The Season of Growth

"Keep in mind that neither success nor failure is ever final"

That's the screen name of one of my cousin Shahamat Bhai's buddies on MSN. I put that here because it was his MSN chatting that delayed this post (I was nice enough to let him use the computer last night). I also like the statement, very true. Too bad I didn't heed this advice when I smoked high school and started college.

Tuesday was a great day. I woke up to find my Rocketmail/Yahoo accounts now have 100 MB of total space along with 10 MB capacity on outgoing e-mails. I went to sleep smiling at the fact that the LA Fakers had lost the title they were "destined" to win. I didn't want the Lakers to win because:

a) Kobe and Shaq fuss all the time.
b) Phil Jackson won 9 titles on the coat-tails of already great teams knocking on the door.
c) Karl Malone and Gary Payton deserve a title, but not by riding coat-tails.
d) The whole team and their fan base carry themselves with a detachment that is disgusting. Contrast that to how much passion the Pistons and their fans displayed. Now that's what sports should be.
e) Mitch Kupchak is a terrible GM. He has allowed this dynasty, the one Jerry West created, to crumble, and I'm glad to see he didn't get bailed out by this whole "Four Hall-of-Famers" garbage.

Now the Lakers are done. They'll re-tool, probably will make the playoffs, but I'd be surprised if they made it past the second round of the playoffs next year.

Anyways, back to the subject of this post:

I always have a tough time deciding what is my favorite anything.

My favorite Star Trek series? Either The Next Generation (TNG) or Deep Space 9 (DS9).

My favorite dish at Seven Hills of Istanbul? Either the iskandar or the hamburger.
(Note: there are, um, other possible favorite dishes that I'd like to try out at Seven Hills, but this is a family-friendly blog)

My favorite singer? Either Tori Amos or Sarah McLachlan (well, now it's Tori, but yeah).

So when someone asks me my favorite season, I have a tough time deciding between spring and summer. I just love the warm weather, the longer days, etc. My birthday is in the spring and it's the start of the warm weather, and this spring was nothing short of amazing. Between my birthday and Memorial Day weekend, it was one of the best times of my life. Now if I didn't have a cold winter and fall, I would not appreciate the warm weather of spring/summer, which is reason #458 why I love the Northeast (more on that in a future post).

So why is summer the best? It's easier to dress for. No layers, jackets, whatever. Plus more to look at it when it comes to the, um, never mind. There's more daylight. I don't know about you, but I feel better with more sunshine around.

Warm weather means more sports and physical activities. Basketball, baseball, jogging, biking, sailboating, camping, kayaking...OK so I don't do many of those things. But I could.

Summer also means I get to work on my lawn. Yes, yard work. Mowing, fertilizing, getting my grass to look great (still far from it). People think it's a pain (which it is), people think I'm weird because I love doing it (which I am). But at the end of the day, a nice even-cut green lawn is immensely satisfying.

But I guess the reason why I love the summer so much is because of the break from school. Yes I've had summer jobs that have been pretty time-consuming, but until you're really out there in the work force (or beyond your first year of medical school) summertime is when you kick back, relax, and re-evaluate yourself to see what you can do to improve yourself. Well, that's what I like to do every few summers.

I came across this realization as I was buying some decent looking clothes at Macys. Instead of being indifferent to my parents' suggestions (yes I still shop for clothes with them. I have no money.), I was actively searching out some pretty nice shirts and khakis. Tried out clothes in the dressing rooms. Debating over which colors. I was trying to be logical and fast (like I tend to be when it comes to clothes), but I was enjoying it. I started thinking that this might be the baby steps I'm taking towards becoming the world's craziest metrosexual.

So why this summer? Well, looking back, I find a few summers where I actively tried to improve something or another about myself. 1997, I biked all over Elizabeth/Linden NJ and built up my legs. 1998, I performed Umrah and gained some financial responsibility. 2001, I jogged on a regular basis. 2002, I worked on my reading list. What did these summers have in common? In each of them, I was approaching a new phase in my life (before Penn, after Penn) and might have been going through some rough times where I wasn't so sure about myself (What do I do about my poor grades? What if I don't get into med school? What if I don't find the woman of my dreams?) and saw the summer as an opportunity to start over, to look and act better around people, to not be able to complain about not having "time" to do the little things in life.

Now, I'm about to embark to medical school, and realize this summer is one of the few chances I'll have left to tackle a bunch of things all at once. Read Quran in English, learn more Hadith, learn to swim, dress better, play basketball more, go to the batting cages, work on my reading list, play tennis with my dad, get rid of this gut once and for all (5 pounds more!), get a nice even tan, figure out my hair (both on my head and on my face), go jogging again, finish Final Fantasy VII, clean out my closet, organize my photographs, sell my old PC, win my fantasy baseball league, etc. etc. etc.

I could keep going on. But it's a great feeling when you feel inspired and actually start working on those things that you've always said you'd do but never felt the drive to do it. And for me, that feeling mostly comes along when the temperature is consistently over 70 degrees during the day.

That's why I love the summer.

Sports Prediction of the Day: The next time he hits a ball out of the ballpark, Ken Griffey Jr. will break his ankles when he is circling third base, won't be able to get to home plate, and won't get his 500th HR for another year. OK that's more wishful thinking than prediction. I hate the crybaby.

Current Rankings of Songs in My Playlist
Gold: Pearl Jam "Black"
Silver: The Ataris "The Boys of Summer"
Bronze: Coldplay "In My Place"

South Park Quote of the Day:
Short Goth Guy: Dude you haven't drank your coffee.
Stan: Well I don't drink coffee.
Tall Goth Guy: You can't be a non-conformist if you don't drink coffee.

Next time, a tribute to the most important person in my life...