Lotsa Stuff...

(If you are too lazy to read this post, either scroll through subheadings, or just check out the pictures - which will be up by November 9th at 9p.m. Canadian Atlantic Time - at this link: Pictures There are other pics there as well, so have fun)

I understand the lack of posts on my blog will seem to suggest that nothing much has been really happening in my life...only a few of the rare non-human natured out there will actually think positively: "He's probably so busy having a good time that he just doesn't get the opportunity to write!" Sorry, I'm sorry to disappoint...all you HUMAN-natured misery-loving negative-thinkers...that former thought was just right! (With a flourish, "Yes! I DO have a life...I think!")

For all those lazy readers, I shall use my typical "subheadings" to breakdown the past week...

LAST WEEKEND...Saturday: REAL Food!

Like a mentioned in my last post, I went down to Mehwish's for Iftaar (breaking our fast) at sundown...to eat some real food for once! The plan was that we (me, Hazlin and Georgina) arrive at her place early, and help her cook. We did arrive early, but it turned out she'd already gone ahead and cooked everything on her own (I'm not saying we complained, just narrating the details!). The menu was awesome: for starters: Pakoras (variety of diced-up vegetables like potatoes, cauliflowers, onions, etc. deep-fried with a covering of something we call 'bason'...GOOD eating), main dishes: plain pulao (special rice we cook in Asia) and chicken curry cooked with chickpeas, dessert: dahi varaa (dish made of fluffy bread-type "things" floating in spiced yoghurt). I swear, it was soo good...I stuffed myself with like four helpings! And it made me pretty homesick too...because that's the stuff we have back home! Anyway, once everything was all set, we took out the dishes to Mehwish's large and comfy room, sat around on the floor in front of her medium-sized "sofa table" (table kept in front of a sofa!)...and pigged out! Ohh....it was SOOO gooodddd...thanks again Mehwish...(corny line coming up)...(Meh)Wish, you made our wishes come true!

STILL Saturday: Crazy, MadCap, Out-of-the-Sanitarium Halloween Party!

My Saturday didn't just end there...I had been called for a shift that night at the Student Union Building. Though it wasn't Halloween Night, the Social Club was hosting its Halloween Party. At the same time, there was a concert happening - three bands playing too! Like they would narrate in the old Hollywood "private eye" movies, with a macho husk..."I knew I was in for a tough night..."

And so it was...though tough nights generally mean that there's lots of "entertaining" things happening! (Seeing how 'security' is SUPPOSED to deal with 'things out of the ordinary'!) Let me tell you...if Halloween night is about putting on scary costumes...some really shrewd man with sharp horns on his head whispered to the women here, "Wearing practically nothing is VERY scary!!" To put it frankly (and I'm being bold here - my mother reads this blog on a regular basis!), I would say, that the amount of "legs" I saw that night, if joined together, would take me down to Boston (which is straight south of here)!! I will not deny being a "hot-blooded" male...but I do like tastefulness...so, in a way, so many half-naked women are scary things! What complicated matters some more is the fact that it was potentially Laylatul Qadr that night (the Arabic word for "Night of Power" - the holiest night of the holy month)...so it was almost like God was "testing" me on a night when I am supposed to be devoting myself to Him and purity!

Don't get me wrong - there were other costumes...I saw the Mario brothers, Trinity and Neo from the Matrix, couple of life-sized chickens, Inspector Gadget, Batman, Superman, Snow White, fairies of all colors sizes and shapes (!), medieval women, "bad" cops (the female kind! ;)), firemen, doctors, granny (this was a good one - it was so convincing that I first burst out laughing at the fact that grandma's come to "get jiggy with it"!), nurses, Christina Aguileras (you all know which one of her costumes!), Playboy bunnies (those are always there), blood-splattered Red Riding Hood (this was truly disturbing and spooky), and even a Penis!! However, my personal favourite was this girl in a leopard costume - not too much skin, just enough to taunt, and very elegantly pulled off.

MIDWEEK...

Thursday November 3rd: EID! POSTER SALE!
After a whole month of starving from sunup to sundown, the day finally dawned when I would eat my first lunch in a whole month! At first, I wasn't too sure if I would be able to make it to the early morning prayers (for those of you uninformed, the Eid prayers are said to be the one of the most significant non-mandatory prayers), but my friend Hazlin came to my rescue...she was going to take the bus down to Mehwish's and we'd all go to the mosque together.

Like all the times in the past, I couldn't get to sleep all night (literally - didn't close my eyes longer than 5 mins.!), and just started getting ready. Didn't wear my most "gaudy" clothes - I didn't want to "outdo" the other guys! - just put on my favourite cotton Panjabi (with a t-shirt and sweater on underneath!) and jeans. Got down to Mehwish's place (took some nice 'dawn pictures' on our way there), got a cab, and headed down to pray. Prayers, followed by a short sermon (not so short for a guy who's not slept all night of course!), and snacks. It was wonderful finally eating some fried, home-style junk food made of vegetables rather than greasy burgers and fried chicken! (No offense Canada!) After a short wait in supremely cold weather, I got a drop off at the Student Union Building, where the Imaginus Poster Sale was going on...

...and they robbed me. Believe it or not people, I bought 5 posters in one go...followed by two more later on that day because I "needed" them to "complete" my walls! Just in case you want to know how much poorer that made me: $80! But no regrets...I earned that money staying up late nights, and

I LOVE my posters!!

IMMEDIATE PAST WEEKEND...

Friday November 4th: Work @ SUB

Friday night, 8:00 p.m., I show up at the Student Union Building, with my black, oversized "SUB Staff" t-shirt tucked into gray slacks. Go into the SUB office, where my supervisor for the night (Hasnain - not sure about the spelling - funny, cynical, potentially-perverted (!) yet brotherly Pakistani friend, who just so happens to be one of my bosses there!) tells me with a sadistic as well as wild look in his face that three of us alone have to reset one room (all the couches and chairs were either one floor up, or one floor down...around 14 three-seaters, 40 single seaters, couple of chairs and probably 6 center tables!), set up another area, and there's a Joy Kidd (one of the residences on campus) toga party in the Ballroom. I groan as I secure my radio into my belt and grab my keys - I was one of the people who dragged out the couches and everything from the Blue Room, and I was the fortunate one to once again put them back!

However, the night went without incident (no broken backs, no drunken injuries, no broken windows)...except for two things...one, we ordered in a 15" pizza (moving furniture gets a guy hungry!)...and two...well, I have to censor the incident...so I'll let your imaginations run wild with two keywords: TOGA, LOOSE. ;)

Saturday November 5th: The List's Way too LOOONGG!!

This day was nuts...I was out the WHOLE day, right after I woke up...this post's getting way too long right now, so I'm going to be concise though...

1. Bangladesh Cultural Society Eid Get Together
By the way people - I am now the Vice President Administration of the Bangladesh Cultural Society, BCS (it's just a euphemism for "Secretary"!!). We arranged a get-together for all Bangladeshis on and off campus up at the Student Union Building (yes - in the very same room into which I dragged in and dragged out all those darned couches!). The executives of the BCS and their friends cooked up some great food - three types of pulao, chicken curry, beef curry, salad, and to top it off, rice pudding (Subcontinental style!). Talk, food, laughs, pictures, and two party games later, we headed down to the Engineering building to watch a few episodes of a highly entertaining humorous soap. At 6:50p.m., I headed towards my room...

2. The REAL Inspector Hound
...and by 7:30p.m., I was out again. Ten minutes later, I was buying tickets to a student drama production called "The Real Inspector Hound" along with my friend Asoka (nickname: Thush). It was SOO good...the acting and stage was great...but the plot was what made it unbelievably entertaining and original. It's a "whoddunnit" comedy...but it's not even your usual whodunnit. It's about two critics watching this play which is a whodunnit...but some very bizzarre things happen. There's so many random things thrown out throughout the play, it gets real confusing, and without a good cast, you're bound to get lost and bothered...but nearing the end, everything gels together somehow, and you sit back thinking, "Whoa...what just happened? I mean, I know what happened...but did it really?"

3. House Social
I return from that wonderful play...to join in the Bridges House Western Social! I sign Asoka in, and then we're off! I make it sound like a great adventure, but all we did was tour the house, spoke to everybody, enjoy their drunken antics while taking pictures all the time! We checked out the lower lounge, where the Barn Dance was supposed to take place, but the party hadn't quite "warmed up" in there yet. But soon patience paid off, and a decent crowd was on the dance floor. Thush refused to dance, because he says he needs to be pretty drunk to dance to country!! Nevertheless, I got my groove on every now and then - all the while still clicking away random pictures in that chaotic mass of sweaty, drunken bodies! The "Best Cowboy/Best Cowgirl" contest followed - I actually made it past the first round! But I lost when it was time to lasso the plastic cow! Anyway - Georgio (aka, Nick) became our House Cowboy...forget who the Cowgirl was though.

4. Social Club
Dave, Melissa, Sara, Georgio, me and Asoka all headed down to the Social Club once we decided the House Social was pretty dull overall...Melissa and Sarah were already pretty smashed by the time, so I was a bit apprehensive about how the night would turn out! With a promise to Melissa thtat we will eat pizza and chicken wings once we're back, we made our way upto the Student Union Building (where the Social Club is). It was full when we got there! We all waited in a line for quite a while before being let in...after which it was dancing all the way till 1:45a.m.!! But even a fully packed club dancefloor wasn't enough to stop my camera...I have a lot of shots of our night up there!!

...the After Party...
The night didn't even end at the Social Club!! As promised, we ordered in pizza and wings (Melissa was so drunk and footsore she couldn't make it upstairs first...I brought her pajamas down to change in my room!)...and boy, was it goooodddd!! We were literally worshipping the food...don't believe me? I got pictures to prove it!!

Jeez...this IS a long post, isn't it? I intend to put in some more pics on it to make it cooler...however, you will be happy to know, that I'm ending it here for now...have fun people...I'll give you time with this post...it'll be a while till I have another one coming in!!

End of Yet Another Busy Week...

This week was HECTIC. Two BIG assignments, one lab, and three midterms in three consecutive days!! The assignments were alright, and the lab went smoothly...but the midterms were a bit rough.

First midterm was on Circuits. I prepared extremely well for this one - this guy was reputed to give hard midterms - but even then he beat me! There was this confoundingly confusing question that bogged me down...and though I still wrote some gibberish, I'm pretty sure I lost 20 points right there!

Second midterm: Java Programming. I expected this to be the hardest, because I've heard from senior students that her exams are intense. But no, this was a piece of cake - 1 hr. 20 mins. for the midterm, and I'm done in half an hour!

Third midterm: Simulation and Engineering Analysis. This one was supposed to be the easiest, but once again there was an upset! Most questions I could do, but out of the blue jumped out these two completely unknown definitions which I had to wing...and basically, I don't think I did too great on this one either.

But on the whole, today was a pretty good day. I caught an hour nap immediately after class (missed my afternoon class!). After that, I got up and cleaned up my room thoroughly...the only thing left to fix up are my papers (all stuffed in my drawer!). Having spruced up the room, I got down to "sprucing myself" up - long hot shower, clipped nails, lots of deodorant, decent clothes, and to top it off, strong cologne. I was all ready for our pit-and-first trip to Boston Pizza!! At Boston Pizza, I had a sirloin steak to break my fast, but unfortunately that was pretty small in size to fill a full-day starved young man!! So I split Dave's (not my roommate - another Dave) chicken wings...mmm...those were even better than my steak! But my day didn't end at Boston Pizza - after that, I walked down to Mall, where I caught a movie with Hazlyn (Malaysian friend of mine over here). We watched "The Legend of Zorro" - which I found wasn't as bad as the reviews made it out to be. I agree that the drama/action theme was mixed with a bit of 'family-sitcom'ness, but on the whole, it's entertaining.

Tomorrow should be yet another interesting day...afternoon, french class...and after that, we all go to Mehwish's place to break our fasts (Mehwish - Pakistani friend over here). At 8 tomorrow night, I work at the Student Union Building - and it's the Social Club's big Halloween Party, so that should be fun! (*sarcasm!!*)

Anyway...that's yet another boring update to my currently boring blog...I promise you people to put in some interesting reading in soon!!! Till later!

"Irregular"/"Chaotic"...

You get on top of your "snowboard"...it's just your second time...take a deep breath, and push off with your left foot. The descent begins smoothly, so a little smile creeps up on you. As you speed up down the white slope, everything blurs...soon the exhliration is so overwhelming, you let your focus on the board slip. And that's when things begin to go..."irregular"/"chaotic". There's a bump on the left...you veer off a bit to the right...you've lost your flow...you can't get it under the control anymore...no longer do you go downhill in a smooth path...it's all sharp and zig zagged...your nervous and jittery...teeth clenched, you make it through the bumps and finally land in a sprawl at the bottom of the hill. You look up at the bright, bright clear blue sky...the sun looks like so very bright...your cold and wet and shaky...yet you grin like an idiot...it was fun.

I started off that way just so that most of my readers think I just went snowboarding or something...but it's not snowing here...yet! That was just a metaphor what life is like for me right now...irregular, rough...yet that's half the fun of everything at the moment. My bioclock's messed up, I do work at the most random times, I have no clue when I eat (but I do eat), I sleep when I should be awake, I am awake when I should be asleep, I'm bold when I'm usually not...I'll elaborate now...so read on if you're interested...

Word of the Week: NOCTURNAL
I ran "nocturnal" through google...one of the definitions was: "active during the night", and another was "Sleeps during the day, and wakes and moves about at night". Currently, I'm most definitely nocturnal...but the first definition applies, while the second doesn't quite. For the past week, I've slept at 3 a.m. in the morning for the first half of the week, and then at 5 a.m. for the second half. What did I do into the wee hours of the night? First half it's been either assignments or working up at the Student Union Building. Second half, it's been programming away...I'm finally convinced that Computer Engineering IS my thing...or else which sad, sad sould labours right upto dawn working on making a calculator and a memory game? Anyway, the second definition doesn't apply because I've not quite been sleeping during the day time. It's usually either some lab till 5 in the evening, tutoring somebody, or hanging out with friends, right up until night time. Good times, good times...


Interesting and/or Significant Events of the Week:

1. Melissa's Birthday - Happy Birthday again Melissa! 21st October, 2005, Melissa officially turned 19, thus a complete adult (i.e., she can drink legally now!). We surprised her in her room in the evening, all nicely decorated by Lauren (one of her best friends and roommate) and others. We had AWESOME chocolate cake and a kiddie-sized pink cone party hats. After blowing the candles (and frantically brushing away the smoke before the smoke alarms went off!), Melissa received her birthday gift (bought by a lot of us as a group): A fish tank! For now, it doesn't have fish...but we have to wait for the water to run for a while before we get them for her. After that, we went down to Boston Pizza for dinner...and I ate a FULL 13-inch pizza by myself, followed by some pasta (or something of the sort!) that Sarah couldn't finish. Then we came back down to Bridges (our residence) and sat around in Melissa's room for a while...people came by wishing Melissa and everyone had a pretty good time, even if things were a bit mellow (everybody was recovering from Midterm Week - except me...mine start next week). But my sleep debt soon kicked in...Sarah, Dave and I came down at like 11:30 (we carried Sarah down!)...I was in bed by 12...but I think because my bioclock's messed up, I couldn't sleep till 4!

2. Sarah's Adventures in the Hospital: What dampened the week was Sarah's hospitalization...midweek, she suddenly has trouble moving her legs. It's not that she can't feel them, she has to consciously THINK to make them move. They (being Lauren, Melissa and Dave - sorry, Sarah...my schedule was just too friggin' busy to make it!) took her to the hospital, where she stayed overnight for two (or was it three?) days...her mother even drove up for a day. She came back on Friday, for Melissa' birthday, but she's going back tomorrow (Sunday) to get her MRI...and then they'll be able to diagnose her. Good luck Sarah! Praying for you...

Does that look like a sick person to you??

3. Got Paid! I got paid! I finally have a decent amount of cash in my bank account...normally, I'd probably go and finish half that money on new books and movies at the cinema...but I'm gonna let it accumulate a bit (plus, I've had so little time to read lately, I have quite a few books "in line" to be read!).

4. Ma's Birthday! Last, (but nowhere near the least!), it was Ma's birthday today (22nd October). Before I left for college in Malaysia in August 2003, I think I've spent every year of my life with her...and most of those years, it's been only her and me. Needless to say, I miss her terribly, and it feels so funny not being there with her on her birthday...but I guess that's just life...things change...even the most "unchangeable" bits about it. Anyway, I wish her another gazillion decades of joy and fulfillment...and thank her for being the best mother I could ever ask for!

That's about it people...the end of another "irregular"/"chaotic" week in "Sabeer's College Days". Till later, keep grinning like a madman...coz honestly, madmen know how darn funny everything is!

In Sickness and In Health...

Monday morning, last day of Thanksgiving Weekend...everyone's finally coming back into Residence...and abiding by one of the many facets of Murphy's Law, I wake up with a fever and slightly sore throat. Fasting that day, so I'm in a bit of dilemma - is the fever mild enough to postpone dealing with until after sunset, or deal with it immediately? Then I decide to deal with both at once - sleep...deal with it after that.

So I slept throughout the afternoon up until around 4:30p.m. Wake up, have a shower - that made me feel much better, so I thought I'd last it out for another two hours before I could break my fast. Bad decision. By sundown, I could feel the lining of stomach aching intensely...it didn't help that my recently-acquired cutlery had such impossibly sticky wrapping that I struggled with it for a full 10 mins. before I had it ready!

There I was...in the mixture of waning daylight and the room's dim yellow light...sitting on the carpet with a plate of a one-and-a-half-day old turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy in front of me. I started ingesting...after about 7 spoons, I couldn't take it anymore...the pain of eating such heavy food after not eating all day WHILE you have fever was just too much. Instead, I had a little muffin and an apple.

Before this however, Dave came back from home, alongwith his mother. I was so embarassed that my side of the room was in such a horrifying mess, I think I apologized like three times within moments of meeting her! Nevertheless, she was sweet enough not to show any sentiments of "What kind of a freak is my son living with?!!" You've got to love mothers for things like that! ;)

Immediately after breaking my fast, I downed 2 Tylenols. It didn't help until later in the night, when I sweated it off in my sleep. Two days later, I visited the doc, not because of my fever (which had gone away by then), but because of worsening pain in my throat. She gave me penicillin for 10 days, just in case it was strepthroat (bacterial infection of the throat). I've had some horrible nights since then...for some sadistic reason, the coughing always gets real bad at night, just before bedtime. I think there was one fit where I coughed for 15 mins. almost without stopping! Not to mention the one where I almost blacked out!

Anyway, I'll stop freaking out my mother (who I'm sure is going to call me shortly after reading this!) by continuing on the horrors of my cough...but you'll be happy to know (I hope you'll be happy!) that it's gotten much better. The pain's gone, and now there's only this irritating itch in my throat that bugs me from time to time.

Guess I'm going to stop around here...I haven't mentioned a lot of the things that went on within the past week (got sick on this last Monday 10th October)...but it's been all good...not too busy, not too boring...got all assignments done in time, went to the mall twice, took pictures (check out my MSN space, if you know my MSN address!), did laundry twice (one was bedsheets), worked one shift at the Student Union Building, etc.

I apologize for this rather uninteresting update...but such trivial tragedies like fevers and colds tend to be pretty uninteresting...it's sad isn't it...if I had something like Typhoid (God Forbid!), I'm sure most of us would be more interested in this post right now! Ah well...that's why we're here and not in Heaven...(any atheists out there - I hope my presumption of God and Heaven doesn't offend)

Thanksgiving Weekend...

Friday, October 7th 2005: It's the end of yet another nerve-wracking, gruelling, "Engineering Student's Week"...and the beginning of the 3-day Thanksgiving Weekend. All people in my residence, including my roommate and good friends (namely: Dave, Sarah, Melissa, Lauren) are packing up to leave for home. I say goodbye to all...and prepare for three lazy days of very little to do. Oh, before that "very little to do" bit starts...I do my 7 hour shift of work till 2a.m. in the morning at the Student Union Building.

Saturday, October 8th 2005: I laze in bed all day watching movies downloaded off the college network, or simply sleeping. I have a convenient excuse for my idleness though - it's raining outside, and the wind here is biting cold when it rains. I saw: Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the Fantastic Four. I write those in descending order of "goodness" - in my opinion, Fantastic Four sucked.

Sunday, October 9th 2005: Repeat of Saturday...except that I did my laundry. And in the evening, I babysitted Shawn's kids while he took Jenny out for a movie. All of them are adorable. The cutest line I heard was from Virginia (the youngest - her picture's somewhere in this blog), referring to the stuffed Turkey I had, she said "You ate that chicken with the gross stuff in it". You gotta love children's honesty, eh?!

Monday, October 10th 2005: That's actually right now, and it's 4:12 a.m at the moment. After getting back from Shawn's, I watched "The 40 Year Old Virgin" - hilarious, and I love the song at the end of that movie! Anyway, after that, I updated my other blog, Sane In An Insane World , and now I'm writing this. I have a very strong hunch that it's time I went to sleep ... so ... umm ... g'night.

In case you didn't notice: I updated the other blog,Sane In An Insane World ...with a piece about Epiphanies.

Work and Play...Play and Work...

Well, college academia finally caught up and your favourite blogger was out of commission for a while! Under pressure of the immense guilt of leaving you people out there so curious about my banal life, I decided to quickly bring everyone upto speed.

The theme for the past few days/weeks has been: Work and Play

WORK:

1. The Student Union Building: I didn't mention it yet in the blog, but I didn't get any of the Work Study positions I applied for, despite getting two interviews. Anyway, I still have my job as security at the Student Union Building (SUB)...currently I'm a "spare", that is, an on-call guy, but I've been lucky enough to get a lot of shifts at once. Since I always say yes whenever someone calls me for a shift, till now they always call me first! Working hours are pretty nocturnal (which suits me just fine) - from 8p.m. till 2:30/3:00 a.m. the next morning. It's perfect right now, considering that I'm going to be fasting for a whole month (Ramadan), and the only time I get to eat IS in that time frame! Oh - guess what I'm doing for Thanksgiving Weekend? Friday and Saturday nights - burning the midnight oil at the SUB!

2. "House Tutor": I've always told people I love teaching...and I really mean it. I don't know what it is - the sense of "power", the ability to help, the attention, the authority or simply a way to feel special - but I simply love it. So, despite being an Engineering major, I teach all the people I can. I can count at least 5 people in my residence who come to me for help on a regular basis (almost everyday!), and Shawn is my constant student.

3. Assignments/Tests: By the fact that I'm mentioning this third and list on my list of Work, you can just imagine how much priority this one gets! Anyhow, at the beginning of the sem, I was slacking off with my assignments, leaving them to the last minute...but the Nerd in me has been Unleashed, and I'm doing my work way ahead of time. But I've noticed that this doesn't seem to work - there always seems to be some work or the other to do later on! It's weird, but true!

PLAY:

1. Ultimate Frisbee: I consider this sport a great compromise between American Football and real Football (I refuse to call it Soccer! At least you play this with your "feet"!). You have to pass around a frisbee between team members across the field, and score by having your teammate catch the frisbee on the other side of their goal line. We played a house game recently, against a kickass team (hence you already know the result!), and boy was it fun! I sucked ass...but I had a couple of golden moments. I intercepted two awesome throws, and blocked a pass by glancing it off my teeth! Good times...

2. Softball: Never saw the game before, never played before. But lotsa fun. It's basically just baseball played with a larger, softer ball and in a smaller playing area. It's rather mellow though - most of the players don't do much...only the pitcher, batsman and the players guarding the bases do something. But it was still a fun time - first time I got upto bat, I struck out. Second time, I hit it twice...first was a foul hit, second was caught!!! But I hit the ball dammit!

3. Dancing: This is not a sport technically, yet its just as physical and skill-oriented. I don't mean to boast, but most people say I'm a decent dancer. In fact, that's probably the only thing I do when I go to a nightclub - considering my zero-alcohol consumption. I went over the last weekend to the Social Club here on campus with a couple of my friends, and "grooved" out on stage. I discovered two things:
a) Most guys don't move their hips. It seems that that's considered the girls' job. I don't care - a friend told me I dance better than some girls! ;)
b) The Horseshoe Crotch. This is my roommate's (Dave Carter) specialty. It's real simple, unique, and...umm...quite "eye-catching"! All you do is spread your legs into a horseshoe shape, and move from the crotch! The upper body moves altogether - that means that the arms, chest and neck don't move independently but all together. Lower body movement - the knees bend and unbend. Even picturing it hilarious! But the thing is, Dave doesn't gives a rat's ass...he's out there having a good time, and that's all that matters (had to say that to console him!)

That's about it...everything else I've been doing is even more banal and insignificant than these! I'll see you all some time later...meanwhile, take care...and remember (corny cliche punchline coming up)...

"All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy!"

Good Luck...

READING TIME: 1-2 mins.

Hello people...this is a very short post...just a bit of an update...but as usual, with most things in my life...there's a definite underlying pattern to it (I should call this blog "Underlying Patterns of My Life"!)...and it's a wonderfully pleasing pattern too...it's all about Good Luck!

1. My OWN Computer: Yes, folks! I finally have my own PC. All this time, whenever I blogged, it was from some lab PC, where I'd be sitting out there with a bunch of people around me, and not quite "comfortable". Well, ok...so sitting in the Science Library with a laptop was pretty comfy...but not as comfy as just lying in my own bed, in any state of dress (or undress! OK people, you don't have to retch at that!), and just typing away for as long as I want to (but I assure you, my posts will not go over 10 mins. reading time!) Must mention: Thank you, my dearest and only brother...for this wonderful gift! (In case you didn't understand that - HE's the one who bought me the PC!)

2. New Job: I got a job at the Student Union Building here. Everyone starts off as a "spare" here - where you get called in when extra assistance or fill-in is needed - but it pays better than last semester's job and it's so much better too. Even better luck was that I was the first spare to get TWO shifts, one day after the other! (Just did my first shift tonight, and have the next one tomorrow) Neat, huh?

3. Job Interview: Remember those work-study applications I kept complaining about? Well, one of them paid off already - I got an interview for this Friday! Isn't that awesome?! You know the icing on the cake? It's for my most preferred job out of the 8 I applied for! WOOHOO! God, and if you don't believe in Him, Coincidence/Luck, is GRREAT!

4. Paid Today: I got paid today! Not for any formal job I have...for tutoring a friend of mine - Shawn (his picture is in one of my posts). Thanks Shawn!

5. I'm Alive! (WARNING: This is going to be very cheesy) People are always so busy for finding out the purpose of their existence, they forget to be grateful for actually EXISTING. There's nothing more exhiliarating than the realization that you're alive...that you exist on this plane of reality...that you ARE...I know you can't imagine otherwise...but it's just SOO cool...

Well...a lot of good stuff coming my way, by the Grace of God (or Coincidence/Luck - make your pick). Hope it lasts, and hope I can make the best of riding this "wave" of good luck!

So people...I wish you as much luck to whatever you're doing in your life right now as well!

Random...

READING TIME: 5-7 mins.

In general, I can always find some underlying pattern in everyday of my life...it's probably because of my obsession with categorizing things neatly. And my rule is: there's always a pattern. Thus, even no pattern is a pattern...a pattern called "Random". Like today:

1. "Boxes": I was taking down notes in my digital systems class today, and I take notes very seriously. I'm not one of those "transcribers" who write down every last word and sigh the prof uses...instead, I use this really neat Cornell system of notes...I'll explain that some time on Geek Scribbles...anyway, back to what I was saying. There was this one arrow I used to point to something, but when I looked at it, it didn't stand out...and being quite the important arrow, I decided to put a box around it. And voila! It stood out.
For no reason at all, I pondered on this. 2D boxes...boundaries...very important to us humans. We always want some specified rules that limit within a "box". We also want definitions - whether it's defining different aspects of our lives, generalizing races of people, categorizing things, or specifying goals. This simple act of "box"-ing is such a significant human trait...I will probably expand further on this train of thought in saneinaninsaneworld.blogspot.com .

2. "No Fear": This is the brand name of an energy drink that's quite popular here in Canada. I owe a lot to this drink today - it's what kept me going on through a very busy day after a horribly late night yesterday (read previous post). But it made me think later...what's "No Fear" got to do with staying awake and refreshed? And then, being the "profound thinker" that I am, I figured it all out. Workaholism - this is the current today in this century (and for the end of the last one). Life is on the fast lane for everybody...everyone's got high ambitions for a "better life"...everyone's competing...everyone's gotta work to compete...thus it's a source of great fear to lose one's energy...because we'll lose the rat race! No Fear..."No Fear" is here!

3. Fire Drill: Out of the blue, towards the end of my digital systems class, we have a fire drill. Obviously, everyone knows it's a drill...because it's human nature to always think "that happens to others, but it would never happen to me"...tsk, tsk...always in denial! So all the students make sure they meticulously grab all their things from the class (because it's the end of the class anyway), and then make their way out. We come out through a back entrance and I see a big bunch of engineering students standing around...and I remember thinking, "What a cool way to get to meet a whole bunch of random people!"

4. Velcro's Nationality and Hashes: I put these two together simply because they occurred to me at the same time, during today's Circuits class. While I was opening my satchel to get out my eraser, I had to open the velcro flap...so I suddenly recalled from some Reader's Digest trivia that velcro is a Swiss invention. Then, while taking notes again, I noticed how using hashes ("#") is much better for bullets than asterisks ("*")...I think it's because of our "box" propety again!

5. Sky Cake: Unlike yesterday, today was a wonderfully sunny autumn day with a very comfortably cool breeze to ease the heat of the sun. As I walked back towards my room, I looked up at the sky...and thought, "It looks like a soothing blue cake...with white icing that looks like it's crumpled up in neat lines, and an unbelieveably bright yellow candle."

6. Hot Chocolate and Apple F-something: These two comprised my "lunch" today...extra large Hot Chocolate and an Apple Fripper or something from Tim Horton's (the Canadian equivalent of Starbucks/Coffee Bean...check "Drunk on Desperation" in my archives). As I mentioned in my last post, the meals on my card have finished, and I also had to finish my paperwork for the work-study...so this was the only way out. The Hot Chocolate was horribly sweet and sickeningly creamy...the Apple F-something was just solidified sugar or something!

7. Work-Study Freedom! Once I finished my work-study paperwork, I ran down to Neville Homestead, where I had to submit it. Like the wonderfully punctual student that we all are, everyone was coming in a line to hand in their paperwork. Having taken nearly half-a-dozen paranoid "glance-overs" on my eight resumes and cover letters, I handed it in...and emerged from that little home a free man. Intoxicated on freedom (plus the sugar burst from the hot chocolate...and not to mention the energy boost I was riding from "No Fear"!), I made a mad short sprint to my residence. Once I entered, it occurred to me...what better way to celebrate such dizzying freedom...then letting it all out...in the bathroom! Yes, people, be grossed out now...but it's true...there's nothing more "freeing" and "purifying"...than a good dump!

8. "To Do"...Done! Once I was light as a feather, I went into my room...and struck off "Type and print resumes" and "Type and print cover letters" on my "To Do" list. I looked carefully at my list...lo and behold! All items were scratched off. I looked through the rest of the "To Do" lists of the week...and ALL of them were all scratched off! Oh the elation! The joy!

9. Drunken Entertainment: It was a Friday night...I had had one hell of a busy week...so it was time to chill! Unfortunately, the generally accepted definition for students of "unwinding" in Canada is "get drunk, then get crazy!" I don't drink...anymore at least. Still, I have discovered that drunk people can be quite entertaining...and showing them card tricks is the best! They'll fall for anything! So yeah, I had a good time taking pictures of, and having inane conversations with, drunk people.


There you go...a completely random day. Fun and eventful, though.

Till later...

A-Day!!

READING TIME: 3-5 mins.

(Challenge: figure out what "A-Day" stands for by the time you get to the end)

Do you hate people who complain about nearly everything? Then don't read this - unless you've had a bad day, in which case you might relate ("Misery likes company").

1. Bad Sleep: I prematurely wake up at 6:30 a.m, despite having my alarm for 8:40a.m and sleeping at 12:40a.m.!! I don't mind 6 hours of sleep, but it was really low-quality sleep, filled with this annoying dream. Bangladesh had been taken over by some slave-driving colonizers...only some of us stayed a bit outside the "colony". Being the "natural hero", I am part of the rebel group trying to infiltrate and free us! Since it was such an adrenalinized dream, it just made it even worse!

2. Where's the Eye Contact Lady?? In my post, "Strange Encounters", I mentioned how I was intimidated by my female Java professor making frequent eye contact with me....if you read between the lines, I also meant that I was really flattered by the attention! But on the start of this annoying day, she doesn't make eye contact with me...worse yet, she's looking more at those two Bangladeshi dudes in the row in front of me! Gimme attention - I'm a deprived soul!!

3. Stop Shaking and Talking Dammit! As it is, I was fuming about the Bangladeshi guys in front of me, when one of them starts that nervous motion of moving your legs up and down rapidly. Since he's right in front of me, that motion's so distracting! On top of that, he has the nerve to attempt finshing the lecturer's sentences! (Note: I know the guy...he's actually really nice...)

4. Polish hottie - Where Art Thou?? Actually, she was sitting exactly two seats next to me...but there was this one big Canadian dude segregating us! He grabbed all her attention!

5. Good Looks Fall Behind! Math class, I decide to sit towards the front, where as I mentioned in "Strange Encounters", the good-looking women sit (at least the women with good-looking hair!). BIG miscalculation though! I look behind me, and lo and behold! I've put the damsels behind me! Will the annoyance never stop!

(not yet anyway!)

6. Frazzled Circuits: I had a quiz in my Circuits class today. Arrive there around 30 mins. before the quiz, and I see a couple of people intensely working on problems. I sit with them and attempt the brain-cruncher they were trying...and crunch as I did, I couldn't figure it out! How annoying??!!!

7. Blah Blah Lab Blah: Our "Lab Coordinator" swoops in right before the quiz is to start, and relates a most soul-rending story about how the lab classes are clashing (please note refined sarcasm here)...and we have to spend 20 mins. filling up lab schedule sheets, instead of starting the quiz! Ann...ok...I've used that word too much...a synonym somebody!!

8. Hunger Strike: After a pretty good quiz, I head out, looking forward to lunch. As I walk towards the meal hall, I suddenly realize that I've finished all the meals for the week! Of all the rotten things to happen...so instead, my lunch is comprised of a chicken sandwich, small chocolate milk, and two-bite brownies. Damn [insert synonym for "annoying"]!!!

9. Annoying Ass! Ass = Short for "Assignment"...after a most unsatisfying meal, I sit in the library for 2 hours to complete a Calculus assignment. I know that's part of college life...but two hours for the first assignment??! Come ON!

10. wet...weT...wET...WET!!! "What's the worst that can happen?" you ask? Considering Fate's sense of "dramatism", It decided to "furnish" my mood further...what's annoyance without the wet pitter patter of irritating spots of drizzling rain?!!!!!

11. Two AWFUL Words: Simple question to the average (thus naturally lazy) being - "What are the two worst words you can come up with?" One of the top choices will be: "Work and Study!" Put the two together, and you get "Work-Study"! Yes, people, the rest of my day has been spent on editing resumes for my work-study applications, due tomorrow. You know what's really annoying? I spent $1.50 (that's 90 Taka) on a medium-sized cup of coffee that I literally chugged down in 7 gulps, in order to stay up till 2:00 a.m. (current time) to complete my work-study resumes...and it's not finished!! (if you're wondering, this entry's been typed over the course of the day, so I didn't waste time on it)


Balance of the Universe...one day's beautiful ("Strange Encounters")...the next day's mundane and uneventful (no post)...the third, ANNOYING (thus this)!

To Make Life Easier...

I realize how very long my entries are, and what a pain that can be for people reading my blog. Yet, my length is inherent in my writing style, so I can't really change it. What I will do however is:

1. Rate "Reading Times" I'll personally read through each post, and estimate a range of how long it might take to read. This way, you the Reader are forewarned!

2. Subheadings I'll break up all my really long posts into clearly marked sections, so you can skim at read what you think is interesting.

Sound good? Hope so. Anyway, just give me time till the upcoming weekend to implement this...then come back and read at ease!

Strange Encounters...

READING TIME: 5-7 mins.

Decided not to leave you hanging for another post, so here it is!

Had some interesting "encounters" today...

1. Intimidating Professor: My Java instructor for this term. Female for one thing. But she's one of those "intense" people. Close-cropped hair nearly as short as mine with large clear eyes - very engaging appearance. What really got to me though is the fact that she made most eye contact with me during the whole lecture. Maybe I was just sitting in the direction where she normally looks at, but I swear, she always made eye contact with me. Normally, I look at a person's mouth and not at their eyes - two reasons: 1. Scary!, 2. Have you noticed you can't look at both eyes at the same time? It's disconcerting...how do you choose which eye to look at?

2. Polish Student: Same class (the first of my day)...made an acquaintance with a female Polish student...very hot...and really good English (for some reason, I thought Polish people would have very heavy accents and clumsy pronunciation). Highlight of my day, you could say! (I rhyme all the time!)

3. Good Food: Yes, I had good food in the small meal hall right next to the Engineering building. This IS a strange encounter - nearly all college students across North America, and probably the world, will agree with me! Beef Stroganoff (nowhere nearly as good as my mother's, but still pretty decent), some Thai-style rice, peas and french fries.

4. Sublime Rhyme: Some of us must have either read about, seen on TV or simply heard about "poetry under a tree". You always get these images of thoughtful people musing under a tree, or reading a book in the peaceful shade of trees and the cozy protection of groves. But in today's "civilized" world, gone is the haven of trees and the time to actually read under them! Yet, that's the silver lining in living in the middle of nowhere like Fredericton - trees are still there (lots of them) standing on beautiful carpeted hills...right on my college campus! After classes, I had nothing better to do, so I decided to grab a book of poetry ("Gitanjali", translated as "Song Offerings" by our nobel prize winning Rabindranath Tagore of Bengal), get a cup of coffee and find myself a tree to read under.
Having found my spot and shade, I opened up my bilingual book of poetry (for those ignorant, Rabindranath Tagore wrote the poetry in Bengali and then translated, himself, into English). And thus my soul was reborn.
Sounds cheesy? The stuff this guy wrote is divine...as I read aloud the beautifully flowing lines, a chill crept up through me...like my undernourished soul was feeding on the warmth. Before this, poetry has always stupefied me. The poetry I usually read was either too esoteric to understand or too simplistic to bother with. But Tagore writes poetry like spreading butter on soft bread...flows smoothly across, and quickly absorbed. I finally understand what separates poetry from prose...prose is expression...poetry is pure emotion. One speaks to the mind, the other to the soul.

5. Symbolic Squirrels: As I was walking away from my tree, my body rejuvenated on poetry, my soul gushing through the pores of my skin, I noticed two squirrels on the grass. One was busy finding and nibbling on acorns. Carefully, I noted the energy of expression in a squirrel's movement. There was so much animation, it was almost like the squirrel was talking aloud to you. It's head and two small paws frantically vibrated as it bit away at the acorn. Once done, it jerked forward, head close down to the ground, till it found something else to nibble. Everytime it moved forward, it's long bushy tail (around the length of its body) rippled gracefully. It was a pure sight of "busy"-ness.
Around three feet away, lower on the hill, was a thoughtful squirrel. Its tail formed a comfortable cushion as the squirrel "sat upright", staring with a sort of faraway look in its eye (I was watching its profile). Absolutely still, with the slightest motion along its fur, due to its breathing. And it was staring at the road below the hill, with some amount of traffic at the time.
It struck me that these two embodied two major "categories" prominent in our time. On the one hand, you have ambition and survival frantically working away, oblivious to the world around. Then there are the ones who step back and ponder about our life on the fast track. Neat, huh?
It was also a bit..."homesickly" looking at the squirrels. I recall my mother telling me about her "Squirru Babu" that used to visit her at my brother's apartment in Chicago when she was there with him last year. Miss her...

6. Sex Sells: It's currently "Sexuality Awareness Week" here at college. One of today's items is this talk by a TV host (called Sue something), talking about and answering lot of "interesting" questions about sex (that's what she does on her show as well). It's happening at our Student Union Building, and on my way back to my room, I went by it. There was a line of people almost wrapping around the building! And there was still an hour left till the thing actually started!
And to emphasize my point, when I sat down to eat at the meal hall, there were these cards on the table advertising some kind of competition where you have to guess the winners of sports events. On one side, there's the picture of this model wearing a soccer jersey in teeny-tiny shorts, with her back turned to the people (and head turned towards them as well). It's absolutely irrelevant...but it's still there.

7. Cerebral Palsy: During dinner, I sat next to Claire, this year's proctor for the Pitt (that means the basement of the building, where my room is). Over the summer, she worked at an institution with children with cerebral palsy in Europe. I asked her more about it, and it was so sad. These children basically don't have control of their motor skills, and can't move their limbs at will. And most of them can't even speak because they have no control over their vocal cords!
For those who want to know more about this terrible disease, check out these links:
http://gait.aidi.udel.edu/res695/homepage/
www.about-cerebral-palsy.org/

Well...on the whole, it's been a wonder-"full" day! Little bit of everything - interesting people, food, literature, philosophy and morality. The ingredients that give education its true flavour.

A Day in the Life Of...

READING TIME: 8-10 mins.(!)

Well, I finally decided to write an entry relevant to the title of this blog...about a day in my life. To be more accurate, a WEEKday in my life IN FREDERICTON. If not the most exciting, I'm sure you will find it sadistically amusing...enjoy yet another wordy account of mine.

Being an engineering major means you average around 5 to 6 courses a semester...unless you want to pull a Van Wilder and stay 5-6 YEARS...WITHOUT failing of course! Given the phenomenal workload, one is usually forced to take one of those accursed 8:30 a.m. classes. Yes, pity me...for three days out of my five weekdays, I must attend an 8:30 class.

The Start...
Thus the morning begins with me shutting the alarm off with one smooth, practiced yet irritated jerk of my hand (expressive arms, eh?). I reluctantly leave the enveloping warmth of my comforter and step into the cold rubber of my flip flops. Such a start is almost symbolic of my days - reluctant and going through the motions. Anyway, my trusty flip flops carry me through my morning bathing and brushing routine. Both rituals which are, most expectedly, ruined in one way or the other. The bathing - the hot water tap has a mind of its own, and slowly turns itself off. (And people, just in case you didn't know, I live in CANADA. If you still don't know what I'm referring to, please go back and complete your Geography homework.) So I stand every morning in the shower, my left hand holding the disobedient hot water tap, while rinsing soap off as best as I can, occasionally doing a very athletic whirl to aid effective cleansing. The brushing - my teeth demand privacy. I stare into the mirror at my hypnotic hand motion that coaxes so much white minty froth out of my mouth, quite enjoying this momentary relapse into blankness. But heavens no, one of my friendly neighbours must pop in...to either provide background music of pee or shower, or to join me in my frothy ritual. Don't see how that's such a horrible thing? Go brush your teeth in a bathroom in Heathrow Airport.

Well...so that paragraph concludes the first 15 minutes of my day. After that, I slowly accelerate. You can almost hear the metaphysical "whoosh" of my mental and physical engines. I grab my little satchel with its meagre contents of a pen, pencil, a single binder and a MAD magazine, slip into my newly-acquired and supremely-comfortable Hush Puppies, and off I am! Funny how I can make the prospect of walking down at 8.30 in the morning so...exciting.

Upside of Canada's cold weather: the downhill 7-minute (yes, I'm a geek with nothing better to do than time his descent to college) walk to my building wakes up a night owl like me.


Classes...
Next stage: enter class approximately 2-5 mins. late (I am SO punctual about being late). Front rows have already been taken up by the eager learners, middle rows occupied by those humbly obliging, and the back rows...my brethren...the half-lidded species of Reluctants. I take my spot in the midst of my sluggish brotherhood and endure the first hours of education. Luckily, I am still too engaged in the process of waking up to bother going to sleep yet.

Hour passes. Engines are almost on optimum hovering speed. To give it that extra morning boost every nocturn needs, I take a detour by the canteen to grab a cup of hot, dark and bitter coffee. Yet another glaring metaphor as I slug through my second class - education and coffee: bitter, yet the only way to get on with life.

Now that "all systems are go", I am ready to interact with the world around. From my vantage point near the back of the classroom, I "soak in" knowledge. Yet, in between those "soaks" lie little holes in time waiting to be filled up. I look straight ahead of me at the backs of the heads of fellow budding engineers. For people out there with very "happening" lives, this may not be much of an interesting practice. But for people like me, living the anti-thesis of THOSE people's lives, finding amusement in the back of people's heads comes easy as pie.

People's Heads...
Hair. My brother once told me that hair made up 70% of a woman's appearance. Combine that with the knowledge of a 19:1 male-to-female ratio in engineering, desperate libido and a flexible imagination, whaddaya get? Gorgeous daydreams, metaphysical harems, salve to solitude. So there I am, picking off 5 hairdos (in my class of 50) that look female. As I keenly gaze at their promising locks, I mentally form pictures of the breathtaking beauty that must obviously accompany such wonderful hair.

Straight, tangled hair, reaching the shoulders and fanning over them...means an oval-faced babe with very "curved" features...the smoothly rounded nosetip, comforting eyes, slight lips with an easy smile, and a wide arc of a chin.

High ponytail, a waterfall of ruffled hair cascading down from a central point in the center of the head...sporty type...high proud forhead, keen eyes, an aquiline noe, thin lips that give out a sly intimidating smile and a broad confident chin.

Waves of curly hair come down to mid-back...wonderfully sweet...heart-shaped face with large curious eyes, adorable dimples of on slightly plump cheeks, and a contrasting sharp chin on an otherwise roundish face.

Silky straight hair, coming down in a rush in a well-defined highway down the back...haughty and bored...medium forhead, thin eyebrows and captivating yet bored eyes, sharp straight nose, small sneaky smile and a perfect point of a chin.

Single long braid reaching down all the way till her lower back...subtle beauty...overall plain features, but with passionate eyes that sheds a whole different light on her face for those looking carefully.

And class time's over...sometimes, when the image of the girl is really strong in my mind, I wait to see at least a profile and see how accurate I was. I am proud to claim that I have been quite right on most accounts...though the reader must note that I have just given a sampling of what goes through my mind...even similar hairstyles produce different images, depending greatly on my intuition.

To Do:
There's generally one more class immediately after the second (i.e., I have three classes in a row on most days). This can be labelled as my "To Do" class. There's a bit of background here to explain, so be patient and keep reading. You know how most of us have not been able to overcome procrastination, and how we can never seem to remember to do everything we're supposed to? And when you work out a schedule, you can simply NEVER follow it beyond the first few hours? If you answered yes to both questions, I have a solution to offer. "To Do". Grab a handy one inch think, pocket-sized spiral notebook and keep a pencil or pen in your pockets at all times (my proud geeks-in-the-making!). Some time during the day, when you have sufficient amount of your attention to devote, like in the middle of class, you start jotting down the important things you need to get done that day. I map it out in my head. What I mean is, all the tasks are put into order such that every task is simply a geographical "stop" along my route to my final destination (generally my room). As you walk and complete your tasks, cross them out of your list. At the end of the day, look at your scratched of list with pathetic pride...and if you're a freak like me, collect your To Do notes for future self-esteem boosts.

Lunch:
After my "To Do" class it's normally lunchtime...usually with one or two friends (yes, I have friends...believe it...people landed on the moon...and I have friends). This phase in my college day is highly ironic and contradictory. Back home, I am a moderate eater, unless there's unbelievably good food. Here, where I assure you the horror stories of canteen food are understated, I eat ravenously. I pack away three times as much as I eat at home, thus meaning five times more than those "feeble-stomached" Canadians. My tastebuds belatedly inform me that the food tasted highly mediocre. It still baffles me...perhaps it is "denial overload"...in an attempt to deny the fact that I'm not eating home cooked food, my mind overcompensates and I eat like a starved man from Bangladesh.

Damn...I AM from Bangladesh.

Final Class and Onwards...
Anyway, moving on with my day. (I rhyme in good time, with a kind mind, give out a fine line) Fourth and usually final class...in the middle of the afternoon. Peak siesta time. Though I am not an afternoon-siesta guy, waking up early in the morning puts me in the mood for one. So the afternoon class is the one where I nod off all the time...only the presence of my studious pal keeps me up!

After the final class, I'm off on my "To Do Trip"...rapidly walking with proud purpose throughout campus, dropping off documents, picking up books, meeting people, etc. Finally, I end up back in my room...just in time for a highly satisfying trip to the washroom...so that I am prepared to ingest phenomenal quantities of food at "dinner". (Double quotes because these guys eat "dinner" at 5 or 6 in the evening!)

Following that, it's usually my reading time. I am a compulsive reader: right now I have three books "in line" waiting to be read. I shall not elaborate here on my "Art of Reading" - that I shall reserve as a topic for my as-yet unused blog, geekscribbles.blogspot.com

Dreamy Mood...
After that, I'm in a "dreamy" mood. This is the time when your brainwaves kind of slow down and you enter this highly relaxed yet creative mode. It's like the whole essence of your being relaxes...and that's the only way the "pores of creative energy" open up...ideas well up and float in a mind drunk on synthesis (creativity). This is the time I might choose to blog, go out for a soulful walk through green and clean Fredericton, daydream...and one of my newest options: come down to the closeby empty Science Library, borrow a laptop, sit down on of the high-backed cushioned chairs with foot stools, pop in a music CD, and get wild in the cyberworld. (Guess where I'm writing this from?)

Of course, there're times when this euphoric "alpha phase" (as is the scientific term - I promise!) is interrupted by assignments, tests and education in general. And just in case you were thinking I'm a total misanthrope, I do socialize...but I will admit that's an "area under construction"! Hey...gimme a break...a guy's got the right to be a loner!

And it finally ends!
Yeah...so there you have it...one of my longest entries yet, filled with insignificant information regarding my daily schedule. I know it's long, I know it has difficult words here and there, I know it can get boring...but you know what? It may SEEM like a writer writes for his stuff to be read, it's usually because a writer simply needs to express...if people "listen", it's an added bonus.

Take care, my precious gem-sized Readership...and be back for more (next week probably). By the way...if you like the stuff I write, feel free to leave a comment...if you totally hate what I write, leave a comment...if you just wanna leave a comment, LEAVE A COMMENT! (And don't foget to read my other stuff in the other blogs - check the right hand side panel)

Ciao!

Update...

This is to let you know that one of my blogs has had a new entry... saneinaninsaneworld.blogspot.com

I promise an update on this blog tomorrow...

All Apologies!!

To all the people who bother visiting this blog (which to my fortune or misfortune, I'm sure there are very few), I'd like to apologize for the long period of "textual silence". Blame it on Third World Internet - connectivity and speed is much too cumbersome to blog in peace. But I promise you regular updates (probably an avalanche of updates on saneinaninsaneworld.blogspot.com - I'm in a excessively "insane" spot of the world at the moment!) starting from 9th September 2005.

Pics of our trip to Miramichi!

Here are some pictures of the wonderful friends we were with at Miramichi...I took a whole lot more pictures, but I'm not going to put them up all here...I think I'll upload them into an online album and then I'll post a link here.

Anyway - have fun checking these out!


Shawn and Virginia


Jenny (Shawn's wife) and Virginia...


[Left to Right] Shannon, Taylor, Denver (I apologize for the blurriness...the van was shaking a bit)


Me and Taylor


The adorable Virginia...feigning innocence!


Virginia: revealing her true nature in that naughty smile!

Movie Marathon

What have I been doing the past two nights? I've been watching movies...that too at a rate of 2 movies a night! I can't help it - movies are simply fascinating. I hate to admit that Hollywood (and Bollywood) has caught me in their curse of commercial slavery...yet, I must admit to being one of those sad people with nothing to do in their lives with great potential of becoming a victim of that curse!!

Nevertheless, I love movies. Perhaps it's the thought of actually getting out of our boring reality into a world where the impossible happens, where anything is possible and where there's usually a happy, or at least meaningful, ending. Or perhaps it's just something as simple as being distracted from focusing on our current reality. And maybe it's just the ideas portrayed that you agree with, in an illusion where someone actually ACTS on those ideas and principles. Ultimately, all commercial ventures aim at this weak point of all humans...our dire need for escapism. We need to get away from our reality, because we don't like it, and we aren't willing to do anything about it. So, the businessmen figure, let's give them an illusion of getting out of that reality...and they'll be back for more! Thus, there was Capitalism.

But I'm not here to give you a long-winded essay on movies. I'm here to give you the gist of all that I saw the past 2 nights. 2 nights, 2 movies/night, therefore, 4 movies (oh now I remember - there was one more!):

Movie 1: "Cursed" - Christina Ricci. We all knew it was a dumb movie even before we got into the cinema hall, but we just wanted to watch a cinema. How dumb is it? It's just a werewolf flick - brother and sister get bitten by werewolf, start getting enhanced abilities and funny signs on hands...then soon the main werewolf comes back and messes about on Hollywood Boulevard, obviously forcing our characters into action...and I don't think I even need to give away the ending. The only "surprise" is possibly about WHO the original werewolf is, and if the brother and sister remain forever as the Beast of the Damned or not.

Movie 2: "School of Rock" - Jack Black. Saw the movie before, but my friend hadn't seen it, so for her sake, we popped the DVD. Very good family movie, with a lot of talented kids playing music, and how a loser "ex-rocker" makes them into a cool band called "School of Rock". Good music, good humour and in general a movie that leaves you feeling good.

Movie 3: "Snatch" - Brad Pitt, Benecio Del Toro, Jason Statham. This movie's simply brilliant. The plot is very typically "British" - with all the twists, turns, coinicidences and comic humour that comes with a Brit novel. With Jason Statham's "bored" narration, contrasted with quite a bit of lively action and hilarious incidents, this makes for a wonderfully good movie to watch. Beware though - you must listen carefully to really understand what's happening...more so because of all the different accents put into the movie. This is a classic - something for the collection.

Movie 4: "Hostage" - Bruce Willis. This is Die Hard with a plot. Despite the repetitive nature of all "Die Hard"s and the lack of a truly "meaty" plot, I loved all the action and thrill in those. But this movie is based on a bestselling novel - that means it's a well-developed plot, with all the intricate intrigues to keep you at the edge of your seat and waiting for what happens next. I thought the movie started kind of slow, and left the viewer waiting a long time for the real action to actually begin, but once they got into the "meat", it was a wonderful feast! I recommend this movie to anyone looking for a truly entertaining "action thriller".

Movie 5: "IT" - Annette O'Toole (she's the only one I could recognize amongst the cast). This is based on a Stephen King, and is considered a classic in Horror. If you are 14 or younger when you watch this movie, it will definitely terrify you and give you the creeps...for the older audience, it'll still manage to give you goosebumps or at least get your heart racing.

There you have it - my "reviews" on all the movies I saw the past two days. If you are disappointed by the lack of "plot synopses", go visit movies.yahoo.com and search for each title to see a summary plot of each.

March Break has come to an end (this post has been edited over a stretch of three days, thus explaining how it could already be Monday though the post says it's Saturday)...classes resumed, assignments back to haunt, and manual labour to enslave. The independence demanded by University Life is probably both the drawback and the excitement in uni...I'm learning from it, though I will always complain!

B'bye people...oh, just to remind you - you can all use the TAG BOARD I have put up...just type in any thoughts, jokes, links, or pretty much anything you would like to share with me or the other readers. Take care and see you all next time!

An Update: Long Overdue!

Hello my Readership! I'm quite surprised really - I seem to have a pretty decent amount of readers of this blog! But I guess that's because I bug them to actually come and check it out!

Anyway, I guess I owe it to them to actually put up an update. Nothing much has really happened since the last time - my FIRST midterms are over, the second ones are coming up...my March Break is going on right now...and...well...the only significant incident that has happened since then is my trip down to Miramichi (this small town in New Brunswick that's around 2 hours from Fredericton - the place I am in) with a 30-year-old guy in my class. He's got 4 lovely kids (3 daughters, 1 son) and a lovely wife. I had a ball of a time due to my absolute adoration for children - and his are extra adorable! We went sleighing, played some poker (for fun - no money, so please don't get all self-righteous on me now!), watched a few movies, went shopping, and my roommate bought his desktop (that's what I'm using right now). I will put up pictures of Shawn's kids (the guy we went with) as soon as I win the battle over my eternally present laziness!

Gotta go now...this IS my roommate's desktop after all! ;)

Constantine: Ambiguous, Conspiratory

Finally I get a chance to put up a post!! Before I go into my rant about Constantine, here's a quick update into the "Days of my Life". Someone recently asked me, "What's up?"...and my lame-trying-to-be-funny answer to that was "Midterms, midterms...and...oh yeah, midterms!" Have you ever felt "being in the flow"? It's when you do something so much, so intently, that suddenly that "thing" you're doing comes so easily and moves very swiftly. That pretty much sums up how I've been going at it for studying lately - in the flow. Classes in the morning, lunch after classes, and studying after lunch. At night, just to make sure I can stay awake, I actually drank energy drinks!! (they work by the way!)

But anyhow, I got through that - today finished the 2nd last of my gruelling midterms (the next one's quite far away)!! So we ("we" meaning my roommate and me) decided to go celebrate by watching a movie at the theater in the mall...and we picked: "Constantine".

Quick background: Based on a comic book by DC Comics about a character who has the ability to see "half-breeds" (not complete demons or complete angels - just halfway between either one)...and is set out to send them back to Hell. The whole irony of the situation is that he's bound to go to hell because he committed the one sin that sends you straight to hell (according to Catholics anyway) - suicide. Now, his life's mission is to "buy his way back" to Heaven!

Synopsis: In the movie, Constantine (obviously the character's name) is played by Keanu Reeves, and the hottie starring next to him is Rachel Weisz (babe from the Mummy and the Mummy Returns). They are both connected through the suicide of Rachel Weisz's twin, Isabel. Apparently, the death of her twin is some ploy of Memon (alleged Son of the Devil) to come onto the Earth and rule, because he's too impatient for his father. The catch is, demons and angels aren't allowed to come directly onto this plane (thus, the half-breeds)...but there's some loophole Memon can use (something about the use of Divine Intervention).

The Ambiguity: Why Rachel and her twin? It was very weird...the movie brushed through the explanations of all the mysteries so quickly, it seemed the director or scriptwriter hardly knew himself/herself what they were trying to show.

The Conspiracy: If I tell you this, you're gonna curse me for ruining the twist in the movie!!! Let's just say that it doesn't really make Heaven and Hell look as grand as it is made out to be.

Overall, I guess it's a decent movie. To be honest though, very little action actually happens...but it's still engrossing because there's a lot to think about. But it's a movie you'll probably have to watch twice to really get.

That's pretty much all I have for this post...keep checking in to see what else happens in the Days of my Life!

Snow-vasion!!!

Yeah - the snow invaded us last night...moderate blizzard that started in the afternoon at around 1:00, with almost 10 inches of snow by nightfall. For all those of you out there who have not seen snow in real life, here are some pictures of the "post-blizzard" scene around on the campus of UNB Fredericton.

(NOTE: To look at pictures in full size, just click on the picture)

Yesterday was yet another one of those extremely busy days. Morning: woke up around 8:30. 9:15, my friend Anu arrives, and coincidentally, I get a call from Fahd as well - who shows up at my door in his car. So he gives us a lift down to Head Hall. After eating some "breakfast" at the cafeteria there, and chatting online to some people in the lab, we head for our JAVA I class. Following that is my Discrete Structures (Logic and Mathematical Proofs) midterm exam...that went pretty well, and then I show up at the Library to teach my "Electricity and Magnetism" student at 1:30. Taught him for 2 hours, after which he took me to a KFC outlet uptown and treated me to supper (see? I'm not "nice for free"!!!). After he drops me back home, I have to head down to Bailey Hall and Tilley Hall to make announcements about the Student Union Elections coming up. Unfortunately, one of the classes had a midterm at the time, so I don't think they really paid any attention to my announcement!!!

Immediately after Tilley Hall, I headed up to the Student Union Building to do my Electricity and Magnetism assignment with Anu and Siddharth. Once we got through that, I had the shocking discovery that the restaurants downstairs had all closed, except for Tim Horton's (a coffee shop - Canada's Starbucks). So my dinner turned out to be an XLarge Mocha with a dozen double chocolate chip cookies (I shared them, don't worry!).

There was yet an adventure in store before I could retire to Bridges House. Being the absolute gentleman that I am (wipe of those skeptical looks!!!), I walked home Anu and Georgina (who was there with as at the Student Union Building as well btw). Georgina managed to fall in the snow on our way there, but luckily there was no serious injury. After dropping them off, I remembered that I had my camera with me, and that's when I took all the photos that follow after this post.

But the night had just started. I got a break for about an hour (from 9 to 10), to watch the OC on TV (this "post-adolescent" soap opera that stands for "Orange Country"...it's more like "Obsessive Compulsive" with the way these guys here are addicted to it!)...and then I had to help a bunch of guys with their MATLAB (a programming language) assignment. After two long and arduous hours of banging away at the keyboard, we managed to get a program that actually worked.

Do you think I went to bed after that? Well, you think wrong! I still had my statistics assignment to do, and that took me into the wee hours of the night until 2:30 a.m.!!

And guess when I got up this morning? 8:00a.m.!! Only to find out campus was closed due to snow!

Anyway...that's my "monotone" update of what's been happening...I realize that unfortunately when I narrate events instead of talk about ideas, I come off sounding extremely monotonous and boring...so I apologize if I managed to put anyone to sleep by this!

Take care everyone...have a nice day!

PICTURES:


Following the tumultuous (look that up!) adventure in the snow, our brave travellers reach their destination!

...this is a look at what they passed:


Can you guess what car?


Still more trees...


View down the road...


Dressed in white...


Snow...in all its White Glory!!

Mnemonic of the Week: SAD

Let me just define "mnemonic" before you start complaining - it's like a shortened, supposedly "fun" form of remembering or representing something longer. This week's mnemonic is:

SAD - Studying All Day

For me, this is so true. I've always been considered a geek, even back home, because I managed decent grades...but this is for the first time, I'm ACTUALLY living upto my label! I study pretty much all day, with breaks for lunch, and of course, "procrastination recess" must be there (procrastination: habit of putting things off for later). But on the whole, I put in at least like 4-7 hours a day, and on top of that, I have at least 3 hrs. a day for class, AND on day like today, I have to work an additional 5 hours at the meal hall, plus I have an extra one-hour tutorial (since I have a midterm tomorrow for the same subject), AND (I'm not done yet!) I had to work for an hour for the promotional Student Union Crew (SU Crew) I'm on!!!

Yes..."Geek Au Naturel"!!

Anyway, I'll leave this blog with that...by the way, for those who find the layout of this blog very weird, here're are some quick guidelines:

1. This is in reverse chronology (most recent messages/posts are on top, the oldest are near the end of the page)
2. The "Previous" section gives you a link to each past message, and if you click one, you go to a page with ONLY that post (use "Back" to come back to this main page)
3. "The Pathways through the Labyrinth of BlogCentral" list down links to my other blogs - Geek Scribbles hasn't been updated yet, but Look Into My Insane Mind is updated quite frequently (it's long, and make sure you go through it from bottom of the page to the top)

Hope that helps - till later!!

Now you know who I am...

You know - it's a good thing that Clark Kent didn't have a sidekick, or a roommate living with him. That's why no one ever demanded of him to reveal his identity - that's why we had Superman!!

OK, so I'm being very vain by comparing myself to Superman. Well, this is how it went down - my roommate checked out the blog, and he demands that I reveal both my name and picture, or remove his! Well, I can't restrict this to being a very boring blog without pictures now, can I? Plus, what's the fun without the names?!!

Ok, ok - I'll get to the point...who am I? I'd love to get philosophical on this, but then you'd never ever come back here! So here it is...*drumroll, fanfare, screams* (all in my head!)

Name: SABEER ZAMAN
Occupation: Computer Engineering in UNB

But that's all you're getting out of me at once...I'm very "constipated" about my privacy you know! Well, hope you enjoy your visit here! Oh - my roomie also complained about all the hard words I use in my posts, so I'm going to begin updating the sidebar (on your right-hand side) with definitions of words I think are quite difficult. See - entertainment AND an education!! (hoo boy..."Desperate Advertising")

Peek Into My Room

Like I promised, I'd be uploading pictures of where I live - so here they are...I'm putting them in a series of posts, which, if you scroll down and see in the order given, will give you a sort of "panorama" of my room...I'm starting with my roommate's side and moving towards mine - just to maintain suspense!


...his neat and tidy (oh God!) closet...


His neat and tidy bed... notice the angle of the shoes, the emptiness of the floor...


Mouin's neat and tidy desk... piled-up books, neat shelf (with even a box of cornflakes!), the works!


My ____ Desk and ___ Chair (you fill in the blanks!) ... notice the chaos? You don't? Then you're like me!


My Messy Bed...see - so much livelier than Mouin's, no? Bag, shoes, socks, prayer mat, t-shirt - a kaleidoscope of life! (corny, I admit)


My "Open Closet"...muhahahaha! I appear to have more clothes, don't I?!!

People Appendix Entry 1: Mouin

Mouin

Name: Mouin
Occupation: Chemical Engineering student at UNB
Status: Single (so far as he tells me!)
Relation: Roommate
Special Characteristics (i.e. Quirks):
- Makes amazing sound effects (brushing teeth, CD scratching, crow, and some other 'unmentionable' ones)
- Uncanny way of getting EVERY girl (without exception yet) to say "You're so sweet" (or some think like that, always including the word 'sweet') at the very first meeting
- Enjoys imitating people, and does it pretty well
- Loves his long hair
- Listens exclusively to Heavy Metal music (and some other ones like Creed)
- Can't stand it when people don't smile

There you have it...an unsuccessful attempt at encapsulating my roommate in a few lines of text. And here's the part where I get into my 'thoughts' on this, using my usual wordy way that can be painstaking to read! Well, the first thought that comes to my mind when I think of Mouin is - "I'm glad he's my roommate and not someone else!" I see the nightmares people around me are having regarding roomies, especially other international students here with me. But with Mouin, we got along from day one - in fact, our Hall Don even asked if knew each other from before because we seemed to get by so well with each other! Even though I'm not a girl, I do agree he's an extremely sweet guy (ok...STOP jumping to conclusions!!), very funny, and very easygoing.

Hope we remain good friends and stay roommates for years to come (well...friends forever...but roomies for max. 4 years! I don't want to stay here longer than necessary!)

Haha...for some reason, I think he's going to be pretty pissed (and flatter at the same time!) to see that I actually put up a full profile (with a pic!) on the Internet, for all my friends (and many strangers) to see. Well, I'm sorry Mouin...and since you're so sweet, you HAVE to forgive me!!! ;)

Drunk On Desperation

The Crew of Drunk on Desperation (minus me, the guy taking the photo!)

Date: 05 February 2005
Time: 12:00 a.m. - 2:15 a.m. (approx.)
Venue: Timmy's in Fredericton(the coffeeshop from Hell)
Occasion: Sober hangout on Friday Night following a Mexican Dinner
Activity: Inane, unreasonable, unexplained and very painful laughter while drinking Timmy's coffee (English Toffee, 2xFrench Vanilla, Double Cream, Hot Chocolate, Mocha)
Crew Members: Fahd (pronounced "Fe-hed"...the Jaguar), Moe (the Fox), me (the one who's been patient for a long time), Andalib (Spontaneous Laughter Generator), Nami (Exotic Jap), Georgina (Goan...think beach, think beer - think, you know!)

Jokes:

++ "But I didn't have 10 girlfriends...only 8..." ++

** hahahahahahahahahahaha... *funny sound when inhaling* ...hahahahahahahaha...(and so on) **

++ "What's the Time?" (Indian accent), "What's wrong with you man? Fuck you!" (Chinese Accent), Brushing Teeth sound affects, "Look - French Vanilla!" etc., etc. ++

** "Who's Hu?" **

++ "I wanna drink my mocha!" ++

** Following a fit of laughter while drinking coffee: *coff, splutter*, *tears come into eyes*..."I think someone's remembering me" **

++ Fredericton Engineering Syndrome ++

...and so many, many more!

This entire post is mostly an inside joke - only "the Crew" know what I'm really talking about. Nevertheless, it's the most fun night I've had since I've come to Fredericton. Something I could not let go without being documented and published in the appropriate manner. I will definitely update this post with some more pictures once I get them from Georgina...but now, here's a little bit of what I thought of the night...

...insane, hilarious, liberating and warm. It's rare to get nights when you're free - free from having to "be" a certain person, a certain personality, in a certain way, maintaining a certain image. This night was a night when all inhibitions seemed to take flight and dissipate into a unexplainable mass of laughing humans in the middle of nowhere in a coffeeshop on a Friday Night!

Hope there's more of those in the future, with all the great new exciting friends in a very boring little town in Canada!!!!

What's In the BlogCentral...

It's not the weekend yet, so this is not for elaborating on any of the stuff I want to start posting...here's simply a list of "categories" that this "BlogCentral" will branch out to...

1. Geek Scribblings - stuff about what i'm studying right now...even including notes and ideas...will hopefully also elaborate it into a "Revision Blog" for the courses I'm taking...
2. Scrapbook - This will include mostly random pictures...
3. Random Thoughts - bit personal than what this blog is posting...and about some whacky ideas of mine (not to be taken seriously - I don't take them seriously myself!)
4. Humour - funny stuff I found, thought of, that you may want to put up...
5. Useful Links/Anecdotes/Advice - stuff about jobs/academics/life that I find helpful, and you stuff that may be potentially helpful for anyone else reading.
6. Scheduler - this is mostly for me, but if you want to make sure i'm not lying about being busy, you may want to check this out (once it's up!)

That's pretty much all that's popped into my head randomly while doing classes and other things...will edit this post to update anything more that "pops" up...

...the Start...in the Middle....

Well...I initially wanted to call this "My Days Abroad" or "My Days in UNB"...but I thought that would restrict the lifetime of this blog to approximately 4 years...or even worse, it would be an omen that I am stuck in New Brunswick for eternity!!! So, I simply decided to make this like a personal, yet not personal, journal of my life. Basically, it'll document all the daily events of my life...and all the people I meet...forgive me if the entries are a bit "impersonal", but this is not a "diary" of my thoughts/feelings, it's simply a daily record...(and also forgive me for that horribly gay and cheesy comment!!)

As the title of this post says, I'm starting not at the beginning of my stay in UNB (stands for University of New Brunswick...in Canada...way on the southeast coast...next to Nova Scotia) - it's already been about a month here. Not a lot has happened, but I want to be very detailed in this blog, so there's still a lot to post...to make life easier for me (and for my non-existent readership), I will make a list of stuff I need to post about, and then within a week or two, I'll hopefully have brought this blog up to speed.

Here goes:
1. First days in UNB
2. General Description (with pictures) of my uni, my room, etc.
3. People Appendix - all the aliens, weird creatures and occasional humans I've met
4. What I'm doing here
5. Geek Update (academics, nerd's frustrations, ideas, etc.)
6. What's happening now and onwards...

Guess that pretty much sums it up...don't be fooled by the short list...each one is like a megalist on its own! Anyway...that's about all the time I have for tonight...will definitely begin updating as soon as I have some time on hand!!

Oh yeah...one more thing...I've become addicted to blogging suddenly...this is like my fourth blog!! Anyway, I've decided to "categorize" all different aspects of my life, and document them through logs...I'm making this my "Blog Central" - meaning there will be links to all my other blogs...just thought readers (that's probably means just me!) might want to be aware of that...