Random Tidbit of Information:

I seem to know America better than I thought I did!

I took an online quiz where I had 10 minutes to name all 50 states. And I couldn’t name all of them, even though I took the entire 10 minutes.

But I managed to name 39 of them! That’s 78%! Not too shabby for someone who never lived there.

The states I missed were: Oklahoma; Oregon: Indiana; Missouri; Maryland; Wyoming; Montana; Washington (how the HELL could I have missed that is beyond me); Nebraska; Pennsylvania and Delaware.

I’m gonna take the test again and see if I can get ‘em all….

Gah…the highest I get is 46 and I’m always missing states that I had no problem remembering before. (Like Connecticut or New Jersey or Utah or whatever…ACK!)

I’m gonna try one more time…

Okay I played, like six times.

And I managed to get–with a teensy bit of help by referring back to this blog entry, 49. The state I missed? Vermont. The state that gets mentioned more than any other on TV back when I was living in Montreal.

But damn if this quiz isn’t addictive. And it improved my American geography!

Here is the link.

Organization

Okay. So I admit that categorizing things can be a bit of an OCD thing with me.

Nothing more so than when I’m organizing my Facebook friends into sub-lists. Often by country or schools from where I knew said people.

I’ve already done it ages ago, but I decided to tweak things up here and there. After I was finished I calculated how many friends were in each list to see if they totaled up to the full amount of friends that I have. You know, each li’l person on my FB friends list is also in a sub-list!

I have 122 friends. (And I know the vast majority of them personally, at least at one point in my life or another. I’m not the type that collects random people off Facebook). Anyways…yes. 122. When I totaled all the sub-lists I got 121.

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-ONE.

Who the hell did I miss???? I have no idea. GAH!

This is making me twitchy.

BLANK!

I think blank keyboards are so freaking cool.

I’m writing (or typing, really) on one right now! Hehehehe…I love knowing how to touch-type because I can use these black little keys and know exactly what I’m writing. And it makes these really loud ‘tap tap’ sounds when I hit the keys—-kinda like an old typewriter.

Anyways, I’ve got class in a bit…it’s a double-period of Workplace Safety which has got to rival Mr. Sheldon’s class in levels of boredom. I mean, it’s Ramadan, which means that classes are ten minutes shorter than they are on normal days. God knows how my brain will survive when the regular schedule comes back after next week. (I have a week off!! WOOT!!!)

I shouldn’t be in a hurry to go though. Damn if that class isn’t completely unmotivating. If this college didn’t have an attendance policy, I’d cut it. Or maybe I wouldn’t—-I have a test tomorrow and he might be doing a review which could prove helpful. Ah well, one more day of school and then SEVEN DAYS OFF! Can’t wait!

And man is this keyboard so freaking cool. Now I have to go check and see that I don’t get stuck in this classroom. Apparently it locks immediately and the door has a sensor. Imagine if I do get locked in? I’m gonna have to use the window. I’ll look like an idiot…but it should be worth a shot. Oh never mind, I can get out…a teacher came in and she should offer assistance should the door not be kind enough to release me. (I’m worried because my CM teacher tried to leave and the door didn’t open up. He kinda did this weird dance back-and-forth and then finally yanked the door open).

There’s a class starting soon. I must go!

Garanga’oh (Sept. 15 Year Two)

For those who aren’t familiar with what Garanga’oh is, you can check it out on my LJ when I first wrote about it here.

I volunteered for it this year too, and it was definitely more chaotic than last year! Which was weird, ’cause there weren’t as many people as there were the year before. But, hey, CNA-Q is not known for its organization skills and I’m pretty sure it never will be.

Anyways, my friends and I went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant before the time Garanga’oh was to start. (You can never go wrong with sweet’n sour chicken!) We got back to the college where the event was being held at around 7:30 or so, which was about a half hour later than they wanted us. (But no one cares about puntuality, really). So, Jay, Adam and I walked into Building 13 where there were lots of people milling about including the faculty in charge of the whole event. Jay and Adam were sent off to get the stage ready and a lady turned to me and asked me for a ‘big favor’. Hey, I’m a volunteer, I’m ready to help, right?

What did she want me to do? Saunter over to the other side of Bldg 13 (which is a cafeteria building split into female/male sections) and sit there by myself. My task? Direct people to where the female bathroom was. See, the whole Garanga’oh celebration was outside this building so if they needed the facilities, they only had said building to go to. She told me that there was someone else who would replace me later. I admit I wasn’t too keen on sitting there in the big empty cafeteria like a dork, but I thought I’d be helpful. I sat there for ten minutes before I realized that this was just freaking STUPID. Where people’s common sense goes is beyond me sometimes. How difficult is it to grab a piece of paper and a marker and clearly write “FEMALE RESTROOM” with a helpful arrow? Why the hell did I have to be there? Sheesh! I left the female section and joined Lina and Mimi on the other (more action-packed) side of the building. When two other girls passed I mentioned writing a sign, which they promptly did and hung in a visible location. Wow. And they needed a volunteer to think THAT one up. *Headdesk*

What? Again?!

Jay did something kinda nice (embarrassing, but nice nonetheless) for me on Thursday.

I went out with a bunch of my friends on the 18th for iftar. We decided to go to TGI Friday’s in Landmark, which is a shopping center that’s pretty close to the college.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened at first. We met up at Friday’s, ordered food, chatted, teased and took pictures. (They’re up on Facebook). As is often expected when you’re in a place like Friday’s (or Applebee’s or Chili’s) it was someone’s birthday and the waiters were singing and clapping like it was the most amazing thing in the world. (I wonder if they get paid extra for celebrating some random customer’s birthday…I hope they do. It’s gotta be weird singing and clapping for someone you don’t even know and generally acting like you give a damn when I’m pretty sure you’d rather be anywhere else but there).

There was a lot going on, so I don’t really know what happened in sequence…but some time after the waiters set down the cake in front of Random Birthday Dude and left, Jay asked me when my Islamic birthday was. (I had mentioned to him a while before…but his memory’s nothing short of abysmal). Without really thinking I told him I was born during Ramadan, I just wasn’t sure of the day. (After I looked it up I can say with certainty that my Islamic birthday is the 22nd of Ramadan 1406. Makes me feel younger just lookin’ at it).  Anyways, I didn’t think much of the question—-if anything it was a way to make conversation.

We snapped more pictures and then Jay got up and went outside. He has trouble staying in one place for long, so I figured he went out to get some air and stretch his legs. He wasn’t gone for long, he came back and scootched back into his place. (He was sitting next to me, I was between him and Faisal on the table). He looked at me and said, “So, yeah, you said your birthday’s in Ramadan, right?”

That alone should have warned me that he was up to something, since it’s rare that he ever repeats a topic of conversation without meaning to make something of it. Not to say I didn’t have an inkling of suspicion, but I didn’t really pay attention. I looked at him and said, “Yeah, it is, but why?” He kept glancing up instead of looking at me and said, “Oh, wait, you’ll see”.

The Trance…

And the highly un-coveted award for Most Boring Lecture Class in the History of Lecture Classes goes to Compensation and Benefits starring Mr. Sheldon! Everyone! Snap out of your stupor and give a half-hearted round of applause!

Seriously. I drew a small, screaming, long-legged and flailing dude as a visual manifestation of my inner anguish. See?

He kinda looks like he’s smiling. Rest assured he’s not. Oh, heavens, no, he’s NOT.

STRESS!

Man, being an editor of the newsletter just gets harder and harder.

I started off last semester with eleven people.

Now I’ve got sixteen. SIXTEEN. And it might go up to seventeen or eighteen if the two people who are thinking of joining do end up doing so.

So many e-mails to send. So many things to keep track of. I need a secretary! Only that won’t help because I’d have to follow what he or she will be doing as well, and I’m doing enough of that already with my other Scribe teammates. Ooof…

Quote of the Day:

We were discussing what superpowers we’d like to have. Among the stuff listed was the ability to read minds, to teleport and to fly. This is Haji’s answer.

I want to be a cloud that makes people happy.

(For those who don’t know, Haji is a tall Qatari dude with an afro who says the most random stuff ever. In fact it’s quite rare that anything he says makes sense)