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!
Saturday, February 19, 2005
Friday, February 11, 2005
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!!
(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!!
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
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!!
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!!
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
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")
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?!!
...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?!!
Sunday, February 06, 2005
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!!! ;)
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Drunk On Desperation
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!!!!
Thursday, February 03, 2005
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...
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...
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
...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...
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...
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