Killing time

8:00 am 2:40 pm: Getting up, attending the bathroom and abiding the nature's call, brushing teeth, washing face, wearing dress, making your hair (for girls), stuck in traffic jam, attending boring classes at school, bunking classes, having lunch, addafying with friends, being called by the administration for bunking (rare case), galafying the administration, getting out of school…

2:40 pm 8:00 pm (usually): Stuck in traffic jams (two third of the time) and attending coaching classes while staying in hot pursuit for cute boys/girls (one third of the time)…

8:00 pm 11:00 pm: Eating, rushing to the bathroom again, a bit of careless studying, getting jharafied by parents for one reason or another, watching TV, having dinner…

11:00 pm 2:00 am: Chatting with your boy/girl friend (thanks to Joy sims which just got closed down so I guess it will be back to stealing TNT phones), playing computer game for those who don't have any…

2:00 am 8:00 am: ZzZzZzZzZzZzzzzz…
Well, that about sums up the usual timetable for an average teenager during the weekdays. Kind of useless, aren't we? I mean, come on, we were always taught that time is the most valuable possession of our lives and yet we waste it like irritated monkeys throwing away banana peels. Time management is becoming a seriously huge problem in many of our lives, especially if you look at it from a practical point of view. Most of the things that we do are completely becar. So I got around interviewing several people trying to figure out the major time wasters of our lives in the end however, I ended up concluding that time wasters at our age is a very relative concept. For example, to many teens talking continuously about guitars and songs and jamming for hours and hours may seem very ajaira, but for the wanna-be and growing musicians, it is THE most important topic. Nonetheless, I ended up listing the following trying to be as non-biased as possible:

1) TV: Yes, the number one victim in my list is TV. I know numerous gullible people who spend hours after hours staring at this rectangular box seeing what and what not. Of course, among this the number one is the Hindi Serials for eg, kiu ki sash bhi kabhi bahu thi a serial that never seemed to end, and all those Indian music videos where the girls seem to have a very hard time wearing even the negligible amount of clothes they wear, of course satisfying the hormones of many people. The TV seemed to have developed into a great method of wasting for people have nothing useful to do and for those who does not want to do.

2) Internet: The World Wide Web is one gigantic pandemonium which can be as useful and as devastating in effect. Yes, my dear I am referring to all those who spend hours browsing this huge organized set of data for precisely nothing; chatting is also one hell of a waste of time. Not to also mention the many who starts drooling for hours browsing pornography in the net…

3) Telephone Conversations: No sweat folks, but seriously, this is one of the biggest time killers of our lives. On one side of the line we have girls blabbering for half a day about how cute that guy is (Oh my God! Tui oi nil shirt pora chele take dekhshish… ami to pura fiit hoye gesilam) and scrutinizing about other people, which most of them are especially good at; talking about clothes, hair color, jewelry and blah blah blah… On the other side of the line, there are boys who spend hours discussing about hot girls, guitars, hot girls, sports, again hot girls and again bhah bhah bhah… And I believe I do not have to mention the late night conversations between kopoth and kopoties and other bachal people talking over mobile phones, which are good news for them, but frankly is a waste of time.

4) Procrastination & Indecision: Procrastination is a thief of time and is very common to people of all age. This often leads to poor performance in not only studies, but all activities. I had in mind about this article for over a week now, but ended up writing it now (one week later) that's procrastination. Another such time waster is indecision. I know many people who suffer from this and this was especially eminent when applying to university abroad. Many people procrastinated and started off late, while others wasted their time deciding whether they were going to applying or not. By the time they had decided to apply, the application deadline was over. So, for all activities, try to avoid these two.

5) Traffic Jams: I really don't think I have to say much about this. Running from Uttara to Dhanmondi and then again from Dhanmondi to Gulshan after one coaching to another is killing our time. On an average we spend around 3-4 hours in cars… in case you haven't noticed, that is quite a lot of time.

6) Frustration, Smoking and Drugs: I know many are not affected by this, however with passing time more and more teens are being absorbed into this cycle. Pressure from school, relationships, and parents leads the teens to frustration and they end up smoking and taking drugs. Like come on, get a life! Take up the problem, think about it and find a solution. Don't just give up and end up finishing two packets of Benson & Hedges a day… you are then not just killing time but yourself too!

Well, I guess that's about it. Now, the major problem is that we all know about these time killers but none of us take any initiatives against it. So I would ask of you, if you fall into any of these cycles, try reducing these stated activities at least a little bit, and work on something more productive with that time. It may be hard for now, but the end result will be worth it. Like a great philosopher once said, “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet!”

By Adnan M. S. Fakir

Blackmailing computers

Kid plugs in his computer, hits the little round button on his motherboard. The screen flashes. The normal black and white writing appears, but the problem is that they don't suddenly disappear and stays there resiliently. Kid, concerned starts reading the white words.

SECONDARY MASTER HARD DISK FAILED…
PRIMARY MASTER HARD DISK FAILED…
INSERT DISK AND REBOOT…

Frantically kid inserts his system disk, only then the screen goes blank. He hysterically thumps the little round button on his CPU. The computer totally refuses to solace him by turning on.
“NNNNOOOO!!!!”

Scene familiar? Yeah I know exactly what it feels like. Computers are getting way too cheeky; they've started to blackmail us, every now and again. They threaten us with ominous messages, telling us that the hard disk's crashed, and then make us spend a whole lot of money on them before coming back to their senses.

It isn't just that, they make us look bad to our parents. If the computer goes bust in the house, the only logical explanation must be that the teenager living in the house must be responsible. Seriously, it's like we teens (especially the males, the girls have got it easier) have got tags on our heads, spelling: GUILTY, DESTROYED COMPUTER. You'll parents will never suspect the five year old who happens to thump the keyboard, as if the keyboard has done him/her a very personal wrong.

Then, there is the trouble of dealing with a friend whose computer has decided to go on vacation. The particular friend will always come into the classroom, with a despondent, wilted look. Being the concerned friend that you are, you'll probably ask him what's wrong, thinking that maybe someone's died. Then the damned kid answers that his computer's gone kooky. Seriously, what the ****?

If your teachers (or if you've gone past the stage of education and now work, then your employers) are particularly nasty, they'll dump on top of you a damned hard project that needs to be typed up, and then given in. For those of you who have only one computer in the household, then this whole business becomes a right pain in the a***.

Then there's the Internet… For the victims of this cyber wonder, not browsing, or chatting for far too long can be akin to getting diagnosed with leukemia. I've seen cases where the kid becomes so dejected at not being able to Instant Message with his sweetheart that he starts torturing his friends with poems describing the woes of a busted computer. It's even worse when they start rapping…

And I've just made a new discovery. Every time your computer goes kaput on you, there's this new game that everyone's playing and talking about. You're the only one missing out in the fun. It's really frustrating listening to them idiots discussing game tactics while you sit there fixedly staring at your physics book, trying to ignore the whole conversation (you never succeed in such endeavors).

However the worst possible thing that can happen to you in the face of a busted thing is this: The guy computer fix-it-all guy comes over and tuts at how roughly you've used your computer. Then he tells you that you have get your whole CPU renovated. When you tell this to your father, right after handing him the bill the tirade of rebukes that fall on you, you feel like Judgment Day decided to take place early, before you could repent, because your father starts recalling all the wrongs you've ever done and starts laying on the punishments in cascades. Now, not only do you have a busted computer, but the prospects of you ever seeing the good face of the sun again seems on the other side of the horizon. I just hate it when that happens (being the veteran of a few busted computers and cascades of punishments).

By Tareq Adnan