A Day of Surprises

So today was a day full of minor surprises, both to myself and the people around me. My roomate had his 23rd birthday on Friday. Unfortunatly, he had to trek back to NY because his grandfather passed away, so he was a little upset. So today, a few of us decided to have a mini-surprise party /study break for him. We got the cake, put it at Smitha's, and took him over there around 9. Just a small gathering, but he was pretty surprised nonetheless for the ad hoc party.

Jen, a girl we befriended the first week, naturally came along. She and my roomate seemed to hit it off pretty well, it looked like my roomie was going to ask her out sometime soon. So while we were waiting for Smitha to finish putting the candles on the cake, some of the girls were hanging around in my room chatting with eachother. That's when the bomb dropped... we found out that Jen was married! Whoa... that was unexpected... Jen's in my section, she's around my age, and by no means does she act like she's married. We just assumed she's single. She also has one of those naturally flirtatious personalities, never mentioned a husband, and seemed to be getting along pretty well with Malav. When I told him about it not more than an hour ago, his jaw dropped in shock. So much for his plans.

Also found out this morning about the car bombing in Kabul. My cousin is there with the UN right now, and the attack was only a few blocks from where she works. Thank God she's ok.

So I finally got my computer today. I took a good while setting everything up and getting my internet connection running. I was thinking of burning a few CDs and whatever when I realized, quite unexpectedly, that this damn computer doesnt' have a CD burner. What the hell? No wonder this thing seemed to be such at such a good price. I thought those things were more or less standard nowadays. Yet another surprise.

I'm Definitely in the Bible Belt

One of the things I've noticed about Atlanta, especially Decatur and the Emory area, is that almost every corner has a church. Some of them are beautifully constructed. There's aPresbyterian Church on the corner of N. Druid Hills Rd. and Clairmont road that actually looks very pleasant. It's just funny how many there are... In NY, we have tons of people, and only a few houses of worship that are noteworthy. Manhattan has St. John the Divine, St. Patricks, St. Barts, a few others of note. But we also have how many million people? Not the case here in GA.

But in keeping with the spirit of beautifully constructed houses of worship, we Ismailis are not to be outdone. Our Jamatkhana is only about 5 minutes from where I live, which is extremely convenient. It's also beautifully constructed, mainly red sandstone from the outside, very modern and beautifully decorated with wooden geometric patterns inside. It's nice going to services here. With so many people in attendance, it feels much more powerful. Not something I'm used to having grown up going to the small Long Island Jamatkhana. Khane yesterday was great... got to see AK, my old roomate from Al Ummah, plus a ton of other participants. Only problem is that I don't have all of their names straight.

So yesterday, I went to dinner with Abdul Uncle and his family. It's nice having a surrogate family here in Atlanta. Their youngest daughter is leaving for her freshman year of college this week, so empty nest syndrome is bound to set in. Luckily I'm here to help them alleviate that while they help me alleviate homesickness every once in a while.

So today, I got up at noon, did some shopping (just in time before the rebates expire on the printers), and then came to the library. Wasn't as productive as I should've been, but I did get some reading done. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be better. Tonight I'm planning on seeing Garden State with Naeha and Smitha. I've heard good things about this movie, hopefully it lives up to the minor hype. As usual, I'm finding myself to be the token guy in a group of girls. When will this madness ever end.

Hot-lanta

It's been a while, but for the past week or so, I've been readjusting to life down here in the south. I have to say it's been a very very positive experience so far. Today was the first day of classes, and it went pretty well. I have tons of reading left to do for tomorrow, but nonetheless, I'm still happy about being back in the halls of academe.

So I'm living in Decatur, at Emory's Clairmont Campus. To put it briefly, this place is absolutly beautiful. They have nice tennis courts, a beach volleyball court, an olympic size swimming pool, outdoor and indoor basketball courts, a nice gym, a big open field, and lots of room. It literally feels like a country club. I've hit up the gym a bunch of times, but have yet to go to the pool. After getting here last Sunday, I spent the first few days doing mundane things. Didn't have anyone around, so I got administrative stuff done. On Tuesday, my roomate moved in and it became more fun. We went out a bunch of times, met some folks, and generally had a good time.

The people in Atlanta are interesting. It's definitely not New York. Although, a huge chunk of the law school population is from New York, the mentality is different. People here actually make eye contact with you and smile, most even say 'Hi.' It's a big change from the NY mentality of completely ignoring everyone around you. It seems a little more civil. I can definitely grow to like this place.

So the first night of orientation, they had a big gathering at this placed in downtown called Cosmopolitan. Before heading over there, we prepartied with some people we met earlier. We went over to Shannon's place at Post Briarcliff and met a bunch more law students. Most happened to be black. I don't have too many black friends, but I have to say, black people are mad fun to party with. This was a pretty educated and smart crew, some went to Moorehouse here in Atlanta, another girl went to Howard. Some were from smaller schools in other places, but they were a great bunch. At the club, the girls had no qualms about going out there and shakin their bootie! Unfortunatly, that crew didn't come out to the other orientation parties, but hopefully Malav and I can get the chance to hang around with them again.

The next night, I was too tired to do anything, so I passed up. Malav went out, came back and told me the next morning that it was a waste of time and pretty much a sausage fest. I guess most people were hung over from the night before. So I didn't miss much. But the next night (that was last Friday), the gathering was at a place in downtown called The Mark. Everyone was talking about The Mark. It was awsome. Met a great crew of people that night. I met Naeha, who I got along with really well. Hung around a little more with Smitha and a couple of other Indian people. Odd thing is that I don't really have many Indian friends, never really wanted any while at NYU having to deal with that clique and all. This was nice, a bunch of people who I made friends with based on personality, but who just happened to be Indian. The next day, we all got together and got some Chatt at an Indian restaurant near campus. Who would have thought? Next night was at Neighbor's Pub in Virginia Highlands. Good place, outdoor cafe, more law students.

Funny thing is that after all these events, after meeting all these people in noisy clubs, nobody remembers anyone's names. At the Mark, I met a girl named Gretchen who lives a floor above me. It turns out that she and I have Legal Methods together, and after class, we took the shuttle back to Clairmont together. Right as we were about to enter the building, after a good 20 minute conversation, she sheepishly asked my name again! I thought it was hilarious... I guess the first two weeks, everyone has a grace period where it's totally acceptable to forget names.

Later Saturday, Malav and I went to meet up with Justin, an old friend from Highschool who neither of us had seen in years. It was great. Went to visit him, and he's still the same great guy and goofball he's always been. We hung around midtown, walked a little, reminisced about highschool, made fun of the people who we hated back then and who we know are complete failures today. I've known Justin since kindergarten, so I'm glad he and I still have the opportunity to be friends 20 years later.

One of the big personal accomplishments I've noticed so far here is that I'm actually opening up to people and making new friends. Al-Ummah was such a shock because it made me realize how defensive I normally am, always having my guard up. Now, thanks largely in part to AU, I was ready to open up and just get to know people right away. The result, I actually have new friends off the bat. I feel comfortable here, no need to impress people. No more feeling like an outsider, no more feeling left out. It's relaxing, and a hell of a lot more fun. Last night, Naeha called me to continue procrastinating her reading assignments. After chatting for like an hour, we hung up, finished our reading for today, then met up for some Mexican food at Chipolte. After that, we chilled at her place, and she showed me her stack of photos from her childhood through her Teach for America days. I think it's great getting to know people though their pictures... their picture albums are essentially a record of their life. I asked her a million questions about who's who, where was what, and everything else in the pictures. She said she enjoys showing them to people, but most people just flip. It was fun having someone like her who likes telling stories through pictures share them with someone like me who really enjoys seeing and hearing the story.

So today was the first day of class. It wasn't bad. In the morning was Legal Writing, which is just as boring as it sounds. But the professor seems nice. Later was Legal Methods, also a little mundane. The prof is this nerdy little man with a very nasal voice. I realized half way through class that he has a southern accent. I'm pretty convinced he was a New York Jew who transplanted down to Atlanta about 20 somewhat years ago and picked up a bit of the accent. Decent teacher nonetheless.

Now that I have tons of reading to do, I'll try blogging as often as possible, but no promises.

My Last Monday at Home... Last night with Buffy

So today is the final week. This is the last Monday I'll spend here at home in Long Island for quite a long time. I'm feeling both anxious and nervous about the move to Atlanta. But I need a change of scenery.

This weekend was very eventful. On Saturday, I took a group of friends out to the Jackson Diner, out in Jackson Heights. Pretty damn good Indian food. The buffet was good, but after eating, I literally felt like my stomach was about to break open from being so stuffed. Problem is, on Sunday, I had a wedding to go to at the Akbar restaurant in Long Island. So two days straight of stuffing myself silly on an Indian buffet didn't help my new marginally slimmer waistline. I jumproped for 20 minutes today to somewhat make up for it. Walking around Jackson Heights with non-Desis is pretty fun. We walked around in a Sari shop, went to a music store where I bought two cd's. While they were sampling them for me, they sounded good. At home, they have one good song (not surprisingly, the one sampled at the store), while the rest is utter garbage. That's the last time I'm ever buying an Indian remix cd. We also went into a jewelery store with Yon and Sarah. Sarah was talking about how her parents are happy that her younger sister dumped her boyfriend... for some reason, my uncouthness bypassed my filter, and I blurted out, "why, was he black?" I got roaring laughter out of Sachin, but the 'you're a dumbass' look from Sarah.

So on the trip to Jackson Heights, we had a small issue. One couple didn't come along because they didn't want to see the other couple for completely asinine reasons. An ever so slightly awkward situation. Later, we went over to Sue's place to chill and play poker for a few hours. I popped in two of the desi CD's I bought, and in the non-Indian gathering that it was, it added an ironic sort of background entertainment. Overall, it was really fun. Probably the last time I'll see my friends for a long while, probably December break. Around 10ish, we got hungry, so Jonas and I went to the Carnegie Deli. I ordered a mix of pastrami and corned beef, while Jonas ordered regular corned beef. I was a little annoyed that they were charging me more for my sandwich. But once I got the sandwich I realized why... that thing literally was piled high with at least 4 to 5 inches of meat. I finished about half, then consumed the rest today.

So last night, I met up with Fader after quite a long time. She's the one soley responsible for my addiction to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. We had to finish watching season 2, which we did very late at night, then started season three. Pretty much watched Buffy for about 8 hours straight. Saw a few more episodes tonight. Need to finish season three before thursday.

Heading to Boston tomorrow to see my sister. Should be fun, probably won't see her after for a long long time.

Procrastination

Over at Al Ummah, we had a quote board. One kid wrote, "Procrastination is like masturbation... in the end, you're only just screwing yourself." I thought that was oddly relevant today. I was trying to take care of the remainder of my paper work and my immunization forms for school. This is stuff I should've taken care of months ago. But hey, procrastination is fun.

I got a call from my cousin today, I havn't heard from her in months. She's shipping out to Afghanistan with the UN tomorrow. Sounds like an opportunity of a lifetime, but I'd be a little apprehensive before going to somewhere like Afghanistan. It takes a lot of courage to do what she's doing, and I'm proud of her for that. Funny part is she's officially based in Pakistan!

So my parents continued their semi-hostile takeover of my Brooklyn apartment. Since my dad opened up his new office, he keeps planning on staying here at my place. That means for the next week, if we all stay here, I get the privelege of sleeping on the air-mattress in the non-airconditioned living room. So I picked up my mom from work and brought her over before heading out to have dinner with Rahim and Noureen. They called later saying they didn't feel like staying, so I get to sleep in my room tonight. The nice thing is that my mom cleaned up my dirty apartment. I remember while I was in London, I cleaned my place thoroughly before my mom and sis came to visit. When they arrived, their first reaction was, "How could you live in such a dirty apartment," and managed to clean it properly. It was like that today... I always thought my apartment was relatively clean.

Tonight I had dinner with Rahim and Noureen at their place. They're such awsome people to talk to. They now live on the upper east side, a pretty fun neighborhood. Fun night, great conversations. I'm gonna miss having nights like tonight.

Until next time.

Countdown

Summer is almost over. This was my first actual summer vacation in 2 years. That was probably the hardest thing to get used to after graduation, the lack of long drawn out holidays. Luckily, I quit my job at the end of May and enjoyed the time off. Al Ummah was terriffic, and quite honestly, being idle at home wasn't all that bad either. I complained about the boredom, but when else in my life before retirement will I have the chance to be this lazy?

So this weekend was fairly good. My sister came down from Boston (as usual, because having lived on Summer in Boston, I know how much that city can suck). It was good. I finally got things normalized with her. I was angry for some reason since getting back. I guess it was a bit of a shock, my family being in a different routine since the beginning of summer. All that unfamiliarity all at once was a bit weird, and I took it out unnecessarily on my folks. Luckily I'm realizing this now instead of being pissed off for the remainder of the time I'm here.

Earlier this week I went with Joyce to see an off-off-Broadway show called 'Hoover.' It was in a tiny theater off of St. Mark's Pl. Really funny show about the former FBI director and his cross-dressing / abuse of power. Ironically it was very pertinent to today's situation with the whole terrorism thing. The cast was only about 6 people playing multiple roles, but pretty damn funny.

Hopefully I'll be able to hit up the beach tomorrow. Pending no rain.