1-) Playing Pacman on my iGoogle page. Such a simplistic game, but I can never ever play only one game of it at a time. Ever. It’s such a drainer of time. I managed to get to Level 6 but never anything past that. I have managed to die numerous times in a row on Level 1 though. Because I’m awesome.

2-) Easy-level Sudoku puzzles. I have one on my iGoogle and a booklet of them that I was given me that I amuse myself with in Banking class to keep myself from falling asleep. It’s actually pretty fun and definitely a better option than forcing myself to listen to someone reading off PowerPoint slides.

Hey people-who-read-my-blog. All two and a half of you.

Yeah, I know I haven’t been around here for a while. Things have been quite busy-busy for me, especially lately. I can’t believe the semester is drawing to a close so freaking fast. It’s scary. I have a huge load of things I need to do and the days zoom by so fast I don’t even know where one ends and the next one begins.

This upcoming week, I’ve got some projects to get out of the way—-namely two presentations/reports. They shouldn’t be too hard to do though. I hope to get them out of the way as fast as possible.

I’m also pushing for another Scribe issue to come out this semester, but that’s going slower than anticipated. I only have a small handful of articles from the 13 or so that I’ve been planning on receiving. This is pushing the date I was planning on releasing the Scribe further away, but I’m not trying to let it bug me. I’ve got enough on my plate as it is.

In other news, I’ve been fighting a cold for a while but it’s finally starting to clear up which is a relief.

In yet more news, Lana left to Canada for a month yesterday. I just finished talking with her online—-she’s in the London Heathrow airport on a six-hour stopover before she boards another airplane to Montreal. We turned on our webcams  and she showed me her “capsule”. It’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen, hehehehe. It’s like a mini-hotel room right inside one of the terminals in the airport. It has a bed that turns into a couch, a TV, full bathroom and even lights that can vary from really bright to pitch black. Food that you order comes pretty quickly too–like in 20-25 minutes. I think having a place like that is freaking awesome when you’re in an airport for hours at a time. You can stretch out and sleep, you can take a shower, watch TV, eat—-all in comfort and privacy as you wait for your next flight.

My dad left to Dubai for a day today—-he should be back tomorrow night. So I’m basically the only one in the house right now, all in the space of two days. I miss them both already.

Other than that, not much else is going on at the moment. Like I mentioned before, I did have a couple of things I was writing about in a post I saved to my Drafts folder, but those were things that happened on November 5th and 6th so I kind of have to summarize them a bit more before posting them.

I just got tired of leaving this place abandoned for so long. Maybe once my head doesn’t feel like it’s being pulled in several different directions at once, I can come back and write the way I used to.

‘Til next time, let me leave you with this lovely Pajiba link to a real-time review of Twilight. I thought it was pretty freaking hilarious. Enjoy!

Really, I’m not dead.

I will be updating again soon, I promise. I even had a post getting all written out but I didn’t finish it and it’s still saved in my drafts folder.

November is a hell of a busy month. Hala is not happy about this.

Yesterday, we said a final good-bye to the SRC.

It was kind of ridiculously sad. I’m gonna seriously miss that room.

You may be wondering why we’re leaving…well, there’s a story behind that. Let me start from the beginning:

I first came to CNA-Q (as a full-time student) in August 2007. I pretty much met the people I know from the first day, and in the first couple of weeks alone, the Student Representative Council lounge (usually known solely as the SRC) became our hangout spot. We were a good-sized group of people, and only one of us (Jayson) was an actual Student Council member at that time.

To make a long story short, from the first brief couple of weeks in college, the core of the Army (which was a maybe 10 or so members less than we are now) had taken over the room. It was only used as the SRC office for one hour a week on Tuesdays, which was when their meetings were held. I learned those meetings were usually spent with the council picking on Jayson for letting us hang out there so much. (Plus we weren’t the cleanest group of people—-we were excellent at trashing the place with food, game pieces, playing cards, books and papers). But it was our place, and as the weeks, months (and eventually years) went by, it became our home and Army headquarters.

Not only that, but because we were in that office so much, we were very close to what the SRC was doing, and often volunteered in the activities they set up. More often than not, we as Army members did more for the SRC than actual SRC members—-many of which were even lucky to show up to meetings. This was often the excuse Jay used for us being the office so much, even when the VP at the time went through some lengths to put limits on how much time we could spend there.

Let me clarify something though: If we had anywhere else to go…we would have taken it. There was literally nowhere else for a group like ours to hang out. We grabbed the SRC and we hung on tight.

During the elections in Fall 2008, many Army friends applied for SRC positions, and a whole lot of us (including me) were accepted. This made the room ours for more “legal” reasons, for lack of a better word. We also decided to prohibit eating in the office, which decreased the trash factor by about 90%. People still indulged in candy bars and there were always bottles of water laying around—-but no forks, no aluminium plates, no piles of dirty napkins. It was vastly improved, even as our group of friends got bigger and bigger.

The SRC was our home and we took it for granted that it always would be. It was the first room I went to when I got to college, to put my bag down and greet my friends before class, and the last room I’d exit before making my way home. I never thought it’d be any different.

Well, different it did become. As you’ve probably figured out by now, SRC elections are done every fall semester, and this fall was no different. Our group had grown (again) and we convinced many of our friends to apply (or re-apply) for SRC positions—-not especially because we were seriously amazing Student Council members, but at least so we could keep the room. Besides, it seemed that we were the only people who even knew what the SRC was. You could go around the college and ask random students what the SRC is and it is more than 90% likely that none of them would have a clue unless they have (or have had) a friend in the office. I was sure that at least some of us would get picked again. Since it’s my last semester, I didn’t re-apply since I’m not eligible anymore.

It hit us late this October, that none (NONE) of our friends who applied became members. The Student Affairs office knows who we are—-since their offices are right above us and we’re practically attached to the room beneath them. Moreover, those who applied to be members had the same names over and over again on their nomination forms and every one of them was one of us. We learned that this year, they were going to make the SRC almost fully Qatari.

Yes. Fully Qatari. Or almost. When the names came out for the new SRC, every one of them was an Arabic name–and most of them were Qatari. Two of them were Indian. That was it. No Asian names, no Canadian names. Nothing.

I saw this, and though I was a bit miffed, I decided that maybe it made more sense. After all, the College is 80% Qatari, so maybe Student Affairs was trying to take a step in a more logical direction when picking people to represent the student population. I can play devil’s advocate if you want me to.

No, this is what ticked me off—-well, pretty much ticked off the whole Army. The Student Life Coordinator, a usually smiley lady whose name I won’t mention, sent the former Student Council (that’s us) an e-mail on October 20. It started off pleasantly enough. She thanked us for our time in the council during the past year (though we had volunteered for way longer than that, just not as official members) and mentioned how the Fall Festival/Carnival (which we’d been trying to pass as an idea for God-knows-how-long) had been approved and how we were asked to attend the next SRC meeting with the new SRC to discuss it. She also referred to it as a “changing-of-the-guard” type event. I mean, this was our (the former student council’s) idea…and it was for the college students. Not for the new SRC as a “changing-of-the-guard” thing. It had nothing to do with them. Still, whatever. Call it what you want.

Then it started to get cold. And testy. Allow me to quote:

In the meantime after this week the outgoing SRC will not be able to use the SRC room, unless you are on the new SRC. I am asking Facilities to clean the room, including removing the graffiti and markings on the wall, which I am sure you all knew is not allowed, this weekend and then the new SRC will take possession after the weekend. There will be new rules for the room this year and it will be strictly for SRC members only. The computers will be restricted to new SRC members only and the locker assistants. Other students will not be able to hang out in the room at all.

[SRC treasurer's name] I need the money that is kept in the SRC room and any keys that you have so we can put it in the safe until the new SRC begins. Can I get this from you tomorrow, Wednesday, please?

Could you all please ensure you remove your personal belongings from the room by this Thursday afternoon , Oct 22, as Facilities will be throwing away anything left in the room over the weekend.

Wow. How pleasant of you. Those markings on the wall? That’s not graffiti. It’s just us marking our heights in pencil. Just something that started as a joke and grew over time. As my friend Lina mentioned on her blog (on the same subject), that “Wall of Height” as we affectionately call it, was there since—-honestly—I don’t even know. If it bothered them so much, why didn’t they say anything before now? It just made it seem like we trashed that wall on purpose or something. We could have cleaned it up ourselves, but no one said anything. Literally, nobody! Hell, the former Culture and Wellness officer’s height is on that wall too! And he used to work with the Student Life Coordinator as well.

The rest of it is just…I don’t know. Like a freaking notice of eviction. Formal and frigid. I really felt like she was referring to us as vast wasters of space. Moreover, it was also our idea to restrict access to the SRC computers to only SRC members. We came up with it—-and they didn’t implement it. Now that we’re going, all of a sudden, it’s like something new?

Meh, whatever. I was way more angry the first time I read it. Now that pretty much everyone’s read it, it’s old news. I decided to post on it anyways because it’s kind of a turning point for us in college. So I wanted to write it down while it’s fresh in my head.

We packed up our stuff yesterday and on Sunday our new meeting place will be the Building 13 cafeteria. We haven’t figured out a permanent place to hang out yet. Kareem and Jay did discover a room in Building 10 that is free a few days a week, which we figure we could use if no one kicks us out of it. I guess now we are the nomadic Army until we find a new place to conquer.

85% in managerial accounting!!! Stress really does pay off. Too bad it was so ridiculously easy that it angered me more than anything else. I could have easily scored 100% (or at least in the high 90’s) if I wasn’t so wrapped up in trying to study everything. Turns out the main questions were EXACTLY like the homework problems. Down to the last number. Even so, I did blank out a lot (common cramming side effect) which caused more than a little panic. But hey, an 85 is an A and I’m cool with that.

To conclude before I drift off to La La Land—-I Know You Want Me is stuck in my head. I’m making a QR 1.00 bet with myself that I’ll wake up with it still on repeat.

That’s apparently the type of calculator I’m using. I have no idea what to even call this post, so I’m sticking with that.

I’ve got a busy, busy week this week. I got a midterm in managerial accounting and I’m not looking forward to it one little bit. To be honest, it’s not that hard. Accounting I and II were substantially more difficult, especially II. It’s just that there’s these things you have to do with the numbers and, for the most part, I don’t understand why you do them. I guess I’m just going to have to memorize what I can and regurgitate. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get through it with a decent grade.

I just felt bad because I haven’t updated in a while. I’ve been too preoccupied with college and stuff to do much blogging. However, because I don’t have much to say at the moment, I’ll leave you with this little tidbit:

Yesterday, I decided to use StumbleUpon as a temporary time-killer between studying and happened on these superifically unbelievable mouth-watering beauties. Too awesome, I tell you.  Remember in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory—-how Willy Wonka managed to discover a way where you could reach into the television to try out an advertised candy bar? I freaking wish the Internet worked the same way.

I got an extra hour of sleep today and it was the best decision EVER.

Anyways. You know how there is FMyLife and GivesMeHope?

Here is my ultimate new favorite: MyLifeIsAverage.

Hil.Freaking.Arious.

I love the Internet. And the people on it.

And to conclude with a random picture:

I was browsing through some old emails and I found this thing that Lana sent me a while ago.

I’m in class, and it CRACKED ME UP.

Behold!!!!

Check out this article from Telegraph.  This is a 21-year-old girl from India, and she’s absolute coolness:

Farmer’s daughter disarms terrorist and shoots him dead with AK47

Rukhsana Kausar, 21, was with her parents and brother in Jammu and Kashmir when three gunmen, believed to be Pakistani militants, forced their way in and demanded food and beds for the night.

Their house in Shahdra Sharief, Rajouri district, is about 20 miles from the ceasefire line between Indian and Pakistani forces.

It is close to dense forests known as hiding places for fighters from the Lashkar-e-Taiba group, which carried out the Mumbai terrorist attack last November.

Militants often demand food and lodging in nearby villages.

When they forced their way into Miss Kausar’s home, her father Noor Mohammad refused their demands and was attacked.

His daughter was hiding under a bed when she heard him crying as the gunmen thrashed him with sticks. According to police, she ran towards her father’s attacker and struck him with an axe. As he collapsed, she snatched his AK47 and shot him dead.

She also shot and wounded another militant as he made his escape.

Police have hailed the woman’s bravery.

They said she would be nominated for the president’s gallantry award.

She may also receive a £4,000 reward if, as police believe, the dead terrorist is confirmed as Uzafa Shah, a wanted Pakistani LeT commander who had been active in the area for the past four years.

Supt Shafqat Watali said Miss Kausar’s reaction was “a rude shock” for the militants. “Normally they get king-like treatment but this was totally unexpected,” he said.

Miss Kausar said she had never fired an assault rifle before but had seen it in films and could not stand by while her father was being hurt. “I couldn’t bear my father’s humiliation. If I’d failed to kill him, they would have killed us,” she said.

Awesome eh? Here’s the link.

This is to let you all know.

That.

District 9 is an awesome movie.

(I KNOW it’s been released for ages but cut me some slack, I don’t watch movies as religiously as I used to back when I was in Canada, okay? Plus it takes a while for movies to get here.)