π

Never would have thought that such a simple request would have taken so much to help with. Three nights ago I received an sms from Australia going:

'Urgent. Pls ask Econs student to check d CIE txtbk, there'sa chart on hidden economics in d GDP section. I need d biggest hidden ec, d value, n data source. Thx!'

There's something about requests that end with 'Thx!' or 'Gracias!' or 'Thank yooo!' that just... well they just suck don't they? Because they leave you with a 'If I don't do this...awh man' kind of feeling. Maybe the fact that she's her contributed to the 'Okay fine I'll do it.' I mean, I'm not saying that anyone can just send me an sms ending with a 'Thx' and end up with me doing it. It's just... her.

So anyway, being the non-econs student that I am, I decided to ask for help. Oz, Feera, Aisyah and the rest of the Econs-taking Medics could only sneer at this one point in the life of Muhammad Iqbal where he has to ask for help regarding Economics. Economics. Bah! Dad would have made me take it. And all I heard from Feera and Aisyah and Oz all year is that 'Econs is fun!' or 'Econs is useful!'. Which, of course, the latter was more convincing than the first. Because when you stack up reading graphs to playing 'Dungeons and Dragons' and watching plays, do I even have to clarify which one wins?

So anyway, being in my room that night, and not feeling like leaving my chalet,I sent out sms-es to Amir, Farahsyaz, Aishah, anyone who takes econs. All replies went along the lines of 'I couldn't find it' or 'I don't have the textbook' and 'I don't have the textbook with me, I'm at the cafe'. This then resulted in me leaving my room to head to the RC, where it be known that such books be commonplace- only to reach the door at 9.55- closing time. Joy.

I let it slide then, thinking that Pai must've sent out at least one other sms to her other favorite junior, Brendon, who, if I'm not sorely mistaken, DOES take Economics. So surely he must've given her the answer.


Next night, when the internet was finally working alright, Pai came online and asked why I didn't reply her sms. >< Immediately, I thought that since I've done asking college (lazy) friends, I'd try asking Sarah- whose response was that the book was in Subang. She gave me Muizz's number and asked me to try him. Muizz had the book with him, but he was about to leave the house on the way to a party. I left my chalet again- the RC was closed that night, but I bumped into Amirul, who also takes Econs! I showed him the sms, and asked him to forward the answer to him when he got back to his chalet. The only sms I got was 'I have the book, but I couldn't find any relevant answers'. So I ran over to his chalet and yanked the book out of his hands, well, almost, and ran back to my chalet, flipping through the pages to find what I needed.

And there it was. Such a simple bar chart. Pointed by the index. It took me less then five seconds to find it, so I quickly typed it down on Messenger- and Pai was offline, so fine, I sent her an offline message. Next morning, she came online and I asked her whether she got the offline message. She didn't. Thankfully it was just above in the message history box, so I copied and pasted, and- voila!

A thank you.

Now here comes the point of my story. She could have given a longer sentence expressing gratitude, but the only thing she gave me was a 'thank you'. So why the heck did I spend the rest of the day with a smile on my face?

Farah, remember that day when we went to Mid Valley and I told you about not being a doormat, about saying no once in a while to requests for help when it interferes with your own plans? Well, exceptions are made for good friends. Even if... (sigh)

Khairul discovered Pai's blog. You'd think I'd have found it before him, considering the fact that I almost know everything else about her. There it is on the sidebar. Not exactly informative, but she's having fun down under.

Nawh, I don't miss her.

Current song: Strange and Beautiful - Aqualung
Current mood: Content