*Blink*Blink* Day Over!

Today has been one of those university days for me when you realise you have taken up too many activities, and all the dates and deadlines are starting to jar. I was working on part of a group research paper on the Yellow Ribbon Project till 4 am. Without being able to complete it due to my somnolence, I did my Sehri and went to sleep for hardly four hours. After attending four hours of New Media lectures, I rushed to Jurong East for my medical checkup. They did this test where you have to blow really hard into a pipe a few times, and that triggered my asthma [the test is called spirometery]. As I was getting my check-up done, I was missing an important group meeting for my other research paper [on Digital Divide]. I fear they will refer me to the instructor as a "free-rider" case. Let's hope not.

When I arrived in NUS, I rushed to the IT Co-op to get my laptop's beeping sound fixed. Turns out, the microphone was unmuted, and that was all. Now it's 18:10; I need to break my fast [Aftari] at 19:00, then reach Lavender for my Snooker training, which is a good one hour of travelling. And Cluster Leaders have to do roll call for the fire-drill at PGPR today - thankfully my Resident Assistant was kind enough to allow me to skip that.

So I'm swamped. Not to mention I have to submit my parts for both the research papers when I get back to NUS, which would be around 23:00 [One group member has actually given me a deadline for submission to her at 23:59!]. And there goes another day when I hardly remembering blinking...

AIESEC Days Deepavali Get-together

This blog is turning out to be more of a photo-blog than a web-log! It may take a while for the page to load, so please be patient. It may take longer for dial-up users.

Yesterday was the @Days Deepavali gathering, where we not just had good Indian food, but learnt several Indian dances and witnessed a brilliant skit too that introduced us to the Indian culture. MediaCorp Radio was also present there and the reporter interviewed David and another @er.

The skit introduced us to the typical Bollywood love story theme, where a foreigner becomes infatuated with one of the local Indian girls dancing [above] on his visit to India and decides to marry her. To impress her he learns various terms and dances ["totaa aajao!"]. The audience joined in to learn the dances as well. And then there was the construction of the marriage dresses and an explanation of what usually happens next. The skit was wonderfully done and I guess people would have enjoyed it more if the air-conditioners were working properly. But hey, we were in Little India to experience Indian culture, so it did make sense.

We had a Deepavali challenge after dinner and the best dress competition [which David, the organiser, awarded himself because the audience wouldn't let anyone else have it - and among girls I think Melissa won]. Everyone was handed forms with a bunch of questions to ask people around Little India. We were scheduled to see the parade next, but I followed the DHL trainees to a pub. I got to know some very unique people there. [I hope I can remember at least half their names! Sorry if I forget.] We left the pub just in time to witness the parade, which was overwhelmed with Indians - we could hardly see what was going on. So we moved on to our final destination - Brewerkz, at Riverside Point in Clarke Quay, where everyone just chilled, mingled with each other, and those who drink had beer.

All in all, I had a fantastic time yesterday. I've tried to upload most of the pictures I took yesterday, so check them out and cherish the memories! =D

@OGX National Training at SMU

Yesterday @OGX Singapore got together at SMU for National Training and Organizing Committee [OC] allocation. I was late so I missed everyone's introduction =( and on top of it I had to do a 1 minute Bhangra dance, much to the delight of everyone else.

The entire @OGX Singapore team [save for Phoebe, who was taking the picture]

Preparation Seminar OC [Ohhh! Everyone's so serious lah!]

The Student Nominee Recruitment Drive OC - coolest OC of all [hehehe!]

Another serious bunch of people; quite appropriately so - the Student Review Board OC

And these people are just MAD! [The Make-A-Difference OC]

Paraskevidekatriaphobes beware!

Paraskevidekatriaphobia is a phobia, as the name suggests, or fear of Friday the 13th. It’s a specialized form of triskaidekaphobia, which is fear of the number "13". So if you are the type who thinks a black cat crossing the street in front of you is bad luck, you better watch out today, Friday, the 13th of October 2006, because this my friend, is doomsday for you.

Out of a 6800 figure on the About.com website I referred to, 56% people claim they are not fearful of this day, while 17% may not even go to work today, especially in the United States. The website has dedicated four pages to the history of Friday the 13th, which proves that in today's age of media hype and fiction-turned-fact [or vice versa], people can believe and be affected by almost anything.

But I'm curious to know, what is the real reason for people to fear this day? For me, it’s just another Friday, and Fridays - both in Christianity and Islam - are considered significant days.

In Islam, the Friday prayer for Muslims all around the world is deemed the most important prayer of the week - so much so that if a Muslim misses more than three Friday prayers consecutively, he or she is considered out of the realm of Islam. A person who dies on a Friday is considered to be among the favorites of God, more so if the Friday falls in the holy month of Ramadan. It could be noted here that the Prophet Muhammad [PBUH] died on the last Friday of Ramadan, 632 AD.

Then for Christians there is Good Friday - the day Christ was crucified. The Tower of Babel was built by all humans unitedly to reach the heavens but it could not be completed because God stopped their efforts by giving people different languages; so they could not communicate to collaborate and their work was halted, on a Friday. The Temple of Solomon was also destroyed on a Friday. Also, according to Christian lore, Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit on a Friday.

Both Hindus and Vikings reportedly have/had a myth in which 12 gods were invited to a gathering and Loki, the god of mischief, crashed the party and incited a riot. Tradition in both cultures holds that 13 people at a dinner party is bad luck and will end the death of all the party-goers. Coincidently, the Last Supper in Christian tradition hosted 13 people out of which one betrayed the Christ, which resulted in the crucifixion.

It was the same date as today - Friday, the 13th of October, but the year 1307, when King Philip IV of France had the Knights Templar rounded up for torture and execution. As Dan Brown has mentioned in Da Vinci Code, the Knights Templar were an order of warriors within the Roman Catholic Church to combat Islam in the centuries after the Christian Crusades. They branded together to protect Christian travelers visiting Jerusalem. [So Dan Brown was mixing fact with fiction? Hmm...]

The ancient Egyptians believed that life unfolds in 12 stages, the 13th one being death. I don't see how "death" and "bad luck" could be co-related, since my belief, along with many others, is that life after death is the eternal life - the ultimate journey. The Egyptians themselves longed for this spiritual transformation that was death, thus 13 was not an unlucky number in their culture at least.

There's the tale of the ship, "H.M.S. Friday" that set sail on a Friday: "They laid her keel on a Friday, launched her on a Friday, selected her crew on a Friday and hired a man named Jim Friday to be her captain. To top it off, H.M.S. Friday embarked on her maiden voyage on a Friday, and was never seen or heard from again."

In addition to the legendary significance of Fridays, the sixth day of the week also was execution day in ancient Rome and later Hangman's Day in Britain, according to the About.com website.

It is said that the Moon has always been associated with feminity, which is why the number of lunar months equals the number of menstrual cycles in a year; the number being 13.

Well I must say after all this speculation, I am not deterred in thinking that this Friday the 13th would be any different from my last year's so-called unlucky day: Friday, May 13th - I did not encounter any more bad luck than I usually do on a normal day. You might ask, "What are all these facts and figures you mentioned above, cosmic coincidences?" Well, I can't be too sure, but I think it is up to each and every individual to decide on his or her own whether all these events are collectively negative or positive - some may view death as being unbidden whereas others may see it as the end of an unbidden life. Maybe this day brings me bad luck too - after all, Fridays are holy days when I should go to the mosque and pray, and at the same time Friday nights are party nights - they lead on to the much-yearned-for weekends.

However, one thing is certain - I will not let my life be affected by this or any other "Friday the 13th" tremor. But if my wedding date falls on the 13th and coincides with the sixth day of the week, I'll reschedule, just to be on the safe side.

Sources:
http://urbanlegends.about.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_13th
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel

Aiman's birthday today

This is my youngest sister who has just turned 9 today. She's so crazy and funny and I miss her SO much! Maha [10yrs] on the other hand is the sensitive and sensible one, and not a day goes by when I don't think of her. Took these pictures while we were video-chatting a couple of days ago. HAPPY BIRTHDAY 'MUNN! I love you and miss you both so much!

Maha [in the background] and Aiman both got these cute haircuts recently. They look like twins sometimes. They must be on their way home from school right now. Its days like these when I wish I could be back in Pakistan. Miss you mairay babies!

Milo for energy

The name Milo comes from the famous Greek athlete "Milon" of Croton known for his legendary strength. It fits perfectly because Milo is high in energy content too [1760kJ/100g].

I love Milo. On any given day I will have at least half a litre. In fact, most people love Milo in this part of the world. [Malaysia consumes 90% of worldwide consumption of Milo! It is so popular in Malaysia that at any given time, almost all families will have 1 tin of Milo, and it is almost unbelievable to have any restaurants that don't sell Milo drinks.]

The other day I needed to get some tomatoes from Georgie's Mart when I bumped into my friend Omer on the way, also headed in the same direction. There I saw those 1 litre packs of milo and instantly grabbed two of them. And then Omer asked, "Can you see Magnolia's chocolate milk anywhere?"

"Dude, you have Milo right in front of you, why would you be looking for Magnolia! It sucks, I've tried it."

To that, he said, "No, its not bad. Milo is unhealthy, yaar. It's made from powdered milk." He was making a major assumption there: powdered milk is unhealthy.

I tried to explain to him what powdered milk is: It is just dry milk powder made by removing the water from regular pasteurized milk. We continued arguing, but by the time we got to the cashier, the topic changed.

Is Milo really unhealthy compared to other chocolate drinks? Here's a link that aims to show that apart from a slight variance in taste, powdered milk and fluid milk are nutritionally the same:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1608/is_2_18/ai_105518172

[Note: Whenever I speak of health or healthiness - it is mostly in terms of gaining weight - not losing it.]

Smile; take a break

Sometimes you just need to find something that makes you Smile then take a moment and think of the good things in your life.

Tea Joy October

Tea Joy is a Chinese tea cafe near Bugis where alumni from AIESEC [or "@"] and current @ers in Singapore come together on the first Friday of every month. This tradition has been carrying forward since 1997. Here are a few pictures from yesterday's Tea Joy session with @. We all had varieties of Chinese tea and @ers got to know @alumni...

Imran being smooth with the "Singaporean" girls
[one born in Hong Kong, the other in Singapore and the third one in China - all brought up in Singapore]

David invites everyone to the AIESEC days Deepavali event

My legs won't fit!

Some busy listening; others posing for the camera

Mingling with Nadir, alumni and founder of AIESEC in SMU

My caricature...

I saw these Hari Raya Puasa [Choti Eid Mubarak] cards at the science faculty, so after my class there today I decided to go and get some to send home, and this guy on the stall there was making reasonable caricatures. It was hard to get a queue number, but I don't think the wait was worth it. People still think it looks a lot like me. I don't know.