Saturday, August 20, 2005

... In the Closet.

I think tissue in parts of my brain are completely dying out... withering away... rotting to non-existance!!

This is what happened today: I woke up bright and early (10 AM), and made myself a cuppa hot coffee for breakkie. Somehow or other, I was distracted, got up, went about my normal Saturday's activities...
A couple of hrs later, I finally recalled my unfinished cup of coffee. Whe I looked on the kitchen table, there was nothing there... no cup and certainly no coffee.
Half an hour after I stopped looking, I opened my closet door to look for clothes, and guess what I found. Yup, that's right- my cup of coffee... in the closet.

I think I'm becoming slightly senile.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

IAW @ USyd

IAW= Islamic Awareness Week (which is next week).

Ishi wrote up a little about the pre-IAW forum, but I don't quite agree with some of the detail, and I would like to add some more. The Reverand was very good, and he obviously has some knowledge about the Quran. When Muslims began to suggest he read up more on the Quran, I completely agreed, but at the same time, I thought: How can we Muslims ask him to acquire knowledge of the Quran, when we are so lazy about doing so ourselves?... and I doubt there are many Muslims out there who have even a superficial idea of what the Bible contains (Flynn included). So I say, unless you're willing to put in the hard yards and gain knowledge of your own deen, don't go around demanding people of other faiths to do so. It borders on hypocrisy, does it not??
This may all be well and good, but there are a few things I am, as yet, very unclear about (concerning Christianity and their "theological" perspectives). The reverand kept repeating that God is Love, and that God is there to serve us, not that we are there to serve God. He made it seem as though submitting to the Creator- whom we believe is worthy of our worship- is somehow not very appealing to the Christians. Is it that Christians believe that they should or need to be served, and by their Creator, Master, Maker, no less?? What can be so repugnant or disgraceful about submitting to the One you clearly believe has every right to ask- even demand- your worship??

The other thing the reverand kept emphasising (which I obviously have problems comprehending) is the fact that in Christianity, God is Love, but that "evidently" this "Divine Love" was missing in Islam- i.e., the God of Islam has no Love, or somehow lacks "Love" (astaghfirullah). There's no need to try to make you see why this is so very wrong a perspective to take. The point is baseless, since the Love that Allah has for his creations is shown through the very fact of our existance.
I could ramble on for eons and millenia about the forum, which I found to be very thought provoking, but I shall stop now.

For the moment, I'm looking forward to IAW, but not with too much enthusiasm and zeal. Someone suggested that I not stand at the Da'wah table as I might be attacked (perhaps not physically), but I thought that was a bit of a ridiculous thing to say. What's a little verbal bashing compared to the sacrifices made and sufferings endured by the Companions? Moreover, how can I help to spread the awareness of Islam if I don't stand at the Dawah table?? Sort of defeats the purpose of the week, does it not?

Right-o, this shall be the end of yet another long and hopefully not so tedious post. I shall keep you all updated (and so, I hope, will Ishi) on the up's, down's, the happenings and the no-happenings of IAW. I request that you all make Du'a for the SUMSA (Syd Uni Muslim Students' Assoc.) members to be able to impart at least a tiny grain of positive Islamic knowledge to the student body in general.

Friday, August 12, 2005

WARNING: Names have been Altered

Problem of the week: How on Earth am I supposed to argue for Liberalism if I can't even grasp the main ideas behind this paradigm! But that's just a "note to self".

Getting down to the facts of the day, or rather the week, I've been up to much ado about nothing, and getting nowhere fast...
First and foremost- I have dropped down to Differential Equations- possibly the best decision I've ever made- and the work is so much better.
Chem. labs, unfortunately are still taking up 3 precious hrs of my life each week. This Sem. it's more fun. Lab B is definitely more, erm... enthusiastic/ lively/ interesting and what have you. Sam (not Sam the Leech, but Sam the girl, my partner Sami) and I had a fun day growing green, potentially harmful trees on filter paper! (It was actualy crystallised dichloromethane). And no- that was not part of the experiment. We also spent 3 hrs inhaling the toxic fumes given off by dichloromethane, which is said to be slightly carcinogenic. According to Sam, every time we have to sign something in Chem lab, it's an indication that we could very well die. A bit of a morbid perspective, if you ask me, but there might just be some truth to it...

That's all I have time for...

Monday, August 08, 2005

Redundant

I suppose since the problem (mentioned in previous post) is fixed, the previous post has become redundant, right? I was thinking of removing it, but... well, something's telling me not to delete it.
Hmm... I wonder how green looks as the new colour for my fonts?

Nah... not Flynn-like at all!

Sunday, August 07, 2005

MY LINKS!!

Can someone please explain to me why my sidebar- the one with all the links- have disappeared to the very bottom of my web page? WHY??

PS- I want it back in its original place! So: HEEEEEELLLLP!!

& The Case Of The Missing Mum

Finally, after Nandos and Bee's bloody foot, when I did get home (only a little bit late) there was nobody waiting outside (whew!). Here's when the "Case of the Missing Mum" began- for me, anyway. Barely 5 minutes after my sister came home, I got a call from Uncle S. who had left 2 messages on our answering machine already. He asked, out of the blue, "Are Afi & Big Man at your house yet?" (Afi and Big Man being our 2 little cousins)
I was left baffled, stumbling over my words... "Erm- uh... In our House? No..."
Eventually, he filled me in on the minor details. Evidently, parents had gone with Aunty S., Fuzzy & Squishy to buy their new car, and instructions were left for Afi & Big Man to walk over to our place. So off I went a-sprinting to look for the lost Afi & BigMan... couldn't find them. Came back home for my mobile, was just about to go sprinting out again, when in they hopped, skipped and ran... (whew! no.2) This is when business of feeding & entertaining the munchkins began.

Next person to come was Dagz (if I remember correctly), followed shortly by me Dad. Meanwhile Uncle S. had called to check that at least 2 of his munchkins were safe and sound- boy, was I glad to be able to give an answer in the positive! Unfortunately, positivity didn't last all that long. By this time, darkness was threatening to take over and hail night-time... yet Aunty S., Mum, Fuzzy & Squishy remained unaccounted for. Dad was beginning to pace back and forth with either cordless or mobile in his hand. They (Mum &co.) were lost... out there... somewhere unfamiliar... with no clue which way led home.

I must have inherited my map-reading skills from someone, and now, I have no doubt that it was me Mum's genes that were handed down to me (as far as map reaing is concerned). In short, to Flynn and her Mum, maps may as well be written in Gaelic, for all we understand from 'em. I, for one, couldn't tell you my left from my right if your life depended on it! So, it's understandable that my Dad was... stressing (to put it mildly) when he found out that Aunty S. and Mum were lost with 2 crawlers in the back.
Don't imagine that me Dad was the only one calling Aunty S every 5 minutes- Uncle S. was probably just as off-his-mind with worry! If it wasn't me Dad giving them left/right instructions, it was me Uncle calling to check if they were home yet.
Around 6:30PM, Dad finally told them to pull up in a corner of a street and wait 'til he came to guide them back home. Off he went, with Dagz to read the signs & street names & maps & so forth (Dagz has a natural talent for map reading). Aunty S. & Mum had somehow managed to end up in unchartered territory... even for my Dad. Yipes!

Meanwhile, Ash called to ask if she could get a ride, since it was really dark, and she needed to get home from Uni. I coudln't help it, I blurted out something like: "Sorry, the car's not here. Mum & Aunty S. are lost!"
She panicked (you all know her fragile heart condition- remember those palpitations of Ash's heart, Emu?). "WHAT?!! What do you mean she's lost?!?!"
So I explained all the details to her, and she calmed down... only a little. On her way over to our house, she met Uncle S. who also decided to come over to our place... just to see how things were going. (By this time, there were plenty of people popping in and out of our place). Uncle S. asked a million questions, Ash asked a million more, the munchinks demanded my attention and Flynn needed three heads and 10 arms to keep up!

7PM: Mum, Aunty S., Fuzzy & Squishy finally got home, also safe and sound (WHEW! no.3) with the story of how they lost their way & and what happend. That's another very long tale, which I have neither time, nor energy to tell. As for today, Saturday... let's just say it was another looooong day with Salsa, Mumta, Smarty, Buri & Zaki (five little kids, who needed constant care & attention)... and Afi who slept over for the night, and might just do so again tonight. The day involved everything from going to the park, petting the neighbourhood (stray??) cat, watching Home Alone 1, to changing diapers, feeding munchkins and trying to maintain a semblance of order in my (trashed) room (which looks as though Cyclone Tracy had a field day in it!) Maybe I should go clean it up?

Oh man, Flynn's arms have never felt so sore and useless... so it's goodnight until sometime in the (near?) future.

Saturday, August 06, 2005

Bee's Bleeding Foot...

The weekend barely began and already my eyelids are drooping (someone check if my speech is slurred), there's a strange throbbing in my head, and I could swear that someone attached lead weights to my legs.

If you haven't guessed by now, you should note that this is going to be one heck of a long blog- if time and family permit- so hold on to yer boots, you've been warned! [NB: this post had been 1000+ words, so I had to split it up into 2 posts.Therefore, the "Case of the Missing Mum" has been put up as my Sunday post.]

Back to Friday: There I was sitting comfortably with a friend, relaxing until we headed off to our Psych lecture. Along came Miss Bee (another friend), and plonked her foot in front of us, eliciting a screech from Roofs (friend no.1), and a gasp of shock from Flynn. It was truly horrible- I've never seen a cut so wide and deep, and blood oozing out in all its red glory (eeewww)! While a couple of others around us paled, Roofs and Aally (friend no.3) volunteered to fetch Dettol for our injured Miss Bee. Now, Flynn is always prepared (since she herself is such a clumsy dorkwad... no hand-eye-foot coordination whatsoever!), and well, had a couple of bandaids on her (5, to be exact). Miss Bee needed all 5, and two more from Aally. Anyway, we patched up her foot, sent her off to her tute, made our way to Psych lecture and waited for the hour to fly by so that we could go back to Nandos with the other SUMSA girls. When we did finally show for Nandos, we were shockered once again... there were less than 20 girls there (as opposeed to well over 50 guys)! And they'd catered for well over 100 in total... so lots of leftovers. Anyway, we were a cosy (more pleasant word for small) group- Cosmos & her friend, Tan, Roofs, Dreema, then there was Girl-whos-name-I've-forgotten, a few others coming and going, and myself.

Meanwhile, me Mum'd been jabbing at her (and Dad's) phone to get in touch with me, to no avail. Not that it was my fault, my mobile was on silent! I finally saw the thousand odd "missed calls" on my phone, SMS-ed my Dad to call me at 2PM, so naturally he starts to call at 1PM. The emergency crisis-type situation turned out to be that my little sister had no keys, and thus no access to our house, so I was told to rush home- lecture or no lecture- and get home before her!

After I got home... (see next blog for continuation of looooong story).