...and of course, the Cricket!

Now that Indian cricket team is touring Sri Lanka, few of us at work thought it might be great to enjoy going to the game as opposed to sitting in front of the Telly. Mind you our intentions are to go to the game; not necessarily watch the game. Of course the first two games were ruled out due to the fact that they will be in Dambulla. Distance has nothing to do with it. Y’see Dhambulla stadium is built on land belonging to a temple (at least that’s the story according to my friend). Hence, no beer, no dancing girls, etc… so “where the fun in that?” we thought.

There is no point going to the last two games as by then there is a chance the series could be already decided (best of three and all). So that leaves us with the 3rd match which is to be played at Premadasa stadium (formerly Keththarama stadium) – isn’t it wonderful how politicians get to put their names on such landmarks? Sooner or later, even lamp posts might be known as somebody’s-lamp-post, etc.

I digress,…

Somehow, I ended up agreeing to keep an eye on when the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL – thank God for Acronyms!) will be putting ticket out for sale. The other day I telephoned their office in Colombo to find out details about the 3rd match and about the tickets. It turned out to be quite an experience.

(although these days the telephones don’t sound like that,.. but I think you all get my meaning)

BCCSL 1 : Hello! (An annoyed female voice)
Me : I’m calling to find out details of Indian tourna…
BCCSL 1 : (the sound of me getting abruptly transferred to an unknown party without a single word from the lady who answered earlier)
BCCSL 2 : Yes?
Me : (Taken back a bit by that “Yes?”),.. err… I was just transferred,… just wanted to find out about ticket sales for the Indian,…
BCCSL 2 : Which match?
Me : (Starting to get a bit annoyed for being abruptly interrupted for the second time) As I was about to explain,.. I’d like to go to the 3rd match…
BCCSL 2 : On 3rd!
Me : No, no,.. to the 3rd Match of the Indian series that will be played at Kethatharama.
BCCSL 2 : (Annoyed voice) 3rd Match is on the 3rd!
Me : Oh I’m sorry, so it’s on the 3rd … 3rd February I assume? Can I buy tickets to that?
BCCSL 2 : No they are not on sale yet.
Me : (after a long pause).. err, can I know when they will be on sale?
BCCSL 2 : We don’t know yet. Why don’t you call back on Monday? We should know then.
Me : Okay,..Can I know the ticket prices?
BCCSL 2 : Which area?
Me : I’m sorry I haven’t been to the stadium in a long time. Can you tell me what’s available?
BCCSL 2 : ,.. (and goes onto explain 5 different ticket rates and very vague description of the seating areas, for example, “Rs. 2000 for A and B Upper”).
Me : Thank you. Finally can you tell me where I can buy these tickets from?
BCCSL 2 : Our office. Come during office time.
Me : Can I know where your office is?
BCCSL 2 : ,.. near SSC.
Me : Is there any other way I can buy them? Perhaps online,.. I mean, on the internet? Y’see I don’t work in Colombo and it is very difficult for me to come to Colombo during office hours.
BCCSL 2 : I think they might be available through Bank of Ceylon but can’t say for sure.
Me : (Getting tired of trying to pry out information from this bloke),..Urrr.. hm,..okay, let me call you back on Monday.

I really don’t want to go through such a conversation again on Monday,.. even if it means not being able to enjoy beer and watch the dancing girls,.. oh yes, and the cricket too!

VGA? You’ve got to be kidding me!

While we are on the subject of photographs, let me share my most recent and brilliant stroke of stupidity – I’m sure it would have come pretty high on the scale of the ol’ Darwin awards.

I have a mobile phone with a 3.2 Megapixel camera. Infact, I’ve had this phone for more than a year now. But all this time I have been cursing it on how grainy and low res it’s photographs turn out. Just the other day I walked in on my 7 year old meddling around with my phone. When I grabbed it from her, I noticed it was in a “settings” menu, and the options read…

3MP
2MP
1MP
VGA

Guess what was selected by default? Of course, like a true techie, I cursed the phone manufacturer under my breath for not setting the default correctly. Maybe I should ask my 7 year old to play around with my brand new DSLR.

Click

This time my Christmas present came in the form of a Digital camera – and a Canon DSLR at that too. Quite obviously, I was overjoyed as this was something I always wanted to get but never could allow myself to spend my money on. Now that I own it, I have been clicking away at anything and everything. No dog or bird is safe from the Image Stabilized lenses of this beauty.

I even managed to resurrect an old Flickr account that had been dormant for almost a year. Of course my friends have been quite supportive in saying my photographs looked really professional. I’m just happy I don’t have to spend time and money trying to “develop” pictures anymore. It’s just as easy as saying Click!

Barbies and things

Did I mention that I live with 3 beautiful girls? My wife (brownie points, yeah I know), and the two little girls. And I love them all very much. But every weekend I wake up to some sort of a surprise. Take this morning for example,.. After a late night on Saturday, I slept in a little longer than usual this morning. After waking up to the noise of my youngest, I managed to waddle my way into the bathroom, barely managing to open my eyes. As I was reaching for the faucet with the intention of splashing some water on my face, I saw strange creatures before my eyes,.. a butterfly, a barbie and a mermaid. I shook my head and blinked my eyes hard thinking I was still daydreaming,.. but no, they were real alright.

It took me a moment to realize what had happened – it was just that my 7 year old have been using the bathroom before me. Y’see, she has this habit of taking her whole entourage wherever she goes – even to the bathroom. Not very different to Sri Lankan politicians I guess. Anyway, very often such things get left behind.

I sighed and went about my business.