Solving 100 MCQs Is Not Easy.

A year back solving 40 multiple choice questions in an exam seemed like torture. I couldn't have imagined in my wildest dreams that i'd ever have to solve 100 MCQs in an exam. Today was my not so lucky day. To paint the picture of the scene. Final Exam. Intro To Macro Economics. One Hour into the exam. 3 essay questions in one hour have been completed (barely). Now comes the MCQ section.

The first page had a grid made on it for 100 MCQs. First i wrote my name at the top along with my section. Filling in the correct detail is very important you see. Then i started the whole process of reading the questions and trying to land on the correct answers. It was working out well at the start but my mind was already exhausted. Trying to write 25 marks worth of advantages on disadvantages of Monetary Policy before the MCQs in the essay section wasn't a pleasant experience. 

As the questions became tougher, i started running out of patience to read and solve them. But the journey was far from over. there were still 70 MCQs remaining. "God Help Me" is what i was saying in my head. Then i turned around the question paper and started attempting the questions from the end forward. To my luck the questions at the end seemed easy so thats how i managed to solved a further ten more. 

Then i took a break from hell and looked around and saw my friends and their expressions. Usama's eyes were glued to the paper. No wonder he attempted 90 questions properly and only tried his luck with 10. Muzaffar was trying to look at the paper on his left. Later on we found out he was successful with his peeking mission.

Now the time was ticking and i had so many questions to attempt. In the final blow i further attempted 30 questions properly. Then i stopped thinking and randomly started ticking the choices which looked appealing to the eye. My mind was completely drained by the time i submitted the paper back to the invigilator. No wonder. Lets hope everyone who had to sit through this torturous exam have regained the energy back. Academic Writing final is tomorrow. Good Luck. 

Howzat?

A few days back, a friend told me about this game called howzat. From the name it was apparent it was a cricket game. Later on I logged onto the website www.howzat.com. The thing i like about it most is that everyone can log in using their facebook accounts, hence it's more accessible to everyone.

After logging in, you get to choose the country. For me it was Pakistan obviously, and then you get to choose a name of your team. I chose to name my team the Cornered Tigers. There are so many ways in which one can customize their team. From Team name to Team outfits, from player skills to player names, everything can be modified. That makes the game much more interesting as to how everyone selects the skill set according to how they can play better.

Now coming to the game play, it's very simple and catchy. One gets hooked to the game in a matter of minutes and then there is no stopping. I could play this game for hours and hours if people around me didn't give me reality checks. The cool part is the multi-player mode in which you get to play one on one with people from all over the world. By winning matches the skill level of your team increases and you get rewards from which individual players can be upgraded.

I'd like to dedicate this post to my dear friend Muzaffar Abbas, who hasn't defeated me even once yet. But he's getting the hang of this game to quickly and that frankly is scary! But till he actually wins a match against me, all I can say is, Nanananana.  :D

Lightning Crashes.

Lightning Crashes By Live is one of my all time favorite sings. The song was released back in 1994, but i heard this song for the first time in 2004 i think. Back then i could not comprehend the beautiful message in the lyrics, but i was hooked to this song since the first time i heard it.

Ed Kowalczyk wrote this song, in which i believe he has made death look, not as frightening as it should seem. He talks about the circle of life in a way that death of one person leads to the birth of another. This has also been depicted in the video as in one frame they'd show a mother in a labor ward and in the other frame they'd show a mother dying while others helplessly watch.

The song starts out with clean guitar strumming and Ed Kowalczyk's vocals. Then along with the vocals the guitar strumming also picks up pace. The melody is so simple, as very clean and soft use of instruments is seen in the song. It is after more than half the song has passed that the song becomes even livelier when drums are added and vocals become louder and intense. The song starts of really low and progresses to a high note.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsJ4O-nSveg

Lyrics:

lightning crashes, a new mother cries
her placenta falls to the floor
the angel opens her eyes
the confusion sets in
before the doctor can even close the door

lightning crashes, an old mother dies
her intentions fall to the floor
the angel closes her eyes
the confusion that was hers
belongs now, to the baby down the hall

oh now feel it comin' back again
like a rollin' thunder chasing the wind
forces pullin' from the center of the earth again
I can feel it.

lightning crashes, a new mother cries
this moment she's been waiting for
the angel opens her eyes
pale blue colored iris,
presents the circle
and puts the glory out to hide, hide 

Enjoy!

Nadal Blazes Past Roger Federer To Reach Miami ATP Masters 1000 Final.

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer came face to face today in the Miami ATP Masters 1000. They last met in the London Masters Final where Roger was victorious over Rafa. This time the world number one crushed the Swiss rival in straight sets, 6-3 and 6-2 respectively.

Rafa took the offensive approach in this match and from the start accumulated pressure on Roger. His serve was bang on target and Roger was not able to create any break point opportunity on the Rafa Serve in the first set. Whereas Rafa did not let any opportunity slip away and capitalized both break point opportunities he had.

The second set was also sailing in Nadal's favor right from the start, at 3-0 down, Roger tried to make a comeback when he had a break point on the Rafa serve but it was also turned down by the cool as ice world number one. Rafa took 1 hour and 18 minutes to end the match in fine fashion.

Now the world number one is to face the upcoming threat of this year, Novak Djokovic. Novak has had an unbeaten start to the year, bagging Australian Open, Dubai and Indian Wells titles in the first quarter. It'll be an exciting final, where we would see whether Djokovic is able to retain his unbeaten start to the year or not. I personally hope Rafa bags this title and gains further confidence before the clay court season starts!