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I will write everyday. Just not here.

Toilet Training: Continued

Today is a historic moment. Today, Charlie did #1 on the toilet, with only a small litter box between him and the water below. 

Now I know there's a lot of people out there who'll be like, "why is she telling us this!" but I feel like shouting this from the rooftop, it's that exciting for me! 

Firstly, my room stinks right now. I know this is disgusting. I actually love neatness and clean places. I think my favorite thing in the house is a squeaky clean kitchen. The kind where you can see your reflection in metallic surfaces, and sit on the floor and read books. So having my room, not to mention my bathroom, stink is the worst part about having cats. I absolutely hate it! I've gone through cans of air freshner's in just a week, so I can't imagine living like this forever. 

Secondly, I have to get the litter changed every 24 hours, which involves either stealing sand from our neighbour's in-the-process-of-being-renovated house, or buying litter, which is just painful (paying for dirt, really?!). 

Therefore, this toilet training business seems very cool. Basically, the cat uses the toilet, and someone just needs to fluck afterwards. No stink, no mess, no litter. Awesome. 

All these websites I looked at, including a toilet-training support group for cat owners (I kid you not!), said it would take months and months. There are people who've been training their cats for years (yes, years!) and have not progressed much further than raising the litter box to the toilet's height. I was expecting I would still be at this when the entire tubbar came in for summer vacations, imagining the jokes (at my expense) not to mention the cats completely forgetting all they learnt during summer vacation. Not very motivating, I must admit. 

Anyway, after slowly moving the litter box to the bathroom, then moving it to the height of the toilet, and finally moving it on top of the toilet, I asked Baba to help me figure out what kind of bowl to put in the toilet (considering I need to cut holes into it's bottom later). 30 minutes ago Itook the bold step of putting litter inside the bowl and putting it in the toilet (disgusting to think about, but the only way to train the cat). Right after I did this, Charlie came strolling into the bathroom, jumped on the toilet, and after some persuasion, did his business in the bowl. Yay! 

Of course, Tyler hasn't accepted the new contraption yet, but as he has less issues with changes of the two I think he'll come around eventually. He probably needs time to digest all the food he ate today (both his and Charlie's) before he attempts to balance on the toilet seat. Fatty. 

Garfield on Pakistan

Toilet Training #1

Before I got the two kittens I went to every website/blog to better understand how to take care of them. Cats are a little (!!) more high maintenence than dogs so I knew I'd need to be prepared or I'd have two brats on my hand pretty soon. Anyway, the interesting thing that I discovered was that having a litter box in the house is NOT the only option as far as #1 and #2 go for the cats. That's when I started digging deeper into the whole "toilet training a cat" kind of blog posts.

Anyway, now that the kittens are here, settled in (including having approved the latest recipe for homecooked food) I figured it was time to take the plunge. With 4 blogs guiding me, I started taking the necessary steps to get them trained to use the toilet like we do (sans the book reading, of course). 

Today was day 2. I started yesterday by moving their litter box into the bathroom. Today the litter box is on top of my (closed) toilet. Once they're used to this, we shall progress further. The only annoying thing today was that they didn't know how to get to the litter box (there's a low stool next to the toilet they need to jump on first) so I had to pick them up after every few hours and put them in myself. After doing this four times, I figured I needed to get them to be more independent so using a toy, I made them jump to and from the litter box a couple of times. Hopefully there won't be any presents waiting for me outside the litter box when I wake up in the morning. 

Calvin and Hobbes...

...show why the economy stinks. 

Most religious countries

I would've thought Pakistan would be in there somewhere, but clearly we're all talk and no action where religion is concerned. 

Going Vegetarian

Having tried being a vegetarian before (long ago) I know how difficult it is. I love eating chicken, even more then that I love seafood. The thought of giving up chicken is actually less scary then not ever being able to eat shrimp, prawns or crabs again. Still, I'm thinking of going vegetarian. Here's why:

1. If you haven't already, watch "Meet your Meat". It's a 12 minutes documentary about how the animals we eat are treated, and absolutely horrible. I couldn't watch a large part of it. I know that that may not be how animals are treated/butchered in Pakistan, what with the whole halal thing, but I know that conditions are far from ideal, and I don't think that something we should support. 

2. It's healthier. Every freakin' vegetarian I know is really healthy. They have lots of energy, they glow (literally!) and what with the whole health thing I'm on, I wonder if this is the way to go. 

3. I don't eat a lot of meat as it is. I eat the occasional chicken when it's made in some nice form, not being a big lover of the general home-cooked meals. And I haven't eaten much seafood since I got back from Karachi. I'm thinking I won't even notice the change.

4. I don't want to eat Daisy. So you're wondering, who the hell is Daisy. Well, when I was a kid and read Enid Blyton, she had all these stories set on farms and there was always a cow named Daisy or Buttercup. I've always remembered that, and now (after watching Meet your Meat) all I can think is that I don't want to eat Daisy. 

So, I'm going to try and see if I can be a vegetarian. Usually I only tell people I'm doing something after I've done it (giving up soda, working out, eating healthy) so that no one laughs if I fail, but this is something I think I want to let people know about in advance so I don't get any shocked "you're what!" comments at the next family dinner. I'm going to try this for 30 days first, and if I feel like my reasons are valid after that then I'll keep going till as long as I can. 

WiFi

For all those who know me, my parents complete lack of knowledge about all things techy, and my complete love for all things techy is no news. When I moved home last year, I moved into a home with dial-up internet (horror!) which meant I could barely check my email. Anyway, that was fixed so we now have the PTCL connection which is pretty good, I can download tv shows and stay up-to-date with BSG and Gossip Girl, as well as follow news, play online games, and chat. Cool. 

However, we still didn't have wireless Internet. I work in the living room, which is ok during the day when no one is home, but then once everyone comes back from work the TV is blaring (usually on some annoying channel) so I take my laptop to my room. Since I don't have wireless, I have to keep coming back to the living room to check mail, send documents etc, which is annoying, and distracts me to no end (I end up watching news, or some show, and the living room is really cold as well) and so I finally gave in and got a wireless router.

Since the salesperson was confident I would be able to install it with a little help from PTCL, I didn't think much about it, but when I got home and got everything set up the PTCL customer services girl who took my call was far from helpful. She couldn't figure out why I kept getting random errors and bad connectivity, not to mention why I couldn't set a password and secure the network. Finally, I disconnected the router, waited a few hours for the customer services shift to change, called back, and talked to a guy who after 50 minutes of guidance said that the problem was with the modem they gave me back in August, so I needed to have it replaced. Pisses me off that every time I called up PTCL in the last six months to complain about a connection that was better than dial-up but far from stable, they'd say they were doing maintenance. 

Anyway, today they're sending some tech guys over to fix both the modem and set up wifi. Now I can work out of my warm toasty room without having to watch 'hum sub umeed say hain"!. 

Driving Update

Driving lessons are kinda boring now. We've taken to reversing on the track at the ITP office  (as that's where the test will be), so I see the same track everyday and it's really annoying. Test is on the 10th, yikes!, and the latest news is that we only get one attempt at reversing around the roundabout and parking and if we hit a traffice cone, we fail. There's also a theory exam before that. 

What's fun is that I can now drive the family car if one of my parents is there too, so I do that sometimes. I'm still not over my fear of accidents, but it's getting easier to drive with more confidence. I wonder why I'm learning to drive, the car isn't at home all day anyway...

Day 4,5: Chicken

A friend asked me why I didn't write about Day 4. I guess I didn't because I was still processing what had happened (don't worry, not an accident) and part of me really didn't want to admit that I was having trouble with this. Anyway, the lesson wasn't bad, I mean, to learn something you have to be challenged, so yesterday was like that for me, a pretty big challenge. 

To explain, let me tell you why I didn't learn to drive when I was younger and still at school. I started off with lessons, my mom teaching me, and I got the grasp of the basics pretty quickly, but the first day she took me on a main road (Zero Point), I choked and ended up causing a huge traffic jam, and the traffic cop pulled me over and told me and my mom off for letting me drive without proper instruction. The combination of my fear of accidents (and killing someone), and the incessant honking behind me is a recipe for disaster when I'm behind the wheels, so Day 4 was all about that. I had to go through a couple of intersections, and my feet would not press at the right time and time and time again the instructor had to take over. 

Today was different. Mostly because I'm a chicken. Every morning we have a choice of the order we drive in. There's four students, and we drive all the way to E-11 and back, so there is enough time for everyone to get 10 minutes at the wheel. Every stretch, however, has different intersections/round abouts etc, with the first being the easiest (just left turns), and the last being the most difficult (2 intersections). Yesterday, in order to learn something new, I took the last stretch, and I should have faced my fear and done the same today, but chicken that I am, I took the first stretch, something I already drove two days ago, which means I didn't learn much at all. Chicken. 

Day 3: I'm a learner, you idiot!!

Day 3 was by far much more exciting then both previous days put together - we were on an actual road!! 

We started off from the F-9 Park, I drove all the way from there to Margallah Road, and then to F-11, from where the other students took over and drove us back. I was pretty good, if I may say so. Scared at intersections, but hit 60 km and third gear (!!) and didn't get told off or anything. The girl who started after me was also pretty good, as was the last student in our class. 

The aunty (number 3 in line) was a bit unformtunate though. First she couldn't understand how to put the car in gear (yesterday's lesson aunty!!) so kept getting this wrong and was finally told off! Then she couldn't get the car to start, and finally could NOT understand how to go from first to second gear. Huff! It was embarassing sitting in the car while she was getting scolded, but even more scary when she DID get the car rolling and kept taking erratic turns right and left, driving the car in both lanes simultaneously, and those who understand my fear of car accidents will get how TOTALLY freaked out I was! Dying in a car accident while learning how to drive a car is not how I want to go! 

The only irritating thing today was the other drivers on the road. I mean, you can see the big red L all over the car, as well as the sign on top stating that it's a driving school car, so STOP with the honking you ass!! Everytime we slowed down, the car behind us would start honking, essentially confusing us even more! 

Anyway, the best part of the lesson wasn't the actual lesson but the lesson I got afterwards. To brief you first, I am driven to my lesson by my dad, but then take a cab back home. So I hailed a cab, and got in. This really old uncle was driving, and boy was he chatty! Once he learnt I was a learner driver, he had all kinds of tips for me; stay in your lane, use the indicator, don't use your cell phone, which were quite useful, albeit stuff I already knew. He didn't believe in seatbelts, and was very happy with the Islamabad Traffic Police since he said " I once saw them cut a ticket for an Army General for not stopping behind the white line." He used to be a construction worker in Dubai, where he drove trucks, and then when he hit 60 they sent him back home so he's been a taxi driver since 2002, which makes him in the late 60s. Cool guy, deserved a tip, which he got, for all the tips he gave me :) 

Ciao.

Day 2: Are you dizzy yet?

Today was Day 2 of driving lessons, and what a confidence boosting day it was :) 

As is customary in my house, I was there fifteen minutes early (my dad is a stickler for punctuality) and had to wait for the lesson to start in the car (my dad drops me off) since it was raining. Yes, it's raining in Islamabad, again! 

Anyway, my dad gave me a mini-lesson in the car while I waited, which meant that when I actually got into the learner's car to drive, I kinda kicked ass! We drove around and around and around in a circle in this big empty ground that's used for lessons, so basically I started the car, drove in a circle, and stopped fifteen minutes later as there's four people in my class, including me, and we each get fifteen minutes of driving time. Essentially, I waited fifteen minutes for a fifteen minute class :/ Still, I kicked ass, so I came home happy. Tomorrow we're driving on the road. Watch out Islamabad (or at least everyone in the F-9 Park vicinity). 

Cat Proximity

P.O.W.E.R

So today was the first day of driving school. As excited as I was, I was confident it was going to be a major bummer (I mean, it is school!) but I was not completely let down, and not just because of what I learnt about cars (although that's cool too!)

Firstly, I'm going to the Islamabad Traffic Police's driving school, and apparently their motto is "Friendly Police", which, I must say, they are. However, this also means going to the behemoth of a structure (or collection of buildings) that is the F-8 ITP HQ, and then finding out that my class will be in a tiny room, where they stuff in 40 aunties, with no ventilation. Eugh! 

I was also scared I'd be the oldest (eldest?) person there, but no no. As my aunty comment might have made it obvious, I'm by far one of the youngest, with the average age being 40! So the questions that get asked "what is the round thing with the N on it" (answer: umm..gear) are hilarious, and provide for much entertainment. 

Since today was day numero uno, we had to give our contact information, learners permits, NIC copies and the like. Mostly administrative stuff, yet, it took us 1.5 hours to get everything done. You ask why? Well, women are known for being late, and this is Pakistan. One lady actually walked in 50 minutes after "class" had started (we start at 10, she came around 11), and wandered in nonchalantly. 

The other reason is that this is not AIESEC, so there are no processes in place for things like dividing a room into two classes, subdividing into groups, having people sign up for classes. So essentially, the two teachers went through every single person individually thrice. First to check we were there, then to get our documents, and finally to get our contact numbers and ask us which time slot we wanted. It took all my self-control not to give my opinion on how to best manage the situation.

Anyway, I did learnt a few things. Firstly that every time I get in the car, I should check the P.O.W.E.R (Petrol, Oil, Water, Electric, Rubber) and that under the hood are the ABCDEF, but I no longer remember what the D stands for. Haha!

All in all, cool first day. No making a fool of myself yet, but tomorrow I get behind the wheel, so that should be something to watch out for.

First 100 minutes...

Hilarious Beer Ads

1000 things that matter

This is very cool project on the internet: www.1000thingsthatmatter.com 

-- 

If meaning is created through language then our society is created through its communications technology.

The words we use to describe our world change our experience of it. Similarly, the channels we use to access information, to meet and make friends, to share learning and memories and to debate the issues shape the society we live in.

We hope to gather a sample of 1000 things that matter. Things that matter enough that you want to tell us about them. The entries here will inform the film and some may directly be used within it - particularly those which are provided as video or images. The film will be distributed on DVD to the top people in the telecoms industry and may also be available on the internet.

www.1000thingsthatmatter.com

2008...

This is one of my favorite things to do after the new year starts. Sad that I'm not at a party as it's just three hours into 2009...

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?

Started exercising (for real) and jogged in the rain. (People who know how much I hate exercise will understand how big this really is!)

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

Never make any resolutions. It's like setting yourself up for disaster :/

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Yes, my sister had a baby boy, Abbas. 

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No, but someone's death did change my perspective on life. 

5. What countries did you visit?

Boring year this was in terms of travel. Macedonia and Turkey. That's it. Just two! 

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?

For the last two years this has been the same answer, a laptop, but I now have a very cool laptop, so I'm thinking I now want a PSP. I'm so materialistic! Actually, some direction in life wouldn't be too bad. 

7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

July 4. I moved back home after almost six years away. 

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Making healthier lifestyle choices. 

9. What was your biggest failure?

Not managing my money & time better.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

No

11. What was the best thing you bought?

My handbag collection. I'd say laptop, but I'd be lying. 

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

AIESEC Lahore's, mostly. They made me very proud again this year :) 

13.Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

No one can get me down. 

14.Where did most of your money go?

Clothes, bags

15.What did you get really, really, really excited about?

My family vacation to Istanbul, and then the reunion back home for Eid. 

16.What song will always remind you of 2008?

Hmm..."Pappu can't dance", the "Race" soundtrack, "I kissed a girl" by Katy Perry, "I'm yours" by Jasan Mraz

17.Compared to this time last year,

I. are you happier or sadder?

Happier

II. thinner or fatter?

Thinner

III. richer or poorer?

Richer

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Socialize. 

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Sleep. I've slept over 10 hours every day since I moved back. 

20. Did you fall in love in 2008?

No

21. How many one-night stands?

Nil

22. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

No. 

23. What was the best book you read?

Hmm...Twilight and it's entire series was definitely the most interesting read. I read each book in 6-8 hours, usually by staying awake all night. 

24. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Katy Perry, Jason Mraz

25. What did you want and get?

The new laptop :) 

26. What did you want and not get?

Can't think of a thing.  

27. What was your favorite film of this year?

Ahh...I saw a lot of movies, so this is really tough to pick. Kung-fu Panda was great, so was Tropic Thunder. Mamma Mia was very fun to watch. In Indian movies, Jaanu Tu.. was great, and Race was a definite entertainer. 

28. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I spent all day shopping and then had dinner with my parents. I turned 25, which was apparently a surprise for my dad as he thought I was younger then that. Ha! 

29. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Having a little more direction in life. Right. About. Now. 

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?

It evolved a bit. I'm a little more concerned about what I wear, and I blame the new handbags as they are too good for normal clothes. However, I am still the jeans/t-shirts kinda gal I was a few years ago, just a little (teensy little bit) more polished. 

31. What kept you sane?

Myself :) It's weird to say this, but I spent more time with myself then I have ever in my life, and I definitely kept myself sane :) 

32. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Shia Labeouf. Robert Pattinson is a close second, but he's a little too pretty. 

33. What political issue stirred you the most?

Our wonderful President, Mr Zardari, and the US elections. 

34. Who did you miss?

I miss my gang from LUMS. Mostly Naureen/Ammar since I do meet Kirmani here and there, but also Saif and the rest. 

35. Who was the best new person you met?

I'm completely lost here. I met a lot of new people, but none of them really left an impression so I'm going to have to say no one, and then go out in search of a life. :)

36. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:

I learnt that I'm completely happy when I'm on my own, but to get there I first needed to learn to love myself. (As Sohaib would say, "what fluff!")