Saturday, November 27, 2004
3 Seconds
For the fortunate ones with time to kill:
Play Balance the Unicycle
Misha
at Saturday, November 27, 2004
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Bah!
Woke up this morning with a 'hangover headache' minus the booze intake that has become characteristic of worry filled days. This one exam on sunday is causing jumbled dreams of being declared worthless (which equals 'marry her off, NOW!') and being married off to distant relatives who live in buildings that I can't get out from.
Misha
at Saturday, November 27, 2004
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Friday, November 26, 2004
A few more days for to tote the weary load,
No matter 'twill never be light,
A few more days till we totter on the road,
Then my old Kentucky Home, good-night!
-
My old Kentucky Home, Goodnight!, Stephen C. Foster
Misha
at Friday, November 26, 2004
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Book
This may be a normal occurrence for most people, but it just hit me that I'm reading the words of a dead man. A man was once alive, thinking, and writing and now that he's dead, it seems like the closest communication from beyond the grave if you steer clear of the ouiji boards. Yes, I know, I know, you're thinking, "So what? We read books all the time written by someone who's probably dead by now. So what?". The answer is, I don't know. It's like when you've used a word all your life and suddenly it tastes odd on your tongue and you realise that it really makes no sense and is a really odd word. It just hits you, for no reason at all.
Misha
at Friday, November 26, 2004
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Wednesday, November 24, 2004
the good and the bad
I have the worst sense of timing in history. Finals began today and there's nothing worse than having just bought a bunch of books that you're itching to read while knowing that you have to fulfill a quota of chapters each day. Oh wait, there is something worse: examinations on sundays. Another charming little policy change that has come about this year.
The good news is that I received late Eidee from my aunt in the States the day before yesterday. The bad news is that it has been spent, as of today. I wish I could earn money as fast as I can spend it. Additional good news is that several old school buddies I've been missing are on their way back to Karachi for the vacations this weekend. The bad news is that my exams don't end till Wednesday.
The CS project is turning out to be a real learning experience. I'm learning how to procrastinate worse than I already do, bicker in the middle of presentations and develop a really thick skin for being told off. Next semester, changes must be made.
The only really good thing has been frequent iftaari/lunch outings, which have become the highlight of a day filled with three hours of writing about things I'll have forgotten a month from now. Timeout rocks!
Misha
at Wednesday, November 24, 2004
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Saturday, November 20, 2004
Play-Doh foot...
Misha
at Saturday, November 20, 2004
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Thursday, November 18, 2004
Back to business.
Stole one extra day of blissful non-activity. Everything was tinged with sadness today. Even as I bit into my last McChicken burger a la McDonald's, I knew this was not going to happen for a while now. Also set a new record by spending all of my received Eidee in four days (new record) and am now back to penniless state. Again. Tomorrow, as of seven a.m., it's back to normal with university till the evening and then off to sleep.
On the brighter (or darker, depending on how you look at it) side, I have gotten my mum addicted to watching the most useless and confusing reality show on TV today: For Love or Money. For a Pakistani mother, I think the 'Marry for Love or Money dilemma' is an ongoing struggle as each of your children arrives at the age of doom.
The good news is that thanks to Bittorrents, I have located an old BBC production of
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The new 'Hollywood version' releases in 2005 but I'd rather check out the old version first.
Parting note: If you can get your hands on a good print of The Incredibles, you must check it out!
Misha
at Thursday, November 18, 2004
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Play-Doh
You're never too old for Play-Doh.
Misha
at Thursday, November 18, 2004
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Wednesday, November 17, 2004
What is it about sunsets on the beach?
Misha
at Wednesday, November 17, 2004
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Monday, November 15, 2004
The day after
God bless Worldcall is all I can say after having found and downloaded
Watership Down (1978), a movie that
seriously freaked me out as a 7-8 year old watching it. My parents, to entertain me, would rent cartoons for me on weekends and one weekend I was left alone at my grandma's place with a copy of Watership Down. My parents asked the video guy for a new animated movie and he gave it to them. They saw the cover and probably thought "Awww, animated movie involving cute little furry bunnies. What could go wrong?". The result: me seriously freaked out alone in the dark later in the night in the guest room, determined not to go running to my grandparents and disturb their sleep just because I kept having visions of the Black Rabbit sneaking about in the dark and taking souls away. Currently, I am burning the movie to a videoCD to be able to watch later on.
Misha
at Monday, November 15, 2004
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Sunday, November 14, 2004
Discovery
Discoveries made today:
- Approximately one-third of all billboards in Karachi, large or small, are displaying advertisments for either Paktel, Mobilink or Ufone. Mostly Ufone.
- Sheru has, for the better part of a month, been waiting for me to get out of my nice, warm bed every morning so that he can occupy it ten minutes later. Apparently, he's learned the proper use of pillows, as the photo [above] shows.
- CityFM89 has very entertaining RJs. Bus, it's time to get a radio for my room, since I can make a makeshift stereo, but there is not one radio in the house. Shameful!
- There are worse ways to sell out than to be bribed with Eidee. =D Note: Fingering the crisp notes and cackling in an evil manner may cause people passing to give you odd looks. It will also, however, stop them from even attempting to take any of it away.
Misha
at Sunday, November 14, 2004
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Saturday, November 13, 2004
Eid Mubarak
So Eid has been declared in Pakistan at last. It's that time of the year again, so I would like to introduce you to the Essential Eid Survival Guide for the Antisocial:
1. Personal portable music player with a lot of music for the long, long car rides where everyone has to 'share' the stereo and nobody wins.
2. A couple of bags of Doritos/Sour Cream and Onion flavored potato chips for munching on in the long rides. That way, when you decline food you dislike, you can (honestly) claim that you're quite full and make straight for the drinks.
3. Newly acquired cell phone credit card for whiling away time stuck silently staring at 'hum-umar' acquaintances.
4. A WAP enabled Cell phone. What could be better than meaningless chatter on MSN for killing some time when the old folks get started on 'the good old days'?
5. Plenty of snacks and drinks in case someone drops in unexpectedly to your place.
6. Manually tune the Cartoon Network on the TV to keep loud preschool visitors entertained with minimum effort.
Eid Mubarak, everyone.
Misha
at Saturday, November 13, 2004
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Career Paths and the lack thereof
A word to the impulsive people out there: when having an impulse born of great despair or sudden mood swings, consult/tell as many sensible people you know about it before actually doing anything about it. Trust me, you'll save yourself a lot of trouble if someone talks you out of doing something you'll later regret.
What brought this on? This morning, I received results of two hourlies. Miserable marks. Abysmally dismal. That sort of rhymes. However, wallowing in my misery and walking along corridor of the fourth floor, I formulated a rather rash (in retrospect) and impulsive plan to quit BCS and join BBA instead. Why not, I asked myself since there was nobody else in the corridor. If I just can't do math and science, why not quit and join a business degree instead, since concepts and graphs I can deal with? However, I would have to start from scratch and that meant about two and a half years wasted on an incomplete computer science degree. As an alternate plan, I thought, a BA in literature would be fun and educational. Maybe I could do my masters in the same and then even a Ph. D! The gateway to possibilities has swung open once again! Once the class I had left behind to do all this thinking in the corridors was declared on an official break, I hastened to the Coordinator to inquire if my oddly spun plan was even possible. The man is a genius. If he had a fan club, I would join it without delay. A good long talk about the possibility of a half year delay instead of a one year delay in my graduation brightened up my whole day and made me able to return to my math class (break had been over for ten minutes) and not stare depressedly at the floor.
Misha
at Saturday, November 13, 2004
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Thursday, November 11, 2004
change
I was just reading
Paul's blog and one comment about Gay Marriage rights struck a chord. No, not that kind of chord, I mean it got me thinking about one of the things I simultaneously like and dislike about the US: Anything, and I mean anything, you want changed or introduced into your society as a 'norm' can be included if enough people believe in it. There was a time when even homosexuality was a big taboo. Still is here (good old land of the pure), of course, but now its become something commonplace in the US, which is good for the minorities that are persecuted. Go to the US, start a movement, make some noise, and in about 10-20 years, whatever it is you could not do before is so common place that it won't even make your granny bat an eyelash. The obvious downside, of course, is that the majority could be idiots with their own agendas and their own poster boy, el presidente, and they could cause a whole lot of harm to innocent people and this could become the new norm. Just as I'm sure gay marriage will become one of the norms in the US in about ten years or less, I'm sure that somewhere out there there's an extremist looking for a cause.
Misha
at Thursday, November 11, 2004
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do the 'do
After visiting my mum's favorite haristylist, I can appreciate the difference between hairdressers here and 'there', 'there' being everywhere but here. Here, a hairdresser cuts your hair, everywhere else, a hairdresser is your confidant, provider of good conversation, and basically, for the next hour and a half that your hair is being reshaped, he/she is your friend for hire. Unload your problems, make small talk, share gossip, it's all a part of the experience. Even a hermit like me can go for that sort of thing.
Since I spent half of yesterday in a car, I pondered why anyone would install the odd system of having to hold the car door handle in the 'open' position for the lock not to pop open inside. Have you ever done that, just locked the car door from the inside, stepped out, hands full and given the door a bit of a 'thumka' to get it closed, then been discovered that since you did not hold the handle in the 'open' position, the car lock has popped back to unlock? It's the absolute most ridiculous thing ever, having to watch someone with a couple of bags, plus 7 Kg of chicken wrestle with the bags to reach the damn handle so that the car won't be unlocked when you shut the door. It's actually worse when you're the one doing the wrestling.
Misha
at Thursday, November 11, 2004
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Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Do cats snore?
Misha
at Tuesday, November 09, 2004
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the life and times of...
Imagine you are a student and imagine for a moment that a public holiday has been declared by the government. With hope creeping about your insides, you check the notice board and find the following confusing announcement:
The University shall remain closed tomorrow due to a public holiday having been declared. Classes and exams scheduled for tomorrow shall proceed as scheduled.
What would you make of such an announcement? Would you not, with a happy skip, assume that the administration had either taken partial leave of their senses or gone completely mad in their attempt to get an already delayed semester to end as soon as possible?
My own theory was that this meant, in effect, to bring you own picnic blankets to spread outside the university and sit down for classes since the entire staff, from the peons to the creepy staring temporary guard man would have the day off. Everyone but the students and the teachers.
On a happier note, today may well be 'Masters Day' on the feline calendar, with my cat giving me a great deal more 'lift' than normal, right down to following me to the bathroom and sitting in the middle of the tub observing in what I assume is a protective rather than creepy gesture.
Misha
at Tuesday, November 09, 2004
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Monday, November 08, 2004
8 Questions
Why is it Pakistani dramas mainly consist of crying by the buckets?
Why is it Ufone representatives are shoving their connections down our throats
now after that one memorable day when people stood in the heat panting like dogs in heat for a 'free' Ufone connection?
Why is it you never really know what you want until you're too old to use it even if you do get it?
Why is it being childish is a bad thing?
Why does an Internet connection break down spectacularly when you're racing a deadline?
Why is it that everything I imagine I'm good at eventually goes downhill?
Why is whining, fear and self-loathing so widespread today?
Why is it we always end up hurting the people who are nice?
PS: Finally got some time to spend fixing up the blog template a bit and include all the nice people who linked to me despite crappy, meaningless posts. Thank you, guys! =)
Misha
at Monday, November 08, 2004
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Sunday, November 07, 2004
Morning Rambling
There's a certain peace of mind that comes with sleeping in a room with no clocks or watches. It's like being a kid in a candy store with limitless credit. More to the point, I just got a full *trumpets and drumroll* 13 hours of sleep! Consequently, I am bouncing off the walls today.
No sooner had I emerged from the room with no clocks that I saw the all to familiar signs *cue psycho theme*: the dining table's place was changed, the chairs were rearranged to the corners of the room, the good china was out... Iftaaar Party!! *NOOOOOOOO!*
Why is it people insist on playing twenty questions about an MSN nick? What is it? What does it mean? Why is it there? If it was meant to be a joke between me and you, you'd get it, believe me. If you don't, stop asking about it every time it changes.
PS: Just saw Alfie (2004) last night and Jude Law looks absolutely gorgeous! The remake failed to pack a punch for me, the issues seem too outdated.
Misha
at Sunday, November 07, 2004
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Friday, November 05, 2004
The odd things that catch your eye when you're bored.
Misha
at Friday, November 05, 2004
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Thursday, November 04, 2004
Top of the world!
Thanks to my sometimes-annoying neighbor T's prodding and nagging, today I did something I have not done since I was a little girl: climb onto my building's roof, the absolute top of the world for me since you can see for miles in either direction and miles out to sea once you're up there. It started when a friend asked if I could give him my LAN cable which was no longer in use. I happened to mention this to T, who thereafter began pestering me to come on upstairs with him to get both our old cables, which should both be up there. Once upstairs, it turned out that the cable guy, having become severely ticked off due to T's antics, had severed and removed the cable that T had paid for during installation that legally belonged to T. This pissed T off, and he vowed revenge. Having found a decent length wire coming into our building's switch from another building, T suggested we get rip-off revenge, i.e. rip off cable guy for ripping him off first. Since, in essence, it was T's funeral should we have gotten caught, I agreed. First, we removed my cable and threw it down so that I could rein it in from my balcony. Then we set about freeing what was now, with poetic (justice) license, we referred to as 'T's cable'.
This involved climbing higher than I had in years (since T is afraid of heights and could not bear to go unless I showed him how to first) and freeing the cable from its trappings, then coming back down. Now you'd think that going up would be a tougher challenge than coming back down, but (surprise!) it isn't. The trick is that you're basically trusting your weight on gravity and your sense of where the tricky to find yet solid bit of plumbing that you can put your entire weight on is. Miss it and you could meet with a nasty accident. (Refer to photo for T gingerly finding his way down) All went well and, mission accomplished, we were back on solid ground (as solid ground as a roof can be) and gleefully taking our acquired prizes back downstairs. Hey, it's one way to pass the time till Iftaar. =)
Misha
at Thursday, November 04, 2004
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Eid Mubarak
Once again, that bane of my existence, Eid, comes along. I suppose it's supposed to be one of those holidays where ideally one should be happy, but it's hard to do when you'd rather just stay at home and relax with a good book or watch a movie than dress up and go meet old people who live far away who you're quilted into visiting because you mostly ignore them the rest of the year. Then they give you Eidee, which is usually about five rupees, which is kind of sweet but odd at the same time. Firstly, a holiday in which you have to lure your kids into by promising them money in exchange for meeting relatives doesn't really strike me as the best way to go. Secondly, there's the comparison. Ramzan is to 'kitnay rozay rakhay' as Eid is to 'kitni Eidee mili', both of which are really annoying questions.
But the most annoying part about Eid are the preparations. It's all well for those who enjoy shopping for clothes and shoes and making appointments at the beauticians to look good for a big day of extortion, but as anyone who knows me would know, I'm not a big fan of 'fashion-shopping'.
Yet, this year, like every year, my mum will drag us all to the houses of relatives who live on opposing corners of Karachi and force us to answer the same annual questions: Which one are you? Where are you studying now? What are you studying now? What do you plan to do after you're done studying? Why didn't your father come along with you to visit us? Where are you headed after us? Where did you go before coming here? I should just prepare an annual statement and hand them out at every house we go to. Then maybe we could have some actual conversation and get to know each other rather than updating the basic file on each other every year.
The worst bit is yet to come, though. When you're talking to a bunch of adults (I still don't count myself as an adult and shall not until I'm good at talking down to kids), they ask you the perfunctory questions, you give the perfunctorily answers, they crack their little jokes, you give a fake laugh, they turn off and talk to the other adults and you speak when they ask you a direct question. However, it's double the fun when you're banished to 'the kids rooms', where other distant relatives closer to your age are hanging out. Now these people are more or less strangers who meet once a year. The burden of making conversation in a silent room of adolescents staring at the lamps falls upon you. You give it a try for a bit, then admit defeat and return to collectively staring at the lamps and the fascinating (you would think) shadow formations they form with various objects in the room. Eventually, like coats or luggage, your parents come to collect you and make that relief inducing gesture with their eyebrows that indicated that you're leaving at last. With an internal sigh of relief, you collect your things and get up and say you goodbyes to complete strangers and leave. Can we go home now? No, we have five more houses to go to and the last one has invited everyone to lunch. Oh great, so I can't even spend my money on some good food instead of being at the mercy of old people's taste in food? Such are the joys of Eid.
Misha
at Thursday, November 04, 2004
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Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Bored now.
Misha
at Wednesday, November 03, 2004
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He's cuter when you're petting him... really!
Misha
at Wednesday, November 03, 2004
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Dr Jekyl and Miss Misha
Has anyone seen a movie called 'Office Space'? Ron Livingstone's character goes into some sort of trance via hypnotism that never really wears off and for the rest of the movie, he's going around with this zen-like calm about everything in his life that used to drive him nuts/ get him all worked up. That was me today. Turns out a good night's sleep can do that to you. Schedule for finals have been announced, which include a five day stint of one exam per day. Freaking out? Nope. Bring it on, I say. The sooner exams are over, the sooner I get to go back home and sleep for a week.
Also, people bitching about their exam schedules, people putting me in the middle of their problems with other people as well as people who expect me to live up to their share of responsibility: find a new patsy, suckers! (for maximum impact you have to imagine me in a small, red convertible, driving off to Mexico as I wave cheerily to the suckers)
Telling someone that their problem is not my problem, so they should go away is all Sir Zeeshan said it would be. :D
Oh, and the change in template, for anyone who cares, is due to my totally messing up the old template, so until I get the time to play 'experimentation' with either this one or revive the old one, this is what we have to work with.
Oh and for anyone with some spare time on their hands and a child-like love for video games, you gotta try Black and White, if only to play with the creature you get assigned. For cat lovers, try the tiger, it is so adorable the way it purrs when you pet it!
Misha
at Wednesday, November 03, 2004
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Tuesday, November 02, 2004
John Mayer - Why Georgia
I rent a room and
I fill the spaces
with wood in places
To make it feel like home
But all I feel is alone
It might be a quarter life crisis
Or just the stirring in my soul who knows
Either way I wonder sometimes
About the outcome of a still verdictless life, oh yeah
Am I living it right?
Am I living it right?
Am I living it right?
Why, why Georgia why
Don't believe me
when I say I’ve got it down
Everybody's just a stranger
but that's the danger
of going my own way
This is the price I’m going to pay
Still everything happens
for a reason is no reason
Not to ask myself if I am living it right
Misha
at Tuesday, November 02, 2004
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