Venial Sin

I know I haven’t updated in a few days, but that’s had much to do with the fact that I’m a bibliophile, and a really obssessive one at that. Once I begin reading a new book, it’s almost impossible for me to put it down, or to focus on any form of writing until I’ve finished. In the last week, I’ve finished three books which have absolutely stunned me. I’m shamelessly fond of science-fiction and fantasy literature, because the escapism [...]

Roughly three weeks ago, I went to Karachi’s head FedEx office to pick up my passport. During the course of the last few years, most of the major embassies and consulates, with the exception of the continental Europeans, have moved all of their visa facilities out of Karachi and Lahore, and centralised them in Islamabad. And to “streamline” visa applications, a fair number of them (almost all, as far as I can remember), have partnered with courier services (the exception [...]

This is ridiculous. Last night, I was at the beach for a friend’s birthday party. Met a very interesting young man getting his PhD from Brown, and we got to talking. Spent an hour or so sitting out next to the ocean looking at the waves at midnight, getting splashed with the spray and just laughing a lot. Then we went back inside to the beach hut for refills on our drinks. And while looking for ice, we decided that [...]

First off, hey, random 98 people who felt the urge to e-mail and attempt to justify the way you behave and feel? Bite me. And you couldn’t have left your e-mails as comments why exactly? Throw this bitch a bone, please. And the continuation is over at Rocky’s blog…

To the people who have e-mailed me in tones ranging from studied disinterest to defensive angst, and all out pre-emptive fury, I swear on my libido (or what remains of it at any rate) that the last post was NOT AIMED AT ANYONE IN PARTICULAR. I’m not sure how to make this any clearer. If you’re pissed/upset/hurt/angry because something I wrote struck home, I’m sorry for your emotional battering, but I assure you that it was not meant for any [...]

The thing is…when you see something about yourself that you simply don’t like at all, and wish never existed, you still have to take some time to come to terms with it. Of course, at the same time, while you pretend you’re trying to come to terms with this disliked factoid about yourself, you’re desperately searching for some sort of miniscule, trivial loophole that will let you out of feeling like a shit and justify your admittedly crummy thoughts (if [...]

To those who asked, thank you for your concern. I woke up this morning rather suddenly, and here’s what my mental checklist ran: 1) I’m on the floor. Hmm. 2) Why am I on the floor? 3) I must have fallen out of bed. 4) That makes sense, I sleep on the edge of my bed. What was the point of getting a king-size bed if I’m only going to use that small part of it anyway? 5) That’s not [...]

As of this morning, I’m the proud owner of the first copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to be released in Pakistan.

All of the previous birthday encounters, however, pale in comparison to the gestational celebrations I attended about a fortnight ago. One of my friends from high school, with whom I’ve only been friends for about two years despite knowing her for almost two decades, was turning 25, and as one of the few people in Karachi with whom she gets along, my attendance was mandatory. So, like an complete naïf, I went on over. It should probably have been a [...]

When we arrived at the second party of the night, having given up on accurate directions altogether, preferring instead to imitate bats and follow the thumping bass sound-waves to its location, Opiate and I were slightly pissed (and pissed off). Our moods (and balance) weren’t improved by the fact that the hostess of the party had chosen as her venue, a plot of utterly undeveloped land, from which the wild brambles and shrubbery had been cleared, but none of the [...]