...and then he pooped

Mostly because I'm bored (when I should be doing work). Here's a video of my nephew Adam. Sigh he's so cute. I had to stop the video because he was escaping from my clutches. That sneaky boy.

Deep End

In the last few days that I was in Egypt this past summer, my sister and I rode a jet ski in the Mediterranean. If you want to do something like that here, you probably need to have a boating license or something. But no, some Egyptian pounds and a life jacket are enough to drive one in Egypt.

We were zooming around quite fast, me being the driver. It was all very exciting and fun. After about 10 minutes of driving around, I made a turn that was too sharp, and before I knew what was happening, the entire jet ski flipped over, throwing me and my little sister into the sea.

We were very far from shore, and it wasn't swimming distance. There was no one else around. Just us, two girl floating in the Mediterranean, holding on desperately to an upside down jet ski. When the motor automatically turned off, the jet ski started to sink. I started panicking, telling my little sister to hold onto the front part of the contraption that hadn't sunk yet.

I frantically started screaming for help, though I knew full-well that no one would hear me. In those moments we were stranded there, I felt a mixture of fear and extreme guilt for having gotten myself and my little sister into such a bind.

It's very interesting to think of the state of fright I was in. I still feel unnerved and uncomfortable when I think about what happened that day. The most frightening part of it was not having ground to stand on. Not only were we in a difficult situation, but there was nothing below us to keep us stable. The fear of death by drowning was a clear and intense reality in my mind.

A few minutes later another boat happened to be whizzing by, and they alerted the Egyptian “lifeguards” (essentially a group of young men in a boat) who came and, quite literally, rescued us.

Afterwards and for the rest of the day, I was shaken. I kept having flashbacks of every second of what went down. Mostly, I had recurring thoughts about my body falling. I had no control over any of my limbs. I was seized up and thrown into the salt water.

I don’t know why I’m thinking of this now, in the middle of the night. Perhaps because that day I twisted my knee very awkwardly, and it still smarts every once in a while. I should see a doctor.

Maybe I haven’t described it in dramatic enough terms, but I was afraid for my life. People generally say you see your entire life flash before your eyes in times like these. But I didn’t. All I could think about the entire time was how to stay alive. I just wasn’t ready to die, especially not like this – on a silly whim.

The uncertainty of life evades us. I could have easily died that day.

Sometimes I wonder when and how my death will happen, and I hope that when that time comes, I won’t feel so terribly unprepared.

All in a Day's Work

I like making lists. It's much easier than writing in paragraph form. So, here's a list of the noteworthy things I did today, in chronological order:

1. I role-played a teen with drug addiction issues in one of my social work classes. Eerily enough, my act was very convincing.

2. I went to Second Cup after iftar with a friend of mine. I got a cookie, and asked the barista to put whipped cream on it, just to see if he would flinch. He didn't. My social experiment was a failure. To my chagrin, he promptly spread a thick layer of whipped cream on the cookie (which I hated).

3. We found a patch of grass on a busy square in downtown Toronto, took our shoes and socks off, and walked on it, marveling at how cold and wonderful the grass felt under our feet. A man walked by and looked us up and down (starting at our bare feet) and uttered a confused: "assalaamu alaikum..?"

4. I found a lost blackberry at Ryerson (what we were doing there is beyond me). And spent a good 10 minutes trying to locate its owner. It was a nice phone (i.e. I sympathized since I have the same one. Yes I own a blackberry - mostly because I'm a creep) so I felt it my duty to return it to the owner. I was successful.

5. I bought a lehnga. Lahenga? Lengha? It's to wear to my friend's wedding. I feel like one of those dazed and confused white people trying to fit into an Indian wedding. (This was technically done on Tuesday, however, I feel it is noteworthy enough to go on my list).

6. I tripped while standing on an escalator. I'm not quite sure how. Apparently I am capable of wondrous things.

I vaguely remember a few other things, but these will suffice for now.

If only it was this easy

I wish I had these things to break my fast with

Strange cravings that have been bothering me all day...

One blueberry muffin
One pumpkin pie
One croissant
One green skittle
One glass of chocolate milk

That's all.

First day jitters

Today was my first day of school. Being back at school is very strange. I feel old and out-of-place. And I mean, Masters? Ick. It sounds so academic and serious. Why am I doing this again?

So my program is made up of about 120 people. 97% of which are young Caucasian women. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it was slightly surprising to see very few visible minorities in the class, especially considering the fact that the field of social work is ever-present in the lives of minorities and immigrants.

Anyways, it was okay. Scary at first, but okay. I walked in with all these nervous jitters, thinking to myself that I was definitely going to flunk out of this program and "how did I even get in?!" But hopefully time and experience will eradicate those fears. It's transitioning from one period of your life to another that's the difficult part.

Also, my classes all start at 8:30 in the morning. I think that's morally wrong, and discriminatory against those of us who aren't morning people.

That's all.

Bye.

The Facts of Life

I found my first white hair today. Excuse me while I go drown my sorrows in Beauty and the Beast.

Food Mapping

This is what I had for suhoor/sehri today.

Some cereal (Oatmeal Squares by Quaker) and milk (1%).

Some fruit salad (composed of peaches, oranges, grapes, bananas).

One boiled egg with salt and pepper.

Yes, I eat a lot. But that's what I call accommodating the 4 food groups!

Perhaps a report on tonight's Iftar is in order.