Monday 31 December 2007

Facing Cold Water is Nothing Less than Valiance

The geyser in my house has been broken for quite some days now. Since it is winter, taking a bath with cold water is simply out of question. Also when the water is so freezing it eats through the flesh, all the way down to the core of the bones. (Ok I am exaggerating a bit, but really, the water is really cold these days.)

To get hot water, we all have turned to the conventional methods of heating it on a stove and then using it in the washroom. My mother had been helpful in this regard and was heating water for us all. But yesterday, I stepped forward and made up my mind that I will perform this task myself. And so I did.

I took out Mum’s largest utensil, filled it with water, lit the stove and carefully placed the water filled container on the fire. It was a painful one hour wait before the water boiled. When I did I felt happy at my achievement. I took a bucket to the kitchen, poured the boiling water in it. I then took the bucket to the washroom where I turned on the cold water tap on it.

Just when I did that, I remembered that had not brought my clothes from the closet. So I left the tap of the gushing cold water just the way it was and ran to my room. I thought that I would be quick enough and would get my clothes in a wink of an eye. Thinking I was successful in my endeavor to act like “Flash” I returned to the washroom with my clothes.

And as soon as I went in, a piercing scream filled the entire house. It was nobody else’s but my very own. Most of you would have probably guessed by now the reason of my powerful shriek. But for those of you who are still baffled, let me explain.

Well my over efficient self had left the cold water running in the bucket. Since the water was boiling, I needed to mix ample amount of cold water to make it fit for taking a bath. What had happened was that the tap water was flowing very fast, and by the time I reached it, most of the hot water was gone. Instead of turning to a nice warm temperature, the water had turned cold. *Shudder*

I felt really stupid at that time. At the same time I burst into laughter as well at my dim-wittedness. It took me a couple of minutes to decide my next move. I opted for going into battle. And so I did. And when I got hit by the first cannon, i.e. a mug of cold water, another screech emerged, only to be silenced by ability to self-mute.

The battle was ferocious. Many a wounds were sustained by the brave soldier. She narrowly escaped from getting frozen, however, she survived. ;-)

Thursday 27 December 2007

Commitments

For quite some time now, I am finding myself in situations where I am unable to meet my commitments. Small or big, made long ago or a little while ago, I am failing to meet them lately. I don't know what is wrong with me. And due to all this i keep landing in awkward situations. Sometimes I am hurting people and sometimes annoying them.

Maybe the problem is becasue of the reason that I commit without thinking that whether I would be able to fulfill the promise or not. Or maybe I just need to learn to say 'No'. I am trying to figure this out. Hope to keep the commitment breaking damage to a minimum till I find a solid solution.

Benazir Dead!

I heard this news in the evening but was unable to believe it. In this case i implied the rule of 'seeing is believing'. I wanted to actually see a body or something on the TV to be sure of this. I hadn't seen any body but the news blurted out from all the news channels made me realise that this was true. And finally they showed a coffin as well but that didn't matter at all. I was already in shock at what had happened. Not only me but my whole family and the whole nation. It was a very unpredictable event, an unfortunate assassination.

I was not a Benazir supporter but still i feel very bad at what has happened. I am truely sorrowful at heart this time. I just hope and pray that may Allah rest her soul in peace. I also pray that may Allah have mercy on our country and keep it stable. Otherwise a civil war is just around the corner. May Allah keep us all safe! Ameen.

Monday 24 December 2007

Find Yourself

These are the lyrics from a song by Brad Paisley. And all I could say after listening to these was "How true!". I wonder how many of you out there agree with me.

Where you go through life
So sure of where you’re headin'
And you wind up lost and it's
The best thing that could have happened
‘Cause sometimes when you lose your way it's really just as well
Because you find yourself
Yeah that’s when you find yourself

Tuesday 18 December 2007

All Alone

Today I am all alone in my department in the office. Two team member have already resigned and the third one is not present. Am feeling really strange. This is reminding of my early days in iENGINEERING. At that time I was not only the only one in my QA department but was also the only girl in the office for quite some time. Then another girl joined and proved to be a breath of fresh air for me. :-) A new team member was supposed to join today, but she hasn't showed up yet. I am guessing she is not coming today, if at all coming. ;-) It is not that there are no people or no other girls in the office right now, but I have a feeling of being alone. There are pleasures of solitude as well, but right now all I am feeling is lonely. Wish another breath of fresh of air would come soon. ;-) hehe

Wednesday 12 December 2007

A Dash of Pink in My Way

Yesterday I had to walk for a couple of minutes before I could reach my ride to the office. On my way I saw a pair of lovely pink roses. A shutterbug that I am being these days, I couldn't resist myself. I didn't have my digital camera with me but had my mobile. So i took not too many but just two shots of the flowers. The flowers in real were really lovely but the snapshots are also quite cool. Take a look and decide for yourself:

Pink Roses (Portrait)

Pink Roses (Landscape)

Sunday 9 December 2007

B is for Bubble, G is for Gum

So, how many of you like making bubbles with a bubble gum? Well for one, I love to do that. Whenever I am chewing gum I am on to the task of making bigger better bubbles. I don’t always succeed in making my bubbles very big, but I sure do enjoy the activity. Doing this, I do end up with aching jaws and a hard-as-stone bubble gum between my teeth, but I still never give up on trying achieving bubble perfection. ;-)

It’s something fun for me to do and I don’t even stop even when I am in my office. Maybe the people watching me do this get irritated. And maybe the pops of the bubbles irritate people more. But what can I do? Every time a gum is in my mouth, getting chewed, I have to make a bubble out of it. I guess it’s in my blood.

Recently I saw a video clip on the Internet in which a girl was making bubbles inside bubbles. She made a huge bubble, and then she made another bubble inside that one. And just like this she made 4 bubbles, one inside the other. It was a cool sight. Now that is my next target. Wish me luck! ;-)

Saturday 8 December 2007

My Commando Action

I have never actually felt scared of being alone, traveling alone or being alone in the dark somewhere outside. But since the episode with the purse snatcher has occurred, I do actually feel a bit scared when going out towards my car at the end of office hours.

I am calling my ‘routine’ of going up to the car ‘commando action’. When I get out of the building I survey the parking lot from afar. I look here and there, as far as I can, to spot presence of any humans, especially males. Then I enter that area slowly, still looking around (literally looking around). As soon as I enter the parking lot, I start walking as fast as I can towards the car. While doing my run-walk I do turn completely around, at least once, to see if I am being followed. Meanwhile, I take out my car keys and keep them in my hand. When I reach the car, I unlock the door, and literally jump in with all my stuff. I quickly close the door and lock it with my elbow.

Once I am secure inside my car, I put my stuff aside and settle down. Then put on my dupatta-crumpling seat belt on, start up the car and speed away.

Doing all this makes ma laugh inside. Finding myself in a cowardly role is hilarious for me. But then I console myself by saying that better safe than sorry. ;-)

Friday 7 December 2007

Seat Belt is Hazardous for my Dupatta

Since the day I got a speeding ticket and was instructed to wear a seat belt, I have been paying heed to this and regularly wearing it. It is a good thing that now I obey one more law of traffic.

But there is only one problem with it. In the morning the seat belt completely crumples my dupatta. :-) hehehe When I get out of the car, it seems that I have worn an un-ironed dupatta and it looks very untidy. I struggle to make it look as neat as possible but I feel I do not succeed much.

If only they would design such seat belts that would not destroy the ironing of my dupatta so much. Or maybe I should look for a portable iron. :-)

My First Chalaan aka Speeding Ticket

Last week on Wednesday, the day I met the first ever purse snatcher of my life, I got a speeding ticket too. It was in the morning when I was going to my office. I was on the newly built road called 7th Avenue. I thought that the speed limit was 80 KM but it turned out I was wrong. I passed under a bridge and had to slow down as I was instructed to stop by the traffic policeman. I stopped like a good girl. Though I do think that I could have fled the scene of the crime, easily. ;-)

When the car came to a halt, the policeman came to me and said, "Madam, you were speeding". I asked if the speed limit was 80. He corrected me and said it was 70 KM. Then he asked for my license that I handed over without any resistance. He took it, noted something from it on a form, asked me to sign it and then gave that 'ticket' to me. And as he handed over that paper to me, he also instructed me to wear the seat belt as well. I obediently gave in and put on the seat belt. And then finally sped away. No I didn't go over the speed limit. For God's sake I had just got a "speeding" ticket. ;-) hehe

This was my first ever ticket in the 10 year driving history of my life. It made me an 'offender'. But I am sad at only one thing. I got a "speeding" ticket at the speed of 80 KM only, which I feel is a disgrace to all those speeding people on the roads. *sniff sniff*


My Driving Ticket

Sunday 2 December 2007

Flower Bush

This is a lovely flower bush, planted in the garden of some neigbours. I do not know which flower it is but it looked so lovely that I had to take a picture. If any of you can tell me the name, please do.

Flower Bush

Sunbathing Cat

Today it is a bit chilly. The heater is turned on which is helping warm me up. But the farther I go from it, the colder I feel. At this time, I am looking at the following pictures of the fluffy cat enjoying the sun and enjoying myself. You take a look as well and tell me what you think.

Cat Sunbathing Under the Rose Bush

Cat from the Front

Cat from the Side

Funny Unsolicited Text

Being a girl in Pakistan, very often I receive unsolicited texts from unknown people. Those texts contain a variety of items including jokes, poetry and even things like ‘I want to have friendship with you.’ Or ‘I like you.’ But recently I received such a text that was hilarious. You must be wondering what it said.

It said, ‘I miss your sister.’

Now isn’t that funny! ;-)

Daewoo Kisses a Truck ;-)

I spent the weekend in Lahore. I went there by the Daewoo bus service and came back through it as well. For the return I got the seat at the very end. It was the 2nd row from the last and I got the window seat. The journey was smooth. But towards the end of it there was a jolt that everybody felt.

It so happened that we came to a curve on the road. The bus was in an inner lane and there was a truck in the outer one. As the bus over took the truck, I was looking at it closely and felt that the bus was going to hit it. And right in front of my eyes the left back end of the bus hit the side of the truck. The point of collision was right under the window where I was sitting.

I was off course startled because I not only heard the thud and felt the jolt but also saw it happening. There was a commotion in the people sitting nearby. Somebody suggested stopping the bus seeing what happened. But since everything was fine, neither the bus stopped and nor did the noise last long. My sister who was sitting right beside me jokingly branded me as being ‘jinxed’ and we moved on.

When finally the journey ended and we got out of the bus, I went round to the bus to see the signs of impact. There was a deep horizontal scratch and nothing more.

At this incident I just thanked Allah that it was not such a strong impact so as to cause much damage. All passengers of the bus as well as those traveling in the truck remained safe.

Now all I am wondering about is that am I really ‘jinxed’ these days ;-)