sooo tired. test was terrible, so hard, and so vicious. in a class of forty or so students, very few survived. the rest were decimated.

here's the friday five:

01. what did you have for breakfast this morning? if you didn't have breakfast, why not?
no breakfast. i wake up with thirty minutes to get ready for school, can't afford time for breakfast. i don't think i've had breakfast since ever coming to tech actually . . .

02. what's your favorite cereal?
currently . . . cinnamon life, makes for a very good study snack. though i've also been partial to cap'n crunch *tastes like cheetos*

03. how often do you eat out? do you want that to change?
too often, about once a week. that's all there is to do here in atlanta, drink, party, movies, and eat at the many awesome restaurants here. i do want to change that (save some money) and then again, not to change it (a good dinner with good friends is a nice thing to look forward to).

04. what do you plan on having for dinner tonight? got a recipe for that?
let's see . . . fish (pop out of freezer, microwave for a minute and then put into heated pan till golden brown), chicken wings (pop out of freezer and into microwave for six minutes), and coke (pop out of freezer and place in glass with much ice).

05. what's your favorite restaurant? why?
fogo de chao . . . meat, meat, and more meat. brazilian meat to be exact.

more on my life later this weekend, for now, japanese and tea and sleep.

02.06.2003
00.10 gmt -05.00

aphex twin
ageispolis

not dead yet, almost, but not quite.

spring semester's pace has just quickened by ten fold.

Æroelasticity, the hardest class in Ærospace and possibly in all of tech, has a test scheduled for tomorrow. am i prepared? i hope so. what kind of class is this? math, all math. fourier transforms, differential equations, linear algebra, calculus, trigonometry, algebra, if you've learned it (minus combinatorics, probstats, and math classes along those lines), you'll be using it here. why? so we can define the motion of all time of whatever we wish. this class is a prime example of real ultimate power.

anime is fun, watch more.

valentine's day is coming up, bah humbug.

blogger does not work yet, going to remedy it this weekend.

back to work i go.

02.05.2003
23.22 gmt -05.00

bt
never gonna come back down

music + kaleidoscope of reactive colors + decentralizing eye focus onto entire screen
yields
time travel + magic + universal state of mind

02.01.2003
04.29 gmt -05.00

faithless
salva mea

a late friday five:

01. what is one thing you don't like about your body?
my small ears!

02. what are two things you love about your body?
my widow's peak and . . . my how i am able to consume large quantities of cookies and actually lose weight in the process.

03. what are three things you want to change about your home?
get a larger bookshelf, get a larger room so i can fit my desk and everything in it comfortably, and exchange the carpet for a wooden floor.

04. what are four books you want to read this year?
the new william gibson book (pattern recognition), the fifth installment of the harry potter series and that's all i can think of.

05. what are five promises you have kept to yourself?
i have promised this, that, two of those, and currently am working on this.

01.25.2003
14.47 gmt -05.00

faithless
woozy

thanks so much smitha! for sending me the soundtrack of unbreakable. i saw the movie on sale at best buy and i had to buy it. i think it's his, m. night shyamalan, best film so far. and death to those who think the ending and movie in general was a letdown. the masses are spoiled by hollywood's mass of fast paced action films. not that i'm against those films, they just seem like a quick fix to me. the main complaint presented by critics was that the ending was a big letdown and too preposterous to believe. have they heard of suspension of disbelief? just sit back and enjoy the tone, the plot, the buildup, the story, and don't think "that's improbable", "how'd he do that?", "what the heck was that???" . . . just watch the darn movie! we need more greats like papillon and breakfast at tiffany's.

in other news i bought some blank beautifully silk-screened blank cds from 5inch. go spend young man!

time to iron my clothes for tomorrow, it's going to be chilly (-9°f).

oh, i have to make one more observation before i upload this . . .
WHAT THE HECK IS THIS ANIME AND WHY DO I LOVE IT DESPITE IS LACK OF SANITY? OH WELL, GO CHIYO-CHAN!

01.23.2003
00.28 gmt -05.00

james howard
unbreakable
visions

sorry for lack of updates, again.

school is going well. classes are hard, but i should do well again. right now the biggest problem is senior design, not because of the difficulty, but because of the immense amount of work we need to get done. we've chosen to be known as team decepticon. we're given the task of designing a multirole aircraft, very much similar to the a6 intruder. quite ugly no?

mom is sending me some food stuffs, a sweater, and this. in other purchasing news, i got the remote control for my nikon n65.

saturday was the bsa's picnic at stone mountain. it was sooo cold! around ten or so degrees, if only it had rained, we would have had some snow to play in. it was fun nonetheless. after cooking some hotdogs and being there for a bit, we had decided to go to a friend's place to cook the rest of the food. chicken, hot dogs, trivial pursuit, much joking and friends, what a good way to spend the day. i do believe though that trivial pursuit does not like me. i only got one pie piece; everyone else got such easy questions too! seriously. but i despise monopoly even more.

ruhina gave me such excellent gifts! a snow globe to remind me of snow (which i haven't had the chance to frolic in for year) and the audrey hepburn calendar! can one be any more elegant?

in movie news, i just saw american psycho starring christian bale. after one viewing, i had placed it as one of my favorite movies. now, some people would say "why in the world? it's such a violent stupid movie? there's no plot!" exactly! there is no plot to the movie. it's just a narrative of patrick bateman's (played by christian bale) life. it portrays the materialism of the 80s very well. but what really gets me about the movie, is the ending. if you care to watch and not have me tell you, skip ahead, otherwise . . . in the end, you find out that paul allen is really alive. so what does that mean? it's left out for the viewer to decide, i believe that he is a schizophrenic for the entire film and that he didn't kill anyone, he just thinks he has. there are some clues thrown around the movie, such as the pills he takes, and the atm machine requesting that he feed a cat to it. the best aspect of the movie is chrisitan's monologues before he engages in his . . . "hobby" instead of focusing on the people, he discusses music instead, not really acknowledging their presence at all. i also saw american psycho 2 . . . it sucked, nuff said. quick movie reviews . . . the others was very good as was dark city.

in other news, bangladesh has been added to ins's countries that need to have certain nonimmigrants in the us hailing from that country register. algeria is in group ii. what strikes me as being rather funny is that all of these nations have a vast population of muslims with islam being the main religion, except for north korea. but india isn't there? even though it's in the same region as pakistan and bangladesh. i dunno anymore, it's getting crazy. here's the official link to information on group iv.

listening to verdi / requiem: dies irÆ now, go and get it here, or by "other" means if you so choose.

01.19.2003
20.31 gmt -05.00

niraj chag
field of dreams

good morning everyone! yesh, i've just woken up. i haven't been feeling all that well this past week. back ache, nausea, no appetite, and a general feeling of emptiness. a good talk with a good friend the other night did me wonders though, as did sleeping in and waking up when i did (sans alarm).

the meeting last night went well. we've decided on positions for the team, i'm to be chief engineer and to also work on the Ærodynamics of the plane. we have yet to come up with a name for our team. any recommendations? e-mail me.

i'm hungry, but too lazy to make something . . .

later today i'm planning on heading out with ananya to the mall to:
01. buy something for my sister from sephora
02. purchase a hands-free kit for my cell phone
03. frame my poster of an ansel adams photo
04. buy a seal to go with my wax

the friday five:

01. where are you right now?
in my apt sitting in front of my computer.

02. what time is it?
time for lunch.

03. what are you wearing?
my lounge pants and a t-shirt.

04. any people or animals around you? describe them.
my roommate ashley (a guy) is to my left working on his laptop and my other roomie saud is somewhere in the apartment doing something.

05. what are your plans for the weekend?
go to the mall, study, sleep, study, study, study, sleep, and watch battle royale.

that's all for now folks.

01.10.2003
15.30 gmt-05.00

david bowie
thursday's child

happy new year everyone! hope everyone's holidays went well.

once one falls out of blogging for a long time, it's rather hard to get back into it again. but do to poking from smitha and having found time to do so, here i am informing all of you on my so called life.

home was great. got to sleep a lot (hopefully enough to take care of my sleeping requirements for this semester) and eat a lot of good food (ie. anything that is not microwaveable). part way through i came back to atlanta for my friend's wedding. it was a bengali wedding, lots of fun and food! oh the food! if only there was a wedding every day. i left the very next day for ottumwa. then, we left the very next day from ottumwa for kansas city. met some friends i haven't seen in the longest time (since i lived in colorado) and we watched goonies for the night. bill called me up to wish me a happy new year, or rather, his friends did. earlier during the break bill was at a graduation party and people were dialing random numbers from his phone, so they saw my name and dialed it. same thing on new years. guess hamza is rather popular. drove back home. chilled for a week or so, and then came back to atlanta. the flight was interesting because my suitcase was opened and the soap was checked to make sure it was soap and not plastic explosives. amusing yes. the person checking graduated from embry-riddle with a masters in Ærospace engineering . . . and now he's security at the airport. we can do it all, oh yeah.

the two towers was good, but i preferred the fellowship. i suppose because ttt is the middle of the story, but we're watching it alone. i think it would make for a more enjoyable feature to watch all three of them back to back to back. that, and i'm rather ticked at their portrayal of faramir. the rest was acceptable :)

i completely forgot! the day i came back on friday for the wedding which was on saturday and sunday. smitha picked me up from the airport and we went first to my place to drop of my bags, then to the mall of georgia for a day of m.o.g.ing. yep. it's sooo big! we bought tickets to see treasure planet, and then to see the lion king on imax which was awesome! you could make out the lines and see how they're not smooth.

school started this monday. it's going to a very hard semester, what with gres and senior design and Æroelasticity, but i should do well, i know i can :)

time for my design meeting, later.

01.09.2003
21.52 gmt -05.00

our lady peace
thief

zoo york is the remix paul oakenfold made of requiem for a dream / winter overture. it takes a small portion of the string portion from the winter overture, speeds it up, and sets it to what seems like a female arabic voice. the end result is very good, in my opinion though it could have been better if the entire overture was used. you can find this song on track 5 of his new album bunkka.

some minor updates. firstly, the background color of the site was lightened (the old gray seemed somewhat dirty). minor adjustments were made to the layout. the visit list to the left was updated with new reads. the contact page was fixed, the pages about theDragPolar and myself have also been updated. and finally, my school schedule has a new look. oh! before i forget, multiples of five will no longer be updated. i've decided to put the site to sleep. i'm currently working on a redesign.

the fall semester is over. at last. i had two finals, both of which were on tuesday of last last week. final grades, better than i had expected. next semester is going to be a most challenging semester, but the most fun i belive. i'm looking forward to dr. sankar's 3-d airfoil design class, senior design ii, japanese iv, and Æroelasticity. i took Æroelasticity for about a month in the fall semester but i had to drop it due to time constraints. while the material was not all that interesting, the math was beautiful. the first part of the course dealt with the dynamics of a string. to be able to have on a sheet of paper, the equations that govern every motion of a string . . . is just amazing. you start with a few basic assumptions and after about 10-15 minutes of manipulation, there lies before you an equation which gives you the position of every point on a string for infinite time. i'll have to type that up and post it on the site when class is in session once more.

do not ever pull two all nighters while you have a fever. it does not work. the saturday before finals i had the beginnings of a cold. this did not bode well so i took great care into keeping myself warm, well fed, and well rested. however, monday came about, and i had two finals on tuesday and my airfoil design paper due on wednesday, as well as my departure from atlanta to iowa at 10:05am wednesday. after having been awake for two days, i finished my finals and paper. i then began to pack for my trip and called smitha up for a ride to the airport. on the way there i tried to nap for some minutes but every time i would do so, i wanted to throw up. being the kind passenger that i am, i decided it would be best not to spoil smitha's car. checking in took only 10 minutes thanks to e-tickets and deltas rows and rows of automated check in kiosks. i fell asleep as soon as i sat down in my seat next to the window. but i woke an hour into the flight with this pain in the left side of my face, as if it were swollen and on the verge of bursting. my mom told me later that on the night of my arrival, at about 2 or so in the morning, i was calling for her and my came in and found i had a very high fever. all i remember is him telling me to take two pills and drink some water, and that the cup of water weighed unbelievably so much that i nearly dropped it a few times.

but i'm over that now.

i paid the dentist another visit a few days ago. had my teeth cleaned and such, was a most uncomfortable moment, as all teeth cleanings are. the worst part has to be when he is polishing my teeth, the smell, feel, sound is just so . . . nauseating. i made sure that as soon as it was possible, i filled my mouth with candy, coke, and other sweet tasting things to do away with that clean, sterile, gritty taste.

that pretty much is what i have done so far since my last post. tomorrow a trip to the tailors and barber is planned. the day after that we are going to iowa city to pick up mellissa, watch the two towers, and go tie and shirt shopping. on the 27th i head back to atlanta to attend my friend's wedding reception, then back to iowa on the 30th. on the 31st we are driving to kentucky to spend new years with close friends, and come back on the 1st sometime at night. school begins on the 4th or so.

then school till spring break, a week of vacation, followed by more school till the 5th of may. a week or so of summer vacation and i start the summer semester, my last semester at tech . . . too soon. much.

congrats to smitha for accomplishing what many of us at tech dream of.

merry holidays and a happy new year to you all.

. . . wish i could be in new york . . .

12.20.2002
01.01 gmt -06.00

paul oakenfold
zoo york

download the song! it's the theme song to the movie requiem of a dream. it's directed by the same person who made pi (darren aronofsky) and the soundtrack is done by the same person who did the soundtrack for pi (clint mansell. it's a very . . . haunting song, esp. if you have seen the movie. but it's a very graphic film about drug abuse and obsession, not for the faint of heart.

in other news, i will be going home for thanksgiving break, regardless of what i have finished project wise. but for now, i must study and finish more projects! so i bid you all farewell, for this shall be my last post of the month and for a while too. good luck to you all with your respective endeavors and finals. but before i go, i now have 4005 mp3s on my computer!

11.25.2002
23.12 gmt -05.00

requiem for a dream
winter overture

this is the last time
that i'm ever gonna come here tonight
this is the last time - i will fall
into a place that fails us all - inside

i can see the pain in you
i can see the love in you
but fighting all the demons will take time
it will take time

the angels they burn inside for us
are we ever
are we ever gonna learn to fly
the devils they burn inside of us
are we ever gonna come back down
come around
i'm always gonna worry about the things that could make us cold

this is the last time
that i'm ever gonna give in tonight
are there angels or devils crawling here?
i just want to know what blurs and what is clear - to see

still i can see the pain in you
and i can see the love in you
and fighting all the demons will take time
it will take time

the angels they burn inside for us
are we ever
are we ever gonna learn to fly
The devils they burn inside of us
are we ever gonna come back down - come around
i'm always gonna worry about the things that could break us

if i was to give in - give it up
- and then
take a breath - make it deep
cause it might be the last one you get
be the last one
that could make us cold
you know that they could make us cold
i'm always gonna worry about the things that could make us cold

lovely song, go and get it.

*yawn* so sleepy but i have a bit more reading to get through tonight.

happy birthday mom! sorry about forgetting though. school's been hectic, and my memories rather shoddy as it is.

for those in atlanta, go outside, and stare at the moon for a while. it's beautiful. there's a significantly large halo surrounding it. i wish i had a wide angle lens to get it all on one shot.

back to reading.

11.20.2002
00.10 gmt -05.00

dishwalla
angels or devils

hamza is one of hundreds of prominent iraqi scientists and engineers
hamza is known
hamza is a peaceable jeffersonian democrat who has been wilfully misrepresented
hamza is organized by the arthur m
hamza is listed in the "international who's who of professionals" world directory for 1998
hamza is a very complex issue
hamza is delivering the us rhetoric against iraq hook
hamza is the metal hook on his right arm
hamza is considered an alif
hamza is unique in arabic in many respects
hamza is in every way a sinister character
hamza is claiming
hamza is blessed and cursed
hamza is as aggressive with his goals as he is with fencing
hamza is belongs to connecting group of letters
hamza is close to the islamic opposition in yemen
hamza is an impressively large
hamza is a highly respected figure whose performances to mark the main islamic festivals are regurlarly televised in syria
hamza is musical treasure
hamza is a master of the oud and water wheel all 21
hamza is successful
hamza is a diacritic
hamza is a muqri
hamza is a player who can play on both the right and left side of lateral defence
hamza is the chief of a terrorist organization called "supporters of sharia" which operates in britain
hamza is involved in al
hamza is no longer associated with isis
hamza is merely the front
hamza is linked to both cases
hamza is not alone
hamza is not a national director
hamza is familiar with iraq's strategy of concealing its weapons development programs
hamza is not only my son
hamza is an emissary
hamza is currently the president of the council of middle eastern affairs in new york city
hamza is a barrel
hamza is the author of saddam's bombmaker
hamza is an economist who specialises in transitional economy issues
hamza is the imam of the santa clara masjed in the bay area
hamza is more commonly associated with the persian
hamza is extremely important for arabic declension
hamza is the only defector who has lived to write a firsthand
hamza is on saturday and will end around 5
hamza is again proceeded against and sentenced to fourteen years
hamza is the managing director of internet & e
hamza is now based in oakland and he sees his music as a mixture of western
hamza is the highest
hamza is also the owner of a leather factory
hamza is a prime suspect in a botched plot to kill president hosni mubarak in june
hamza is one of those musicians who can do no wrong
hamza is also the imam of the
hamza is a master of not just one
hamza is one of three unindicted co
hamza is not new to this game by any means
hamza is taken to prison
hamza is injured
hamza is a muqri?
hamza is used with kasrah it is written in this way; in lesson1 we dealt with and as long vowels
hamza is wanted in yemen on terrorism charges and the us treasury department has frozen his assets in this country
hamza is wanted by america and the yemen
hamza is president of the council on middle eastern affairs
hamza is hoping to take this present exhibition to the united arab emirates in october 1999 and from their plans a world tour to begin in june 2002
hamza is the exact opposite of those people
hamza is a true gift
hamza is ali noors bro
hamza is megérkezik holnapra
hamza is the leader of the london
hamza is professor of law and department chair of the center for european studies and chair of the department of roman law at the eötvös
hamza is actually a senior al qÆda recruiter
hamza is a fantastic adventure story
hamza is senior technical advisor to he nadia makram ebeid
hamza is being assisted by colonel usman
hamza is designated a global terrorist by the united states treasury department
hamza is een dichter die met zijn vrouw bakkeleit over het verlaten van de stad voor een veiliger oord
hamza is looking at the works of capitalist artists and reading
hamza is "a thought worth pursuing"
hamza is present
hamza is too young

interestingly enough, a lot of them have me associated with terrorism, never knew hamza was such a popular name. who are you?

11.18.2002
23.38 gmt -05.00

love hina
pursuit

got back from watching harry potter and the chamber of secrets. it was sooo good! much better than the first movie. they did a fabulous job of compressing the book within the time allotted. that was the main problem with the first movie; the transitions were too choppy and abrupt. but the music was lacking sadly. it was just a rehash of the first movie. smitha was to go today, but she wasn't feeling well. i went with laura and met allision, christina, and more two more people, not very good with names. but it was a good time. did you know they now have previews, before the actual previews? we had to sit through like ten minutes of terrible commercials, followed by ten more minutes of previews. i was hoping they would play the treasure planet preview, but sadly they didn't. there was this preview however, for a movie called kangaroo jack. the premise seems that two friends have to make a delivery of some thousands of dollars to australia. but in the process of doing so, the money gets swiped by a kangaroo (they put the money in a jacket pocket, and gave the jacket to the kangaroo to wear for some reason). so the movie is basically them trying to get the kangaroo. buuut . . . at the end of the preview, the kangaroo starts talking and rapping and dancing . . . at which point i was "whaaat in the world is this?"

in other news, i miss snow.

and i'm hungry. also, doesn't he look stoned?.

11.17.2002
01.30 gmt -05.00

karunesh
punjab

sunday was a bright day yesterday
dark cloud has come into the way

they sing to the darkest night
long before

why can't i face it
am i too blind to see
why did he go
why did he leave me

sunday was a bright day yesterday
dark cloud has come into the way

oo-oo-oo-oo-oooo
la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la

why can't i face it
am i too blind to see
why did he go
why did he leave me

sunday was a bright day yesterday
dark cloud has come into the way

oo-oo-oo-oo-oooo
la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la

so, i've decided, the wheels have been set in motion, the plans are being drawn out, the forces are being gathered. tune in new year's day or sometime thereafter to here the battle report and casualty list. all i can guarantee is that it's going to be an interesting day indeed. all i know is that i have to do something about my current state of me. but now, sleep.

11.12.2002
01.15 gmt -05.00

moby
sunday (the day before my birthday)

bsa website is well on its way to being complete.

life sucks.

back to work.

you see me walk
you see me fall
you touch the tears upon my face
i taste your words
i smell you fear
i feel your bitter sweet embrace
nothing mentioned, nothing gained
you're here and then your gone
your complications keep me sane
we're cold and intimate

i watch the news
i hear your words
i smell the lies beneath your smile
you hesitate, you deviate
from pictures filled with silence
nothing mentioned, nothing gained
we're here and then we're gone
a simple world appears insane
but we're cold and intimate

we search within
we search without
we touch the corners of our minds
we play our lives
deceive our friends
we taste the fruit of our own lies

pointless ventures
endless games
we were never here at all
nothing in this world could change
are we cold and intimate

11.10.2002
22.13 gmt -05.00

nitin sawhney
cold and initmate

update on banglar shur. the next one will be on november the twenty fourth. tune into wrek 91.1 fm atlanta to hear some old and new bengali music.

new news? not really. i'm supposed to be doing some homework, but my lab got pushed back till thursday so i'm just slacking and resting and watching friends. i'm also not feeling too well as of the moment. silly heart and all it's problems. i think it was the massive burger i ate for dinner, followed by the six kabobs and bread for a midnight snack with chili while watching the truman show. righto.

anything else? no? good, i'm off to rest some more. see you all later!

11.04.2002
23.07 gmt -05.00

tall paul vs inxs
precious heart (marc o'tool remix)

a late friday five:

01. were you raised in a particular religious faith?
islam.

02. do you still practice that faith? why or why not?
as much as i can.

03. what do you think happens after death?
you take the elevator up or down.

04. what is your favorite religious ritual (participating in or just observing)?
i dunno.

05. do you believe people are basically good?
of course.

hmmm . . . i meant those to be more in-depth. ah well. so . . . yeah. oh! banglar shur was a success! wait, i already wrote about that. hmmm . . . i have all these great ideas on what to write about on my blog, but when i get in front of the computer, i just fizzle out. weird. the ring? have i written about that? anyways, the ring was very good. it's a remake of a japanese film that goes by the same name and from what i have heard, it stays fairly true to the original. supposedly, there is a video out there that after having viewing it, you die in seven days. the main character herself has seen this video and is trying to solve the mystery before her seven days are over. the visuals and sound in the movie are very well made. the tape itself is exceptionally creepy. i highly recommend that you all go and see it, if you can stomach such films.

11.02.2002
17.28 gmt -05.00

prodigy
one love

hooboy what a weekend that was. can't write much right now; have to get back to work.

saturday was the lan party. was loads of fun. we mainly played quake iii and battlefield 1942. highlights included being run over by friendly jeeps, bailing out of plane and forgetting to pull parachute, and swimming ashore after battleship was sunk.

like i said, a quick update.

last night we had our bangla radio show "banglar shur". i'll have more info for the next show when i get it.

i've been looking for that song that plays on the new mitsubishi car commercial, and i found it! it's télépopmusik - genetic world - breathe. very nice lounging music. sometime i plan on putting up some music for you all to download. bye.

10.28.2002
21.51 gmt -05.00

télépopmusik
genetic world
breathe

back after a week of online abstinence, well not really. school's just been really busy. our second airplane design was due on wednesday so i being the procrastinator that i am, started it on monday and slept very little since then. but! it's done. now i just have to keep working on the gres, and my airfoil design project.

wednesday was your first game of flag football as the aiaa team. we lost 26-6. but that's, we're playing in the b league, even though we should be in the c league. all we want to do is defeat the asdl (Ærospace systems design laboratory) team in two weeks. i didn't play that night because i was running on negative fourty eight hours of sleep, so i just took pictures.

took another one of those nifty personality tests:

infp: "i never find perfection"
you focus deeply on your values and devote your life to chasing ideals . . . you often draw people together around a common purpose and work to find a place for each person within the group. you're creative and seek new ideas and possibilities. you quietly push for what's important to you, and rarely give up. you might be somewhat gentle or have a good sense of humor, you could be hard to get to know and overlooked by others . . . you like to make the world more in line with your vision of perfection.
if you're a teenager, you probably have a bit of a rebellious streak. you might argue with others who hold different values than yourself . . . you probably have a small close-knit group of friends . . . you can relax around these pals and be pretty entertaining, since you see the world in a different and special way . . . that's why your posts on the storm palace are so great!
inner harmony is the most important thing to you. you're sensitive and loyal. you have a strong sense of honor concerning your personal values. you'd rather communicate your feelings in writing . . .
you do best in a flexible situation where the teacher/colleague takes a personal interest in you . . . you like to interact with your peers, but not too much . . . you have both creativity and flexibility, and you like that about yourself . . . you don't get bogged down by details . . . your job must be fun and it must be meaningful to you . . . you don't wanna feel conspicuous so you'll sell yourself short just to avoid the spotlight . . .
you can be a gentle and subtle leader . . . being indirect and inclusive of others . . . you don't confront people head-on, but rather work with 'em to get the job done . . . you lead with your values in mind and let these guide you . . . you don't like conflict, so you don't confront situations directly . . . you'd rather wait for a situation to work itself out . . .
leisure and kickin' back is really important to you. sometimes it is hard to separate work from play, huh? when you find a new recreational pursuit, you do a lot of reading up on it . . . most of your leisure things are done alone, like reading, listening to music, and even bbsing . . . when you want to be sociable, you can be very charming and outgoing . . .
love is a very deep commitment to you . . . it's not easily attained . . . you probably pick out flaws or are disappointed when he or she doesn't match up to your ideal as to what love should be like . . . first dates are very well set up to make sure everything is taken care of so it can be "just right." you might have a hard time sharing feelings about others . . . you tell so many feelings inside that you forget to tell your partner that you love 'em or whatever . . .
if the relationship goes bad, you take it to heart, but probably don't tell many others about it . . . you have a tendency to overreact, huh? other things to watch for . . . don't get so caught up in your dreams that you don't consider others' points-of-view . . . you might not adjust your vision to the facts of a situation . . . you may need a "reality check" once in a while . . . also, don't try to please everyone and be so hesitant to criticize . . . don't delay projects 'cause you're holding out for perfection . . . it's not gonna come . . . don't get overly critical because no one matches your perfect ideals . . . you could lash out and it could get ugly.

fun yes?

the ishida dialogues: by smitha
(#1) ishida-san's a cheap little jerk who won't shell out a few extra yen just to get alice the nicer red wallet for her birthday, so he gets her the ratty brown one instead. some friend, ishida-san!
(#2) and yes, ishida-san's still a cheap little jerk. everyone knows he's in love with alice-san from previous dialogues, yet he won't fork over the yen for a nice wallet for her birthday. what is up with that? the soap opera of the nakama dialogues continues . . .
(#3) ishida-san: fork over the yen and get alice-san the wallet. and tell her that you love her. we all know it. cheap bastard.

in this week's newsweek there's a good article on past weeks issue about american fundamentalism. unfortunately, it's not archived on their site.
speaking of which, an article on a victim of sept. 11 backlash and support (or lack thereof) from the general community and a list of backlash attacks since sept. 11, both gotten from smitha. it saddens me that such things happen. but in such a large country like america, it's often drowned out and gone unnoticed by the masses.

help me get into grad school.

on a happier note, i found a little slip of paper in my mailbox that said . . . *searches for little slip* drats, can't find it. but it was something to the extent of "don't worry be happy", well not that exactly, but a cheery note. made my day.

here's the friday five for this week:

01. what is your favorite scary movie?
scary movie as in horror film? or movie that frightens me? hrmmm . . . i don't get frightened by movies very much, truthfully, the only one that does is signs (but that's cause i used to be a die-hard u.f.o. fan when i was little and would have nightmares about them). movies that creepy or gross me out i guess would be stuff on the magnitude of the hellraiser movies and the cell.

02. what is your favorite Halloween treat?
candy! duh.

03. do you dress up for Halloween? if so, describe your best Halloween costume?
nope.

04. do you enjoy going to haunted houses or other spooky events?
nope

05. will you dress up for Halloween this year?
isentropic man.

10.24.2002
23.46 gmt -05.00

prodigy
firestarter

if you will excuse me, i'm going to go die now. i've been looking for my wallet (with all my cards) for about half an hour, unable to locate it. for those of you who know me, you can imagine my worry. i then said "wallet, please come back" . . . and there it was in the pocket of my camera bag. so if you would be a dear, and please hand me the pillow/rope/poison/fork/hot candle wax . . . i shall be on my way to the afterlife, but first! a snack!

10.18.2002
03.54 gmt -05.00

here's my friday five:

01. how many tvs do you have in your home?
none, how sad is that? we have thousands of dollars in electronics, cameras, whatnots, but no tv.

02. on average, how much tv do you watch in a week?
about . . . three hours.

03. do you feel that television is bad for young children?
yes and no, if they sat and watched cartoons all day long, then no! but, channels like pbs, tlc, and discovery really do contain quality programming. but when i do have kids, tv will be limited, book! come first.

04. what tv shows do you absolutely have to watch, and if you miss them, you're heartbroken?
smallville (the lana lang and lex luther show as i like to call it)! yes, i know it's considered a "teeny-bopper" show, and it's on the wb. but my friends and i have just been watching it since day one. we always get together on tuesdays and watch it at the old apartment where we all used to live (only two of us remain there).

05. if you had the power to create your own television network, what would your line-up include?
the hottest anime from japan, the old cartoons they used to show in the 80s, and of course, the best documentaries in the world from the bbc (c'mon, american networks have nothing on the bbc).

10.18.2002
00.00 gmt -05.00

chemical brothers
under the influence

my favorite of theirs. fall break was very nice. i haven't been in home about a year! got lots of sleep, and lots of food. oh the food! i will miss thee, and my family. mellissa got me a huuuge! invader zim plush/huggy/pillowy/thingy. it keeps my bed warm and safe from the ants. happy birthday heidi! (cause i dunno when i'm going to update next). the flight to des moines was hectic. the flight was delayed by an hour, and i almost missed my connecting flight in cincinatti! luckily, there were four of us headed to des moines and we were about to roll over the ticket attendant, so she let us through. the flight back was just as hectic. dad and i had to leave at four thirty in the morning to get there on time. i'd only slept for three hours previously, and once i'm awake i can't go back to sleep. so i spent the entire flight feeling sick and unwell. the sunrise was very nice though. i've never really watched one before. landed in atlanta twenty minutes ahead of schedule and waited fourty to get my bags. met smitha at baggage claim and she took me back to tech (thanks so much!). made it to my classes too :)

oh! i bought this spiffy coat from brooks brothers. i can't wait till the temp drops enough so i can start wearing it.

new font! i'm using arial now instead of verdana. and got rid of the brackets and replaced them with /s. what do you all think? smitha agrees with me that it suits the design more.

go check out pantone universe. it's the online store for pantone, you know, that large company that tells the world what color red is? wired 10.10 has a good article about patone in it.

also go and check out the new layout for pomegranita, very smooth.

also! my airfoil design project just got extended by two weeks! oh happy day! i might actually sleep some this weekend! now, just gotta get started on my fluids lab and . . . omg! my senior design homework :( we have to fully design a plane by next wednesday! but before i start any of that, i must eat my dinner.

10.17.2002
17.34 gmt -05.00

linkin park
forgotten

so sunday was awesome! we all went out for sushi and such :) was most fun. sunday's entry can be viewed here.

oish! it's so hot in here! our air conditioner's filter is completely full :( who knows how long it will take them to fix it :( so anyways, srishti, matt, eric, amanda, and i will be going out tonight later to see the opening of spirited away; anime from the people who did totoro. smooth animation and lots of nice colors. go see it!

10.04.2002
13.32 gmt -05.00

prodigy
breathe

it's the rain that i hear coming
not a stranger or a ghost
it's the quiet of a storm approaching
that i fear the most
it's the pain that i hear coming
the slightest crystal tear, drops to the ground
in silence, when my love is near

it's marching through my door now
the stony cold of lonesome
a bell tolls for my heart and then my lonesome song begins
it's marching through my door now
the stony cold of lonesome
a bell tolls for my heart and now my lonesome song begins

darling, when did you call? i couldn't hear you
darling when? when did you cry? i couldn't hear you

i suppose it is the price of falling in love
i suppose it is the price of falling in love

darling when did we fall? when was it over?
darling when? when did we fall? when was it over?

i suppose it is the price of falling in love
i fear that its the price of falling in love

09.28.2002
01.28 gmt -05.00

delerium
innocente

today is a very clubbed to death type of day. the weather is very damp, wet, cold, and dark (i love it!). apparently, atlanta is in the path of hurricane isidore. though we most likely will not get the full hurricane, but a lot of it's rain and bad stuff . . . god i hate mornings. i've become immune to coffee. i can sleep for five hours and wake up at twelve in the afternoon and be fine. i can sleep for twelve hours and wake up at seven and be completely out of it. give me the nyte anytime of the day >_<

in other news. yesterday was ananya's birthday (happy birthday!), she's twenty now. we went out for some food around . . . sometime in the evening. we went down to the area near the fox theatre, trying to find a good place to eat. we stopped at baraonda (really nice italian restaurant). there were quite a number of persons ahead of us, but we only had to wait about ten minutes before we were seated outside (they covered and heated the area). afterwards, we walked all the way back to my place so i could burn her some cds, but it was absolutley insane! the wind was speeding, and it was wet! . . . >_< i haaate! mornings! our umbrellas got turned inside out. and i think i caught a small sniffle . . . i'm going to stop now and get back to school work. have a lot to finish before sunday. bye! and stay dry.

09.26.2002
10.57 gmt -05.00

rob d
clubbed to death

wooo! that was fun! smitha had this craving for dessert/desert (the sweet kind) and asked me to come along (thanks so much!). we also picked up srishti, laura, and laura's friend chris (who hosted the lan party sophomore year, was waaay awesome). so we all went to city cafe and had our food. it was about one thirty when we finished. and then chris asked if we wanted to throw a frisbee around. it was sooo . . . happyfying! we went out to the love building and played on large expanse of concrete and brick and grass. it was drizzling too! not too cold, very nice it was. so we played frisbee in the rain (barefoot! sooo nice, to splash around in the water and run through the grass as such). we then played musical frisbee and took turns singing songs (though i only sung mary had a little lamb). but anywho, tonight was just what i needed. as you can tell from my last post, i wasn't feeling very well. but now! that pesky ache is gone! gone! gone! at least for a while :) but nonetheless, it will not be troubling me tonight. off to bed i go, to sleep well, dream well, and rest well. i have martial arts tomorrow with srishti at 2pm and thereafter, time permitting, flag football practice. see you all later! (note to self, must play in rain more often).

09.22.2002
03.06 gmt -05.00

thievery corporation
indra

why does my soul feel so bad. moby sure does make some depressing songs, but it accurately depicts how i've been feeling lately. some stuff too personal to post about (but most of you who read this know anyway what's going on, just saying for the casual reader) and some other mundane stuff which i'll happily rant about.

school. what can i say? this is my last year at tech, though i'm thinking about staying on an extra year to pursue undergraduate research in hypersonic Ærodynamics. but i signed up too many classes for this semester. combined with my gres, woes of the real world, woes of grad school, and personal woes, i just broke down one night and felt . . . so bad. i'm not very good with words, but it was the worst i have ever felt in my entire life, my anxiety was at an all time high. i'm sort of "recovering", tonight's rain, the fact that no one is home (i get easily lonely), and moby playing in the background has . . . rekindled some of that anxiety. for those who have never experienced it, it's like there's a slight pinching pressure on my heart. it's not painful, but it's very discomforting, and the only release i can see is putting a spigot into my heart and draining all of it away (not that i would, just metaphorically speaking). when it gets really bad, the discomfort increases and i just fall into a depressed stupor. not very good. if i could exchange my heart for a better one, i would. anywho, so yeah. i dropped Æroelasticity and that will hopefully free up enough time so that i can manage myself this semester.

onwards! to better things.

sorry for not updating in a while, but school's been hell and such. the previous 3 entries were written while i was in bangladesh (which was awesome!) but i couldn't upload them due to a server crash. so here they are for your reading pleasure. but before you scroll down, and continue reading, let me inform you of updates. i have updated the "about myself" and "about theDragPolar" pages, and have added a system time to the menu on the left hand side.

i bought a new camera! it's a nikon n65 slr. sooo sweeet! fully auto / fully manual. i'm weaning myself off of auto focus and such slowly. i bought it from wolf camera for 350, and then checked the price later and found that the body was 300 and the lens that came with it was 200. i love my camera *gives hug* i also bought a new monitor. a viewsonic e90fb to be exact. 19 inch flat crt. finally! i don't have to boost my colors and gamma! finally! i can view at 1280 x 1024 and see everything clearly! finally! i don't have to put up with scrolling refresh lines. *hugs monitor* here are some pictures taken with my roomies dimage x.

side view of my computer desk with my new monitor and my server case (i thought it was was smaller when i bought it).


head on view of my new monitor.


alternate side view of desk. you can see my nikon sitting in front of the eagle statue.


the other night, smitha, srishti, and i (darn! if only my name started with an s also!) went to eat at this wonderful south indian restaurant. i had the palak paneer (looove that stuff), two samosas, and mango lassi (which i had never had before). it was veeery good, but i eat very little, so i have enough left to last me two days. afterwards we went to see signs (smitha and i had already seen it and this was srishti's first time). let me tell you, i was still freaked out by it, even more so now that i knew what's coming.

so anywho, i must be off! to . . . more sulking, and trying to get some work done for my crazy classes. take care all! and i will be updating this regularly again.

09.21.2002
21.38 gmt -05.00

moby
why does my heart feel so bad

i do belive that the server hosting my site is down, i guess i'll still update the journal though.

emmm . . . my tummy hurts. something i've been eating, dunno what yet.

sleeping well.

08.03.2002
13.07 gmt +06.00

the misadventures of the little brown kid
day 04

i forgot the highlight of the plain trip the other day, it was when i crashed the entertainment system built into my seat. i went to the main menu looking for some stuff to do, and then it suddenly flickered and said "please contact a flight attendant immediately, this chair may need service" aaand that's all it would say. the menu still worked, but you couldn't see what you were doing. i used my dad's chair system as a reference and played some super mario brothers. was fun.

today, i slept late. woke late. saud's dad came over to pick up his stuff, we chatted a bit. today was my grandfather's birthday, he is now 94! imagine that. the whole family, grandkids and greatgrandkids, sons and daughters, uncles and aunts, got together at his house and had some good eats and cake. went for a bit of a drive afterwards.

so yeah, that was my day. tomorrow i'm going to rifle square for some shopping and later to visit my grandmothers' graves. sorry for the lack of speedy updates, the internet is veeery slow and veeery laggy here. i'm lucky if i can connect to aim. that is all for today. i'm out and will try later to upload these entries.

08.02.2002
00.45 gmt +06.00

television
lemon soap commercial

the misadventures of the little brown kid
day 03

gmt +06.00 you ask? that's the time here in bangladesh, which is where i am for the remainder of my summer vacation. i took my last final (feedback systems, was a doozy) friday afternoon and turned my research paper in also. afterwards i began the task of packing. i never knew how much stuff i had! miscellaneous items accumulated over three years at tech. but i got my packing done on time. i moved seventy five percent of my belongings out that evening into my new apartment in centennial park. afterwards, jeff's car broke (he thinks it was my fault, everything's my fault. get a d on a test, blame the brown kid, lose your wallet, blame the brown kid, can't the brown kid get a break?) and i had to ask my friends to pick me up from the apartments. we went so see the new austin powers movie. it was perfect for that day. all you had to do was to sit back and laugh. after the movie, we went to the student center to pick up some more friends and then went back to our dorm to play some poker. they wanted to play for quarters (i had no monies whatsoever on me) but i opted out. spent the rest of the night packing for tomorrow's flight. sometime around one am, a drunkard decided to forcibly regurgitate his meal (he threw up) in our hallway. i walked out and smelled this rotten apple stench, then saw the puke. he also took care of the elevator; stairs were all that was left.

morning comes about and i've taken a four hour nap. my friends are still playing poker for quarters in the lounge. i get yale to help me move the remaining stuffs to the apt. finish about ten am or so and then head towards the airport so i may check in early. get my boarding pass via curbside in less than ten minutes, then back to the dorm where yale promptly passes out on the couch. i wait an hour or so for my cm to check me out from the room, but no show. i go to his room and he's been waiting for me. check out in less than ten minutes. spend three minutes trying to wake yale up (i had to yell in his ear) and then went back to the airport. flew to newark, met dad and cousins, went back to their flat in manhattan, ate mexican food, went to sleep, was delicious. woke up, plane ride for twenty four hours, newark -> dubai -> kuala lumpur -> dhaka. highlights were; riding in new boeing 777-200 for the second time, watching flaps deploy, watching dragon fly and beautiful mind, watching thrust reversers deploy on airbus a330, saw new bmw 745il in dubai, drinking lots of free coke, aaand yeah, that's about it.

arrove (is that a word?) in dhaka at one in the morning, played the "waiting nervously for luggage to arrive in one piece" game (we won!), and went outside to meet my family. at which point i was ambushed by my sisters and cousins, hugged from ten different directions, and given flowers to wear. went home. slept till eight in the morning (darn jet lag!), and have been having fun since, meeting family, and eating well (everyone agrees that i've become thinner). aaand yeah, that's about it.

i have yet to investigate this marriage business, will get back to you all on that asap. for now, lunch! (yes, lunch, we have late lunch and late dinners here) and then shopping and more family visiting, will write later tonight.

and now a brief message from my sister:
desi parents / inane chatter / wedding plans

hello all! you may have seen mention of me every so often in my esteemed brother's blog; imagine your luck at getting to read about a bit of my life! sadly, it is not so much different from my brother's account of his own: boring. and very much so. except that bit about receiving my brother and father at the airport-- my cousins and i decided that we would embarrass them by making a big hullaballoo out of their arrival. we came armed with marigold malas and rose petals to fling with girlish abandon. i was hoping for a raucous brass band and procession of beggars, but i think it might have been a little much.

as for the marriage business, the girl we've got in mind is lovely and vivacious, and rich to boot. we thought to bring her to the airport to greet my brother, but she had an appointment with the waxers, and canceled on us. ah well. her name is alice. my brother eats marigolds. he also has a secret ambition to become a social climbing wedding-tent-putter-upper. Monsoon Wedding, anyone?

we're still getting onto him about the bhangra thing. he doesn't like dancing, or so he says. how can you have a desi wedding with no bhangra, yaar? oh, balle balle.

and now a brief message from my cousin:

hello! you all probably never heard of me before, but I guess I'll bore you anyway. Hamza has slimmed down and Heidi is bothering me.

and now a brief message from my other sister:

I know less than half of you readers than I should like, and I like half of you more than you deserve. But hello to you all anyway.

I have disposed of my older brother for the moment and have absolutely no idea what to write. As my sister has said life is the same as my brother's. And the same as my sister's. Boring. Tiring. All that stuff. I have an important announcement to make!! My brother, has no gel in his hair today! Amazing. We just went and bought stinky chicken and vegetables from the market. Very interesting. And smelly. Sorry for boring all you readers out there. I will leave you to your own thoughts and mind. I am going now. This is the end. Goodbye.

right, sorry for all of that, my sisters wouldn't have let me go unless i allowed them to write some. so i thought my jet lag was gone, but alas, it's only been delayed by a day or so. today i've slept till twelve in the afternoon, and then took a rather long nap for about three hours. was most fun. then we went out to get some groceries (and ice cream). drove back, and here i am, writing very blandly about my rather bland day. right, time for dinner! (i love having laaate dinners).

this concludes our broadcast for the day.

07.31.2002
15.03 gmt +06.00

claude challe
buddha bar ii
funky for you