We begin where we last left off, somewhere in July. It was in July that I discovered that Joyland: Rawalpindi Edition™ was a thing that existed, and so I forced Minahel, Fatima and Aaliyaan to visit it with me. A short trip, made even shorter by our inability to have estimated the sheer volume of the crowd that had amassed outside the ticket booth. Nevertheless, we got our 6 minutes of stomach-sinking, freefall emulating Pirate Ship fun, even if Fatima, in true Fatima fashion, chose to wait outside the ride instead of actually experiencing it with us. 

Another notable moment: I got my first prime lens, a nifty fifty, and I love it. Took a still-in-her-nightsuit Fatima outside to take some test shots, and ended up really really loving them. Other subjects of said lens: Breeha, Shayan, Ameera and Chip. 

Sometime in August Baba discovered that a new chain of the famous Mian Jee truck hotel from somewhere between Kharian and Gujrat had opened up in Pindi, somewhere on the GT Road. And so a plan in favor of that ever-glorious tandoori paratha and channay ki daal was made. Good call, even though we had to stop at a couple of fake Mian Jee's along the way.

September was when I was unabashedly greedy; I didn't want to waste my time simply because I didn't have much of it left. No, I wasn't dying, I was just moving to Istanbul for a six-month internship. And because of that, I tried to spend every passing minute of it at home, with mama, baba and Chip. 

Would you consider it a good omen that my first day of work was on my birthday? I've always liked my birthdate: 30th September has a good feel to it, it just sounds right. Good omen or not, it was the start of six very interesting months in my life. 

I had never experienced a formal work environment before, let alone a non-Pakistani formal work environment, and it was both different but also the same. I got a chance to shed some of my sometimes-restrictive South Asian takkaluf - here people did not think twice before initiating a conversation with you, a stranger. Nobody seemed to get offended if you asked them seemingly personal questions, age differentials didn't matter too much, if at all.  

I did stay true to my disbelieving political science student self, and reaffirmed my suspicion of the United Nations as a concept. Also to be found was the usual petty politics. The fact that a 24 year old working at an actual UN organisation could still end up embroiled in petty drama, was mind-blowing. Drama is eternal y'all. 

On 3rd November a bunch of my new friends had a potluck and I had tteokbokki for the first time!! Love you Hyeonsoo! (I wonder if her listening to me rave about how much I wanted to try Korean food was similar to goray saying 'omg I luv India I luv butter chicken I luv Indian food'?). Anyway, I took with me Achari Aalu and Haleem, capitalised for I don't know what reason. I found it fascinating that the spice from the Korean rice balls (Jumeok-Bap) was making me cry, but Yeni and Hyeonsoo were fine, and the spice from the Achari Aalu was making them cry, but I was fine??

On 30th November Fatima and I went to see Mac DeMarco in concert (30 again!!). We had great 'seats' (the general admission stand right by the stage) and we stood for 3 hours under the glowing lights listening to die-hard fans singing along word-for-word next to us. Thora sa guilty feel kiya, because we weren't die hard fans, just fans, and that too, barely. Oh, and he threw a guitar at us. Not me and Fatima specifically, and not because of our admission of not being big enough fans, but because Mac Demarco is insane and that's what he does. It landed in the row right in front of us, and there was a 2-minute long stampede as people scrambled to grab it. Eventually two people were taken out by security because they would not stop fighting over it. Did you need to know this much detail? 

Honorable mentions: a holiday party at Karen's that I was embarrassingly early to, and at which I somehow managed to meet other Pakistanis? A cute Christmas party for people alone on Christmas, where I had really terrible food but the conversation was nice? Being home alone at New Years Eve because Fatima had gone out with her friends and so I Skyped with Nimra for 3 hours and showed her the fireworks outside my house at 12 AM? Happy new year. 

In January I discovered Cajun seasoning, and subsequently made Cajun fries for dinner almost every night. I also went to Bogazici University for the first time and fell in love, as I followed the muffled sound of someone playing the drums in a small studio tucked away on the basement level of one of the buildings. Did I proceed to stare in through the window like a creep? Yes. 

Also at Bogazici was the dog shelter where I went once, but (rather unrealistically) planned on going every weekend. Needless to say, I fell in love with every dog. Also saw the reincarnation of Scooby-Doo, rather blasphemously named Omar. Turks, amirite? 

February was when I saw my first snowfall!! It was magical! I loved it! This month also comprised of a lot of coffee cup fortune telling, and a lot of photoshoots with unassuming victims. Zeynep took me to an expensive Turkish kebab place, which was amazing. Can't wait to go back. In return, I took her to a Beatles cover band, which was not so amazing. And then we went to her place where we made our new years resolution lists. I left her house next morning to meet my next model, Yunus, who was surprisingly alright with most of my editorial decisions, even if they involved pink blush. In return, I took him to see Leprous, a band neither of us had listened to before. I'm beginning to realize that maybe taking people to see mediocre bands isn't a good enough return for their kindness...

Hey! I threw a party this month! It was a nice cute small Valentines Day party for people who were deeply sad and lonely. Ha! Just kidding, it was for my friends, who just happened to be deeply sad and lonely. I loved it so much. Fatima and Minahil also invited their friends, and it was just a nice weird mish-mash of university kids and UN employees (how weird is the word mish-mash?). I also made a googly eye cake. As you do. 

I went home to Pakistan for a week for my graduation, met my parents and my dog and my friends and my lovers Mr. Johnny and Mr. Jugnu. LSE did not disappoint, the graduation was a trainwreck. But it was an excuse for me to meet everyone; Amal had also come back from Karachi, so the gang was truly complete. My mother met Shayan's mother for the first time since I started LSE :)) About time? 

And then back to Istanbul in March. And what a bizarre month, because no one knew how crazy the whole coronavirus thing would get, and how my time would get cut short by a week. So while Fatima and I Great Dong Fang-ed (an all-you-can-eat Chinese Buffet that I miss so deeply), and Hazal, Zeynep and I Gozlemio-ed (a fast food style Gözleme place that I miss so deeply), we didn't really think about doing all of that fast enough and frequently enough. And we definitely didn't think about when we would say goodbye for the last time, and unbeknownst to us, our last Gozlemio day became the last time that we would see each other. And so, on the 20th of March, when we were flying back to Pakistan, I hadn't said goodbye to Hazal, Zeynep or Yunus before I left, which pained me immensely. I needed closure, dammit.

So there you have it. A very quick recap of basically my entire last year. That nobody asked me for. But it's okay, because this is more for me than it is for you, truthfully. I have no idea what August holds in store for me, but I hope that everyone is safe and the coronavirus just fkn goes away already yaar, bass ho gai hai. (Sidenote: is it normal to feel like a sell-out for italicising urdu phrases?)

Ok bye. See you aglay saal. 

🌹Regram @elodieinparis #ihavethisthingwithfloors

A photo posted by I Have This Thing With Floors (@ihavethisthingwithfloors) on Aug 2, 2015 at 1:23am PDT

This ruggedly handsome guy looks like a long lost Hemsworth brother and I am NOT mad about it. His blatant disregard for those subway safety signs has me thinking he isn’t afraid to break the rules. I could pretend I'm an officer writing him a ticket and if everything goes as planned, he'll be the one handcuffing me. #NextUpStripSearch #hotdudesreading #HDRfangram

A photo posted by Hot Dudes Reading - Official (@hotdudesreading) on Jul 14, 2015 at 6:33am PDT

#MyKidCantEatThis grilled cheese sandwich because it has a "tail" and he doesn't eat animals. #NiceTry #CheeseTail #BandNames #EatYourFood - @rugratmommy

A photo posted by My Kid Can't Eat This (@mykidcanteatthis) on Jul 21, 2015 at 2:17pm PDT

Another whale came up in Venice 🐋

A photo posted by Robert Jahns (@nois7) on Jun 28, 2015 at 12:35pm PDT

Coffee is my morning savior. #100CoffeeCups

A photo posted by Josh Hara (@yoyoha) on Aug 6, 2015 at 6:13pm PDT

1. It's so cold.
2. Going to bed is a torture.
3. Ice-cold clothes.
4. SHOWERINGGG.
5. Getting out of the shower.
6. Trying to tell yourself that no, it is NOT cool to just sit in front of the heater and yes, you have to put clothes on.
7. You put on THREE pairs of socks, and your feet are still frozen.
8. It's SO FRIKKIN COLD.
9. How do you even wake up at seven? 
10. You edd ub soudig like this. 

I mean, there's not even snow here to make it all worth it :/

1. Winter Sunlight <3
2. How winter parties are so much more cosier.
3. How hot chocolate tastes infinitely nicer when it's cold outside.

Umm, that's kind of it. But hey, something's better than nothing, right? So anyway, next post will be about our Lasagna Party so yayy :D

So, I can't be the only one who's a slave to the Internet, right? I mean, we all say that 'we'll only check our Facebook for a minute' or 'I just wanna check my email' and then end up staring at a dog licking our desktop. It happens to the best of us, right? (Hear that, Ma?)
Well, what I started noticing was, that there is no bigger fixie, than the Internet. I'm serious. It has crept into our lives, and planted it's claws so deep into our hearts (dare I say, souls?) that distancing ourselves from it is just not an option anymore. It's not humanly possible. Or is it?

I've decided to start this series of challenges, which basically help me attain Self-Actualization, BUT it would be great if you guys joined in as well, cause these kinda things work great as groups.

The first thing I'm challenging myself (and you peeps reading this) is No More Internet. Gasp gasp, shock shock. I know. I also know that it is JUST NOT POSSIBLE for me to completely 100% stay away from the Net, SO, what we're gonna be doing is, cutting down on our Internet Time. 

I was thinking that one hour of the internet per day SHOULD be enough. (Emphasis on should, there is no limit to the time I can spend surfin' the good old web.) So I'll choose a time of the day, probably sometime at night, so I have loads of stuff to look forward to :P And that will be the only hour I get for the day.

Let's just do this for a week, and then we'll see how things turn out, okay? It might do us good, cause I've been doing loads of soul searching lately, and have been wanting to make some changes. 

So, are you up for it? Think you can do it? Do you even WANT to do it? :P Do let me know. Good luck, and many prayers!
xoxo
K.M

What upp frenzz? I know its been a while, and I apologize, I really do. But I had some Very Important Exams to take which is just downright sad. BUT, I've got a leeetul free time on my hands now, so hopefully you'll be hearing a little more from me...whether you like it or not :) Or not =p

Anyway, I've been feeling sooo good all day :o It's kind of unbelievable how happy I've been these past few days. My bipolarism has reduced to a minimum, I'm not being overly distraught, and Fatima hasn't been having any problems with me...well not any major ones :P

Have you guys ever thought about how simple life actually is? No seriously, think for a minute. As a Muslim, right now, my life actually only requires two things:

• Offer all 5 prayers
• Be a good, kind, loving human.

That. Is. It.

That's it. Nothing else, cause I think if you take care of these two fundamental points, everything else comes to you itself. And really, how STUPID are we really, to mess up such a simple thing. Ab I know the more cynical people might get into the nitty gritties and argue that as a Muslim, we are required to do so much more and just these two points aren't enough. I get it. I do. But don't you think, if we were to be a good human, who knows the rules, knows the limits that have been set out for them, is kind and helpful to EVERYONE, loves everyone. Don't you think that person is covering everything else? Idk about you, but that's what I think. I think the simpler you keep your philosophies, the better. I think we all just need to harness the goodness that is inside of us, and it becomes that much easier. It being life, of course. 

But I'm kind of going off topic. So I was going through Facebook, and I came across this wonderful page, called 'No Time Like'. I think it's an amazing page because it promotes kindness and in fact, is all about how you can heal yourself to become a better person, and a better human being for others. It's got brilliant concepts, such as the idea of 'Paying Kindness Forward', which in essence is just doing something kind for someone, without expecting anything in return. 

For instance, in America, it's become fairly common for drive-thru customers to discover that their bill has already been paid by the car in front of them. I kid you not. How amazing is that? Check it out in this article. I think it would be lovely if this ever happened in Pakistan. We need to start this wesay, these acts of random and anonymous kindness. It would be a brilliant way to bring our much-divided community together again. I think I'll start this, make it a challenge for myself. 
Downside: People might not like it, they might object. BUT. Omg brainwave. What if at the grocery store, before leaving, I give the cashier some money and ask them to deduct it from the next perosn's bill? What do you think? Although there is a chance k it doesn't work, because we can all be dishonest sometimes.

I mean to work on that too btw. I want to teach the underprivileged free of cost. And I will start, InshaAllah, when things settle down a bit. Though I have no idea how... :/

Anyway, lighter note. Here are some links around the internet, you might find them interesting. I know I did :P

Is this The World's Most Beautiful Castle? I don't know, but I sure do want it *sobs*

Bored? How about this random and somewhat useless site?

A friend sent me this sad thangg. Oh God, it's tragically beautiful.

This is such an interesting blog! They're documenting last meals :P

Speaking of which, this is another very cool blog. Very informative, and a little creepy, but interesting nonetheless. 

Well mon amie. Tonight the parents are going out for some official dinner thingy. So I guess it's party time for me and the sisss. Oh yeahhh *happy dance*
Hope you guys have a brilliant Saturday (what's left of it anyway :P) and an even more amazing year! Do pray for this crazy old thangg, and BE KIND TO PEOPLE!
Loads of Love,
xxx
Khadija M.

PS. I need help with some technical stuff on the blog, anybody out there who's a whizz at IT stuff?
Maybe I need a graphic designer too.... :/