Aicha - Cheb Khaled

Its old, but it just came to mind today and I thought what they hey, I'll put it up.

UCLA, Picking Schools, Cookies and Thai food.

So have you guys heard about the taser'ing incident at UCLA? If not go look it up. Theres a youtube clip about it as well. The super short version, a UCLA student is told to leave the library after failing to show his student card. He refuses to show the card and later the police taser him multiple times, While he is Cuffed, and escort him out. This is after he has already started to leave on his own accord. And he was not violent at any point before or after the taser'ings. This is crazy! I won't get into discussing if race was involved. Maybe it was (likely even) but I don't know. Regardless, 5 or so taserings? Thats ridiculous. Violent force should only be used when encountering violent resistence or in self-defense. This case meant neither criteria. I hope the kid wins his lawsuit and the police involved are fired. On another note. Trying to figure out where to apply is tough! So many cool programs. So not cheap to apply haha. If it were cheap I'd apply to like 20. As it is, I want to get my list down to 5-7 schools. Whats my list at right now? Its like at 14....argh. But the main ones are like Toronto Rotman, Western Richard Ivey, maybe York, McGill, Arizona...I don't know anymore, Indiana (Kelly), Columbia or Stern...I don't know...Darden (Virginia?...), Cornell...hmmm...., Austin-Texas....texas?...yeah...so choosing is tough...hopefully i'll make some decisions soon b/c I need to get started on the applications. Darn essays won't be writing themselves. I watched Stranger Than Fiction last week. It was good, go watch it! Afterwards, I was craving cookies so I had to go buy some cookie dough and make some...yum, cookies! Though really, the cookie dough might be better than the cookies...its a toss up. mmm....Cookie! (*in cookie monster voice*) More Cookies!!! Caitlin and Mike visited for the weekend. It was cool, I hadn't really hung out with Caitlin since February or so. 9-10 months, crazy. Almost a year ago! Although she thinks its been sooner than that but neither of us can remember so I think I'm right. Caitlin all upset she missed the cookies. Anojans like, forget cookies lets get some Thai for dinner. Mikes like sounds good! Anojan & I at the Thai place, waiting for the food. And laughing at some terribly funny joke...which I won't share. hehe :P

Just walkin along singin a song

Ok, so yesterday I had an interview with a recruiter from Arizona State I think it went well. I think it gave me a chance to talk about my work experience and I really think my work experience is going to be a big plus. I learned more about the program and it seems quite interesting. So I went into the interview a little nervous but I came out feeling pretty good with a tune in my head. There I was just a-walkin' down the street, singin' "Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do" Snappin' my fingers and shufflin' my feet, singin' "Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do" I looked good (looked good), I looked fine (looked fine) I looked good, I looked fine and I nearly blew their minds Haha, ok so I probably didn't blow their minds but it was good. inshallah. Later in the evening I went to a reception and dinner, again by ASU, where they were giving away this economics award. I was sitting there listening and its just wow. These people are so intelligent. And they know so much. And I listened to his economic presentation and it was really impressive. It made me feel like man, I want learn everything. I like economics, I don't want to pursue a masters in it. But I mean, knowledge is wonderful. Theres so much cool stuff out there to learn. And I wish I could just be a full time student for life. .......maybe w/o the assignments though hehe. Anyhow, I got the chance to talk to many of the other prospective students and at first it was scary. When I first got there I was the youngest there (I think I was the whole night actually). But also, I was the only brown person, heck the only non-white person. Basically it was a room full of tall white guys all looking like finance guys. But more ppl came, it got a bit more diverse, I talked to ppl AND it was Fascinating! Everyone was coming from different backgrounds, even the people from the same sector had varied experiences. Different ages, parts of the country. Ppl from fashion, non profit, accounting, marketing, etc etc And everyone was very friendly. It was nice. Also, I felt like ok, I'm not out of my league here. My experiences are strong and others are interested in what I have to say. It felt good. And I'm excited about going back to school. inshallah. Not just this school, but any school really. I think it'll be fun. So after it ended I felt good and I had a tune in my head. :) heeh, I don't even know why this one, its a bit early for it. but nevertheless. Sleigh bells ring are you listening in the lane snow is glistening A beautiful sight we're happy tonight walking in a winter wonderland Gone away is the bluebird here to stay is a new bird He sings a love song as we go along walking in a winter wonderland

If I am.

Resumes are such a pain! It took me forever to update. But I finally finished and sent it to the recruiter man. Now I just need to research the school, haha. No idea if they're any good yet but hey at the least it forced me to update my resume which is something that needed to be done. And the interview itself should be good practise as well. Last time I had an interview was about 1.5 years ago. Why does cookie dough have to taste so good yet be so bad for you? I upgraded or switched over to the new blog thingy. So what should I label this post? Random babbling? I think many of my posts might fall there then. Thanksgiving is only 2 weeks away! I need to decide what I'm doing for xmas. Normally, its an easy decision. Go home to Canada. But my parents are going for Hajj. And my sister and nana are going to houston so.....I'd be returning to an empty house. I still want to go back to see my friends though so I think I might go back for a weekend plus a day or 2. And the rest of time I guess I'll stay in NY. That'll be......well I don't know. Hopefully it'll be fun. If I am What would you say to me If I am How would you treat me If I am Would it mean anything If I am, If I am, If I am. Now If I'm no more........

some changes.

Ok, so I made some changes. At first I was thinking green, but I'm liking browns lately. And chocolate was in my head :P I still have to fix a ton of things b/c I'm not happy with the footer, header (I want some images maybe for those). I'm still iffy on the styles/fonts of everything. Still have to fix that tag/shoutbox thingy too. And theres a couple of sections I think I want to add. But meh, I thought I might as well get a bit down and I can fix the rest whenever I feel like it. I'm watching Sahara right now.....have to say....not that interested in it. Theres more to say, but tomorrows going to be a busy day so I'm just going to stop here and head to bed. G'nite.

The flaw that wasn't.

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole, which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water, at the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do. After 2 years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house." The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not o n the other pot's side?" "That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house." Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them. ps. I hope I didn't come across as sarcastic in my previous post. I didn't mean to. I was just feeling tired. And I appreciate the input. In the end though.....its like too many chefs spoil the broth. Eat a mint chocolate, then drinking cold water...feels good :P hmm.....except all the chocolate is finished now... :S Here's a little song I wrote, You might want to sing it note for note, Don't worry, be happy.

blah blah tired blah

I feel blah. I don't know why, I just do. Hopefully it'll be gone tomorrow, it usually is after sleeping. I'm tired. I have a slight headache. Thanks everyone for the advise on the new blog template. (Its on another blog thats easy to find if ppl really want to see). I've decided I don't care. Well I do. But I'll just do whatever I want to do. And if it sucks, well thas ok, cause its mine. and Im fine with it. Can't say perfect b/c I know I'll think I can always make it better, but oh well. It is my blog afterall, if others dont like the design or the colours, well, bye. Once again though, thank for the help though, really.

Tired, Saddam, Death penalty, headache, ice cream.

I wish I had some ice cream right now. I have a bit of a headache right now too. I had this big long conversation about capital punishment and islam and saddam hussein with my cousin Rasheed. And then I continued the conversation sort of with Sarah. Then continued that conversation onto Sarahs' latest blog post - Saddam Hussein -- Capital Punishment. Check it out and leave a comment w/ your thoughts. I'm interested to see what others have to say. It was having this kind of conversation. A good thoughtful conversation that is. I need to have them more often. I have so much I want to do and need to do and I'm so tired these days by the time I get home. I really need to start doing some more research and stuff though for grad schools. I went to this MBA fair thingy a few weeks ago. I went to a similiar one in Toronto last year. Anyhow, a recruiter from Arizona is going to be in NY in a couple weeks so he's conducting interviews and asked if I wanted one. So I'm going to have to research them. I don't know anything about the school or program yet. Hopefully its good hehe, but at the least it'll be some practice. My friend Chris just got into the MBET program at Waterloo. Congrats Chris! I need to update my resume as well. sigh. I chocolate chip muffin would be good right about now too. I made microwave popcorn today. It sucked. Its disgusting. I miss my air popper machine. I still have a headache. I'm going to take some advil and hopefully go to bed soon. Later ppls. Oh, added link to Zeeshan and Mama Jenn's blogs on the side. oh and for some reason the shoutbox thing isn't working for IE users, that sucks. But ppl should switch to firefox, this is just 1 more reason :P Feel free to try out the shoutbox thingy though to see if it works for you. I want to change this blog template a bit so I'll fix that while I'm at it hopefully.

The Phantom of the Opera, weekend tidbits, and Letterman

I saw Phantom of the Opera yesterday. It was really good! The dialogue was a bit difficult to follow at times but I love the music. And the stage and costume were amazing! Music of the Night I think was my favourite song in the show. hmmmm hummm hmmmm hummmm hmm humm hmm humm hmmmm hummmm :) Overall, I'd give it a 3.5/5 though. Maybe a 4. Based solely on entertainment value. Out of the shows I've seen I'd rank them something like.... Avenue Q / Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Who's Tommy The Lion King Mamma Mia I Love, You're Perfect, Now Change The Producers The Phantom of the Opera Chicago Hair Spray Rent (this is easily last, the only show I didn't like) I'm going to go see Wicked around Thanksgiving with Darrin and a few others. Hopefully thats good, I've been wanting to see that for almost a year now. I have the book though I haven't had a chance to read it yet. Finally went back to the gym (oafh, I'm sore) after like 6 weeks. I'm weak again it sucks, hopefully I get back to my oldself quickly. On the plus side I've lost 7 lbls! I watched Maria full of Grace and Th Breakup yesterday too. Both were soli but nothing spectacular. Neither were exactly what I expeted either though, I'm not sure what I was expecting. I'll give both of them a a 3/5. 2 years fly by so fast. I still remember and I still pray for her everytime I pray. I still wonder about that time. Finally got my room cleaned, went out and bought a nice small storage unit I really needed. Oigh, still need to do my groceries, update my resume, research programs, and so many other things...I can get some of that done today though I think. Need to go to the gym again today too, need to rebuild the habit. Going out to dinner w/ Anojan and Punit, that should be nice. Here's a clip I came across online. The full thing I'm sure you can find if you want to. This is just a short clip from the segment. Bill O'Reilly on Letterman

=)

I just realized that despite the fact I posted after midnight, my last post is showing up as on Nov 1st. Probably my timezone settings. Anyhow, I decided to put up another post. Because its Nov 2nd! The greatest day of the year! =) And what am I doing to celebrate this wonderous occasion? Well hehe, actually not much. I had a chocolate chip muffin and I'm looking forward to watching tv tonight b/c a lot of shows I like air on Thursday nights. =) Maybe on the weekend I'll do something. I'm thinking I'll go see Phantom of the Opera.

What a great day & Halloween Pictures!

Today is such a great day, Nov 2nd. My favourite day. And probably a favourite day for many others, I mean who wouldn't like this day. hehe :) Anyhow, I'm really tired today, so I'm going to just leave you with some pictures. Last night Aamir and I went to go check out the Halloween parade in the village. It was huge, blocks and blocks and blocks full of ppl. It was crazy trying to walk anywhere. I had friends there I was suppose to meet but it was impossible to find anyone. And the friend that were on the other side of the parade, forget about it, no way to cross and get to the other side. Ah well, it was fun. Here are the pics. The Halloween parade begins! It started with skeletons The place quickly got really packed This was cooler live with music Here there be dragons Aamir and I KISS was there! Random parade shot And another shot of the crowd, everyone had fun.