Habitual Procrastination

2007-08-12T13:31:00.000+01:00

Sorry folks, one last move. Have moved to http://mishaone.wordpress.com

the end of an era (at last)

2007-04-18T19:40:00.000+01:00

And so the bachelors ends. Well, actually, tomorrow is my last exam after which is am footloose and fancy-free. This is going to be a good year, I can feel it. Time for new beginnings, higher earnings, less spendings and mucho weight losings. I'm sorry, I get lame when I'm excited. :D

And yes, of course, the lol moment of the day goes to this little gem from god old gapingvoid.com:

The Ballad of the Noob (World of Warcraft machinima)

2007-04-02T15:40:00.001+01:00

ROFL, hilarious video, although technically impossible, but still... xD

fajr

2007-03-30T20:11:00.000+01:00

The (obvious) downside to a soaring high is the sinking low that must necessarily follow, at least for me. As I struggle with issues of varying importance of the day, drifts of otherworldy chants flow in through the windows. They herald the approach of the fanatics, cheering for the almighty and good while enjoying the ride on the back of a loudspeaker fitted bus. Privileged neighborhood, you say? Not today.

As I prepare to shut down for the day, snatches of mechanical fanaticism wafts in from random windowpanes around me, reminding me of all those mornings I would awaken at fajr before school and lay in bed and hear the ghostly echoes of neighborhood mosques competing to sound the azaan. On those occasions, I would lie still in the darkness and wait for the end of the recitation and the mingled, soft murmurings of the post-azaan prayers, all merging together like snatches of the same symphony that started at different times. Words are so inadequate to describe memories. If only I could describe that feeling of peace in a way that would make you understand it, feel it with me. Truth is even I don't feel that way anymore. I wonder if it was the childhood innocence that let me feel that in those completely illegible words there was a power that could soothe the troubled child's soul and allow for the possibility that prayers leaving those small, cupped hands would actually end up somewhere that they had meaning. Maybe it was just the tone of the voices, the soothing male murmurs for a child looking for a father figure, even it came in the shape of a dozen disembodied voices in the darkness. I would give a great deal to be able to feel that way again, to trust the good that happens and not have to instinctively look over my shoulder for the impending bad.

I want once again to be that which I have left behind: a child at fajr.

2007-03-07T13:28:00.000+01:00

"I am lost... "
"Such is the human condition. "

-Ran (1985)

sunday

2007-03-04T06:40:00.001+01:00

Awaken from jumbled dreams, faces, people, quirks, they all blend together as my subconscious stirs.

Mixtures of strains of music echo through the walls. An alaap here, a guitar solo there, they all mingle together in some odd hypnotic harmony as they reach me. Silence fills in the space between.

Yet another sunday, bloody, sunday.

Othello/Omkara

2006-08-29T06:52:00.000+01:00

I just saw Vishal Bhardwaj's remake of Othello as Omkara, after being nagged by mum and sis for weeks to watch. My short review, Saif Ali Khan is much better in the role of Iago/Langra than I thought he would be, but my favorite Iago performance remains Kenneth Brannaugh. Ajay Devgan disappoints me every time. How is this any different from any of his other role, i.e. the broody, quiet, authoritative man in command? Personally, I always thought the biggest reason for Othello's downfall was his own insecurity, despite winning the fair (literally) Desdemona's love and hand. Devgan portrays none of the quiet insecurity Othello (as a black man in charge of white men at a time when racial prejudice was rampant) feels when commanding the handsome and youthful Cassio and the experienced (and white) Iago. To see how it should be done right, check out the 1995 version with Laurence Fishbourne (yes, Morpheus). Other than that, it's a good version.

My only complaints, however, relate to the heavy UP dialect used in the movie. Mum and sis saw the film in the US with subtitles, I saw it locally minus subtitles, and had to keep asking them "what did he just say?". Either ship a permanently subtitles version or the dialect should have been left out of it. I hear it's making waves in India because of the very explicit language as well. Didn't bother me, personally. I wouldn't expect the local equivalent of villager gangsters in the UP to mind their P's and Q's when they talk.

Anyhow, my verdict: watch but with subtitles so you can understand what's going on. And leave the kiddies at home.

Die Slow

2006-08-20T04:06:00.000+01:00

Die Slow,
originally uploaded by Mishaone.

rain, rain, go away

2006-08-13T13:08:00.000+01:00

Rain is not just a weather phenomenon in Karachi. It's a cause of much rejoicing for some (I am reminded of the famous last words of one very stupid frequenter of the DC++ channel "I would rather have rain than electricity!", followed by a 36 hour blackout almost citywide due to the rain) and a cause of ire for others. In Karachi, it is the former for a large number of people who enjoy taking their shirts of and dancing in the flowing heavens. The rest of us sit at home and rant about the lack of a proper drainage system and how long it'll take for the electricity to go this time. I am of the former group.

The last time it rained, the newly constructed underpass was almost completely inundated and thanks to KESC's constant power failures, my hard drive zonked out, taking all my music and photos to digital heaven. God knows what the rain will bring about this time, but I'm prepared. I have a UPS handy and several books to read lined up, as well as a good store of goodies to eat of the two minute cooking variety.

When rain happens to decide to flow down on a normal day, it's bad enough, but add the fact that it's the 13th of august and the loudly maniacal celebrations for the nation's independence day are almost underway. It takes one of more patience than I to wander out this night, so I think I'll just stay in and let our poor, recreation starved yet amazingly reckless awaam have their fun.

Happy independence day, my soaked fellow Pakistanis!

omg

2006-08-10T07:55:00.000+01:00

I have screwed up so bad at work it's not even funny. Where is my mind? Has anyone seen it, because it sure as hell isn't here. I crashed the car yesterday into a motorbike, which was honestly his own fault because he was going pretty fast in the wrong lane on the wrong side of said lane (middle of the road) and I was going the right way on the right side of the road and at a medium speed since my CPU was in the car with me. The guy gets a few scrapes from falling on the road and his bike is absolutely perfect while mine is so very busted and still standing on the side of the road with one of the front wheels pointing north and one west. God, why does this shit happen to me? On top of this, I screw up so badly that I'm send home from work, albiet very nicely, to go "see to my own stuff". God, this is embarassing, where did my concentration go, when did I become incompetent?

*groan* Anyone know where I can find chulloobhar paani and drown in it?

what's going on

2006-08-07T14:12:00.000+01:00

First off, big news is that my mum's checkup went great and she and my sister are going to be back late august after about nine months away in the US for treatment, yay! =)

To balance it out, bad news is that dad is now hospital bound for some tests and treatment. Bah, when will the curse of the 1.5 parents end? To explain, it seems I always end up with 1.5 parents instead of two whole ones since my aunt counts as 0.5 while the principle parties are either unable, reluctant to participate or simply incapable of doing so.

Moving down the chain of the important, my final semester has now officially begun and I have additionally been offered the job of a Teaching Assistant for my Coordinator, who is a brilliant guy. Lord it over other students and be in control of their grades and participate in the torture raining down upon them from the coordinator? I'd do it for free, but I get paid, so even better. I am officially working two jobs now and studying as well. This should be an interesting semester.

Moving further down the list of interesting things happening currently, the world is drowning with these monsoons, as am I, since the contractor who did the enhancement project to our lounge did a crappy job and now half my living room leaks everytime it rains. One memorable evening when all of Karachi did not have any electricity the entire day and night, I spent the night out in the lounge in a mattress (it's the only place with any wind) listening to the radio in my cell phone and sleeping with drops of water splashing on my face. The overall experience is much like camping indoors with no fire to keep us warm or dry, aka "not very fun, thank you very much". =/

This and playing WoW (yes, still, and many hours a day, unfortunately) and customizing friends' blogs keeps me busy these days, but I'm sure that's going to change very soon, since I start classes and TA-ing from tomorrow. Au revoir!

WoW

2006-08-04T19:12:00.000+01:00

Worldcall has, in addition to its many wonderous Value Added Services, added a WoW (World of Warcraft) server to the list. Now let us be clear, I am an old school gamer, mostly because of my sad, low-end PC, but there is no shame in that. That's why I assumed WoW was not for me. All through my vacations I would hear everyone raving about WoW, as gamers with a lot of free time tend to do and eventually, far too late, I decided to give it a try. That, to the right, is myself stuck in one of the game's glitches where I am apparently airborne and treading air.

I am now ready to venture forth an opinion: I love WoW!

I love the fact that I am an undead, green chick with a large sword and I love the fact that you can take on wierd animals to gain levels and I love the quests and I especially love the teaming up aspect. Additionally, I also love the fact that I can travel to select locations in the huge map via bat (see left), a notion that is much more entertaining in practice than it sounds. Playing with real players always make for an entertaining experience. Currently, I am partnered with a young man whose handle is Dragon, another undead creature like myself, but a sorceror, as opposed to myself, the fearless warrior woman. We creep together till five in the morning, we run around together, we bitch about other, higher ranked players with access to various large animals to ride upon while we have to make do with travelling slowly by foot together and best of all, we work together to kill some awesome beasts. Unfortunately, we often die together too and have to travel to our corpses to be revived. Welcome to a twenty first century relationship! :P

To the left you can see myself and Dragon awaiting a zeppelin that would take us to a city across the seas. By the way, for anyone interested, all you need to join in is a decent speed connection and a moderately fast PC since the server is open to non-Worldcall users as well. And people wonder why I stick with Worldcall all this time despite erratic speeds and frequent disconnections.

show of hands

2006-08-04T19:07:00.000+01:00

post of the week, about love by someone in love: hands

almost makes me a believer. almost.

dream on

2006-07-27T12:01:00.000+01:00

New York,
originally uploaded by ben hulse.

Every night it's the same dream.

Driving to the middle of the city at night, getting out of the car and just walking.

Walking on the streets that don't know my name. Surrounded by semi-familiar strangers. Money to burn and nowhere to go. Oddly at peace. Walk on.

leaving on a jet plane

2006-07-24T08:55:00.000+01:00

leaving on a jet plane,
originally uploaded by Mishaone.

A late night wedding at the Maritime Museum complex allows for entertainment by way of wandering amidst the exhibits of planes and ships in the dark. I can't remember the last time I actually had fun at a wedding.

the road to becoming fit

2006-07-18T16:14:00.000+01:00

So yes, I joined a gym as of late, and it has brought forth a great deal of misery in my life.

a) Said gym happens to be pricey and I'm wiped out with just getting a membership plus admission fee plus monthly fee plus trainers fee.

b) One needs a gym outfit that is suitably flexible, immune to sweat and plausibly fashionable since gym will be filled with defence aunties in their flashy aerobics gear. I may not be in the best of shape but I refuse to be outclassed by defence aunties at dressing for the gym. Such a gym outfit can be most quickly discovered at a local nike/adidas/reebok/blahblah outlet, and will regrettably end up costing the remainder of one's paycheck.

c) The trainer assigned to one is mostly due to a mixture of luck and availability. With my luck, I get a narcissistic fellow who enjoys mingling with shirtless lads pumping iron and enjoys lifting up his own shirt to check out his biceps in the mirror. Said trainer also has a fondness for weight training and insist that I also need to tone up my upper body. Personally, I would think it's the lower body that screams out for some toning the most, but then, what do I know? The result: inability to lift arms the next day thanks to a series of crushing muscle cramps near in the upper arm and back regions. Oh, and for the record, Icy Hot Cream, despite having a catchy name, does absolutely nothing for sore muscles.

And so, I plunge forward in the workout regiment set, with many a well wisher advising me about diet and fitness and my own personal US-based cheering squad i.e. mum in the background. Fitness, here I come!

2006-07-18T12:37:00.000+01:00

Ill-health is in the air. Everyone I know seems to be falling sick or feeling out of sorts, for some reason. Dad has jaundice, fairly dangerous for someone with a liver as eroded as his is, friend's dad has a fever, anothe friend's mom is facing diabetes issues, little brother may have some sort of virus that's going around and I'm facing health issues as well.

What the heck is going on? :/

Freakonomics

2006-07-18T12:30:00.000+01:00

Freakonomics,
originally uploaded by uniongrrl.

Brilliant book! :D

2006-06-30T10:00:00.000+01:00

You don't seem to get it.

I want to be left alone.

I crave to be left alone. I revel in soltitude. It's the state of choice for me.

So please, gather up your invitations and good intentions and be on your way.

This woman hunts alone.

2006-06-27T06:52:00.000+01:00

Loonatics?! Discard the classic, remix it into stupid "futuristic" junk with no eyeballs and pointy ends and call it "XYZ for the new millenium", as superheroes, no less. Buzz bunny and friends, my tashreef.

Speaking of superheroes, the real deal is coming to cinemas tomorrow. What I wouldn't give to watch Superman Returns at an IMAX theatre on opening day. However, contrary to my initial expectations, previews and trailers seem to be doing thier bit and I'm as excited as any other fanboy/fangirls about the new movie.

move

2006-06-27T06:47:00.000+01:00

When everyone but you is moving on and making something out of themselves (it is to be argued another day whether the smething they are making of themselves is worth being), I remain content to remain as before, to stand still. Now if only everyone else would stand still with me.

exhale this

2006-06-22T21:30:00.000+01:00

exhale this,
originally uploaded by Dabbler.

You know that feeling where you've been holding your breath without even realizing it, and suddenly you notice and exhale? To let go of something you never knew you were holding on to is... liberating. Freeing, somehow. One less thing to worry about.

Letting go of a lost cause is a good thing. I must remember to tell myself that every now and again.

Why is it everyone gets giggly and high on sheesha and my mood dips lower and more pensive than usual? :/

change?

2006-06-22T21:19:00.000+01:00

The saddest thing about growing up is looking at people you've known forever and suddenly realizing that they have changed. A veritable metamorphasis has taken place without you even realizing it (or perhaps not wanting to realize it) that has made them so astonishingly different from who they were that you wonder why you couldn't see it before.

That, and realizing that you cannot look at this new person without sadness and an overwhelming sense of loss for the person you once knew.

x&y

2006-06-21T12:55:00.000+01:00

A function consists of two values represented by an x and a y and possibly a constant.

y = 5x

y is a dependent value. Its identity, its value, all are defined by its relation to x.

x, on the other hand, is completely independent and does not need to be defined by anything but itself.

What does this have to do with anything? Nothing really, until you have to sit back and watch someone who was an x become a y.

Underpass ornament

2006-06-15T19:48:00.000+01:00

Underpass ornament,
originally uploaded by Mishaone.

So I finally see what the odd underpass decoration's purpose is. The Clifton Cantt Board people have an odd sense of humor, as pointed out by a friend recently. :)

Additionally, have been snowed under by friends visiting from out of the city and country hence much less time to blog. On the other hand, since vacations started, I have started to get into sheesha big-time, which is odd since I never realy cared for it much before.

Anyhow, back to the old rat race and dreaming of people who have already left.