“Eighty percent of success is showing up”

I was reading my old posts and even though it seemed impossible at the time, life has changed. I mean I knew it would- “Life in three words: It goes on” is my all time favourite quote. But that crappy phase, although temporary, seems endless when you are actually in it.

This term was all about getting out of my comfort zone for me. Trying new things. Always repeating “the answer is always no if you don’t ask” in my head.

Procrastination, running circles in my head.
While you sit there contemplating,
You wound up left for dead (left for dead)
Life is what happens while you’re busy making your excuses.

Grades came out yesterday and hey..it worked.
80+ average
Job at a reputable company for the next work term
News friends
..a successful term if I say so myself

I tired hard this term. I joined school clubs (GET INVOLVED PEOPLEEE) and it not only helped me meet new people but also gave me something to talk about during interviews AND to new people I met.

I also secured a job in the second interview I got (good thing too coz I don’t think I was gonna get any more interviews). Pro tip: Make them laugh. When you know your answer is lame, end with a joke.

Interviewer: Tell me about a time when you dealt with a challenge at work
Me: -word vomits about a lame situation- *laughs nervously* and wellll in the end Google is your best friend at work :p

My social life got better too. While I still shy away from the house parties my classmates throw after every exam session, I talked to people in the lab I always work in. By the end of the term, I almost always had someone to talk to in the lab. Lets ignore the fact that most of those people were guys. (I just feel more comfortable around them…they are easier to impress I guess)

O how thankful I am to my parents for not letting me focus on my looks when I was little. When I was a teenager, I hated the fact that they didn’t let me get my eyebrows threaded or that my mom wouldn’t tighten my uniform to make it look like less of a bag. But I don’t know if I have mentioned this before, but all those restrictions allowed me to work on my personality. I never had the looks so I have to rely on my personality lol does that make sense? ‘The internet’ introduced me to so many things and allowed me to understand the references people make and quickly get jokes and offer witty remarks. (Although I think I need to tone down the sarcasm…it is starting to become my default)

In summary, this was my best term at Waterloo. So much (that I can’t disclose here) happened and even though I am still an introvert at heart, I am trying to step out of my comfort zone.
I will end this pointless and ‘flow-less’ post with something my floor-mate said to me that just stuck with me

..all you need to do is say hi 🙂

Pakistan’s 9/11

So by now you have probably heard of the massacre that happened in Pakistan which left at least 148 students and staff dead. At least I hope you have heard of it…

I don’t even know how to react to something like this. I used to live in that city, in the same streets as those kids who were murdered. How do you find the strength to go on after that?
And yet the brave brave people of my country go on.

But you see it’s different this time. We are finally standing up. Standing up to fight..to take back our country from these monsters.

I thought it was too late for us. I thought we had become too desensitized. Too used to people dying. A country where 10 people dying had turned from breaking news to “just 10 people?”.

Things are changing.

The taliban killed our children to scare us, to take revenge for the army operation against them. But boyyy did that backfire. We are not scared any more..we are rising. This was the last straw. Taliban apologists are no longer being tolerated. There are no good and bad taliban any more. Taliban=Enemy. We are not letting people excuse their actions any more, not letting them hide behind religion and ‘yahoodi saazish’.

I know most of you won’t understand this but I had to write about this. I have never been prouder to call myself Pakistani.

They tried to bury us, they did not know we were seeds

Maybe after this dark day in history people around the world will stop putting innocent Pakistani citizens and the taliban that murder them in the same category.
The extremists do not represent us.