like a fish needs a bicycle...

in tha NYC

that's right kids. day 2 in new york. (i had high hopes for blogging on day 1... and then reality set in). so yeah... soo busy, soooo exhausted from moving in.

this is not an easy city to move into. (if anyone would like any more obvious comments posted on this blog, just e-mail me your submissions).

anyway, orientation starts in about 12 hours. school starts wednesday.

i think i'll be accepting names if any of you would like to sign up for slots in the nonstop naseem's-in-law-school-now prayer vigil. thanks. :)

meanwhile, check out the view from the roof terrace of my dorm room (see moblog to the right).

just thought i'd say...

dear sprint,

i hate you.

sincerely,
naseem

delayed reaction

yes, i know. 2 weeks of blog silence. unacceptable, of course. but to be fair, i did have some mitigating circumstances. hence, i'm hoping my blog mother will forgive me for my hiatus--especially since she was one of the bigges causes of it. :)

this is because, of course, the silence was initially precipitated by THE wedding. now, it should be borne in mind that it was the 3rd wedding i've been to this summer--and yet, still, it was, for me, THE wedding of the summer--and of the year--in many ways. i won't attempt to describe it, since i won't do justice to any of it anyway...

especially since it's already been blogged about by the bride, the wedding planner, and other good friends.

so i'll just fight back more tears, and continue to swat away that paralyzing nostalgia, and, of course, post some pictures. (also, please notice crazy pictures of night-before-the-wedding silliness at the madhouse... see moblog to the right). enjoy...

yes, quite the lovely wedding. meanwhile, i came home to texas 2 days after the wedding. of course, leaving chi-town was oh so sad... i left a piece of my heart there--i think it's living in the temple right now. on a related note, see abby's lovely post about recently finding peace with chicago as a former--not current--home.

anyway, i finally did leave. greg and i left at about 6am, and after about 16 hours in the car, i welcomed him into the land of cowboys, heat waves, and the ubiquitous "y'all." we spent a week bumming around the dallas metroplex, hanging out with the family, the family friends, and the bahá'ís here. it was quite nice.

and then we had to say goodbye. :( i won't get into that.

so now, i'm home, mostly by myself, with just over a week left before i leave for new york, trying to get my life together and reflect on what's been happening to me in the past year. not to mention i have to take care of logistics for school, run errands, pack, and mentally prepare myself for the marathon i'm about to embark on. it's gonna be a wild ride, kids...

baker's chocolate

*so* *bitter* *sweet*

i can't take it. i'm collapsing under the weight of my own nostalgia.

in 2 days, lacey will be married.
(pictures of her fantabulous bridal shower up here - also see mojan and lacey on this one)
in 4 days, i will be on my way back to texas.
in 23 days, i will be on my way to new york city.

i can't believe i'm leaving chicago. i can't believe another year of my life has gone by. i can't believe that i'm picking up and leaving everything i know and everything i love to go to a radically different place and do radically different things--for the second time in one year.

this is rough.

i'm excited about law school (and somewhat scared), but i'm also so incredibly sad to leave chicago. this year has been such a blessing--i've learned and gained so much... i know i haven't changed really, but i'm definitely not the same person i was a year ago. i'm forever better for having been here. i know it's time to move on, and i believe in moving on in life. change is a reality to be accepted and embraced. it's never good to prolong things or to artificially draw things out past their natural cycles--that makes them lose their sweetness. i've always enjoyed each stage of life, said goodbye to it at its completion, and then moved on to the next stage with anticipation and eagerness. that's how i believe it should be.

so now, i find myself in yet another transitional period (as if i haven't been in a state of transition and flux for this whole past year). this cycle of my life is complete and it's time to move into the next. and yet... i don't know how to make my peace and say goodbye.

it's so much change at once. yet another one of my best friends getting married, me changing locations, me starting law school, me leaving my friends, my service at the bahai national center, my proximity to the house of worship, and my significant other. that last one is hard for me to say in the blogosphere, seeing as how i've spent the great majority of my life being so anti-boy, and it's hard to talk about how integral a part of my life this one particular boy has become, especially when this move is about my education and my career, and boys were always supposed to pale in comparison when it came to the importance of my future. but as i count the days down, i realize how incredibly difficult it's going to be for us to be apart, and that reality seems to be quite the relevant feature of this whole process... hence, worth mentioning.

like i said, this is rough.

today was my last day of work. the 3 members of the secretariat of the national spiritual assembly of the bahais of the united states, our national bahai institution, called me in, sat me down, praised me to no end, thanked me for my service, assured me of their every confidence in the success of my academic and professional career, and told me that they are happy to have me as friend. wow. then they gave me a prayer book and a card signed by the entire national spiritual assembly. i totally cried. it was really just too much.

so, as i attempt (in vain) to deal with all this, i'll just do what i do well... look at pictures. here's a long-overdue montage from the last 6 months or so of my life. should be a nice record of some of my happy happy times, most of them in chicago... enjoy.