I am feeling quite excited right now. I don't know if you noticed or not but we've had quite an eventful few weeks. Let's see if I can cover all that I want within my word limit.

So, first and foremost, elections were finally held in Pakistan on the 18th without, to my surprise, any major setbacks and with the Pakistan People's Party getting a majority of the votes, to no one's surprise. Contrary to popular belief, there was never really any doubt that they were going to win even before Benazir Bhutto's assassination (which is probably why the radicals wanted her dead in the first place). The Pakistan Muslim League, led by Nawaz Sharif (and I still believe that he is a total buffoon) trailed in second place. The PPP has decided to form a coalition with the PML and together they will hold a majority of the seats in the next parliament. What does this mean for President Musharraf? Nothing good. He now stands almost alone facing a parliament filled with people who want him gone. Critics and analysts from all over the world seem to agree: President Musharraf's days are now numbered and the coming year will either make or break Pakistan.

Moving on. In a somewhat shocking yet not very significant move, our Cuban buddy Fidel Castro has stepped down as president, paving the way for his brother Raul Castro to take over. What does this mean for us? Nothing. What does it mean for the Cuban people? Not much. I do want to take a minute to say that, ignoring the horrific picture the U.S. paints of him, Fidel did do some good in Cuba (compared to other Caribbean countries). In fact, according to the numbers provided in the CIA World Fact Book, the infant mortality AND unemployment rate in Cuba is lower than in the United States (are you reading this George Bush… senior and junior!?). This one takes the cake though: Cuba has a literary rate of 99.8 percent whereas the United States stands at 99 percent. Of course, I'm not saying that Fidel has no skeletons in his closet and I'm not at all condoning any of his evil deeds, but for us to do nothing but criticize him is, well, very hypocritical and narrow. The War in Iraq shows that we don't have a clean track record either. So, taking all this into consideration, I think it's time we got off our high horses, gave Cuba a break, and wished Fidel a happy retirement.

When Prince Harry of Wales made his plans for joining the British Army public, I literally laughed out loud. Initially I thought "how can that kid possibly have a real army experience? If anything they'll send him to some five-star hotel (or what's left of one) in Iraq and he'll eat ham and cheese sandwiches all day". Apparently, I was wrong. Turns out the young prince recently spent ten weeks on the front-lines in Afghanistan. The royal family and Army had made a deal with the media and asked them not to reveal that that he was there (in return he would provide them with interviews and such when he was done serving). If they did so, they could potentially endanger his life along with many others. The media abided… for a while. Last week the Drudge Report leaked to the world that the prince was in Afghanistan. His time serving the nation was cut short as the army decided to pull him from the front-lines because of concerns regarding his safety. Well then, were all of you as surprised as I was? I didn't think he had it in him to leave his pampered life behind. Prince Harry is OK in my books now; I have a new-found respect for him. As far as his brother is concerned…well he was blessed with fabulous looks. Enough said.

In other news, the world of glitz and glamor suffered ANOTHER loss this year with the death of former super model turned activist Katoucha Niane. Her body was found in a river near her houseboat. As of now, there is no suspected foul play. Between me and you, I feel this isn't the last major death we're going to see this year. It's just a feeling that I have.

There is plenty more that has happened in the past two weeks concerning death, violence, war, military, weapons, and drugs but to be honest with you it is way too depressing and morbid for me to talk about right now. So I think I will save it for another time.