Surprised ?

Christmas In July [ July ] Kate simply needs an excuse to go shopping, so she’s the one who’s most excited about Christmas In July. Steve, too busy to take his eyes off his newly acquired iPhone, simply brushed aside Kate’s offer of accompanying her to Macy’s. Not surprising, since anybody who goes shopping with Kate invariably gets lost under a pile of heavy packages pretty soon ! I tiptoed out before she could latch on to me, her favorite guinea pig on such excursions ! Megan ‘n Kelly, of course, are backing Kate to the hilt ! “Whatever they can do Down Under, we can do better !” That’s their philosophy ! Girls, I tell you !!! Anyway, good ol’ Kelly has taken responsibilities for all the foodie-goodies for the whole gang ‘n Megan’s in charge of the decorations. Well, when the girls gang together, you better fall in line ! ‘N when there’s the promise of so much tasty food, how can I say “No” ? Even Kong ‘n Pirate have gone crazy, taking turns jumping ‘n yapping on the terrace all day ! Rick figures that it’s the smell of chocolate that makes them crazy. But I have a sneaking suspicion that they’re just giving a wake-up call to poor ol’ Santa !

Workaholics Day [ Jul 5 ] Hmmm… Workaholics Day is fast approaching ‘n we’re wondering how to get the Boss out of office on that day. Our top secret meetings have been going on for a while, but there’s hardly a decent solution in sight ! It’s never a problem when Donna’s around. She’s pretty much everybody mom in office ‘n even Mr. Big is wary around her. So on such occasions she jus’ barks, “You’ve been quite a pain for the last few days, Mr. B, ‘n in my humble opinion you should simply take a break ‘n chill out, RIGHT NOW !” You wouldn’t believe it, but the Boss packs up pronto when he sees Donna in that mood. We daren’t trying it, of course… then it wouldn’t be Mr. B who’d be doing the packing ! Our resident foodie Ron thinks that giving a ‘subtle’ hint, like getting a five-foot high cake and singing “Happy Workaholics Day” as the Boss came in would do the trick ! What’s your take on that, guys ?

Father And Daughter Take A Walk Together Day [ Jul 7 ] Steve our resident gadget-freak was on cloud nine since Steve Jobs unveiled the idea of Apple iPhone. He literally tracked every news sites, magazines, et al to find a tit-bit of the same. As Stephen Colbert said, “the iPhone launch is the second most important event in human history, after the birth of Christ !” Sigh ! Megan lives in an apartment a stone’s throw away from the outlet that houses the phone. Hmm…yup, you guessed it right…he begged himself into her place and over the dinner imparted his wisdom on the magic gadget(?) to Meggy’s father. Megan and her old man were not in the best of terms and naturally there was friction and silence. The nosy Steve smelled it and hit upon an idea. The more he eulogized the iPhone the more curious Meggy’s pop got and he got almost convinced that he could see a halo behind Steve’s head, you know, Steve gives that appearance when he is sucked into the maelstrom of his gadget passion course. Meggy too was excited hearing Steve yak, you see, it is infectious ! Anyways, the feuding family and Steve rose early for a peek at the phone wonder and went jogging errr.. rather walking together. The early morning walk with its dew-cocktailed breeze stirred the soul of the old man, I guess…he held the hand of his girl, Meggy, and there you could a sprint in his step. You know it was poetic what with it being Father And Daughter Take A Walk Together Day. You should’ve seen Steve; the perpetrator of the wonder, for once the machine-man felt emotional and tell ya what, like you all, me too proud of my buddy-bud Steve.

Chocolate Day [ Jul 7 ] I was captivated by a most interesting sight as I came to office today ! The eternally ‘warring partners’ Kate ‘n Ron were sitting side by side. That is a surprising sight in itself, but what really astonished me was the absolute contradiction of emotions on their faces ! There was Ron, sitting with a smile of supreme happiness and gazing at me with glazed eyes… radiating peace ‘n serenity like a visiting Bishop from Vatican. Jus’ next to him, Kate sat with a worried expression, flipping absentmindedly through the phone book. There was no point waking Ron from his reverie, so I asked Kate, “What’s going on, buddy ?” She answered with a non sequitur, “Can you book a hospital bed in advance ?” Okay, I understood. Big Trouble. “Ron’s jus’ discovered that this week’s chock-a-bloc with chocolaty delights,” Kate continued, “So I’m wondering what do to with him after he pigs out ‘n falls sick by Monday.” A valid concern, I’d say. With Chocolate Day and Milk Chocolate with Almonds Day [ Jul 8 ] in rapid succession, Ron’s sure to choke on the chocolates ! Now I understand why Ron’s zonked out in a meditative bliss. You see, I’m kinda feeling that way myself !

Don't Put All Your Eggs In One Omelette Day [ Jul 8 ] One yolky joke for you, “When egg slips and drops onto a concrete how do you stop from breaking it ?” hmm….think, think….here it goes, “Well, there isn’t an egg that would break a concrete silly; of course, if it isn’t a dinosaur egg.” In love, surprise works ! Well, that’s the moment of Zen given to me by Megan. It’s always fun to pore through personal diary of a girl, actually I got to sneak into the Year Planner of Aaliyah. And what did I see, “Birthday” marked on July 8th, Voila ! Now that’s a definite chance to impress. I immediately set to work, the bouquets, cards from the ever-inviting 123Greetings, the angel-shaped “Aaliyah” tattooed cake, and the goodies. I even invited my gang to my place, extending invite to her little bro and close friend too was the icing on the cake. Then I made the remarkable call to Aaliyah, “hey, would u like to come by today evening to my place ?” “Sure, but what’s it about Bob ?” Sigh ! “Do you always answer a question with a question, girls !” “Bob !....okay fine, I would be there….but it better be worth it.” “You bet.” Click. 5:30 p.m. We were all ready complete with the balloons, champagne all that and everything and waited for her to barge in for a surprise. I even rehearsed yelling “surprise” with my gang. And she knocked the door. When she entered to she heard the cry of surprise and the confetti showered on her and she was literally taken back and she couldn’t stop smiling and blushing. She looked at me with a “what’s-this-all-about” look and I just winked. When she took a peek at the cake with her name engraved wishing her birthday she understood. She just smiled at me and cut the cake as we bided her and then popped the champagne for all to savor. Beautiful evening we had and when the movers and shakers left home to nap, I and Aaliyah sat down for a moment together.” “That was sweet” she said. I beamed bright, “For you !” “How did you know” “Sneaked into your Year Planner” Winked. “Hmm…Bob, my birthday is in October…today is my mom’s that’s why I made a slight note about it, you see, I can never forget the date.” It was vindication, I mean, the day is “Don’t put all your eggs in one omelette Day and it stood vindicated. Egg on my face. Still, “But that’s so sweet of you to do whatever you did, I didn’t want to disappoint you…I never knew when I was born that I was born….the day doesn’t matter, but you know, the way you have made this all up and that glow on your face expecting me to like it all, you know what, I loved it, if it could be, let this be my Birthday, I love you Bob.” Well, a man can handle only to a limit. I broke our personal record for the longest kiss ever that very moment !

World Population Day [ Jul 11 ] To hail a cab at downtown New York is one tough job. Well, the point is I got one. The cab snailed through peak hour traffic and when we hit a free intersection, the driver stomped hard on the accelerator. Vroomed through the empty roads and that’s when I chose to tap on his shoulder to ask him to slow a bit. You know I get nervous when I don’t control the wheel. The fellow flinched on my touch, braked and shrieked and I thought it’s Armageddon before he finally grounded to a halt. With a perspiring face he turned back and spat, “Never ever do that mate” and I went, “I just tapped you, what’s the problem.” “Well, it’s not actually your fault, this is the first day on my job, I used to drive the mortuary vans with dead bodies as passengers before.” Ah ! there you have it. On World Population Day this incident seemed kinda eerie and surreal and of course, fearfully funny. Jokes apart, I made it a point to share a few cards to my friend reminding them of the day and the awareness to control the population of our clan to save the habitat.