Ah, the day is done.
Anjali’s birthday today, so naturally we had to get up at midnight to wish her – dog, cat and all.
She appeared to be thrilled with her gifts – The complete set of the “Lord of the Rings” books and three PC video games – The Sims, Simcity 3000 Unlimited and the boomerang present – Myst III. 
I am a *major* fantasy fiction and games freak (something that a few people should have known in a discussion a while back) and have just about all the big names under my belt. Myst and Riven (Myst II) were major milestones for me – unbelievable depth. While I know that Myst III is likely to be a wee bit on the “let’s squeeze blood from that stone” side, I am sure I am going to enjoy it.
Whether *Anjali* will, remains to be seen She hasn’t played either Myst or Riven (both games went to my mother after I finished them, and there is no retrieving them).
Because of the ease that I get addicted to fantasy game playing (or Role Playing games – RPGs), I normally stay away from games altogether. Hence it has been several years since I have dived into one – but the time has come
Now the only misery is that I have to stay away from the game until Anjali finishes her exams on Thursday! 
In other news, went with Mrinal and visited Gaurav in the hospital. Woah – serious redecoration there – I *really* would like to see what state the van is that he ran into! A big plaster on the head, and major straps on the right leg. However, I was glad to hear that there are no fractures, though lots of stitches. He should be in college-going state in another week or two.
The side-effect of that visit was that I got to see just how far away Mrinal will be once he moves – oh man, it is almost half-way to Mysore!
After the visit, we went to Reynolds to check out nylon string guitars. Major disappointment there. All the guitars they had were overpriced and except for one fairly lousy to hear/play. The one that I liked was price-tagged at Rs.6500, which was, of course, insane. I guess I’ll have to shelve that wish for a while.
While I was there, I decided to buy a notestand to prop up my lyric/chord sheets, a few more cables and another guitar strap.
Evening sat down and watched “The Phantom” on HBO. Good fun, even though it made me miss part of Voyager.
Nice movie if you aren’t a rabid Phantom fan – the changes in the story line and background are pretty heavy – more than someone who has been reading Phantom comics for close to 30 years can swallow!
But overall, if you switch off your mind, this movie rocks. And even if you feel that it doesn’t – it had Catherine Zeta Jones in it.
’nuff said