Friday, September 30, 2005
Bored?
Tired?
Totally Stressed??
Wanna Relax??
Wanna Do Something DIFFERENT??
How bout this! ;)
The Music Society is holding an Open House & Jam session!!! Just a couple of hours where musicians and non musicians alike can get together, play good music, listen to good music, and just unwind. An unplugged session like never before. The music society invites you, Freshman and Seniors alike. Bring the lyrics, bring your guitars if you like, most importantly, bring your love for music and jam with us!!!
The rules well… come listen to us start it off, then you guys come and play. Never played in front of a crowd before? Doesn’t Matter. Only know a couple chords? Doesn’t Matter. Know only the one string version to “tujhe dekha to ye jaana sanam”? Doesn’t Matter. If you want us to play while you sing, not a problem - get the chords (go to guitartabs.cc) and well do our best. Semi Acoustic Guitars only. We have two, bring ure own if you want.
having missed the last couple "music society" presentations, i knew i didn't want to miss this too. and i'd also promised ibad, which was why i tore myself away from "the matrix" and wandered down to the "rec room" to see what all the fuss was about. i must admit, i was impressed by the number of people waiting outside the room for the concert to start.
once i got inside, however, i realized why it was i had missed the music society so much. as is usual right before concerts; people were missing, things were getting set up, people were anxious, responsibilities were being appointed. good old music society. the "mahol" -atmosphere- was amazing. the lights were off. some lamps had been brought in and covered with colored paper. and the cool and trusty "khokha" bar stools had been set up.
after about half an hour of catching up with various people, namely ibad and salman, who i hadn't met in a while, i was told i'd be filming the show. as usual. not my favorite thing to do, and not something i'm good at, but whatever.
the show was great. since it was an "open night" and everyone who wanted to was allowed to play, i was a bit unsure of how the society would manage, both content and management wise. but they did pretty well. some people had to wait a while to play, but that was to be expected. however, everyone got a chance, with preference being given to "first-timers".
amazing performance by kazi (2006). went to school with him and NEVER knew he could sing THAT well! also, the 2009s were really good with quite a few people getting up to play - dunno everyone's names so sorry about that. erum's "one more time - britney spears" was done quite well with amazingly feminine (heh) backing vocals and saad+taha's "jumma, chumma de de" was well co-ordinated to say the least! hub and sibti's "no idea" song was funny, though i'm sure lots of people had no idea what they were talking about.
as far as the "old" members go, they were obviously amazing. ammar freshie and shibli's "learn to fly" and "rangon main" were amazing. ehsan's "if green to me was blue to you" was something i hadn't heard before, and was extremely happy with (yay! have that on tape as well!). those three, by the way, are geniuses. i swear! i'm getting autographs right now as an investment. :D
highlights of the concert (?) was a fight (details can be obtained from me, though even i don't know what exactly happened!), ammar's string breaking (thus taking over salman's position as official string-breaker), shibli messing up caught on tape), saad's "gay eskimo" and ehsan's mummy's tears!
all in all, i walked away from the concert happy. definitely time well-spent. in the end. a song that stuck with me through the concert...and something i think should've been sung at the end.
Tired?
Totally Stressed??
Wanna Relax??
Wanna Do Something DIFFERENT??
How bout this! ;)
The Music Society is holding an Open House & Jam session!!! Just a couple of hours where musicians and non musicians alike can get together, play good music, listen to good music, and just unwind. An unplugged session like never before. The music society invites you, Freshman and Seniors alike. Bring the lyrics, bring your guitars if you like, most importantly, bring your love for music and jam with us!!!
The rules well… come listen to us start it off, then you guys come and play. Never played in front of a crowd before? Doesn’t Matter. Only know a couple chords? Doesn’t Matter. Know only the one string version to “tujhe dekha to ye jaana sanam”? Doesn’t Matter. If you want us to play while you sing, not a problem - get the chords (go to guitartabs.cc) and well do our best. Semi Acoustic Guitars only. We have two, bring ure own if you want.
In the REC room (next to the super store)
Tomorrow 29th September 2005.9p.m. Onwards!
Tomorrow 29th September 2005.9p.m. Onwards!
having missed the last couple "music society" presentations, i knew i didn't want to miss this too. and i'd also promised ibad, which was why i tore myself away from "the matrix" and wandered down to the "rec room" to see what all the fuss was about. i must admit, i was impressed by the number of people waiting outside the room for the concert to start.
once i got inside, however, i realized why it was i had missed the music society so much. as is usual right before concerts; people were missing, things were getting set up, people were anxious, responsibilities were being appointed. good old music society. the "mahol" -atmosphere- was amazing. the lights were off. some lamps had been brought in and covered with colored paper. and the cool and trusty "khokha" bar stools had been set up.
after about half an hour of catching up with various people, namely ibad and salman, who i hadn't met in a while, i was told i'd be filming the show. as usual. not my favorite thing to do, and not something i'm good at, but whatever.
the show was great. since it was an "open night" and everyone who wanted to was allowed to play, i was a bit unsure of how the society would manage, both content and management wise. but they did pretty well. some people had to wait a while to play, but that was to be expected. however, everyone got a chance, with preference being given to "first-timers".
amazing performance by kazi (2006). went to school with him and NEVER knew he could sing THAT well! also, the 2009s were really good with quite a few people getting up to play - dunno everyone's names so sorry about that. erum's "one more time - britney spears" was done quite well with amazingly feminine (heh) backing vocals and saad+taha's "jumma, chumma de de" was well co-ordinated to say the least! hub and sibti's "no idea" song was funny, though i'm sure lots of people had no idea what they were talking about.
as far as the "old" members go, they were obviously amazing. ammar freshie and shibli's "learn to fly" and "rangon main" were amazing. ehsan's "if green to me was blue to you" was something i hadn't heard before, and was extremely happy with (yay! have that on tape as well!). those three, by the way, are geniuses. i swear! i'm getting autographs right now as an investment. :D
highlights of the concert (?) was a fight (details can be obtained from me, though even i don't know what exactly happened!), ammar's string breaking (thus taking over salman's position as official string-breaker), shibli messing up caught on tape), saad's "gay eskimo" and ehsan's mummy's tears!
all in all, i walked away from the concert happy. definitely time well-spent. in the end. a song that stuck with me through the concert...and something i think should've been sung at the end.
Another turning point;
a fork stuck in the road.
Time grabs you by the wrist;
directs you where to go.
So make the best of this test
and don't ask why.
It's not a question
but a lesson learned in time.
It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.
So take the photographs
and still frames in your mind.
Hang it on a shelf
In good health and good time.
Tattoos of memories
and dead skin on trial.
For what it's worth,
it was worth all the while.
It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.
time of your life - green day
Thursday, September 29, 2005
the "matrix" craze completely passed me by even though the entire world was going crazy about it. i don't know why but but even though i did see the first movie, i never got into the whole "this world is all make-believe" theory. however, i did realize, about a year back, that i should atleast attempt to watch the movies, just for the sake of "knowing what it's all about". i'd already seen the first one by then, and then i saw parts of the second, and somehow i got hooked.
now the only way i can watch movies while living in LUMS is the cable tv, or on the hostel LAN (if someone has the movie shared). unluckily for me, no one has "the matrix" on the LAN and they never put it on cable, or atleast i never saw any adverts. so when three weeks ago HBO started advertising that it was going to run all three parts on one day, i marked the day and time down on my calendar.
anyway, today at 4:45 local time, i went to the hostel lounge and with the blanket (that room is freezing!) and remote control, i sat down to watch all three movies. just as i was getting into the whole movie - the part where they tell you what the matrix really is - the cable shut off.
i still haven't figured out the cause, but it was either because LUMS shut down it's entire telecommunications server for maintenence or because the cable provider had some problems! the LUMS system comes online in another 5 minutes, so i'm still kind of hopeful that was it. but in any case, i'm going to be pretty clueless about whats going on now since i've missed out on the most important bits. i guess i'll just watch them at home now, during eid break! which is one month away!! hmph! i don't like the system...
now the only way i can watch movies while living in LUMS is the cable tv, or on the hostel LAN (if someone has the movie shared). unluckily for me, no one has "the matrix" on the LAN and they never put it on cable, or atleast i never saw any adverts. so when three weeks ago HBO started advertising that it was going to run all three parts on one day, i marked the day and time down on my calendar.
anyway, today at 4:45 local time, i went to the hostel lounge and with the blanket (that room is freezing!) and remote control, i sat down to watch all three movies. just as i was getting into the whole movie - the part where they tell you what the matrix really is - the cable shut off.
i still haven't figured out the cause, but it was either because LUMS shut down it's entire telecommunications server for maintenence or because the cable provider had some problems! the LUMS system comes online in another 5 minutes, so i'm still kind of hopeful that was it. but in any case, i'm going to be pretty clueless about whats going on now since i've missed out on the most important bits. i guess i'll just watch them at home now, during eid break! which is one month away!! hmph! i don't like the system...
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
this is twisted, yet funny...
"I found this link yesterday and I've already lost count of the amount of time I've wasted simply staring at the screen in rapt fascination. "
"I found this link yesterday and I've already lost count of the amount of time I've wasted simply staring at the screen in rapt fascination. "
Monday, September 26, 2005
OMG! just saw the first episode from the second season of "lost". i'd been worried that after an amazing first season, the second season wouldn't be as good. obviously expectations have risen and the producers might not be able to deliver. but i was ABSOLUTELY wrong. if this entire season is anything like the first episode...then we're in for an amazing 24 episodes. amazingly wow! can't wait for the next one now!
LOL...you definitely have to try this out! try as i might, i haven't been able to win! erm...for people who're wondering, i got this off reeny's blog and ammar sent it to her...
in other news...aiesec.net is down :) you're probably wondering about the smile...me too...
plus i got this off tom's blog ... really cool..!
in other news...aiesec.net is down :) you're probably wondering about the smile...me too...
plus i got this off tom's blog ... really cool..!
Sunday, September 25, 2005
interesting things i read...
boring title, i know :P~
there's a reason for it. "what should i do today?" that was the first thing that came into my head when i woke up. and the thought didn't go away all day. i had some stuff to do, but i still had most of the day with nothing planned. which meant that i just browsed the internet and went through peoples blog's. i ended up reading some fascinating stuff, and decided that i might as well post about it.
here's a summary...
"Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico continue to spark news and opinion pieces all over the Web, but by far the strangest theme is the "end times" scenario. Based on prophecies in the Bible (and the Koran, and the "third secret of Fatima"—and "scientific" prophesies from ecologists), bloggers all over the world are discussing the signs that we are "entering the end of days."
Micheal Moore's Open Letter to W.
"Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag."
there's a reason for it. "what should i do today?" that was the first thing that came into my head when i woke up. and the thought didn't go away all day. i had some stuff to do, but i still had most of the day with nothing planned. which meant that i just browsed the internet and went through peoples blog's. i ended up reading some fascinating stuff, and decided that i might as well post about it.
here's a summary...
"Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico continue to spark news and opinion pieces all over the Web, but by far the strangest theme is the "end times" scenario. Based on prophecies in the Bible (and the Koran, and the "third secret of Fatima"—and "scientific" prophesies from ecologists), bloggers all over the world are discussing the signs that we are "entering the end of days."
read more on paper frigate
Micheal Moore's Open Letter to W.
"Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag."
taken from Stewsday
also a must read on the same blog: "Grandma's 90th Birthday"
another extremely interesting blog was "ente paralelo". the most interesting post was about a college project the author is carrying out. "Each student can decide what would be the topic of the book.I choose fashion by location. I'm planning to include some serious essays about cultural identity through fashion, as I go to very distinct locations and take a series of minimum 30 people per location. I'm posting the images in my website while in college."
i also ran across the postsecret blog, i was watching MTV a couple of days ago and saw a video which had used the idea. lots of people holding up postcards telling their secrets. nice video, but i wonder if "postsecret" was given any credit for the idea. correction. "Did The All-American Rejects Steal Your Images For Their Music Video? No. The band made a generous donation of $2,000 to the National Hopeline Network. They were given full permission to use PostSecrets in their MTV video." I guess i stand corrected :D
that's it, since the postsecret blog doesn't have a "next blog" tab, i'm going to call it a day and go to sleep now.
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Finally, after three years of planning, we went and got the darned picture taken! 20 out of 21 original “gang” members were present. Harris was missing; Jerry came to Lahore especially for the picture. Some background – when we were all freshmen, we wanted to get a “formal” studio picture taken together. Something to remember our days together by. Finally it happened tonight. The whole night involved a lot of waiting at the main gate, calling everyone so they would hurry up, struggling to fit everyone into the cars, deciding how everyone was going to stand in the picture, making sure everyone was happy with where they stood, deciding how many pictures to take, deciding where to go for dinner, who was going to sit at what table, who was going to get home how. Sounds like fun doesn’t it :D
I should say that three years have made me used to all the noise, chaos, whining, screaming, bitching, and yelling. It hasn’t. Usually in the middle of the dinner I feel like getting up and just walking out, and I’m sure everyone else does too. But sometimes the whole fun is in being able to make it through it all, coming back to LUMS, gathering at the gate one last time, and going to the dorms. I hate to think that at the end of this year most of my friends will leave LUMS, I might never meet some of them again. And that’s what makes me go to all the dinners we’ve had so far, follow through on all the plans we’ve made. I don’t want to regret not having spent enough time with these hooligans, I know I’ll miss each one when they’re gone.
Anyway, Sameera took a LOT of pictures. I narrowed them down to these interesting ones.
I should say that three years have made me used to all the noise, chaos, whining, screaming, bitching, and yelling. It hasn’t. Usually in the middle of the dinner I feel like getting up and just walking out, and I’m sure everyone else does too. But sometimes the whole fun is in being able to make it through it all, coming back to LUMS, gathering at the gate one last time, and going to the dorms. I hate to think that at the end of this year most of my friends will leave LUMS, I might never meet some of them again. And that’s what makes me go to all the dinners we’ve had so far, follow through on all the plans we’ve made. I don’t want to regret not having spent enough time with these hooligans, I know I’ll miss each one when they’re gone.
Anyway, Sameera took a LOT of pictures. I narrowed them down to these interesting ones.
This was taken after we got to the studio and everyone crammed into this one room with a mirror. And Jerry (in white) was trying to get everyone out so we could get started. 
After the picture was taken, standing right outside the studio. Naureen, Saif and Ammar’s face :D
Have no idea who took this, when and why. But it’s a good picture of Ammar and Ambreen and someone’s hand. 
Saif. He looks like Bond. Or so he thinks. 
Naureen’s hand. 
This is a picture of the salt shaker, the person holding it is me :D 
Asad and Abeer. Asad’s eyes are open in this picture. That’s a rarity. 
Rabea looking down from above. We were waiting to be seated and these guys got the table first. 
The cutest kid ever. She fell in love with Ammar, and then the parents complained about us the HobNob’s management (apparently we were making a lot of noise) and left. 
Naureen, Nida, Asad, Ambreen and Abeer. Asad’s eyes are closed, just as he said as soon as Sam took the picture. 
Saif. I really like this picture. He looks like himself. Sunday, September 11, 2005
IC pictures!
Waiting for the bus to leave after customs clearance
Bhaisaab and the Smurf! 
Vijit's apartment, New Delhi
AIESEC Pakistan with Salman Ahmed, Opening Ceremony - IC 2005
AIESEC India and AIESEC Pakistan, Opening Ceremony - IC 2005
hehe, thought i'd finally transfer my blog to aiesec.net...one of those cool "your name".aiesec.net blogs...as far away from the "blogger" name as possible - but one thought just kept going through my mind, what if aiesec.net crashes? and then i kept remembering tom's IS presentation - which btw, has to be the coolest presentation i've EVER been to! amazing job! - anyway, i kept remembering that and how he'd promised (punch-me-in-the-gut-if-aiesec.net-crashes) that aiesec.net was indeed stable now... anyhoo, final decision - not taking that chance, not just yet...maybe in another few months after having tested the system enough. :D
moving on, the days since i've come back from IC have been a haze really. we're finally back in the REAL world, and i didn't really have time to think about IC once i got back since we rushed right into recruitment and an info session which was probably the most fun session I'VE had while being on the delivering side. usually i just hate presentations, so many people watching - and you always go SO wrong! but this time was fun :)
went out for dinner with the GANG! a group of 21 people who were together day and night in our freshmen year. we were all living in the same dorms, many of us were rooming with each other and we all took the same courses. anyway, we were all pretty close...but then sophmore year hit and we all decided that other friends were more important, room-mates didn't get along and taking the same classes wasn't all that much fun. i plead guilty on all those counts. still, two of us just got engaged to each other, we we all got back together for one dinner, only 4 people missing - which isn't a lot - and one, harris, has moved to australia so there's no meeting him for some years now. it was kind of sad. sitting at that long table. not knowing what to say to most people since i hadn't met them in a while, yet knowing that we needed to have one final conversation before everyone graduates this year. for most of the "gang", this is their last few months at lums. they'll be gone, i doubt we'll all be able to get back together again...and that's just really sad.
we still have graduation, and graduation dinner in front of us - so that's good. but nothing is every going to bring back those weird 3 am trips where we'd all leave lums in search of pizza, then eat it sitting on the road in front of a half-closed pizzeria. or the time when we spent new years on the road since we didn't have reservations for any place and thus couldn't get a seat in any of the 30 restaurants on m.m alam road! we shared a lot in that one year, we also didn't share a lot in the two years that followed. this year is our one last chance to make up as friends. we're planning on getting a "gang" picture taken next weekend, jerry's coming into town especially for that. have been trying to arrange one for three years and it's finally working out :D
anyway, i'm rambling on...i'm just not happy that everyone will graduate this june and i'm still here for another 2 quarters. right now it seems like the weather outside is nice, so i think i'm going to go take a walk...maybe that'll help clear my head up a bit!
moving on, the days since i've come back from IC have been a haze really. we're finally back in the REAL world, and i didn't really have time to think about IC once i got back since we rushed right into recruitment and an info session which was probably the most fun session I'VE had while being on the delivering side. usually i just hate presentations, so many people watching - and you always go SO wrong! but this time was fun :)
went out for dinner with the GANG! a group of 21 people who were together day and night in our freshmen year. we were all living in the same dorms, many of us were rooming with each other and we all took the same courses. anyway, we were all pretty close...but then sophmore year hit and we all decided that other friends were more important, room-mates didn't get along and taking the same classes wasn't all that much fun. i plead guilty on all those counts. still, two of us just got engaged to each other, we we all got back together for one dinner, only 4 people missing - which isn't a lot - and one, harris, has moved to australia so there's no meeting him for some years now. it was kind of sad. sitting at that long table. not knowing what to say to most people since i hadn't met them in a while, yet knowing that we needed to have one final conversation before everyone graduates this year. for most of the "gang", this is their last few months at lums. they'll be gone, i doubt we'll all be able to get back together again...and that's just really sad.
we still have graduation, and graduation dinner in front of us - so that's good. but nothing is every going to bring back those weird 3 am trips where we'd all leave lums in search of pizza, then eat it sitting on the road in front of a half-closed pizzeria. or the time when we spent new years on the road since we didn't have reservations for any place and thus couldn't get a seat in any of the 30 restaurants on m.m alam road! we shared a lot in that one year, we also didn't share a lot in the two years that followed. this year is our one last chance to make up as friends. we're planning on getting a "gang" picture taken next weekend, jerry's coming into town especially for that. have been trying to arrange one for three years and it's finally working out :D
anyway, i'm rambling on...i'm just not happy that everyone will graduate this june and i'm still here for another 2 quarters. right now it seems like the weather outside is nice, so i think i'm going to go take a walk...maybe that'll help clear my head up a bit!
Monday, September 05, 2005
just got back from a trip to the taj mahal. wasn't planning on visiting it but when i saw that quite a lot of people were going, and knowing that i wasn't probably going to sleep for the next couple of hours anyway, i thought i'd join them. anyway, so quite a few of us - namely emad, deepdesh (and his serbian delegation), the russians, romanians, quite a few people from the alumni congress and i left the hotel at 5:30. got to the taj, walked around for a bit, and then the people who had the Rs. 20 tickets came back (after about a 20 minute trip) and the Rs 750 ticket people stayed back to try and make the most of the amount.
what do i think? it's a big building, made by someone trying to prove his love. what i liked the most was the sunrise, the fact that there was a freakishly loud echo inside the tomb, and that the squirrels weren't scared of us. i'm not a building person, i don't like going to places and spending all my time in buildings. i guess that makes me a really bad tourist. i'd rather be outdoors, spending time with people from the area.
but i'm glad i went. i may never be this close to the taj again, and i dont want to regret it 10 years down the line. i would say it was Rs. 40 well spent.
what do i think? it's a big building, made by someone trying to prove his love. what i liked the most was the sunrise, the fact that there was a freakishly loud echo inside the tomb, and that the squirrels weren't scared of us. i'm not a building person, i don't like going to places and spending all my time in buildings. i guess that makes me a really bad tourist. i'd rather be outdoors, spending time with people from the area.
but i'm glad i went. i may never be this close to the taj again, and i dont want to regret it 10 years down the line. i would say it was Rs. 40 well spent.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)