I happened to be reading through my old livejournal journal today and came across something I wrote back when I was unemployed a few years ago. I made a list of things I wanted to do in my free time. So, here is what I wrote back on Wednesday February 23, 1995 in italics. My notes will follow each list item:
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-Write everyday. It doesn’t matter if it’s crap, I need to get into the practice of writing on a regular basis. I start writing and then I leave it alone for a while, which is what i need to stop doing.

I have been writing a bit more, but mostly for this blog. I still need to write more in general.

-Read more. This includes non fiction as well, such as religious books and books in which I can actually learn something.

I’ve read a lot more books since I wrote the above, including a lot of non-fiction books. However, I’m not done reading all the books I have so there are definitely a lot more I want to get to.

-Start taking more pictures. This task would include buying myself a better camera.

Totally started taking more pictures. Back then, the camera I used was the family’s first digital camera, a 3 megapixel Canon camera. It was good for what it was but I wanted to do so much more. I went from that camera to the Canon sd 700 IS (one of the first Image stabilization cameras), to the Canon sd 850 IS after the 700’s my LCD broke, and now to a Canon XSi. I still need to improve my photography skills though.

-Make a documentary. On what, I don’t know. I’m inspired after watching ‘The Yes Men’.

Uh, yeah. Haven’t gotten to this one yet.

-Pack a bag and move to Paris. Get myself an apartment. Write. Ride the Eurorail for awhile. Write. I’ll always have the apartment in Paris in which I can always go back to in between jaunts across the continent.

This would probably be classified as one of the not so realistic goals as mentioned above.

-Save the world

I’ll let Obama handle this one. And Superman.

-Make a connection with someone

I think I’ve made a connection with a lot of people since I wrote this but I still need to make that one connection with that special someone.

-Learn and then use more software, including the whole Macromedia Suite.

I’ve learned some software since I made the goal but haven’t yet learned anything in the (what was used to be called) Macromedia suite. I will soon get Dreamweaver and Flash though.

-Create a website chock full of stuff that everyone wants to read. It will then become a sensation overnight.

I think I was kidding about the overnight sensation part. I actually have created a website (this one, if you’re wondering ) and it’s filled with stuff that some people want to read so I guess I’ve half accomplished this.

-Learn Arabic and French while brushing up on my Spanish and Urdu.

Hey, I finally started learning Arabic! Woohoo! Not French just yet. I have been looking through Urdu as well though. Cool, cool.
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It’s been kind of weird to read some of the stuff I wrote on my livejournal. I seemed to be a bit more introspective in those posts, mostly because I knew only a few friends were reading it and that’s it.

I wrote the above 4 years ago and while it’s nice to know that I’ve made progress on a few of those, I still have a lot more I need to do.

There’s a meme going around Facebook where people are writing a list of 25 things about themselves and then tagging people to their note and have them write their own list. I’ve been tagged a handful of times and I thought I would make a list. However, I’m still not sure if I want to put it on Facebook so I’ll put it here for now.

Here are the rules: “Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you.” So with that, I came up with this list:

1. I really need to work on being a better Muslim and a better person.

2. I have a touch of geekiness.

3. I love speaking in front of crowds.

4. There have been two times where I have been so incredibly high on sugar and caffeine that I was a mess 1) At Serendipity’s in NYC with my cousin when I had my frozen hot chocolate and finished up her frozen mocha and 2) When with a friend the night the last Harry Potter book came out. I had two cold coffees from Mirchi’s that night. I don’t recommend doing that.

5. I’m hoping to get away with wearing jeans, t-shirts, and hoodies for as long as possible.

6. Zooey Glass from J.D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey is my favorite literary character and I wish I could write like Salinger.

7. I like writing but I don’t write nearly as much as I should.

8. I want to get a PhD because I told my dad I would in one of the last conversations we had before he passed away. Even if I don’t end up getting an advanced degree, I still hope to one day be the kind of daughter he can be proud of, InshAllah (God Willing).

9. I want to go from someone who ‘likes to take pictures’ to a ‘photographer who is good at taking pictures’.

10. Beginning the process of learning Arabic is one of the best decisions I’ve made in a long time.

11. When I commuted to Emeryville everyday, I constantly worried about getting into an accident during my long commute. I ended up getting in a fender bender not on the freeway, but in the parking garage at work. D’oh!

12. My family’s old house in Newark had a glass sliding door, which I ran into. Twice.

13. I’ve been a lifelong Superman fan and even read Superman comic books weekly for 5 1/2 years.

14. There’s just something about Donnie Darko that speaks to me.

15. I want to help people.

16. If I had to choose between the power of flight or invisibility, I would choose flight.

17. I have this thing with mochas. I have to try a mocha whenever I’m in cafe I’ve never been to before.

18. I once almost broke out into song at the gym while listening to my iPod. I caught myself just in time.

19. I acknowledge that sometimes I am too sarcastic for my own good.

20. Even though I can be a bit cynical sometimes, I’m actually a hopeless romantic at heart.

21. It took me a while to realize that it is completely ok that I’m sort of a loner.

22. I only have a few close friends but I’m really protective of them.

23. At one point during a long stretch of unemployment after college, I got so lazy that I didn’t finish my sentences. I just waved my arm to signify that I was done talking. I wasn’t usually talking about anything important so no one really noticed that I stopped talking mid-sentence.

24. I was always wary of babies and little kids until my nephew Raza was born. I never thought I could feel as much love as I do for him and now my niece Sundus.

25. I could never be half the person my mom is but it is definitely something to strive for.

I was on the MUNI Metro last week (see previous entry) when a guy sitting close to me asked me a question I dread: “Where are you from?” No “hi”, “hello”, “salaam” or anything before. Just “Where are you from?”

I don’t like that question and it’s hard for me to explain exactly why. The question is never meant to be offensive and I don’t take it as such but I still have issues with it mainly because I have no idea how to answer it. Is the person inquiring about where I live? Where I was raised? My ethnicity? Everyone who has asked me that question always is asking for something different and I’m instantly on guard. Usually, I give my stock response of “My parents are originally from Pakistan and I was born and raised in California” and that covers most bases but I always feel like (and probably am) giving more information than the person wanted.

I also feel that the question lacks originality, especially if it’s the first thing you say to someone, but a friend of mine gave me another perspective. She asks random people where they are from when she is curious and said that it is a genuine question. She said that this particular person probably asked me because he was just excited or something about seeing a fellow Muslim (he was from Saudi Arabia) and that I shouldn’t berate him for asking me such a question. She has a point. Maybe I’m being too hard on this particular person and strangers in general. Like I said, my biggest issue is that I have no idea how to respond.

In the end, maybe I should cut everyone a break and accept the question for what it most likely is: just a simple question.