Rockin' in the Cradle of Islam

Day two of my new policy - Project BE HAPPY - seems to be going swimmingly. What's better, I now have a Team. Yes, a Team. I will call us Team Fabulous, although I think the members of said team might think I was nuts were I to actually suggest it. Let us say that this team consists of D, S1 and S2, Mona, and myself. The Fabulous Five, let us say. No, I prefer Team Fabulous. Anywho, these are all mildly disgruntled freshman who are bored to tears and want something entertaining to do with their lives. Also, they are all people I have gotten to know fairly well because some of them are in my classes and some of them are just nice. So it would also be safe to say that Team Fabulous comprises the best of my Effat friends.

To make a long story short, we are tired of being trampled upon by the cares of the world, and we have decided to fight back. What this means is that we spent lunch today coming up with lists and lists of plans to make our lives more entertaining. At least half of them will probably even happen one day. I also taught them to make paper cranes. That was exciting. Anyway, possible entertainment for Team Fabulous includes the following:

1) Games - Twister Tuesdays is our current favorite plan, if we can get our hands on a version of Twister. Card games also a big hit, and if we can find some sidewalk chalk and a bouncy ball at least S1 and I are eager to create a foursquare court.

2) Crafts - Origami is always fun, but we also want to paint the entire cafeteria (I doubt they'll let us do it but hey, anything's possible) and perhaps create tshirts or something equally crafty. S2 is REALLY UNHAPPY with the idea of crafts and artsy stuff of all sorts, so we may forego these plans.

3) Swimming - all of us are interested. We already have a swimming date for Monday. We could make this a tradition!

4) Outings - this is my favorite idea. D and S1, at least, have access to transportation, and D even lives close to Effat and is willing to give me rides places. We could have a weekly coffee outing! Or go out for lunch sometimes! Or go shopping! I think we might go out soon to acquire Twister and sidewalk chalk and other materials for further entertainment.

5) Movies - there is apparently a huge projector screen someplace. I'm not sure who's allowed to use it, but it can't hurt to ask. They're all into horror. Eep. But at least I have a lot of laps to sit in.

6) Parties - The ideas include sock-hops with S1's boom box, cookie-making extravaganzas (or baking parties of all types), pot-lucky dinner parties, and the list goes on.

Anyway, obviously we couldn't do much today, although I did establish that if there are board games at Effat nobody knows where they are. And D suggested perhaps a Tuesday outing and that sounds mighty good to me. I'm looking forward to hunting down a Twister set.

So I'm not the only one bored and lacking motivation. Me and my Team will go far, and things will happen which are fun. That's my prediction.

Of course, at the moment I have Homework with a capital H and EXAMS to study for. Tuesday is Arabic. ... death in a box.... and I have other exams coming up which I haven't paid much attention to. I think it's only Arabic and Parenting for Muslims that I have this week, so I can afford to concentrate on my linguistic failings.

OH! And Liz Cheney, Dick's daughter, is coming on Monday.... she's apparently something of a big wig in the State Department. I'll have to google her and also try to find out exactly when she's coming and what she's doing here, but I don't want to miss that! It should be quite interesting!

And more entertainment - my efforts to singlehandedly construct a Journalism club continue. I'm giving people one last chance to show up to a meeting and then I'm sending out all-purpose requests for submissions from everybody, and Mona and I will just have to create the damned thing ourselves.

And my final project, the one that Mrs. West gave me, is sitting on a shelf. I'll have to go talk to her about it, because I really am entertained by the concept but I'm getting really bogged down in the details and the fact that I really don't have any idea how things function in an educational institution. Creating a list of 'things to do' is tough when you have no idea what sorts of things one could, hypothetically, do.

Look at all the optimism! It's practically oozing from my pores!