clutter, as they would say, instead of adding on grimy layers of inspiration which leave an insipid taste in your mind.

SHYLOCK @ WORK
So did “everything possible… and a lil bit more” and rocketed out for theatre practice…this thing is shaping out quite well – actually was a bit skeptical about how certain people would shape out – but junta have been pleasantly surprising me time and again-esp someone who I had pegged down as a total non-theatre guy -that guys totally cool- does stuff so naturally! As for me…er…uh huh…me is not getting under the skin of my characters – more in the “involved bystander” mode which means that I sometimes laugh out aloud/ smirk at the characters in the play forgetting am one of them. Control, mano – that’s what we need! Remember the Merchant! Remember the Jew! Remember pretty Portia who was the inspiration and the centre of the earth in 4th standard…lets get going!

Play Diro suggests adding some adding some sections about Sethuramiyer and Hotel Keralafornia…eeeeks was my 1st reaction; has been done toned to a dslightly more decent “weeeeellll”….me has my own doubts – Keralafornia sounded positively tacky…Sethuramiyer was just a wee mite better. Not that I mind poking at the sensitive Mallu pride or mind criticism from the grand-dadas, just that the rest of the gang don’t seem to be comfy as well…lets see – if it shapes up well, amen! But still, Hotel Keralafornia seems like stretching the skin of an already spread-out, stretched & dried-in-the-desert-sand chicken…Wow, whatta metaphor! Or is it a simile ;-) Monday morning does this to people.

SUNDAY & SOME SERIOUS GMAT PREP
Started off real bad…woke up at 8am, lazed around, had bread n eggs…then went to office for GMAT prep. Breezed through PS/ Geometry/ CR/AWA etc – did very well in Kap Verbal & PS as well…after lunch was trying to laze around but the revival of English theatre in Cochin was too momentous a duty ;-) to be ignored and therefore went for practice…Was cool – played a dead body for some time, some sumo wrestling and karate. Since entire gang wasn’t there, the thrills of competing against someone was missing but nevertheless interesting.

Went to church after prep and stared a lot at PYTs. After that spent some solid 3 hours on GMAT prep – quite happy with myself – am damn good on Verbal and even PS.

VERBAL

• No issues except careless mistakes.


• Since am good, tend to rush through and miss out on nuances that the GMAT usually plays around with.


• Have to slow down and discipline myself into double-checking.

QUANT

• PS seems cool…as of now – don’t know what surprises the OG holds yet.


• However DS in an entirely difft matter, though…Main takeouts are:

1. Mind locks up on DS number prop qns – still don’t have a method to logically process these problems.


2. Lingering/ unresolved questions of whether 0/1/2 are prime? Intgers? Etc


3. Confusion in basics: between factors & multiples/ finding LCM/ GCD.


4. Need to do a thorough revision of Geometry also.

AWA TEMPLATES

• Almost decided on AWA templates; now seems much more workable

SUMMARY

• Great start to establishing a weekend format.


• Weekday format leaves much to be desired


• Need to discipline myself in something as basic as waking up early (Feel so stupid writing this down)


• Need to use forums a lot more – HOW & WHEN is the million $ qn.

AMEN.

NEWS OF A KIDNAPPING!

Setting:
A dark wooden cabin in the Nilgiris (or make that the Rockies for Amaerican Yeffect)

Lighting:
One dirty yellow bulb

Smell:
Old wood/ rat droppings/ Whisky gone bad

Sounds (if reqd):
Creaky wooden floor/ strains of Dum maro dum interspersed with maniac laughter/ chirping of birds goes silent when door opens…

Centre of attraction:
Terrified looking man - gagged & tied up  - in a wooden chair- (some electrodes attached to his chest maybe?) – “Just woken up from unconsciousness with bucket of water” look …wait a min…doesn’t this look like the erstwhile chairman of the GMAC? ;-) (Grim sounding “Ha Ha Ha” at this juncture)

The question he must answer:
“Why “Data Sufficiency” in the GMAT? WHY? WHY? WHY?” (Heightens into a scream – camera pans away from inside the cabin and zooms outside…alternately focusing on various mountain paraphernalia – tall trees/ snowy peaks/ a long shot view)

And the question echoes off the sparse wooden walls, the skyscraping fir trees, the 49er mountains…into the crispy mountain air, into the endless starry night…a question that haunts us all  - WHY DS in the GMAT?

Prelude
Based on venerable advice from various quarters, I started to work backwards on the OG last night. Mistake was I started off with DS – baeby, what a mistake-GOT RAMMED!  Got 4 out of 20 correct. To console myself after this tragedy, waded through 10 qns each of CR/RC & PS. Where I got decent scores of approx 90-95% correct.

So where am I going wrong with the DS section? Me thinks it is a strategy issue… somewhere I haven’t formed a strong framework/ process to tackle these questions and therefore mind numbs/shuts down when encountered with this kinda thingy…Hegehog tactic – roll up into a ball and hope it goes away!

Apparently this is not working. So two major tasks for the weekend…make that three are:
Strategy for DS
Practice template for AWA
A FLT

AMEN!

GMAT PREP-2 weeks over and where am I?

Some hectic work at the beginning of the week, so had to skip Monday/ Tuesday. However after Wed have finished all the problems in KAP and now starting on the OG – have finished approx 40SC, 80PS in OG.

Find it a comfy routine to do probs at 2 hours after work and review the wrong answers in the morning. So methinks will stick to this routine.

Apart from that planning to review sections in Math where am weak and attack them separately with possibly separate textbooks…also in a big quandary whether to buy the new OG 11/OG Quant & Verbal reviews. Probably will go in for a consortium purchase with a couple of friends.

Planning to visit Mom for the weekend and also do a KAP FLT and revise OG. But the problem about going home is that between bathing the dog, cleaning the car and selling off the old newspapers, GMAT PREP is pushed to a comfortable corner…but will be (hopefully ;-) breaking the routine this week with some dedicated study. Lets see.

Major conclusions:
FLT once a week a must.
Review weak areas in the quant section.
Fix a timetable for participating in the forums.

Weekend nostalgia + 650 on the KAP diag test...

TRIP TO FORT COCHIN – Needless nostalgia?
Wasted the morning with an old colleague who had come in from Coimbatore. Went to Fort Cochin – the older island of Cochin where the Dutchmen had their cannons, churches and cemeteries. There’s this point at Fort Cochin where all ships have to pass through to reach Cochin harbour-one of those places you can see the Chinese fishing nets. Also a place where you can choose any fresh seafood (even exotica like small sharks/octopuses/tiger prawns/clams etc) and get it cooked at a shack – am told that its’ as best as seafood can get.

Also dropped into the Kashi art café – a neat joint if you are into those arty farty joints – L’art meets le coffee meets les snax meets les firangis. Popped out in 5 mts and took a walk down the shore.

By the weirdest of coincidences, saw the white “MV BHARAT SEEMA” passing by – a ship that Dad had captained for a couple of years before he died. Seeing her triggered off a flood of memories… Dad in pristine white sailor’s uniform, us climbing a swaying rope ladder and trying very hard not to look at the long drop to the water, my bros head getting stuck under the cupboard in the ship, my dad showing us around the navigating cabins and the engine rooms…Trying very hard not to lose control, I quickly pretended to take some snaps of the ship. I guess, more than his death, it’s the way that life (or was it he himself?) unmade him in his last days, that was (is) agonizing… read an article in The Week by Mahesh Dattani about the time when he admits his aged mom in a hospital and she dies all alone in the middle of IV tubes, a sterile room, hospital machines and similar inanimate objects...Talk about weird coincidences…too many reminders in one day…why does this bother me so much? Why can’t I get over this? Again the best answer remains…42. And life remains a nasty bitch.

Well, the best part about having someone around you is that you get distracted from all these bigger questions and move on with the flotsam…drifting into the day. Had lunch at home after some time-pass shopping at Fabindia and saw him off to Coimbax. Then hit the office for…

GMAT Prep for the day
By now have come up with a fairly decent idea of  
How to go about prep:

1. Read PR for speed solving strategies


2. Depend on KAP & OG for the basics - Math review/ SC/ Grammar


3. Check PR/the net and come up with templates for AWA – practice with the actual GMAT topic list


4. Do/ Redo problems for KAP 800 & the OG and check the wordings of what the problems mean

Did the KAP Diagnostic test…scored a 650 – which is quite a decent score to start with. Very weak at DS and pacing is way off in Math – Missed out a couple of questions at the end. However some important takeouts are:

• This seems to be a very workable score at the beginning of prep


• Methinks I can hit a 720 if prep schedule is on course – so help me, God!


• Have to practice timing of Math problems- verbal was a breeze through, but got whacked by the Math


• Understanding the English on some of the problems was quite tough (my standards;-) – all the “positive distinct integer factors” – or some similar crap got me all twisted up! Then went on and confused a cube in a question for a sphere and chuckling for 45 seconds about how a sphere can have a base. Estupido, that’s me!


• Quite weak at Geometry – have to make flash cards for formulae and start practicing


• Don’t know how tough perm/combo/probability is going to be since I didn’t even get a single problem on the KAP diag test.


• Every section of the diag test had only ½ the number of qns as the actual GMAT – so if I falter under volume-pressure, it will become apparent in the next FLT that I take-lets see…

Checked out a prep schedule on the KAP CD – have finished most of the Math sections – have to go and start off the OG at home.

Tomorrow’s plans…

• Wake up early and reach office by 0730


• Finish off all review sections in the KAP practice CD


• Church sometime here…then breakfast.


• Finish off some office work- pending product launch plans/ analysis by around 11am


• Finish all KAP practice problems; start off on all PR practice problems in the evening – if I finish these, then start off on OG problems.

Another major area of indecision is whether to go in for the new 11th edition of the OG and the new quant/ verbal reviews released by GMAC. But lets worry about that later…going to feast on a hot Lasoon Masala Dosa at Pai! ;-) Ramen




    

Priceless is what the ad said...

Putting off old credit card payment + leather jacket for bro + new contra formal look (courtesy: Shoppers Stop):-/+ noble & brave act of registering for GMAT + determined attempt to prop up “tragic” look of home by getting new furniture + getting carried away by “minimalist” appeal of a futon at the furn shop + new black sandals + latest Umberto Eco book
=
A 68k credit card bill that unmakes the f&%#*&g day.

Less said the better. Ramen.

Starting Serious Prep

Starting on an auspicious note…
Yesterday (13th Oct) was a very auspicious day in India for starting off studies-was reliably informed on this by a family friend. Kids are ushered off to temples and churches where they are made to write in rice or something similar happens…never bothered to find out what happens. Although I try not to swing this-a-superstitious-way, in such big matters like the GMAT, not taking any chances ;-) So started off in earnest at the cost of something else precious.

Anyways finished Quant review in Kap/OG and finished off the PS section in Kap. Trying to work out a schedule where I can do 2-hour chunks of GMAT questions at night (after work) and revise the mistakes in the morning. Realized that I am very bad at inequalities and problems where am asked to estimate “What is the least possible/ what is the max possible”…However earnestly trying to crack it by going through answers and solving them again. Nothing beats the rush of blood to head when you crack a diff problem…some of these problems fight back-“Bull!” you say? Try your hand at some of these dreaded perm-combo problems…So much for all that forced eating of spinach/ lettuce and what not when I was a kid - supposedly to improve my math skills.

Anyways, the goings OK so far…today will finish off the problems in PR and hopefully finish off the basic review material for verbal/cr/sc/RC. After this would be chunks of 80 qns everyday, followed by a FLT on weekends. After the FLT would be reviewing, both scores and prep style if I am missing out on anything or need to focus on any area.

On a diff note, have pasted my prep schedule & a countdown calendar in my room to make sure I catch glimpses of Time flying by…

Lets see-may the Force be with me. Burp.

A rocking weekend at Cochin :-(

Weekend fun at IMS-Cochin & elsewhere…

Ah…a weekend well spent…

• “Stealth” – Useless movie except for the graphics; they’d have you believe that flying a bllion dollar stealth fighter is more or less like playing a video game; last scene where the unmanned “wingman” plane sacrifices itself for its “pilot commander” is too good-straight rip-off from either a Hindi or a Telugu movie (not Tamil, my friends, not Tamil-us guys are class acts-esp. Rajnikath ;-)


• “Gajni”- A new Tamil movie – okie…Suryas good..Babe’s pretty…plot was neat…could have been a bit tight, music was nothing to talk about…sore point was this Nayantara female running around and trying to about look like a Med student…delusions of youth, what…anyway if I get 50 lakhs, I wouldn’t mind looking stupid too, I guess.


• Got drunk at the Taj with a coupla colleagues and tried unsuccessfully to gatecrash into Taandav-the only disc in town at 2am…watching a firang and an Indian make feeble multiple attempts at a fist fight (only to be dragged away again and again by all and sundry-after the 4th time it got boring) must have gotten into our collective alcohol tainted blood.


• Finished Jack Welch’s – Straight from the gut.. Amazing book…so much to learn and to assimilate into my way of working…trying, trying…


• Right now on “The Ground beneath her feet”…don’t know about the plot and progression etc as yet but this guy’s language is amazing.

GMAT prep – Bad deal at IMS
Went on Sunday for a free trial class to IMS where another CAT/ GMAT aspirant takes class for us. Mallu chap; poor guy’s very good at Math and quite sad at English…we all have our strengths, I guess. Apart from me two others,one with a “British” accent. God save the kuween. The other guy claimed to have come there to “sharpen his aging mind” (noble thought costing just Rs.8k)…just another liar embarrassed to admit he’s trying for GMAT at age 45, I guess.

Pretty sad classes – both the material and the tutors…convoluted questions with unclear and sometimes wrong answers…esp in sheer contrast to the well framed questions of Kap/OG, seemed pretty sad. If mathematically challenged me was THE star of the math class, well…you can imagine. English was full of sitters with the centre head giving us gyan. However if its one thing that’s not lacking, its enthu…unfortunately, for someone who was planning to join there for getting a system into place/ sharing practice approaches with other students-JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH. Will probably check out the mid-Nov batch and decide. However after this class, felt like a stud ;-)

Lone wolf at work after cooking pasta…

• Back at home, have worked out GMAT prep schedule and have pasted it on my wall. Along with some pictures of Tuck & LBS ;-)


• One last indulgence before prep – an hour spent in cooking absolutely amazing pasta + mushroom…had kept half of the portion in fridge…however lone wolf morphed into greedy pig half an hour later and finished it off. Khallas.  It wasn’t me, just my alter pig-0 ;-)


• Finished basic math material of Kaplan and PR…tried some 20 odd problems in Kap and realized that my Achilles heels just remain what they were… perm/combos/ inequalities/ probability and advanced geometry (ok, ok,…its not so advanced)


• Planning to move onto  the KAP regular math qns and then prepare on OG quant basics today.

So help me, God! Amen.

2 days of timepass

2 days of time-pass
Went for a techie-vendor meeting to Hyderabad for last 2 days –make it 4 days, including the travel from Cochin.

We were put at up at Hotel Sitara at the Ramoji film city which is like 40kms away from Hyderabad…after the splendid greenery of Kerala, every other place starts looking dry and dirty by comparison and AP was no exception. Combine this with some extremely disgusting habit of pan-spitting by total junta and you get totally filthy corners  - Consciously looking at PYTs which are about 5 feet above the dirty ground tends to quell any such feelings of disgust.

I found the entire place quite nauseating…”Obscene baroque” is what the style can be called – gold and gild everywhere, seraphim and cherubim popping out from walls, corners, ceilings chairs….not in the least perturbed by the griffins who hold up the walls, the tables…generally anything that can be held up.

Team from Mumbai had a vairy vairy fair Kashmiri babe…but apart from general flirt-coochie- cooing, digital snapping and smiling-smiling, nothing much happened…I guess my sudden, frank desire to know all about Kashmiri culture and the many fascinating habits of Kashmiri pandits and the sad story of their migration was somehow viewed with a shade of skepticism ;-) Well, eye-candy was cool, but not so smart…a pity.

Meeting went off ok except for one snotty guy from our side who had earlier been sacked by the vendor – he was out to get them and we kind of popped him out of the meeting. Angry, aggressive me! ;-)

After eating at the famed Paradise biriyani joint, buying some traditional Hyderabad (pochampalli something) sarees, Andhra toys and blowing 4k on some shirts from Shoppers Stop, returned to the film city. Next day started late from the hotel and reached the airport 5 mts before the flight left where an Air Sahara hostess first refused to let us in and then finally relented with a “DON’T EXPECT THIS FROM US AGAIN” – after such a nice gesture, such a nasty remark…I still love you and your Jetmiles, Mr.Goyal – just wishing you would start a direct flight from Cochin to Hyderabad.

Back at the flat, had to escape into the bathroom, hiding from the accusatory heat of my Kap/PR/OG material. So tried to wake up early and did some basic Math from PR…quit halfway through swearing to do it another day.

Going to take a large printout of prep schedule and put it up in my room. Now is that self-flagellation of sorts or a diligent reminder?…The show goes on, folks and only time will tell.

GMAT DAY 0 TURNS OUT TO BE JUST THAT

“Started off with KAP/PR and OG – finished all the basic sections and understood everything so fast and now am ready to move to the advanced sections – here I come!” – is what I would have loved to and should have said after the major resolution taken by honourable self on GMAT prep on Sunday. Unfortunately various sections of the society and my mind conspired against and sabotaged this noble intention.

To start off, Sunday morning was spent in yet another useless search for “THE IIDEAL” prep strategy on the net – culling advice from the likes of dave/ Ursula/ attagirl & around 2 hours was wasted in such “plato”nic pursuits before realizing its better to start and then fine tune later on.

Then had a nap after a heavy lunch vowing to wake up at 4pm and hit the books…Ye gods did not take kindly to that – they sent me to Talentime 2005 at Cochin university – being the main sponsors, apparently we were under obligation to be there when everything shut down. Buoyed by my Comm manager’s promise of “fab” babes went there and ended up sorely disappointed. Was buffeted by alternating waves of nostalgia and ganja smoke…bringing back too many memories of saarang/ festember etc etc…wild wild days.

After politely smiling at everything in sight for the next 2 hours in that “I am an important manager”ial haze/ twiddling around with mobile/ downing dosas/ cutlets and lime tea at the resident coffee house, finally started back home…when colleague cum boss called me in for JAMES – latest super-good hindi flick that was supposed to be “Coming BLOODY soon” acc to the posters.

Went there in 2nd class – stud hero – nice understated muscular appeal. Fat plumpy babe (my products former model) who gets wet in skimpy clothes, tries to act frightened and ultimately chooses honour over everything else….whats new, you say…Da hero,man! Though you get used to the thwack thwack blood spraying action after some time, the hero still looks cool…and most of all doesn’t give stupid shitty lines a la the Khans of Bollyworld (Well, just once-tis a hindi movie after all).

No script, no outstanding songs, not much in the way of dialogues….total timepass stuff.

And yeah, this was a blog about my GMAT prep…so much for it…Woke up this morning and went through some old notes and packed GMAT prep stuff for my 2-day trip to Hyd with one of our vendors. Have to finish the OG/ KAP/PR basic by next weekend…. go boy!