~

Nov 21, 2009

My blog-list is finally complete. It took forever and ever. I had no idea I'd managed to amass so many people in there! Anyhow, those asking for my blog-roll back should now be appeased. Enjoy. :)

Nov 20, 2009

Why-oh-why did no one tell me about the meteor shower? Shame on all of you. I really could have done with a couple of dozen shooting-star wishes these days. Terrible. Terrible. I really am amazed at how self-centered the world is when in truth it should only be Xeb-centered. *tch*

Nov 19, 2009

The Sheikh wrote a long piece on why he felt non-anonymous bloggers were idiots. Today, I completely agree. As it turns out blog just may be responsible for social disaster in an incestuously small Islamabad.

*yikes*

What-to-do-what-to-do?

Option 1: Stop blogging altogether.

Option 2: Stop blogging here. Make another - anonymous - blog. Blog there instead. Make sure no one ever links Xeb-to-blog and vice versa.

Option 3: Retain blog. Promise everyone who hangs out with me that they will NOT be featured on blog, ever. Censor posts to ensure political correctness.

Option 4: Continue as before. Conclude that anyone who takes offence at what I write (unless it was meant to be offensive) has no sense of humor. Declare that I would rather not hang with people with no sense of humor. Keep blogging, bolstered by the knowledge that blog now has a new name: 'Welcome to the World of a Social Outcast'

*sniff*

I'm doomed. New city. Few friends. And foot-in-mouth (or in this case blog) disease is an awful combination methinks. :(

I just got a package from Blue-Ex (a great courier service btw, I'd pick it over TCS et al any day) wrapped in enough brown tape to clothe a small person. I opened it and found another box inside. And then another one inside that. And a fourth. Then finally, inside the fifth box came two meticulously wrapped foil cartons that contain the most delicious oober-chocolatey super-yummy brownies. All the way from Karachi! :)

I feel utterly and completely spoilt right now.

And very-very-happy.

Thank you for the chocolate-high Sarah. I love you much-ly! :D

I spy, with my little eye, lots of action on the security front today. Groups of men are hacking away at the thick bush along Islamabad's green belt. Something tells me it's not going to remain as thick, or as green, by the the time they're done with it. All the way across the city the checkposts are being reinforced with bags and bags of sand. The number and frequency of posts along with due diligence with which they check the cars is very pronounced as of this morning. At every traffic light along Kashmir Highway there are atleast five policemen weaving their way through stopped cars toting big-black-sniper-type-guns. Yet more policemen are packed away behind the sandbagged forts around every corner, hidden except for a peeking helmet and a flash of a weapon.

Even the air is somewhat tense today. Add to that the daily bomb-blast in Peshawar (in front of the judicial complex, 16 dead, 25 wounded). And it seems pretty clear. Something is about to happen. The question is: what exactly?

Days of Fire

Nov 18, 2009

Work has been somewhat awful of late. I have been told (over-and-again) that storming before norming is an essential pre-requisite of establishing an effective team. And since I am new, I gather this is pretty-much my-problem-to-deal-with, everyone else already knows what they do and where they have to be. And as a tsunami of work floods towards me everyday it's a constant struggle to complete even the bare bones of my fairly extensive things to do list.

Work-woes would explain why every-day I have had to bail out of plans to 'chill' with lucky-people-who-are-not-drowning-like-I and - this morning - I had to cancel on my much-awaited Singapore/Malaysia vacation at the end of the month. For the latter I deserve a good kick on the rear, I was so caught up in work I didn't realize that embassies have annoying time schedules and I can't make the visa deadlines. I figure I don't need my potentially de-stressing vacation giving me more stress than I can deal with in the planning of it, ergo I've asked the office to call off proceedings, and cancel my leave application. I suppose it's back to Karachi for Eid for me. :(

So I'm not in a great place right now. My personal life is screaming because it's neglected. Work life is bitch-slapping me because it doesn't get enough (or-so-it-thinks) attention. I'm tired, whiny and permanently behind schedule which does not make me team-player extraordinaire. And all I really want to do in life is get a hot-stone-massage. And if the masseuse happens to be male, and hot, then so much-the-better. But then I've been craving massages for a while, it just never seems to be the right time for them.

(My mother's voice is ringing in my head right now: beta, you'll never 'have' time, you have to 'make' time).

And now, I shall quit whining and engage in something more productive and less likely to get me fired.

Ta.

Ps: Someone just sent me this by email. It made me smile :) It's titled:

Worldwide Organizational Chart

Nov 17, 2009

Being micro-managed is so fucking pissing off!

*argh*

Dear All,

Forgive (one-of-the-many) existential crisis that has led to poor-blog's destruction.

I promise It will be back -I will be back - but after a short break while I hunt for a 'look' that makes me happy.

In the meantime please feel free to stop by and comment on whatever garish concoction I have managed to cook up. Apologies - in advance - for any cringes of visual pain.

If I hit upon something you like while I experiment, let me know.

Much love,

Xeb

Ps: The blog roll will be back once I get a template. It's too much trouble putting it in there only to have the widget removed the next time I-have-a-brilliant-idea.

Pps: To amuse you while I play: