Home is behind, the world ahead.

He looks out of the window; he can see the city lights, brightest in the dark just before dawn.
He smiles and takes pictures of the view with his camera, even as the passengers next to him chuckle.
He ignores them; he's the one who hasn't seen his home in years, and his excitement has been building with every passing second.

He keeps taking pictures, even after the airplane touches down and lands. He stays calm and doesn't jump out of his seat, even though almost every one else does. He has waited years for this, and he's patient enough to wait a little bit more, even though his heart won't stop racing.

He looks exhausted, but really happy at the same time; it's the look of someone who is at peace.
He walks through immigration and security; calmly collects his bags and loads them onto the trolley, and finally faces the front doors. He can feel the warm morning breeze, even with the air-conditioning. Every step brings him closer to what he's been waiting for.

He walks through the automatic sliding doors, and through the waiting crowd outside. He's used to it, but it still feels different every single time. There's no one waiting to meet him, but he had planned it this way. He was home earlier than everyone thought he would be. He takes a deep breath; this is what he's been waiting for.

He looks up at the bright sky, and frowns as the world starts turning black. It hits him in a sudden panic, and he wakes up. He's 8300 miles away from home, and it was just a dream.

Happy Birthday, Pakistan. I really miss you.

Alhamdullilah!

*this is a happy post, scout's honor*

So I woke up yesterday and today with a migraine.

And I was just like.. no.
I had a presentation yesterday morning-a really important one, because I was presenting my proposal for my team's topic for our research project.
Oh, and I was presenting to my engineering class.

Which is kind of intimidating since everyone in that class is older than me and everyone probably knows a lot more technical stuff that I do.

I was the first to be presenting, too. Kind of a funny story how I got to present first. My teacher asked us how we wanted to present, and I raised my hand and volunteered-which shocked everyone, because engineers aren't usually very social and comfortable with presenting-and my professor said okay, but asked how we still wanted to do it.
And I couldn't resist; I raised my hand again and asked if this was the point where we all wrote down our names and she picked them one by one just like in the hunger games and I volunteered. Which made everyone laugh, but that's what we ended up doing.

So I had breakfast & medicine and got there on time and everything.
My proposal was how and why internet slows down when there are lots of people connected to the Wi-Fi.
And while presenting-something that I always do, even though it's considered playing with fire-I made a joke to get everyone's attention, make it memorable, and my jokes are almost always stuff that actually happened. And the joke was.. My choosing the topic came about while I was sitting at the UTD library and researching quantum computers, and this individual-professional language, right?-sat near me and started playing Call of Duty online on his laptop, and I could hear the sounds through his speakers & knew what was going on. My internet slowed down because he was taking up so much of it, so I started downloading a movie so his internet would slow down too. (Oh, and this actually happened. I may be super nice, but never mess with me. Find somewhere else to play Call of Duty online.)

Everyone loved my presentation, and that's how the awesomeness started. *wide smile*

I've been doing nothing but studying and working till my test today-and my test went great, Alhamdullilah, I understood almost everything since I studied with some new friends I've been making these two weeks.

Oh, and when I came out of my test auditorium at 8:30, I had three missed calls from my mom, a bunch of texts, and a voice mail, asking where I was, if I was okay, and to call her as soon as I got her voice mail. Turns out, she had thought my test ended at 7 instead of 8:30. Parents are awesome-not making fun of anyone, they really are awesome, I know lots of parents who don't care about their kids. So I am really blessed, Alhamdullilah.

I've been praying ten times as much as I used to-while I'm walking around, while driving-and the feeling of.. joy.. that I already have? It's like you work harder than you used to and you see the results much faster.
So, Alhamdullilah.

By the wayy. You know how guys love their cars? I'm thinking of buying new rims for mine-yes, it's a Honda Civic 2001, not a sports car-but I love my car; I'd rather have the car I drive now than a Camaro or a Mercedes, Audi, or even a Lamborghini Gallardo-which are some of my favorite cars in the world.

Cause if you let me, here's what I'll do
I'll take care of you

It's not the end of the world

Finally, peace.


It's so quiet when everyone is asleep and there's no one to text.
Or anyone to talk to.


Now, if it could just rain and I could sit outside when it does, it would be just perfect.


It's not the end of the world if you're not loved. It's not the end if you have a lot of things to handle and just one you. It's not the end if you have to wait. It's not the end if you flunk an exam. It's not the end if you lose someone.


You can be happy. You can live the life you want to be. You can become the person you want to be.


Don't count the things you think you have done for someone. Instead, count the number of times you felt better just because you made them happy.


Do something for yourself every day. Take time out for yourself. Whether it's five minutes of taking pictures, ten minutes of reading, and hour of sleeping, or three hours of sleep, do it.