Quest for a Venue

In less than one hour, I'll be a woman on a mission (you know other than the larger mission of your life which I haven't yet figured out). This weekend, the aim is to find a wedding venue! I've made the appointments, and we've narrowed it down to 6 locations in Houston, TX (don't ask why it's H-town and not Karachi!). Tomorrow, armed a notebook and pen, I shall venture into the unknown and come back triumphant - equipped with a wedding venue and final date.

(If I don't I think my family might disown me).

Wish me luck (for this adventure that I am so not excited about but have to pretend to be regardless!)

TILL I FIND TRIUMPH!
AFSHAN THE CONQUERER

Deposed King of Nigeria

You know who I want to meet? The person who started that whole email scam about the son of the deposed king of Nigeria. Now that's messaging. I mean surely you didn't fall for it - fair enough. But imagine yourself never having heard of that scam and receiving that email. Yep, probably you'd still be like, "What bullshit!" But we've come to live in a world where we've all become skeptical. Maybe 10 years ago, when people still believed in helping the poor guy, someone fell for it.

In any case, I was thinking the other day, that damn, some person actually put thought into creating that email you know. It had the emotions, the money, the pity factor - it all worked.

In case some of you missed it, you can check out some samples of the scam email here. Oh and what you ask, made me think of this? It's Michael Scott's (from The Office) golden words, "When the son of deposed king of Nigeria e-mails you directly asking for help, you help. His father ran the freaking country!"

Sorry there isn't a better clip for this, but enjoy! 

Addendum - My Arch Nemesis... Cooking... GRRRRRR

So this is what I do - when I decide to cook I make complicated things which then turn me off all together. But oh well. Many of you might not find this complicated, but I did - somewhat. In any case, the end result was some kind of chicken nuggets/poppers. It was kinda easy, minus the waiting and putting it into bread crumbs part. But generally it was cool. Just cut up chicken into small pieces, marinated for about 1/2 hour in Shan Karahi Chicken masala with lemon, put the cubes in egg, then onto the bread crumbs. Bake for about 15 mins on both sides each - and you get somewhat edible food. I guess first day cooking is a success.

Who knows about tomorrow though - I might just find it all too dry! Sigh!

End result - still hate cooking! But gonna keep trying all the same.

My Arch Nemesis... Cooking... GRRRRRR

I don't know why I have this relationship with cooking. Over the years it's become worse. I used to cook just fine when I was at college. In fact, once, I cooked for 20 people. Two differrent kinds of biryanis, even a carrot halwa. It was intense. But fun.

And then I have no idea what happened. Part of it could've been the fact that when I moved back home to work in Pakistan after grad school, there was enough good healthy food around me to not have to worry about food. But I'm realizing now that I'm living alone - that I have a major contention with the whole process of cooking. I cook - it turns out pretty ok even - but I just can't eat it. Yes, yes, naturally it's probably not that "ok" then but it really is - I eat it, and even enjoy... but only once. The next time round, I'm thinking - nah, much easier to heat up that frozen bean burrito.

So today, I'm going on a mission. My fiance has given me a plan - to finish up all the frozen food in my fridge, and to promise myself not to eat out. Then, when I'm driven by hunger - I'll look up whatever's in the fridge and come up with something to cook. It doesn't have to be elaborate. Just something to cook. I'm sure there'll be TONS of misses first, but heck - I have to follow the plan and eventually, who knows, I might even be able to make more edible things. (Either that or I'll bomb!)

But so it begins. Today, I'm gonna get rid of what's there. I have some frozen hot dogs from TJ's so I'll mix them up with some frozen veggies, put together noodles and Ragu. And that will be my meal. It's not super healthy - but it's something I make.

I'll let you know if it works. Wish me luck!

Battle Wounds and Return to... the Mundane?

I had to do it. Right before I left Rockwood, I had to ride the bike one last time before I headed out.

Yesterday, both our trainers, Leslie and Helen (I love you both) taught me some more. So today, I got on, found that initial push to gather momentum and move forward. Naturally, then I assumed I'm a pro and figured - heck I can make my own tips.

Reality check: 2 hours of training MAY NOT necessarily make you a pro. Just a thought!

My self-proclaimed epiphany about riding a bike was: if you want to turn in a certain direction - just look there, and your body will kinda turn the bike that way too. (Symbolic of life, no?). Only thing is, try not to be on downwards slope and pretend that all you need to do is smile. I did that - I figured, just smile and look that way and it'll happen. I went... went some more... saw a tree and thought - "Just look away, Afshan, just look away." I looked away. Tree came closer, I thought... "hmmm, gaining speed... thinking look away but kinda staring RIGHT AT THE TREE". I start to gain some more speed thanks to the downhill slope. Still, I'm thinking, "Look away". Tree still approaching... "look away"... tree getting closer... "look... Yea, I'm probably gonna crash into that tree!"

I crashed. And voila - battle wounds (the visible ones). I'm noticing also that as you near 30s, some of the battle wounds arrive in the middle of the night. I'm anticipating some butt aches in the near future. But heck - it's out of my system now. Once you fall... that's it. You've fallen, you know how it is... then you get used to it and life moves on.

And so life has moved on. Rockwood is over. It seems unreal. I can see Leslie's hair flips in my head, hear Helen's voice, "visualize" crazy anchor position, think of Teddy Bears (you know who you are) instead of grizzly bears, remember, literally, the elephants in the room, the dancing, the moments of honesty, and the moments of clash that brought us back to reality too. The experience, that needn't be explained, will remain with us forever.

I really do want to aim to have shorter blogs! Alas - will try again!

Never Too Late to Learn to Ride a Bike!

First things first, thanks to my fantastic and amazing new friend, Zeke, for being such an awesome teacher, for being so patient and so immensely committed to the cause. You now hold a permanent place in my life as the guy who taught me how to ride a bicycle.

Zeke and me!  Pic by Ada Williams Prince

 

Yep - at 29, I didn't know how to ride a bike. Mind you, I'm still no expert. In fact, without an inclination, I can't even get momentum yet. But I got on a bike and with Zeke's help, I learned to first merely balance without my feet, and then, to start pedaling and taking control. I did it mostly on a grassy hill - but also made it to a road once. Not bad for - about maybe 1.5 hours of practice? Yes, Zeke is quite the king!

Since Monday, June 20, 2011, I have been part of the Rockwood Institute's Leadership Training for people working in national security and human rights. It's a training with 24 of the coolest people in the country - from all sorts of backgrounds, all kinds of expertise and tons of diverse experience. (Zeke is one of the many people I've had the fortune of meeting this week). I can't really explain what the learning has been so far, except to say that it's almost had a subconscious impact. I feel like I don't need to write about it - because it will continue to keep coming back to me in my life experiences. And better to share it then!

One thing I can share though - the ability to admit when I'm proud of something. I'm proud that I started to bike, at 29, and managed somewhat. I'm also proud that I'm finally writing. My fiance, Amyn, kinda my backbone really, told me, write just coz you want to write, not coz you want anyone to read. So I write!:)

Unplanned 30s

You know how you plan your life thinking ok I'll go to school (given the opportunity to go in the first place). Then perhaps I'll see if I go to college, or you know find something I like and do it. Then maybe try out graduate school (again, if you get that chance). Then maybe get a better job - in the process somewhere you get get married - for some maybe even have a kid, but mostly not. You pretty much plan out your 20s.

And then it hits you - that you never planned for your 30s! What happens after the marriage, the degrees, that job - then what?! Real life kinda hits right around then. You realize that you're totally disillusioned by what you thought was your life's mission. You hate your job. You realize relationships are WAY MORE work than you had EVER imagined - in fact it's another full time job ON TOP of your job. And BAM! You're almost 30 and you realize - crap, I have no freakin clue what the hell I'm supposed to be doing with my life.

So begin, the 'Unplanned 30s" - that phase of your life that comes after your 20s but seemed so far away throughout your 20s that you just didn't bother with it. Remember when you said, "Yea man, that dude was like 30 or something," describing someone who was "30 or something"? Well... now you're it.

So - as a soon to be 30-year-old, I hereby commence this journey, for anyone who will join it. I have no idea where I'm headed but I'm in the process of figuring it out. I got engaged exactly one year ago today, so marriage is looming ahead. My career is... hmm... a long story. I'm obviously not doing anything I'm passionate about. But I'm on this journey. And heck, it's unplanned, but here goes!