I'll tell you everything about living free

I would like to officially announce the beginning of my 7 week holiday! Words cannot describe how elated I am deep inside to be finally settled down at home with good food, good plumbing, good internet connection and access to civilization. These past few weeks has had its share of ups and downs, right from the suckfest that is my Chemistry AS (in which I spent half a day moping about how I will most likely resit next semester and no medical school would want me, but that's a different story altogether) to the Battle of the Bands, in which, I think, Nutella has redeemed itself.

I don't think I blogged about joining the Battle of the Bands last year, but yes, we did - I finally accomplished my dream of forming a band! I was on rhythm, Faris on lead, Boobies on drums, Farrah on bass and Maddy on vocals. I had originally wanted to form a girl band, but I couldn't find a lead guitarist/drummer so in the end, Nutella was formed. We were pretty shit last year, if I do say so myself, and I think we got last (HAHAHA) but we bounced back this year and I think some people said we actually sounded like a BAND this time.

I was literally shaking on stage as I was tapping my foot along to the rhythm of "Nth Degree", but that feeling you get up on stage, performing in front of an audience knowing that you could screw up any minute and that if you did, it would be obvious because your guitar is hooked up to an amp that fills the entire hall, was definitely an ADRENALINE RUSH! I definitely had fun, from our jamming sessions (or lack of, haha!), screaming at each other in the Music Room because we couldn't hear each other, to the last minute practice before our actual performance. But I had fun, Nutella. And Bubakr and I have decided that should we fail as doctors or chemical engineers, we always have the option of music. Haha! :p

[insert band photo pic here]

And then there was the End of Semester Dinner where a lot of food, camwhoring and moshing took place.. Which will be blogged about much later.

Two days into the holiday and I've already made my mark as a couch potato. I literally did nothing today but eat, watch TV or play Rockband, so not caring about anything academic-related has never felt this good! I don't know what else I've got planned for the week - catching up with movies, perhaps - but if all goes well, I might be heading down to Singapore next weekend with a bunch of friends.

VIVA LA HOLIDAY!

Guest blogger: Lisa Amani

Today, Amirah wore spectacles too class. She is certainly quite lazy today=p No matter, she still looks geekily hot. huhu. She also ditched her friends for debate. but it's okay, WORK comes first!=)
Amirah hasn't finish her SC presentation, currently doing it. tsk2=p

Temptation in its purest form

I distinctly remember the weekend before my last SPM paper - Biology - in November 2007. I came home one day from school to find my sister and father playing the Wii in our very own living room. It was like a cruel joke, having to choose between Guitar Hero and studying about PLANTS.

And now it's deja-vu all over again.

Say hello to THE BEATLES ROCKBAND OH YEAHHHHHHHHHH!

Remind me again why I've never played Rockband before?

Correction.

Remind me again that I have THREE MORE AS PAPERS!

My only justification is that this is the perfect distraction to take my mind off the horrible week I've had. Dreams of forming a family band has now been self-actualized! My dad took centre stage as vocalis - being the die hard Beatles fan he is - while Maria/Elena/I took turns playing guitar and drums. I suspect we'll be recruiting my mom soon, she looked pretty excited. I remember trying my best to resist Guitar Hero during SPM, and now it has come back to bite me in the ass in the form of Rockband during AS!

Nevertheless, this is going to be a jam-packed weekend. An hour after I got back from college today, off we went to BSC to buy new Wii games and lo and behold we came home with The Beatles Rockband! Later that night, we went to Meatworks for steak steak steak. We shared 2 1kg RIB EYE ON THE BONE between 6 people! As soon as we got back, we tore open the box and we've been playing ever since. Tomorrow morning, I'll be off running errands before going to my uncle's house to see my new niece and then rushing back home to prepare for my grandpa's surprise birthday party! (I am 98% sure my grandpa does not read my blog)

The noise, the food, the old folks, the fights, the rush - oh how I've missed home!

The Future Seems Bleak

This is officially the worst week in academia. For me, at least. The most important paper in my career (Chem Paper 2) came and gone yesterday, and I honestly came close to tears but I couldn't afford to because fifteen minutes after that was my BMAT. Which is another story altogether.

I don't know about you, but I found Chemistry Paper 2 hard. I was so fixated on organic chemistry that I was so prepared for it that I think it saved my ass, but what I did not expect was a 19 mark question on oxidation states. It sucks that I was most unconfident with sections of the paper that carried the most marks. I've passed the stage of freaking out, because, well, there's nothing I can do anymore except to maybe score 40/40 for Paper 1. Which is so unlikely.

It doesn't help when you overhear some people saying, "Oh yeah the paper was easy" and then you instantly feel yourself being dumbed down. But I think I can safely say I was not the only one who found it hard? Right? Right?

The very thought of getting a B for my Chemistry AS is killing me because
a) I do NOT want to resit next semester. Not with my four other A2 subjects, oh crap oh crap.
b) MEDICS CAN'T GET B FOR CHEMISTRY. THEY JUST CAN'T.
c) LIFE SO HARD.

And then there was BMAT. I think I can now forego all hopes of going to UCL because I royally f-ed up a Section. I've never felt stupider in my life. Goodbye UCL. Goodbye London. It was fun while it lasted.

I WANT AN A FOR CHEMISTRY PLEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASE.

Three Weeks

will officially be the longest time I've stayed in college at any period. As I am entering the second weekend, I greeted many surprised faces at the cafe last night who stared at me and said, "Eh Amirah, what are you doing here?" I stayed back last weekend for the Alumni Weekend, and this week for the Health Awareness Marathon. I actually had the option to go back today right after the prize-giving ceremony, but I knew I would only end up doing jack shit at home.

I've also improved my domestic skills (or lack of) because I successfully completed doing my laundry in under an hour. Go me! My room is still a warzone but I believe that is a battle for another day. I've also been sleeping a lot so I promised myself I'll study right after this post, so let's hope I go through with that. I'm also suffering from "TV Show Withdrawal Symptoms" because I was so used to watching weekly updated episodes when I went home every weekend. I've officially lost count the number of Glee, Gossip Girl and Ugly Betty episodes I've missed. I haven't even seen Ugly Betty s04e01. :(

My AS has also officially started. Two papers down, four more to go! I had my practicals this week, but as usual I always seem to mess up during the actual exam as compared to the practice sessions which pisses me off. My next paper is Chemistry 2 next week along with BMAT. Herein lies my medical and UCL future because I will cry if I don't get my A. I have no idea how I'm going to prepare for BMAT and juggle Chemistry 2 preparations, so I'm going to wing it.

The wireless network (please excuse any misuse of IT jargon here - I am inept in this area) in college has also gone all haywire! It started in the middle of last week. Suddenly one afternoon, there were rumours going around that college banned Facebook and Youtube. So I was all WTF WTF cos you know, Facebook represents 70% of my social life on campus as pathetic as that sounds, and Youtube is a source of entertainment. And then suddenly later that night, it came back on. Except.. when people started logging in to their FB and Hotmail accounts with THEIR username, and THEIR password.. they ended up logged into somebody else's account. However, as soon as you try to access their inbox, profile, any outgoing link or even update their status (don't pretend you didn't try!) it brings you back to your account and for a minute there, you wonder if some sort of Die Hard 4 shit is going on or that you could have dreamed it all up.

So this cycle repeats the next day and we came to a conclusion that they were banning FB and Youtube during academic hours, but wouldn't that be such a hassle to block/unblock everyday, or did banning have timers? Lol. But anyway, we've apparently found out that the IT Department had nothing to do with this and the involuntary hacking could possibly be the work of a real hacker, but oh well. :P

That is probably about as interesting as it gets here, so the only thing that will be getting me through this week is the comfort of the thought that come Saturday, I'll be eating good home food, I'll be getting my weekly TV dosage and I may possibly catch Time Traveller's Wife!

Ciao bella!

Dear adik bushuk,

You once told me that I didn't write you a birthday post and Omar got one instead, and since I'm free for the rest of the day, here you are - one whole post dedicated to your KTJ departure.

Ahem. Allow me to restart.

Dear adik bushuk,

Papa, Mama, Elena and I helped you settle down last Sunday, and as we drove away from Irinah, I saw "lost" written all over your face. I knew you were excited about it (refer to previous posts) but I  couldn't help but worry for you, Maiya, because you are, in fact:

1) A new kid transferring to KTJ in the middle of the term
2) A kid who was previously in a local daily school, but now venturing into an international boarding life
3) A kid who just finished PMR last week
4) A BABY! The baby we have practically pampered your whole life. This point, I suppose, is partly the reason why Papa chose to ship you off to boarding school, haha.

I am not going to lie and say that I'm not a baby myself, because yes, I admit, I am can be a baby to a certain degree (as Aimi claims anyway) but you are OUR baby, and as a subset, MY baby, because we have been roommates our entire life. Well, your entire life, at least. You'll now be doing your own laundry, coming home every three weeks and having to be responsible for yourself. Nani's not going to wake you up for school anymore, Kak Jumah is not going to pick up after your dirty laundry, and Mama's not going to be breathing down your neck about homework.

It also doesn't help that Fara or Elena once told you, "If you're a new kid in KTJ entering in the middle of term, there's only 2 ways about it: you'll either be popular or end up as an outcast."

I do not know how true this is, and I am pretty sure it isn't - because they left KTJ in 2003, the high school hierarchy should have changed by now cause they were probably just messing with you - but I could tell that it didn't help your nerves. But they did tell you they were kidding about five minutes after that, kan? I know the fact that we (us sisters) practically LOVE and know the movie "Mean Girls" by heart means we can recite every line with perfect comedic timing, if I do say so myself, so it was no surprise that you started drawing examples from the movie when Cady Heron first transferred to high school.

"Will I have to eat meals in the toilet?"

"Will there be a Regina George?"

"Am I going to be known as the home-schooled jungle freak?"

Which clearly does not apply to you, because a) you weren't home-schooled in Africa and b) you're not that big of a freak.

I'm kidding, Maria, you're not a freak.

So anyway, what prompted this post was the call I got from you ten minutes ago. I was relieved because you didn't sound suicidal or depressed, which should be a good sign, right? You're not allowed to use your phone during class hours, by the way, so as you whispered a mini-update about your week so far, I was excited and started firing all the mandatory questions:

Have you made any friends? How are your new roommates? Are they nice? Are they mean? How are the teachers? Do they like you? Do you eat meals alone? Are there any cute boys? Have you spoken to the cute boys? Are they mean cute boys or nice cute boys?

I could tell that you were overwhelmed with my inquisitiveness, so I'm hoping to call you up again tonight. If you do read this, Maria, I'm proud about how you're coping with all these new changes. I can't wait to listen to all your stories and bitchings. Now when I come back every weekend, you're not going to be there to burst with this week's gossip or break into a random song with your ukulele. I won't be able to say, "So, you guys, what is the 411? What has everybody been up to?" (five points to those who know there is from!) to you anymore, because now the tables will be turned! But first, get someone to top up for me ok, hehehe. See you in three weeks, adik.

Love,
Your BFF and, although you don't want to admit it, Your Favourite Sister.

Maiya and Aly (FBIL's niece) had a staring competition. Maria lost.

Conversations With Him

I've never video called with the Curly One ever since both of us entered college (me, here and him in Wales). Internet connection at UWC doesn't permit it so now that he's vacaying in Dublin, Skype is Godsend!

He likes Batman.

If you thought I was bad

If you thought I was a Harry Potter freak, check out an excerpt from my kid sister's blog about going to KTJ:

But I'm also excited to be going to a boarding school, you know? I mean, cause it's like a mini hogwarts! It's not exactly like hogwarts but I can relate to it. They have a boarding house, a common room, a Professor McGonagall (but our housemistress is super nice) a Madame Pomfrey (I haven't met the matron so I'm hoping she isn't as fussy as Pomfrey), a Madam Pince (Only, it's a guy) and I believe I have found my Lavender Brown and Pavarti Patil (Ony, I have a feeling that they're nice people and I don't think any of them are like Lavender Brown...) The sad part is that we don't have magic house elves to cook scrumptious food for us and clean our room and do our laundry. Oh, and we don't have a Hagrid around or a Forbidden Forrest but it does count as hogwarts since the school is like.. somewhere where no one can find.. unless you look at the signboards but yeah.

So, overall, I'm pretty excited. Oh,. and did you know? The words 'Hogwarts' and 'Dumbledore' are now in the word dictionary

So cute!

Also, no substantial blogging for the upcoming weeks because I've got exams, I am a lazy twit and I have to start focusing.

Unless something incredibly juicy and/or I have to let out comes about.

Cheers :)

Cuckoo for cocoa puffs

A friend passed me this video when I was in Form 1. I haven't eaten cereal in a while, so when I did on Saturday morning at the Dining Hall, I remembered this. I don't know whether it's the two guys singing with a jug of milk and a bowl, or it's the fact that the song is about cereal and milk.. I love it. Maria and I love recreating this clip in the kitchen when we're having breakfast. So, this never fails to cheer me up when I'm having a shitty day. I hope it'll give you a tickle, as it did me. Best watched when you haven't eaten cereal in a long time. :)

Colour me pretty

Maria beat me to it, but I thought I'd like to share a couple of my favourite shots from Fara's engagement last week. As I promised earlier, I wanted to add a little colour to brighten up this spot. And if you haven't already seen the gazillion photos I uploaded on Facebook, feast your eyes on this. :)

The entire immediate family on mama's side.

Because family candid shots are the best.

Future-in-laws.

Because no matter how much we yell at each other, fight about who will be putting the DVD in, eating the last drumstick, exercise verbal abuse (and sometimes physical, *cough* Elena *cough) I love my sisters to bits.

The briva and her dulang girls.

PS: I am officially in love with the fish eye lens. I'm going to save up money one day and fulfill my dream of buying a lomocamera. And then the fish eye lens.