On the day of the engagement party, when we were at the beauty salon, there was a huge family besides us. A bunch of sisters and three little girls. After I was released from make-up and hair, and I went to have my nails polished, and already the little girls were there, choosing radical colors, and having crystals glued on their nails. 

This isn't surprising. Little girls love this kind of stuff (although I'll never know why I wasn't into it...). Anyway, I waited until it was my turn, and as the woman was applying the polish, the girl waited for her nails and crystals to dry. By this time, we've already established this little curious friendship, and we started talking. 

"I'm going to take this off when I get home," she told me suddenly. 

I asked her why, and she answered, "I have a better polish at home." And with this look of glee, she added, "It's DIORRR."

If anyone could see past the polite smile, it would be an alternative me, putting her head in her hands. What has the world come to that even children are branded, and are able to place importance on items?

In the same room, the girl's cousin joined us, and had a long look at my face. Then she asked why I had green eye make-up.

"Because my dress is green."

"Then you should have put green nail polish instead!"

Made my day, that girl. 

In other news, I didn't get to introduce my friend's blog former AD Whisper, is now silent-bliss (such a wonderful nickname). It's so good to have her back.

Ugh. Apparently not all's well with the damn blocking business- the Friends page is still blocked in every bloggers page. Lame compromise on Etisalat's part. 

Anyway, last week, I posted about how much I dreaded the 4th of July weekend, mostly because it was my cousin's engagement party. And the fact that I had to travel from Sharjah, to AD, to Al Ain, and somehow back to AD and then to Sharjah. That's an hour and a half and two hours more between each of them. 

My Mom saved me from that horrible plan by suggesting I come back on Wednesday, which still proved to be difficult what with the confusing dorm regulations, and the last minute decisions. I must have broken a bunch of rules just walking out of there...

Henna Night!:

The reason I HAD to come back on Wed was to put henna, and since it's a long, tiresome process, my Mom didn't want any pressure. What was a surprise was that my Aunt and Maha came, as well as my Mom's friend and her daughter Dana. And put all of them in my room, and it's utter chaos. I think the poor henna woman wouldn't want to come back again, if she had a choice. Some time in the course of that evening, after the woman finished up with Maha's hands, my mom decided to blow dry her hands so that she doesn't imprint any henna around my room. I don't know what happened, but the henna on Maha's hands sort of melted down her finger (not a good sign). But the kid's face was worth taking a picture of. I have never seen such a bitter face on a young face in my life. Angry, mischievous, happy- sure. But bitterness on a kid's face doesn't usually bode well.

And needless to say, my room still got messy- the carpet especially, with smears of brown and crust all over the place.

Make-up Pains: 

Now, this part I was sure I wouldn't like (and never would). I don't know why, but make-up artists think that if a woman wants really good make-up applied on her face, she would hold herself together, and be nothing but a rigid human until they finished with her. The reason I don't get along with make-up artists is that I tear up whenever they apply something around my eyelids. I should be the one annoyed. 

"Don't tear up! Pull it back in, pull it back in! *inhales deeply* Like this!" 

Yeah..right. If there was a way to stop a person from crying, people would have found that out a long time ago. And the hard sniffing doesn't work either. 

Leading to the Big Night: 

I still didn't tell my cousin this, and I plan to when I see her next, but when she called asking me to help her out and bring a video camera with me, I was a ball of anxiety the whole day. The video camera was the first thing I put in my bag. Then when it was time to leave, I was freaking out in the car, trying to remember if my bag was in one of the cars (and I later remembered that it was). Then the whole time the boys were getting ready, I was following Abdulla round reminding him not to forget the camera. I must have been really annoying, but because it was my cousin who asked him to do it, Abdulla was taking it pretty well. 

The party itself wasn't that bad. There were some things I was really disappointed with, such as excluding the Bride's father's family (uh- US!). Actually, that was my biggest disappointment, and I never thought of it from her. But disregarding that, she looked really pretty. The party was actually pretty short, and I'm guessing BECAUSE we weren't that involved, it felt like I was attending someone else's engagement party. But I had fun hanging out with my other cousins. 

I have this song stuck in my head.. especially this line: 

- It feels like the time's run out, but the hour glass just flipped itself over again. The sun's slowly sinking down, but on the other side a new day waits to begin- Dare to Believe by Boyce Avenue.

My exams started this week, preventing me from going home for two weeks, and I'm missing home very, very much. 

But, I have one more and I'm done! Today, I had Art History, which I dreaded because it was cumulative- meaning I had to study EVERYTHING, including names, dates, and where it was located. It wasn't too bad though. I knew most of the multiple choice questions, and I only messed up once with the identification. The relief I felt when I walked out of that room was unbearable! 

And of course, after such hard work, I came back to rot my mind with T.V. shows. There were so many this season, I didn't know where to start. Of course, I had to follow the series I've followed previously. 

I just finished watching House MD's season finale- which was so sad! It's been a while since a good episode was aired. Then there's Bones- honestly, I never thought I would watch this, or enjoy it. It's actually pretty funny, and gruesome.And I must say, now that it's over, it's the only show that doesn't hang on a cliff...

One bad cliff hanger ending is Supernatural. The whole season was useless and disappointing though. 

I'm really impressed by the new shows though. My first favorite would be Eli Stone: A big shot lawyer discovers he has a brain aneurysm, which may be the cause of visions urging him to help individuals in need of justice. The first season is only 13 episodes, and it almost killed me when it was over. The good news is there will be a second season next year, which I'm looking forward to. I've been advertising this series to all my friends, until they did get bored and watched it. 

Another show my friend suggested I watch was Pushing Daisies. I probably never mentioned this before, but I love new, creative ideas. Whether it's in a book, anime, movie or a show, I love watching it, and then pondering on how the genius creator came up with it. This is one of those shows. Shots, story, characters, narrations, music- awesome. It's like something out of a story book. 

Ned has a gift- he can bring people back to life with one touch. But when the time of the life given back exceeds one minute, another life must be traded in its place. Also, whatever he touched back to life, if he touches it again, it dies "forever". Now, as the pie-maker running his own place, he helps P.I Cod with his cases... Yes, I realize it sounds morbid. But somehow, it's comedy, drama, romance, and mystery all in one. Really good. 

These are the best two newcomers so far. People are trying to get me to watch Gossip Girls, which I'm still not keen on. Even Abdulla's watching it, and I don't know what that says. My mother also recommended Samantha Who, which, I think, may be made up of those "creative" ideas, but I need to check it out first. The same friend who suggested Pushing Daisies (and I will love her forever for this), also recommended Moonlight- another vampire/detective plot. It's...not bad. Not as great as she made it out to be, but not bad. Although I don't think I'll keep watching it after I finish this season. That also goes to Women's Murder Club, but then again, it's canceled for next season.

Phew. Now that the season is over for the American dramas, I can probably focus on anime/dramas this summer. Bring out the list...

At the beginning of this month, AUS held a huge event: Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, acted out by the students, with back stage handled by students. It was a huge event. And I went on the first day with my friends, and it wasn't really that bad. 

I'm impressed that the actors got their Shakespearian lines right- word for word. Some acting was terrible (Paris), and some were annoying (Juliet- good actress, but her voice got so annoying everyone clapped when she died twice), and from the incredibly talented (the Nurse). I was really pleased with it, although still critical over some stuff. It turns out that the play was such a success among students, it was agreed to prepare for one every semester.  

So the next play is chosen, and my two friends went to audition, and I went with them to see the whole process. It was really interesting. Some people were really good, and some were plain awful. One particular guy deserved a tomato. What pissed me off though is that Juliet came back to audition. 

I was looking forward to seeing new people perform. Juliet already got her fame, why does she have to be a diva and steal the spot light off other people?

As it turns out, she gets chosen for the lead- again. And while there are a number of new people, some of them were given roles that were different from the ones they played in the audition- a pity, because they really fit those roles. I'm planning to work back stage, even though I am not good at anything, but I look forward to learning.

Oh! And my friend was chosen to be an understudy!

News about Shelfari: Nothing so far. Except for another e-mail telling me that the site is blocked because it's a "dating site." And I sent them four emails after that. Very mouthy emails infering about them being completely unprofessional for not bothering to look at the site before dubbing it as a "dating site." The frustrating this is, I can't talk to the proxy people. I get to talk to the people on the phone that don't handle the proxy, and I get to send e-mails. I need to talk to someone who handles proxy. And give him a piece of my mind.

So, I've been really upset about Etisalat blocking Shelfari. By Thursday night, I've sent about 10 emails to them. On Friday, after bugging my whole family about it, my Dad told me to call them and see why they did it. And I did, with Abdulla present. After getting through the automatic voice options, they put me on hold for 10 minutes before some one answered me. 

After explaining to the nice Indian man my problem with the company he works for, he gave me an email that gaurenteed reaching the proxy people, and I could complain to them. So I sent an email to that address, and no reply. I sent some more to that address, and two more that I found. Oh, and I practically burned the feedback page of their websites. I called again on Saturday, and I think I got the same guy. Again, I explained my problem, and he was more talkative this time. 

Apparently, Etisalat decided to block all "community websites". I find this really ironic for a self-proclaimed "advanced country." How could you be advance if you're burning people's web bridges? 

He offered to give me the same email address but I told him that I already sent an email, and it was no use. He was kind enough to look into it, and asked for the reference number of the email. I gave him the first one, because it was more persuasive and civil, and not close to a threat. And then, nothing.

But guess what I found this morning? An email from Etisalat apologizing for their mistake. But the stupid thing was, they asked for the URL , when the topic of my email was "DEMAND TO UNBLOCK SHELFARI.COM."

Seriously..what is going on in there?

Still, I am happy I got that email. Finally something happened!

Today was such a long day- horrible, exhausting, and it started with birds chirping at the crack of dawn. And then the rest followed: 

- Had to listen to persuasive speeches that are up to 9 minutes long. 

- Bad luck with L's camera, and we had no cable to transfer our broadcast advertisement. 

- Registration. Didn't suck as much as last time, but still sucks. 

- Theories Professor- he caught us during our break and gave us a cup of skittles. We couldn't skip his class as a sign of gratitude. 

- My lunch was at 1:15, and my last meal was at 7 am. We ate like pigs. 

The icing on the rotten cake?

ETISALAT BLOCKED SHELFARI! 

ARGH! 

I'm seriously thinking of starting a hate club.

Last Sunday, before our day even begun, and when everyone was trying to get as much sleep as possible, the worst possible thing happened: the fire alarm went off. 

It's not that the girls were afraid of fire. Our dorm supervisors go through the tedious task of fire-drills every semester, ushering all the girls out and not allowing them in until everyone is out. So going out wasn't the problem. The problem was: it was 2 freakin' am in the morning. 

Needless to say, I did try to wait it out, stayed in bed and hoped that it's a false alarm, as it usually was when there isn't a fire drill. But then I heard people running, so I thought I should take it seriously. I got up, and walked to the hanger to wear my abaya, but I stopped half way because, "I couldn't see." 

Don't ask how this was logical, but nothing was when you just forced yourself to wake up. So I went back to my bed table, wore my glasses, then put on my abaya. The next illogical thought was, "I need my phone." Not my key card, but my phone. So I went back to my bed side table, unhooked my phone from the charger, and just left it there. 

It was a good thing that I stood at the threshold of my room. It turned out that the smoke came out from one of the rooms in our hallway. At first I thought it was a girl smoking, but later I found out that she was heating something in her microwave, and it burnt. And she made no effort whatsoever to call the supervisor and tell her it was a false alarm.

This fire-alarm business effected our attention span the whole day. Which made us hate the girl- who the hell eats at freakin' 2 am in the morning?!

Yesterday, my friends and I went to the first ever production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet in AUS. And it wasn't bad. I was impressed by some things, and complained about others. But overall, it was a good effort. 

And it was a major talk between students today. Unfortunately, it continued into a deeper, unwanted level in the Theories class. I might not have complained enough about this class, but my GOD, the things that happen. I mean, okay, I feel sympathetic towards the professor, but sometimes..or most of the time, he's uncooperative. 

Anyway, after discussing our grades, he went on to discussing Romeo and Juliet. He wanted us to think how Marxism is applied into this- as in the promotion of a "high culture". For example, the westernization of UAE is a sign of what's decided to be the "high culture." Music, or literature, etc. 

Basically, why did it have to be Romeo and Juliet? Is someone making those decisions? 

He was right of course. But again, it depends on the circumstances. The theatre course was run by an American professor, of course he'll be directing what he knows. But then, it's also a matter of who came first. Not in terms of literature or music, because that existed for such a long time in many cultures, but who came first and spread that art. So far, the West was promoting their culture, and it's caught on because it either corresponds with other cultural stories, or because they like it and prefer it. 

Why didn't an Arabic professor who may had an experience in theatre step forward, or any Indian/Pakistani professor step forward to contribute? 

No, it was an American professor who came out, and helped. And this is only the first step towards a variety of plays in the future.

Another thing concerning Arabic literature- I blame the ministry of Education. English classes had a different approach to grasping and understanding, but Arabic never had a new approach- aside from my History and Islamic classes of course. Arabic Literature is a total fail in private schools. And now that they're playing around with it, it's becoming unstable.  

I'm actually considering this for my two minute persuasive speech...

My God, this week felt like a decade. Monday, on the other hand, felt like light-year. 

Other than that, I've been watching too many 30 Rock episodes. Tina Fey is... well hilarious. 

Before I get into that though, going back to Monday. I had a midterm speech on that day- about Dracula of all things. I don't know why I choose the weirdest things, but apparently that's what I chose a month ago, and I had to stick with it. So last weekend, I bought a Dracula cape. It looked utterly ridiculous, and since the plan was to wear it over my abaya..well, you can just imagine. My mom tried to make me feel better by telling me that if local women saw me, they might just think it's a new abaya, and make one for themselves. 

Sunday, I was preparing for my speech, and just suddenly, I decided to wear the cape. Then it somehow turned into a joke, and I called Star-D over. And I started prancing around with the cape singing "Frere Jacques, Frere Jacques~" 

While THAT was fun, the tiring part came at 3 am at night, when I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. What went though my head was my cape insecurities and the words of my speech. It was only 15 minutes before my alarm did I become drowsy, but of course, I had to get up. 

It turned out that there wasn't much to be afraid of. I think I did well, but I sounded like a robot, I think. By the end of class, I was on a cloud, and free.

And that's when I started watching season 2 of 30 Rock. And I think Tina Fey is a genius.

I had the weirdest experience when I was making my speech this morning. I don't really know what happened, but it was just strange. And this strangeness might as well cost me some marks. 

I was talking about the "concept" of Halloween. So, I think I started out fine, but some where in the middle, I lost my words. The thing is, I knew what I wanted to say, but my brain was not cooperating with me. I wanted to find the words, but instead, my eyes focused on one of the listeners, and I noticed how tired and red-eyed he was. 

I understand that students of different majors think that Mass Comm students don't really do anything. They're WRONG. We slave, and suffer, and study. And cram if necessary. But we work just as hard and we get tired too. 

So focusing on this person, I must have stopped talking, because I started thinking, "Why does he look so tired and bored?" It was SO not that time to think about his problems, but it couldn't be helped. I stuttered to get back on track, but again, my brain did not want to help me clarify any thing I'm saying.

I managed to wrap it up, because I also freaked out when the professor pointed out that I passed 1 minute of my time. All that, and I forgot to cite my sources!

Being abandoned by a functioning facility in your body is frightening.

Like I said last time, I have a good feeling about this semester, mainly with the different people I hang out with recently (or reunited once again!). It's kind of sad, but as fate would have it, Star-D and I will not graduate together, and she'll be going back to Qatar at the end of the semester. 

Devastated? Not yet. But I know I can't wallow and sulk and hope and wait for another twisted fate to make her stay (like I usually do). Some how, reuniting with my other friends, and meeting new ones made me realize that I should expand a little. 

Sure, people tell me that I've changed a little, but I'm looking for a different sort of change. I want to be involved in activities with friends. I want to be more comfortable in where I am. 

So, in my effort of expanding, a friend of mine gave me a rather interesting tour of all the creepy, hidden alley ways of the university. And a tour of the Sports Complex. 

And that's where I started taking karate lessons! 

That's right! I'm training to be a mean, lean, killing machine! 

Or not... But honestly, it's a good change. Although I'm not that concerned about mastering the skills in karate, I'm still enjoying it. It's hard work! 
Plus our sensei is younger than me by a year, and she's a demon when it comes to warm ups! We're practically half dead before we start. But she's awesome, and she's really enthusiastic about starting real classes if it works out this semester.

Another surprising thing about this semester is that I'm actually enjoying the public speaking course. Yes, very strange that dear, ol' cowardly Mage is enjoying a class of sharing in front of a podium. But it's exhilarating, and I'm training myself to remain calm before speeches. It's still not working, but according to my speech marks, I'm actually good.

So yes, my mission this semester is to expand myself. While I don't know where else to begin, I'll go with what I have now. I can't wait to see where I'll end up in the end. 

Stop and stare
I think I'm moving but I go nowhere
Yeah I know that everyone gets scared
But I've become what I can't be
Oh, do u see what I see... 
                                     -Stop and Stare by OneRepublic (LOVE THEM!)

My other goal is to actually commit myself to my journal!

I don't like doctors. Yes, I realize that they are essential in keeping us alive and healthy for a period of time, but I still do not like them. 

Yesterday, I went to have my ears checked, because my left ear kept itching from the inside. I thought it might have been hardened wax (pushed in by the cotton), but it was something completely different. 

First, the doctor checked my ears, and said that it looked fine. He checked my nose, and said that something was wrong there. Supposedly, I'm not breathing well in my sleep. I told him that I didn't notice, and I felt fine. 

Do I feel dizzy sometimes? Or a dry throat when I wake up? 

Nope. Nothing. Why are you telling me unnecessary stuff! I just want to know if my ear is okay!

At last he checked the side of my face as I opened and closed my mouth. And he found out that my joint is inflamed, which is blocking my hearing tube. And this inflammation happened because of a dislocation. 

Which brings me to the next question: When did I dislocate myself?!

Unfortunately, I have no answer to that. Because I was too skeptical and shocked to ask. 

Doctors are bad news. Not generally. Just... to me.