Sunday, October 29, 2006

The Chronicles of Boredom - Part 2

One thing I forgot to mention in the last post, was the fact that I watched the second half of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy on Tuesday, October 24 before I hit the sack, that too cursing the cable guy for ramdomly shifting the location of the channel midway. I almost pulled out my dvds when my brother found the alternate position while in search of something else. Chand mubarak messages started pouring in, which doesnt make sense 'cos the fun of chand raat is when it comes by surprise, not when its predictable. Khair, slept a while after that and quite a few messages came in till the time I dozed off, a few more after that which I read in the morning. Wednesday: The rise of the morning sun, Eid prayers and sending a hefty number of Eid mubarak texts later (I'm not much of an Eid person, but things like these are part of the standard relationship management things), I have breakfast, then laze around the house with one of the younger bros, while other brothers and dad doze off. I go through movies I have, only to discover a couple of them aren't running on the laptop (dvd player and tv already in use by brother) and I don't remember what he was watching, but I sure was'nt interested. I managed to watch a horror/thriller movie, See No Evil. Movie was ok, overdone in several aspects. Signed in, goofed around, napped and then went out for dinner. Thursday: Woke up next morning to a throat that seemed to have been subjected to the free will of over a million pneumatic drill bearing lunatics. Grazed, dented, broken and hurting like mad. Did nothing all day again, this day I took the liberty to sleep a li'l extra. While fooling around online in the evening, set up a dinner plan with a friend, drove out at 8, first found my way there, picked friend up, had dinner at Ciao because Aylanto kicked us out (they had no space, and the head waiter suggested a minimum 30 minute wait. Hot choc at Costa post that (espresso is my first choice, but its too noisy to have a decent discussion at times) and then realized it was 11.30. Had to drop friend to her friend's place for a slumber party, and slumber-party-hostess's-mum would have raised eyebrows is she was late. Had a great time though. Headed back home and slept. Friday: While most of Karachi was out to work, I remained crashed in bed, my throat decided to go gay on me and by now was showing signs of my standard infection cases along with a slight fever. Took meds and cancelled plans of heading out to get some long over due home stuff done. Crashed infront of the telly post lunch and watched an interesting kiddie movie for the second time after quite a while. Also discovered that I like that song by Ali Khan, Saathiya. Friend from Thursday night dinner confirms to me the timing and venue of her brothers concert which she told me of earlier. Its at DD Clifton, reminds me of my crazy donut parties and the need to crash there on Monday morning. As bad as I really wanted to go to this, my drained state was not giving up. Slept like a rock in the evening, woke up for dinner and then answered some interesting questions late at night. Saturday: Feelin a lot better, I decided to head out to get the stuff finally done. Drove out at 11, came back home at 3, had lunch, then headed back out to drop younger bro to his friend's place, where he and his friends will be jamming throughout the night. Old school friend called, asking if I was up for a hang-out and dinner plan, knowing I'd start talking like crazy, I chose to decline, in the interest of having a saner throat for Monday morning when I finally get back to work. Also calculated that after subscribing to the 1250 texts package on October 20, I have less than 720 left, hence over 500 consumed in just 8 days, of which about 240-250 were sent on eid, the rest were cheap text rallies. Saturday's score was over 30 and continued as I typed this. All of you jealous of my chutti-at-will attitude: I just downloaded myself an assignment, which I will be doing on Sunday. Zip it already! This post was prepared on Saturday night, and will be posted Sunday morning, subject to some last minute realizations while I'm sleeping, which will be (hopefully seamlessly) integrated into the main body of the post. Feel free to try locating areas where integration was done later and win yourself brownie points. Do a good job and you might actually even win yourself a real Hob Nob Brownies. Please refer to Mr. Tariq Aziz if you were hoping for a water cooler or Electra for peeling onions/potatoes/whatever.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

The Chronicles of Boredom - Part 1

This is the first in the series of two (maye three) posts, unless of course something really elaborate comes up that jumps on my head to be blogged.

This post and others like these are the result of extreme boredom that has arisen due to the a sudden gap in all activity thats keeps my life going (read "work').

It all started on saturday, the day after Juma-tul-Wida (the last friday of the month of Ramadan). I slept late, indulging in an early online sprint that ran late into the night with a couple of blogger (and a few other non blogger friends) and resulted in a late wake up (ok, i realize, 1 pm is late, VERY late, so unlike me).

What did I do after that, roamed around the house for a bit, no one had anything to do, hence I picked up my laptop and ventured to give Maqbool a shot. Its an Indian version of Shakespere's Macbeth and has been done very well. I have Omkara too, but im kind of not to keen on watching it since I havent studied or seen Othello, the original one. More about books and movies. The Davinci Code makes the movie look like a midget and Tom hanks can go flush himslef down the drain for looking like an absolute baboon in that movie,  The producers should have realized that having a blockbuster starcast doesnt essentially guarnatee a great flick, the movie should have its own credibility too. After reading The Davinci Code, I tried giving Deception point a trial. Was sadly disappointed. Too much technological BS and a standard 'everyone is so smart' crap. Ticked me off extremely.

Back to my saturday, after Iftar we all sat down and thought about hittin the streets awara gardi-ofying later at night, thought maybe some last minute shopping could get done (none was eid related though, i know, sounds weird). Khair, went out, drove around, traffic was crazy on Tariq road, then hit Alamgir road for Chicken Malai Boti came back at about 2 in the night and almost outside the estate, we heard a huge clanking sound from under the car as we stopped at the signal. Got out, investigated, found a small (2-3 inches) piece of curved metal, which looked like a spring part. Thought would investigate the car later, so while mum was in the car with bro, rest of us walked home. Found out it was the rear right coiled spring that had fractured. Went up,  and slept, thanking our lucky stars that the thing didnt break while we were driving around.

Come Sunday, it seemed that the spirit of Garfield had gripped everyone in our home deeply. We all lazed around, slept for quite a while and I didnt even get the car done after taravih, considering the huge traffic jam that would have potentially lied in wait for us.

Monday, woke up at about 11.30, drove out to the mechanics at 12.30, got the stuff done and a couple of other small things too and then came back home at almost 5. Was dead beat by then and skipped a family drive around town later that night post taravih. Went to sleep during a cheap text exchange session and was woken up for sehri, then woke up again this morning and its about 2 pm and im almot done typing this away.

I wont be ranting about the 3 eids we are having her this year, everyone else is doing it and its really not worth it. These people are idiots (ok, ill zip it). Also realized its been a while since Ive done anything on the Metroblogs. Hmm.....

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Places, people and timings

When you add them all together, most often you might end up with what you may call an occasion. Some casual, faded from memory within a week or two at most, some hang on, and some shape the very lives that we lead today.

Though not every occasion may be as course-of-life changing, but several are, and one never know what minor incident, that has long passed its due time in the throes of our mind, decides and determines the impacts of what we think today, or how we react to a given set of conditions.

Experiences, are one set, but these are connected with scenarios and chalk out a path of logic and a following course of action. They are a measure of our learning and exposure in our respective fields of life.

Its strange (at times wonderful) of how certain places, that were once fairly normal to you, change to become something that gets your mind going. Planting a goofy grin on your face that make others think you have lost it, or driving you to make a phone call or writing an email.

We all have our special moments, with friends, family and other significant ones (ill leave it at that).

Question is, if these occasions didnt occur, or occured at a different place and time, would they still bring that goofy grin? Or would they have been long forgotten.

One such incident, which started out as just a random convo with a stranger, now has a whole new meaning and story to it. It pleasantly haunts me everyday for the past few months, and trust me when i say this, im loving it everyday.

It does, at times, scare me of tomorrow, but tomorrow is inevitable. We shall see when the time comes.

Enough talking. Time to bug that friend now!

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Blog Blank

Alright folks, Ramadan has almost officially ended, and has just brought along with it an unbelievably long weekend that lurks at me from the darkness.

I have a natural tendency to work and though I think there are a couple of things I can manage to think straight and consistently about, I honestly doubt that they will be able to contribute anything towards my lack of anything to do state. Whats worse is that the busy week is all of a sudden followed by a large gap of nothingness, just sit at home, maybe hang out a bit.

This year, Ramadan was fairly relaxed on my end, as compared to my almost 15/20 iftars out of home last year, I managed to retain only 3 external iftars. Felt good to be home, at least by iftar time. Best part was leaving office at 5, knowing there would be a significantly diminished rush on the way, meaning I could get home in under 35 mins or so.

Eid is around the corner, its an occasion that I, for some reason, cannot relate to. I understand the religious significance, and the chutti and eidi part, but it just doesn't make sense to me. I for one, am amongst those who even wonder why most Islamic countries (and even certain sectors of our society), celebrate Friday as a holiday. Just doesn't make sense. Maybe I'm an overt workaholic, though I don't completely agree to that, but yes, I do believe in my workaholism. Its the overtness that's the discerning factor.

Been doing a lot of blog hopping lately and quite a few interesting blogs discovered during the last week.

Well, been up for quite a while now, almost 2.30. I think I'll have sehri and then sleep in another 15-20 mins I guess. No Saturday night plans.

Monday, October 16, 2006

Tagged....

Ok....got tagged by Dysfunctional and incidentally, this is exactly the tag that I referred to in this post! so yaaay!!
thanks Dys!! (can i call u that btw??)
 
Today
 
height: 5'10"
color: a shade of brown (wheatish?? whats that btw??)
piercing: nil!
tattoos: none
 
Right Now
 
Time: 1259 hrs (this post will be published at approximately 1520 hrs btw)
Mood: need to work, dont feel like it, slightly bored!
taste: cant exactly pin down what that is...
the weather: its hot outside...humid in here.....
bad habit: lemme think of ONE!
current crush: Sounds boring but none..nil..ziltch...nada..
biggest regret: None major....but there is one i cant tell!

Perfume(s): Eternity
Thing I want to do: Get done with the projects on hand and see these things fly!
 
Favourite
 
TV show: Hardly been watching TV, but always liked sitcoms!
book: many...just dont remember names (note to self, get reading again)
non alcoholic drink: Milk, sprite, tang...cut down on cola these days..
milk drink: Milk itself, hot chocolate flavoured is great too....
brand: brand of what??
color: Im a blue freak
emblem: Cambridge U!
perfume: 212 Men, Farenheit, Drakkar Noir, Eternity, Contradiction, Escape and few others that I cant recall names of..
designer: Not a designer wear person....
Chocolate: A great many...wher do i start???
 
Have I Ever
 
broken the law: yes...
misused credit card: NO!!!
skipped school: no...
fell asleep in the shower/bath: yes...and its so soothing!!
had children: umm......not the last time i checked!
been in love: i guess..
been hurt: comes with the package....
 
Random
 
have a job: umm....yes...
My CD player has what in it right now: Ill take the PC, its silent right now...but im hooked to The Blowers Daughter by Damien Rice these days...
if I were a crayon, the color? blue!
what makes me happy? good food, job done, silence, sitcoms, family....i have many of those chotti chotti khushain btw....
 
When/What Was the Last
 
I got a real letter: I stopped getting those....now all i get are bills....
got an email: AN email?? i get over a hundred everyday!

thing I purchased: duplicate key for my car on sat, was too lazy to do anything on sun and havent bought anything so far today!
TV program I watched: A hint of satuday night live...on saturday!
movie I saw in the theaters: Pirates of The Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest.. at the premiere! :D

hugged: virtually or really??
song heard: Damien Rice - Blowers Daughter and then Requiem for a Dream's soundtrack...
place I was [besides home]: at office....was in the car before that!
phone call: mum!
was depressed: late saturday night...done and over with now....
 
What Comes to Mind When I Hear
 
car: BMW = UDM
murder: crows!.
cape: zorro...
cell: mine!
fun: execution!
shoe: i need to buy!!
crush: orange juice!
music: depends on the kind of music!
love: nothing much really...im a cold blooded realist....
chalk: aimed and whacked on the head!
 
Now...who all do I tag?
Extiinct, Psyched, Suga, No one, Mansoor, Jaded, Untamed Desires, Mentalist, FQ, Checkmate, Qu3st, Sam and SR (you know who im referring to are). Anyone else, feel free to jump in!

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Review!

The past week has been crazy mad busy, as evident from my lazy and to the point posts.
 
The week was busy, and good. Apologies to all my friends who I've been talking to very frequently earlier on but have sort of not paid much attentio to them recently. Signs of the fact that I'm probably soon about to become my zombie self. even right now I'm sitting in office and have a meeting in about 30/40 mins.
 
Yesterday was Friday the 13th, but great things happened in the sense that I got to meet and/or talk to a lot of people I've been out of link with recently. I spoke to 3 people in Lahore. Ive never done that in a single day unless I am in lahore! The first one I talked to told me that the weather is hot, the second one told me too much on their head and will be ok soon, the third one called me from the middle of the road in the rain and was cursing me for not being there. Ok, so thats bad.
 
I was out of office from 1.30 yesterday, came back at about 20 past 5 and then head back out in 10 mins after freshening up to an Iftar with old colleagues at a restaurant. Bumped into 3 more people there. One was a friend of a very close friend whom I once met at an event we were attending. The second one is (or is it "was") a KMB guys and the third one I know through other sources. Hit Lattetude after that and bumped into another aquiantence after a long long time. Catching up was suggested and I agreed. I'll keep that after ramadan so atleast I can have something to much on when I get bored.
 
Came home at over half past 10, everyone was at Khalas so I just chilled on the couch for a bit, trying to stay awake till they got home before I went to sleep. All home at 11, and I was on bed by 12 dozing away.
 
I so wish I was travelling right now, Islamabad also had great weather in the past couple of days, chilly nights have set in there too. We're waiting for something nice to happen here though.
 
Now, about work, things are coming along just fine MashaAllah and the initial stages of the project are in finalization stages, we will hopefully start making rounds for raising capital by next month or so. By that time, my company will also have a name so the unbelievers (yes, there are some who strangely believe I'm doing noting and putting up a farce) can rest.
 
I'll keep you guys posted on progress on the business front. Fow now though, I gotta jet off and get back to tweaking the figures that have been crossing everything these days. Hopefully will finalize them in todays meeting.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Lost...

Its a BEAUTIFUL day today! after so long for a great change! No blazing sun raining fire down on your head, roasting you inside out in two minutes. A pleasant breeze, slowly, softly, and cool calmness.
 
The meetup went well yesterday, caught up on old times and industry news (ex industry for me). Incidentally when S and I crashed back at my office for a cup of tea and I signed into MSN, I also ran into AS, an old collegue of ours, who is now married and lives in Quetta with her Air Force dude hubby. HK called up at that moment. HK used to be my boss, now a VP in a bank (refer to my designations and abbreviations wali post somewhere in the past 2 months). Im too lazy to find you guys a link right now.
 
I have a monster meeting today, and Im sort of preparing right now, point is, whats there is there, and its out there for all. There will be very limited talking, only majority brainstorming on how to go about raising the tons of money we need now.
 
 - - - -  BREAK - - - -
 
Ok, back from meeting and home now, sitting at home at half past ten and just resumed tying this.
 
Meetiing went well MashaAllah, one step closer to word domination (where is my competition???). Tons of money to raise now.
 
The numbers from today's meeting need to be reviewed, some upscaling and additions. Hence the action plan for the rest of the week and the next week. Post that, some final touches and data back ups.
 
For some reason I'm absolutely blank right now...just realized while talking to a few people that I cant even think clearly. Its rare, this state. I could go to sleep right now and wake up in a completely different mind set.
 
I have a question for you guys. If you read a blog, someones blog, once in a while....and if it says "I tag you all"...does that tag apply???

Long overdue....

Time for an extremely overdue blog post. Been very busy these days, and whats more, i leave office at 5 now, which means i get home by 5:40 or so, better part is that i manage to evade the mad traffic jams and by that time, the summer sun has somewhat smoothened out.
 
The financial model's almost finalized and currently out for review. Im at office, killing time for a while before I rendezvous with some old colleagues for Iftar. Looking forward to some good fun, which reminds me I forgot to take extra cash today. I had the extra cash on the tip of my yesterday, until ofcourse I fell asleep earlier than planned thanks to the beautiful breeze in the balcony (no i didnt sleep in the balcony, I was merely sitting infront of the balcony door and enjoying the breeze while I worked).
 
Im looking forward to the winter, and by this time, its supposed to have moved in, sadly its still blazing hot during the day and only makes sense once the sun is down.
 
By the way, the "gay wordpress users" in the post below refers to wordpress being gay, as opposed to the brow-raising implications that were made. I understand that while we blogspot users are under a ban (by the way, ive been experiencing unbanned blosgpot at my office for the past couple of days, didnt check at home), we can still post over email, which means the whole world doesnt go to the wordpress page simultaneously to make a post and hit save everytime you type a section.
 
Dont mean to start a blogspot vs. wordpress debate here, but I too signed up for wordpress recently, but didnt proceed when I learnt about the email post issues there. Im so used to posting over email. Its so convenient!
 
Will continue later...have to head out now....
 
 

Friday, October 06, 2006

Performancing

I hope this shows up sane and works fine. This post is a result of a new tool I just added to my Firefox. Its called Performancing. Its supposed to be a note taker in certain forms in addtion to being a full fleged blog editor.

I generally dont have issues posting to my blog, but I guess it may prove a great tool for gay wordpress users too.

Lets see how this post shows up.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Dont blame me if you're dead!!!

The slightly less dense traffic on the PAF Faisal - Karsaz Intersection strip of Shahrah e faisal was a relief this morning, considering i left slightly earlier than usual. Little did I know the relief was short lived, along with what could have possibly also been some idiots life.
 
Driving at over 80k in the far right lane, near the CSD stores, a lady steps on to the road while she is less than 70 feet away from me. I honked, and she continued to STROLL across the road! Raising her hand like a traffic cop, maybe she thought she was superwoman or has supernatural powers that will stop a beast weighing in slightly over a ton at close to 90k in under 50 feet!!
 
The gall of that woman!!! If someone honks when you get on the road, you get back up!! YOU DO NOT STROLL ACROSS THE FUCKING ROAD!!!
 
Possible effects of such strolling could include your skull be smashed to a few hundred pieces and your brains splatering the road not to mention your body being found over a hundred feet away from my car!!
 
Lady......if you planned to commit suicide, know that it won't solve your problems in anyway, though i seriously you werent planning on that. In either case, your death, shoud that have occured, would be more of an act of insanity rather than an accident.
 
You could be exempted from insanity, however, if you somehow proved that one of your eyes werent working, hence you were unable to assess the distance between you and the car (the human mind works on the principles of co-ordinate geometry, so we need 2 points of reference to calculate distances. our eyes serve as those points of reference). Even in those circumstances, crossing the road was not safe for you and you would have known that!
 
Thankfully, you are not dead and I just managed to pass behind you, after slowing down to a great extent. I could see a couple of cars behind me pull over next to the lady from the rear view mirror. I however, was just relieved that she was alive. Only later did I realize that I should have pulled over and given her a piece of my mind.
 
I remember telling someone that half of this nation is suicidal, he came back to me with a statistic on that also implied the same. I said whats the point.
 
Common sense people....common sense!!

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