Preparation

SO what exactly will you do?' asked Sara. 'Oh, I don't know. Whatever will happen will happen' I replied casually. That was my reply 6 weeks ago. Before I knew how deep I had fallen into things. Before I knew anything of the condition of my heart.

So I was off to a new life. Full of new opportunities and hope and promise. Of new things to come and of course old things to cherish. For I was not one of those to forget the past. I had planned everything perfectly. A final get together where everyone would be present. Even he. Of course he would be there. He had always been there for as long as she could remember of the past year. As everyone toasted to Siman's good health after the party, she looked fondly around them all. They were the best friends she had made in her life. She was sad to leave them behind but that didn't mean that she forget them or them her. She had been preparing herself for this for weeks. So she got up with good grace, told a little anecdote about each of them and when she got to him, she…told him he meant a lot to her. And that was all. She was prepared.

That night, that last night. Sitting under the sky with him for the last time, she felt a strange tugging at her heart. Time had indeed passed so quickly. What was was she getting so emotional about? She was prepared. She helped him when he fell to the ground crying at her feet, begging her not to go. As calmly as she could, she picked him up and told him she wasn't going anywhere. What they had would always be there. After he calmed himself, she smiled at him and he smiled back. Was she really collected as she seemed he wondered? Did she really feel no emotion, as his, so strong that he felt he would crumble if it hadn't been her presence? He supposed not, she was made of much sterner stuff than her. Holding hands, they walked home.

The next day was the day. She got up early, helped around the house, put the final touches to the packing and made way for all the friends that hoarded her home. She bid her friends farewell with a few tears. That wasn't so bad she thought. Then he texted her. One last meeting. She complied, after all she was prepared. She went to their special meeting place, that place that held numerous memories. He seemed composed. 'So this is it' he said. Looking at her carefully, 'Yes I suppose' she said, slowly. 'I just wanted to give you this' he said, handing her something wrapped. 'Open it on the plane.' She stared at him. Was this really him? Now he was calm? She suddenly tasted bile in her mouth. She quickly turned away. They reminisced for some time for all the good and bad times they had, al the cherished memories for there were certainly many. As it was time to go, she gave him a quick hug. 'All right, take care'' her voice was shaking. We'll keep in touch don't worry' She turned to go but he didn't let go of her hand. She didn't want to look but he forced her to. His eyes were red. 'So you're really leaving me tuni?' he whispered. ' Don't leave me; I'll die here all alone....'

She could feel tears in the back of her eyes. No, no, not now. She hugged him fiercely, and after trying to stop the barrage of her tears as well as his she left quickly. She couldn't deal with everything at once. After all there was only so much one could be prepared for. She came home, ate and got ready quickly thinking of anything to block his thoughts out.

The car was ready. He told her he would be waiting by the side of the road outside, to get a glimpse of her. It happened too soon. She looked up, saw him standing where he was supposed to, wearing that favorite t-shirt of hers and then he was gone. Then it hit her. She wouldn't ever be talk to him again. She wouldn't see him again. She couldn't believe it.

After the check in and immigration, her heart felt like it was stuck in a pipe. She couldn't control her feelings and more than she could stop thinking. As soon she could, she ran to the bathroom and slammed the door. The tears came fast and hard like hail. What she was feeling was so painful, she thought she must be dying. She cried and cried until she couldn't breathe. She thought of his face, the last look he gave her and that he would wait however long he had to. How silly she had scoffed then. Now she would do anything to see him again. She felt like her heart was being hammered and hammered into a zillion pieces over and again. She hadn't been prepared, not even a speck.

The last time they talked, they were both sort of prepared. 'You don't know how happy you've made me' he whispered. 'It hurts less now' she replied, fondling the special gift he had given her. They were certainly going to try keeping things the same way. As they prepared themselves for the long months, she thought scornfully how she thought she had been prepared. In fact, there was no such thing. Such is love.

By Nisma Elias

Pump up your PC (part 2)

PREVIOUSLY, we talked about processors to look at for your system. Keyword when talking about a processor? Over-clocking is the name of the game nowadays, and it'll let you get some genuine bang for your buck. Basically, when you over-clock, you run your processor faster than it's actually marketed to run at. Not much of a problem with the Intel chips, of course, because these chips have incredible over-clocking headroom; people have actually run the basic Pentium E2160 (1.8GHz) at speeds higher that 3GHz! To buy a processor with that much speed you would have to spend upwards of 20000/=, so you really want to take advantage of the literally-free performance boost that you can get your hands on.

Accordingly, you want the necessary components for a decent over-clock, which you'll also be needing for your generic computer needs anyway. These are the motherboard, the memory, and the power supply unit to hold it all together. We'll start with the motherboard. You have a number of options here, and what you should go for ultimately depends on how much you can splurge. What you should not buy is the board they'll try to sell you with your processor, which is going to be anything based on an Intel 945 chip ? you have zero scope for upgrading or over-clocking with one of these. Instead, look at boards based on the Intel G31/33 as a bare minimum (these will set you back around 5500/=) from name-brand suppliers. In this price range, I can recommend the Gigabyte G31 MS2 as a solid board to work with. Your next step up are boards based on the P35/P45 chipsets, like Gigabyte's P35 DS3R (8500-12000/=), which are extremely good midrange performance boards that will let you over-clock happily, and in certain models, allow you to run dual graphics cards together to get very tidy performance boosts. At the top of the food chain are Intel's X38/X48 boards, and nVidia's 790i boards. These are expensive, but worth it to the enthusiast. For my money, with the E2200, I'd go with the G31 or P35 depending on how much money I had at hand. The key things you want to look at when you're shopping for a motherboard are the following:

FSB (Front Side Bus) supported: you should be getting something with speeds going from FSB800 all the way up to FSB 1333. Don't settle for less. Slots: You ideally want 2 PCI-Express X16 slots on a board for maximum flexibility, and the knowledge that they'll both run at a minimum of X8 when they're in use. This will let you run dual graphics cards for maximum speed. Not essential, but nice to have. You definitely need at least 1 PCI-Express X16 slot, which should come standard. Memory Slots: The minimum you can get is 2. The more you can get the merrier, because your upgrade options naturally increase. it's always nice to know that if you wanted to, you could run 8GB of RAM, as opposed to a paltry 4GB. Okay, 4GB?s nothing to scoff at, but well?

SATA Hard Drive ports: Once again, the baseline is 4 ports for 4 devices, but you can get as many as 6 depending on how much you spend. Most modern motherboards will come with decent integrated sound, Ethernet (so you can pop in your LAN broadband connection), and enough USB ports to let you hook up as many accessories as you like, so we're fairly well catered for here.

By IA

The boy picks up his date and they go to a soda fountain. Ice cream sodas in front of them, they stare at each other for a long time, as the boy's nervousness builds. He remembers his father's advice, and chooses the first topic. He asks the girl: ``Do you like potato pancakes?'' She says ``No,'' and the silence returns.

After a few more uncomfortable minutes, the boy thinks of his father's suggestion and turns to the second item on the list. He asks, ``Do you have a brother?'' Again, the girl says, ``No'' and there is silence once again.

The boy then plays his last card. He thinks of his father's advice and asks the girl the following question: ``If you had a brother, would he like potato pancakes?''

Focus
My cousin was behind the bakery's cash register one morning when a gunman burst in and demanded all the cash. As she nervously handed over the money, she noticed the rolls of coins in the back of the register. "Do you want the rolls too?" she asked.

"No," said the robber, waving his gun. "Just the money."

Hold that breath
"We should have a way of telling people they have bad breath. 'Well, I'm bored...let's go brush our teeth.' Or, 'I've got to make a phone call, hold this gum in your mouth.'"
--Brad Stine

Rage against the machine
A man and his wife are sitting in the living room and he says to her, "Just so you know, I never want to live in a vegetative state dependent on some machine. If that ever happens, just pull the plug."

"OK," says his wife as she gets up and unplugs the TV.