Addiction

Addiction is bad, infect it is your worst enemy it makes your life miserable. There are many types of addictions, some are addicted to booze, some to smoking and drugs, some to chaalia and some even to sex (yea ask David Duchovny). Whatever your addiction is, it surely ruins your daily routine and not let you follow whatever you wanted to do or had to do. Probably some of you might argue, being addicted to ones own goals is a good thing , it’s the way to success whether its an exam, some project or some hobby. But I am here talking about the negative addictions which will not take you anywhere.

And here comes a confession I think I am addicted to this Football Manager Live MMORPG, as its clear from its genre its an online game where you manage a football club from finances to team management and ofcourse you must win. Decide your team formation, define strategies, outsmart other human players. Sounds fun? Yup but not when you get home at 5 and u straightaway log in to the game and you are playing it till 8 Then you take some break for dinner or tv and then again start it at 10 and end at 1. All the reading? All the Tv series? Daily exercises? All the extra work you were supposed to do gets delayed and delayed and delayed and this is NOT GOOD sigh and the worst part is I have already paid for first 3 months :( ( Starting from mid November).

So I need to find my way out :S somehow.


PS: Googled and found this How to Overcome an MMORPG Addiction

Unfortunately Symptoms are all there, not much excessive but they are there :S

Happy Birthday Sparkle Chotu

Everyone do wish Dinky Mind on her birthday



She has turned 10 today :P




PS: I am in Karachi on annual vacations

MS Plan

Ok so I am back after ages, I guess I am yearning to write today. Anyhow updates are I am planning to apply for MS for fall 2008 or 2009 semester. So from last month and a half I have been busy first with GRE and Toefl preparations and now with admissions process. And the result of it is I have been totally out of touch with blogging world infact from my regular friends too.

GRE score wasn’t great, I underestimated level of difficulty and amount of time required for practice hence scored less than what I could have and wanted to. But it was fun learning new words and trying to add more to vocabulary (though most of them seem to be fading from memory now). Well for Toelf I just had three days to prepare so it all rush but fun. Still waiting for its score.

But whats freaking me out is that I just have 7 days to write a SOP(statement of purpose) and get Letters of recommendation from people. And I am supposed to write one letter of recommendation myself sigh. So lets keep the fingers crossed, do pray and I will try keep updating.

Admission process isn’t easy, it requires constant effort and its not just about GRE or Teofl. All the pieces of your application package must be given due time and prepared well enough. Although I started quite late I would suggest anyone looking to apply to start atleast 6 months before. That will give you enough time to prepare each and everything and it is always better to apply a lot before the deadline.

October the 8th

Exactly two years back, our country was rocked by the biggest catastrophe of its juvenile history. The event and the destruction it caused united our nation for a single cause. It effected many of us and changed millions of lives forever. Never ever we witnessed Pakistanis from all walks of life, of all ages coming together with whatever they could to take part in this revolution. I somehow feel the current political solution in our country isn’t much different than what we faced two years back, perhaps we cannot visualize the scale of damage. But its consequences can last for decades. We have a responsibility to this country, to our future generations. If we let this go, if we accept what is going on in the name of “national reconciliation” then I guess we are equally as criminals as them and I am sure the generations to come will have many questions to be asked of us.

May Allah help us all and provide place in Heaven to those who lost their lives, Ameen

My hands are tied

My body bruised, she's got me with

Nothing to win and

Nothing left to lose

Back in town

Alrite people I am back in Karachi for a month's vacation(already 13 days are over) :(, good times are back :D. Luv the city not to forget moms food :D.

Hello again

Alright another entry, Murtaza was in Dubai last week partially to have a break from work and partially for something I don’t know about(I guess). Anyhow met him on the weekend and we took him to Desert safari and it was total fun. It was my second going but last time it was ruined by motion sickness but this time I went prepared so enjoyed a hell lot, couple of pictures I am uploading here rest will upload on flickr.

And Yesterday Danish and Kamran were here with their wives and I took them around the city I think I was a good host :P.

A BORING POST, argh

Moi is back

Hello all, I guess I am back and hopefully hopefully will be regular now. A lots has happened in past two months but lets not even get there, one thing which I must do is introduce my civic to you people well yes its not a bimmer, but its cost effective and so far serving well :). And yes one more thing yesterday finally I was able to run 4 Kms :P I don’t know if any of you remember but it was one milestone I wanted to achieve, ok ok its nothing for seasonal runners but an achievement for me :P though I wont stop here will first make it a regular habit then will built on it :), so hows everyone? Expect comments on your blogs soon.

On a Break

See you guys pretty soon.....

Arrival

So finally after a long, painful wait :P, wifey dearest is about to land. And so will begin a new phase.

And oh yea here is my Visual DNA ;)

Read my VisualDNA
™

Get your own VisualDNA™

PS: There is some problem with the html code here, comments link and "Get your own VisualDNA" link which you cant see are overlapping each other so for people using IE click on comments counter to post a comment that is if you want to :P.

Update 2: apparantely after writing some text has put up some space between the two links so all kinda fixed :P

Bob Woolmer

Tough, you think you've got the stuff
You're telling me and anyone
You're hard enough

You don't have to put up a fight
You don't have to always be right
Let me take some of the punches
For you tonight

Listen to me now
I need to let you know
You don't have to go it alone

Last couple of days have been a shocker, after our humiliation at the hands of Ireland I thought nothing can get worst but just after few hours I was proved wrong. Bob Woolmer our team coach left us. The circumstances in which this event took place, it hit all of us deep down inside, it was shocking I still cannot believe it. Sports taking life of someone, it is totally unimaginable. As soon as I heard the news on TV I called up my friend but I couldn’t gather the strength to tell him, I just asked him to switch to Geo it is about Bob Woolmer I told him. Emotions got better of me and I was struggling to hold on to my tears. Soon smses started to flow in, people called and everyone I talked to was in complete state of shock and grief. It felt someone very close to us has left, someone very dear. It is very rare that death of a person who is not even a fellow countryman can hit a Nation so hard. Such our love to game of cricket is and such a love we had for one who was serving our cricket team with all his commitment and determination. I don’t think I have shed these many tears since years. But it wasn’t just us, everyone who is associated with cricket was equally upset. Tributes keep pouring in from ex players, current coaches, current stars, respective boards which goes to show how much he was respected and loved by everyone.

In 2004 when he joined the Pakistani team as coach, there was a feeling among us the cricket fans that the good days are not far away. Though they arrived slowly but eventually once again we were beginning to challenge the very best in the game. Our Test and ODI rankings got higher and perhaps that is when we(fans) got rapacious and started demanding more, a pressure which could very well be the cause of his sad demise.

Woolmer was a true professional a wonderful innovative, his services to Pakistani team are tremendous, he had his short comings too but then who doesn’t. But he completely changed the outlook of our side. He gave them the direction, mental strength and self belief. And as a result we witnessed some miracle performances from our team. Along with Inzamam he transformed this team from a bunch of talented but erratic individuals to a formidable unit. The unity which was visible within the team was an effort of both of these two. That is why even after losing three key players for the world cup we still believed that we can if not win it can achieve a lot in this World Cup. Maybe he believed in that too and our shameful exit took its toll on him. Whatever the reasons maybe but its hard not to believe that if he had been coaching some other team then it may not have happened, but as Muslims we believe that death has its time and circumstances are just a way of it.

Woolmer was famous among journalist and fans for his kindness and importance he gave to them and their opinions, that is why I remember before the world cup me and Abid chatted about to suggest him our playing eleven and our preferred batting order. Though we never managed to do that (call it laziness) but we were hopeful that if we do email him he would respond, such an access to national team coach was unimaginable before him. And when yesterday I met Abid on chat we could hardly talk to each other.

Tomorrow Pakistani team will play its last match of the world cup, it will be very hard for them to concentrate on cricket he was like a father to them. But they are dedicating this match to him. I just hope they give such a sort of performance which would have pleased Woolmer. Plus it will be Inzi’s last game I am just praying that he leaves the ODI stage with a thumping performance.

In the end I will end this post with the great man’s own words

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery. Today is the present - a gift to make the most of.”

He lived for cricket, he died for cricket.

PS: picture courtesy of sportinglife.com