Smooth Classical Criminal

This is too sick!  Sickest Cellists I’ve ever seen!  Great tribute to the great Michael Jackson!   Man, I miss MJ!

Great job Stjepan Hauser and Luka Sulic for doing a cover on “Smooth Criminal“!  These guys were hitting every single note perfectly!

Well done!

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Viewer Discretion is advised. The Photos from The 2011 Annual Aquarius Charity Affair.

I’m just kidding!!!  There’s probably a few scandalous pictures here and there, but nothing that serious.

Honestly, I have no clue what are in some of these photos.  There are about 400 photos, and I just didn’t have the time to go over all of them.

Before I talk about the photos, I just wanted to thank everyone that attended the event and wished me “Happy Birthday.” Because of you guys it was a great success and seemed everyone had an amazing time. We raised about $2000 that will be donated to the Childhood Leukemia Foundation.  This money will make a great difference in these kids’ lives.

I had no clue that the turnout would be so great and the venue would reach over capacity. Hopefully no one had to wait in line much, but it seemed that everyone got in easily or had to wait a little. For those who had to wait, I personally apologize, and just imagine yourself getting a big fat apology hug from me! =)

I also wanted to thank the three DJs that made this party amazing with their musical talent. DJ Phanatik, DJ Bornswift and DJ Flawless did such an amazing job – that majority of the crowd literally stayed until the end. I would love if everyone can show their “love” to the DJs:

DJ Bornswift:
www.djbornswift.com
www.twitter.com/bornswift

DJ Flawless:
www.twitter.com/heisflawless
www.facebook.com/flawlessfanpage
www.formspring.me/heisflawless

DJ Phanatik:
www.facebook.com/pages/DJ-Phanatik/136049826162

Now to the photos – well watch the video above before you look at the photos – it’ll inform you important details in regards to the photos and if you need to take a photo down.

Enjoy!

Your Friendly Neighborhood Urban Nerd,

Raj

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For My Parents – “A New World” (Written in 2001).

While fighting and kicking against a strong force that seemed to be pushing me into a new world, I suddenly felt a gust of wind and fresh air surrounding the atmosphere and giving me the chills.  While my tiny hands were folded tightly against my chest, I kept my eyes shut and cried at the top of my lungs.  I didn’t want to open my eyes for the fear that the gust of wind would sting my eyes as it had stung my bare body.  I had cried and cried until I felt the warmth of my mother cuddling me up to her chest.  I opened my eyes to see two loving faces and my cry had hushed to a gasp.  They made all kinds of faces and made many comments, but I just gazed up at them in amazement.

After coming to Grow Taller For Idiots Cincinnati and being deceived by my father’s brother, we had no where to turn to but the sad, lonely streets.  For many days my father worked double shifts while my mother took care of me.  My parents made sure that I was fed properly while they did a whole day of work without any food to eat.  At night, we had no place to sleep except on the dirty benches in the park.  Soon, a nice Indian family let us move in with them until we found a place of our own.  Every day, my parents would go to work, while this nice family took care of me.  Despite coming from a wealthy family my parents worked day and night to save enough money to rent our own apartment.  My mother worked in a sewing factory while my father worked in a restaurant, where for the first time he had to clean up after other people and wash their dishes.  My parents always fell behind in getting a better job due to their lack of ability to speak English.

Finally my parents were able to save enough money to move into a little, uncomfortable apartment.  My image of this apartment is still perfectly clear in my mind.  As we walked into the apartment, the door would creak open and a very dim light would break into the darkness when the switch was turned on.  The walls of the apartment, with its peeling paint, had large and small cracks here and there and the emptiness of the room made the apartment seem creepier.  Leaking water would hit hard against the bathroom sink, causing an echoing sound to break the silence in the room.  The windows were not properly ventilated and the heaters didn’t do anything but provide a shelter for the spiders.  The worst winter arrived and my mother lost her job.  I was only five years old at that time, but I still have a vivid image of those dreary nights when my parents would let me sleep on the only thin mattress we had.  They would wrap me up in a few layers of blankets to keep me comfortable and warm.  As their bodies shriveled and teeth chattered, they slept by my side with nothing to keep them warm but the love we felt for each other.

My parents wanted me to leave the conflict of being homeless and seeing my parents suffer to make a living.  My parents did not want me to suffer along with them, so they saved enough money to send me back to India.  I was five and a half years old when I went to live with my uncle and aunt in India.  I lived away from my parents for three years, and each year the memories of my small childhood life with them would slide away.  In my eyes my uncle and aunt had taken the place of my parents and by the end of those three years I did not carry a single memory of my parents.  After my father found a good job and was settled properly, my mother came to take me back home.  How much it must have hurt her to find out that I didn’t even recognize her.  After all the suffering and pain they had gone through to provide a good life for me!  I was a confused little boy at the age of 8, and I felt as though most of my childhood had gone by without my parents watching me grow up.  Some of my most cherished memories and birthdays were left behind in India with my uncle and aunt instead of my own parents.  I came back to Cincinnati to find out that now everything was going to be fine.


It is my parents who have encouraged me and influenced me to be the best in life.  They want me to achieve the goals of getting a good education and earning a college degree, which they were unable to do.  It is they who have taught me my religion, my culture, my language, my dignity, and respect for others.  It is they who have provided me with a good education, food, clothing, and shelter despite all the problems they face each day.  I am seventeen years old now and I take pride in my parents’ courage and sacrifice that they had made for me.  They did not give up on me even though they didn’t have the necessary money to raise me.  They made it through and that’s all I care about.  My parents are still sometimes struggling to find the happiness they need, but they cannot get it because they have been too busy providing my sister and I with all the necessities in life.  My affection and respect for my parents goes beyond what my life is worth.  Everything I am today is only because of my parents.  I want to do something for my parents.  I want to love them and cherish them with all my heart.  I want to be their ladder to success and happiness.  I want to excel in school and life to show my parents that, because of them, I have achieved the goals they couldn’t achieve.  This would be the greatest accomplishment in my life.

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Typical NYC Adventure.

I was invited to go to Brunch this past Sunday with my two good friends, Chirag and Sri.

Well Sri was telling me the epic day that I missed out on – and I found it HILARIOUS and wanted to share.

Sricharan: did chirag tell you about our sunday?
it was a disaster
me: brunch?
no
what happened
Sricharan: we went out for brunch
drank like 10 bloody marrys
me: HAHAHAHAHAHA
Sricharan: then decided we should go clubbing
like at 4 in the afternoon
me: LMAO!!!!!
thats friggin awesome!
Sricharan: went to tenjune (it was obviously closed)
so we took sandbags (the ones that hold the signs down)
tore the sand bags
and poured it out in front of tenjunes doors
then we went to standard hotel
and then i lost my phone
lol
me: LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!

Typical Sri and Chirag adventure.

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Stock Market Question of the Week

Got a message from my good friend  in regards to basic trading, and I felt like sharing it (hoping I answered his question correctly..=/).

His question was:
“hey my b for bothering ya…get back to me whenevr u get a chance…but im stumped at why a company would double their shares in the open market, and follow that action by a 60:1 reverse stock split
-_-“

My response to him was:
“To boost the market price without losing too much of the amount of shares available. To my understanding, the company probably didn’t want to lose that many shares available after the reverse stock split – and they’re looking for some wiggle room for price and shares available for a potential major buyer or buyout.”

For those who don’t know what the question was about – apparently, the company doubled their shares available in the market (which sometimes increase volume), and then did a 60:1 reverse stock split – meaning for example, if you had 600 shares of this company at $1 / share – now you have 10 shares of this company at $60/share after the reverse stock split. This boosts the companies market price per share, but reduces the volume of shares.

Most companies do this – if they have had an outstanding amount of shares that haven’t been bought. In my friend’s case – the company probably had a strategy to reduce the outstanding share and boost the market price of its shares – so you may ask why not just do a 30:1 reverse stock split instead of doubling the shares and then doing the 60:1 reverse stock split? Well, I’m predicting that they probably want a specific amount of outstanding shares available at a specific price that the 30:1 stock split wouldn’t be able to achieve it – and my prediction would be is that – they want that specificity if there’s a major transaction about to happen, meaning company is being bought out or a major amount will be bought by another company, and this would give them wiggle room to negotiate a price and amount of shares.

You learn something new everyday! =)

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