Against all odds

It's been a while since I posted, so this is going to be a long post.

I've been busy. I got an online job, I have two online classes that I'm taking-Oh yes, unbelievably boring-and I went to summer camp today =D

And there's a ton of other stuff going around, too. Like this really creepy incident at Aga Khan..

First off..

I don't believe in friends anymore. No, don't look so shocked. I stopped believing in best friends two years ago, when my 'best friends' decided that they didn't need me anymore.

Why do I not believe in friends anymore? Because in my experience, people talk to you, be nice to you, and help you out only while they still need you. After that, they won't care about you. Until they need you next, they won't care about you. Maybe you've had a different experience, and you have awesome friends.

When I mean friends, I mean friends in general.

It's not like I don't have awesome friends. I have really, really, really awesome and nice friends. That's referring to the few who actually read this blog when I text them to.

By the way,

I read this quote somewhere..

This life is hell for the believer and heaven for the unbeliever.

TOTALLY AGREE. I mean, come on, it IS hell if you can't go outside for ten minutes without having to worry about getting kidnapped or robbed or killed, right?

Then there was this other one..
Edwin Brock-Five Ways to Kill A Man..

"These are, as I began, cumbersome ways to kill a man.
Simpler, direct, and much more neat is to see
that he is living somewhere in the middle
of the twentieth century, and leave him there"

http://www.davidpbrown.co.uk/poetry/edwin-brock.html

It's a really awesome poem, by the way.

Did you hear that Rebecca Black's mum took her Friday song off YouTube because she had copyright issues with the production company?
Now I can't bug my brothers by playing the original version of it everyday.

So I have to compromise.

Which means singing it myself whenever it's the appropriate time.
Like when I see my relatives, I go..

It's fun, trust me. And I think that Rebecca Black can sing but she needs a new song writer.

You're probably wondering when I'm going to talk about the creepy thing that happened.
It's.. now. So skip if you don't like scary stuff.

We were at Aga Khan Hospital, took my great-grandmother to the emergency cause her right eye was just SO swollen and she needed a doctor immediately.
My aunt, cousin, younger brother and I dropped off my mom and my great-grandmother (pray for her health please, by the way) at the emergency and then went to wait in the parking.

Now my aunt was driving, I'm in the passenger seat, and my brother and cousin are in the back. When we're pulling in to park, there was this white Corolla on our left parked like this:

I could see this guy in blue shalwar-kameez, wearing a namaz-wali-topi and looking down at something. Now all our windows were rolled down cuz it was so hot and windy. As soon as we parked, I grabbed a book and started reading (I always carry books with me) while my brother and cousin looked around at the Aga Khan sports center and other cars.
After a while, they asked my aunt and me if we could see anyone sitting in the back seat of the car-they said it was a woman. Now the rear windows of the car were totally tinted so I couldn't see anything through them. The front windows were perfectly clear and I could see through the windows to the other side of the car where there was another car parked.

And the guy who had been sitting there wasn't sitting there at all. Not creepy, since he could have gotten out or something.

But then my brother and cousin saw a guy sitting in the front all of a sudden. And they asked us to look if we could see him too. Now I'm looking at the front side of the car. There was no one there sitting either in the passenger seat or in the driver's seat. I may wear glasses, but honestly I could not see anyone sitting there. At the exact same time that I'm looking at the car, my cousin and my brother are too. And both of them swore that they could see a guy sitting there, with long hair and blue clothes. My aunt couldn't see him either.

Now there's four of us staring at the exact same car at the exact same place. And two of us can see a guy sitting there and two of us can't.

SCARED US ALL TO DEATH. So while my brother says that he's going to leave the car and my cousin is really scared and asking us to move the car somewhere else, my aunt is thinking that it was all a joke.

While I told the two in the back to stop talking and say the Ayat-ul-kursi and convinced my aunt to park the car somewhere else, I was SOMEHOW able to stay in control of everything.
It's like a gift. Like when this boy at high school fell down during a basketball game and a huge crowd of onlookers is just staring on-including prefects, by the way. I saw the crowd and went like this:

So when I got there, everyone is just asking him if he's okay while the boy-clearly in pain and unable to speak-was lying on the ground. So instead of asking them what happened, I picked him up, got another guy to support him on the other side and carried him to the nurse.

It was just so natural for me to walk in and know what to do. My brothers still can't figure out how I do it. They were among the onlookers at the scene, by the way.

But back to the scared-out-of-our-wits-event.
So we pulled out and went away. But I still don't get who that person was. Cuz humans aren't supposed to be able to see jinn, right? I mean, they ARE there, but I'm not an expert on them, so help me out here.

Now for the good stuff.

I went to summer camp today. YEAY.

How I got there, though, is a story of against all odds. That's why the title, yes.

We've finally had electricity. But the water finished. So my dad and I went out, got the chowkidaar to turn the motor on, and waited for our water tanks to fill so we could turn the valve off.

Now while we're waiting, my dad decided that it was time for me to go on a parade.
Seriously. It was midnight-actually midnight-and he had me walking from one end of the apartment complex to the other end. Marching all the way. Yeah, with the arms going up and down and one-two, one-two. He stood and watched.

I got bored after a bit. So I started giving him the military salutes.
Like the Chinese one..

And the Pakistani one..

And the Hail Fuhrer one. Almost got kicked for that one. :p

But then it turns out that the motor wasn't running properly.
So I, with my cough and cold and exhausted body, had just marched for an hour for NOTHING.

But it meant that I could finally go back inside, finish my online homework, submit it, and sleep by one am. Not good when you have to wake up at the crack of Dawn and can get migraines.

I woke dad up in the morning to find out that he had slept at four am. Why? Cause he'd gotten our tanks half-filled with water from our neighbors. So he didn't want me to go and VOLUNTEER.

I got him to drop me off-just ONCE though-but he said yes.

And then we got on my cousin's sports motorcycle and found out that it was punctured. So dad went and got it fixed.. which meant that it was already 9:30 when we left home.

I was supposed to be there at 9:30.

But my dad took me there at 100km/hr the entire way. Took ten minutes, so pretty awesome =D

And a kind soul agreed to give me a ride to the camp for the rest of the workshops.

Thank you, God.

While we were at the workshop today, they asked us the same three questions that they always ask us.

1. Name the five richest people in the world.
2. Name the last five Miss Universe winners.
3. Name the last five best actor Oscar winners.

Four years, and I never bothered to look that up before I went to the workshop. :p

I have a question for you, though.
Who is richer, a person with tons of money but no family, or a person with little money but his/her family's love?

My HiGhWaY tO hELL

I turn the music up, I got my records on
I shut the world outside until the lights come on
Maybe the streets alright, maybe the trees are gone
I feel my heart start beating to my favorite song

Why can't I stay angry for long?

At anyone or anything. For any reason. Yes, unless you delete my number, ignore my text, refuse to eat my cooking, or lie to me.

So I got really angry today because I didn't get permission to volunteer for my favorite summer camp.

Okay, lemme rewind and tell you about it and why I want to go so badly.

See how happy all those kids look? That's what I volunteer for. To see all those smiles.
And yes, I'm in one of the pictures. Ten cents if you correctly guess who I am.

There's a group of fifty or so volunteers who plan activities for them.
Stuff like making masks, painting t-shirts, playing games, hair-styling, and tons of other stuff!

Did I mention that we do all this at an SOS village? And most of the kids are orphans and the rest are Deaf children.

Which means that we have to practice and learn sign language.

That is fun, yes.

And of course, we get to socialize. It's fun even if you're having the worst time with other friends, going through hard times, or anything. It just.. makes you so thankful and happy.
Can't put the exact feeling into words. Sorry.

But, um, yeah, I might not be able to go this year. I didn't go last year because I was in America. And I was REALLY looking forward to it. Why can't I go? Because I don't have a car.
And my parents refuse to let me use a public bus or a cab.

Why? Yes, you guessed it.

"It's not safe!"

Sigh. Welcome back to Karachi, indeed.

Oh, I can drive, yes. We just need to buy a car. Which we are not going to do for some time because the car market is going to go down. So since we have much less money than what we left with, we're waiting.

Patiently and yet impatiently.

I keep getting upset every other day at the fact that I have to stay within the apartment complex all day. And there's tons of people who can't move out of their beds.

I'm sounding thankless, yes. That's step one on my highway to hell.

Why don't we have that much money, you may ask?

Because we sold all three of our cars and my dad's motorcycle when we left for America. We weren't expecting to come back so soon, no.

Sold the furniture too. And my books. My entire library of books. MY books.

I should be happy that I can read, right? I am.. but I still want my books back! Or new books!

That's step two on my highway to hell.

My dad says that I should study more instead of reading so much fiction and watching so many umm.. cartoons. yes, i love star wars animated. can't wait for the next season.

He says that if I studied more, I would get into Harvard the next time that they have twelve positions left and fifteen hundred applicants.. and I apply.

Yes, I applied to Harvard, and no, I did not get in.

And yes, I study a lot. But take some breaks too.

That's step three on my highway to hell.

Not studying as much as my dad wants me to.

By the way, if you really think that Karachi is as safe as it used to be, think again.

I can't trust the Rangers anymore. Trust the police only. And trust them because my dad is a cop. Tells you a lot, doesn't it?

I'm only saying all that highway to hell stuff because I'm really, really, really sad right now. Depressed, almost.

In fact, yes, totally depressed. Sigh.

Step four to highway to hell? You decide.

Before you decide, check out these funny pictures I found on my computer from ages ago.
Yes, that's me when I was a baby. Reminds me of a dream I had last night. Was the only person to take care of a baby in it. Scary.

I am going to study this week, though. Like a lot. Going to Arena with my friends tomorrow, though. They're picking me up. Don't know how I got permission for that.

Sigh.

Good night.