CT blind date: Zarmeena Waseem

Nick Bonadies
Spectrum Editor

It took weeks of heated late-night debate and thorough microscopic/spectral analysis by CT romantologists (with stethoscopes and white lab coats) – but now, at last, on the big day, our experts have revealed the lucky recipients of The CT’s all-expense-paid blind date!

Even as you read these words, the lovebirds pictured and profiled below are being driven by CT chauffeurs out and about our fair city for a night of fine (read: expensive) dining, general shenanigans, and – who knows – perhaps even something steamier to come.

Check out next week’s Spectrum for full long-form written, visual, and multimedia coverage of Brian and Zarmeena’s hot date – from start to finish –and for better or for worse.

ZARMEENA WASEEM | junior Spanish / broadcast journalism double major

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WHAT SHE SENT US

Name: Zarmeena Waseem

bio: 3rd yr, undergrad, spanish and broadcast major, easy to talk to. i love languages, summer, long walks on the beach, bubble baths and all that jazz 😛 love to have a good time. I’m working with the radio station and appreciate movie & music buffs. let’s not rule out the athletes 🙂

looking for: just thought it’d be interesting. a good story to tell at parties.

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Signed,

Zarmeena Waseem

CT How did you come to sign up for the CT blind date?

ZW Somebody invited me to it on Facebook, which is not uncommon. I pretty much don’t accept any event or page request at all, but I was like – it’s the Commonwealth Times, I wanna support them, I’m a journalism major, whatever.  … I kind of spread the word and told all my friends to sign up and stuff.

Honestly I just thought it would be a really interesting experience. I didn’t really know what to expect. It seems like it’s gonna be really … interesting, so far.

CT You’ll likely find Monday … fairly interesting.

ZW Wait. Does this mean I shouldn’t wear a dress? Because if I need to be able to, like, run and climb things, tell me now.

CT I’m not at liberty to disclose that.

ZW Okay …

CT What would you say is your life’s greatest achievement so far?

ZW Ehh, I don’t really have any.

CT No, seriously.

ZW Well.  It’s not really an achievement, but I think I’ve really well mastered the Spanish language, and I’m not Hispanic, but most people think I am when I speak it. … That also goes with the fact that I have big curly hair, I think.  Most people think I’m Hispanic.

CT Tell us about your dream date.  Really let your imagination run wild.

ZW See, that’s the thing, whenever you ask your imagination to run wild, it never does. … Just a no-pressure thing, someone who’s easy to talk to. It’s not necessarily the setting or what we’re doing that bothers me, or that would be my ideal.  It’s the conversational chemistry I have with the other person.

It’d be something unexpected, you know, something adventurous that I would not have thought of. Something like that. I know if I was to, like, plan a date for someone, I would definitely make it something they had never thought of.

CT What about the guy?

ZW Uh, tall, dark and handsome. But what woman wouldn’t say that, you know? That’s really hard to come by, a description like that, especially for a girl who doesn’t have a …”type”.

CT What’s going on in your life after VCU? Tentatively.

ZW Well, I have a very mixed-up background, so I want to be able to use whatever I can to build bridges in the future. Media does that really well, as do … languages, so, I decided to do both of them. I would like to use Spanish in whatever field I can.

CT Mixed-up background, you say.

ZW My grandparents were Afghan, my mom’s Indian, my dad’s Paki, and I was born in Saudi Arabia – I moved to the States when I was, like, seven. So life’s been pretty interesting. I was in, like, first grade when I got here.

I actually lived in an international compound, so it was like any Western country. We were taught English, we were taught other languages as well, so it was really easy for me … being taught English at the same time I was taught any other language. So I definitely got the best of both worlds on that one.

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CT How do you feel about Richmond?

ZW There was a while where I hated it.  But I’ve definitely grown to love it, and I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else at this point.  That’s the best part of being on your own, though, you know, like that … rude awakening, of living independently, learning to love where you are, and how you deal with your independence.

CT Have there been any recent rude awakenings?

ZW There was a bum outside my apartment who tried to throw a beer bottle at my head because he was just really angry at everyone in the world.  So apparently I am the world.

And I found out that there was a planet named after me – that’s pretty freakin’ cool.  If you don’t believe me, Wikipedia.  It’s spelled Z-A-R-M-I-N-A, so it’s like spelled a little differently, but it’s the same name.

CT Now think back to your most terrible, traumatizing childhood memory…

ZW Being picked on on the bus.  Like every kid’s nightmare, ‘cus you have to ride the bus every day, you know.  And I mean, given that this was like right after 9/11, and I was wearing a scarf, and everyone was like “Oh my God, get off the bus,” and I was like “what?” … I was like 11.

CT Kids suck.

ZW They do.

CT Last thing – what’s the most private/intimate/personal fact you’re willing to share with the greater VCU populace?

ZW Um… I’m not really uncomfortable with anything, so. I’m not a very shy person, but at the same time … people can be, like, unexpectedly timid about certain things, even the most extroverted person.

CT So what would it be for you?

ZW Well.  Are you actually gonna put it in there?

CT It’s possible.

ZW Yeah, I mean… I know exactly what I’m gonna say, I’m just trying to think of something else that’s not as incriminating. There’s only a few people who know this about me.

CT Come on, spill.

ZW Actually, you know, fine, I’ll come out with it. I love country music. I lived in the south for three or four years, and I used to have a southern accent that I had to train myself out of. Like, how many brown girls do you know that speak with a southern accent?  Come on. I came up to Maryland, to the D.C. area, and everyone was like “What is this girl?  What are you?”

CT Describe a dream you’ve had in the past.  Something that haunts you.

ZW Ehh.  I’m not a very haunted person.  I’m just chillin, for the most part. … I mean, I had a dream once where  like, I thought I was in heaven and all I saw was like scoops of ice cream – everything was scoops of ice cream. So apparently my vision of heaven is scoops of ice cream.

CT Is there anything else you’re dying to tell our extensive readership?

ZW There’s no such thing as good luck.  Some people are just more grateful than others for what they have and what they get and they use it wisely.