Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me...

I turned 23. First birthday in the last four years I didn’t spend in LUMS with friends. Actually, yesterday was Ammar’s birthday, and since our birthday’s are so close together we usually celebrate them together. This year was supposed to be a BBQ, or something, but he moved to Little Rock, Arkansas in the summers and so I really didn’t want to be in LUMS today anyway.

Anyway, it’s Eid, and it’s vacations and I was supposed to spend this birthday with my family. But that’s not happening either.

My parents and brother have gone to spend Eid in Faisalabad – the town I was born and raised in. But I couldn’t go; too much work to catch up on, plus I have to study for the upcoming exams since the mid-terms didn’t exactly go great. But they didn’t really get it, so they left pissed at me since I refused to join them on the trip.

Why am I writing all this? I just noticed a birthday cake in the fridge that my parent’s must’ve gotten for me, but we had no time to cut. It’s the most depressing thing in the world to have a birthday cake in the house, but have no one to watch as you cut it :)

Human choice

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: "When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?"

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. "I believe  that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child."

Then he told the following story:

Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?"  Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, "We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning."

Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. His Father watched with a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.

At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat  properly, much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

The game would now be over. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!" Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!" Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball ... the smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's
intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of
him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay"

Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third! Shay, run to third!"

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on
their feet screaming, "Shay, run home! Run home!" Shay ran to home, stepped
on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the
game for his team.

"That day", said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, "the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world". 

Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

30 hours and counting...

LUMS used to have this really weird way of scheduling mid-terms. (Explanation to everyone not familiar with LUMS - my university: We have 10 week quarters, and every quarter has mid-terms. So roughly we have exams every 5 weeks.) What they used to do was schedule mid-terms very randomly between the 4rth and 7th week. So there was a good three weeks of, "I can't do this, I have mid-terms going one." Anyway, someone in the administration must have had a light bulb go on in their mind, as from this year, all mid terms happen in the same week - to be specific, the first class of the 5th week (or is it 6th?). Basically, it means that there's these four days when 95% of mid-terms are held, and unlike last year, where we had a break from all the mid-terms and actually managed to get some sleep during the three weeks, we now have 4 days where no one (except the really nerdy people) sleeps.

I've been awake 30 hours - which is nothing for LUMS standards. I had an exam this morning, so I was awake last night studying. And I have three (yes - one, two, three!!) exams tomorrow. Which basically means I can't sleep till tomorrow evening. But wait - we have an LC social tomorrow - and there's no way I'm missing that! Which means I won't get to sleep till tomorrow night - midnight would be a good guess. Another 24 hours...

Now - as interesting as Augustine's Confessions is, it really cannot stop me from thinking about the fact that I cannot sleep for another 24 hours, or stop me from ooking at my bed every ten minutes. Unfortunately for me, I'm not being tested on the colors of my bedspread tomorrow, so I definitely need to get back to Augustine.

Note: I just realized that when I finally sleep, I'll have been awake for 54 hours. My previous record is 46 hours, at the end of which I vaguely remember getting on a bus, but have no recollection of what happened between then and when the bus stopped 5 hours later.

The funniest conversation EVER!

Emad and I were talking on gmail - this is the conversation I saw:

---------------

Emad: dude, i was tryin to call ur bro for some work and he doesnt pick up my fone! wat the hell!

Emad Nadim: .. from no. 87 to no.78 in ONE qtr! Pakistan Baby! ..

Nida: ugh

i dont know

does he have your number?

when did you call?

an quite possibly, he's sleeping right now

Sent at 11:16 PM on Monday

Emad: i dunno

Sent at 11:23 PM on Monday

Emad: do i have his?

Nida: 0300-8285295

no no n

0300-8285205

Sent at 11:25 PM on Monday

Emad: 0300 828 5205

Nida: yep

thats it

when did you call?

Emad: i called twice.. in the evning tday.. then a coupla days ago

Nida: he's an idiot

i'm just glad its not genetic :)

Sent at 11:28 PM on Monday

Nida: brb

Emad: evening too

Sent at 11:30 PM on Monday

Emad: dude.. like at 9pm?!

Sent at 11:36 PM on Monday

Emad: wat the hell i have the rong no.!

thnx

---------

This is the converation Emad saw:

---------

me: dude, i was tryin to call ur bro for some work and he doesnt pick up my fone! wat the hell!

---

11:17 PM Nida: ugh

11:19 PM i dont know

11:20 PM does he have your number?

me: i dunno

do i have his?

11:21 PM Nida: when did you call?

me: 0300 828 5205

i called twice.. in the evning tday.. then a coupla days ago

evening too

11:22 PM Nida: an quite possibly, he's sleeping right now

11:23 PM me: dude.. like at 9pm?!

---

11:30 PM Nida: 0300-8285295

me: wat the hell i have the rong no.!

thnx

11:32 PM Nida: no no n

11:33 PM me: ?

11:35 PM Nida: 0300-8285205

me: so i had th erite one! sheesh!

11:38 PM Nida: yep

11:39 PM thats it

me: ?

11:40 PM Nida: when did you call?

me: 9

11:41 PM Nida: he's an idiot

me: eh?!

11:42 PM Nida: i'm just glad its not genetic :)

me: haha! someone is smug today!!!

11:44 PM Nida: brb

---------

Took me about 20 minutes to realize what was going on, then emailed Emad to find out that he was literally on a different page! The internet here sucks sometimes!!

decisions...

life is about to take a turn towards being boring pretty soon. not that my life so far has been the stuff real good movies are made out of - but it's definitely not been boring, especially the last four years, more specifically the last two years.

i'm staring at what is the end of my collegt education - which means i'll move out of the dorms, move into more suitable and predictable living quarters, stop staying up all night watching recently downloaded tv shows, and stop ordering food from the khokha at 3 am. It also means i have to make a decision. what am i doing next?

which brings me to the reason the last two years have been specifically interesting - i joined AIESEC in the fall of 2004. for the last two years, my non-AIESEC friends have either had to see me go off to other countries, or had to deal with the streams of guests that pass through my dorm room door. that's what's made the last two years very interesting.

now i have to make a decision - continue with AIESEC, or get a job. believe me, i know what i want to do, unfortunately, the saying that you're your own man after college is really very untrue. just as we're our parent's children our entire life, we're also bound to recieve advice - and in my case "direction" - from them our entire life.

the decision needs to be made soon - an interesting life, or a boring one.

Sotally Tober

Starkle, starkle little twink
Who the hell you are I think
I'm not under what you call
The alcho-fluence of inco-hol
I'm just a little slort on sheep
I'm not drunk like thinkle peep
I don't know who me yet
But the drunker I stand here the longer I get
Just give me one more drink to fill my cup
'Cause I got all day sober to sunday up.