Neha Ummat

swellesley and harvard ed. school

TEACHER

understanding my inscrutable 9th graders, achieving scrumtrulescence, bike safety, learning languages, cost cutting, gas cutting, jumping high, scaffolding, organic peanut butter, increasing my lung capacity, flossing effectively, hiphop, cooking, speaking grammatically correct hindi, social justice, dancing (esp w/ the TAC TEAM!), comedy, rugby, college basketball, antakshri, celebrity gossip

too many--beloved, white teeth, their eyes were watching god, the death of vishnu, the corrections, god of small things, song of solomon, the namesake, drinking coffee elsewhere, the sun also rises, the sound and the fury, the pact, nickel and dimed, the beuty myth, fast food nation, don't believe the hype! a good history textbook would be my favorite, if one existed.

old school, almost famous, kuch kuch hota hai, company, the wedding crashers, the talented mr. ripley, bridget jones' diary, garden state, masoom, bamboozled, training day, city of god, the royal tennenbaums, hi fidelity, monsoon wedding, love jones, dil chahta hai, wet hot american summer, love and basketball, zoolander, say anything, swingers

THE ROOTS, common, mos def, talib, d'angelo, erykah badu, jill scott, bilal, kanye west, outkast. i hate the terms "neo soul, " and "conscious hip hop, " but i feel like my cd collection pretty much has those genres covered. also: bjork, liz phair's "exile in guyville" and "whitechocolatespacegg", dashboard confessionals, bollywood circa 1960's and 70's and a.r. rahman, tori amos before she became completely inscrutable and then too pop friendly, sublime, classic pearl jam, any spanish reggae, ibrahim ferrer/buena vista social club, sean paul, prince, wilco, anaphylactic shock

i miss cable. now i'm watching "law and order: svu" and the local news. the classics--seinfeld, my so called life, freaks and geeks, a different world. for now--MARCH MADNESS!!!! Girlfriends, the family guy, the comeback, best week ever, all the other vh1 wastes of time, scrubs, american idol, the chappelle show, the simpsons, the daily show. can't deal with reality tv any more, with one exception made for Celebrity Fit Club--don't ask why

i love having a bike.

i am the human tape recorder. my stories take the form of reciting verbatim the given conversation or conversations in question. thus, i take a long time to tell stories.

i can recite chris rock's stand up word for word, as well as long stretches of margaret cho's routines.

since moving to the bay, my joys have included:
the outdoors
fish tacos
my neighbors' gardens.

What i want to do more of:
play basketball
see friends
go to barbeques
breathe

i don't really listen to notorious b.i.g., but i find myself quoting his lyrics almost daily.
i usually hate to admit it, but i really do love j.lo.

old friends, and friends of friends who have heard how utterly cool i am