This needs more work but I am quite pleased with it all the same...:)

S's First Newspaper Article

S is on the school newspaper and I came across this article on school lunches that he wrote for the upcoming issue.I think he's done a really good job and just had to put it up here because its so cute!

"
School Lunches
by S

Hi,I am S and I have interviewed 6th graders about their opinions about our school lunches and what they think should be added.
Overall, the school lunches have a great taste and are very healthy most of the time.The pizza is delicious.Its one of the best kinds I've ever had.Cheesy breadsticks are just a small step away from the pizza. There are many choices and different ypes of things to choose from every single day. The lines don't take too long to clear up and everyone cooperates to keep the line moving.I liek the times for lunches except sometimes since you only get twenty minutes and it cuts into our recess time especially for poeple like me who are slow eaters.If we had five more minutes, that'd be great.Other than that, I like how the schedule is set up and those who have lunches later on in the day can bring snacks in most classes. The drink choices are great,especially the orange juice.The there are seating arrangements whcih are great too except that I think we should be able to sit with the other team.This could help all 6th graders get to know people better and give a chance to make new friends.Finally, the lunch ladies are swift,fair and get the kids from the register to the table in no time flat.
Well, thats about it and if you are wondering what the favourite lunch of most 6th graders is....it is of course PIZZA!To wrap this up....the cafeteria is doing a wonderful job and they will continue doing this through out the year.
Goodbye!"

The Banana Walnut Cake

I had been putting off making this banana walnut cake for quite some time now....laziness,laziness! Well, I finally got down to it yesterday and mashaAllah it turned out amazing...if I may say so myself! :D
I am posting the recipe in case any of you want to give it a try...it really is the simplest thing ever and is such a quick fix too....30 minutes tops!

1+1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large ripe bananas,mashed
1 egg
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter or margarine,melted
1/3 cup crushed walnuts(just cut the shelled walnuts into smaller pieces)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

TOPPING:
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 table spoon cold butter or margarine

In a large bowl combine the first four ingredients,the walnuts and the 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon.Combine the bananas,egg,sugar and butter in a seperate bowl;mix well.Stir into dry ingredients.Fill greased or paper-lined cake pan/baking dish three-fourths(the cake rises considerably so don't use too small a pan).Combine the first three topping ingredients;cut in butter until crumbly.Sprinkle over the batter in the pan.Preheat oven and bake at 375 degrees F(it'll be different for the degree C scale...I'll let you do the math) for 18-20 min.Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack and well...enjoy!

Eid Mubarak!

Hope you all have a blessed eid!

Tagged by sohnii

Today
Height: 5'6
Color: ummm...I just asked my sister what "color" I was...she told me to say "I am African American"..hehe...I'd say I have a wheatish complexion.
Piercing: Two in each ear.
Tattoos: none.

Right NowTime: 7:32 a.m
Mood: Pleasant...I am a morning person and am mostly happy in the mornings. :)
Taste: Had sehri over an hour ago...even the taste of mouthwash has worn off by now..so..nothing.
Weather: Cold,grey and cloudy (and I like that).
Bad habit: Incessant worrying...there are at least 10 things that I am worrying about right now...and my day has just begun... *sigh*
Current crush: Won't tell..:P..hehe...I am probably too old for all this now..hehe
Biggest regret: Never thought about this....hmmm...none as of now....I think!
Perfume(s): Just put on the hoodie I was wearing yesterday...so, right now I smell of Lacoste's Touch of Sun.
Thing I want to do: Get done with answering all these questions!

Favourite
TV show: Law and order,ER,House (and I've recently developed a liking for scrubs..and yes sohnii...JD is cute..:)..)
Book: There are so many that I like...but I could read The Magic Faraway Tree series(Enid Blyton) over and over. (oh and add to that...The Little Prince...I love this book too)
Non alcoholic drink: Not too much of a fizzy drink fan...but if I were to pick one...Diet Coke.
Milk drink: Hot Chocolate!
Brand: none
Color: Teal
Emblem: none
Perfume: Pleasures
Designer: No one in particular.
Chocolate: I love chocolate...all sorts...my favourite...something I can never pass up on would be the peanut M n Ms!

Have I Ever
Broken the law: No
Misused credit card: No
Skipped school: Sure I have...but not because I wanted to...I loved going to school.
Fell asleep in the shower/bath: No....I really don't know how people can fall asleep in the shower...
Had children: No
Been in love: No
Been hurt: Yep...plenty of times...if we're talking of being hurt emotionally.I get beat pretty regularly by my little brother S...so I can claim to have been physically hurt too..:)

RandomHave a job: No...not right now..hopefully that'll change soon!
My CD player has what in it right now: Haven't used a CD player in ages...I don't even know were mine is!
If I were a crayon, the color: Black
What makes me happy: The Rain!

When/What Was the Last
I got a real letter: Last year in December...pre step 1/a cousin wrote to me to cheer me up with an A-Z list of reasons why I needed to do well on the exam....many of which were really funny!
Got an email: 5 minutes ago/some random email about free calls to Pakistan
Thing I purchased: day before yesterday/gas for my car
TV program I watched: Last night/Law and Order-Criminal Intent
Movie I saw in the theaters: August 2006/Step up
Hugged: an hour ago/my sister
Place I was: an hour ago/My sister's room
Song heard: Yesterday morning/bulla kee jaana main kaun (Rabbi Shergill)
Phone call: Last night/Arsh
Was depressed: A little...last night after having talked to a friend who is not too happy with life right now.

What Comes to Mind When I Hear
Car: My adirectionia(no sense of direction)
Murder: The words "in cold blood"
Cape: Cape Cod
Cell: Phone
Fun: The candy/chocolate aisle! :D
Shoe: Need to get a pair
Crush: ok..this is nerdy..hehe.. but right now when I hear the word crush..the book "crush the boards" comes to mind...weird because I didn't even use it to prep for the boards!
Music: My father (he plays a whole bunch of instruments!)
Love: My mother
Chalk: 5th Grade(did you know there is such a thing as the black board monitor?)

Alright...who do I tag?O-C,Beau,Writer's creek...amongst the girlies.As for the guys...I am not sure if they have the patience to answer all this..hehe..but for the heck of it...I tag Rai and Usman and well DP isn't blogging so we'll spare him the honor..

Katrina (courtesy O-C)

Sketch

Some years ago I would probably have labelled drawing as a hobby....I'd like to believe I was good at it too.Well...in medical school my drawing was limited to drawing dissected body parts initially and then pathology slides and specimens...all part of course work.I don't know why I gave up on drawing otherwise during that time....but I did.A few days ago I just felt this urge to grab a pencil and a sketch book to try my hand at drawing again. I was quite disappointed because it just didn't seem to come as easy I had imagined it would....rightly so, because I have been out of practice for so long.Anyways,heres something I came up with today...its nothing great but its definitely a start.

:)

I have some good news to share...I got my CS exam result today (this was the exam I took in Atlanta) and Alhamdulillah I have passed.I am delighted of course as this marks the end of the series of exams that I was required to take to be certified. This also means that I now get to add those two letters at the end of my name i.e M.D....which my mother says is the best part!
Its been quite a journey all this and I must single out and thank the few people who visited my blog and cheered me on.Rai,niqabi,sozzy and beau...thankyou all ever so much!Last but not least....DrPak deserves an extra special mention.He has just been terrific with all his support through out this entire time for he actually endured all my whining in real time over MSN and google talk.Thankyou DP!
Of course, this doesn't mean that you all are off the hook...I am on the trail to residency now and well...the whiner in me ain't done yet! ;)

hmmphh!!!

D's computer has been infested by viruses.Actually,I can comfortable call it MY computer because it has sooo much of my gunk on it that it technically is mine!Anyways...back to the virus infestation....It all started the day before yesterday when there was a sudden crazy onslaught of absolutely ridiculous pop-ups from God knows where. Turned out the Norton antivirus had expired and I hadn't paid any heed to the renewal recommendations that had been popping up for a few days now. So, I got the subscription renewed for sixty bucks only to realise that the damn viruses had taken over complete control of the computer...such that I couldn't even install the new Norton antivirus.I called the customer support services who told em that I'd have to pay seventy bucks for and their analysts to help me. I got the antivirus thing up and running finally.However,that was surely not the end of it. The pop-ups still kept showing up everytime I opened my internet browser. I called the customer support again yesterday morning and well....I spent almost the whole day trying to get it fixed....*sigh*...and its still no where close to being fixed. A hundred and thirty bucks and a day and half of being told to "hold on please" and "thankyou for your patience".....ITS STILL NOT FIXED!Heres what I think these antivirus software people do....they wait...wait for your subscription to expire and then send in these rapidly replicating viruses themselves to your computer.What do you do? Ofcourse you get scared and renew your subscription...but by then its too late.Then you call them to ask for help and surely they want you to "have your visa or master card ready to pay for the service".Alright...so you pay some more hoping that NOW they'll be able to fix it.Thats where you're mistaken....what starts now is a vicious cycle of them putting you on hold(for ages) and then getting you through to analyst upon analyst upon analyst till you yourself get sick of calling them and just let it be!Ok...I need to go now because the current "analyst" who had put me on hold has decided to come back to life.

p.s: In case someone's wondering how I am bloggin if my computer is messed up...I've borrowed my father's laptop just to whine here.

The "feel good" Cloud Pictures!

Took these on the plane on my way back from Pakistan this April.

B o r e d

Ah yes....I’ve been away again! Well…not really…I’ve been here but just didn’t feel like blogging….attribute that to laziness, lack of muse (not that any of my posts fall into the category of creative writing… hehe ) whatever. Anyways, I sent in my residency applications a few days ago and to my surprise I got an interview call yesterday. I am happy of course because I didn’t expect any so soon after applying. Hopefully, things will pan out well and I’ll land some more interviews soon. Getting my applications together kept me busy till a few days back but with those out of the way now, I must admit I am bored. I should probably come up with a countering boredom “to do” list. Just off the top of my head:

Make that long overdue trip to the library and get some books to read.
Take pictures of the trees en-route to and around my aunt’s neighborhood….they’re absolutely gorgeous come fall. (I’ll put them up here if they turn out nice)
Err…charge the camera to take those pictures. :D
Volunteer to help set up the new library at the school where my mother works.
Oh and a friend asked me to try writing a sonnet…so, add “try writing a sonnet”.

Not bad eh? Additions to this so called list are welcome of course.

p.s: I don’t watch much TV…so that doesn’t count.