raf is so cute. and it's not just because he belongs to my family. he has other added features too. i'll have to post a pic up to prove it.

there's a tube light in the study bathroom where i stay. at times it flickers on and off. it feels like i'm at a rave while answering the call. it turns into a b horror movie when i wash my hands. you know the one. as in all.

the other morning as i was driving to school i saw a monkey run off into the margalla hills. how many of you can claim to such? driving here is mos def an exciting ride

good God! everyone and their brother has a blog these days

the more scars on your body is proportionate to your coolness factor. every scar has a story, what's your cool scar story?

what is it about traveling that makes you overeat?

i came here with sub z who i've dubbed smalls [and from now until she is renamed again she will be known as smalls] and i'm staying with my cousin and her husband. they have a servant. his name is jumman. because he was born on a jummah. my cousin's husband calls for jumman in the funniest way. he almost says it in that tone that you would say umma you're in trubbul [trouble] in. it's hilarious. why i write about it? partly because it makes me laugh every time. mostly because i can.

this skipping classes is out of control. i'm in murree right now and that was condoned by my grandfather.

this morning i woke up with a charlie horse in bed. ofcourse after the cramp went away i had no choice but to think of a horse's head in bed. i haven't watched the godfather trilogy for ages. i used to love that it came on at all hours of the night either on usa or on tbs as a movie for movies for guys who like movies. again, i digress. so the charlie horse cure fyi is to stand on your toes and bring your heel down slowly.

zoom zoom zoom to murree. intense

my friend at school and i find the phrase side mar pretty funny. what's funnier is it's punjabi version: sade mar

bearded hotness is a difficult rival to a baby face.

is this blog turning into a journal? hope not.

alright this morn as any other i got the same traffic light. there's this man there that begs. he's got a tasbih. his stunt is to knock on the driver's side window with his tasbih periodically. knock...knock...knock...until the light changes. i give him change when i have it. on other days like today i had no choice but to ignore it. so after a while the knocking stopped. there was still time until the traffic light changed so i turned to see what was going on. i saw him wiping something on the window. not just once but moving over and wiping his fingers on the car further down. he did this until the light changed. when i got to the student parking lot and saw the car door as i closed it, i saw some sticky berry stuff wiped on there. that pissed me off. he was wiping his dirty fingers on the car. here i was thinking i have to remember to carry change next time as he's cleaning his fingers on the car the whole time. when i see him next i'm going to run that old man over. i was so mad. on my way back from school i noticed it and that made me even angrier because it had dried up. i'm tempted to find a stick and beat him with it at the next light. i even imagined it being a bamboo stick. the more pain i inflict, the more satisfaction i will get. uh. maybe i should go and pray two nafl instead

i've boycotted things made in israel for a while now. what i need to know is what is up with their monopoly on making the softest unmentionables? i hate that.

no sleep 'til pindi. i'm gonna crash.

i have an anatomy stage on the lower limb on monday. that means i'm very busy and very importante. duas welcome. specific ones please.

it's mango season! breakfast for this season is different from last season. for breakfast every morning i have a cup of coffee [milk, honey, no sugar - sounds like i'm being "chummy" with someone] and a mango. chummy is like getting fresh with someone. if you're here, that's one of those things you pick up on too soon. that. and the saying hus ge to phus ge [she laughed so she's trapped]. back to the subject. mangos. my nano says mango is garam[warm] food. even if it's fruit and best when served chilled. in our culture there are garam or warm and thanda or cold foods. not all warm foods are warm and not all cold foods are cold. some warm foods are cold and some cold foods are warm. can you dig it? i didn't get that until she hypothesized that garam food was any food with lots of sugar. and seeing that my granma's general knowledge exceeds mine, i'm going with it. she's one smart cookie but we'll talk about granma and cookies some other time. now for some breakie breakie breakfast

reason number 498752943590842309543 why i dig living here: shalwar kurtas on men before jummah.
side note: don't you worry i lower my gaze when they are ghair. this was in reference to seeing my nana ji looking all crisp and ism looking all cutie patootie in his new baby blue one as they left for the jummah prayer.

today has been an upside down day
1. i went to school and an hour later i came back
2. jelly beans are going to be the death of me! in scrabble that is. they are a quick high and then an even quicker low. they are good though. boy are they ever!
3. it was raining like crazy and i loved every minute of it
4. i studied ahead for a quiz. i am just that cool
5. i crushed the poop out of a bug. it was cream filled

the other day and by that i mean a good two or three weeks ago i saw a donkey on the road. this is different from any other day when i see farm animals on the road because this was on the isb highway. he was going the wrong way. in the fast lane. i was like what an ass as i overtook him.

happy birthday lil baji! hope you have an excellent day! i know baji won't let it be any other way. we love you! yay!

last night at midnight we all stayed awake to wish my younger cousin a happy 15th birthday. oh and the icing is...we even had cake at that hour.

lady drivers. oh Lord. need i say more?

how about this: butter scotch flavored bubble gum
i'm not sure if it's already out yet

initiated by nano's request of what to cook next and then rejection of suggestions because i recommend the same few every time...here's a list of my favorite foods. i feel like these foods define me as a person. this list relates to you what years of blogging will not be able to. just know that if you don't like the same foods as i do that is more than likely grounds for us to never talk. food is just that important.

bhindi
biryani
chicken tikka

chanay key chat
chicken roll paratha
achar

nimak paray
challee
samosa

coke
milk
water

mangos
watermelon
oranges

gulab jamen
gajuck
rus gullas

pizza
french fries
penne pasta with marinara sauce

follow up on yesterday's post: i spoke to her in school today and asked her why she thought i was rude to her. what i really wanted to say was what's your malfunction. ha! but i figured that would only confuse her. i guess she didn't expect me to say anything so she's like oh just forget it. i told her in my most serious tone she needs to tell me what made her say that and she was all flustered and kept saying like and then she said i don't know. that ended that. she doesn't say much to me anymore. which i can deal with. which i prefer. i'm not aggressive. just i don't care for drama.

this girl who sits next to me in school sent me a text message. usually it's hey how are you. today it said something to the effect of i've noticed that your attitude towards me is rude. so ofcourse i being the cool cat that i am replied with oh i think you might have sent this message to me by mistake anyway i'll see you in class tomorrow. that was to avoid confrontation and just in case she really did mean it just to make her feel stupid by making her repeat what she was saying hours later and maybe realizing how stupid she sounded once she wasn't angry or worked up about what she was saying. so she text messages me back no that was definitely for you. i text message her back that i didn't really care to discuss this over text messages and that i would talk to her about it in class. so let's see how that goes.

today i returned from school and i was notified that my room aka the study is no longer left to my avail. not even hours later the empty room was recarpeted. in a day it was then repainted. then reairconditioned. then revarnished. next is refurnished. i'm disoriented when i wake up in the morning but that could be just the paint/varnish fumes.

i'm bunking today. thanks to mummy and ism. awe yeah.

i would go as far as to say i'm feverish with contentment as of a few minutes ago.

i feel ecstatic for 3 good reasons right now:
1. mummy and ism are coming here
2. just found out my friend is getting engaged
3. it's raining outside

mummy and ism are coming today from the u.s. to visit. plenty of cleaning going on up in this piece. you know those days when you go crazy and wash and bleach everything. sometimes even yourself. ladies please be fair [where's that from...for some reason i have a feeling that baji knows where it's from but i can't remember myself so i'll just wait until she comments on my post. hint.]

nala wala. if you're a local to isb you know about jinnah market. there's a gol market there where kids do what i consider cruising. remember when the only fun thing to do was to go to the mall area and cruise when you first learned how to drive? i don't. mostly because i didn't. i know of it though. just not it. so there's a nala wala that roams the streets among the beggars and the people who sell combs and other hair accessories in that market. again, if you're a local you know what i'm talking about. because there is no reason not to buy a nala at any odd time. especially while cruising the place every friday or saturday night when it turns into check out central. kinda like a grocery store, yes. but only if you consider other kids meat. kids these days. re: too cool for school post. ok this nala wala is special though. he has a british accent. his sale's pitch goes a little something like this:
hey sister do you want to buy a [all done in a british accent mind you] nala [done in hard core punjabi]. sister please buy a nala . c'mon sister you could buy a nala for later. you're driving such a nice car phair ve ne layna? it's just too funny. i would be more than happy to re-enact it for those of you interested. one of my cousins told me that he saw the nala wala get into a landcruiser. i don't know if that's true but i wouldn't be surprised. i just like that this nala wala has a gimmick.

ism finished the Quran. yay! i'm so proud of him. that kid is well mashAllah. he just is. i'm gushing. he's just cool na.

i need a human blanket

you know those days when you just want to wallow in self pity. today is one of them.

horses for ism. once upon a time during one of our summer vacations ism mentioned to my nano that he liked this decoration piece that she had which was a marble horse. she gave it too him as a gift and ofcourse he was grateful. since then she has been gifting him with just that. little horses as decoration pieces. she wanted to get one for him because he's coming here soon and she said she had to go right then and there. if you know nano, then you know what a state of emergency or urgency or whatever she creates if she needs something done. well first i had to calm her down and then i just suggested that she take him with her to pick out the horse he would like. i could literally feel how disappointed she was as i saw her shoulders sag and her mouth form into a pout. she said ok but i'll have you know that i don't like to see her like that. i love living with her though. she cracks me up.