Saba Imtiaz: Everyday is a winding road..

I've been incredibly busy as of late - we just finished with our second proper member recruitment drive - and the first one that we managed from A to Z :) Its been such an amazing experience, and today, as I went to our last recruitment taskforce meeting, where we were finalizing the list of new members, I realized we would be making a decision that was changing someone's future :) You can read Sharmeen's and Mikaal's views on recruitment, and the finalized list of candidates on the AIESEC Karachi blog.

The taskforce was brilliant - we were the perfect combination of professionalism and fun - I don't think I've ever laughed so much - especially today; with our incessant rounds of ordering coffee (the canteen guy must hate us :P), debating and discussing, writing out endless lists, making fun of each other (from laughing at Taha's 'formatted' handwritten notes to him miming making a call to the university administration to kick me out of the uni :P and everyone's incestxp connotations ;)). So, a huge thanks to the following people: Sharmeen Saleem, Sana Hussain, Rabia Memon, Taha Durrani - and Mikaal Mahmood and Naveen Raza, both of whom weren't officially part of the task force but made a huge contribution)

And now the NLC countdown begins..10 days until we head off to one of the most important conferences for AIESEC Pakistan..yay! :)

Put three AIESECers into a German class and the only phrase they'll actually be excited about learning will be the German phrase for 'Whats up!'

And the EBs for AIESEC Karachi and AIESEC Lahore for 2006-07 are:

AIESEC Karachi

LCP: Saba Imtiaz
VP OGX: Naveen Raza
VP DT: Rabia Memon
VP PD: Sharmeen Saleem
VP ER/Finance: Haris Agar

AIESEC Lahore

LCP: Nida Rasheed
VP ICX: Sohaib Athar
VP DT: Moaiz Siddiqui
VP Finance: Aqeel Akbar
VP OGX: Hassan Riaz
VP PD: Ammar Zafar
VP ER: Mehreen Shafiq

Its going to be one amazing, amazing year! :)

Why its fun to be an LCP: A day before EB announcements, going around freaking EB applicants out by telling them 'your future's in my bag!' [the bag holds a notebook that has the finalized list for AIESEC Karachi's EB 2006-07]

Today, while cleaning out the file cabinet in the office, I found, among piles of brochures, documents, member applications and SN recritment posters; the following items, all of which will make for great contents for a time capsule that can be opened in 2020.

1. The MCP application for Pakistan for 2005-06.
2. Ahsan's LCP application for Lahore for 2005-06.
3. Minutes of a meeting Nida and Tori went to, dated April 05.
4. The letters A,I,E,S,E,C cut out from yellow chartpaper.
5. Tori's invitation letter to IC 2005.

The file cabinet now actually looks organized. If anyone from the MC/LC is reading this, please do not mess it up! (And if you do, don't tell me:P) I'm going to clean the drawers tomorrow, and I'm sure there'll be enough stuff to fill two time capsules up with!! :P

In the past few days, I have sent out and received what seems like hundreds of e-mails and text messages, have been congratulated on being elected LCP by every AIESECer on my MSN list, and tons of other AIESECers as well. I've had some very interesting and enlightening conversations with LCPs from all over the world, and when I finally force myself to sleep at 4 in the morning, my mind is full of advice, insights and encouragement from all these amazing people..I was talking to a friend a few days ago and I said 'I can't remember a time when my life wasn't colored orange and blue'; but I can't complain at all - this seems like such an amazing beginning, that I really, really hope the upcoming year is as amazing =)

As Delia, Saira, Sharmeen and I settled down into the office this evening and I tried to pretend the flickering tubelight was a discolight..

Me: Why are we here? Are we going to have a meeting?
Delia: (talking to the monitor)Yes.
Sharz: We're here to unwind.
Me: But I haven't done any winding.
Sharz: Yeah, so you unwind even more.

Finally have a free second to post..

So elections are done with - got elected as LCP for 2006-07 - yay!:D The presentation and Q&A went well - except my voice was really shaky and I sounded like I was about to cry. I wouldve cried after Saira, Nic and Bilal drenched me with Coke and water after the announcement had I not been so happy (stupid tradition that only looks fun when you're not the one being drenched). Saira gave a great and very emotional speech as outgoing LCP - I owe this woman so much, she's the reason I'm in AIESEC today, and I still remember how contagious the enthusiasm was in her voice the day she sat Sharz and me down and told us about AIESEC. Elections were quite fun though - Sharmeen, Haris, Naveen and Rabia got votes of confidence as EB members - woohoo :D! This is going to be one really challenging and amazing year =)

I got phone calls and messages from all over - called Delia, spoke to her and Nida, Emad called (and yelled congratulations about four times until my numb brain had registered it), Adeel called (and instead of saying hello started chanting 'its good to be, its good to be an LCP!'), Nicole messaged me all the way from Switzerland..she's one of the most amazing people I've ever met; and I talked to her alot about my application and presentation and whether I should apply or not..its surprising how just little things people say can have such a lasting impression on you..but then thats AIESEC :)

LCP/EB elections tomorrow..my LCP application is finally finished and submitted..18 questions that took hours of pondering and work, while I listened to Coldplay's Talk..everyone tells me its a piece of cake since I'm the only one running for LCP of @Karachi, but that doesn't mean I'm still not a bit nervous. Alright, really nervous. Plus tomorrow's going to be a crazy day - I have tons of errands to run, places to go, classes to attend - I'm going to travel to opposite corners of the city twice and I'm sure that by 6 PM, when elections start, I'll be the crabby bitch I usually am.

I want to be 5 years old again and not have to worry about any of this! Sigh..

I was in Lahore for a ten day vacation; just got back yesterday afternoon. I got to attend AIESEC Lahore's LCP / EB elections, which were a lot of fun! (the only bummer was I didn't have speaking rights and had to stay quiet for three hours - an impossible task, I tell you!) Here are some pictures...

This song is such an AIESEC song - for me atleast. Delia and Osanna were looking at a video of a friend of theirs, of him skydiving, and this song was the background music.

Talk - Coldplay

Oh brother I can't, I can't get through.
I've been trying hard to reach you, 'cause I don't know what to do.

O brother I can't believe it's true.
I'm so scared about the future and I wanna talk to you.

Oh, I wanna talk to you.

You can take a picture of something you see. In the future, where will I be?

You could climb a ladder up to the sun, or write a song nobody has sung or do something that's never been done.

Are you lost or incomplete?
Do you feel like a puzzle you can't find your missing piece?

Tell me how you feel,
Well I feel like they're talking in a language I don't speak.
And they're talking it to me.

So you take a picture of something you see. In the future, where will I be?

You could climb a ladder up to the sun, or write a song nobody has sung or do something that's never been done.

Do something that's never been done.

So you don't know where your going and you wanna talk. But you feel like you're going where you've been before.
Tell anyone who listens that you feel ignored. And nothing's really making any sense at all.

Let's talk,
Lets talk.

Let's talk,
Let's talk