It’s times like these you learn to live again
It’s times like these you give and give again
It’s times like these you learn to love again
It’s times like these time and time again


It's official. Only 24 hours remain before I hit the road. Only 24 hours to relive the best of times here, converse with old friends, and savor the tranquil atmosphere of this small Midwestern town (I hear Boston is a whole new world compared to this).

So soon everything I'm familiar with will grow distant and foreign. Friends will form new friends, places I leave behind will age and be replaced, and this city, my home, will be relegated somewhere deep in my mind to be remembered solely as the town I grew up in.

Despite any reservations, fear about the future, or uncertainty about my readiness, I'm up for the challenge. I look forward to taking nerdiness to new heights, living attempting to survive on my own, and most of all, residing in a large bustling city full of things to do. I think it's about time for change.

On a lighter note, I haven't technically packed yet and somehow I'm calm despite this. Luckily, my mom has stripped my closest of its essence, stuffing all sorts of things into our obnoxiously massive luggage bags. Finding more delight in stretching procrastination to its absolute limits, I haven't selected which clothe to accompany me for the next four months or for that matter anything that I will be taking to campus. Should I be worried?

My laptop finally arrived a couple days ago, seductively waiting at my doorstep just begging to be ripped open and played with (I'm blogging this on it if you were wondering). Originating from Shanghai, China (seriously, what is up with that? My laptop has traveled more around the world than I have >.<), the laptop weighs in at 6.8 pounds and is essentially the god of all computers considering it can run OS X, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Linux (did I mention it also boasts 4 GB of memory O.O!?). Needless to say, I've loaded it with tons of software, including the all famous Adobe Suite CS 3 and Flux (the most amazing web design program I have ever laid my eyes upon). Today I'll finish empowering this beast by installing Solidworks and Matlab, two pieces of code no MIT student could be cool enough without. If we ever meet in real life - and you aren't stalkerish - I'll more than likely end up judging you by the software on your computer (I'm shallow like that, sue me ^_^).

I have to admit that ever since I ripped open my laptop box and heard the characteristic Mac tone as it gracefully powered up, I've been addicted to taking odd photographs of myself in Photo Booth. The picture effects allow for unlimited possibilities! Good times, good times.

Naturally, no self-respecting post about a laptop would be complete without the necessary unboxing photos.

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The screen boggles my mind every time I look at its high-res beauty and grandiose nature. It's hard to peel my eyes away from it (sort of like with bugs and light). I'm definitely in g33k heaven somewhere on cloud 1001.

Lying nonchalantly on my laptop are my fourth limb, the smallest portable hard drive ever (can you guess what my third limb is? Hint: it's a phone), and my free iPod Nano. Taking further advantage of whatever is free, I engraved the Nano with none other than "Omar Abudayyeh - MIT 2012." The gorgeous blue thingamabob is my "thumbdrive." Seriously folks, ditch your current flash drives and upgrade to these buggers. This slim device holds 250 GB and is self powered through USB. The kicker? It's less than 100 bucks! Go buy one now, you'll thank me later :)



Funny how the Apple product ships in a box that conforms exactly to the enclosed iPod case while the Microsoft product comes in a unnecessarily large box that's nearly 8 times its size (way to be wasteful :p).

Now I must figure out how to transfer all my music and files to my new lappy. I honestly did postpone everything to the last minute.

Cheers to the future.