Snow in Dallas

What the hell is going on?

Okay .. something's seriously not right here:

- I went to bed at 5am, and was woken up at 9am, and I wasn't grouchy. I was actually in a good mood and I even smiled.
- I spent the entire day sleeping and watching movies. And I didn't feel guilty about wasting time. (I guess the people you hang out with really effect your behaviour)
- Having butterflies in your stomach can actually feel good sometime. I usually associated that feeling with dreaded job interviews only.
- I actually vacuumed the living room before my roommate started bitching to me about it.
- Today, after I read a particular text msg, I missed my exit on my way back home because I was lost in my thoughts and smiling to myself. And I didn't even get mad. I just kept smiling and made a u-turn at the next exit.
- I realized that I'm not irritated by people who become clingy when they're drunk. I actually liked it. :)
- Talking into the wee hours of the morning can be so much fun. I think I'm going to try and see if I can stay up to the point where I can get to see the sunrise.
- Not all cheesy romantic movies are .. umm .. cheesy?

I think I know what's going on ... but I dont think I blurt it out yet.

The Tale of Bubba

Once upon a time there was this Styrofoam cup named Bubba. He co-existed peacefully with this mug named Buckeyes on a desk inside a small messy cubicle.
Buckeyes was really popular and was used to store pens, pencils, markers etc, while Bubba was only used for carrying drinking water.
Being the thinking type and extremely emotional, Bubba had often spent hours thinking about what would happen to him once he got thrown into the trash where a lot of his look alikes had ended up after spending days on the desk rotting away with stale coffee and other equally disgusting stuff.

And his question would always be 'Why me ... ?' How come Buckeyes got to be so good looking and useful while he was left to rot away and eventually end up in some recycling plant in South America ?

Oh and how he hated that smirk on Buckeye's face (see picture above) !!!!

And then one Friday evening .... he suddenly started panicking. He knew that the cleaning lady cleaned up the place during the weekends. He was 'The Bubba', he couldn't just go to the trash can like the other nameless Styrofoam cups. He had heard so many horrible stories about the things that happened in the dumpster. Not to mention the fact that there were some really shady characters there like half eaten pizza slices and stale donuts. *shudder*

He decided that he wouldn't go down without a fight. And began a journey of rigorous self improvement. And voila .... check out the new 'Bubba'

Now, even though the hairstyle that had chosen was so last year, that was all he could come up with at such a short notice.

And he didn't just stop there, along with being such a smart cup, he was also realistic. He knew that a new hair style and the basic facial features wouldn't be enough to save him from his fate.

Doesn't he look cute?

And he didn't stop there ......
He wanted to look cooler.

And here is the new Bubba.
Now he can't wait for monday morning when people will come back to work and look at him and whisper among themselves 'Did you see Bubba?' or 'Omg! How could I have never noticed him before? ... he's so cute'

And Buckeyes will become green with envy and beleive me, green will never look good with his all fakey red color.

wow .. I'm a genius !!!!!

For the last two days I have been continuously getting praise for something that I believe I don't deserve.
Most people would say that I shouldn't be complaining. But it's just driving me crazy.
All I did was write the code for an application that was somebody else's idea, which somebody else designed. And since yesterday I continuously get called in to demo it to various people in the company calling it Arfeen's new software.
I guess what's really bugging me is the fact that I've done a lot of really neat things in the past and I rarely got any recognition for them. Things that worked behind the scenes, which took a lot of time and effort to develop. And now everybody is 'ooh and aah'ing over this new software (which only took 3 days to program from start to finish) just because it has a cute front end.

or .. maybe I shouldn't complain ... and just bask in the glory while it lasts.

okay ...
[END OF RANT]

what is the opposite of bungee jumping?

well ... whatever it's called ... I actually did it today. Younas and Aman came down from Austin today and we somehow ended up at the bungee jumping place. The actual bungee jump seemed kinda lame because it didnt look like the real thing and it wasn't high enough (yeah .. I know, I'm just trying to make this sound a little macho, so that nobody would find out that I almost walked out a few minutes before the ride) So we decided to try this new ride which catapults you and your seat high in the air. You go from 0-70 mph in about 1.2 seconds (almost 4G's) and then you swing up down for another few terrifying seconds before you realize that you were screaming at the top of your lungs and it was all being caught on tape. (I probably sounded like a soprano trying to sing with a sore throat so I'm going to have to do some serious audio editing ;)

No, Im not really laughing, it was more like 'Oh God! How did I ever get talked into this?'

Oh and Aman is on the right.

Up, up and away !!

Just thinking ....

Words are so inadequate ... why are there so many things that you just can’t say or write?

Why is it that deep down, most people are unhappy with their lives? And when we see people laughing and having fun, have you ever wondered if that person is REALLY happy at the moment or is he/she just trying to cover up the dreaded ness inside?

Have you ever realized that some people expend a lot of effort just to act normal? (The lucky ones are able to break free)
When being ‘normal’ is just another benchmark created by our society, but nobody knows what it really means.

Loneliness: A curse or a blessing?

Am I already in the ‘real world’ or is it something that I should be looking out for in the future?
and wtf do we mean by real world anyway?

Why can’t I still control my own life? Why do I feel like a helpless swimmer bobbing up and down in the water being swept away with the current? The swimmer who tries to hold on to shrubs and tree branches only to be thrown back into the water when the branch snaps leaving you with just a useless piece of wood in your hand.

Religion ???? Ah, I’m not even going to go there.

Why am I becoming more and more cynical with each passing day? Or maybe this is what people mean by growing up.

Oh .. and why the hell am I asking all these (unanswerable) questions here when I should be doing my organizational behavior reading for tomorrow?

Something to look forward to tomorrow: I’m going to a haunted house… *jumps up and down*

Have a ghoulish Halloween all !!!

Do non-monogamous relationships really work?

Most of us (including myself) consider a NORMAL relationship to be a monogamous one and anything other than that is just plain weird.
I guess it's just one of those things that I've never really thought about until I saw this short movie about these two women in a non-monogamous relationship. It's really neat and not like one of those cheesy 'same sex couple' movies that have been floating around these days.
I'd recommend watching it if you've got some time (It's about 23 minutes long)

And if you ever get to see it, let me know what you think would have happened at the end. ;)

http://www.atomfilms.com/af/content/atom_330

Homer Simpson rocks!

Homer: Marge? Since I'm not talking to Lisa, would you please ask her to pass me the syrup?
Marge: Dear, please pass your father the syrup, Lisa.
Lisa: Bart, tell Dad I will only pass the syrup if it won't be used on any meat product.
Bart: You dunkin' your sausages in that syrup homeboy?
Homer: Marge, tell Bart I just want to drink a nice glass of syrup like I do every morning.
Marge: Tell him yourself, you're ignoring Lisa, not Bart.
Homer: Bart, thank your mother for pointing that out.
Marge: Homer, you're not not-talking to me and secondly I heard what you said.
Homer: Lisa, tell your mother to get off my case.
Bart: Uhhh, dad, Lisa's the one you're not talking to.
Homer: Bart, go to your room

Barey mian Chotey mian ... lol

Geeee ... is that really Egypt? ;)

Almost all his life my cousin (the one on the right) has been ridiculed by names like 'thingna', 'chota', 'shorty' etc .... even though he's 5' 8" (which is kinda normal height for guys) .

One of the main reasons for this completely unwarranted behaviour towards him is the guy on the left a.k.a ME!
Coming from a very closely knit family, we've always had comparisons made with each other in almost everything we did. From grades to friends to sports etc, there was always a fierce hidden competition amonst us. And guess who got left behind in the height department .. lol. . So compared to me he was always regarded as the short guy.

So, this post is to kinda make up for all the times when people have at one time or another called him a 'shorty' (and other equivalent names) --- Leave him alone !!!!

Dj Darude .... up and close

A handful of shoves and a couple of elbows later, I managed to get close enough to get a couple of shots of this guy in action .... If you haven't heard his track 'Sandstorm' you really need to look it up (i.e if you're into this trance stuff) It's really awesome ....

Gawal Mandee at it's best ...

I came across this picture on a friend's (The one sitting in the front, doing God knows what ;) profile on orkut. This is the entrance of 'Food Street' in Gawal Mundee, Lahore.




If you just try to ignore those two guys (and the lion) and focus on the surroundings, you can actually see the great Lahori culture screaming out from every small detail. From the banners to the buildings to the shops and the roads, every thing has it's own little style. Although I just can't imagine what kind of movie would have a name like 'Lagey Tha Karkey' :p

The picture made me smile .. probably because I spent my early years of childhood less than two miles of that place or maybe because I'm just trying to act like a wannabe Pujnabi but can't even speak a complete sentence in the punjabi language.

Cheers.

Little Terrorist --- A must see

An absolutely riveting oscar nominated short film by Tariq Umer Sheikh .. It's sad as well has funny. You can almost feel goose bumps in the first scene with the boy and the landmines ..

Trip to LA

Just a crazy spur of the moment pose with my cousin .... Wonder what we're pointing at?

















mmm ... that pole looks yummy! (My nephew)

Sex, drugs and techno?

Wait a sec, that doesn't sound right ....
But anyway, last night - DJ Tiesto- live in concert ...... awesome awesome music, sweat drenched bodies (yuck!), throbbing lights and an amazing night.

Ahhh!!! The good old days.

Five years after it was taken, I got this picture from a friend and I was hit by this sudden feeling of nostalgia which reminded me of how much fun the freshman year at LUMS really was.

Btw, I it also got me wondering how I (almost always) get pushed into the back of every group picture that I've been in ....

conspiracy theories ..... are they for real?

I recently came across a blog ranting about the conspiracy theories that cloud the 9/11 incident.
It quoted some very interesting videos and articles. So I decided to include some of them over here.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1822764959599063248
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8260059923762628848

And to present both sides of the story, some articles that actually rebuke these conspiracy theories
http://ourworld.cs.com/mikegriffith1/refute.htm

Ever wondered how it would feel if you open up two browser windows, and point one of them to my blog and the other one to microsoft's website. The microsoft website opens up immidiately while my blog takes a couple of 10 seconds more to load up or might not even open at all?

Well, this might sound a somewhat lame right now, who cares if a website takes a few more seconds to load up. Right? But this is going to un-balance the democratic internet that we have been taking pretty much for granted right now. Where the voice of a single blogger or a small political group has the same audience as a big company like Microsoft.
If you're concerned at all about this issue, please click on the following link and take a look.

Ain't she pretty???

Taken at the Fort worth arts festival last Sunday(4-23-06). It's done on a steel background and had quite a captivating effect. I just couldn't take my eyes away from those mesmerizing green eyes. ;)

Dallas Mavericks Cheerleaders ... Rock!!

Haha ... the highlight of the whole Dallas Mavericks Vs Memphis Grizzlies playoff game. Thats when you really appreciate having floor seats.
Taken last Sunday .. 4-23-06

Yes .. I finally got one !!!!!!!!!

After 3 and a half years of reckless speeding, semi-dangerous cutting/over taking and mindless driving while talking on the phone, I have now 'made my bones!' (don't you just love those sicillian mafia phrases).
Yes! I got a speeding ticket. Since this was my first traffic ticket, I thought it deserved a picture in my blog.
It's sad though that the radar detector in my car beeped at the same time as I saw the cop pointing his speed gun at me. So these freakin radar detectors are of no use.. atleast mine isn't.

somebody taller than me?? YESS .. it really happened.

well ... there's no picture for this post ... but I didnt get a chance to snap a picture when I met this guy who was a whole 8 inches taller than me!!!!!!!!!!
Yes .. this guy was Huuuuuuuuge ... a whole 7 foot one inches tall ... I just had to post this because it's not every day I get a chance to look up to talk to somebody standing next to me. :p
It felt great ......... :)

4/02/2006 A local rock band performing at the Deep Ellum Music festival. It was an interesting experience. The band sucked .... and the crowd was dead .. but it was better than staying at home on a saturday night. :)

Why would a woman with a scroll in her hand need a mask to hide her face?
Maybe somebody has an explanation..
Taken at Infomart, Dallas where I've been taking Microsoft .NET training classes.

Can you figure out what's in this picture?? 

My twin cousins -- Zainab and Mushtaba at the parade at Madinah Masjid ...