Syrian Raid: Why on earth am I just now hearing about this?

Apparently this is like more than a day old!

U.S. military helicopters launched a rare attack inside Syria on Sunday. The Syrian government said eight people were killed, including four children. But local officials said that seven men were killed. A U.S. military official said the attack was aimed at al-Qaida-linked foreign fighters.

Syria blasts US after deadly raid

I was either too engrossed in a mycology/parasitology exam (I passed wooohoooo), too fascinated by the family tragedy of Jennifer Hudson, or perhaps it's not me at all and that this was in fact not classified as a major news headlines especially considering Sarah Palin just spent like $75,000 on some clothes at Neiman Marcus (has noone told her about Last Call?)

but Holy Crap!

New CD Therapy

There are times when nothing relaxes me and puts me in the mood to study like a new CD can....and I'm one of those people that still pays for music nowadays. I've been known to memorize albums while preparing for exams like most recently the self-titled 3 Down Down album and Who We Are by Lifehouse.

I'm motivated to go to the library and get my own study room to sit in all day if I just bought a new album. I get excited about discovering the undiscovered, unreleased tracks that will have my finger compulsively on the repeat button of my ipod (or one click on rewind).

A little bit of anxiety and restlessness while trying to cram for my Monday's parasitology/mycology exam had be strolling the music aisles of Target earlier today. I was intending on picking up the new Pink album but realized it's actually not out yet. Then I got stuck between Tupac's Greatest Hits (vol 1), Goo Goo Dolls Greatest Hits (vol 1), One Republic's Dreaming Out Loud, and Sublime's self-titled which I actually had when I was like 13 but have no clue where it's buried now. I decided on the latter 2 and I'm getting pretty excited to learn about primary amoebic meningoencephalitis and the pathophys of entamoeba histolytica!

I now leave you with timing-appropriate and pretty catchy Dear Mr. President by Pink! Hmm I wonder who Pink is voting for....

Let me tell you 'bout hard work

Minimum wage with a baby on the way

Let me tell you 'bout hard work

Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away

Let me tell you 'bout hard work

Building a bed out of a cardboard box

Let me tell you 'bout hard work

and now for some girly drama for ur mama

Which I like to stray far away from as long as I can help it.

I'm starting to make this connection between girls who attended strict segregated high schools or came from super strict households where they weren't allowed to do anything and those that end up living their high school drama during their adult lives. I can't even tell you how many times I observed this.

Last night at a cultural event in a different city that "hot Jordanian guy" (reference from my old diary) told me about I sat on the same table with the most irritating female. Other than the friend I took with me and HJG, I didn't know anyone going there. I happily bumped into some familiar faces at the door: my roomie's friend who came with her mom and sis. HJG was sitting on a table with a few guys and 2 girls; they had empty seats and motioned for the 5 of us us to join them as they added chairs and rearranged themselves.

One of the girls decided she didn't reallylike us. She's a senior at my uni but I've never seen her before. She didn't acknowledge us and kept having whispered conversations with the guys on either side of her (one being HJG). When HJG cut her whispering off to introduce us she gave me the most painfully forced smile then completely turned her head away from me back to him, never saying a word to me. I asked her a general getting-to-know-you question to break the ice and she answered mumbling while totally looking away from me. HJG is friendly by nature and probably felt a bit responsible for our comfort and enjoyment considering he invited us, so he was conversing with us and she seemed annoyed but didn't join in. She just gave up and moved on to sit between 2 other guys and resumed the giggled whispering. The other girls knew her from school, but they weren't really trying to talk to her.

I don't know what it was about us that bothered the girls (who are sisters btw), especially the one so much. Maybe it was that we were hijabis and looked like stereotypical good muslim girls, maybe it was the presence of the mother, or maybe it was something to do with these girls knowing her from way back when that made her uncomfortable. She may have felt like we would judge her. She may have thought we would gossip about her and didn't want to give anyone an opportunity to do so.

Towards the end of the night she warmed up a little bit to me largely due to the efforts of HJG. When I was telling my roomie about the event I asked her if she knew that girl since we go to the same uni and my roomie's been here forever. I was curious about the girl's behavior but didn't want to directly ask cause it would sound like gossip, so I just added "I don't think she likes me very much". To which my roomate replied "she's very weird". She went to the local strict Islamic school. She used to wear hijab and took it off in college. According to my roomie, sometimes when she bumps into her the girl will act like she has no clue who she is, and sometimes she'll be really friendly.

Interesting observations, and I don't think I'll be making friends with her during my time here.

Your elders on facebook

I think it's just weird!

My mom is always checking up on my facebook. She's not on facebook herself but she makes her friend's daughter show her my facebook. She'll call me afterwards to ask me why I gained weight (I haven't) or yell at me for shopping ("I've never seen that shirt before"). I'm used to her by now, plus she's just my mom.

However recently khalti (maternal aunt) requested me on facebook. Why did facebook give her an account? I mean I don't have anything bad on there but like a lot of khalat out there she's a bit on the judgemental side.

I couldn't justify not accepting her but now I feel like my private space is being invaded.

All in a day's work

Some of the worst feelings.....

Just missed fajr, like by minutes

Get up an hour after your alarm on test day

Find that you've lost your lab handouts the morning of your lab practical exam

Realize while reviewing right before an exam how much you really don't know

Blank out during the exam that you've studied more for than any other course exam

Followed by some of the best feelings...

Hand in the final part of the hardest exam you will have all semester

Jog a whole mile without stopping, something you haven't done in a while

Getting on the scale and realizing you're at your lowest weight in years

Hanging out with people you see every day but don't really know, and actually have a really good time!

"Muslims for McCain reject protesters"

I took this clip courtesy of the American News Project, the headline from AOL news. I'm sure confrontations like this have been occurring at McCain rallies everywhere considering the polarized crowds in attendance.......and someone got it on tape!

It's nice to see McCain supporters at the rally denounce the actions of the hateful people we all read about. I wonder though if they would have done the same had there not been a microphone, camera, and reporter in their face asking them if they support the 'protestors'.

My favorite line is "Are you deliberately trying to get us to lose this election?" Oh and when you watch this can you please tell me what the man was saying before the word "madrassa", it sounded like a whole bunch of mumbling but I really wanna know what he was trying to say. I wonder how he would have answered if the reporter asked him what a "madrassa" was.

More exciting than this being taped is that it was on the homepage of AOL news!

Missing out on great opportunity

We're always informed of community service and volunteer opportunities that we can do as first years, but there was one particular upcoming event that just had me really excited to get to be a part of. It involves working with the Special Olympics where we're on destination along with a whole bunch of other volunteer healthcare providers for a weekend to provide (or assist in providing) eye care where needed to the handicapped members. Many of these people are also underprivileged. Aside from the rewarding and humbling experience you get with this type of service, there are also some nice perks that come along. For one, this year it's in Disney World!

Mind you they're not actually paying for our way there and the compensation for room and board probably won't cover our costs, but this is still a perk!

I signed up for it as soon as I found out months ago knowing very well that that Monday I will be having 2 exams. I figured I could find ways to make it work. I would just study in advance. Maybe I could do really well on the first round of exams so that I wouldn't be under as much pressure for the second round. Maybe I could arrange it so that there will be some downtime there for me to study. The event is in 2 weekends and the papers confirming my participation were due today. Up until last night I was still trying to convince myself I can still go.

This morning I had to turn down the opportunity. It's just that I haven't started studying for those 2 exams and won't be for the rest of this week considering I have other exams before then. I didn't do so well on the first round of exams so the pressure is definitely there. The biggest detriment to my academic performance thus far is that I'm doing too many other things. Until I figure out how to be superwoman I have to prioritize, and this is what it came down to.

I'm still really disappointed.