Sunday 30 November 2008

Eid ul Azha 2008: Big Fat Goat

First i heard the 'Baa' and today i saw the very first 'bakra' near Eid ul Azha time. It was a huge goat. It was so big i had to nudge my Ammi and show it to her as well. Seemed like a nicely fed and nourished animal. I wonder how much meat would it produce after getting slaughtered on eid day. >:-) heh heh heee

Eid ul Azha 2008: The First 'Baa' of the Bakra!

Eid ul Azha is about to grace us with its presence. The moon has been sighted and the day has been specified. The preparations for it would have also started quite some time ago. There was a continuous buzz everywhere that when would the eid holidays be. Amidst all this hustle and bustle i had completely forgotten that this eid involves slaughtering of 'bakras' (among other four legged creatures). But last night when i was coming home i heard a loud 'Baa' when we entered through the gates of Askari 3. That sound suddenly rung a bell that this eid is all about bakras. That was the very first 'Baa' that i heard around Eid ul Azha this year. I am sure i will be hearing more but i guess i will keep on remembering this first one for quite some time. :-)

Fun Busy Weekends

Including the last weekend with this one is making me feel that i am having some fun and busy weekends.

Last week on Friday i had some work at home so called my office to inform my late arrival. But as the day passed i started getting second thoughts. My evil instincts kicked in and i made a second call in the afternoon to get the whole day off. Yuppie! It was fun taking a day off like this.

Then on Saturday/Sunday me and my sister were home alone. My parents had gone to Lahore to attend a wedding. My cousin F came to join us too as her parents (my Khala and Khaloo) had also gone to Lahore to the same wedding. ;-) hehe But we all did behave like good little girls and did not indulge in mischief.

We went out to the market last Saturday, first to the Chaklala one and then to Saddar. Returning from there we went to Cinepax to see Death Race. Then after the movies we went in Papasallis to have a yummy pizza meal. After all this fun time we returned home.

The next day on Sunday, while i was acting like an elder and making breakfast, i got a call from my pal MM. She so innocently asked if we could go to the movies that i couldn't say no. Besides i had been planning to meet up with her for a long time and that sounded like a great opportunity. I accepted immediately. Then that afternoon i went to see the Indian movie Dostaana in Cinepax. When the show ended i dropped MM home. Not only this, i stayed at her place for a few hours (having the yummy treats she brought for me) before heading back home.

Sunday night i stayed up till late hours, trying to finish that 'task' assigned to me by Ibn e Batuta. (I never got to finish it anyway.) So naturally i slept late too. Monday morning when i woke up i just couldn't open my eyes. The eyelids were so heavy i could hardly open those a millimeter. Once again my evil thoughts kicked in and i planned to take yet another day off from work. But then i suddenly realised that taking a day off would mean chopping off of 4 holidays instead of 2 from my leave balance. So i decided to go but to go very late. And i implemented that thought by reaching my office around 3 in the afternoon. :-D hehe

This weekend isn't as busy as the last one but i am having fun doing fun things. Yesterday i installed a game on my PC. My friend was kind enough to give on-phone training to me on how to play. I can understand his level of frustration when he was telling me what to do & how to do it and i was informing him that my keyboard keys are not working. :-D HAHAHA (I am getting a new keyboard and mouse today or at most tomorrow). 'We' played for an hour and a half and then called it quits as i was quite handicapped at playing due to my broken keyboard.

Sunday has just begun and i am not sure what would be in the agenda for today. I have some documentation to work on though, which is not fun stuff. I guess i can count it in the stuff that keeps me busy. :-D

All i hope now is that i find enough time from all these 'activities' do do my chores and most importantly do my laundry. I would not be able to survive another week without it. ;-) Happy weekend to you all! Have lots of fun. :-)

Saturday 22 November 2008

Not Good Enough!

I wonder how impatient can a human being be. And how moody and how greedy. It's like nothing is good enough after a while.

I used to get 2 at most 3 hits on my blog in a day. That was enough for a while but then i wanted more. I started getting 10-12 hits per average in a day. That made me happy, but now even that is not good enough. I want more. I used to write on just one blog. I wanted to do more. Now i am contributing to three (and not even doing a marvelous job) but i want to extend distribution of my typed text to farther and wider areas of the www. (Talk about greed!)

I was happy with my salary when i joined my company. But then one day i found myself a part of a race and that salary was no more good enough. I wanted more and since then every year i have been wanting more and more and MORE! Will there be an end to it? I'm afraid not. I not only want more salary, but more different kinds of work/tasks too. And the work has to be interesting as well as challenging. (I am saying this as if it is not my boss who has hired me but vice versa and have appointed him to 'dazzle' me from time to time with a variety of work! Talk about wishes!)

I was a happy and content girl, busy with my routine life. But then i got corrupted and what i had didn't seem enough. I started wanting more of everything (even without actually striving for it). And i am still on that band wagon of 'not good enough' and 'i want more'. (I just sounded like Princess Ariel from the Disney animation The Little Mermaid *giggles*).

Well i think it is a good thing to want better in life. But one must never get stuck in the infinite loop of 'wanting more'. As they say, one should stop from time to time and smell the roses (maybe even photograph them). It would be exhilarating experience. :-)

Friday 21 November 2008

Simple Joys

I was home the whole day. Worked on some pending tasks. Also kept hovering around Facebook, Orkut, Blogger, sitemeter, Islamabad Metblogs, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, Gmail and not to forget the messengers. I kind of lazed around all day. Just a little while ago, so late at night, something deep inside me said with an air of sadness, "Alas, one full day of the weekend is over. Now just one more day left and have to go to the office after that." Thinking that 1 out of the 2 days of weekend was over, cast a blanket of gloom all over me.

But then something pulled that gloom blanket and shoved it away. It was nothing other than a realisation that none of the 2 days of my weekend were lost. I suddenly remembered that today was Friday and I had taken the day off. So i could consider this day as an added bonus for my weekend. Woo hoo! This thought has made me so happy thay have even forgotten the spellings of 'gloom'. :-) hehe

Such simple joys make life rich. At least they make mine rich. May i never forget to notice and enjoy the joys of small, simple things happening around me in life. :-)

Saturday 15 November 2008

To The Movies and Back

Tonight i went to Cinepax with my sister to (finally) see The Dark Knight. We had been postponing our trip due to one reason or the other. Today we got a chance and availed it. ;-) We reached there in the nick of time, and managed to get the tickets, get security clearence (checking of purse), reach the screen hall and seat ourselves almost on time. Taking eatables inside is not allowed there, even if it is something as tiny as a toffee or a bubble gum. But i managed to sneak not one but four bubble gums inside. Two in my mouth and two in the pocket of my jacket. ;-)

All through the movie i kept chewing the gum and making big (and bigger) bubbles. Every few bubbles i would nudge my sister and show her my master piece in the dark. I was making bubbles much bigger than a tennis ball (and smaller than a football), which was fun. There was this huge bubble i made and it burst really quickly. That was not the only thing it did. It actually burst all over my face and even my glasses came into the line of fire. I quickly removed the gum from my face but it took me a good few minutes to remove all traces from my glasses. :-D hehe And then, much to the disgust of my sister, i put the whole thing in my mouth again and continuted with the bubbles. ;-)

The movie was not so bad either. And i was having fun making bubbles. So the overall experience was good. I ad fun. I have already chosen the next oen to see at Cinepax. >:-) *evil/mischievous laugh*

Wednesday 12 November 2008

my JKF-117A Nighthawk

Hey! Take a look at my JKF-117A Nighthawk. This is my first attempt at making it. I am hoping to get better with practice. Tell me what do you think. ;-)

JKF-117A Nighthawk - View 001

JKF-117A Nighthawk - View 002

JKF-117A Nighthawk - View 003

Self Observation: In this last image, my fighter plane looks more like a bird. :-D hehe

React!

I have just added the 'Reactions' feature to my blog posts. This feature is offered by blogger.com and allows readers to 'react' to posts. So feel free and 'react'. ;-)

Sunday 9 November 2008

That's all from the 'Trance' News Room till the next time in 'Trance'!

Well i just decided to discontinue the 'Trance News' series on my blog. Yes there are still things left that i would like to talk about, but talking in a chronological order about stuff is getting too complex to handle. I think i will eventually write about everything, but not like this. Also i think it must be hard for you guys to follow, living in this date reading about the past. ;-)

So i am going to be generous and will start afresh with new stuff going on around me. Stay tuned! (If you want to, that is) ;-)

Sunday 2 November 2008

Trance News: Arrival of Ibn e Batuta

While all this was going on, Ibn e Batuta arrived from Norway. Her (my sister's) real name is different but i have been calling her Ibn e Batuta lately as she has been travelling a lot, and that too across countries and continents. She had arrived on Sunday. I had previously planned to take days off from work in her honour (and to be able to spend some time with her). But turned out the one and only day i took off during her one week visit was due to my cough. [Sorry Ibn e Batuta ;-) hehe] And i guess i also disturbed the hell out of her with the sound of my coughing, day in and day out.

Despite all this, i think we managed to spend a little quality time together. But she will have to confirm the fact. ;-) She was here for a measly week and left the following Saturday. These days she is planning for her next trip to Pakistan. All the best to you dear sis. ;-)

Saturday 1 November 2008

Trance News: A Whole New World (Read Office)

On Tuesday, October 7, 2008, i finally landed in office after my five Eid holidays and one sick leave. It was like a whole new world. The office on the 2nd floor was neat (unlike the clutter clad, messy look we left before leaving for holidays). It looked roomier. Everybody was sitting in a new position (as compared with the seating arrangement in the old office). I had my own new place too. Directions to there would be at the end of the hall, beside the pillar, in front of a dedicated window (through which sunlight kept bugging me and the heat kept roasting me till i got it covered up with paper hehe).

There were some other changes as well. 3 new people had joined the company, one being in my QA team. Another thing i noticed was that another team member of mine was not present. I inquired about him and was told that there was no news of him. He left a day before the Eid holidays and so this Tuesday was his 8th consecutive leave day. I got a bit worried about the well being and put HR to the task of finding about him. (I also had other doubts in mind but i dismissed those, thinking that if there was anything else going on, my QA guy would come to me to discuss.)

There was a funny new thing as well. All air-conditioners were in place but they could not be turned on due to some last minute wiring and tweaking. The central cooling of the building was also not working. So to beat the heat, 5-6 old fashioned pedestal fans had been arranged for. They were standing tall throughout the hall, providing their breeze to different bunches of people. (The fans sure did look funny! Not because they were fans but because they looked ancient. Literally!)

Its been a long time since that first day in the 'whole new office' that i have forgotten some details from in between. I will keep on adding stuff as i remember. ;-)

Oh and not to forget, i as not 100% well that day either. Spending the time, morning till night, there was not an easy task. I had taken my 'bori' (sack) of medicines with me that included the joshandas, Strepsils and vitamin c tablets. ;-) I was taking goodies out of that, frm time to time, to consume.

That's what my whole new world (read office) looked like on my first day in it.