more news..

**for those who've been wondering how i have access to the internet**

Dear students,
Since the submarine cable fault has not been addressed so far and we have been provided a limited bandwidth by PTCL on the satellite backup link, you are requested to use Internet access for browsing the web pages only.
Please do not download software as this chokes the link and create problems for other users.
We hope that the problem will be over soon.
Regards,
ITSC Helpdesk

**i also hope the problem will soon be over!**

here we go again...

Dear All,
The submarine cable fault developed in SEA-ME-WE-3 last week has not been rectified so far and PTCL has recently informed us that one of their Satellite backup links has also been malfunctioned.
PTCL Engineers are working to resolve this issue. You may experience slow Internet access to complete Internet outage at some times. Access to our servers from outside Pakistan may also be slow.
For further information in this regard, you may contact ITSC HelpDesk at x4149.
Regards,

ITSC HelpDesk

Sent:
Tue 7/5/2005 4:22 PM

A tribute to all the 'nice guys' I know.

This article was written for the Wharton Undergraduate Journal

This is a tribute to the nice guys. The nice guys that finish last, that never become more than friends, that endure hours of whining and bitching about what assholes guys are, while disproving the very point. This is dedicated to those guys who always provide a shoulder to lean on but restrain themselves to tentative hugs, those guys who hold open doors and give reassuring pats on the back and sit patiently outside the changing room at department stores. This is in honor of the guys that obligingly reiterate how cute/beautiful/smart/funny/sexy their female friends are at the appropriate moment, because they know most girls need that litany of support. This is in honor of the guys with open minds, with laid-back attitudes, with honest concern. This is in honor of the guys who respect a girl's every facet, from her privacy to her theology to her clothing style.

This is for the guys who escort their drunk, bewildered female friends back from parties and never take advantage once they're at her door, for the guys who accompany girls to bars as buffers against the rest of the creepy male population, for the guys who know a girl is fishing for compliments but give them out anyway, for the guys who always play by the rules in a game where the rules favor cheaters, for the guys who are accredited as boyfriend material but somehow don't end up being boyfriends, for all the nice guys who are overlooked, underestimated, and unappreciated, for all the nice guys who are manipulated, misled, and unjustly abandoned, this is for you.

This is for that time she left 40 urgent messages on your cell phone, and when you called her back, she spent three hours painstakingly dissecting two sentences her boyfriend said to her over dinner. And even though you thought her boyfriend was a chump and a jerk, you assured her that it was all ok and she shouldn't worry about it. This is for that time she interrupted the best killing spree you'd ever orchestrated in GTA3 to rant about a rumor that romantically linked her and the guy she thinks is the most repulsive person in the world. And even though you thought it was immature and you had nothing against the guy, you paused the game for two hours and helped her concoct a counter-rumor to spread around the floor. This is also for that time she didn't have a date, so after numerous vows that there was nothing "serious" between the two of you, she dragged you to a party where you knew nobody, the beer was awful, and she flirted shamelessly with you, justifying each fit of reckless teasing by announcing to everyone: "oh, but we're just friends!" And even though you were invited purely as a symbolic warm body for her ego, you went anyways. Because you're nice like that.

The nice guys don't often get credit where credit is due. And perhaps more disturbing, the nice guys don't seem to get laid as often as they should. And I wish I could logically explain this trend, but I can't. From what I have observed on campus and what I have learned from talking to friends at other schools and in the workplace, the only conclusion I can form is that many girls are just illogical, manipulative bitches. Many of them claim they just want to date a nice guy, but when presented with such a specimen, they say irrational, confusing things such as "oh, he's too nice to date" or "he would be a good boyfriend but he's not for me" or "he already puts up with so much from me, I couldn't possibly ask him out!" or the most frustrating of all: "no, it would ruin our friendship." Yet, they continue to lament the lack of datable men in the world, and they expect their too-nice-to-date male friends to sympathize and apologize for the men that are jerks. Sorry, guys, girls like that are beyond my ability to fathom. I can't figure out why the connection breaks down between what they say (I want a nice guy!) and what they do (I'm going to sleep with this complete ass now!). But one thing I can do, is say that the nice-guy-finishes-last phenomenon doesn't last forever. There are definitely many girls who grow out of that train of thought and realize they should be dating the nice guys, not taking them for granted. The tricky part is finding those girls, and even trickier, finding the ones that are single.

So, until those girls are found, I propose a toast to all the nice guys. You know who you are, and I know you're sick of hearing yourself described as ubiquitously nice. But the truth of the matter is, the world needs your patience in the department store, your holding open of doors, your party escorting services, your propensity to be a sucker for a pretty smile. For all the crazy, inane, absurd things you tolerate, for all the situations where you are the faceless, nameless hero, my accolades, my acknowledgement, and my gratitude go out to you. You do have credibility in this society, and your well deserved vindication is coming.

- taken from vesna's blog -

aargh! what was he thinking? what does he think he is! i hate that man! i ABSOLUTELY hate him!!

in case you have no idea what i'm talking about, the lovey-dovey statements above are for my european history instructor! the most sadistic man alive on planet earth!

first he says, "history isn't about cramming it all in, it's about understanding and actually learning from your readings". then he gives us mcq mid terms, short question answers in quizzes (asking us specific stuff like, "what word did the author use to describe ...?", a book which is 1400 pages long, and to top it all off, an essay to write on questions such as:

1. An historian of great eminence once said: “Guns and money make history.”

Write an essay evaluating this statement. What does the statement mean? Do you agree or disagree? What does “history” mean in this context? What does it mean to say “make history?”

The question is asking you to evaluate the flow of history. An isolated example or two will not be sufficient to back up an argument.

2. An old Latin saying: Ex Cultu Robur (“From Culture comes Strength”).

Evaluate this saying. What role does culture play in history? What does “strength” mean? Is it the power to conquer another’s territory? Or another’s mind? Or to show resilience of mind in the face of territorial conquest? Or something else? What does “culture” mean? Art, religion, philosophy, ways of thinking? Or more? Back up your argument with concrete cases from the book to show what culture is and how it effects the flow of history.

3. Consider the role of individuals in history. Choose three or so great personages from history and discuss whether they were products of their times, or whether they shaped their times to suit their own interests and temperament. Do individuals play an active part in directing history? Or is there a “glacial flow of history” too powerful for any single individual to be able to have an appreciable impact on it?

also, he makes "statements" like:

Write an essay which is meant to be read by a lay-person, a non-specialist, somebody who is not very familiar with European history. Make a convincing case for whatever argument you choose to make while backing it up with historical materials taken from the text. The fewer questions you leave unanswered in the mind of the reader the more points you stand to earn. State your argument clearly and unambiguously. Back it up authoritatively and clearly with historical materials without assuming any prior knowledge on the part of the reader.

You are going to find out that writing a short piece is more difficult than writing a long one. It is important that you make every word count. Every sentence should contain an idea. Every paragraph should contain a theme. The theme should advance with every paragraph. There should be a clear, concise introduction, followed by a substantive body, and a crisp ending which summarizes the argument and leaves the reader with a clear idea of what you are trying to say.

oh, and by the way, it's a 1000 word essay! i can't even begin to imagine how to write an answer to any of the above-mentioned questions in 2000 words, let alone 1000!

ok, i know i may be exaggerating. maybe i should actually be writing the paper instead of complaining about the unreasonable instructor. but no! i feel like taking the entire reading package, going up to his office, throwing it on the floor, jumping up and down on it, all the while screaming, aaaargh!!

Dear All,

Due to a fault in SEA-ME-WE 3 submarine cable, Internet Service operations across the country have been shifted to the Satellite backup Link by PTCL. You may experience slow internet performance while accessing some web sites. Engineers are working on the problem and hope to fix it soon.
We will let you know as soon as the Internet Services are returned to normal.
Regards

ITSC HelpDesk
LUMS

Sent:
Tue 6/28/2005 9:19 AM

Today's Saturday, and it hasn't been fixed yet. It's quite irritating because this is the first time in 3 years that I've considered checking my email a "pain". Saad and Asad have also posted about it, although most of Asad's post was too confusing for me to get. :D

Also, it's been raining a lot recently, due to which all sorts of bugs have started making appearances on campus. Some are quite scary, but most have alreday ben squished by passing cars.

Also, i got a new kitten. Actually, it's been a week but the stupid internet cable fault made it impossible for me to post earlier. anyhoo, it's a really cute male cat, about 4 weeks old. haven't named him yet. plan on taking him home to islamabad and keeping him there. pictures soon.

this has been lifted from dhruv's blog:

"I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac wouldhave never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky - I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation - the Macintosh - a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me - I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance.And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.

If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle.

As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in arow, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you."

Steve Jobs - Founder Apple Computer and Pixar Animation Studios

Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '97...

...Wear sunscreen

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blind side you at 4 pm on some idle
Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with
yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don't know.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good.

Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick
with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders. Respect your elders. Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

recently, Nicholas D. Kristof wrote an editorial on Mukhtaran Bibi - a fund raiser concert, the PDC InFest, was organized by LUMS to raise money for her. Reading the article, and the follow up editorial got me thinking, and the following paragraph from the article itself sumarizes how i feel about the issue:

Musharraf said, according to The Associated Press. "I don't want to project a bad image of Pakistan."

I sympathize. From Karachi to the Khyber Pass, Pakistan is one of the most hospitable countries I've ever visited. So, President Musharraf, if you want to improve Pakistan's image, here's some advice: Just prosecute rapists with the same zeal with which you persecute rape victims.

Nicholas D. Kristof, A free woman in Pakistan

i honestly wish the government would do more to help the negative image of Pakistan, and the above mentioned articles clearly show an example of what NOT to do.

While browsing through various nomad blogs, I came across Tom Gara's absolutely brilliant post about his first experiences in Rotterdam. Check it out here

just got back from summer lcong, lahore. 2 days of absolutely amazing training sessions, bonding and fun activities (including some absolutly amazing karoake sessions). the two official camera men - emad & ali - took about a million pictures combined. anyway, have been trying to get my thoughts on the weekend down on paper, er...computer screen?, but just can't seem to get over the extremely excited stage i'm in right now. we have new members, and they're absolutely brilliant! great job guys, you make us proud!

doggy dreams...

i was going through some blogs, found the cutest-ever picture of some dogs bonding during nap time..cute!

whiteband.org

Global Call to Action Against Poverty (http://www.whiteband.org) exists in 5 continents and they are starting a white band campaign.

"What should the white band look like?

This is entirely up to you. Some suggestions are wrist bands, arm bands, head bands, lapel bands, etc. This action was chosen because it is simple for anyone to get involved - you can just make your own white band with a piece of fabric."

In Pakistan:

If your organisation wishes to get involved please contact:

Irfan Mufti, SAPPK, Irfan@sappk.org

Farah Malik, INSAN, fmalik@insanpk.org

Remember to wear your white band on July 1, the first Global White Band Day.

Why ARE men happier than women?

Some examples:

*Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat.

* You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness.

* Your underwear is $8.95 for a three-pack.

* You can "do" your nails with a pocket knife.

Check out the complete list.

"The system kicks ass, because in an environment like this, where everyone is working really hard, often long hours, you always know there is the option to enjoy a great home cooked meal, that costs practically nothing, and 4 nights of the week, you arent the one cooking or cleaning."

read the entire post at the AIESEC International blog. i'd never thought team dinners could be so organized!

i've never had something die in front of me before. i never thought it would be that painful, or look that painful. the kitten naureen, tz and i had taken in died about half an hour ago. there wasn't even enough time to take him to the vet, not that much could have been done as the vet's own words "you can have him put down now" didn't really leave much to hope for. 4-5 days ago, he was the liveliest kitten i ever saw, now he's dead. i still can't believe it i guess.
i've never felt worse in my entire life. i guess i also blame myself completely for what happened to him. he wouldn't have died so young if only we'd done something sooner...
i've never felt worse in my entire life, a living being just died in front of my eyes. i'm to blame.

kitty news

a couple of days ago, i think it was friday, me and some friends were hanging around the khokha after a pretty interesting amir alvi & KV concert. roaming around there was this extremely hyper kitten - about a month old - very friendly too. so we were just generally playing with him and stuff and soon he found some food and started gnawing away at a bone. also in the same area lives a full grown female cat and her two kittens. apparently, before i got there, the kitten had had one tiff with her over some thing and both had backed off.

so, we're sitting there talking, and the full-grown cat starts coming towards the little kitten who's still eating the bone - completely oblivious. i still can't believe we didn't drive her away sooner - dumb ibad and his "survival of the fittest" had us completely confused, i guess - but the short of the long is that the little kitten got ambushed from behind and is currently a patient in my room due to his injured spinal nerve.

so he can't move his hind legs, which is extremely sad because this had to be the most active kitten i've ever seen. took him to th vet who says there's still hope, there's minor control over the legs. however, he's not eating properly, and is drowsy from the medication. and truth be told, i believe the three of us - naureen, tz and i - might be too selfish to put him to sleep if it comes to that. i hope it doesn't and that he gets better in the next couple of days like the vet said he would.

every guy i've met from india tells me to go to the same website, www.saira.com. i actually did end up visiting it - you can only take so much bugging can't you? - and was amazed, not only by the music and writing, but by the simple fact that the women actually is, well, hot! so all my male friends might want to check out what the fuss is all about...

today - more correctly, yesterday - was a YAY! day...

i ended up staying another night - in the extremely cold, almost freezing, lab4. Also, lab1 now has new pc's - YAY!! they don't have sound cards yet so music freaks need not get excited. the freshie's have communication skills final exam in another hour - YAY!! am over with that as well! emad and ahsan going to meet telenor and trisoft today with final proposals...YAY! got some prespective in life, have been rethinking some stuff, YAY! got to READ a book - fiction, completely not related to studies - after months, YAY! got to take a nap, double YAY!! the kitty shat, YAY! (more details soon!)

anyhoo, good day - nothing much accomplished..but fun!

Mail In Your Secrets Today

You are invited to anonymously contribute your secrets to PostSecret. Each secret can be a regret, hope, funny experience, unseen kindness, fantasy, belief, fear, betrayal, erotic desire, feeling, confession, or childhood humiliation. Reveal anything - as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before.

so my friends were driving around one day - 2 guys, 3 girls - when a corolla, with a lcd tv playing some pk movie songs, pulled up alongside them. inside it were your typical lahori men, 5 of them, middle-aged or so. anyway - it's pretty obvious what was on their agenda so after some attempts at slowing down so that they'd get irritated and leave, these guys just shot past them. one of my friends, however, decided to leave a message and showed them the finger right as they went by...

this must've not made them very happy, coz they kept following these people around defence market, finally pulling alongside these people, put gun in their face and said "beta, ungal naheen dikhani chahyay" ...

for a very much more interesting narration of the same story, contact emad nadim...

anyway, makes me wonder how many people in lahore carry a gun around on them, wonder how many people in lums do the same. would be pretty easy to get it past security. also, how safe is lums then? any car with a 10 rs. lums sticker can come in, no questions asked. which pretty much means, anyone who knows someone in lums can come in anytime. just some random thoughts...

LOL...

Things you should know about Australia

ok, you just have to check it out. i found it through a link on devrim's blog - too funnny to miss..

hehe - ever wonder how rich you are? well, the global richlist, gives you a pretty good idea.
have fun..

other stuff i learnt today:

- relativity is something einstein proved way back, no amount of argueing can prove it wrong
- ditto for gravity, though einstein didn't prove this one - the guy with the apple did..
- www.worldjumpday.org has a pretty fair chance of actually working
- something needs to be done about the mosquito's in this place
- we need to have some fun in our last year

there was more - almost two hours of non-stop conversation between tz, naureen and i - but i've forgotten the rest...

brain has completely stopped functioning, but phir bhee not done with paper! thought i'd finish it by midnight!! am done with everything, have to restructure it a bit. anyway - have thunk will do this old fashioned way. me thinks air is of the need so going to lab, printing paper, and re-structure it outside.

back to the future?

so apparently, this MIT student organized a time travel convention. the idea was to get all time travelers - yes, time-travelers! - to congregate. he got websites put up, had people put notes in books, the works, in an effort to make sure people from various time-periods could make it. also, MIT co-ordinates were given in case MIT didn't exist in the future. guess he thought of everything didn't he? here's the full deal on the MIT webpage.

one tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor!

suddenly, i miss rahim. guess with the spring quarter break coming closer and closer, i'm reminded of the shughal filled two days we had last year...

A hundred days have made me older

since the last time that I saw your pretty face

A thousand lies have made me colder

and I don't think I can look at this the same

But all the miles that separate

They disappear now when I'm dreaming of your face

I'm here without you baby

but you're still on my lonely mind

I think about you baby

and I dream about you all the time

I'm here without you baby

but you're still with me in my dreams

And tonight it's only you and me

The miles just keep rollin'

as the people leave their way to say hello

I've heard this life is overrated

but I hope that it gets better as we go

I'm here without you baby

but you're still on my lonely mind

I think about you baby

and I dream about you all the time

I'm here without you baby

but you're still with me in my dreams

And tonight girl it's only you and me

Everything I know, and anywhere I go

it gets hard but it won't take away my love

And when the last one falls,

when it's all said and done

it get hard but it won't take away my love

I'm here without you baby

but you're still on my lonely mind

I think about you baby

and I dream about you all the time

I'm here without you baby

but you're still with me in my dreams

And tonight girl it's only you and me

"here without you - 3 doors down"

I love you,
You love me,
We're a happy family,
With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you,
Won't you say you love me too...

*barney says the best things.... :D *

friday, the thirteenth

"It is said: If 13 people sit down to dinner together, all will die within the year. The Turks so disliked the number 13 that it was practically expunged from their vocabulary (Brewer, 1894). Many cities do not have a 13th Street or a 13th Avenue. Many buildings don't have a 13th floor. If you have 13 letters in your name, you will have the devil's luck (Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy and Albert De Salvo all have 13 letters in their names). There are 13 witches in a coven." Urban Legends

while i was looking for info on friday the 13th, i came across this site. quite interesting, make sure you read it all through, especially the pictures.

also, here's a top 25 urban legends list...

nice bed-time reading...

LOVE: A deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person, such as that arising from kinship, recognition of attractive qualities, or a sense of underlying oneness.

STALKER: To follow or observe (a person) persistently, especially out of obsession or derangement.

FRIEND: a person you know well and regard with affection and trust

GROUPIE: A fan, especially a young woman, who follows a rock group around on tours.

**the last one is for me, the other three are for someone else**

join us in the attempt to drive planet earth into a new orbit, by letting millions of people jump!

wanna know more: www.worldjumpday.org

seems like an interesting notion, but i couldn't figure out what our local time was so didn't sign up. if someone knows the answer, lemme know...

life is a sexually transmitted disease that ends in death...

today isn't over yet...technically, there's still 6 hours or so to go. but it's been long...

amidst trying to study for an econ quiz, playing cards, trying to initiate an ono game, chatting with everyone who passed by the "khirkee" i was calling my home, and teaching ammar, shibli and usman how to attract chicks - i realized that i'm leaving next year. this next coming year is my last year at lums. i won't be able to call this my home after that, i won't be welcome back. the people i see on my visits will be strangers, much like my visits to my old school.

i don't want to leave. i want this moment to stop now. it's not fair. i didn't know when i entered university that the four years that seemed endless then would go by much faster than expected. not that i could have done anything about it had i even known, but still, it's not fair...

unplugged - revisited...

ehsanullah posted this on orkut:

"Who was that guy who sang knocking on heavens door on the first day...and he did this amazing orignal on the second...i think it was called...If Green to me was Blue to you... yeah that's it...he's really good...the lyrics were just too much...oh and that black dude...i think his names shibli...yes...he plays an amazing guitar...yes...very nice...oh and that guy who was drumming on all along the watch tower...does he know that when he bangged the drums really hard the first time... he scared the SHIT out of this dude sitting in the first row...yes...very nice...i saw the whole thing it was priceless...he did an amazing job though...oh and the other ppl were amazing too...i love unplugged!"

you've just gotta love this guy though. the best person in the world to study anything with (abnormal psych, here we come!), writes great songs (and i've seen him write in front of me, amazing!), had to get his extremely sexy hair cut off (:P~) yet remains the coolest freshman around for miles...

you're feeling blue, the music matches the mood. you keep walking - somewhere along the first few hundred yards you meet a few people you know, you wonder "who else is up at this insane time", then remind yourself - "this is lums, someone's always up". you keep walking and start thinking. "what the hell? how does it happen every SINGLE time. it's a curse, i'm cursed" you look around. the sun isn't up yet, the football field is empty, some crows make their way towards you, you speed up - we all know who'd win in that fight.

you're tired of the music, change it, bad song plays - who the hell makes up these cheesy numbers, and what are they doing in this playlist - keep moving. the gaurd eyes you suspiciously, you're walking away from the male dorms, so obviously he wonders. the back side of campus is the one most quiet, no one...

you start from the top again, the music gets better. you feel slightly better. "his loss, not mine. it's all ok. i have my friends, i have my life. i'll manage. everyone says i shouldn't worry" keep walking, speed up a little. people still roaming around, standing talking in groups. wonder what they're talking about. khokha's still open. shouldn't have left without any money. the suns up a little, it's pretty to look at. wonder if the "khirkee's" behind the edc are as popular as the ones elsewhere on campus. just a thought. see some people walking out of the labs. an obvious all-nighter, same here.

the gaurd asks "how many more?" smile and keep walking. feeling good now. can't imagine having gotten this far. this is good. will do this every day, or other day. look at the front entrance. remember the bonding sessions over pizza and coke. miss everyone. where'd they go. what'll happen when we leave? khokha still open. damn, should've gotten the money. walk past the old khokha, think about all the birthday's celebrated there. the time the bricks got painted at ammar's birthday, the panic that followed. seems childish now. wish i could go back.

feeling better. plan the day. not a lot of options. have lots to do. what about the kids? "where do i stop?" how much do they need to be told. will do anything for them, but for how long. the geese are missing, no they aren't. some are swimming with the goslings. gaurd smiles this time. he knows there's one more.

final round. no one to be seen anywhere. only the gaurds. sun's almost completely up. what about religion? "how do i fit that in?" can't really, does that make it wrong? think about everything once more. life isn't perfect, it'll never be perfect. but all in all, it's pretty darn good.

note: people looking for the "unplugged" posts, they're below this...

my male friends don't believe in the ladder theory, they say it's too generalized for one. secondly, they think it doesn't say much for women. i think they just don't get it :D

i'd like to clarify my position on it further, but some unexpected news ( the punch-u-in-ur-gut-take-ur-breath-away variety) has tampered with my ability to think clearly. i will address everyone's answers, but not today, so ammar, shibli, usman, ammar, farhad - wait for on update...

note: people looking for the "unplugged" posts, they're below this, the ladder theory is even further down...

questions for the day:

how much is too much?
how old is too old?
why is wrestling so entertaining?
how many carbs does a strawberry have?
how can people not know the lyrics to "freshmen"?
how big is my house?
when will the comm skills grades from last quarter come out?
who took the shirts?
whats dinner like?
how was nando's?

the music society presents...

yay - we're about to start...

the fans, and their musicians :D

disconnected leads...

the faculty...

some went wild...

amir & kv - an amazing performance...

while some slept on...

unplugged - part 2

Gaah! the 1 song i loved from yesterday wasn't played, i missed ehsan ullah's original, which i had heard during practices and was looking forward to, and i lost a pen!

the concert started off great, "hotel california" had me singing along from the moment it began. "electric blue" was another winner from yesterday! in the middle however, i missed, like, half an hour i think and i was told on my return that i had missed the best part of the concert, the MBA's performance.

lucky for me, i had however come back in time for the faculty's bit, and it was awesome! especially "evil ways", although the crowd went mad for "another brick in the wall" too. now that i think about it, the soundtrack to the relatively unknown movie "the faculty" was the same song. :D

amir alvi and kv, however, completely stole the show! the crowd went mad! they sang some extremely popular songs so the sing-along factor was extremely high!

over all, the show was a success! the crowd was also much better than yesterday - or it was the same people, just behaving better!. the number of people that turned up both days was high, and since only four songs were repeated from yesterday, it didn't go blah.

kudo's to the music society for organizing an amazing two days! here's to the summer unplugged! pictures up soon, as soon as i get them actually...

unplugged - part 1

the music society is cursed with bad luck - first the "pdc" gig never happened, and now it seems like the "BOB" is destined to go the same way. anyway - the guys must have decided that some form of a show must go on, and so today was the first day in the two-day "unplugged at sayeed saigol" series.

would i say it was bad? no, i wouldn't. i had fun, there were times when i wished i was in my comfortable bed instead, and yes - the heat made it quite unbearable, as did the rude crowd in the back that kept yelling insults every couple of songs. but the show definitely was well-worth the time spent on it.

however, i wonder how much of what i said above is a friend talking - someone who's seen these guys working their behinds off, first for the BOB and then this gig. and a large reason why i actually enjoyed the evening was because almost everyone on stage was someone i knew. something i had in common with the 50 odd people that were left by the time the show ended...

not to say that the show has ended, part two's tomorrow. the boys know what mistakes they made today, i guess a better play order is the first thing that can be expected. i've heard something is being done about the heat issue too (damn the admin, why can't they leave the a/c on!), i doubt anything can be done about the sucky crowd (go to hell, i refuse to admit you're part of my university, let alone my batch!) - all in all, a much better show is being planned for tomorrow.

so if you missed todays performance, i wouldn't say you missed out on a lot, though what you did miss out on was fun. one song that is a must hear (and will hopefully be played again tomorrow) is the original song sung by ammar, composed by shibli and written by usman khan. it just so happens to be one of those songs that keeps playing itself in your head for hours after you've actually heard it...

me off for now, if you boys come looking for that link i told you about, it's after the next post. will put up pictures of the concert (part two) after i take some tomorrow...also, an update on how part two went...

why am i such a girl...!!

another sleepless night, unfortunately. lots to do tomorrow, 6 hours of group discussions for @ being just one of them...

took a death test: Mark your calendar or Palm V. You can expect to die on:Friday, August 8th 2042, at the tender age of 58 years old.

not-a-bad, that's a little above my family's average survival age :D

this should be interesting for all my male friends :D
on a personal note, i agree with the writer completely - women do resort to all that's mentioned in this theory - it's our way of getting back for the "once-again-left-up toilet seat"

The Reason - Hoobastank


I'm not a perfect person
There's many things I wish I didn't do
But I continue learning
I never meant to do those things to you
And so I have to say before I go

That I just want you to know
I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
and the reason is you

I'm sorry that I hurt you
It's something I must live with everyday
And all the pain I put you through
I wish that I could take it all away
And be the one who catches all your tears
That's why i need you to hear

I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
and the reason is You
and the reason is you
and the reason is you
and the reason is you

I'm not a perfect person
I never meant to do those things to you
And so I have to say before I go

That I just want you to know
I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
and the reason is you

I've found a reason to show
A side of me you didn't know
A reason for all that I do
And the reason is you

The Music Society of LUMS
proudly presents

Sayeed Saigol UNPLUGGED!!~
7:30 PM, Saturday & Sunday, 7th and 8th of May, 2005
Location : err. .. Duh!?!?

Come watch the greats of LUMS do what they do best!

Aamir Alavi!! on Vocals
Freddy on Bass
JD on Drums
Saadi Mansuri on Percussion with his crazy antics!
Shibli Mansuri! on the acoustic ( do NOT miss! )
Haroon playing every instrument on stage!
Sidra on percussion!
Daniel on Keyboards!
Qadri on drums..
and the LUMS Symphony Orchestra! DO NOT MISS!!

ali

ali
Originally uploaded by monday_bluez.

this picture shows ali's true side..and then he wonders why people are scared of him..

ibad

ibad2
Originally uploaded by monday_bluez.

hehe,i couldn't find a picture of him in which he isn't surrounded by drums...

ammar

ammarf1
Originally uploaded by monday_bluez.

one cute freshie, i think i took this picture in between songs

ammar

ammarz
Originally uploaded by monday_bluez.

this is such a cute picture. usually ammar's pictures have him just giving dirty looks, this one's actually got him smiling..

fahd

fahd
Originally uploaded by monday_bluez.

i can't believe he's actually gone...sometimes i miss him a lot - and not just because i need help with some media crap :D

salman

salman1
Originally uploaded by monday_bluez.

there are some other pretty good pictures of him from the same concert, but this has to be my favourite. he's just so caught up in the music!

shibli

shibli2
Originally uploaded by monday_bluez.

we're still trying to figure out how he managed to pose for this picture..

have been thinking about putting pictures from the "pdc gig" up again, had to take them down when i closed the "lums chronicles", it's a hassle managing more than one blog.

anyway, will put them up abhee, hate the process though - ughh!! takes a long time...

subway

533e
Originally uploaded by monday_bluez.

this picture always brings back memories. making everyone sit in a square, climbing in through the tables to take the pictures, making sue everyone had one taken of them, fahd majeed taking months to put them together...

yesterday was the day shibli ran into "another" pole - while playing cricket...against the bhindiz. a match the 2005's + shibli actually managed to win by quite a large margin. even though ahmed bilal has proclaimed there was "a 99.9% probability his team would win"...sad!

things to do:

1. write 4 research papers (one for a course i couldn't care less about)
2. clear of finances for the farewell
3. get the room straightened out
3. attend an engagement

don't feel like it though...

YAY!! bilal won! i was so excited when i heard. really looking forward to seeing what gullz he and salman khilaofy :D

i wish i could talk to my brother. sometimes its when you're in the deepest shit possible that you realize that you're too far away from the one person who can help you...

i've made many mistakes in life. over the last one week, i discovered i'd made another one. looking back, it's like a foresaw this happening. as if, i needed to do it to prove something, or destroy something.

anyway - i havent been able to write for a few days because i havent been able to sort out all the stuff going through my head. wish i could go back in time and change some stuff that i did. wish we got that chance. made a mistake - jst press rewind and go fix it. would make life much more simple, or would it. that's the plot of "butterfly effect" i think. :D

anyway, xeb was right. friends do care about you. it just takes one weird blog post for them to come to help. my friends thought i was going slightly nutty and took me out to lunch...love 'em to bits. i never really know what to expect of them though. one minute they're there, the next they aren't.

right now, i wish i could go back to my childhood - somehow i've always thought of that as the happiest times i had. i don't know why - they weren't particularly happy.

spell your name backwards: adin, if you think about it, it's a-din! lol!

have you ever had a song written about you: nope..loser music society!!

what song makes you cry: none, i get depressed when i hear "it's a wild world" though...

what song makes you laugh: papi chulo- urdu version

height: 5 feet 7ish

hair color: brown/black

piercings: ears

tattoos: have to save up enuff money to get one...!!

Right Now . . .

what taste is in your mouth?: chowder soup...

whats the weather like?: cool summer night...

how are you?: tired...

get motion sickness?: erm..no, i think

have a bad habit?: of course :D

get along with your parents?: yep, pretty cool parents...

have a current crush: erm...crush? i do think someone's woah-hot! but not a crush...

have a big regret: not 1 big one, some small ones...

FAVOURITE:

tv show: lost

book: to kill a mockingbird...

non alchohol drink: orange juice...

alchohol drink: i live in pakistan and am a hostelite! where would i get the alcohol from?

things to do on the weekend: chill out with friends...now that its summers, we can go to the park again...yay!!

Have You Ever . . .

ran away from home: nope...pretty cool parents...

snuck out of the house: nope - same as above applies...

ever gone skinny dipping: nope...

skipped school: hehe...i'm in college, of course...

had children: nope...

been in love: i don't think so...

been hurt?: yeah...

Random . . .

have a job: no...

if you were a crayon, what color would you be?: purple...

the next CD you're going to buy: N.E.R.D, can't find the songs anywhere online..

what makes you happy?: hanging out with friends, and playing with dogs :D

When/What Was the Last . . .

you got a real letter: 2 years ago i think..

got an email: a few minutes ago...

thing you purchased: a lemonade

kissed: which type?

you were depressed: my friends think i'm depressed right now...

When/What Comes to Mind When You Hear...

car:rickshaw (the car for hostelites!)

murder:on the dance floor

cape:cod

penis:hehe

cell:phone

shoe:box

fun:ction :D (that must be the farewell talking!)

crush:heart

music:bob (battle of the bands)

chalk:cheese

courtesy: tree-elf

i wonder if anyone would notice if i just gave up. stopped writing my papers, stopped studying, stopped leaving my room, stopped getting out of bed, stopped caring. definitely my family would protest when my grades dropped - but their reason for doing so would be the fall in grades and not the emotional crap i was going through...my friends would worry, but only because they'd stop seeing me on campus.

i seriously wonder!

what would it be like to wake up one day and not get out of bed. not care what the world thinks, not give a shit about the fact that there is work to be done or people to be met.

don't get me wrong, i'm not going to do that - i have too much work i'm responsible for to be able to do that.

but i wonder!

would i live a better life that way? if i had the resources to not have to worry about my survival, would i choose that path? sitting in front of a t.v all day may seem boring but with the 100+ channels they offer now i'm sure it can't be that bad. i might even get a chance to catch up on the bold and the beautiful, not that it has changed much from the last time i saw it, a good couple of years back.

anyway, i'm drifting. i'm looking out of the window and i know that there's a lot that i need to get done. but this really small part of me wants to give up. stop! stop right now. call home, tell them i give up. but i wont. why? i seriously wonder why...

nothing worth happening ever happens...
why is that so?

...

*sometimes people say the most unexpected things...*

"hey baby.....i think the time has come to realize that you are not young nida anymore ...but a very mature, strong willed and more smart individual than i ever will be.....hence i have decided to start treating you like one..." a note from my big brother

muftaa!!

the people, and products, from nestle made their annual visit to lums today.

although the information session is usually attended exclusively by the mba's and graduating batch, the central courtyard always turns into a battle ground due to the tea being served there. the entire hostel population (those on campus atleast) and some pseudo-hostelites (read: day-scholars with nothing better to do) always manage to show up right on time for it to be served and make things bad for the rest of us (those who've been waiting for almost an hour!).

anyway, i have a better game plan for next year...something that'll help me get the "only for display" items (including chocolates)... :D

oh yeah, sakina rocks! she managed to sneak out a whole cake!!

first gbm...
all i can say is - memories of legislation at ipm came back to haunt me while i was listening to the debate about 3vps/4vps or 3dept/4dept!!

in case someone was wondering what the people inside the elevator went through, there's a first hand account here
:D

the funniest thing happened today...and it got me thinking quite a bit...

my university has an elevator for the library building, but this being pakistan, it's not very dependable. so today, i was standing near the elevator, when somebody set off the alarm from inside it. apparently, something like 10 people got stuck in it!! now, that elevator, is tiny! so 10 ppl inside it at one time is not a good thing...even if it is moving! and here it was, stuck between the 1st floor and 2nd floor.

anyway, some consciensous final years called the gaurds, extremely worried that the people inside might start panicking. and there we are, yelling reassurances through that thick door, running around, calling every maintenance person on campus...when we heard what can only be described as laughter from inside the elevator. the people inside, it seemed, were having FUN!!

i'm amazed everyday by what people in this university are capable of...but this takes the cake. here we are, in the middle of exams, with people going nuts if the cashier at the cafeteria takes one extra minute while returning their change coz "they have to study!"...and these people were enjoying a situation that can at best be described as claustrophobic! ...

i didn't stick around to see how long it took to get them out...am guessing it couldn't have been longer than another 15 minutes...but that laughter proved they would be fine.

it reminded me, we can only control so much of what life throws our way. the rest of the time - it's best to just have the best time possible, hopefully - everything will work out itself...

yay!! i won!! its this really weird feeling. standing there..."and the LCP 05-06 is..." and the next thing you hear is your name!! and then the cold water - followed by even colder coke! hugging everyone, not knowing whether to maintain composure or start crying..

it's somewhat a scary feeling - coz once the adrenalin rush is over, you're left with the knowledge that now, you're it!! there's much higher expectations...much more that needs to be done...stuff that needs to be planned..

however - right now, i'm just happy...

this is where i've always wanted to be...and i'm there...somethings going my way...!!

today, when i was sitting in the bus, waiting for the other passengers to be seated. i realized that we often look through people. ever wonder why the people who look happy, are happy. or why those who look sad, are sad? today, i did.

see, today - there was this lady who looked like she'd been crying. and i was wondering why? not my place to be doing that maybe, but got me thinking. you never know what the stranger sitting next to you in the bus is going through in life.

Sonnet 17

Pablo Neruda

I do not love you as if you were the salt-rose, or topaz,

or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,

in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms

but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;

thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,

risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.

I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;

so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,

so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,

so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

IF

R. Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with triumph and disaster

And treat those two imposters just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,

And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

hmmm...

wonder if this email thing really works :D

jst found this on the web...

nice to know we're up there in the network! yay...!!

"Students from Pakistan participated at several conferences in India and gained the necessary skills to run the organization."<= that's us!! :D

so here i am, awake! went to sleep around 9 pm like a good little kid and as a result, am awake at 2. the machar's are making life hell, mortein coils don't seem to be doing the trick. madiha is on the phone/msnger/wrking on an assignment (a multi-tasker, if i've ever met one!).

khokha seems highly tempting, naureen is asleep, can't seem to get the bandee from the exorcist out of my head, don't think i can walk to khokha alone.

so am writing, feeling like shit! sleepy, bitten all over, hungry, bad headache - the works...
will go and bug someone, maybe someone will have a solution, cant' think too well myself, am that tired!

sarri of the day...

**near the khirkee's outside the store**

person # 1: oye, it's raining!
person # 2: no, no - dude, we're so hot that God had to turn the sprinklers on!

:D

nobody would think a tv show could make one so emotional, yet thats exactly what F.R.I.E.N.D.S does. everytime i watch the show, or show that features the cast, i'm instantly reminded of all the times we've sat in the dorms, waiting for the new episode to come out.
me and naureen, copying them onto the pc - screaming when it wouldn't - with our food by our sides...seems like light years ago...
anyway - summary: miss the show, boo hoo! :D

khekhekhe - chk this out...
funniest thing i've seen all day...

yay!! got to sleep last night! ...
weird day today - had fun though. sometimes weirdness makes a day more interesting - u never know what you'll run into...

umm...very eventful day (in a completely weird way) ...

met some old "friends" from school! hmm...weird! anyway - lcp applications were posted on @.net ... am worried! very normal...

student council campaigning under way...that too is going really weirdly...

am going home this weekend - finally, some time to myself..!! cant wait to meet api and zainab!!

ever felt like running around, with arms wide open, swishing a dupatta through the air while listening to the song "aao naa" from that nameless movie that had ash/vivek in it?

or is it just me? :-O

am still up...

urrrgh! am still up - jst cant seem to sleep..might as well get some work done

seems like any lallu-panju concert can be fun as long as you have friends around you, and apparently ali zafar is much better then just lallu-panju :)
admitted that the music wasn't live, but the guy knows how to sing - plus he has stage presence (whatever that is :D) ... sang some oldies which none of my rock loving friends knew about, but had fun overall..

random thoughts, random songs...haven't been able to sleep all night - once again! think i need to find a solution...getting irritating..

have the LCP application due today - have been workng on that...atleast some good came out of me staying awake..also have math queezzz...am prepared...almost! yay!! got a 9.5 in the 1st one...stupid mistake thee...

also have stall for t-shirts up again...hope we hit 200..

aur kuch...not thinking soo!!

is the ali zafar concert worth even going to? jst stole the pass madiha had claimed (no, no - it's minee!!) ... she being in isloo won't be able to make it to concert ... i should feel less guilty (stupid conscience)

If suddenly someone were to rush up to you

And say "Hey, I know your face."

Would you shy away or embrace your past

With arms spread-eagled and a cup of coffee?

It gets lonely here in the letter-bin

Dark and smelly at times,

But mostly

Lonely

Bordering on insanity

A pinch of salt

A chance of rain

A deck of cards

A cigarette

But nothing more.

Unless, dear me,

But-of-course!

Arms are spread-eagled, coffees are shared

In cups that are destined to empty,

(Fill with ash, perhaps, if the night draws long

And old habits are resurrected).

Unless bottles are popped, a whole lot else

Champagne is served, sir, until further notice

You may now blow your cosmic bubbles and screw the cat.

(She's contemplating never coming back again).

But when the ice shoots out

Like frozen mushrooms

And the tin roof becomes more than just hot,

When colours bleed into one another

And cocoa is strewn in angry puddles,

You know the cat's gone without being screwed.

- Taimur Malik (from, hub)

2008...

the freshie's are a great lot...very fun! much much better then the 2007's... :)

had an interesting time on the ride to the "sutta" place...thanks ehsan - u da best! coincidentally, am listening to "cold dead night" ... :)




just a random thought

lums chronicles...

got the feeling from the few people i talked to that maybe my "honest criticism" in the lums chronicles hadn't gone down well with the musicians...

just wanted to clarify, i had a great time at the concert...however, it could've been much better!! i mean, i know you guys, i've been hearing your jams almost every day since lumun - so i was a little pissed off at circumstances. but i'll be there, front and centre at the next concert too. please feel free to comment though :)

btw, another clarification for those who wonder - i'm not a groupie and have no desires to be one, coz, "groupie's are sluts - they sleep with the band!" :D

bye boys :P

my sharona...

have actually managed to stay up all night yet achieve nothing - in an effort to feel "more" cool, i went to the khokha (i DID do something on saturday night!)

came back, wasted some time and am now trying to figure out how accurately the "boys" played "my sharona" at the welcome...!!

anyone need any jars of beads counted??

..

am still working on @ application - need to do a quick khokha run though. sorely missing naureen...no one to talk to on the long walk there...

save tonight...

am unusually happy tonight. have spent the last 5+ hours on the same website, updating blogs. on a saturday night no less!! what a sad existence!!

chulu bhar pani main doob mar nida rasheed!

anyway...song of the day (or atleast the last 5 hours) has been...

la...la...la...la...la...
now that i've lost everything to you
you say you want to start something new
and it's breaking my heart you're leaving
baby i'm grieving
and if you wanna leave take good care
hope you have a lot of nice things to wear
a lot of nice things turn bad out there

oh baby, baby, it's a wild world
it's hard to get by just upon a smile (yeah...)
oh baby, it's a wild world
i'll always remember you like a child, girl

you know i've seen a lot of what the world can do
and it's breaking my heart in two
coz i never want to see you sad girl
don't be a bad girl
but if you wanna leave take good care
hope you make a lot of nice friends out there
just remember there's a lot of bad and beware

oh baby, baby, it's a wild world
it's hard to get by just upon a smile (yeah...)
oh baby, baby, it's a wild world
i'll always remember you like a child girl

la...la...la...la...la...baby i love you.

but if you wanna leave take good care
hope you make a lot of nice friends out there
just remember there's a lot of bad and beware

oh baby, baby, it's a wild world
it's hard to get by just upon a smile (yeah...)
oh baby, baby, it's a wild world
i'll always remember you like a child girl

baby, it's a wild world - mr. big

post # 1

gobbeldygookdibblydoofoo!!

"adieu" is such a strange word isn't it...wonder what they were thinking when they came up with it! anyway - it's that time again, when the seniors have to be given the "farewell" (another weird name since they're still around for atleast another month afterwards). a rather sad (if you really think about it) occasion.

i, for one, am really going to miss this batch. not just because they had all the hot(!) men or because they made the best TA's...but more because they - despite the raggings, bullyings, dissings - were there through it all: the bad bad grades, heartbreaks, planning welcomes/farewells, studying for exams, writing papers, moving in and out of hostels, always with a smile and a smart idea to share

i'll also miss these guys because with their leaving lums, 2006 will become the seniors, and we'll be expected to fill their shoes. big shoes to fill me thinks... you're wondering, why? well, the 2003's were the kings!, why? because they had some the best sportsmen (i'be heard), musicians, students. the 2004's were great coz they just seemed to be fun, always playing patta's, smoking, playing volleyball. but the 2005's: they have the brains, and the extra curriculars, but add to that the fact that they are jst great ppl to hang out with. though i wonder if every batch feels that way about the batch ahead of 'em...

so - a couple of months, and we'll be seniors! seniors...with three batches behind us expecting greatness...i wonder how that'll feel...

PDC InFest

it finally happened - the most looked forward to concert (atleast as far as my "boys" were concerned!). having hashed all the details out everyday for as far back as i can remember (a couple of months - at the very least!!) the guys were very confident about how it would go. after all, the song list had been chosen, corrected, finalized, re-corrected and re-finalized...the venue had been examined. arguements about who would stand on which step had been had, i had put in my two bits about how "there should be no stage!" and it seemed like the "the red chaddis" (lol!) were all set to rock the campus!!

so what went wrong? well - for one, the "pdc" InFest it wasn't the venue having been shifted at the last minute, the light wala had his issues, the machars (the non-human variety, of course) had unfortunately decided the football field was THE place to hang out, the moozeek society admin was supposedly PMSing and the band - well, wasn't very "bonded" to say the very least - and as a result of all the above everyone went back wondering what happened to the "rocking" bit...

still - the boys did what they always do, they hashed the concert out - for days! and i am assuming that they learnt from their mistakes...after all, they are the future of the society, 8 of the best musicians at lums and very responsible adults (and in ammar freshie's case, very smart ones!) btw, whats this i hear about locking up the music room and throwing away the key! doh!

anyway - some pics of the band (and "groupies") from the day had been posted, but have been removed. will try and get them up soon in a photoblog :D

ipm romania...

found out friday evening that i had my visa (yippeee!!) - after having checked a whole set of assignments at lightening fast speed, uploading the marks for the entire quarter, submitting one paper, and having packed my bags i set off for isloo. got there at around 3 am at night as always. spent all night (and most of the morning) trying to download the presentation on pakistan (emad: 10 MB???) and fixing the lc presentation.

got up saturday afternoon - packed my bags, made a few phone calls (happy birthday saifee!!), worried a lot about my connecting flight from istanbul to bucharest (they expect me to disembark, chk in and board in 50 minutes!!!) and left home at around 1 am saturday night (or sunday morning)...

next thing i know - i'm on the plane - settling in, trying to make out what the irish (or was she scottish) stewardess is trying to tell me about the baggage (amma/baba - they let me take the bag on board - yay!!) and deciding which movie to watch. a very weird dinner...(was that a kebab?!?) followed by an even more boring chick flick pretty much summed up the flight. got off in dubai around 7 am and got prepared to be amazed. after all - i had been led to believe it had one of the best duty free shops in the world!

however. since i still had to confirm that weird connecting flight from istanbul to bucharest - i headed off straight towards information and decided to look around afterwards. was told to go to gate number 40, ended up walking through to the end of the airport only to be a told by a distinctly rude airport employee that i was at the wrong counter and had to go to gate number 1!! walked back the entire length of the - by now - hateful airport (atleast you don't have to walk miles in isloo airport) i found out that once again i had been handed out wrong info. decided would not take any crap from anyone and headed towards information again! was told to go upstairs to customer services to confirm flight (why didnt someone tell me pehlay?) got there, had to walk around a bit to find the right counter but was finally told by a really sweet desi uncle in a nice office k i could call the tarom (the romanian airlines) office after 9.

desperately needed to sit down and rest so i went back downstairs and got a coffee (haven't slept properly in 2 nights come to think of it!) and realised i hadn't gotten enough dv tape for the camcorder. oh - and come to think of it - still had some exploring to do in the duty free shops. so i went downstairs and started to look around. stopped after 10 minutes having bought only a pack of dv tapes (they're cheaper here then in pk - yay!) and decided chking email was a much more interesting idea. and here i am! 10 hours into my journey - yet still in dubai!!

am going to go now - make the call to tarom, confirm flight, call up hassan bhai, maybe eat the free meal emirates is giving me - yay!! - and read my book. flight leaves here at 2:30 so still have a good 5 hours to go.

next stop - turkey, then i have to attempt to catch the flight to bucharest (keep your fingers crossed everyone) and will be at my final destination - IPM baby!! - by sometime tonight, inshallah! next update - as soon as i can chk my mail...!!

IPM Romania

heyyyyyyyyyyyyyy - guess where i am??

as u've probably guessed - i got to romania fine. caught the instanbul-bucharest connection easily and have jst arrived. am settling into the hotel - everyone here is sooo great. president elections going on right now so havent met tori ppl but have met the other indian delegates and the cc for the conference and they're jst awesome. have been assigned a room with tori right now. jst thought i'd update everyone...

btw - its not that cold here. the hotel is boiling hot!! and outside its as cold as isloo is...

here's something i found extremely hilarious when i joined lums...don't try any of them though - your roommate will throw you out :P