Ximar

my hair is very curly nowadays, because i'm washing it twice a day to get rid of the hair dye.
within the past 48 hours, i finished reading an excellent novel, went to an awesome comedy show and watched a well-made movie. and i've also written my critique, done my readings, and finished my icc assignments. although i didn't realize it, it's been a pretty productive weekend.
the trip to new york was, for lack of word to explain it, fun. it was rather hectice, we arrived penn station at 6:30pm and found the place in chinatown at almost 8 pm. we were rather skeptical when we saw the place. my first thought was, who in their right minds would bring a prime minister to a sketchy restaurant like this? nevertheless, it created a rather informal atmosphere and everyone seemed very comfortable. apparently it was some kind of a surprise party for dr. m and his wife (with balloons too, of course), a celebration by the malaysians in appreciation of the services he has rendered our country. i've never been a big fan of our domestic politics, and coming from where i am, our prime minister has never been held very highly. but i have to admit that at the dinner i have come to appreciate him. no matter what his faults are, his contributions definitely surpass them all. he is an amazing stateman, and will always remain one in our memories.
and so we met the prime minister and his wife and his delegation and quite a few friends and acquaintances. the dinner ended at midnight and we went to mus's room at sheraton to rest a bit before we left. but everyone was too restless to sleep so we went for a walk to the times square. and walked back to the hotel room for a short nap before we catched the 3:15 am train back to boston. and so ended my first trip to nyc. we arrived boston at 8:15 thursday morning and i spent the rest of the day in bed, missing all my classes.
alright. i've to go. hanna been in here twice already in the past ten minutes. i swear, that girl will go crazy if you leave her without company for even one minute.

tuftslife has been down for a few days. i'm so dependent on that site, i feel at lost. every possible link that i need is on it. this is messed up.
shon has decided not to make the trip to new york, he's very pissed off at how it's being handled. all i can say is, welcome to the malaysian boston world! i myself am still going, will be leaving in and hour or two.
diah stopped by last night, i asked her to so i could say bye. she's leaving tomorrow for three weeks. i'm gonna miss her. i miss her already, i only get to see or talk to her once a week nowadays. even last night i didn't get to say bye properly. i came back from work almost midnight, and everyone decided to pay me a call. i was 'im'ing irsal about the trip, shon called, diah came, huma came bitching about the mess in the kitchen and neel came upstairs about next week's plan. i felt like i was going crazy. think it's time to admit that i'm not good at multitasking.

nothing's new. classes, work and more work as usual. i saw shon's away message this morning, looks like he's frantically looking for a suit to wear to the dinner this wednesday. i still don't have a plan on how and when to get to nyc. i guess i should call ustaz at msd and find out whether they're gonna cover the costs. if they are, we might as well take the express train there. if not, then it'll just be the chinatown bus.

of course, my hair only looks red under the light and the top is redder than the bottom. i guess i kinda expected that to happen, i'm not brave enough to bleach my hair.
the bramono sisters, dewi and diah, are leaving this thursday for a three-week vacation. we went out to play pool and then went to the beach. i was glad that we went out really late, cause i had to finish some of my homework first. jillian's was full with people, i don't remember it being that full before, but then i've only been there three times. tonight was the fourth (or fifth) time i tried playing pool, and i gotta say, i still have a lot to learn to improve my skills. pity those poor souls who had to team up with me. the trip to the beach was really nice (mind you, the revere beach itself is NEVER nice). but it was cut short because some smart guys forgot to bring their jackets and were complaining of being cold.
tomorrow, the icc meeting is pushed later to 5 pm. nice, huh. i get to wake up late, although i really shouldn't.
this morning, i received a wake up call from zaid. then i went back to bed, but i guess he was determined to make sure i get up, he called again. by that time, i got the message, so i got up. thanks, dude. please don't do it often. i can't afford to force myself to get up when my body just doesn't want to. come winter, i will be insomniac. i need all the sleep i can get now.

i dyed my hair red. it would have been midnight blue, except that we were in cvs and it was such an impulsive decision, that i just grab whatever colour they had that i liked most - burmese ruby, true brilliant red. i've just finished the whole dyeing process but i can't really tell what it looks like, because my hair is still wet. although, it seems like bottom part of my hair doesn't look very red compared to the top. i'm anxious to see how my hair is gonna look like in the morning. if it looks terrible, i'm going to a saloon and have them dye my hair blue.
tomorrow is the intermsa annual meeting. i was really interested in going, but after learning it's from 9am till 2:30pm, i pulled out. i've to finish writing my poli sci paper to complete my incomplete course.

i am getting very annoyed at this thing. i don't understand why all my recent posts are not shown on the blogpage. could it be my computer? can other people see them from their pc's? huaarghh!!!!

i think that hurrican isabel is already in boston, and it passed through my room, because my room is a wreck! as my mom said, macam tongkang pecah, heh. i don't care much though, because my room still smells nice. hahaha... it can look messy, as long as it doesn't smell nasty. i promise myself i'll clean everything tomorrow afternoon.
i finally went grocery shopping at starmarket. what a relief. just have to buy some meat stuff and then i'll be all set.

my worst nightmare has always been about my teeth. last night, i dreamt that half of my teeth fell out and my mom had to find me denture. it's terrifying for me, i hate (and i am scared at) the thought of losing my teeth.

i'm not in a good mood. i almost walked right into huma's room with muz sitting right there. the girls know better than that, they should have let me know whenever they have their guy friends over. i really don't like this. i hate being mad at people and i hate blaming other people when i know i'm partly to blame also. i'm just gonna stop going to people's room and just stay in my own.

it's been a very productive day, i am so happy with myself.
i stayed up till 3 o'clock last night doing laundry ( used nida's detergent :P ) and woke up at 8 this morning to finish up my critique and rehearsed for my presentation, which went very well. after classes were done, i went out shopping with christina and huma in harvard square and bought a nice shirt for $15. i didn't really care about shopping, but i felt like i haven't been spending enough time with my girls. we came back to tufts and had a board meeting for the msat. zeina, the new girl seems really nice. i hope we all get along very well. i'm pretty sure we will.
oh, i forgot to mention about my new mouse. i was passing by the campus center on my way home after class and i saw that they're having a clearance sale. well, i got myself a tufts flag and an $8 optical mouse ( and i didn't have to use cash, i used points! hahaha... ). anyway, i'm so happy about the mouse. i've been meaning to get one for sometime but didn't want to spend a lot of money on it.
i'm gonna nap before going to work in an hour.

yup. the peaceful, quiet days are over. warning! hectic zone ahead. i should have put a sign like that on my schedule.
it really is crazy. more assignments everyday, midterms are coming, msat events are approaching (and people are still approaching us for more events!), icc meetings are getting more intense, even at work it's busier than usual.
i haven't done laundry for the last three weeks because i have no detergent and i'm running low on my maggi ration because i've been eating it for God knows how many days. no detergent and no food because i haven't gone grocery shopping, which at first was because i couldn't find anyone to take me because they were all busy and now because i couldn't make time. chain reaction, if that makes sense at all.

so i went to the red sox stadium to watch them play against tampa bay devil rays. they won with 14 hits and 8 runs. although nomah didn't hit any homah. i missed the first inning because muz and i went to mcdonald's first to grab some food. yo, when hunger calls, even first baseball game can wait, heh.
i'm pretty glad to say that at least now i can understand a bit of what being said when people talk about baseball. it was pretty embarassing at the game, i kept turning to muz to ask, what just happened, why are they cheering, what's a strike, why is he out.
at first i was sitting between him and zaid, but i took a pity on him and we switched seats so he could join the other guys in conversation.
we got free t-shirts which we are all gonna wear some time this week (and establish a martinez cult on campus). after the 3-hour game, off to dhaba we went for late dinner. and that was the end of my day out with the boys.

handshakes i can handle. but when it comes to hugs, people execute them so quickly, you just don't have time to step back and say, i'm sorry, i don't hug gentlemen.
i mean, yea, people extend their right hands to shake yours and you can keep it behind your back and say, sorry, i don't shake hand with gentlemen.
but when they open their arms wide and just engulf you in a hug, what do you do? try to duck and step aside (under two seconds) while screaming, noooo!!! *grin* next time you see those people, you'll be sure to receive a hostile kick in your backside.

thirty minutes past midnight and it is seventy degrees outside. pretty amazing. i need a crash course in baseball. going to a baseball game for the first time tomorrow and i still don't know much about how the game is played. heh.

as usual, sundays always begin with icc meeting. neel made pancakes for us today, how nice. although zaid and i didn't get to eat them 'till after the meeting (grrr...).
abang nazlen brought me home this morning, on his way to work. i came home with a tv, a blender, two new shirts, a new pair of shoes, a new pair of socks, and a stomachful of good food. good visit, good stuff.

i don't really have a lot to write about. life goes on as usual. classes, work, assignments, meetings, social outings. it is pretty dull actually. i am in a somber mood, almost like i have no excitement, enthusiasm left in me.
two good things happen today though. anand is back in town (yeay!) and abang nazlen has invited me to come to his house (he's picking me up in like, an hour. and i haven't even showered yet, yelp!). oh, and i also found out from suhaimi that aida (the one from cambridge, uk) is now doing her phD at mit (i wish i can be that intelligent).
we went out to see once upon a time in mexico last night. i thought it was a different kind of movie, kinda in a league of its own. not many people liked it. i kinda like it though, you get to see how a cia agent gets f***ed (woow!) up trying to mess with other people's business (just think of how many times that has happened in reality). i think the movie works as a criticism to the us government.
diah brought a friend along last night, his name is chris. we sort of clicked, so it was really nice hanging out with them. that's really rare, i'm usually quiet with strangers. but chris is really easy going, he makes me comfortable being myself around him.
i better start get ready.

i need a zip drive on my computer. does anyone know if i can add it on?
i want (note: want, not need) a digital camera. any advice on the do's and dont's, should's and shouldnt's?
one of my housemates is a smoker. the only time i'm bothered with that fact is when i'm in close contact with her right after she has had a cigarette. but she's trying to quit, so good.
oh. the mitmasa bbq was nice. it's been a while since i've seen mitmasa crowd, so it's good to see them again.
tomorrow we have to set up a msa booth for the student activities fair. the day after that we're having our first meeting of the year. it's time to recruit more members.
i'm putting in almost 20 hours of work every week. i don't know if that's healthy, maybe i should give some of my hours up.

i'm in love with haagen dazs coffee ice cream. mmm.....
it has got to be the best ice cream in the whole world. aaahhh.....

my throat hurts from singing last night. but it was fun, although it was really hard to sing when your stomach is full. today seems to be another nice day. mitmasa is having a barbeque this evening. i hope to go, i already found someone to cover for me at the media center.

i watched deepa mehta's earth, and have to concede that it's a nice piece of work. rahul khanna is an amazing actor, and it's only his first film. wow.
i practised driving today. i'm not too sure i can get comfortable driving someone else's car. but otherwise, i think i'm ok. just need to do more reversing.
wonders never cease eh? i actually went out for a jog today. three hurrays for me! but of course, it might very well have been my first and only exercise for the year. i've fulfilled my obligation.

i think they've finally created an eecs account for my use, whichy is really good. i get to save my work there and can open it from anywhere, just need to figure out how to obtain the ssh for it. got a printer from usman. they've started charging for printing since summer, so it's time to invest on some ink and paper myself. i've been assigned to make plans for tomorrow night. trying to find out what time this bowling place closes. if it closes at midnight, then we can all have dinner and go there afterwards. if not, i think we should just rent a movie and watch it here.

i should make a note here: manal left last week and jehan this week. manal went back to lebanon and jehan is moving to new york for a year before going back to bahrain.

can someone tell me how to stop my hair from shedding? seriously, every time i wash my hair and comb it, two handfuls of hair come out. this has to stop. i've been letting my hair grow for the past year and am looking forward to let it grow much longer, but with this problem, i'm very tempted to have it cut short.
on another note, i don't know if people've come across it, but if you need to tame your frizzy hair or smooth the tangle out from your hair, try bedhead ego boost leave-in conditioner. it's pretty expensive, but well worth the investment. i've been hooked since summer last year.

looks like i'm finally gonna learn something about web designing. i always believe myself to be technologically challenged. so when i decided a year ago to learn how to use photoshop and dreamweaver, it became only a half-hearted attempt. but now that i got myself enrolled in a class (e-government), i might be able to actually achieve something, hopefully. i haven't changed any of the classes i originally registered for and i am very proud with myself for being so consistent. i'm still deciding whether to play gamelan again or not this year. i don't know if i have the time, yet it would be a shame if i don't continue. i was just getting comfortable playing bonang.