a long, long ride

These are a few pictures I took on my trip to Riyadh! :D
Mayynn, it was quite a ride! :S we left at around 4am and came back home at about 9pm. My brother and I stayed up the whole night before we left and I was exhausted (we were watching Russell Peters so yeah, all that laughing made my stomach ache like hell!:$lol)! I was in such a hurry that I forgot to change my mp3 player’s batteries (dumb me :$) and I forgot to take my scarf…what was worse was that when we entered the embassy (after a ride that took almost forever) there were thousands of ummm…MEN, with all these weird (ahhh forget it:$!) and *pauses* we were the only ladies!:| it was SO WEIRD. It felt as if we (as in my mom and I) were the only women alive!
Ahh well the only good part about going through all that was that we got to eat from Quiznos (yeah:D, free coke-refills lolz):D! hehe and oh yeah I saw a great deal of camels on the way :)…and then on one of our stops; at the back of this gas station, my brother and I even managed to walk all the way to a herd…my brother went extra-close (m not sure if there’s such a word, but m sure u’d know what I mean:$) and he took a few pictures, BUT my dumb camera just had to start dying of low battery that time…and no, I wasn’t getting scared:P ...i was just ummm letting Zaid do his job:P! lolz seriously :$, I didn’t wanna scare them away (the camels that is)…they looked so calm—everything was looking so serene…the camels grazing, the just-born-sun taking its shape, the soft mist—just everything looked amazing…for once the same ol’ boring desert looked like a completely different place!
*sighs*…but somehow I (during the ride at some point) ended up thinking about my friends and how much I’ll miss this place:$, how hard it’ll b to stay in touch with everyone (I even had a lill fight with a really really really close friend of mine who thought I was being ignorant:$)—so the thought kept disturbing me…
such a close friend—the closest I have…ahhhh…but its hard to xplain all the shit I’ve been into these days—these conditions that have arose…never wanted any of this to happen…but it did and I had feared it—somehow I had seen this coming…long before it even happened…
(I ended up writing a poem that seemed to fit in both ways *sighs*…hope it makes sense)

The End

I hear ‘em coming;
Those rustling palmetto leaves leaning onto each other.
The noise of the tiny grains of sand in the fierce wind
—all echoing their arrival

Yes, I knew the times had come;
The loss had eventually made it
Piercing its way through the walls
—the walls that now hold it.

The faces that smiled and the heads that tossed with joy
Now all are falling off; in pieces
Like confetti from a piñata

Those warm hugs, the little pats on the back
Those shrugs, nudges and all the ‘thumbs-ups’
—everything, now, is melting like ice-cold slush

Those words—of comfort, to solace, to celebrate;
The immeasurable time that was spent,
Each bit flashing back and breaking in million other pieces and bits
—everything abolishing just by the thought of it

And then from the corner of my eye
All at sudden, in the middle of all the flashes
I see my own reflection…
I, from the times that were ending and that had ended

—me, looking at my self
And I, seeing her fearing and knowing
That all was nothing but to end
And that the end was nothing but imminent…

note: had posted this earlier but thre was some problem with my dumb net...ahh..nyways here it is now...

Yes! We graduated!!! :D--*sighs*:$

Sitting there, I heard my name being called and this weird feeling engulfed me…a feeling of—ahh—nothing. As if I was in some remote island, far away…with a boat at sight, happy and excited but unsure if it was only an illusion. I started feeling all numb—all eyes on me penetrating my flesh and sucking my blood. My friend waiting for me at the podium—smiling, just as scared yet happy that it was over for her; I stood up and started treading carefully. I reached the ramp and sighed with a smile as I saw my teacher, her smile and her ‘thumbs up’. I looked around and amongst all the faces I found my parents’—shining, eager and proud. This was My time and I knew I had a big responsibility but there they were—everyone—all those bits of me and my life sitting in a circle…faces that made me the way I am. How could I ever go wrong if I were to speak to ‘myself’?…and just as I did while I was dressing up in front of my bathroom’s mirror, I smiled, trying to comfort myself and started off…

Good evening Mr. Stapp, Mrs. Dambal, parents, guests and students. How often do we hesitate, taking challenges and making decisions? How often do we fear consequences? When I asked these questions to myself, I ended up writing a poem and this is how it goes:

Soaring Through Tunnels

Unknown yet expected
—dark tunnels on the way
Careful tiny feet stepping in
With fear and dismay

But amid this qualm
Was the urge to move on
The courage to step
And the zeal to meet the very dawn

Yes, she had known
How much the darkness of the tunnels
Wanted her to moan and mourn
But she had found their openings

She had found the light
Thinking of the high skies
She had stepped in
With only glint in her sight

For she knew that if it was
The sky she had to reach
No soil, no rock on land could ever impede her
To the light of skies she was to seek…

Throughout the nine years I have spent in this school, I have gone through many such obstacles—just as the girl in the poem did. Turning them into opportunities—finding that light, has been an amazing experience, for I have learned a great deal through even the smallest decisions I had to make. I still remember how much I hated beetles and how much my friends loved them. Making friends wasn’t as hard as it was to stay with them and their fellow beetles. And yes, how can I ever forget those elections? The times when I used the oddest of ways to make the decision; yes or no, no or yes—those countless times when I drew out slips and redid those draws until there would be a tie and I would eventually give up. I finally decided to take a risk—a challenge, but what it gave to me in return was an opportunity for me to (i messed up in this part:$ a lill) serve the school and its people who I’d have never been able to pay back. Although, no matter what I do it’ll stay just as impossible and this, here is the least I can do to thank everyone from the very bottom of my heart—the Almighty, my caring dad, my loving mom, my supporting brother, my helping teachers and all my amazing friends—everyone who has helped me turn my challenges into real opportunities. Till last year I had thought these “thank you’s” as very typical and monotonous but it’s only now that I have realized their importance. Thank you once again for listening.


and yes, thankful i was...it sorta sounded boring to me though:$--the speech...*sighs* well things r over now *deeply sighs*...

theres so much to write but i'm completely blank right now:$...*sniffs*...man, ima miss this place!