A little assistance required s'il vous plait

Thus far, this is the best deal I can find for nomadlife reunion. It's a work in progress. I need some help though to get from Berlin to Cairo, any suggestions on the cheapest flight?

JFK - Berlin (TXL), 12/25/05 - 1/4/05 (roundtrip) for $444.31, which includes taxes.

Berlin - CAI? Can't find anything under 500 (the flight is cheap, the taxes are downright outrageous). I'm set on booking this flight this weekend, but would like to keep my budget around 800-900 for the airfare (being a poor grad student and all, it's the best I can do right now)....so any suggestions out there would be appreciated.

Life, as of now

It's time to post (aka not study). Life has hit hard lately (school-wise) and to find the balance, I've picked up other aspects of my life to offset the misery. So exams could've gone better (let's just say that accounting went so poorly that the professor needed to do a make-up exam for more than half the class). I suppose it wasn't only me, but the insane professor's doing. Last weekend proved to be incredible and a true release from life. I whimsically decided to take the trip to DC for ROKS. Highlights:

- Car ride down with crazy Sidney. Arthur and I decided to get drunk on the way there.
- The hookers in the northeastern DC hotel where we stayed
- Late Friday night drinking
- A desperately-needed Michigan victory over Penn State with 1 second remaining. Rickesh and I swore off the entire world
- Catching up with Bowman and realizing that we're young in spirit even though we're old as grad students
- Me, Patrick and Rickesh taking care of two fifths pretty easily
- Patrick didn't make it, so he passed out downstairs in the AIESEC GW house and we drew on him
- Mint hookah and the hookah Nazi
- Gasolina and skeet skeet skeet
- 25 minutes of sleep on Saturday night and then driving back to Ithaca Sunday

ROKS DC was just what I needed. So midterms could've gone better, and that's what finals are for: damage control.

This weekend has started off lackadaisically, but much needs to be done in order to get through the final week of upcoming exams. This past week was so academically-intensive that 3-4 hours of sleep a night are now just typical. With interviews and everything else going on, life is just full. Nonetheless, talks are in the works for a possible appearance by Cornell at Madison (all depending on whether or not we can get a vehicle). If we do, I would consider it (or let's just say that I already have). I'll work on it this week and will update.


Ipod: Sarah McLachlan - Stupid (Mark Bell remix)

Respite, but not really

I've discovered that my breaks in life are usually not so. They'll consist of periods of intense drinking, lack of sleep, recuperation while hungover, and repeating the process the following night. The first few nights of fall break can only be described as one long drunken weekend. Upon arriving to NYC on Thursday, I ended up doing homework. I also spent a considerable amount of time Friday working as well. After I realized what a tool I was, PAI Brodie was in town and we decided to make the most of our vacation.

After a nice dinner in a wonderful hole-in-the-wall restaurant with the Brit, this guy and Natalie, the MC decided to call it a night. This was hardly the case for Brodie, me and Chris, an LCP from Switzerland who was also in town. We decided to pay a visit to the doctor. By 9:00 pm, he was already drunk, so a much-needed party was to ensue upon our arrival. Braving the trip to Jersey City, we went over to their apartment, only to find that the doctor turned off his phone. After 6 pestering phone calls with no return call, the three of us sat in the rain for a while and saw a little Chinese bistro across the street. We had the craving for rotisserie chicken (only in Jersey can you get Cuban food, rotisserie chicken and kung pow chicken at the same restaurant) so we hit that place up. After Trent regains consciousness and lets us in, we proceed to drink vast quantities and smoke the sheeshah. There is definitely a need for a hookah bar at Cornell. The doctor definitely came through and after a few bowls and flavors, we head over to the bar across the street where we pounded $1 PBRs. After leaving Jersey City, Brodie and I take an almost surreal path through the World Trade Center and there were no words.

The following morning, I put my priorities in order and decided to watch the Michigan game somewhere. Once again, Trent, Brodie and I down 4 pitchers and watch our respective teams lose to Minnesota and Northwestern. To calm my anger, we decide to go to the shisha queen herself for some much needed solace and relief. She managed to bring us back to normal after 4 or more bowls. We parted ways, and me and the old high school gang head to some shady bar somewhere (I was already drunk by this point). After some pitchers of Yuengling (a fine New York beer), we head over to Ripun's place in the West Village. I don't know how we got the address and I hardly remember the cab ride over, but me and the doctor were about 30 drinks in by then. Ripun (whom I've never met before, apparently on the Indian MC or something) had a bar at his house, where more drinking of Grey Goose and Johnny Red Label ensued. Around midnight, margo and trent had enough and were incapable of standing, so they go home. Brodie and I still go strong and somehow make it to some bar where there was tequila. After I could hardly stand, somehow we manage to get home back in the upper west side. Brodie, we will meet again at nomadlife reunion. Last night, met up with the old crew and dropped too much money on unbelieavable all-you-can-eat sushi. A night well-spent.

So here I am back in Ithaca. This vacation really made me think about some of the decisions I've made in my life and where life is taking me. Everything from career paths to finally closing chapters in the book that is my life, this vacation was not only physically, but mentally taxing. As the bus zig zagged through beautiful upstate New York now fully bloomed in four different colors of foliage, I couldn't help but think. Things never go as planned, so why plan so far ahead to begin with? For someone like me, who always plans his life 5 years in advance, this is a difficult and oftentimes overwhelming concept to understand. The quest for understanding one's self is only complicated by the things we can't control. But I've come to learn that life would be so boring if we could control every detail. Sometimes, the unpredictable and unforeseeable thicken the plot, for better or worse. And we just have to roll with the swings of high and low.

"Whatever we learn has a purpose and whatever we do affects everything and everyone else, if even in the tiniest way. Why, when a housefly flaps his wings, a breeze goes round the world; when a speck of dust falls to the ground, the entire planet weighs a little more; and when you stamp your foot, the earth moves slightly off its course. Whenever you laugh, gladness spreads like the ripples in a pond; and whenever you're sad, no one anywhere can be really happy. And it's much the same thing with knowledge, for whenever you learn something new, the whole world becomes that much richer."

DC ROKS awaits me this weekend. I know I have an exam the following Tuesday, but is it alrigh to be apathetic this early on? I'm thinking so.



Ipod:

Aware ~ No Belongings
Urban Species f. Imogen Heap ~ Blanket

The social scene

Thus far, the majority of my entertainment here at Cornell has been the city's relatively limited bar life. So when one of my friends was having a house party, I felt a bit psyched as if I was going to rekindle the days of my college youth. And it was a pretty decent party and had the potential makings of a successful Saturday night: four different rooms of alcohol, a beer funnel, Beirut, the whole nine. Around 2:30 am, I enter the wine room and start talking to one of the girls. Apparently, she had just gotten done with her LSATs that day and was feeling a bit apprehensive about the process. Given my background, I told her to not worry and blah blah. All of a sudden, her boyfriend yells out, "Cornell law sucks." What made this awkward: I'd never met the guy, and at first I thought I was too drunk or this was just ridiculously obnoxious. Also, I didn't think Cornell had such a bad law school. So after politely correcting him, he is quick to identify my Michigan apparel. He proceeds to tell me that Michigan (and Mich law) sucks as well. This was unacceptable. Before I could drop this kid's ass to the floor, my friend takes me out of the room and she says, "we'd better leave right now."

So I step out of the room and continue to drink and mingle. All of a sudden, her roommate (who is a total bitch by all standards) comes up to me and says, "you made my roommate cry and I think you should leave." (Sidenote: my friend was making out with some random girl and this aforementioned girl totally snags the other girl away, so she was already on our hate list for the cockblock). I was infuriated. Firstly, why was the girlfriend crying? I insulted the boyfriend, not her. And secondly, he instigated the entire chain of events. I later find out that the boyfriend had been rejected from both schools and law school entirely and the girlfriend has difficulties dealing with his inadequacies. After I went home, I thought to myself, "I can't believe I got kicked out of a party for something as stupid as that. (sigh) welcome to Cornell."

The rest of the weekend consisting of a Michigan victory over state and a Third Eye Blind and Matt Nathanson concert (who knew Third Eye Blind was still around?). NYC awaits my arrival on Thursday, but before that, I have two assigments and a very difficult prelim exam to get through. We're looking at 18-20 hour days this week.....

Ipod: Matt Nathanson ~ Suspended