Monday, January 31, 2005
dead
My head is unattached to my body, as of now. Fine, it's not, but it feels it it is.
I hate presentations and they're in love with me.
Sunday was the day of the second shooting. This time to the homes of people we know to get their opinions. I have never walked so much in one day in my life.
Must go cure sleep-deprivation.
Misha
at Monday, January 31, 2005
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Which Scrubs Character are you?
You are...Nurse Laverne Roberts A.K.A. "The Gossip"Mmm! Honey, you've got it all together! Whatever you do, you do it well. You're helpful to a point, and those close to you feel they can count on you. But you're not a doormat! The only problem is, with all those good qualities, you tend to be a bit judgmental of others...and you tend to share that judgment way too easily.
Thanks a lot, Saba and Huma. >:(
Why is it these TV show character quizzes always embarrass me?
Misha
at Monday, January 31, 2005
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Friday, January 28, 2005
Fools a-rushing in
A friend recently told me how his whole class is pitching in monetarily to help two classmates elope. It strikes me as inherently odd when people abandon all common sense when they're "in love". But then again, I've never felt so strongly about anyone that would make me leave all I hold dear and call familiar for one person. Why invite struggle, hardship and tears into your life, I ask you, when you have to die alone anyway? Why not live as well as you can, both spiritually and materialistically (neither works with the complete absense of the other for me), while you're here?
My main quarrel with quote unquote love is that it makes you deaf to all good advice. It's okay to disregard what most people say because most people are idiots. In fact, it's a great way to live. But now and then, the people get it right, too.
Note: It's camera time again this weekend! :)
Misha
at Friday, January 28, 2005
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Thursday, January 27, 2005
A wild night of partying ends.
Misha
at Thursday, January 27, 2005
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Wednesday, January 26, 2005
For Faraz: Hurriedly and Sloppily done, but a feline love nest is a feline love nest. :)
Misha
at Wednesday, January 26, 2005
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Help
Hell must be a lab where you sit alone, surrounded only by giggling/squealing girls for all eternity.
Misha
at Wednesday, January 26, 2005
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Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Ominous
I can read the signs and I get the feeling I'm about due for a run of very bad luck. Various family members have been affected: aunt's rather sick, brother's lost one cell phone and had another taken from him at gunpoint and dad's come down with the flu. I feel too lucky, how could I have escaped this run of bad luck unscathed? How could everything be going so well for me so far? It all seems pretty ominous to me. Nice people are having bad things happen to them, how is it I'm still whole and happy? Let us review: I have had more good ice cream in a month than I have in the past three years, media project is going stellar, calculus class has been delayed for two weeks (I don't like calculus, to put it mildly), I'm busy enough to stop brooding, but not so busy as to whine about being too busy, rain's washed away all the disgusting dead animal smell and blood, and I have one hourly this week which I can easily ace. In short, everything's absolutely fantastic... Could not ask for more. The higher you go, the harder you're going to come down, and I feel I'm being set up to go really high for that major fall. Insaan kisi haal mein khush nahi rehta, as a wise friend said. In short, neurotic as it may seem, I am worried about not having anything to worry about.
PS: Not a single typo in that whole post! This is bordering on the supernatural!
Misha
at Tuesday, January 25, 2005
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Monday, January 24, 2005
"Jinn"
My little Melonhead
Misha
at Monday, January 24, 2005
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Rain!
Rain at last!
It's as if someone up there heard my whining about the blood running through the streets and sent a shower down to clean it all up again!
Misha
at Monday, January 24, 2005
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Saturday, January 22, 2005
Eid Cooking
Here I thought I was the only loser blogging away throughout Eid, but it turns out I'm not, which is plenty reassuring. From the
very busy quarters of the Bakra-managing U2oholic,
Abid, comes an Eid post or two! Thanks to
Sid, this young man has joined us in bloggerland (I'd say Blogistan, but I'd have to pay loyalty fees to
Abez, who was pointed out to me by
Saba, who is currently sporting a brand new hair color). If it looks like I was going for a record number of promotions for other bloggers in one sentence, it's purely coincidental, let me assure you.
This morning, I stumbled out of my room and into the kitchen for breakfast/lunch (whatever's available) and had the misfortune of encountering a large tray laden with goat brains, in all their bloody red glory. I would have gotten a photo, but I'd worked too hard to get my nausea under control. I will never understand the need for people to proudly brag about their 12 year old son cutting the animal's throat ("apne haath se") to others. That and the charming street decorations which are also known as intestines that spring up this time of year make me want to sleep this holiday away. And if watching my mum cheerfully slice up various goat parts wasn't enough, my cook outlined a traditional bengali recipe for making a very tasty soup out of the ojhri (stomach bag, as far as my translation skills go) by first emptying out its contents, then letting the empty skin-bag simmer in a pan with some water with additional seasoning for taste. Hungry yet?
Misha
at Saturday, January 22, 2005
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Friday, January 21, 2005
Anagrams
Eid day tradition at my place: afternoon naps. While everyone else slept, I amused myself with anagrams. Turns out my full name is an anagram for "I'm Uzi, a rash", while my blogspot URL, 'evertheagnostic' is an anagram of "A Secretive Thong", among others. Even anagrams give me no respect, hmph!
The Internet Anagram Server for a bit of fun with anagrams.
Misha
at Friday, January 21, 2005
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Industrious
Today, while visiting relatives in Gulshan, I saw two 12 year old boys and one girl who must have been around 9 by the side of the road, busy in their work. Precisely what their work was unclear to me, nor was of much interest. The car closed in and I saw what they were eagerly engaged in. The first little boy would choose a promising spot on the intestines that were tossed to the side of the road and make a careful slit. He would then busy himself in sharpening his little knife. The second would poke the index finger of each hand inside this incision and grab the outer side with his thumbs and then pull to widen the slit. This done, he and the little girl (presumably their sister) would begin to rummage through the contents that spilled onto the sidewalk/road and pick out some whitish blobs, the use of which I have no idea of, and toss them into a mud-streaked bag half filled with the stuff, that lay by their side.
Eid Mubarak.
Misha
at Friday, January 21, 2005
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Thursday, January 20, 2005
The newspaper he's sitting on should give you a good idea of how big he's gotten.
Misha
at Thursday, January 20, 2005
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"My Bakra's bigger than yours!"
It's that time of year again. Burning questions like whose assets are bigger and who must do what with their assets are shunted aside to make way for the cries of "my bakra's bigger than your bakra!". Tis the season of hurried visits to the beauty parlors, forced triple hugs with people you only see once a year and too much money crammed tightly into too-small fists. Twice a year I work on autopilot. Tis that time of the year again.
"Yeh mehlon, yeh takhtoun, yeh taajoun ki duniya
Misha
at Thursday, January 20, 2005
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Monday, January 17, 2005
Can I shoot you?
Things learned from my first shooting experience:
I have a whole new appreciation for people who go around getting interviews from people on the streets! Recently, I visited the Sunday Bazaar with my groupmate to shoot a couple of scenes and get interviews from various people out for a sunday shopping spree. Turns out people walking towards you will actually do a complete 180-degree turn and walk hurriedly away if they see that you're carrying a camera and are prepared to use it. Then there's the additional hassle of carrying around a tripod that, at full height, is taller than yourself in a case that makes you look like someone carrying around a sniper gun. This effect can be fun, but also pretty tiring for the arm. Judging by the number of funny moments we managed to get on tape, I'd say we have a pretty good outtakes sequence for when the credits roll.
Another lesson learned: Absolutely everyone wants to be a director. Everyone from the organizers at the Sunday Bazaar to the Golf Pros at the Golf Club think they know a thing or two about how to handle a camera and will not hesitate to voice their opinions about how to go about shooting a scene. Also, there are three kinds of people: those who suffer from an extreme case of camera-shyness, those who are willing to go on camera but only for brief moments, and those who absolutely love the camera, whether the camera loves them or not. Those who come under the last category can be as diverse as the men who sell women's clothes at Sunday bazaar to overenthusiastic golf pros to Punjabi Arm Wrestling Champions out for a morning jog.
If you're female and ask nicely, nearly all men, young or old, will agree to be interviewed. However, if you're female and ask a female for an interview, the female shall not feel she is compromising the demands of modesty by fleeing as if the hell fires of eternity were after them.
Fun: Singing ghazals, operating on pure instinct, imitating cats and McDonalds' Caramel Sundae in winter. :D
Listening to: John Denver - Annie's Song
Misha
at Monday, January 17, 2005
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The Camera!
The DV-Cam I got to use all of Sunday. 24 hours of hard work equals one 60-minute tape.
Misha
at Monday, January 17, 2005
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Saturday, January 15, 2005
it's all about location, baby!
Whew, I never knew how hard it is to get a bunch of locations to authorize you shooting a ten second scene. At the risk of defaming
Cafe Zouk, they may have a great set-up but asking for Rs. 10,000 per hour from students to shoot in it is excessive, to put it mildly.
Thereafter, we went to
Dunkin Donuts and got them to agree to let us shoot there free as long as we didn't disrupt the customer or come by at peak hours. Turns out the nice manager is off on vacation the next time we visit and the new guy in charge refesues to let us shoot, making the ludicrous claim that they are full from the time they open (7 in the morning) till the time they close.
Next, it's time to hit
Nando's, where, after speaking to a dozen different people, we get permission to shoot. Nice people in an overpriced multinational franchise... who would have thought?
Misha
at Saturday, January 15, 2005
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Friday, January 14, 2005
Glee
Tomorrow is the big day. At last we get to take the camera and various supporting equiptment home and use it all of Sunday. Glee, I tell you, sheer glee! :D
Misha
at Friday, January 14, 2005
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Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Melon-choly
Recently, we took another class trip to the beach. Everyone else was doing their chapparh-chapparh on the sands and the water, but I felt sort of melancholy. These people, who have been a unit for nearly three years now, are slowly breaking away to find their own identities. For a short time, we were all friends, brothers, sisters, but soon we shall all be out there competing against each other in the market for scarce jobs. Me, I shall be stationary, still here while everyone I know and look forward to seeing every morning leaves. I am a ghost here, it seems. There are moments when everyone is involved in the class, laughing, joking and making a good deal of memories, and I'm at the back (I always sit at the back now), watching silently, like a ghost, just watching them and thinking how much I'll miss them when I'm taking classes with stranger I don't care about at all.
Misha
at Wednesday, January 12, 2005
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Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Bachon ko Nikaal Do
Odd incident of the day: As I was walking to the main road to catch a bus to the university, I was hailed by a woman in a balcony in one of the flats on the way. Curiosity gets the better of me and I approach cautiously. The woman asks if I'm going towards the main road, and I reply that I am. She tosses me a bunch of keys and asks me to give them to yonder pehelwaan lounging about on the grass with a small radio and tell him 'bachon ko nikaal do' (Let the children out). I wonder if I'm an unwitting accomplice in a child-kidnapping scheme. However, I passed on the message and the keys, and it was not, as I predicted in a paranoid moment, a "code" which meant to follow me.
Misha
at Tuesday, January 11, 2005
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Sunday, January 09, 2005
Interesting Roof
Misha
at Sunday, January 09, 2005
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Samundar Kinaarey...
Misha
at Sunday, January 09, 2005
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Today's sunset
Misha
at Sunday, January 09, 2005
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And so it is Sunday morning.
What is so significant about this particular sunday morning? The first week of the new semester has concluded, leaving behind one day of 'rest' to process what it has brought. I'm supposed to go check out the locations for my mini-documentary today, and hopefully most locations will not demand money. At the moment of conception, this documentary thing seems like it could not go wrong. It was going to be the single most fantastic piece of work to ever come out of students from a vaguely related field! It was all that and then some! A day or two of actually thinking about the whole thing makes me vaguely certain that I shall screw up, as usual, since it's the first time I've ever actually done something like this. Which is why I'm really happy to have fantastic groupmate who's absolutely bursting with brilliant ideas and wants none of the credit. It makes me a less selfish person to have a friend like that.
Recently, though, I have also been toying with the idea of starting up a blog solely for photos of Karachi. Recent driving lessons that have taken me to various corners of this city that I never even knew existed ("We're in Azizabad!?") have made me realise how little I know about this huge city despite having lived in it for nearly all my life. Also, I wanted to have a group blog where there would be the excuse for others to post as well. Anyone interested in posting photos of places in Karachi that mean something to them and a short description, do comment and let me know. If not, I guess it's a solo project,something to do with my new drivers license. :)
On a completely unrelated and irrelevant note, the cat wants to be fed. Nay, he demands to be fed. I try to convey to him that it's not lunchtime yet, but he resolutely turns around and starts to lick his privates in my general direction. The message cannot be clearer. What worries me is that I just went over to where he's occupying a double bed by himself and tried to pet him and he stops licking himself and sighs. Yes, he actually exhales loudly and exasperatedly as I begin to stroke him. Ungrateful but adorable little beast!
Misha
at Sunday, January 09, 2005
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Saturday, January 08, 2005
Glow-sticks
Glow-sticks that turn into glow-bracelets! :D
And the reason my shirt sleeve is also glowing is the UV light.
Misha
at Saturday, January 08, 2005
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The Man of Steel!
Only in Pakistan can you go out to buy one movie and get it and its sequels in one DVD plus special features. :)
Misha
at Saturday, January 08, 2005
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Fourth Lesson
At the end of the fourth lesson, one thing is glaringly clear: I like speed. And the prescribed speed for me right now is 20 km/h, which is far too slow. I spent the entire two hour session trying to sneakily increase speed until I was hovering around forty at least, at which point the instructor would notice and say something alone the lines of 'Ahista, ahista!'. It seems I also have a penchant for the sort of turns that require twisting the steering wheel entirely. Such style, such fluidity of motion, wah wah! Until it's interrupted by the auntie's hand poking in the middle to correct my steering. Auntie does not seem to understand that I can steer damn near perfect and her hand is not helping, it is hindering my fluid and professional steering wheel turn motion. Give me space, woman!
Sis, due to a more flexible schedule than mine, has completed all her training lessons and needs only two theory lessons to complete the course. However, it is I and only I who can get a learners permit at the end of the course, since sis is too young.
Misha
at Saturday, January 08, 2005
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Friday, January 07, 2005
At last we get down to business, namely actually shooting some stuff in Media Production. This semester, our major projects count for a great deal of our grade so this should be good. The project is to make a 7-10 minute mini-documentary about anything you like. Obviously, since you can't really do a serious issue justice in such a short span of time, we're encouraged to roam amongst less serious matter for a subject. I'm already psyched about the whole thing because we are to be effectively left to our own devices with the right tools, including professional camera and lighting equipment and we have to work on the post production ourselves as well, so the end result would be 100% our own ideas and work. At last, a project I can get excited about.
Also, if you don't hear from me by tuesday, feel free to conclude that I have drowned thanks to my classmates' insistence to go to the beach right after being missed by a tsunami.
Listening to: The Servant - The Cell
Misha
at Friday, January 07, 2005
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Thursday, January 06, 2005
Surprise!
Misha
at Thursday, January 06, 2005
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Return of the Math
I have a renewed interest in maths... sort of. How can you help but prop yourself up and shake off that sleepy haze when the teacher proclaims "Maths is beautiful!"? Careful attention proves that maybe all you ever need is the right teacher, which is not to say that the older ones were bad teachers, just that they weren't my kind of teachers. What is a good teacher for me? Someone who actually puts in the effort, not just to find relevant material, but to find interesting and relevant material to help us fight back the glazed-eyes. We really don't want to be asleep on your beat, sir/ma'am, but you leave us no choice.
Misha
at Thursday, January 06, 2005
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:')
Dimples are to humans what chocolate chips are to cookies.
Misha
at Thursday, January 06, 2005
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Wednesday, January 05, 2005
HHGG Movie Teaser
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) Trailer (8 mb)
Misha
at Wednesday, January 05, 2005
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Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Odds and Ends
It's odd to stumble upon what others think of you. Today I realized I'm supposed to be 'the smart one', regardless of all evidence to support the contrary, and apparently, I'm the good example as well. It's strange how long it took me to see that's what my role is in this family: to be the uninteresting, mildly studious, "good" (read boring) kid who can be depended upon to tutor the little ones.
The new semester has just begun and so there's nothing very interesting to think about except that we got an assignment to learn C# and write a program using it by next week when none of us have ever used the language before. Strangely, the prospect seems almost exciting, because once you've taken that first step on the 'teach yourself' road, you realise you can learn almost anything by yourself without paying a bunch of professors to spoonfeed it to you. And that makes it all the harder to cough up exhorbitant fees for universities and their degrees.
Today I also spent some time working on getting this new template up and running. It's different from any of the others I've had so I expect it to last a while, because I do hate the whole process of having to search for one good template amongst the thousands out there. And yes, I know the middle bit's riding up on top of the "blogger bar".
Misha
at Tuesday, January 04, 2005
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Monday, January 03, 2005
:)
Ik Din aaayega, tu
yun gaayega... aa-aaah-aaaaaaaah!
Some days you
just have to sing a mindlessly optimistic and cheerful song.
Also, I have reached the point where this skin is starting to look positively ugly to me. Time for a template change... again.
Misha
at Monday, January 03, 2005
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First day
First day, very cold. To quote a song, 'familiar faces, worn out places". Surprisingly, after aproximately ten and a half hours there, I didn't learn a thing.
Misha
at Monday, January 03, 2005
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Saturday, January 01, 2005
PJ
Misha
at Saturday, January 01, 2005
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Jan 1st
Here I was feeling bad and mildly embarrassed at my own antisocial tendencies. However, so far everyone I have spoken to went to bed and did a grand total of nothing on new year's eve. Did anyone do anything this new year's?
Oh and thanks to the firecrackers and random firings into the air all night, I dreamt I had a Christian friend over just as an anti-Christian riot broke out on main Seaview. We had to line up sofas to block the main door and assault angry mobbers with saucepans. That should clear up any misconceptions I had about my dreams making sense. They are consistently violent, however, but the violent tendencies may have been brought about by listening to the following song:
Chupke Chupke ghoor na mujh ko
Doonga Main Gaali!
Gaali Doonga, urh jaayegi gaalon ki laali!
Chorus:
Chik-chik-chik-chik-chik-chik-Chiklet!
Chik-chik-chik-chik-chik-chik-Chiklet!
Misha
at Saturday, January 01, 2005
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