20 years from now…

20 yrs from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did.

-Mark Twain

Grad Ball!

I remember my undergrad Grad Ball at Waterloo quite clearly. It was so much fun and a truly once in a lifetime experience that I’ll never forget.

This past Friday night was my Rotman Grad Ball. It was quite different. Its just the nature of things. The age of people and of myself now compared to undergrad. And a 5 year program vs a 2 year program. But it was also an amazingly awesome time and I had soooo much fun!   Different than undergrad, but just as cool  It was at Atlantis Pavillion, the place was nice, the food was blah, the music was excellent, and almost everyone was there! An awesome awesome night! Its also been ages since I’ve posted any pics, so I figure nows a good time! Oh and yes, I’m aware of the remarkable consistency in my smile

I’m all ready to go!

And in Style! Oh yes, the yellow school bus all the way

I actually forgot to take pics of the hall. But the city looked nice looking out from the hall

Some of the guys, Dan, Jordy, Howard, Myself, Gerland

Terry and I

Sony, Myself, and Evelyn

I have no idea what we were laughing at….ah well, haha

Myself and Ferdous

Hmm…theres one thing different here….

Fiona and I

And us 4 years ago graduating from Undergrad.

Myself, Nija, Yai Chen

Myself and Jana. Jana blogs too btw – > Her Blog

Lynn & I

Dan getting hungry   Actually, things ran a bit late and we all got hungry

Which made us kinda silly

Myself & Jaspreet

Gurpreet, myself, Haider

Myself & Usman

Gurpreet, Myself, Eva (half of the greatest corporate strategy team there is!)

Gaurav busting a move

And then Mr. S show the crowd how its done

Jaspreet resting her feet and munching some pizza at the after party

Arjun all partied out haha

In exactly 1 month I’ll be done. And while I really really REALLY can’t wait to be done. I mean I really just want to be done now. I’m going to miss it too…

I

I was letter I by Liya in a volunteer tag type and I feel like blogging so here I go.

The rules: comment on this post and I’ll assign you a letter for which you must list 10 words that you love that begin with that letter. Here I go with my favourite  I words:

1. Internet: I don’t know what I’d do without it! I’m lucky to have friends all over the place and also just being a student life is busy. Its really helped me keep in touch with soo many people. And even meet many wonderful people, including some pretty cool bloggers.

2. InshaAllah:

3. Ice Cream: Mmmmm! And with the weather getting warmer, I’m going to love some more ice cream very soon

4. India: The first place I really travelled and where my travelling addiction started. And also where I have a lot of relatives that I’m very close to

5. Italy: The second place I travelled and wow, its just a beautiful place theres so much to see. The food is awesome too.

6. Idealist: Because that’s what I am.

7. Imagination: Its fun to be a kid sometimes. And important too I think.

8. Inbox: I love getting mail! Well sometimes its way too much. Actually most days it is. Still I always like getting mail

9. Idiosyncrasies: Quirkiness is cool. Well its cool in people I’m friends with. In others, its annoying

10. I: What can I say? I love me haha

Pakistan Pictures

I am Canadian. I’ve always felt that way. With Pride. Growing up I thought of my background as Pakistani. My parents are from there and I visited Karachi several times while growing up. But last time I went was in ~1996. Since then the relatives I was close to there have moved to other places in the world. There are some distant relatives left but no one I really know. Kind of sad actually.

Then in 2004 I had an internship in Chennai, India. And while on it I visited Hyderabad and got to meet all these relatives I’d never met before. The siblings of my grandparents and their kids and so on. It was a fantastic experience that I really loved. I went again in 2006 and again had a blast. Since ‘04 I’ve felt more of a connection to India than Pakistan, because of the family presence. And also my knowledge of Pakistan is quite limited. Its an unfair comparison to be true. Comparing childhood memories of going to peoples houses in Pakistan to 4 months of living on my own and traveling India as an adult. Still, I was like…..what am I going to do in Pakistan? Whats there to see there and theres no one there.

But recently I’ve seen several pictures of Pakistan and its really started to appeal to the traveller in me. And while writing this post its also made me think, hey if I was able to establish such a connection with my Hyderabad relatives when none existed, why not the same in Pakistan (though they are more distant relatives, but still). Anyhow, I don’t know where I’d place it on any list. But now I definitely want to go one day and explore Pakistan. Here is a link to one of the albums I saw with some cool pictures.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=225433&id=796415028

Bollywood Jump Around

I have

discovered that all 9 seasons of Family Matters and all 8 seasons of Perfect Strangers are on Youtube….this is terrible for my productivity……ah well

Unmotivated

Is it the summer yet?

A reminder

As I sat in bed today casually working on a project while watching tv I noticed one of my friends had an msn status of ‘Rest In Peace.’ I ask him what happened. He tells me his sponsored child passed away. A 9 year old girl named Kajol living in India. She died from malaria. We though malaria is preventable (looking it up there are preventive drugs but no vaccine) and he wondered, I thought I was helping her get a better life. Helping make sure she eats right, goes to school, is healthy, isn’t that what the money was for? He was upset that he didn’t even know she was sick and how she likely never got his last package. Then a friend helped him feel a bit better by providing a slight paradigm shift. Think of it this way she said, you have a little angel watching over you now. And that did make him smile a bit.

This is just another reminder to me that alhumdulillah I am very lucky for all that I have. I’ve also always wanted to get involved in one of these organizations and sponsor a child as well. I’m not going to keep putting it off anymore.

Name that movie

Pick 15 or so movies. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie. Post them here for everyone to guess. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie. NO GOOGLING/using IMDb search or other searches.

Hmm…that took longer than I took…and the movies that came to mind are fairly old…

1. No, wait! Doc. Doc. The-the-the bruise – the bruise on your head. I know how that happened! You told me the whole story. You were standing on your toilet, and you were hanging a clock, and you fell, and you hit your head on the sink. And that’s when you came up with the idea for the Flux Capacitor… Back to the Future – Waseem

2. Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die. The Princess Bride – Waseem

3. Boy you don’t know nothing. Mighty Mouse is a cartoon. Superman is a real guy. No way a cartoon could beat up a real guy.

4. Next time, it may be you. If you do no better than they did, next time it WILL be you. They said this school was dead, like the cemetery it’s built on. But we call our Eastside teams “Ghosts”, don’t we? And what are ghosts? Ghosts are spirits that rise from the dead. I want you to be my ghosts. You are going to lead our resurrection, by defying the expectation that all of us are doomed to failure. My motto is simple: If you do not succeed in life, I don’t want you to blame your parents. I don’t want you to blame the White Man. I want you to blame yourselves. The responsibility is yours! In two weeks we have a practice exam, and on April 13th we have the Minimum Basic Skills Test itself. That’s 110 school days from now. But it’s not just about those test scores. If you do not have these basic skills, you will find yourselves locked out. Locked out of that American Dream that you see advertised on TV, and that they tell you is so easy to get. You are here for one reason. One reason only: To learn. To work for what you believe in. The alternative is to waste your time, to fall into the trap of crime and drugs and death. Does everybody understand that? Do all of you understand me? Then welcome to the new Eastside High. Lean on Me – Killa

5. wax on, wax off. The Karate Kid – Waseem

6. I’ll tell you the problem with the scientific power that you’re using here: it didn’t require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn’t earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don’t take any responsibility… for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could and before you even knew what you had you patented it and packaged it and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now you’re selling it, you want to sell it! Jurrasic Park – Waseem

7. Tell me something, my friend. You ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight? I always ask that of all my prey. I just like the sound of it. Batman – MJ

8. No, Eliza, you didn’t “sy” that, you didn’t even “say” that. Now every night before you get into bed, where you used to say your prayers, I want you to say “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain” fifty times. You’ll get much further with the Lord if you learn not to offend His ears. My Fair Lady – Boba

9. Eeeh! Sorry Hans, wrong guess. Would you like to go for Double Jeopardy where the scores can really change? Die Hard – MJ

10. You don’t say “sorry” when you shoot somebody. You can say “sorry” when you step on someone’s toe, or accidentally break their glasses, or when you fart while they’re eating. YOU DON’T SAY YOU’RE SORRY WHEN YOU SHOOT SOMEONE! Nothing to Lose – Mezba

11. Hi Willie. Oh, I’m Mike Walsh. You’ve been expecting me, haven’t you? Well I made it. I beat you. I got here in one piece… so far.

12. You’re 5 foot nothin’, 100 and nothin’, and you have barely a speck of athletic ability. And you hung in there with the best college football players in the land for 2 years. And you’re gonna walk outta here with a degree from the University of Notre Dame. In this life, you don’t have to prove nothin’ to nobody but yourself. And after what you’ve gone through, if you haven’t done that by now, it ain’t gonna never happen. Now go on back. Rudy – Sophister

13. I love that word “relationship.” Covers all manner of sins, doesn’t it? I fear that this has become a bad relationship; a relationship based on the President taking exactly what he wants and casually ignoring all those things that really matter to, erm… Britain. We may be a small country, but we’re a great one, too. The country of Shakespeare, Churchill, the Beatles, Sean Connery, Harry Potter. David Beckham’s right foot. David Beckham’s left foot, come to that. And a friend who bullies us is no longer a friend. And since bullies only respond to strength, from now onward I will be prepared to be much stronger. And the President should be prepared for that. Love Actually – Blackolives

14. The key to faking out the parents is the clammy hands. It’s a good non-specific symptom; I’m a big believer in it. A lot of people will tell you that a good phony fever is a dead lock, but, uh… you get a nervous mother, you could wind up in a doctor’s office. That’s worse than school. You fake a stomach cramp, and when you’re bent over, moaning and wailing, you lick your palms. It’s a little childish and stupid, but then, so is high school. Ferris Buellers Day Off – Waseem

15. Onions! Onions have layers… Shrek – Waseem

I love chocolate and chocolate…..sigh…

A few days ago I was feeling quite bored and didn’t feel like doing school. Still, I’d slacked so much lately I knew I should be at least semi-productive. And so….I started applying to a few jobs, Godiva, lindt, etc

Today I got a response.

Dear GeekiSiddiqui,

Thank you for your interest in exploring a career opportunity with Godiva Chocolatier. This is regarding the International Marketing Manager position for which you submitted your resume. Although your skills and experience are impressive, we have decided to pursue other candidates at this time. We encourage you to create a job agent on our Career Center so that you can be automatically notified when additional positions of interest become available.

Please visit us at http://www.godivachoc.apply2jobs.com/ to set up a Job Agent.

Again, thank you for your interest.

Godiva Chocolatier Staffing

Sigh oh well, it was worth a shot