me: UzF

Anjefa Beach

2011-01-09T07:14:00.001+03:00

In honor of the beach with the ugliest name in the world:

Sex on anjefa beach:
-2 tbsp Peach puree
-2 oz Cranberry juice
-2 oz Orange juice
-dash of ماي لقاح حلال

Stir well, garnish with baqdoonis and serve with rocks

Traumatized and brutalized, torture survivors learn to thrive

2011-01-09T07:01:00.000+03:00

New York (CNN) -- Painting -- simple painting -- caused Samten Dakpa to become a victim of terror.

For painting classic Tibetan images as a teenager, Dakpa says, Chinese police -- intent on suppressing Tibetan culture -- arrested, beat and tortured him, shoving his hands into a coal-burning oven.

"It was like a barbecue," he said, describing the painful burns on his hands.

Cheikhna Mahawa of Mauritania says he was arrested and tortured because he organized protests to improve education for the poor and lobbied for instruction of classic Arabic rather than the local Hassaniya dialect.

Police, Mahawa says, shoved a rifle butt into his mouth, forced him to stare at the sun and beat him when he was unable to keep a cockroach within a small circle, using a stick.

Aside from their victimization, what the two men share is a story of recovery made possible by the Bellevue Hospital Center-New York University program for survivors of torture, which provides care for victims from around the world, regardless of ability to pay.

"The individuals who come to us are among the most traumatized and brutalized individuals there are," said Dr. Allen Keller, who founded the program in 1995. "But they also come to us with incredible resilience, and we have the opportunity to help them heal."

Dakpa escaped from police custody, crossed the border into Nepal and then to India before finally arriving in the United States in 2003, a dozen years after his torture.

"When Sampten first came to us, he was in excruciating pain, both physically and emotionally. He could barely use his hands," Keller said. "He would try to paint and he could barely hold a paint brush. When he did, he would get terrifying memories of the torture he endured."

Doctors operated on Dakpa's right hand, allowing him to hold a paint brush without pain for the first time in years. His left hand, badly scarred, still has limited mobility.

"Just these two fingers are stuck here and I cannot open more than this," Dakpa said as he tried to stretch his palm. "Middle finger, if I try to open strongly, it hurts a lot."

So, this spring, surgeons plan to operate on the left hand.

Dakpa said he had nightmares in which he was being chased along an icy river. The ice would crack and he would fall into the freezing water. Therapists helped him deal with the trauma and today, Dakpa said, he hardly has any nightmares.

Mahawa has received treatment for his jaw and persistent back pain as well as psychological counseling.

The Bellevue-NYU program does more than provide medical care. It connects patients with free legal assistance. Many, like Dakpa and Mahawa, are able to gain asylum status. Social workers also aid with English lessons, connections for employment and housing.

The Survivors of Torture program, in a cramped, somewhat decrepit corridor of Bellevue Hospital, is like an international refugee center. On a recent morning, a patient from Cameroon was reunited with her two daughters, who had just arrived in the United States. Other patients patiently waited in the hallway to meet with therapists and social workers.

During its 15 years, the program has treated nearly 3,000 survivors, Keller said. "We're able to help them heal, help them to function and get on with their lives, and that's really gratifying."

Samten Dakpa is delighted and grateful to earn a living by creating art -- without pain.

"I'm feeling really relaxed when I paint. It's very meditational," said the torture survivor.

Cheikhna Mahawa, meanwhile, feels victorious over his former captors as he teaches calculus and linear algebra at City College of New York while he pursues his doctorate.

"Absolutely. Without a doubt," Mahawa said when asked if it's worth fighting for education, even to the point of becoming a victim of torture.

"What is living without wisdom?" he asks. "What is living without knowledge?"

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/12/21/torture.survivor/index.html?hpt=C1

May 2010

2010-04-30T05:26:00.001+03:00

To-do list:

Raise 5000+ Mickey Mouse dollars
Pass a million competencies. 'Competency' being the catch word of the season
Pull out C+'s from impossible classes in college
Find a new apartment
Pack and move to the new apartment and keep damage at minimum
Work on 34 patients and 200 procedures.
Suck up to the Big Boss and keep up with the La Manager
Attempt to catch up with religion
Work 12 hours x16 days including my birthday, when I turn twenty-old
Visit Philadelphia

Obviously I'm not looking forward to anything except visiting Philadelphia. It really better be worth it!

You changed my life...

In the News this Week

2009-10-25T03:02:00.003+03:00

"Women in Kuwait can now travel without prior consent from husbands."

Choosing to take the elevator in my college is agreeing to be stuck with up to 20 people in a narrow space-- not very appealing to the claustrophobic, and to indeed anyone in their right mind for that matter. A real sabbatical elevator: add to that a mandatory stop on every floor makes for a long, nerve-challenging trip. Imagine someone running late for an exam.
Last year, the administration decided to do something about it. One would think they would install faster lifts, or perhaps build additional ones-- but no. All they did was install small screens that are connected to the internet, displaying weather, newsclips, and random reviews of local restaurants. Way to go Administration!

On many days, these screens are our only connection to the outside world. So a few days ago I was surprised to read the above-mentioned news headline relating to Kuwait in those usually New York/US-centric displays. While this is probably a landmark in human rights field in Kuwait and the surrounding region- and a bragging right too when you have neighbors with chronic religion-driven, social diseases like the KSA, it is somewhat embarrassing elsewhere. "Wait, you mean before now women could not travel by themselves?". I didn't even know that this nonsense existed.

Kuwait grants women passports without spousal nod
By DIANA ELIAS (AP)
KUWAIT CITY — Kuwait's highest court granted women the right to obtain a passport without their husband's approval, the case's lawyer said Wednesday, in the latest stride for women's rights in this small oil-rich emirate. Unlike with highly conservative neighbors like Saudi Arabia, women in Kuwait can vote, serve in parliament and drive — and now can obtain their own passports. In many countries in the region, women cannot travel or obtain a passport without the consent of their male guardian. Attorney Adel Qurban, whose case the court was ruling on, said the landmark decision "freed" Kuwaiti women from the 1962 law requiring their husband's signature to obtain a passport. His client, Fatima al-Baghli, is one of thousands of women who have been petitioning courts for this right. The court found the article in the decades-old law "unconstitutional" because it goes against the principal of equal rights for men and women. "It undermines her free will and compromises her humanity," the court explained according to a copy of the decision provided by the lawyer. Activist Aisha al-Rsheid hailed Tuesday's ruling, but said females in this traditional male-dominated society were still a long way from the equality promised by the 1962 constitution. "We want to see women judges and prosecutors, we want women to give their citizenship to their children, and we want women to have the right to state-provided houses," just like men, she said. With its history as a trading community, Kuwait has long been more liberal than the Bedouin societies in the interior of the Arabian peninsula and its 1962 constitution provides for a parliament and equality of the sexes. Conservative elements in the country, however, have long promoted a stricter interpretation of Islam, especially regarding relations between men and women.

Bravo, Fatima Albaghli! Power on you for this class act. You inspire.

After finding the article online later on I was wondering what else was going on in the K-Dubbz. Google news had the usual boring returns about oil production, US military and what have you. But out of no where comes this:

1,800 Jewish maids in Kuwait
KUWAIT CITY, Oct 20 : There are about 1,800 Jewish maids working in Kuwaiti households, reports Alam Alyawm daily quoting Interior Ministry sources.
The same sources said these maids are citizens of India, Bangladesh and Ethiopia. The sources also warned such maids practice black magic and may have allegiance to Israel.
They thoughts and opinions may also constitute a danger to Muslim families - either Kuwaiti or expatriate - and may have an ill effect on our children.
The sources added the origin of most of these maids is believed to be Falasha. (link)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That is obscene. What kind of shit journalism is this? Who writes such illiterate shit? Who believes in "black magic" or house helpers working as spies for Israel -spying for what I wonder. and the rest of this nonsense? "Danger to our children?" Fuck you! Who do they think they are? So many questions. Arab Times and Alam Alyawm and similar trash need to be pulled out of circulation. Now this is a real embarrassment.

Bragging rights are sadly banished by condescending laughter and doubts in sanity.

Music

Kid Cudi
(But in reality it's Andrew Shim. Tell everyone I told you)

Pegg Frostitution

2008-09-05T07:12:00.008+03:00

Nick Frost, Simon Pegg

the new yorker magazine

My two favorite actors are hitting the streets in America to film their latest movie. I can't begin to describe how I love watching any thing they make-- whether together or each on his own. Hot Fuzz (2007) was their second movie to hit the screens after Shaun of the Dead (2004), both of which were key in forming an international cult-following community. Prior to these movies, fans in the UK have already enjoyed a hit comedy TV show titled 'Spaced' which was aired in the span of 3 years since 1999.

Obsession.
I personally watched Hot Fuzz about 7 times, Shaun of the Dead 11 times, and Spaced in its entirety 2 times. I could not get enough of them and can almost recite the lines which couldn't be the case with any other movie or show. Their comedy is just too original and genuine to be categorized with average-acting, so-called 'comedians' of the likes of Jack Black or Will Ferrel.
Currently they are in the process of filming a new movie 'Paul' due to hit the silver screens some time in 2009. Coming as the third sequel of the 'Blood and Icecream Triology', it tells the story of two comic-geeks who take a road-trip across America to reach a comic convention in California. Filming will take place in many locations in the States and New York is a definite stop (typically) so guess who will be lurking around filming locations. Also the team is planned to launch a promotional tour after filming is done-- so that's another opportunity to have a plain white t-shirt graced with their signatures.
Last time they were here last July to promote the release of 'Spaced' on DVD, I couldn't attend the event because I had yet another exam to prepare for. What's fucking new. I guess that's a privilege of living in a real city like NYC, unlike, say, Richmond or K-Dubbz unfortunately.

For now though, I know what I will be doing Sunday night after bloating myself with an unhealthy futoor consisting mainly of delivery pizza or a microwaved ready-meal: Watch Hot Fuzz for the 9th time or so. Knocking myself out.

***

Favorite scene in Shaun of the Dead (one of so many)

"It's on Random!"
"Kill the Queen!"
the synchronized assault.. everything. Absolute brilliance.

Hunger

2008-05-06T18:56:00.004+03:00

This picture from a chain email came like a slap on the face. It's so easy to get hung over the trivia in our lives-- finances, careers, relationships, spirituality, appearances etc, ignoring things that should matter more. Only two days ago, 3 of us spent almost $150 on a dinner in some mediocre Turkish restaurant. A couple of months ago a hefty $500 was spent for a few sushi rolls in Buddha Bar-- and they were not even worth a fraction of their price. Just to think of how much food would that have gotten to those who really are in need. For that, I really feel ashamed of myself.

Something to do?
Donate a meal with a click of a mouse.

Who stole my foreskin?*

2008-04-16T06:17:00.006+03:00

My whole class got a last-minute invitation to attend a boy-circumcision ceremony in brooklyn from a jewish guy in class. Of course I can't make it because there's an early class as usual, but seriously isn't that just odd? What if I go, I wonder what would be a proper thing to say. "congratulations?".. "good riddance".. "masel tov"?.. "nice weather today"?

What a weird 4000 year-old practice. I wonder how many days i had been sore and crying when I was 8 days old.

Music

Mylo - Drop the pressure [*****fucker]

*inspired by the 'foreskin monster' episode from Freak Show.

Moment to Reflect

2008-04-02T09:11:00.006+03:00

To most people the beginning of April marks the infinitely lame and outdated occasion of Fools' day, but to me, it's the birthday anniversary for two completely different and unrelated friends. First of whom is an old high school friend. There was a time in the past when we used to hang out often and he once gave me this special gift. See, I was once in need for a certain kind of books, so when he knew about it not only did he get them for me but also wrote very thoughtful messages on the title pages. I still have the books somewhere back home and they are things that I'm gonna treasure. Unfortunately, each one followed his path in life and only in this year did I chose to ignore his birthday and not call or send the usual text message. I wish I could say it was someone's fault but it simply is not. I hate how this has to happen.. different people same shit every time.

On the other hand, the Russia friend has always been up on my whereabouts. I remember when the fatal shootings happened in Virginia Tech last year when I was in virginia still, he was one of the first to send a text message and even call when I hadn't had the time to respond-- All the way from some random central Asian country where he was vacationing. It's worth mentioning that even though he knew I was in the states, I only mentioned Virginia once or twice in our sparse e-mail exchanges. Now that's what a genuine friend would be. Anyway, so yesterday I sent him a very brief e-mail just wishing him a happy birthday and he replays a day later and BAM! comes the shocker. He's gotten married! I never met his girlfriend before but I saw her pictures and she looked really pretty. I mentioned to him my last summer's futile attempt to join the herds and how it just didn't work out for more reasons than I care to analyze.. It was a 'hit or miss' situation and lucky for me and everyone it was a miss. It's really funny when he's almost done with his studies, already starting a family and is very prepared for the "rest of his life", while I'm still leading a day-to-day cartoon life living off of junk with barely any commitments-- trying to figure out things in this life; stranded in the most random of places on earth.

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately and honestly I don't know where am I going. Not being sure of what you want doesn't make planning to get it an easy job. Recent school screw-ups, losing some people and having faith in general shaken all combined is a quite tough challenge. I long for what they call a "moment of clarity" if such thing exists..

Music

Matt Kearney - Undeniable

Tension

2008-03-23T01:41:00.009+03:00

Protests were held on Saturday across US cities and other places worldwide to mark the 5th anniversary of the Iraq war. Here in New York people made a human-chain along 14th St (where I live) spanning Manhattan from far east to far west. Walking amidst protester, on my way to the library, left me with an uneasy feeling as many were agitated and angry shouts could be heard all around. Tension was in the air. Most if not all of these protesters seem convinced that the best solution is to pull all the US forces out of Iraq and leave all the mess behind. Suffice to say, this action will lead to nothing but more trouble in Iraq and the region as a whole which will eventually -and inevitably- have dire consequences on global economy level that will hit each one of these protesters in the crotch. They're protesting as if the economy is not already crippled and gas prices are soaring-- They apparently want to see more of that.

Nobody can demand US and british troops withdrawal before a government capable of maintaining stability is set up in Iraq, otherwise demanding anything else is irresponsible, mindless gibberish.

To top off my feeling of unease, I locked eyes with a fat protesting woman walking in the opposite direction. She had a full grown mustache. I blushed.

Music

Nina Simone - Sinnerman

2008-03-03T06:33:00.004+03:00

المساجد والدواوين المخالفة
-ishraaykom?

That's funny. What I read there reminded me of once when I was home in Kuwait years ago. I was up late at night through the dawn, which rarely happens when I'm home rather than out. I heard the fajer athan coming from afar so I washed up and prayed, then went to bed feeling good that at least something positive came out of staying so late. Some time later, in the trance between being awake and asleep, I heard the athan again. "Shit- I must've heard the 'first athan'". So, still feeling the peace from the faithful state, I go wash up again, unfold my prayer rug and pray again. "Ok, maybe a little inconvenient, but the double-shot of faith has to be worth it". Time to sleep till noon.

Alllaaaaaho Akbaaaro Allllaaaaho Akbaaar !!!
...When suddenly...

No way! It's not even 10 minutes yet and here comes the athan for a third time in less than half an hour. At that point, I lost all of what's left of the religious sensation-state of mind. "Yalla 3ad! mayshoof shar inshala.. I'm out of here". Zzzzzzzz.

I miss kuwait!

Weekend

2008-02-29T23:50:00.000+03:00

A new instructor at work is giving me hell. Nothing i do is ever good enough so I end up piling hours and hours of work as if my schedule can handle it. The only comfort is in knowing this is not personal as others are suffering her obsessive supervision, but this doesn't change the fact the weekends are no longer a time for rest. It will be long before my next break where I should be laying on a sunny beach lined with coconut trees, far away from this cement jungle.

Another weekend down the drain.

Music
Santa Esmeralda - Don't let me be misunderstood (Kill Bill Remix)

***

Music to your ears

Now, could someone explain THIS? How could our society produce such specimen? Why speaking with the fake-badoo accent like a lousy elementary school rehearsal? It's obvious he's reading off a paper stuck in front of his nose. He reminds me of the Geico caveman; a missing link in the evolution of the human race (ok I kid, I don't believe in this particular evolution). The way he suddenly stops mid-sentence, swallows and jerks his neck is an indicator of some sort of neuronal disorder; however, there's a much more serious intellectual/mental disorder from which this individual is suffering.
يللا ميخالف شفنا اللي ألعن من هالأشكال ما يت على هالمملوح بس غصبا على خشومنا نرضى فيهم كويتيين حالهم حالنا مفشلينا ابكل زوايا الكرة الأرضية بس يا أوادم لي متى؟ ما نقول الا حسبي الله عاللي يابلنا هالبلاوي من بشر لوعوا جبودنا الله يلوع جبودهم ويفكنا منهم ما وراهم الا الأخبار اللي تسد النفس وتحرق الأعصاب. يللا خل نكمل قعدة على -----نا نشوف وين آخرتها وياهم

08

2008-01-10T03:13:00.001+03:00

I had a very low-key beginning for this year. Signs indicate this is gonna be yet a shittier year on all levels namely personal and academic. On new year's eve close to midnight I was stuck in traffic on the Gulf Road with biggie, so we had one of the local music channels (Marina FM or 99.7) waiting for the countdown to begin. There was a stupid song playing when I took a look on my cell phone's display and it was almost 10 minutes past 12! What? They didn't even bother doing a countdown which was plain ridiculous -- I turned to my friend, exclaimed with a curse, he laughed, and that's how 2008 began.

Next evening I was back in New York to start classes the very following day. This city has serious issues with its weather -- the highest temperature was 4 degrees FAHRENHEIT on that wednesday. I fell sick with the flu 2 days later in spite of taking a flu vaccine not too long earlier. When I started feeling better a few days later, I headed downtown and then to SoHo for shopping to cheer myself up, and ended up spending half a grand on crap that I will probably never wear for school. I was taking advantage of the winter sales season but in reality I was just being patronized by brands known for their heinous sweat shops in Asia and elsewhere. Sad reality.

The city's soul (or lack thereof) seems to have crept into me. Since my return I haven't gone out with somebody as the 8am-5pm schedule still persists and I have final exams in these first few weeks already. Perhaps that's a bad excuse for not making serious efforts socially but then again I like to think I grew out of that phase -- I never claimed to be a better person than what I am anyway. Supposedly I'm meeting a bunch of my old friends in Miami or DC during an upcoming holiday (M.L. King Day). Speaking of which; funny thing is that we never had this day off back when I was in Virginia. So much for the capital state of "confederacy". During my last days there last year, the state assembly refused to issue an official apology to the African-American community for the state's disgraceful role in human trafficking back in the day, and instead expressed "regret"-- suffice to say this angered the black communities nation-wide and it was one of those moments when shutting up could've done more good. (News). Bravo, Virginia. Racism deep within is the cherry atop your shit pie.

Fact: There is actually a city in the middle of that sorry excuse for a state that's called Lynchburg. LYNCH-burg! The city of Lynch!!! I kid you not. Lynch, for those who do not know, is the name popular in US in older times for the noose by which black people were hanged for no reason most of the time but the color of their skin. (Google Map). Imagine being black and having to live in such horrid town.

Fuck it. I'm out of there already.

Anyway, after spending Luther's day away for a little, I'll have something else to be looking very much forward to. Justice (pronounced Jus-teece), one of my current favorite bands, will visit the city in March on their worldwide tour. Their music is pure cocaine in the club/dance genre which is the new 'it' since 2007. They are the new-age Daft Punk. I highly recommend their album"Cross" (available in stores, youtube and torrent). I still can't believe they're actually coming to NY.

if mohammed can't go to the mountain...

They come from Paris by the way, like Daft Punk, Modjo, Tahiti 80, and a few others of my #1s.

Music

Justice - Waters of Nazareth

Justice - Newjack

Maybe DJ Uruj, since she seems to be the talk of blogtown these days, can add some of their tracks to her playlist. I think every post on Kuwait Blogs should have her name dropped randomly somewhere in each post. That'd be so cool. Urooj!

WTF?

2007-12-07T05:48:00.001+03:00

I was browsing amazon when an ad on the side caught my attention. I click on it and what do I see? My nemesis. A new version for 2008 is out and it's probably the 100th so far. I made it clear in the past how I abhor this sorry excuse for a game, but that's not the issue today. The manufacturers didn't even bother keeping the game's name (Winning Eleven) but rather kept the tag line, and only today did I actually take notice of it. My eyes popped.

NB: The original cover didn't have the man-evolution drawing. I added it for demonstration purposes.

What on earth does soccer have to do with the evolution theory? let alone supporting it. Evolution hasn't been proven to be false, in fact evidences supporting it are stronger and more significant than to simply be ignored. However, plastering this subliminal message of support on a product which is mainly directed to and consumed by the immature in mind is a cheap propaganda shot. Of greater concern is the children simply because this message will be seeded in their subconscious when they can't really understand the differences between the numerous theories explaining life origins. The name itself is sketchy; just try saying it out loud: "Pro-Evolution Soccer!" See? Sounds absurd. "Pro-evolution" and "soccer" just happen to be two of my least favorite terms and what do you get when putting them together?

It's just as if there should be more reasons to hate this game.

Music

Chumbawamba - Tubthumping
(In the tradition of W-11 circa 1998)

Guy from Coco Beach

2007-11-19T06:57:00.000+03:00

I ordered a bunch of Sherlock Holmes DVDs from an online store a while ago. There is barely any time for me to sit back an relax amidst the daily drill-- Classes from 8am-5pm daily, mandatory weekend sessions, nightly study group at the school's library. Basically, I reached the point where I have no life anymore. That's why in the little free time I have from week to week I like to do something really special to enjoy this little time because I deserve it. I go to New Jersey sometimes, but when all what I'm capable of doing is staying at home because I have no energy to do anything else, a good DVD becomes a good option; and that's why I order things like Sherlock Holmes.
It's so good to see these stories in motion after having read so many of them back in my childhood times. Dr Watson reading the mail and Holmes smoking his pipe in front of the cozy fire, in their old house in Baker street. Now that I see it, they seem more like a couple than just associates. Anyway, I remember most if not all of the stories begin with a visitor who shows in the study, asking for 'advice'.

***

During each level of education (i.e., elementary, middle and secondary) there were the friends who you see everyday and then there is this special friend who you hang out the most. I don't know how to describe it, it's the Mario-Luigi kinda thing. I'm still in touch with those 3 and even managed to have the ones from middle and high schools meet in Washington since they both happen to study in the states. They didn't click really, but that's aside of the point. Fast forward to present. I have started going to my current university here in NY for three months, and literally everyone in the class have been extra friendly and so it was easy to make good friends which was great. And then I met this guy and it's funny because I first didn't think he spoke english well but turns out he was born and raised in the States, but he didn't speak so clear so I misheard his hometown as 'Coco Beach' instead of somewhere else. His appearance reminded me of Yokuzuna from WWF; fat and sumo-like, but he had a cheerful character. I got used to hanging out with him most of the time-- study groups, sushi, and New Jersey in some weekends. At some point he even suggested we should look together for an apartment for next year; and that was the best suggestion at the time coz I've been growing bored of my area. He was becoming the 'Luigi' of his time.
Two weeks ago, he wouldn't come to class and missed some quizzes. When I call no one picks up, and then a couple of days later he calls saying he's been in Nevada and California interviewing in other universities since he doesn't really like it here. We met once more with another friend in Jersey last weekend, and that was the last time we saw him. He didn't come to class during the week, and our phone calls and text messages remain unanswered. Then I learn from school that he has (or has been) dropped out of school even though nothing can be possibly confirmed about other schools until December. I worried that he might have died or something, but then I get a response for one of the older text messages that wasn't relevant to that time so at least he's ok. However, still to this day I haven't heard back again from him.

My typical self tells me to let him screw himself as I've become very intolerant of emotionally unstable persons. On the other hand, there still lies the possibility that something bad has actually happened to him and he hasn't just decided to leave the city and cut off every relationship with the friends that he had made (which is the best explanation that I have arrived to). For all I know, he might by lying in his bath tub in a pool of his blood-- and his phone subscribes to an american cellular network, need I say more?*
*Actually I do need to say more, since not many of the readers are familiar with American cellular operators of the likes of T-mobile. They have the worst services. A missed call can reach your phone 24 hours late. An sms can be lost in the realm of radio frequencies and never reache its destination. Your bill might be doubled at the whims of some archaic computers in fucking Minnesota that use operating systems from 1997.
Anyway, back to the guy from coco beach. What surprised me is how depressed I got on the day I knew from school that he had dropped out because I didn't realize I became emotionally attached to him in the same fashion I usually do to older friends. I thought this was a defect in my character that I have fixed after my experience in Virginia. Note how I mentioned all the K-12 schools plus New York but skipped Virginia. That period of my life was a mistake that simply did not happen. I'm laughing at the previous sentence as I type..

Anyway, If sherlock holmes happen to live down the block I'll be more than willing to make a visit and ask for advice regarding what has happened. I need to know whether to miss him or delete his memory and move on?
.."The Case of the Guy from Coco Beach".

***

There's one more thing to add. The reason why I had the time to post on blogger and before that indulge myself on the weekend is that an exam I was supposed to have on Wednesday was canceled because the professor who teaches it got ill and needed to be hospitalized. I can easily assume that as the answer to the prayers of many frustrated students.

What a world we live in..

Music

Gary Jules - Mad World.mp3

Religious Insecurity

2007-10-16T06:00:00.000+03:00

A couple of days back while walking back home from dinner I noticed the Empire State building all lit in green, and I assumed it's for St Patrick's day. I didn't give it another thought. Today in school a lebanese guy mentioned that the green lights were to mark Eid, a fact that I confirmed with a quick search in a news search machine. I was very surprised.

Read FOX article here.

This also comes after the congress (US parliament) passed a law "honoring" the month of Ramadan, basically recognizing its holiness to the muslim population in the US and worldwide. This recognition hasn't even been given to any jewish holiday as of yet, as a bitter contributor to a Chicago newspaper notes. But regardless, this decision should have a positive effect -significant or otherwise- on muslim populations.

Read article from MuslimNews here.

Now, this should be ther perfect preface to the following news item. Kuwaiti Municipality voted against allowing a worship place for a muslim minority known as Bahra/Bohra (wikipedia). This is contradictory to the state's constitution which clearly emphasizes on the freedom of worship and expression in one of its basic and fundamental articles. This is not the first time such incident takes place. A few years back a Sikh temple was shut down without offering an alternative licensed location for Sikhs to worship.

Read article from Kuwait Times here .

From the article:

Islamist MPs and clerics urging the government not to approve the Bohra mosque because all members of the Bohra community in the country are not nationals.
Islamist MP Khudair Al-Enezi on Monday called for rejecting the government request because Bohras are not Kuwaitis and residents of Ardhiya were opposed to the idea.

What can one say to respond to such ill logic? Not being a "national" doesn't mean you are not entitled to practice your religion. Does this idiot of a man -Khudair Al-Enezi- accept to be denied from worshipping if he visits another country which "follows another religion"* only because he's not a "natioanl"? ma agol ila malat 3alaik w 3ala ily wa9elak mokan inta mo kafwa.

*this assumption is just for the sake of argument. Saying "x state has a religion" is just as absurd as saying "a state had a bad hair day this morning". Complete rubbish. Religions are made solely for human consumption.

Kuwait has a serious management problem. Tolerance and acceptance of others are approaching alarming, new lows.

These two stories show, with regards to one tiny aspect, what it means to be a third-world country.

Silver

2007-10-10T07:42:00.000+03:00

A couple of weeks ago I was in a clothing store in Union Square trying on some sweaters for the winter. I can't wear my track jackets and hoodies for school anymore since a "professional environment" must be maintained there. Anyway, I set my mind on one black sweater, so when I was taking it off in the dressing room I noticed some fibers stuck in my hair. Trying to brush them away, one of them wouldn't go and decided it was its duty to stick in there like a jewish mother. To my surprise, it turned out to be a bloody gray hair. My eyes popped and for the following few minutes I tried to brush it away harder and harder trying to prove it's just a silly polyester fiber. It was one of those original denial moments. Alas, it was a real hair.
Did it come out because of school? I doubt it because it's been only about one month into it. This didn't really sadden me as much as I thought it would, but it really took me by surprise. I never thought this would occur so soon. And even though such event is something that I would normally share with my close ones, I didn't; as if it's something to be ashamed by. I still don't have a particular feeling about it. And I know it's normal; some of my friends back in high school had salt'n pepper hair even back then. Yet, whenever I look in the mirror it sticks out like someone giving me the finger.

So now what? I'll probably be using a walking cane by time I'm 30.

Music
Boston - Amanda.mp3

B&W

2007-09-20T06:32:00.000+03:00

Friday, Sept. 14
-Lost my wallet
-Sick with flu
-Throbbing headache all day long
-Flunked a quiz (60%)
-Frustrated with classes
-Sick of how everywhere in Manhattan smells of urine
-Where does all the money in my bank account go????!!?

Wednesday, Sept. 19
-Someone found the wallet
-100% cured (emergen-C packs and pomegranate juice)
-a faculty member complimented my track jacket (compare to having a headache.)
-Flunked another quiz (doesn't feel as bad though)
-Feeling less frustrated with classes
-Got introduced to Newport a.k.a. Heaven.

..The difference a few days can make! A few days ago, I was ready to either harm or be harmed. I thank g-d so much for everything.

Oh and also, as if all that was not enough to cheer me up, I return home today after a long day out to find a check in the mailbox from a sloppy storage company with which I had business this summer. I don't know why in hell would they send me a check with all that money but what am I complaining? They have the 'awesomest' customer service :)

Art: hermet@flickr

Music
Moby - Extreme Ways.mp3
youtube

Ethics Problem

2007-09-09T02:15:00.000+03:00

In a book about professional ethics, I came across a letter sent by a cancer patient expressing her frustration with the behavior of her oncologist. Here is the body of the letter:

I am writing this letter as a way to finally be heard by you.... At the time of our first meeting, when I told you I was glad to meet you and you countered my honest greeting with a sarcastic remark, "I know you are not glad to meet me," you made it perfectly clear that you saw yourself as the "bad guy" and that chemotherapy was going to be a "bad experience." In hindsight, I realize that the relationship you were offering, from the beginning, was never meant to be that of a supportive ally which I so desperately needed during this difficult, stress-filled treatment. Even the setting in which the chemotherapy was administered could never have been conducive to a calm, peaceful reaction....

I am very angry for letting myself be intimidated by you. But I'm also angry and hurt by your impersonal, detached, and at times very rude treatment of me. I came to you anticipating truly professional, innovative, state-of-the-art care.... Care does not start and stop with the prescribing of drugs.... In addition to your medical opinion, I needed you to support me and encourage me through a very frightening journey. And you were not there for me.

Due to a severe lack of sleep, continuing bladder inflammation problems, poor communication, and other physical and emotional effects of chemo, I gradually became exhausted and unable to cope with life in general, let alone chemo or cancer. You, as my primary physician doing chemotherapy, had a responsibility to remain informed about the results of the various examinations and procedures I was subjected to by doctors you referred me to. You also had a responsibility to communicate to me the impact their findings had on my treatment plan. Instead, I was left with the incredible hassle of trying to get in touch with them myself and relate their findings to my chemotherapy needs. This greatly added to the stress I was under.

At our last visit, after talking with me for less than five minutes, you diagnosed me as severely depressed, referred me to a psychiatrist and suggested that Prozac might help. Then you turned your back on me while I was crying and walked out the door.

source

This letter stroke more than one cord. Everyone knows a cancer patient somehow and it's not fair to accuse anyone of not caring about them, but this letter gives a perspective to how one particular patient feels about her treatment. She hasn't restricted herself from expressing the anger and the pain she feels and this simply a crude reminder of the unfortunate reality for anyone with this disease.
Now, how this relates to me is as follows:

I have an uncle who has lymphoma (lymph cancer), and sadly his treatment couldn't be administered in Kuwait so he had to do it in the States. It took him well over 4 months to do arrangements with the ministry of health, and from what I gathered they gave him hard times until he was approved. This comes when others get less trouble in being approved for illnesses that can be easily taken care of in any of MoH's facilities.
With relation to physicians' behavior: An old relative of mine (75-85 y/o) has been suffering some ailments and subsequent treatment which left him weaker than he used to be. Once during a regular visit to the doctor with his eldest son, the doctor (in the Mubarak hospital in Jabriya) was directing his speech to the son in the presence of the father when he said (Shakla 3inda 6 ashher ley 1 sina mo akthar, "I don't think he's gonna make it for longer than 6 months to one year at max"). The family spent the following 3 days trying to comfort the father even though he didn't seem much concerned. The apathetic fashion with which this statement was delivered (especially while ignoring the presence of the patient) angered the son very much to the extent he filed a complaint against the doctor.
With relation to cancer and ethics: I've been a big admirer of CAN campaign (Cancer Awareness N(?)etwork), until I knew from a very trusted source that the campaign's idea was originally that of a renowned psychologist who happens to be my source's relative. The idea was part of a research, and when he submitted the research around the time when a new board of Kuwait University was about to be named, an ex-president of Kuwait University plagiarized the whole research and stamped it with her name. This president has been known for advocating creative research and academic integrity aside from being a prominent face in feminine achievements in the society-- Ironically she is now also praised for promoting cancer awareness in addition to her other fantastic achievements.

Viva la kuwait.

p.s.:

فريحة الأحمد: كيف نبني مجتمعا ودولة بسواعد البويات؟!

WHAT? is she for real???!! who is this shaikha farii7a and why is she so jaded about lesbians? are there no other problems to be concerned about at these times? No one single piece of news gives hope in anything be it sports health education or economy.. بلاوي زرقــــة .. and all what she is so interested in is female homosexuality? ٍSome people need to immediately get out of their pink bubbles (no pun intended) down to the street and see how low have we gone.. Gosh.

Unorthodox

2007-09-03T04:49:00.000+03:00

Last week was my new university's orientation week. Part of the activities organized could hardly be described as academic, that includes a "house" party with a DJ and all the works in the main auditorium, and a 4-hour nightly boat cruise along the Manhattan shores. People were drinking and dancing, and eating and drinking some more.. everything felt like undergraduate all over again. Funny to realize that the university's administration was the authority directing such events; you gotta love the new york ways.
I'm still in the process of getting myself nestled in where I'll be calling home for some years to come, and I'm loving it more with each day passing by. Anyway I'm not concerning myself with technicalities and other distractions (decaying politics to be specific) for the time being. Negativity affects me almost physically and this is not what I need most right now. All news is depressing.. qu'est-ce qu'on peut faire? Teh yeah whatever.

On a brighter note, Ms Spears is finally back and she's rolling! I saw her photoshots on Allure spetember issue and she's looking hot-- tired, bothered and malnourished in some pictures, but nontheless way better than before. My friend told me she heard her song on a local station here in NY and it can be heard in its website. After a quick google search I got it! it's no Slave 4 U or Toxic but it has some of what made everyone either love her madly or hate her badly: Catchy beat, glittery lyrics, and a lot of moaning and groaning.

Britney Spears - Gimme More

"It's britney, bitch!"
Album is due out in November (MSNBC)

***

Visit MTC's new website, www.zain.com and notice their new colors. Do they persistently remind you of something very familiar? ;-)

"أمن الدولة من أمن المواطنين يا "أمن الدولة

2007-08-22T09:33:00.000+03:00

القاء القبض على الصحفيين بشار الصايغ وجاسم القامس بالطريقة القذرة التي تمت بها أمر لا يبشر بالخير أبدا. القصة باختصار هي أن مجهولا استخدم المنتدى الخاص بموقع تعود ملكيته لبشار لنشر تعليق يفترض أنه يمس بسمو الذات الأميرية (...), ولقد تم حذف المشاركة بعد فترة قليلة من نشرها تعد بالدقائق, ولكن بقدرة قادر علمت ما تسمى بدائرة أمن الدولة عن هذا التعليق وأرسلت عصابة من رجالها إلى موقع عمل بشار في وسط العاصمة واختطفته قسرا ومعه زميله جاسم الذي كان متواجدا هناك , وبدون ابراز أي هويات (وهو الاجراء المتعارف عليه), ثم ابقائهما لفترات متفاوتة رهن الحجز غير القانوني حيث وجهت لهما مختلف الاعتداءات الجسدية واللفظية.

إن الأمن الذي ينعم به سكان البلد هو من الأشياء القليلة التي بقت لتواسي مواطني الكويت المأسوف على أيام ريادتها في محيطها والتي يبدو أنها ولت من غير رجعة. لا أعرف بشار وجاسم شخصيا ولكن طوال الأيام الماضية كنت على تواصل مع عدد من الأصدقاء في الكويت لمعرفة آخر مستجدات الأزمة كما لو كانا اشقائي ولكن للأسف قليل فقط هم من يعلمون بما حدث أصلا وأقل هم من لديهم بعض الأخبار..

هذه الحادثة تمس كل كويتي وكويتية بشكل مباشر لأن بها تصرفات تعسفية قامت بها الحكومة ممثلة بإدارة أمنها بتعديات صارخة على حرية وكرامة مواطنين لم يرتكبوا ذنبا أو أي مخالفة قانونية على الإطلاق. إدارة أمن الدولة أصبحت مصدرا لترويع المواطنين الصالحين وفي هذا مفارقة مفرعة تستدعي انتفاء المهمة الأساسية وراء استحداث هذه الجهة الرسمية ولذلك يستوجب اعادة النظر في وجودها من الأساس لأن الأصل في قيام الشيء بغايته.
إن اصرار ما يدعى بدائرة أمن الدولة على سلامة اجراءاتهم رغم ثبوت اساءة استخدام سلطاتهم أمر يستوجب تحقيقا مكثفا وبإشراف مباشر من أعلى السلطات بالدولة (بدون تسمية الجهات المعنية) وذلك لما تشكل هذه الحادثة من ضرر بالغ يمس بسمعة الدولة على الصعيد الخارجي وأهم من ذلك على المستوى المحلي حيث أضحى المواطنون شاكين بنوايا السلطات الأمنية اللتي باتت تتربص الزلات بهم كي تتحين أي فرصة لتنالهم بقبضتها. وفي سياق ذلك يجب تركيز الانتباه على عدة نقاط مهمة وردت في سياق الأحداث

اتبات الاعتداء الجسدي على الشابين جاسم وبشار لتفنيد ادعاءات وزارة الداخلية التي لا تكاد تمت للواقع بصلة (عفية ضمير).
ايجاد تفسير للطريقة التي حصلت بها دائرة أمن الدولة على معلومات لحظية عن التعليق (التفسير الوحيد أن فردا منهم هو من دس بالتعليق*.(
التحري عن أي ضغوطات تمارس على بشار وعائلته من أجل قلب الحقائق رأسا على عقب لاظهار المسؤولين عن هذا الحادث المشين بصورة الحريصين علىمجرد اداء واجبهم.
فضح الأساليب الدنيئة التي مورست مع الصحفيين بالذات الإساءات اللفظية وخصوصا إثارة الملف المذهبي والطائفي معهما

*اعترف الكاتب الحقيقي للتعليق بعمله وهو موظف بوزارة الدفاع يدعى نايف العجمي (الرأي العام). ليس معلوما ماهو الاجراء الذي سيتخذ بحقه فهو إن كان بالفعل مدسوسا ففي الغالب لن يجري عليه شيء مما جرا على بشار وجاسم , وإن كان بالفعل رأيا شخصيا له وهذا احتمال ضعيف للغاية فـالله يعينه بصراحة.

وفي الختام نشكر الله على مرور الأزمة يخير وعودة الزميلين بسلام إلى أهاليهم وإن كان ليس لأي من هذا الفلم داعي ولكن ليس هناك أي لوم عليهما وإنما من جهة رسمية سببت الكثير من التأزيم وكأنما الديرة ناقصة. والشكر موصول للأخوة والأخوات المدونين الذين حرصوا منذ البداية على متابعة الموقف لحظة بلحظة وأثبتوا ولمرة أخرى أنهم المصدر الأول والأكثر مصداقية للأمور التي تهم المواطنين بالدرجة اللأولى, ولوقفهم مع زملائهم المدونين في وقت شدتهم..

United We Stand..

ملاحظة أكتب هذا المقال بالعربية لسبب رئيسي واحد هو الفشــــــــــلة وسواد الوجه لذلك يرجى المعذرة على أية بدليات.

Surface Released

2007-06-11T08:42:00.001+03:00

Microsoft Surface Review

So Microsoft made its latest gadget available for public demo last Saturday. I only heard about it less than a week earlier so I guess this counts to MIcrosoft's advantage; unlike other companies, they didn't make rediculously long campaigns which go on to the point at which consumers either lose interest or forget about the product altogether. The "coffee table" was released in only two locations, San Diego and NYC; and luckily the NYC event was open to the public unlike in San Diego where attendance was more or less exclusive.
I went there around noon expecting masses of people but oddly enough the event venue was not occupied with a lot more than a regular traffic which you'd expect at any lobby in a hotel. Before I think I was in the wrong place, I see 3 groups of people in tight circles in 3 different locations; "Microsof Surface" reads on yellow banners over heads. The affair was so small in scale that you couldn't guess it's an international-scaled showcase.

I squeezed myself into one of the groups and listened for the guy on spot talking about various features and giving live demonstrations of the different functions available. Like I expected in my previous post about this device, it lacks a keboard and a mouse so the only input method is finger-tips or other physical objects like broad brushes. They are working on a keyboard that could be integrated into the table in the future. People were allowed to hands-on experience the high cpabilities of this table through drawing sketches using their fingers and browsing digital photographs previously taken.
Other features were customized functions made for the sponsors of the table that include Sheraton hotels and T-mobile communications. The t-mobile application was to sell yet more outdated ringtones and wallpapers (who buys these anymore?) and the SHeraton application was for room service, like if you want a meal you can choose its components with your playful fingertips instead of just picking up the phone and simply telling the person on the other end what you like to have.

The technology is impressive no doubt, but it was so obvious that this fancy piece of furniture is no practical substitute for what we need in a computer, a tv, or even a simple USB stick. This is what the spokesperson had to admit after many questions from the curious people. It couldn't get more obvious that this impractical table will be such a failiure, even before it's even released out in the market. Oh and the audience, I must say I completely didn't fit in the crowd over there. You can only imagine the geekness.. each geeksquad-lookalike tries to use the most obscure jargon they can think of in a pathetic undeclared competition. Anyway I took some picture, played with it a little, and then went out on the street to do what real people do, unimpressed.

More pictures from the event are on my flickr account.

Anyway for something that matters, here's what's been my earwax this weekend. Warning: Addictive.

Akcent - Kylie
(Thanks shayshaye ;-))

Dreary 360

2007-06-08T06:06:00.000+03:00

*Announcement*

Blasha's uncle is in an ICU in a hospital in Kuwait. He's in an urgent need of transfusions of type B- blood immediately so if you or someone you know can help kindly do so. For details check out the information on her blog. (link)

***

I miss having someone to call late at night, send a text before I fall asleep, or go out together to have an icecream in the area. Those whom I've been close to are still around; one sms, phone call or im-message away but we barely talk anymore, and it's definitely not the same.
I got a memory-rush when walking past an obscurely located, mirror-walled pizza joint on Broadway this afternoon. Couldn't help but release a sigh.

Nelly Furtado - All Good Things (come to an end)

In other news, these two cheats of friends, who became a couple now, are expecting a baby soon. I'm having mixed feelings about this, most of which are not pretty ones. Until this day, I havent been even officially notified about the engagement, let alone being invited to the sorry wedding. Not even as a courtesy. By 'officially' I mean by them, and by 'them' I mean especially her. Whatever. Screw them.

Also, what's with all those charades in the press and inside the house of parliament in relation to the member of the ruling family who had embezzled hundreds of millions of KD's from public funds while "serving" in office during the country's hardships in the early '90s? I mean what the fuck is up with that? It makes me really uneasy to learn about how easily these offenders to the nation's public welfare could get away with it without being properly prosecuted. How third-wordly. I'm definitely reading more on this subject and I might follow that up with a little write-up here and who knows, I could even have someone call me to say hi, just like what happened once upon a time with the Kuwaiti Femme.

When Microsoft Gets "Creative"

2007-05-31T09:23:00.000+03:00

After years of releasing nothing but ill-featured operating systems that are fertile grounds for bugs and flaws, and are always prone to malware and hacks, Microsoft decided to come up with something new. One would think that in an attempt to compete with Apple's ever so innovative line of products that includes reliable Macbooks, indespensable iPods, and most recently the anticipated iPhones, Microsoft will feel embarassed and attempt to release something worth bragging. So what do they announce? A coffee table! You read that right-- a coffe table.
True that in terms of technological advances this table features what seems like a new level of how we interact with technology, but still, why would I or anyone want to spend a little fortune on purchasing an immobile Coffee table which can't be taken anywhere, let alone using it for basic computer functions such as typing papers and browsing the internet. I mean imagine having to direct your vision in an awkward angle to read a website or watch a movie. I doubt it's ergonomically safe in the long run and I can see future headlines in the lines of "Neck injuries caused by the Coffee table!"a la Wii's wrist injuries.
For goodness' sake, "to buy a coffee table" doesn't sound right even. What were they thinking? Something like a super new laptop with a luminous 4-square windows logo on the back similar to macintosh's luminous apple would have been a good start, and maybe use some of this advanced touch-screen technology while at it. All computers that use the windows OS are produced by other companies, so such product would be a practical addition.. But to be fair I will give it a try before deeming it as an insult to us, the microsoft herd. They will be showcasing it in a hotel in New York on June 9, and since I happen to be in New York nowadays I will drop by if I wasn't busy on that day for a quick visit if it wasn't too crowded.

The apple TV commercials with a group of nerdy men representing microsoft versus a casual guy representing apple could be taken to a new level of mockery now. Seriously what the hell was on Microsoft's mind?

News Article (Reuters)
Microsoft Surface (Product Website)

Monkey Business

2007-04-27T07:01:00.000+03:00

So, like in less than 48 hours, I was implicitly called a thief, cruel, inconsiderate of someone's needs, and a manipulator. My roommate had his share of this -- and technically we both can't perform pilgrimage (7aj) anymore. Very likely, we are being mentioned in hateful prayer or something equally twisted. The shockwaves are hitting back in the aftermath, as the word seems to be spreading around and some mouths are chewing talk. Our only fault is committing to our word on an unwritten contract when someone else thought they could get away with it..

How messed up can this city-wannabe get?

I'm so calling my parents tomorrow.
The sick part is, my roommate and I are actually enjoying the drama.. some action to stir the mundane. But seriously, it's never a waste to keep a written contract when it involves a significant financial commitment even between friends no matter how close they think they are. Money makes people act funny, and one might just go under a curse for that matter.

Mayhem in Virginia

2007-04-19T07:25:00.000+03:00

Windy day turns to nightmare at rural campus (Reuters)

Monday was an awfully long day here. Not only did everyone had to deal with a storm of rumors and false alarms even in my campus which is in a city almost 2-hours drive away from the Virginia Tech campus, but also having to answer all the concerned inquiries that kept pouring in the aftermath. As the story keeps unfolding, I was personally amazed to hear from people from whom I haven't heard for the longest of times; people whom I don't remember telling I studied in Virginia even.. Sometimes it takes a tragedy.

What's In a Sleep
A day after, in my university like many others across the country and in some universities around the world a mass vigil was held to remember those who were victims. The attendance was massive as I had never seen such a number of students and members from my university gathered in one place, some 4,000-6,000 in the basketball arena. One could hear scattered sobbing from all corners, as many of students here happen to be friends or family relatives to people who attended Va Tech. Funnily enough, no one of the estimated 11-15 kuwaitis who attend Virginia Tech was hurt because the word of mouth is they usually skip early classes, and that's when the shooting occurred. This is the second time such reason surfaces to explain why certain people (...) could avoid such tragedies-- the first being 9/11.

It's very sad that no one can ever be certain when and where the next act of academic assault will strike. I don't know how some people think they are not affected by these events as the victims can always include a parent, a child, a spouse, a sibling or simply a friend. My friend of a friend who sat next to me in the vigil was crying and wiping her tears all through the 2 hours and a half event, but I didn't have the heart to ask "who..?". I just gave out a tissue, and when it was over I wrote a few words on a big banner to be sent to Blacksburg.

What I ended up realizing in the end is that I could justify my own skipping of almost all of my morning classes since January with very feasible reasons now. Who knew..

In Hobby Quest

2007-04-13T06:07:00.000+03:00

One of the questions to which I have trouble answering is mentioning my hobbies. I find it a lot easier to list what I don't consider as such..

let's see

I hate sports, in all its kinds
I don't collect stamps or buttons or whatever other random small things people collect
I dont sing, I don't cook, and I don't read often
No serious knowledge in either movies, video games or tv shows

Dunno, if you're one of us, "interest-challenged people", you should have noticed how hard it is to hit off conversations with strangers you meet for the first time.

In an effort to adopt a new hobby, I bought sort of an expensive but worthy little early bithday gift for myself. A squier electric guitar with an amplifier and all the works. A short series of posts by a fellow blogger bojacob encouraged me to make a step in this direction. I've always enjoyed music so I thought why not play it for a change? Not surprisingly, I sucked at it lol. I've had it for about 10 days now and what I learned to play is the "Old Mcdonald has a farm" tune. A friend told me today that people don't get this type of musical instruments to play such retarded music.. way to go in encouragement..

Anyway,

Here's a picture of the guitar where I left it last time I played it. The angle is bad because I took the picture from the bed where I'm laying too lazy to be bothered to step out.. 'been working on this linear programming management project on excel for the last 2 hours. I feel sorry for business majors..

Yeah so this was my break away from work.. time to get back to the pure uncut fun =)

ps: my goal is to play this before summer ends:

Metallica - Nothing Else Matters

Iran War this Month?

2007-04-13T06:06:00.001+03:00

N.B.:
So one of my non-hobbies was video games. My roommate happens to be an addict for World of Warcraft, this video game on PC. He talks with many online gamers from kuwait in his guild, and many of them happen to be members of the military reserve...
They told him they will not be available online starting April 16th, because they will be on emergency duty/detention for an unknown time. I wonder.. is that about Iran? that's what we were afraid the case was..

Mercy Killing

2007-03-30T00:14:00.000+03:00

I cut my relationship with someone who used to be my oldest friend here. Everything was going down hill strating about a year ago, and nothing seemed to improve. I couldn't leave this relationship dying anymore, having to deal with any what ifs. I took a deep breath, pushed on the "send" button, and the bleeding creature that was our friendship died before you could say "femalla il kareem".

***

Now I am sorry, but not regretful. I can only wish it had ended differently (Keyword: ended).

300 Movie in Current Context

2007-03-16T22:52:00.000+03:00

300 is probably the biggest movie production for this year. I have been anticipating watching it ever since I saw a trailer back in october or november 06. So when it was out on Mar 9, I was sure to attend it and I dragged along 16 other people to the theatre in San Diego, where I spent a part of my spring break this year.

The cinematography is excellent and the graphics are extremely well done, albeit the story line is kinda "undecided". See, it was obvious that the producers couldn't figure out if they wanted to make a realistic war movie or a fantasy, fairytale-like movie a la LOTR or Star Wars.
The story is about 300 spartan greek soldiers battle with what appears to be hundreds of thousands of persian forces who came to invade Sparta. The story tells of how these 300 soldiers managed to keep off the enemy for a time long enough for greeks to gather their forces from all corners of their empire. Suffice to say this is all too fantastic to have ocured this way but that's not the issue. The movie didn't claim that it's historically correct (source: imdb, click on the picture), but it fails to point to this clause like all too many other hollywood productions.
What seemed interesting is the depection of persians throughout the movies as evil-driven and blood thirsty (typical hollywood-arabs anyone?), and also choosing black people to be persian soldiers and leaders. Knowing that perisans are mainly white caucasians, with other asian minorities, some racism was definitely directed towards black people in this movie. The whole story emphasizes on the greek glory, courage and what not -- which is very common in history as the story is always told by the victors' point of view, and more often than not victors would like to appear as the brave and righteous. Just think of what "history" today calls on the germans and japanese for their efforts to seek power during the world wars era as opposed to the very same efforts made by americans and other european allies. Germans are criminal nazis, Japanese are racist imperialists, whereas americans are the brave freedom guardians.
What gives some significance to the 300 movie other than its oh-so-amazing graphics is the timing when it's released. Amidst growing international tension regarding Iran's (today's persia) nuclear and other defense programs, not a lot of effort seems obvious to relief this stress. The U.S. is adamant on crushing any Iranian ambitions of attaining nuclear ability and with the U.S. its usual suspects plus this time it has the support of a majority of Arab regimes, be that support open to the public or under the table. Now whether or not Iran has the right to own nuclear weapons is not what should concern anybody the most. What is really frightening is the POSSIBILTY of having a new war in the region. This will be the 4th war within less than 30 years, and I doubt any region can take all that and YES that even includes our hell-hole of a region that is the Middle East.
Nuclear weapons are made for one reason and one reason only: Mass Destruction. In other words, they are fired at a location and when they hit the ground they explode releasing heat, high freq electromagnetic waves, and substances that are sure to end every life within a certain radius of their point of collision. If that doesn't sound alarming enough, just imagine what would happen if an Iranian nuclear head drops in Hawally or Dasman, which is one event that speculators see very likely in case the U.S. decides to launch its offensive on Iran. All signs tell of the forthcoming troubles and it’s just overwhelming to think of the consequences.
The movie doesn’t show what happens after the greek troops are gathered and ready to face the Persians, but it takes no genius to know that after the stand-off in the M.E. today is over in g-d knows how long, the area will be scarred for so long and things will definitely not be the same any more.
On a less serious note, the movie is worth your 2 hours and 9 bucks if you're into those types of movies -- only be prepared for a lot of mockery from the audiences towards the over-tricked up persian she-king.

Update 3/29/2007
In the news: Iran condemns Hollywood war epic (BBC)

Peach

2007-03-08T08:56:00.000+03:00

March 8 is the birthday of a dear blogger friend of mine. She hasn't been around for quite a long time and I miss her a lot. Let's all throw her a surprise virtual party and hope that she is doing all well in life.
I'll bring the cake, please bring something and join me here =)
http://peach77.blogspot.com/

Art from konomiho@flickr

Post.A.No.Secret

2007-03-01T11:21:00.000+03:00

My first contribution to this project. Find it at:
http://postanosecret.blogspot.com/

Denial Shortcoming

2007-02-27T03:36:00.000+03:00

It was a tough day, today. I had an exam for which I hadn't studied well during the weekend, and 2 homework papers due which I saved for the last moment, so I hadn't had enough sleep. After classes were over, I met up with a guy over lunch. It's his first year here so he'd ask a lot about how things go around here, study- and life-wise. At one point of the conversation, it hit me that suddenly I'm at the end of this stage of my education. I've been here for little short than 3 years, and by the end of this semester -which is only 3 months from now- I'll be out of here. The details of how was it like when I first arrived in here are still very fresh in my memory -- big credit goes to this blog in recording details that I could easily forget. I remember how I was picked up at the train station by a representative from the university. She had me dropping my bags at the dorm and took me straight to the local Wal-Mart without really giving me a break to rest. I didn't know what I had to buy, because my mom took care of all the packing in Kuwait so I wasn't sure what is and more importantly what is not in the bags lol. So I bought a cereal bowl, a set of 5 silver spoons, a laundry detergent and a fleece blanket. I still have all of them, and the mere sight of these items brings a sympathetic smile to my face. "Are you sure you don't need more stuff?" she'd ask, and sheepishly I'd respond "Yes ma'am that's all!". I had planned to visit a close supermarket to buy more stuff later in my own convenience, little did I know that this Wal-Mart and the adjacent Target were the closest decent shopping centers -- both about 20 minutes drive away from my dorm. "Dork!" I'd curse myself for sometime to follow.

Back to her office a couple of days later, I would meet the first Kuwaiti kid. A guy who, like me, would begin his studies in the same field of studies as mine. Time goes by and we grow to what I thought to be close friends, but as it turns out, this was just what I thought-- that's a whole other story. By this time (now), I've been roommates with people from many walks of life. So far I lived with a taiwanese, a moldovan, a korean (make that 3), a french, and 2 kuwaitis. A cousin of mine once thought I change roommates like I change outfits, which is evidently true.. but with each one I learn something new, be it a social skill or cultural-related issue. I went out with 3 girls only, but never really got close to any of them-- neither did I get so close to kuwaiti folks in town. Other than my current roommate, I've been on and off with kuwaitis as it never seemed easy to kick off a long standing relationship with most of them.
On personal level, a lot happened. My biology lab partner and first friend got engaged recently, and she asked me to join her and her fiance for their "2nd" date as a couple. A friend from my first English Composition&Rhetoric class died because of a heart failure. A 30-something y/o pakistani friend drank his first glass of alcohol in front of me, in my house, and made me swear not to tell anyone. I slept-over at some kuwaiti friends' house and accidentally stumble on their stash when I open the wrong drawer late at night, and I pretend nothing happened the next morning. People beg to keep their relationships secret coz I know, people beg for illegitimate help on studying, and others come to me in tears asking me not to tell I met them stoned or especially drunk.. and the jazz goes on and on. Drama never stops in this quiet-on-the-surface little city on the great American east coast.

In my 3 years here, I can't say I learned much about this city. Mediocre in size, it doesn't offer much to do anyway; that's what everybody has been saying ever since I came here, and now that I'm getting ready to leave, I still hear that every so often. In 3 months, I will be moving to a new university to complete the second stage of my education -- A new university, a new city, and a new phase of life. That's why I walk in the streets more alert to the arechitecture; the spirit of each quarter. I went to the university's bookstore and bought alumni t-shirts and some other show-pride merchandise. Most importantly I'm kinda trying to hang out with as many of the friends I made here in these few years as possible, without really telling I'll be leaving soon. I'm really bad at saying good-byes. A word of praise should go here to a few somebodies who were kind enough to offer their friendship, honest people make life tolerable any where. I'm slowly releasing myself from a long state of denial.

So yeah,
I got a count-down going on, and frankly I can say I won't miss it here too much. As for the friend with whom a conversation brought all these realizations into perspective, he still has a few more years to spend in drama-ville. I took a sip from my soda and resumed talking to him about what to do to pass the days. Talking to him brought some realizations to my attention, and he probably didn't think that I will still have the conversation repeating in my head. I really like the kid and hope his experience ends up to be better than mine.

Music
Dave Matthews Band - Where Are You Goin'?
(I am no Superman)
.mp3

Kuwait in Pixels: Cajie

2007-02-25T03:26:00.000+03:00

Once while browsing flickr website, I came across this very nice photo of a view for Kuwait City from the Shuwaikh beach, so I added the user who took the picture to my list of favorite flickr users and he was nice enough to add me to his list in return.
Ever since, whenever I log into flickr from time to time I make sure to check if he has something new. His phtotography is nothing like I have ever seen.. it is the kind of photography that really makes you wish you spend the time in improving your skills so that you can say photography is one of your hobbies. The angles, the color balance, the employment of high resolution, the long shutter he uses..

Of course the camrea is important in producing high-end quality pics, but it also depends a lot on the person standing behind it. Allow me to introduce this unique photographer: Cajie.

His profile reads that he's an Indian expatriate working for a local company. Using a D70 Nikon camera with some savvy specs (don't understand them!), he takes his photos. Here's a sample of what you can see on his portfolio:

Kuwait City Sunset

Amir Cup Match

Kuwait City Late Evening
(One of my faves and my current PC background)

Kuwait Stock Exchange

Banking Complex

The last two are very recent and are showing the country-wide preparations for celebrating the nationals days (Feb 25th and 26th). There are much more in his website, these were only the pics I liked most. I suggest that a local touristic authority (if there's any) makes a conrtact with him. On behalf of many people who have admired the beauty of our city through his professional work, I would like to salute Cajie and encourage him to produce even more of these masterpieces. Wishing you all the best Cajie, if you ever read this.
I also encourage everybody to preview the whole collection through his flickr portfolio: Link.

A Winter Momemt

2007-02-13T07:26:00.000+03:00

A couple of weeks ago it was really cold outside, and the clouds were heavy when I looked out through the window early in the morning. Walking in the street after having a quick lunch afternoon in the restaurant down the block, I suddenly get showered with a million little shreds of snow. It was magical. It seemed like 2 giant tractors were pouring white confetti right above my head, and I felt like being inside a crystal snow ball..

For a moment I stood in the middle of the street. I turned around myself twice, slowly, to absorb all the beauty of that moment. All I felt was pure happiness. It wasn't because of an accomplishment I made, or for being with a someone.. it was just a joy that I wished I could treasure for a lifetime...

NB: We took this picture earlier this winter when I visited the Snoqualmie Pass natural parks in washington state with my family. It was the first time I see snow flakes in the shape typically illustrated in print and animated media. Very interesting.

...Maybe it was just the camel in me, but nonetheless it was a very special moment.

Music

Just Jack - Snowflakes
.mp3

The Shiia issue in Kuwait

2007-02-06T18:10:00.000+03:00

Around 3 years ago, I was sitting in hotel lobby in washington DC with someone I just met. He was a friend of a friend, and so while we were waiting for our common friend to get down we were chatting about current issues in Kuwait. At that time, the biggest event was a questioning bill from an islamist MP (tabtabaii maybe) to the then-minister of information Mohammed Abulhasan regarding some musical concerts and what not.
Given that "to question a minister" in Kuwait means in other words a biased interrogation, public insults through unprofessional media, and in many cases ending the minister's political career, I was surprised to see my new friend condoning this action. The guy seemed well exposed to the political scene, which is something I always admire especially in younger people. If I remember correctly, his exact words were "He deserves it. Kuwait is a sunni country and he dared broadcasting this Shiia tv show right before the iftaar. Where does he think we live?". He was referring to a tv program aired in Ramadan of 2004 on Kuwait tv, where a Shiia religious person (Al-Zalzalah if I'm not mistaken) would talk too generally about some religious issues. I have to say I wouldn't have bothered to watch any episode had this conversation not taken place."If they want this so bad, let them go back to Iran!". Suffice to say, I was shocked out of words. I'm not a history scholar but I know of many Shiia families who have been around since the very early days of the nation. Shiia in Kuwait come from all over the place I suppose; Saudi, Iraq, Iran and elsewhere -- Just like the rest of what makes up the entire society. All through recorded history, there was nothing between the diverse groups except common respect and mutual contribution to the better of the country.

So where did it go wrong?

First, I wouldn't say anything went wrong. If a bunch of elementary school kids would tease each other or hang together with such criteria in mind (like how I remember it used to be in my elementary school days) then fine! It's just kids play.. I can't think of an example better than how sephardic jewish kids call the ashkenazi kids "shell fishes" and the sephardics are called "potato skins" in return.. ok I just might made these names up but you get the idea.
However, when it reaches public media, and a prominent hardcore salafist/wahabist figure like, M Hayef Almutairi publicly threatens to "shut down all husseinyas [shiia lecture houses]" if the lectures there don't adhere to his extremist ideology's guidelines (story*), then you know something is wrong. When a storm of news-paper opinion articles gradually accuses the whole Shiia population of things like misguidedness and disloyalty to the country, then you know something must be wrong. For crying out loud, even NEWSPAPER columnists started calling for shiia to get [the fuck] out and go to "where their loyalty belongs". Let alone some internet public forums, e-zines, and even some blogs where the language used is much worse and down right racist.

Like the case with many other aspects in the kuwaiti society, some people decided to take responsibilty of anything that goes around, be it cultural, social, and even commercial. They constantly confiscate many liberties which is utterly against the constitution which supposedly governs the law. I don't know about anyone else but I feel my country is hijacked. It is things like this which make that new friend of mine believe that Kuwait is a "Sunni" state, and anyone who doesn't like it can "Get the fuck out". People, I studies the religion well during my 12 years in kuwaiti schools - and I can assure you there is nothing "Sunni" about this nonsense. This is only the salafist/wahabist ideology that has taken control of many mentalities in the country. These are the very ideologies that our grand fathers fought in the 1800s and early 1900s to keep off of our beloved country- in battles like Jahra and the Red Fort, but alas, the enemies definitely managed to get in.

Anyway, I just met the kid, and didn't really want to scare him away telling him what I really thought about his opinions so I loosely pointed that theoretically, kuwait is an atheist country and that's what being a state is all about. But really, was it hard to assume that maybe, just maybe, instead of my not-so-proactive self he could have been talking to another devote shiia kid? Just a thought. Anyway our friend in common had finally come down in a time long enough to get ready for a wedding as well, and we all went to a johnny rockets to have a good time and left any religious drama ~~out~~ deep inside, just where it belongs.

*link: http://www.alwatan.com.kw/Default.aspx?MgDid=459746&pageId=26 (Warning, picture NSFW)

SADDAM: OWNED!

2007-01-04T10:07:00.000+03:00

Saddam Hussein C.V.:
Getting into war with Iran only a few months after declaring the republic, resulting in the death of MILLIONS on both sides; 1980-1988. (Wiki)
Operation "Anfal" bombing Kurds in Halabja and other towns with toxic gas bombs; 1988. (Wiki)
Invasion of Kuwait: Murders, Illegal POWs, Thefts, and much more ; 1990 (Wiki)
Suppression of Shiia uprising in southern Iraq: Deaths in tens of thousands; 1991. (Wiki)
Implementation of laws involving punishment through amputation, branding (wtf), and capital punishment; 1994 (Wiki)
Captured out from his pig-hole hide out in the middle of nowhere scared shitless; 2003 (Priceless!)
(Source: www.wikipedia.com)

He was executed on the early hours of the morning of Dec 30th 2006. I heard it on the news right away since it was only early in evening in the west coast of the United States, where I am right now for the break.
It kinda didn't sink in so well, and now it is almost the same: I don't give this incident a lot of importance. He was a criminal bastard (in the literal meaning of the word), who got the punishment he asked for with his actions. However, personally I would have preferred to let him live to be humiliated more each day-- but now that he's dead whatever. He'll have more punishment in the hole of hell he'll be dumped into.

I only posted this to humor all the Saddam air-headed crybabies out there.. and boy are they many. So yeah, there you go.. Let me break the news to you: The first worm larva has just hatched in his disintegrating brain.. Ooh yeah, the best is yet to come.
Keep in mind that birds of a feather flock together.. and the religious traditions tell us that if you love someone bad enough you'll end up with them where ever they should be in the afterworld.

Justice was served.

Anyway-- and in any case, Saddam Hussein: YOU ARE TOTALLY OWNED!!

2007: In & Out

2006-12-31T11:20:00.000+03:00

Zune
The Northeast (ie Boston; NYC)
Old school Bloggers
Immediate family
High school friends
Grafitti
Techno and trance
Dolce & Gabbana
Facebook
Rigour

Out

I-pod
The Mid-Atlantic
Noobs
Extended Family
Undergrad college drama
Graphic design
Rock and mainstream
Ralph Lauren
hi-5
Fortune

*Art from photojennic @flickr.

New Year Resolution and 2007 Prayer

2006-12-26T11:27:00.000+03:00

It is finally 2007. It seemed 2006 was never gonna end. I had to survive through catastrophes on the personal level that I still find hard to digest. They were so intense that I can only laugh at it all now. So yeah: LOL.
Leave alone mishaps on the local (kuwaiti) and regional levels. Tsk tsk -- fate is acting naughty again. Bad boy!

So, I don't remember ever sticking with a NYRes. list, but it's always worth trying to. Let's see..

a. First I want to gain more weight WHILE keeping in a good shape. (Anyone knows how not to let fat concentrate in the abdomen and posterior areas?)

b. Communicate more with friends and relatives of my age back home in Kuwait. Beginning to lose some already that's bad.

c. Travel a lot and have fun really hard next semester (Jan to May 07) since it's gonna be the last during which I'll have the relative freedom to do so.

d. Upgrade my cell phone subscription plan. My cell phone company is ripping me off and maybe i'll just switch to another operator altogether. (New-comers to the USA avoid T-mobile for your lives).

e. Communicate better with parents and maintain the good relationship. (Im very grateful for that. il7amdilla).

f. Dump more "friends" who qualify to be stupid people (kindly refer to the previous post).

Communication has been the theme for this list. That's indeed a sign.

***

Prayer:
"May people everywhere succeed in understanding and respecting each other. May the situations in Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine/Israel improve. May corruption and intolerance disappear from Kuwait in one sunny morning in the summer. And finally may the sick beget health, the dead find comfort, and the living find peace".
Glory be to the name of G-d and Amen.

Stupid People Alert

2006-12-26T10:53:00.000+03:00

Some people are just so stupid. I'm very serious, they are so stupid it hurts. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I don't need stupid friends, so if you think you are my friend but are stupid then fuck off already.

Who do I mean by stupid?

Advantage whores, i.e. Ma9la7chiya
Snobs; those who ignore friendly calls/sms/im`s etc
Idiots; who don't gracefully accept a well-intended humorous remark.
Grammar call-outs (you can kiss my dictionary)
All the rest of socially-, morally-, and culturally-challenged humanoids.

It's just that some people failed to appreciate my friendship and did a great job in disappointing me. All I have to say is it's your loss darling(s).. You can feel free to go to hell if you will. Bisos :**

An Original Blog Post*

2006-11-27T22:30:00.000+03:00

On Thanks-giving weekend I was in New York for the NUKS conference for the 3rd year in a row. It was very eventful and there was plenty to do either in the Hotel or in the city (it's the NYC!). One highlight was the screening of documentary "When People Spoke II" by directeur Amer Al-Zuhair. It was very emotional at times and the audience (200-300+) blazed in applause frequently during the film. There was part of it dedicated to blogger scene and some real bloggers -the director being a blogger himself- were dubbed during displaying comments they made in some websites! Gotta watch the movie after the final cut is out. However, the major highlight of the 4-day event was in the closing ceremony where Kuwaiti diva Nawal performed live on stage. I haven't been big on her like the case with most arabic music, but that didn't prevent my clique and myself from dancing our hearts out hawaiian/kuwaiti style. Standing up while dancing wasn't allowed for some reason, but this didn't matter.. plus no one seemed to be in the mood for "mind-your-own-business" arguments with security personnel.
I never thought an Arabic concert could be that fun.. Can't wait for the Chili Peppers concert in DC next month!

So anyway, what keeps me busy this time of year is all the interviews I'm having with universities. In less than a month, I will have visited New York, Boston, and another city -- twice for NY. Google helped me in finding how to tie a tie (link if you care to learn).. so f'king complicated. Fortunately I still keep a ready tie given to my by dad in Kuwait since last July. Other than worrying about that, every trip is a good break away from this school and this city.
Interviews turned out to be fun also! I can't wait to know where I'll continue studying..

I have other stuff in mind. However, some classes are too demanding. In less than 2 weeks, I'll have to complete 20 hours of service in a charity or a correctional institution. The horror of the task discourages me from even beginning with the damn thing! In addition, chances are I get 2 2-3 B`s this semester. (Soo not me, if you know me), so yeah..
Say with me: I can't wait for this semester to be over!
___________________
*Read: complaining.

Music:

Milk & Honey - Habibi (Je t'aime)

..being all in good terms with the arabic music for the moment, y'knoe
chi-ching

The Truth About Religion?

2006-09-10T22:40:00.000+03:00

Dhukka. That is the one word Buddha used to describe this life. A continuum of misery and "dislocation". Pessimistic as it may sound, but one can't help but take this concept for a fact at times of hardships, obviously happening in a lifetime more frequently than never.
Accepting such facts takes one to the next step, which is the attempt to survive this bumpy ride we call life. People seek guidance through the path. People grow restless in their persisting need for instructions as to how to pass successfully. Pass to where one may ask? or to what? This is when religions jump to answer this and other similar questions.

Religion /[ri-lij-uh n]/: An organized attempt to institiotionalize spirituality for mass consumption.

To a religious ear, such a definition can't be more biased; offensive even. However, just the effect of the word "attempt" is enough to strike a sensitive chord in a cynical mindset. Of course, many definitions exist for what religions are, but I found this much intriguing. No one can deny how badly the concepts of religions are abused nowadays. It isn't easy, if not impossible, to name a single war occurring during the last millennium that has nothing to do with religions. Crusades, civil and ethnic wars, india, afghanistan, wars on terrorism, israel, and even the World Wars just to name a few. Everyone knows, for example, how WWI began when the young catholic Austrio-Hungarian prince went showing off in the ultra eastern-orthodox streets of serajevo. He was shot dead with his wife because he was rich, and oh-no, he was catholic. And everytime the same thing happens; Hell breaks loose.

I realize this subject is worn out of discussion and debate over and over. But it always drives me to question my stance on religious beliefs whenever similar things happen. The ignorance of these people is beyond comprehension.
"Die Religion ist das Opium des volkes" in the famed words of Marx, is another definition. It's true that it comes from a wholly different background, considering the slacking of people -at his time- in improving their living standards on hope of divine intervention, but they share a common thing with people who fight over religious causes as we see in our days everywhere around us. That is, Ignorance.
All this is, naturally, not what religions were meant for. It's a fact that big chunks of religions are man-made. Yes even those so-called monotheistic religions. I don't see why the need to propose a new-and-improved religion every other millenium if it was possible to suggest one good-for-all-times version from the beginning. That's why it's less confusing to think of religious practices as man-made and perhaps question the validity of those which don't make a whole lot of sense. All what religions are meant to teach, after all, is making a better person out of each one of us. The ideal ethics.

"So, why not being an ethical person without the constraints of what most likely is a man-made set of rules, i.e. religions?"
A question that definitely found its way to a lot of questioning minds. One can't blame such questioning for it reflects from the atrocities being made in religions' name. But an insightful answer to this question is another question: "Why be ethical?" lol, as much as I hate answering a question with another question, yet I couldn't find a better answer. So really, if under religions we are encouraged -if not forced- to do the good and avoid the bad in order to reach an ultimate goal of entering an after-worldly nice place called "heaven", and avoid the wrath of "hells", then what are the motivation for non-religious people to act ethically? Human nature? I don't think so. Simply what human nature is all about is greed, lust, and the rest of the 7 sins that were mentioned elaborately in the Torah i think. One doesn't need the Torah even to realize how these tendencies are deep within our existence; that's just the way it is.

In addition, religions play a vital role in making a better society. Zakat in Islam stands as a practical manifestation of humanitarian empathy, for example. Sweet. So where does it all go wrong? I imagine people getting too deep in contemplating the improvements that religions had made to their lives, leading to deeper adherence to the practices which we, for the sake of this argument, described as man-made. At a certain point these people will want to invite more people to share their values, perhaps as a way of showing gratitude to what this religion make to improve their lives. And a natural evolution to this "innocent desire to bring in more people" is to first "force in" these people, then to "force out" their beliefs, to finally "force those people along with their infidellic beliefs out of our very world" hence what we have now.

Alors apparently it's a people's thing to ruin everything, and the divine (the E in E=mc^2 in one theory) has yet to have a say in what's been happening for too long by now. Too long for a human point of understanding perhaps, but nonetheless, too long.

Taking Sides

2006-08-01T02:37:00.000+03:00

Never before had the world appeared to turn its back to a humanitarian crisis as grave as the one taking place these days in Lebanon. Scores of innocent lebanese victims are brutally murdered, killed, butchered, on a daily basis by the merciless Israeli war machines -- and the world watches in silence. I emphasize on the words "killed", "murdered", etc in contrast to the expressions being used in the disgustingly biased, mostly zionist-controlled western media, referring to the losses on the lebanese side by numbers, using dilute terms such as "died", "lost". In the same time, these networks don't hesitate in interviewing the family of a dead -sometimes even injured- israeli victim, their friends and even people from the neighborhoud in efforts to force international sympathy to the israelis, and to add legitimacy to their crimes in lebanon and palestinian territories.
This is the new age Holocaust. I am very disappointed. Of all people, you, jews, should know better.

International intervention.

Why was it different when Sudanese govt oppressed minorities in the south, in and around Darfur?
Why was it different when Germany killed jews and other minorities?
Why was it different when Serbs attacked bosnians and croatians in the mid-1990s
Why was it different when iraq invaded kuwait around this time of year, 16 years ago?
F'k! Why is it even different when an ethnic group wanted a dominant race in South Africa back in the time?

Why could the world, or at least an honorable majority stand up against the wrong-doer everytime and force them to stop what ever crimes against humanity they were exercising, and make them pay well for it?

All throughout history, and whenever a nation undergoes such hardships, it is up to its people to fight back and restore its pride when noone else could. And in everytime the people were able to fight back they were called heros, right? Wrong! Funnily enough, the people in lebanon who fight back against the israeli war machine -said to be the 5th strongest in the world- are now called terrorists. Hezbollah, the only group in lebanon who are daring to defend its borders are being called all bad names by some of the people who should be its first supporters: some lebanese people.

In the latter dilemme, western media is a helpless case as explained above. Some fenatical saudi religious clerks can't be blamed.. someone forgot to spray them with piff-paffs already, but.. lebanese people? I keep hearing some on radio stations talking out of hate of hezbollah more than the concern about lebanon's future. It is the best support israelis can dream of, and it is disgraceful. Lebanon's awkward political situation has always been known to exist, but it is a deadly mistake to employ the current war to serve each party's best interest. This is what i had observed through tv, radio, and some blogs, and this is what i call Stupidity. Just imagine what it would had felt like if a group of kuwaitis during the war to liberate the country distracted the efforts by accusing x-people of this and demanded the expulsion of y-people because of that.. Point is, there is a proper time for everything, and war is not the proper time to point accusations. War is a proper time for people to unite.

Hezbollah was never a favourite group to me. I had had a bad impression because of a few interactions i had with people who are supposedly members of an underground organization of HZB in kuwait. However, now it's different. Nasrallah is my current che guevara, and he has my full, undivided support.

With that said, let's all hope things are over as soon as possible with no more casualties.

Donations for the lebanese are accepted in the lebanese embassy (location TBA), and the Kuwaiti Red Crescent Commission are currently employing volunteers.

2006-07-11T23:22:00.000+03:00

OH MY DEAR, DEAR G - D
THANK YOU SO TERRIBLY MUCH
YOU ROCK MY WORLD!

MUCH LOVE

YOURS QUITE LITERALLY
Y.

Shocking UzF Playlist #11

2006-07-09T02:42:00.000+03:00

Never There
Cake
(Prolonging the Magic)

Layla
Eric Clapton
(Best of Eric Clapton)

Take Your Mama
Scissor Sisters
(Scissor Sisters)

Murderation
Rubin Steiner
(Drum Major)

Re-offender
Travis
(12 Memories)

I didn't take the trouble of introducing each track with a short type up. Unfortunately, work didn't spare me neither sufficient time nor energy to do so. I can't wait until everything is over by next week, then I'll finally be able to visit li'l bro in europe and relax a little. Plus I need a major catching up to do with many issues.

Hopefully you'll enjoy what I have been listening to while being tortured alive. I highly recommend Rubin Steiner's "Drum Major" being packed with many dance/electronique gems. Also I recommend "Travis" for car and office, actually I recommend all my music. Click on a picture to d/l and listen and kindly share your current favorite musics.

ps: apologies for not being online actively and not responding to emails etc. soon it'll all be back to normal 'inshala.

Ciao

Study Crash

2006-06-26T09:26:00.000+03:00

Biology Haiku
Such a messy science
With many names in unspoken languages
Exhausting precious brain space

Organic Chemistry Haiku
Same things over and over
Paranoia at its meanest best
And the purpose is a crude mistery

PAT Haiku
Cubes, angles, holes
Are you 'king kidding with me?
OMG WTF BBQ

Music:
Travis - Baby One More Time
(The Man Who)

Team of Choice

2006-06-13T10:01:00.000+03:00

I knew the World Cup for football was supposed to kick off around this time of year, but because the exact date was something I didn't know I missed the opening ceremony. In fact I missed the first 3 days of matches.
Actually, I don't think I'll watch a complete match all throughout the season.

Do you see how bad it is? Do you see the pattern? Of course it's going to be this way. I'm probably the last person to be even remotely interested in football. I'd rather have stuff surgically removed out of my ear than spend 90 minutes (not including break time) for over a month watching sweaty men run behind a stupid ball like they have nothing else to do -- that's my favorite -and own- definition for this sport. Plus, I'd end up with better aural ability! (that's to conclude on the ear surgery part).

But alas, nothing much we -us, normal people- can do when technically being surrounded by the football-loving masses.. Their tiny little joy of life. I honestly don't understand the philosophy of this sport. I don't get it. Il7mdilla wil shikir. No offence and with all the due respect, but seriously il7mdilla wilshikir.
This might come off sounding uncalled for by some, but I don't think I can take any of this b.s. anymore. Those people should start concerning themselves with things that are not necessarily more important but at least more interesting. Fuck! I can't get over it! This pathetic sport is damn well over-rated and a Line has to be drawn. Fuck winning eleven also!

***

Man, I got into some sort of a repulsive-anger chain reaction thing up there. I intended this entry just to show my support for the Netherlands team.. Madry laish! Yala good luck to them anyway..

Random Entry

2006-05-31T23:41:00.000+03:00

-I'm in the library now studying but I keep falling almost asleep every other 10 minutes, and it's not working..

-I forgot my computer charger in Boston where I spent the last weekend visiting my friend there. It was the perfect little vacation -- everything amazingly organized and fun, except for finding out about my charger. One thing though; Boston=Chic.

-My work partners must be the worst people to work with. Everybody seems to fail in realizing that we are bound by deadlines, so as it seems our work is far from getting accomplished anytime this lifetime. Phukkit.

-Remember my constant nagging about the O.C.? Well, now i'm done with everything to do with this subject after finishing all its classes. And because I did ok at it my professor offered me a Supplemental Instructor (SI) position at his class next spring. This must be the lamest joke ever! I mean who would've guessed-- Me and this bitch of a science? still, i'm pretty excited about the offer and have already accepted the position. Teaching little kids organic chemistry could be a little thrilling after all, n'est-ce pas? Kobarna walla lol

-If the zombies working at my local car dealership just try to do their work like half humans would do then I'll be getting on my wheels within this week. I'm already so excited and.. excited!

-Summer is definitely my time of year.

Music: Phoenix - Everything is Everything.mp3
Low quality for fast streaming

Orange Sunday

2006-05-13T10:52:00.000+03:00

Just thought of passing the word on the protest planned on sunday evening this week. Learning about conspiracy-like approach of the government to surpass what's said to be the will of the people is frustrating.

Until this day I am, and sure others are, not quite over with the poorly directed kabuki play that was the transformation of power a few months back. In fact, just a few weeks ago when a couple of students and I were in charge of setting up the kuwaiti booth for my university's intercultural festival, a big, bitter argument has started regarding pictures of whom to put up on posters and whom to exclude. Directions on what to do about the pictures came from too many parties for me to care for, and finally we did what seemed to do best: Hang pictures of 2 emires and exclude those of 4 other people, and to hell with what everybody and their uncles had to say about it.. '3air 7ala! Despite how insignificant this detail should have been in our preparation for the festival, but it sure gave us hell a lot of headache.
But at least the project was a great success and we had the biggest crowd gathered around us all day long.. I've written names in Arabic for about 300 people and there was a mark left by the 3gal on my forehead by end of the day. It was worth it, though. It had better!

Back to the electoral districts subject, as everybody seems to realize now it's no longer a matter of plain irrelevant governmental procedure as much as it's a matter of challenging what the people want. Here is when any patriot should stand up and show what they are really made of. I would like to extend my thanks to everybody who took the effort and adopted the issue all through.

Whatever happens after Monday will not change the fact the the People, Us, stood up and had their word being heard. I see this as a valuable lesson for both our coming generations, and to those who might think that it's ok to mess around our country without being questioned the least. Show them all what it means to be Kuwaiti.. Wear Orange and be there.

This should make a historical day and I wouldn't have missed it, had it been in my ability.. But oh well. Now, to what matters most: wish me a happy birthday!

*poster from Sa7at il Safat.
*images from ishraaycom?

TGI Hussainiya

2006-04-29T06:17:00.000+03:00

Earlier this year in Bloomington, Indiana:

أقام الاتحاد الوطني لطلبة الكويت فرع الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية مائدة عشاء في يوم العاشر من محرم الموافق يوم الخميس 9 من فبراير في مدينة بلومنقتون بولاية انديانا. حيث حضر النشاط 9 طلبة و 8 طالبات من المنطقة و الذي اشرف عليه كل من الطالب مشاري الموسى والطالب محمد اليعقوب و في الختام شكر الطلبة الاتحاد على إقامة مثل هذه الأنشطة التي تقوي العلاقات بين الطلبة و تخفف شعورهم بالغربة و طالبوهم بالمزيد من الأنشطة المماثلة

Now, This doesn't appear like your typical, everyday Hussainiya.. does it?
Or perhaps the DJ was playing Bassim while at it? One can never tell..

"De-alienating effect".. My G-d!
Indeed.

link to the item. (Arabic text)

Events and Mishaps

2006-04-20T06:56:00.000+03:00

I thought of visiting my blog yesterday morning since I was unusually up early and had little free time in hand. So I go up and type uz in the address bar waiting for my link to come down as usual but nothing came down. Alas, that was when that I've been neglecting here more than I thought I did.
Things haven't been that bad though. I've been very consumed both academically and socially to the extent that I hardly stay put. Currently on top of my agenda is getting my final papers ready for applications to higher education, and preparing for this term's final exams which are taking place less than 3 weeks form now.
When not in classes, and not in library doing work for classes, a group of european friends has been taking up most of my time. I was hooked to them through my ex roommate who's back in France now for good. And boy do these kids like to chill! They have too much free time in hand probably because they're exchange students. I mean, from how much i told them i had exams when asking me out they think i'm making that up... Anyway, they'll all be leaving by the end of semester and routine will kick back in.
Last weekend I had a break from school and eurokids when a friend of a friend came in a visit from out of town. We all spent a day at a local theme park built by Paramount apparently to clone Universal Park in florida somehow. I almost threw my bowls out because of the insanity of some rides and rollercoasters.
Later on we went to movies to watch Scary Movie 4. Absolutely Hilarious. Although none of my company liked it but I think it's the funniest movie to be out this year yet. I laughed hard at times that I almost chocked on my saliva, and apparently dropped my wallet from my back pocket.
That's right... I've been living this week so far without the protection of all the cards inside my wallet. Because the idiot snails working at my bank are taking forever to send a replacement card, i've been living off the small amounts of cash I have stashed in my bags. I'm grateful to the old uncle Scrooge inside of me that suggested I would need this one day. So yeah, until I get the card soon I'd still be living very "economically" and I have to say it is interesting. Kinda sheds a light on an aspect of life that shouldn't be completely ignored.
Still though, Losing a wallet BLOWS!

On a lighter note, some kuwaiti guy called me on the phone the other day, and the conversation went something like this...

-Guy: Hala Bil7abeeb hala bil'3ali shlonek yousef shakhbarek wainik bla bla bla? (read: hey yousef)
-Me: Hey.. uh.. wassup.. (*confused.. I dont even know the guy that well?*)
-Guy: So I'm doing this questionnaire with a friend, and I want to know your opinion about the circles. Five or Twenty-Five?
-Me: (*approx 5 seconds pause*) Haa?
-Guy: (talk talk talk) (turns out to be talking about some recent plan to modify electroal jurisdictions in kuwait)
-Me: Oh. Frankly I have nothing to say about it.. I'm not informed about the subject enough to have an opinion.
-Guy: Haa? La la 3adi, gool ay shay! Anything can go.
-Me: I apologize, i can't think of anything that may be of use to you. gotta go, thanks though, bye. (*hangs up*)

Changing political map in kuwait wouldn't change a lot of how things are happening now. Now if that slight change is positive or negative is something that I don't know, and certainly for now it doesnt rank too high in my list of concerns. I could've shared a piece of my mind but the way he came off to me didn't please me a bit. Here's a little fact about me: I absolutely hate it when people you barely know act like life-long acquaintances when it serves to their selfish interest. My reaction can be inferred.. it usually go in the lines of.. Well, it is inferred!

.. was i rude?

Trippin'

2006-04-03T10:50:00.000+03:00

sufistas
Originally uploaded by G L U Z.

Having a mailbox here in the states can lead to receiving the strangest of items. During the last two months, aside from the regular junk mail, I received promotional t-shirts that can work great as gym tops, a package of educational CD`s that relate to my studies in the university, perfume samples for males, among other useless product samples. I'm puzzled with the accurate demography they know.
The weirdest must be a "prayer rug". It came as a large folded piece of paper with a purple-hued image of who is supposed to be prophet Jesus (picture). The escorting letter asks to hang the portrait on the wall, kneel in front of it, and pray hard until the closed eyes of the face open up to your well-fortune. Kinda creepy. I will see with my flatmate if it's ok if we hang it somewhere in the living room because despite the awkeardness it can still make for some hot pop art. Thanks to the St Matthews chrches of Oklahoma.. hope all the law-suits won't get you broke soon..

Parkas and Shorts

2006-03-17T22:34:00.001+03:00

I didn't expect getting an internet access so soon!

This is about the middle of my spring break, and so far I have been running around everywhere except at home. On the very last day of classes I took a plane with my friend to New York where we spent hectic 4 days chockful of sight-seeing, attending shows, shopping, and lack of sleeping. We attended The Blueman Group show on their location at 4th street and it was like nothing I remember attending. This doesn't mean, though, that I didn't feel like attending a science show for elementary school kids at parts of the performance.

I'd be posting some pics on my account at flickr once possible.

But to our misfortune, my friend and I, none of our flights were as scheduled. On our way to NY the airport was shut down for some insignificant security issue so we had to stay 7 more hours at our airport not knowing even if we'd fly on that day. And on our way back we found out the the airliner we were using decided it was ok to change the flight time according to its own tatse.

Result?
We spent the night at the Atlanta airport without any hotel accommodation whatsoever. Here comes the Memphis nightmare again but with worse conditions.. But at least this time I was lucky to have the companionship of Tee.

Anyway,
I sort of needed a vacation from this vacation, despite how cliche this sounds like. So on the same day after we came back home, a friend of mine from across state passed on me on his way to visit our friends in our neighboring state to the south. I jumped in with my trusted backpack and very few review material for school. I just happen to have 3 midterms in the very week after the break.. (<-- my fix of whining about school ha ha) The town is chic and very relaxing. The contrast with NY and even my city makes it the escapade i've been seeking since midterms started haunting my leisure times a couple of months back. I'd be leaving here soon to be back just shortly before college starts again. There is one more day to spend and I better spend it majestically.

But for now, as I have short time before we go out again, I'll check the deaths column in the new-and-improved* alqabas.com.kw for the last week or so. Gotta keep up with the ritual..

___________________________________
*Someone on safat made fun of this term recently. Can't remember who but it was funny.

7adag, Anyone?

2006-03-05T12:30:00.000+03:00

شعم/شعوم
Originally uploaded by UzF.

I went fishing with little brother, young uncle, my aunt's husband and his son on Saudi shores last christmas holiday. My first time to hold the string! It was damn annoying at first. So anyway we caught a lot of fish, but now I realize I never got to taste them.. they are probably still in the freezer.

I think a fishing escapade, or 7adag as it's called from where I come from, would help release me from some stress. I enjoyed that short trip a lot..
*if only..*

Tagged by 7asoon - 7 things

2006-02-19T04:12:00.000+03:00

7asoon tagged me with this. Doing this was a good break away from other unpleasent stuff that take up most of my time these days =_=.. So:

7 things to do before I die
I wrote a whole list about this earlier. It's been more than a year!

7 things I cannot do
1. Understand all the craze about Winning Eleven
2. Maintain a 2nd level (or below) friendship
3. Stay content with the status quo
4. Concentrating to somebody who stutters too much (sorry)
5. Enjoy any activity with too many people (5+)
6. Enjoy >any group sport.
7. Make a decent Nasfa (how the ghitra is arranged on the head).

7 things I say
1. Alo
2. hey hooha
3. 'inshala
4. ...

7 books I loved
1. Memoirs of a Geisha
2. The Davinci Code
3. Angels and Demons
4. Principia Discordia
5. The swiss cook book
6. The Iliad
7. The Odyssey

7 Movies I loved
1. Kill Bill
2. The Matrix Triology
3. Shrek
4. Butterfly Effect
5. Passion of the Christ
6. Austin Powers
7. Napoleone Dynamite

7 things that attract me
not in a person >:]
1. Lavender scent
2. Music I like
3. Food
4. Sunshine
5. Sandy beaches
6. Lounges
7. Normal people (this has become a commodity - My fq what kind of a sick world we live in?)

Unfinished Business

2006-01-30T08:26:00.000+03:00

Yeah.. so.. life's a bitch. Surprise, surprise!
Haven't been up to much online activity recently, as is probably obvious. A new university semester has begun and with it all the anxiety to meet deadlines and complete assignments which can't concern a rat in its life.

Other than running after daily chores and keeping up with the academic flooding, my days are plain with me hanging with the small social circle of friends I belong to now. Ever since I came here i've been jumping in and and out of one circle to another until I found where I can settle best.. (As it should be known by now,) Relationships/social activity/whatchamacallit is certainly not my game lol.

Of course everyone has been trying to keep track with the situation in Kuwait with the leadership vacuum and all the mess. All what matters now is that the charade is over and hopefully everyone will get over our leaders' disgraceful desperation for power. It has been painful and shameful to witness all that but hey: what's done is done.
Least of it is to know that we have a reliable source for vital information aside from the archaic official governmental media. I'm speaking of blogs, with special crediting for Kuwaitism and the guys at Sa7at-al-Safat. With that said, I'm looking forward to seeing how "things" will be in Kuwait in December of this year.. Bits of news are flowing about master-plan proposals finally being taken out of sealed drawers somewhere. We shall see.

The post I wrote a while ago about the aggressions on Kuwaiti students in Jordan lately has prompted some Jordanian commentators to react in a number of ways. You might wanna participate in the discussion by following the provided link below.
Dear Jordan, WTF?
I said what I wanted to say in the past yet I can't claim to represent the whole Kuwaiti point of view in the matter so an insight from different participants might shed light on other angles on the issue.
So 2005.. *sigh* I know, i know..

I got a new toy last week (w900i). I will review it in a coming post i'nshala.. Dont know when's that coming but hopefully soon. O'rite that was a good returning to this place :) Have a great week/weekend depending where you are in the world.

Condolences Kuwait

2006-01-15T07:16:00.000+03:00

The Emir, Sheikh Jaber Al-Sabah, was annonced dead this morning.
May he rest in peace..

إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون
:(

Mission: Stupid

2006-01-03T02:05:00.000+03:00

Funny thing. Earlier this evening I had this sudden urge to let out something very important (by deciding it's ok to share it through this blog). A rough turning point of my life or a confession or something in these lines.. however it's totally out of my mind now. It doesn't matter. in fact it's better this way, and I should remember when time is appropriate.

So anyway. Tonight, i'm home with clothes smelling of heavy smoke, and arms with some minor scratches. In an unexpected turn of events, a meeting with an old friend ended up with us decided to pay a visit to our middle school in the darkness of the night. It was where we first met, and after which kind of separated.

Now I have to explain that I didn't intend to commit a felony during this visit to Kuwait like what happened last summer, but tonight was different. It was almost inevitable.

So we jumped over a fence and.. voila, we're in. Six years were not enough to erase our memories of the place and its whereabouts. We walked in the hallways through which we passed countless times daily for 4 years. We stood by the locked doors of the offices to which we were sent many times for discipline and basically just to be shout at. We visited the vending window where we would buy sandwich rolls and canned juice.. And we saw the carvings on the walls in a backyard with our initials dated all the way back to 1997.
I could swear I saw faint ghosts of younger us and our classmates on the benches in the yard where they played football in the P.E. class.

Now if that wasn't a trip back in time, I don't know what is.
I hurt my hand while climbing the wall on our way out to the car. I used to be better in doing that back in the days..

It would've been interesting, though, to see what might had happened if someone caught us. I've always fancied flashing my own mug shots.
But no. As illegal as the act was, but we were just visiting one of our homes to which we would never cause any harm. So that's that.

Still feeling overwhelmed by the flood of images, sounds, and faces from the past, I dropped my friend somewhere and proceeded later on to a random gahwa where I would be served good food with good company, and be drenched in a heavy, fruit-laced smoke.
One thing is for sure: Time, good or bad, depends on how you spend it --.

"..And with the radio waves, it all falls down."

Holiday Break

2005-12-19T12:41:00.000+03:00

This tells of how leisurely was the last night of preparing for exams. There was so much chemicals in my system that I feel guilty actually. Anyway I'm glad it's over and now I can start enjoying the few weeks of holiday.

On my way back home from the states I had to stop in London instead of the usual stop at Amsterdam (thanks to NWA for filing bankruptcy and therefore screwing up my plans). I managed to get a one-day visitor visa hoping to visit the British museum, but I was too tired because of exams that I feared sleeping and missing my plane. One can't just ignore the sleep-inducing effect of museums on the innocent generations. So, I went to oxford street instead.. typical, n'est-ce pas? But at least the last time I was in the UK was when I was 8-ish.

Oxford street looks exactly like the shopping district in Georgetown (D.C.). The shops even look the same from inside, I guess they used the same blueprints all over. Everything was so similar that I was disappointed. But at least now I know the deep dark secret of Al-Shayaa corp.; they must have walked into each store on that street and signed a contract to run the franchises here in the region LOL.

But I have to say that Urban Outfitters has proved to be "the mother of all the cool" among these stores. I like their cloths a lot. I picked a couple of cloth items and on my way back to the US I'll probably get one of these fortune-telling buddha/jesus miniatures. They even had a schumagh on display as a scarf maybe.. that was funny and I managed to steal a snap.
Anyway, I can’t wait to start doing the people and seeing the things , or like , the other way around.. but of course I’ll have to go through the essential, infamous "fakeness week" which hopefully will last only for a couple of days. That’s the end of the new!

*this post was originally dated Dec. 14.
With that said, I announce taking a break for sometime. 'Great winter holidays and take care.

UzF.

Martial Law

2005-12-11T05:43:00.000+03:00

Searching for the face behind the warmth: Blue and calm, and comprehensive.. find me; whisper the Truth in my ear and make me smile.

PHYS2XX/CHEM3XX/Kuwait: DEC '05.

Shocking UzF Playlist #10

2005-12-10T06:57:00.000+03:00

'Been a while and it's about time for a mood change. Down with business..

1- Assia - Ghir Dini.mp3
How old is this song? i think it was out in the late 1990s when the north african music was setting its foot firm in the world music arena. In order to fully understand this song and other songs belonging to this genre, one must be familiar with the accent in which Arabic is spoken in those regions and French language, but to enjoy them, one only has to listen and appreciate.

2- Robbie Williams - Feel.mp3
The video for this song is great. It's shot completely in black and white, something that adds class to anything. I might change my icon into such a biscaled category one day.
This is good track to test the stereo system in a room or a car (Good vocals).

3- Chumbawamba - Tubthumping.mp3
Ponder the bewildering words of the man and the woman:
Man:
He drinks a whisky drink
he drinks a vodka drink
he drinks a ~~???~~ lager drink, (TY Erzulie!)
he drinks a cider drink.
He sings the songs that remind him of the good
times
he sings the songs that remind him of the bad
times.

Woman:
Pissing the night away..
PISSING the night away!
Ee.. brings back old memories of Winning Eleven. Such a detestable game. Also crocked memories of the flatmate's bizzare party in the exam's night. Lol.

4- Enrique Iglesias - Not in love (ft. Kelis).mp3
For some reason SheWrites and Sou think that one of the pictures on this website looks like this singer (picture). Seriously now! .. Maybe after a dozen of nips'n'tucks, for him of course! Dream on, enrique.
Anyway, the way Kelis presented herself in that video was absoloutely hilarious. It came just after her Milkshake and certainly has caused many people "indigestion". Lol
A word of advice for the younger people: Don't take what's being said in these songs as facts/guide-lines. Rule #1 for such songs: "Whatever you say, baby. Next!".

5- T Pain - Sprung (ft. Akon).mp3
A hiphop track. kind of doesn't fit into this list but it's mellow enough to get squeezed in. The background vocalists remind me of the choir of the church which I pass on my way to and from college at night sometimes.

Which reminds me; I'm on the exams now. Will be done next week when I'll be back home for winter holidays after a semester seeping of malaqa. Horrah for holidays!
Have a great time and hope to see you soon. Happy Hunting..

Assia

Dear Jordan, WTF?

2005-12-08T05:45:00.000+03:00

More news about the attacks on Kuwaiti students in Jordan.
There isn't one logical explanation for why kuwaiti students are still being sent to this country. The hostility they are treated with is beyond tolerance.

Tell you what: Jordan is such a wonderful country with great scenery and good leadership bla bla bla; but no thanks, everyone is way better off alone. Nobody asked for trouble with them but that's what their majority keeps showing us: venomous hatred; ever since the rooted Iraqi regime invaded us more than a decade ago, and most probably long before that.
Best things to do is bring back our kids from there and courteously dissipate anything to do with the jo land.. There doesn't seem to be any instant where this country acted nice to us except when they got much more in return.

No hating, no hard feelings, but enough is enough.

Nothing is needed to do more than just to

CLOSE THE DOOR.

UzF.blogspot

Missing Something?

2005-12-01T03:09:00.000+03:00

Without really noticing it, we can get hooked to things that would not otherwise seem that important. Just think of how many times you felt something is missing if you didn't watch that show on tv, did not drink the hot morning drink, or did not read the deaths' column in the same newspaper everyday.

These aren't what makes one feel something is wrong as much as just missing. Things that make a day feel wrongfully incomplete is when you suddenly realize that you haven't gotten a call from that someone for months; when you remember that the last time you touched hands was before than you can remember; or when you don't even have those small photographs in your wallet anymore: those pictures that you used to run over with your thumb unconsciously. The nostalgia at its best.

There are these blogs that I used to visit almost religiously in the past, but now it's not the same. They're either gone or I can't seem to be able to catch up with. That's what started this feeling today..

I walked in a class today like every other day when someone said [read: screaming lungs out] "Wow!". I looked towards her slowly: "Uh.. pardon?" [think: Shfee Omha hathi?!*]. "I like how you dress! You always impress me!". This came out of no where. The only thing different today was my orange hat.. "Oh! Ha ha! thanks, you look great yourself *smile*". Then I went to the end of the class room where I sit/sleep until the period is over.

*wink*
________________
*excuse the ghetto.

Roi Sholl

2005-11-23T08:39:00.000+03:00

Today (the 23rd) is my friend's birthday.

He's the kind of friends who would visit me after I'm dead to recite verses of the Holy Koran on my grave, I know.
Actually, he was the one who's taken me to visit my uncle who had died in the malicious terrorist attacks in Salmiya in the beginning of the year. These things seldom pass him..

"Je vais te prendre si haut.. moi-meme,"
Very special, you are.

And today marks when the "dirty look" has finally gotten appealing to the Hades.

music: Phoenix - Victim of the Crime (Dior Mix).mp3

King is Nothing

2005-11-17T08:53:00.000+03:00

..I owe you a lot.

"And [I had] a vision of you, standing out in a crowd".
-crazytown.

These song quotes can really sound quite deep at times.
Anyway, that's not the deal. I'm just a little stressed over a few issues that will most likely take a lot of my time in the near future. I have a moving to plan soon, a bull's load of exams to get ready to, two different journeys to worry about, and last but not least a dozen of excuses to invent for being a jerk and not having contacted anyone back home for quite a while.

I know some really nice people, but for some reason other people don't think the same about them. It hurts when you are with those "other people" and they begin bad-mouthing the people you know without really being able to stop it by changing the subject. This happens more frequently than never, and when you decide not joining these gossip quags you are accused of avoiding them and whatnot. Plain annoying.

I'm not taking any interesting classes this semester. Last semester's highlight was the statistics course which contributed a lot to my skills in that field and also my "evaluative vocabulary". Next semester I was planning to take a class abut modern religions (islam, judaism, zoroshtanism etc) but it couldn't fit in my schedule. That's why I signed up for the ancient/polytheistic religions class. That should get interesting as it would steer old curiosities I had in the past.

Side thought: They still call islam, christianity, etc. "modern". They are thousands of years old. This is also like calling art work from the early 1900s "modern art" which can seem too retro for these times. I wonder how old must things be in order to stop calling them modern.

In any case, I was going to write about something completely different which inspired the quote way atop, but I couldn't. I'm having issues with the "blogger anonymity" ordeal .. besides, I'm kind of vulnerable now.
I wish all a better weekend than.. a bad weekend.

UzF.

Trial

2005-11-08T08:13:00.000+03:00

The feeling when someone gives up on you is bad, depressing. Failure to meet expectations isn't the best event in the month.. but what else to do if the standards were raised a bit too high?
Still, what matters is that you are most likely released from an obligation that was merely a tasteless burden.

Verdict: Dump the junk.

Yeah, so now I'm someone with one less thing to worry about, and 99,999 others to go.

This makes the following African proverb my inner guide this week:

Stream. It knows where it flows.

A voice i miss

2005-11-02T07:38:00.000+03:00

There are voices I wish to hear again. Only that I can't. People die, and other people aren't the ones they used to be. A relative of mine died about 10 years ago. He had that sort of "bendy" voice with which he called me in a funny way sometimes. "A crow!" I would mutter in return. I could play the sound in my mind for long time after he has died, but not anymore. I don't even remember what he called me..

Why thinking of him now? 'sais pas. The strange part is that I don't feel any sadness when remembering him nowadays, and so when thinking of some other people. They say time heals losses, but this is a little over "healing". This is worrisome.. Makes one thinks.

Rest in peace uncle.

UzF.blogspot

A Handful of Mundane Risks

2005-10-18T10:12:00.000+03:00

They say nothing makes one feel alive more than taking risks. Totally agree here. Defining these risks certainly varies from someone to another; and even with one person it varies depending on the phase through which this person is going.

These few days I'm taking my own little risks every other time. I've been strolling around town in the early AM`s in the morning in school days. The lively feeling which these streets provide isn't quite matched to their emptiness, but still.
Walking in these streets infuses an addictive melancholic sensation into the soul. They are so inviting and seem to stretch faintly into the "future".
Perhaps it's just the end of the season blues.. Here comes the miserable, cold nights of winter. I'm counting on you, Poseidon, in helping me go through them, if you were reading this. Yeah, and you rock :).

Something else that I had to ignore my guts for was performing a gruesome dissection for a disgusting preserved clay fish (similar to shrimp) in the lab. Technically, I left the dirty work to my to my brave partners while I hung around the lab, admiring the salt-water aquarium, and as apparent from the picture, taking pictures without the instructor knowing. Well, eventually I had to surrender to the urge to cut into this pickled creature and extract its intestines and ovaries and everything. My partner almost puked at the scene and she hated "my guts" lol. That was one unusual start for the week.

Also in an earlier time, I decided to jump into a band-wagon and prepare food for 15-20 people. I don't know what the hell was I thinking! I barely cook my own food, and the biggest thing I cooked was pasta and pizza. Now guess what I chose to cook? "Chinese pepper steak with cabbage". Sounds fancy huh? The biggest lesson from this experiment: Fifteen people is too many to cook for. But the experience was fun overall. I had my korean friends taste the food every other 5 minutes to give their opinion.. It turned out to be good, but the sauce was a bit too thick because I got enthusiastic adding the corn-powder starch.
Oh well, I would be freaked if it was all perfect y'knoe. But it's good to know preparing such "hard" food is not very out of reach. All thanks and lubs to mom for the enormous recipe source, that was grande. Oh yeah, and the thing came with vegetable fried rice.

And because I was taking a few classes lightly, I'm supposed to work even more on them now. I've had the required fun to feed the system, now it's time to pay back lol [but the lively feeling was hella worth it, suffice to say]. I wish it was only for school but there are other things on the list too. Helping out a few friends moving into new places, and planning my own some time soon supposedly. Only thinking of that makes me cringe.. mon dieu. Yeah anyway, I wish everybody their own week of fruitful risks. The biznatch is short, like I say..

UzF.blogspot

Live Drama from Kuwait

2005-10-12T09:46:00.000+03:00

Who needs lame TV shows after a greasy futoor meal to help you digest when you have all this going on the political scene in Kuwait?
Everyone knows about the undeclared tug-of-war between a few powerful figures to gain the most influence possible, which usually means gulping in the biggest possible financial gain.

Nothing is more amusing than observing debates on who [of the big two] has the better stand. Or in more accurate words: which of the two parties is less worse than the other!
This issue is being circulated in several blogs, and of course rarely a gathering meets without bringing up the subject. I was surprised to realize the degree of political awareness in the fellow students out here..

That's just Hot And I'm loving it!

Personally, it's indefferent to me who ends up "having what they want" as long as some corruption gets cut off, which supposedly what's happening now.. AND,
to have some notoriously vain sheikhs knowing their actual purpose in life and stick to it. Think: Aeronautical Arthropods!

Yeah, and Baba Jaber is the coolest!

Random related facts:
-fact1: Reign should be alternated between a member of Al-Jaber branch and Al-Salem branch of the Mobarak "Kabeer" Al-Sabah Family.
-fact 2: Concerning Sheikh Salem, read it here. (Zaydoun's comment).
-fact 3: Concerning Sheikh Sabah, hmmm.. better off left omitted.

Links:
-Article on reign alternation (Kuwait Juniors)
-Post on the recent situation (with interesting comments) (Kuwaitism)
-Conspiracy Theory? (Plushness)
-The Emir's Interference (contains one hot news item!) (Catch that monkey!)
-Al-Jasem's articles.

UzF.blogspot

Ramadanic Bites

2005-10-06T08:06:00.000+03:00

Because Ramadan is a month of Food in one way or another, the question of "What's there on table tonight?" becomes too annoying. The habit of grabing anything on-the-go which is good all year round suddenly expires, and now you have to think of how to entertain the cavity each night with a different entree in order for boredom not to occur.

And because of this, the usual quick trip to the supermarket grew into a frightening shopping frenzy in which more money was spent on grocery than any other time before... I amazed myself, or more like disappointed it for doing what I redicule some people for doing. So there was our refrigirator still standing tall in the kitchen hosting my roommate's and my 'war treasures', looking as if in its 9th month..

So anyway, the futoor menu for today consisted of:

-Preserved ikhlas dates -2005 production- brought right from the heart of souk al-mobarakiya (from this guy) courtesy of cher pere.

-Grilled meatless burger patties stricken with original-recipe ketchup and dijon mustard lines, covered both sides with sharp cheddar cheese slices and all inside a pan-heated bun (a la McD's: hands-on experience!).

-Idaho potatoes baked to perfection in the electric oven and stuffed with shredded mexican cheese.

-Fruit-flavored carbonated drink.

Total preparing time: 40 minutes.

40 minutes off added fasting time, thanks to the late class i take. The overall feeling is nice but i still need time for a few things to manifest. Anyway, I got the Perfect recipe from Ayya for a soup (check the previous post), it is not only relieving but also Yummy! (I had to make my own modifications, though :P)

Today I was craving Qatayef all the time. I need a quick'n'easy recipe for them coz I don't seem to rememeber how mom used to do these mofos but they were damn good! both the ones with cheese and nuts. Any help.. please?

Cheers and Blessings!

UzF.blogspot

Flued "talkative" Mind

2005-10-03T08:36:00.000+03:00

October is on track, and Ramadhan is almost there also -- all that without me even feeling that coming. For some odd reason, my "clock" is still set on July.

Chicken Soup
For the whole weekend all what I could do is sleeping on the flu and waking up to it. It is a nasty disease and I've had it with it. It's not fun anymore to get cursed with it every other season-changing.. Bass, imliqat il-salfa!
(sigh) But what is there to be done? Flu-shots are not my type (hint: shots!), so all what i asked for is a bowl of chicken soup with a little lemon, as if it's handy here. So I had to settle for mushroom-flavored instant noodles hoping they might just do the trick. It was helpful a bit.. plus I had all the lemon I needed with the Shiraz salad from the restaurant. The only catch was the raw onion. I love it so much that it shows!.. last time I remember eating uncooked onion was '98 maybe.
Anyway, the combination of the instant noodles and lemony salad were helpful and I could stay a few hours outside home with some friends in a middle-eastren joint.

Trouble
This night wasn't meant to go on cool. Of course being escorted by ms flu didn't make me exactly float over with happiness but I had a feeling that things were not very ok. My roommate was travelling with his friends to another state for the weekend and he was expected to arrive this evening. So as I was with my friends I get two calls, one from his family in Kuwait and the other from his friend who was travelling with him all asking me to have him call them once (more like *if*) he's arrives. Something felt wrong, and the feeling increased when his friend told me he passed out in the airplane and missed a train and other jinxed stuff. Of course by now I was very nervous and had to go back home only to find him there just back, and he was safe and ok. By then I had his family knowing and everything was ok.... But

More worries
The situation with my roomie is over, and I should be in bed long time before now. But too many thoughts are annoying me especially those concerning my mid-term and long-term future. By now I should've at least started working on my applications to graduate universities, and gaining the least amount of expertise which is fundamental for these applications. So far, though, all what I did is irrelevant to that. So not in the mood..
Also, a few friends from here are transferring or going back home for good. I find that depressing.. Btw my ex-roommate called me the other day from Oregon where he studies now. I totally didn't expect that since he was supposed to continue his studies at his country. I'm happy for him and wish to see him again one day.
I was saying that i'm malhumored coz i'm kind of loosing contact with home (ie, friends, family, and blogger buddies). My father is back home now, but the rest of my family is in another continent. Mom is with my brother in europe where he's just started his collegiate studies and both parents were their to help him get started with life there. From now on Ben is gonna be the only child in house.. I wish it was easier to visit home during weekends and such. (at least it would be easy to get chicken soup whenever needed heheh).

Ben

Oh well. Life was never meant to be oh-so-fantastic.. at least not all the time.

Ramadan Mobarak (and let the Games begin!)

UzF.blogspot

Media Girl

2005-09-27T09:09:00.000+03:00

Media Girl
Originally uploaded by UzF.

Showing off some graphical art in this page. This collaborative design establishes a relationship between journalism (the friend's major), Kuwait and her.
Notice the arabic newspapers clips. The whole thing is a poster siz. I like poster arts and it's fun designing one for a change.

Lucky arts majors! Now im in the process in getting ready for 3 sciences *exams* all in one day nxt Friday. talk about having fun the gallelian way >.<..

Oh, and this post was made possible thanks to flickr.

My Lovely

2005-09-18T07:44:00.000+03:00

Come to my arms
I'll roll you gently
and with a heart-crafted passion,
i'll ignite you
absorb you
Besiege you
inhale you

and blow your sorry dust
to the void where you belong, habibi.

Love,
UzF.blogspot

*partly inspired by the purgatory vs. bo ghazi conflict.

Random Facts of Life

2005-09-14T08:53:00.000+03:00

"Good as universal conclusions/main claims for cheesy essays"

Some people are never serious.

Women are more reliable than men.
A religion without the least bit of contradiction is not a real religion.
People who study too much have major issues.
Everybody hates school. Everybody hates work.
[Cont'd:] A life with neither school nor work can't be complete.
People can't wait for summer when it's winter; and wish it's winter when it's summer (trop typique, goes for other yin'n'yangs).
Sometimes all what misses in a person is a whole different personality!
The need for "love" is the high end of insecurity.
People who don't appreciate themselves at all for the sake of being humble simply don't deserve any appreciation at all.
The best ideas come in the most absurd of times, and are usually gone just when they are needed! "So7qan!" lol
"Al-3rj 7annan"; I think that's the phrase. In other words: No matter what, A will always be A and B will always be B.
Number 13 will probably cause me a lot of happiness. (ok, that's not much of a life fact)

I love lists too much. I did this pretty much for the heck of it.
"Author not responsible for bad grades because of these facts" Copyrights to The MOSES & Co. 2005

UzF.blogspot

Don't Scare the Cat

2005-09-11T23:44:00.000+03:00

After a long day outside doing a million things simultaneously, I finally got back home where I could finally get some rest. First thing I did was throwing myself on the first futon on sight to catch my breath..
Few seconds later I noticed there's a strange sound coming from one of the rooms. Slowly approaching the room, I realized that the dear roommate was having a very intimate moment with himself (W Maaa5eth ra7ta) au maximum.. The loud heavy breathing, groaning and all the works. That was hilarious! I'm glad I didnt barge into the room or he would be stunned and the whole situation would've been.. awkward, to say the least. The poor kid didn't expect someone to be there then. The mumblings in korean were out of this world hhhhh 666
That was the funny highlight of the day. Talk about bizarre happenings..

The Sabbath dinner party last saturday night was exceptional. I expected other curious people but I was the only outsider which was uncomfortable somewhat. Other than that everything was fine: the people were friendly and the food was good (AND Kosher, baby). Funny thing is at the beginning of the night we had a blessing ceremony eating brioche bread and drinking fake wine because we had under-aged people; luckily, i would say (heee). And while singing the prayer I was smiling like Joan van Ark. Conversations were nothing more than casual but the games afterwards were good ice-breakers.
Now I have a new circle of interesting friends.

My G-d! I don't have the slightest idea on what was I thinking.

Tell you what: there are new noses breathing behind this blog's neck. (thanks to sitemeter.)
Welcome everybody and feel like home.

Ya rabbii. unbelievable; things around me drive me insane. Some people think they are living in a cartoon and I laugh so bad that my lungs hurt. El7mdilla wl shkr (Allahoma thabbet el 3gl)

Now it's time for more of The OC. ciao.

UzF.blogspot

The Investment Week

2005-09-07T21:32:00.000+03:00

Now there seems to be a new purpose for holidays:
while innocent people enjoy them some others make sure to make them suffer bad when work resumes and it is just.. amazing (in the bad way).

In the extended weekend we had last week I got to attend a camp across state borders. Its timing was so right for some reason.. i needed the change of air.
We slept in what I later learnt is a "Cabana" not a tent (jajaja), swam in a lake that was green supposedly because it's very natural; and the best part was rafting in a river over the rapids and everything. It was super exciting and I loved it.. Only thing wrong is that my shoulders and nose are red burnt lol. Nobody told us we'll need sunscreen.

So anyway, I met K the Kuwaiti and uh.. #3 there! (lol Im sure he had another alias; goose^killer maybe Update: Goose-sama). I don't remember in what context each one identified himself.. of course you don't tell your online ID and expect others to recognize it. It was also interesting to kno whose relatives they were.. Anyway they were all nice people and it was a pleasure to have the acquaintance; and we might even meet again in a few months' time.
And because I'm the laziest when coming to taking pictures I'll leave that to K so if anyone's interested then the pictures can be found chez lui.

On with this week;
I was in all my seriousness when telling my neighbor that I can't join them for a gathering in the yards because I was busy with The OC. Little she knew that Organic chemistry is gonna give me a lot of fun this term. Dread. (Talking about this can never end) but eventually I joined them till late, giving the c-phone to the OC.

my sneaky roomie took this while I was down

Meanwhile, the vietnamese students union in my university gave me an honorary membership sort of thing which was cool really. Never thought I would be so involved when first meeting my viet friends last year. so later this week we'll have a gathering to do stuff.. Also I got an invitation to attend a sabbath dinner party from the Hillel people which was nice of them, so I guess i'll skip enjoying The OC this saturday night too. (lol)

These couple of weeks are critical and my activity during which will determine -or at least heavily influence- couple of important things.

note: K; tra i will remember the time when you had me chocking with the fossil marshmellow because of your remark on hi5! tsk tsk lol.

UzF.blogspot

Post-camp Hallucination

2005-09-06T04:18:00.000+03:00

So Good to be back Home

My idea of home has become scary. What counts eventually anyway is the good times and good company :)

On another note...

I'm being put, by the most unexpected people, under a sudden pressure to begin a ride of a strange nature;

T h e . s o c i a l . c l i m b i n g . t y p e.

I'm puzzled yet amused. Anyway, world is blurry now. I better get some rest, put thoughts into order and post something of substance soon hopefully. See you!

UzF.blogspot

Snoopy Tag

2005-08-28T02:35:00.000+03:00

Peach and Symbols Have tagged me to answer some questions. So there they go..

10 years ago
My family and I moved to our new house. I wish I were close to family now as I was then..
At that time, my best friend was [M.s.S.*]. I haven't seen him for the past 6 years except for once right before I leave to the US, I visited him at home to say hi and goodbye.

5 years ago
I was 14, and wanted to stay 14 forever. It was the beginning of an era.. As I started high school in that year, I met most of the people who today are my friends. I began high school with a goal in my head and after 4 years I reached it.. Only problem is, this goal isn't exactly related to my future after high school; thus I haven't had a clue on "what-next" until a few weeks before high school ended. Hopefully I won't regret my decissions..

This year
I like to call it my sophomore year. I knew who my best friend is, and almost lost him. Slowly living alone is becoming bearable, and I'm trying hard to grow out of the immature blissful state that i've been putting my self into for so long. It's time to be ..well, a man.

Tomorrow
Assuming this means future, my plans are raw for all I care now, but at least they exist.. sort of.

5 snacks I enjoy
-yoghurt (plain & fruit-flav'd)
-pop corn
-pringles
-m&m`s
-granola bars

5 bands/artists I know most of their lyrics
-Madonna
-Modjo
-Dido
-Nickelback
-Al-Ekhwa

5 things I'll do with $1,000,000.00
-Buy a new house in kuwait (I would've bought another house somewhere else but no money will be left!)
-Invest some in Oracle.
-Save the rest in the bank account.. (There will be much less money to do 2 more things!)

5 places I'd like to run away to
-The beach front not far away from Mcdonalds on Gulf road.
-My close friend favorite hangout (Raggae).
-The downtown in Richmond.
-Singapore
-Home

5 bad habits I have
-Temporary obsessions (as opposed to having a long-term normal interest)
-Self-centeredness (in case you can't tell from reading through this website..!)
-Frequent failure in separating friends from acquaintances.
-Thinking of charity as business with G-d.
-Lack of effective long-term planning

5 things I like doing
-Just sitting on the beach in the above said location, alone or with company.
-Taking my family out for lunch on my treat, driving my own rented car.
-Cruising streets with my friend SK and feeling like a shooting star.
-Reading a new Agatha Christie book
-Watching an illegal DVD copy of a very newly released movie.

5 things I'll never wear
-A yellow ghitra
-Leather sandals (picture)
-Knee-long socks (supposedly for playing football)
-Anything by Tommy Hilfiger
-Neck-tight necklaces (picture)

5 TV shows I like
-CSI
-South park
-Knots Landing
-Lonely Planet
-Dark Angel

5 movies I like
-Notting Hill
-Run, Lola, Run
-Constantine
-eXistenZ
-Silence of the Lambs

5 People I'd like to meet
-Carlos Ghosn
-Mariam Noor
-Elham Madfa'i
-Non-existing ms right lol
-can't think of someone else for the moment.

5 biggest joys of the moment
-Blogging
-blogger friends
-msn messenger
-hi5
-text messages with people from home
-A lot of activities in univ. to welcome freshmen (i.e. fool them to believe it's gonna be all fun year round!)

5 favorite toys
-My snoopy who wears my wifebeater shirt since when I was 2.
-My computer (yeah, it's a toi!)
-My ever-so-reliable cell phone
-Ok I realize these are not toys really so I'll stop.

WHOA I'm done - finally. This was a break from the (The MOSES) series but it'll be back soon because working on it pleases me.
Now I tag TheDon, Shosho, and Grandma Funk.

_________________________
*for personal reference purpose.

UzF.blogspot

The MOSES visits the fruit market

2005-08-23T07:54:00.000+03:00

NB: Buddha.

UzF.blogspot

The MOSES meets a friend

2005-08-22T07:09:00.000+03:00

UzF.blogspot

The MOSES faces a dilemma

2005-08-22T00:29:00.000+03:00

Kind, but not by choice.

UzF.blogspot

Give it up to The MOSES

2005-08-20T05:14:00.000+03:00

Once upon a time on a sunny day..

UzF.blogspot

How Nice

2005-08-17T06:13:00.000+03:00

What is the best feeling?
when you want to complain about something but there is nothing to complain about really!
Of course that happens only in an ideal world, but because some stars are lining up maybe one can get that feeling from time to time. Bliss.

Reasons why I feel "nice":
-I moved out from the crazy*ss hall to my regular, all-good old dorm.
-I met with the home coming freshman blogger again, but now as a fellow student. I wonder if this blogger wishes to keep this-blogger's status secret. (is the play on s/he obvious? hehe)
-I got a very easy extra 200KD in my bank account for practically doing nothing. What makes life more barbie-like? Arrw
-I met with my roommate for the next year. A very nice guy who seems easy to get along with. I'll probably be the more annoying occupant (which is good for me). His family was there too and I took them all to the Iranian restaurant.
-TV started to show decent stuff finally.
-I made up with my bug friend and everything is almost normal now. Better for me.
-Parents are thinking of touring Srilanka. (hhhhh funny parents)

I dunno other stuff too.

When my future roommate's mom first saw me she asked me in English whether I'm indonesian. Tehh I mean what the hell? I don't even have anything even close to thong eyes. I get mistaken for the most absurd of nationalities (kuwaiti-wise). That's fine though, as long as i'm not mistaken to be Norwegian or some shi'. This should make me really concerned.

Anyway; because there is no known therapy for headaches i feel helpless now. I'll try to find a movie and sleep on it. Will i find a julia roberts movie? chaan zaain! Yalla ciao.

UzF.blogspot

Fatal Mistakes

2005-08-06T03:35:00.000+03:00

If only it was possible to go back in time and fix mistakes. I'm not going to do much, in fact I would go there to stop myself from doing things that are troubling me today. In particular, I have this situation in the near past when I arguably over-reacted to something relatively trivial that my friend has done.. I can't lose my best friend over such a minor situation, I will never forgive myself.
I hate myself not because of this mistake.. but because I'm worried by the situation altogether. You remember, my semi-resolution about the relationships issue? But alas, this friend is awfully exceptional and well worth it.>

I don't usually care about my performance at class, the exams, quizzes and all. But last week I did bad in a quiz leaving a question worth 1/5th of the total grade unanswered because my brain was lagging. No, it's not because I got hooked on a drug of a sort, it's not that bad yet. The reason is, alla y'salemkom, my neighbour in the flat next door (in the temp dorm where I currently stay) was having a very wild time with his girl friend(s). I swear I haven't been annoyed since before I can remember. It was like someone left the TV on a porn movie with the highest volume. And they just wouldn't stop! How can those people remain all energetic till the wee 4-5 am`s at the morning? Anyway, saving the embarrassing details; I didn't know how to approach this situation, couldn't either talk to him then or go to the management (long story) although I really have a piece of my mind to give.
Oh screw them all. The good news is that on the afternoon of the next day I heard them fighting and they left eachother (*grins*). G-d knows till when though, but till then I'll be out of this funny house (not ha ha. well partially ha-ha) and back to my good ol'place.
Also this can be considered as an educative/informative experience.. I have no explanation as for "how?".

So..
The other day I was reading an article in a local news magazine about the new initiative to teach the intelligent-design theory on the beginning of life in schools after being banned since the 1980's (in the USA). The article, like many examples seen on other media, attacked the initiative and called it "a step to the back"/"primitive" and things of that sense.
Thing is, this initiative only suggests including this theory in the crapload of theories that we are taught in schools and colleges; but what do the people who I'll describe here as atheists say? The say NO! Now come on; how childish their behavior can get? It's really absurd that these so-called academic elite are open consider any insignificant idea (check what my wonderful teacher said about the martian origin of life here).. but when it comes to religion-based explanation all what you hear is objection and all what you see is skewed mouths. How pathetic... ok we agreed you guys are atheists but should that narrow down your minds to that extent?
I have nothing against atheists, and do understand that many of them are not even concerned with biology to begin with, but i'm referring to the attitudes of those who should be representing their higher, academic class.

science vs faith

It's not a matter of science vs faith actually. All what's there is an issue of choice.. and all alternatives should be presented to scholars/students.. My good old maths teacher from high school (alla yathkra belkheir), while lecturing something about integration chenna, got off track and went on explaining the principle of uncertainty. If my memory doesn't cheat me it tells how there is nothing certain in the physical world and that includes all the known laws of physics and mathematics, even things as basic as the structure of atoms, the laws of gravity, etc. (and if it rules over these sciences, of course it will rule over biology, which i hate to say i've grown to deteste!).

I feel lucky to have learned the creationist theory in the Kuwaiti public schools along with the other wonderful theories (*sarcasm alert*).. which do cause me to yawn altogether, by the way. But the thing is that I had the choice. And being a fan for the creationis theory, as obvious, might be argued to have been influenced by surrounding environment or whatever.. but ok at least I don't refuse even considering other alternatives. And yes, if it has to come to account then i'm damn devoted to my faith... [well not all the time! a homo-sa-penis needs a break every other time, doesn't it? :P] , but that's irrelevant.

Hmm I wonder what has gotten me into this.. a moment of self-consciousness got me feeling geeky all a bit of a sudden.

Er anyways, what matters most now is making up with my bug friend.. let the people with nothing better to do debate all what they please.

UzF.blogspot

Shocking UzF Playlist #9

2005-07-31T06:24:00.000+03:00

I must be dreaming.. life is beautiful. Oh please don't pinch me.
Here goes another ShUzPl, hold still. :)

1- John Mayer - Daughters.mp3
He has a strangely familiar voice, a voice coming way back from the dusty days. I don't understand what is the purpose of this song. Not that I say songs have to have purposes; but here he seems to throw too many advices and apologies all around.. but Why? A question yet to be answered. ("on behalf of every man.. bla bla bla yadda yadda.." yeah right!)

2- Papa Roach - Scars (I tear my heart open).mp3
There is a track for every performer that comes quite different from their other works. For example when Madonna raps in American Life. Here Paparoach surprise us with their slow[-er], emotional performance. Hehe I'm used to think of screaming and cussing when mentioning papa roach. Eeh like they say.. Al 3yal kibritt.
I sing this along with the radio, which I do only with a few select songs.

3- The Calling - Adrienne.mp3
When thinking Rock; by deafult I silently remember all the good bands which belong to this age, like creed, nickelback, 3 doors down,... (this should be a hint to the fans of outdated names like, say.. pink floyde ;)). Anyway, I've always mistaken these guys with Creed. They turned to have performed one of my all-time favourite tracks; "Where ever you will go". Here I present their pleasent track Adrienne (which is not Adrien as i thought; so yeah they are not gay, swair! :D). These misleading french names..! Which takes us to the next track..

4- In-Grid - Tu Es Foutu.mp3
I simply like her! Never there was a track for her which I came across failed to suit my taste. Not that she sang a lot, but well her work okays me. I knew that "foutu" meant something inappropriate in french, only I wasn't sure what exactly. Well I found it somewhere and it gave a good idea!

1 foutu Adjective (a) (Slang) bloody (Vulg), fucking (Vulg), blasted, wretched, damned nuisance; bien ~ (good-looking) fit; (of machine etc) smart (Infml), well designed (neutral); être mal ~ (of person, town
etc) to be pig-ugly; (of machine etc) to be a pile of junk(b) (Slang) buggered (quite Vulg), knackered,
fucked (Vulg) machine etc; je suis ~ I'm fucked (Vulg), buggered (quite Vulg).

Well unless she meant "well-designed"!

5- Sora To Umi To Niji No Yume (or simply "Frida") - Bust A Groove.mp3 explicit
The long title means (Dream of the Sky, Sea, and Rainbow). this one of the sound tracks of the dance game (Bust A Groove) back from the days when I played PlayStation 1. I read somewhere that this song is some sort of a "queer anthem" in japanese. Couldn't find any translation, though. If anyone with good japanese reads this their input would be appreciated :)

Bonus Track: The Morning Zoo - Dumb.mp3
Hey; it mentions Michael Jackson, Britney, Bush, Kerry... AND it uses the soundtrack of one of Nelly's hits. Oo goodie

Bust A Groove

Did I say life was beautiful up there? lol! i think I "broke up" with a very close person between the time I started this yesterday and finishing it today. I knew it.. "too good to be true" is the theme recently.

UzF.blogspot

On Relationships.. and Anniversary

2005-07-28T19:37:00.000+03:00

This is fanatical; the mood swings are getting disturbing.
Hasn't this blog become like a whaling wall lately? Well the thing is that contemplating about the mishaps is more appealing. This seems like a disorder, but if it helps steam off negative energy then fine.
About recently I've been evaluating my relationships with other people I know, and this was very effective. Let me explain: Now I broke free from many time-, money-, and effort-consuming relationships. I have a lighter contacts-list in my instant messenger and have extra memory in my cell phone to use it for different applications (instead of all the now-deleted contacts, their text messages, etc). It feels much lighter now.
Relationships have always been an issue and I will never seem to get over it. Oh well, what a surprise.. next thing you know I'll be having my own cult actually.

Enough with that subject; I've just had a fast food meal and don't need to feel like throwing out. Speaking of fast food, I really admire the whole fast food industry. It made my life much easier and I'm grateful. Thank you.

My two months' stay at home was simply great. Being around my family felt great by itself; Family never fails in making one feel he stays in a "home". Hanging all day with my close friends was exactly what I needed to ..uh.. let's say appreciated. I'm not sure it's the right word; but certainly being with couple of them lightened me up from the inside. I read few of my previous posts and I'm glad they are there to remind me of these times. Boy, this is what makes a blog precious! There were things that I should've done with family and friends but they just didn't happen. I'm not very regretful, though, coz there is always later during other holidays.. I'm looking forward to next time I'm home but I won't be counting time to it.

My Yemeni friend said it today; "Enjoy whatever you're doing while you are doing it.".. like all too many people who said it before; this is an advice that I'm following.

Oh yeah, around this time my blog will celebrate its first anniversary! I really thought I would have stopped blogging long time before now.. it's funny how time can fly-by so fast, well actually not funny but scary. So for all of you faithful readers out there, thanks for keeping up with the musings of yours uzifly so far. Yeah you made me feel special some how.. and as for quitting I say "No" as long as there is queer happenings messing up with my life and my head (which won't seem to let me be :(). So there you go.

Ok, too-much-hathra alert. I better start studying for my quiz tomorrow before it's too late. The six-quizzes-per-week issue is getting on my nerves; nonetheless I'm enjoying it as ever.

Oh, not quite done with "relationships"; I leave you with the link to the following blog where you can read the adventures of quite an interesting couple;

Sal7a and Saad Dating Diaries

Very amusing! enjoy and till the nxt entry..

Smile,

Uzi

Dark Sky Before August

2005-07-26T02:50:00.000+03:00

Just when I thought
what I had was real

I find out
that it was only inside the waste of space in the skull

Why did it feel so lonely
when they were all around?

And why in fuck's name
does it still hurt?

***

Anything can do now..

No matter how retarded.

give Uz more *HUGS*

thanx, and excuse any inconvenience ..

So Gone

2005-07-17T02:04:00.000+03:00

Last day home wasn't very cheerful, naturally. I made a few phone calls and met with fewer people.. I was so not in the mood.
My younger brother, my father and I took a photograph at a studio wearing ultra-national cloths and of course it didn't feel any comfortable, but I think the shots will be nice. And like there is an urge to have one more reason to get gloomier, we all went to the Behbehani funeral in the husainiya at Sharq.
Night came and I went with family to the airport and two of my friends came along later.. luckily the numb-mode was engaged.

Anyway, none of my flights was on time. The result?
I got stuck in freaking Memphis +_+.

Not only that, but my American SIM card refused to work, and there was no internet access anywhere (how ridiculous), and the stupid telecom companies didn't recognize any of my credit cards so I was literally cut out off the world, most importantly from home. I hope my family wasn't worried a lot.
Oh and I missed my first day of classes.. what better excuse one can get ;)

The only good part was meeting with 7 other people having the same situation.. so we hung with each other and went to have dinner somewhere in town. It was weird and every one would suddenly break into embarrassed laughing coz well the whole things was strange. There was 'drunk Amsterdam', 'Korean girl', 'Fedex guy' ....etc. (this sounds like how desert girl and muslim artist call their friends lol!). So anyway, that made the stay in Memphis more fun.
The next morning "Random People" broke apart in the airport and everyone went to their destination.

So, here I am back to my townie, starting this summer class with what can't be described exactly as sheer enthusiasm; but it's good to occupy hands with something productive after the holidays and sins.

On the personal level, (as if all the previous was otherwise!), I'm feeling extra flirty and too geeky. I'm actually enjoying study-groups for chemistry with other students, which scares me. Anyway, anticipating the holiday (between end of summer class and beginning of fall term) makes me feel normal.

Oh ** I miss you.

Ok, one final thought:
The expression "Home-sick" proved to have more than one meaning.
And Elvis Presley looks really similar to my edible friend, whose last name is that of a bird.

*This post has been collaboratively written in Amsterdam, Memphis, and Richmond (by me, jic - no "rabe3" involved, g-d forbids).

UzF.blogspot

Oh who knew!

2005-07-06T21:18:00.000+03:00

I was tagged!
Before you run away, this entry has more to it than talking about books! (vive le fake)
I was reading The SwAiR Blog and I found out that Swair has "tagged" me. Well I read few entries from different blogs about being tagged knowing that it was related to the books one has read, but with no idea on the mechanism of being tagged. now i know..

So, on with the answers (which will probably show what kind of a poor-read i am now blah :/):

Number of books I own:
Absolutely no idea.. I'm ot sure if the scores of volumes i have of mickey magazine (all egy, uae & kuwaiti prints); and the stacks of al'3az and agatha christie books even count as books. But the majority of the books i own is unfortunately text books.

Last book I read:
Memoires of a Geisha (really long time ago) by what's-her-name. But to be realistic last book I read was the stupid biology crap.

Five books that mean alot to me:

The Murder of Mr Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (The forst book i read for this brilliant writer; been hooked ever since).
Journey to the center of the earth by Jules Vern (probably the first book i read in english)
الأبعاد المجهولة by عبدالوهاب السيد. (that was ab3ad majhoola by Abdulwahab AlSayed, in case my language bug still exists). Q80-ChillGirl had a good review on the book last year.
Holy Quran. This should've come first.. though i don't read it that often but at times it makes a difference in my mentality to do so.
The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer. Because it's never too boring to read about the nijra between the greek gods lol (mosan mosan pops in my mind hehe)
Few of the books by a russian writer, Maxim Gorky. I find his style very tasteful..

Was that more than five? mm who cares. I know there is more but they're just not on top of my mind now..

"The book I Am Reading Since Long But Could Not Finish:"
New Lots by i forgot who. it seemed alot more exciting from the cover,.. but the reason for not completing it is leaving it in America. and by the time i'm back i would have forgotten about it and lost interest. (note: im angry coz in amazon it's much cheaper than what I got it for in my uni. thieves!)

SWAIR! look at what you have made me do! i'm tired now #:P
now for the fun part; i want to tag a few people but I don't know who has been tagged yet? so let's see.. i tag Drunk'n'Gorgeous; SheWrites, Amunki, Peach, Bloboz, and Bo Jaij.

Anyway,
I hate thinking that in a week i'll leave again to catch up my summer course. Something still feels unfulfilled.. I missed some stuff while away and still am missing them here (and it's all about people). So some things sadden me but I will feel more comfortable thinking of them while away. It is very true that when away enough one can look at things with a better "resolution"..
oh well, until then i'll just keep up with the almost-blank mind.

UzF.blogspot

What's the Haps

2005-06-30T01:17:00.000+03:00

Eheh I have been offline for too long for obvious reasons; it all figures and makes sense.

I am enjoying my time :)
critical correction: most of my time.

It doesn't mean though that I don't owe some apologies. Being concerned ultimately with pleasing myself got me neglecting some people which is bad. (Hehe many of my relationships are already weak lol).. let's say I'm still all/almost-all cool with people whose number doesn't exceed a score, that includes my family members.

Few times I reach a point where I almost collapse and crash down in desperation; I stay alone and get thrown between anger, sadness, and other not-so-nice states of emotions. I even came close to exploding at my closest friends and almost "breaking-up" with them. It is not nice to think of one's self as a psychopath........ but anyway..

Having the dooda worm that I have, I decided to work during a few weeks somewhere, so we applied to Mcdonalds. After much hassle in getting the related certificates from a million places I was finally employed at one of them, but unfortunately with none of my friends. I was hoping for a position in either preparing fries or serving to the drive-thru (since they seemed the easiest), but then I realize that I have to do it all.
On the first day (last Sunday), I do hash-browns, cook beef burgers and make the sandwiches (I burned four patties :D), I cleaned the floor, and also served to the car orders. It has been going like this for the past few days having me returning to home feeling exhausted and wondering what was I thinking when applying. Working there amidst a majority of philippino workers was unusual. They are generally fun and weird, and definitely a danger to one's accent. Today when I was serving to cars I greeted them "Hello seeeirr madaaam welqom to meiqdonals, can i have your ordeiir?" occasionally.
Oh, they provide lockers to store the personal belonginings since you can't carry wallets and cell phone during the shift, so on the very first day I locked my locker forgetting the key inside so they had to break it heh. But the job is too occupying and I can't spend even a little time with the friends who visit me..
Anyway, next time you visit your near-be mcdonalds ask for "Youuuusaap"and if I was there I might slip you a free apple-pie; special compliment to the blogger folks.

This week I met up with Symbols and her friend on a dinner. I was supposed to be there with two friends but none of them came.. it was embarrassing! But at least one of them showed up later at night after we had interesting (=mostly hilarious) conversations and of course gossip. The funniest part is when we mocked different arabic and english accents lol.
Having such an encounter with someone whom I met online was a new experience to me since I didn't attend any of the blogger meet-ups. But it was much fun, Symbols you and your friends are super cool people ^^ :). I'm sure there will be much more details in her blog if she chooses to write about it lol
and btw, what saksoka (was that the nickname?) said about the tall cake is absolutely true; i felt bad once I got out of the restaurant oy.

Today a weird friend of mine who lives in neighboring Sha'ab (I think most of people living there are weirdos) invited me and couple of other firends for what he called a Japanese party at his home. It was funny, we drank a lot of green tea sitting on the floor, then we watched two anime movies (im in no means an anime fan). And finally I gave him a chart of katakana letters I made in 2000 when I used to learn Japanese.. he expressed his interest in learning the language so I gave him a copy of the quick reference that I did back then when I had the interest.

And tomorrow, the tiny devil inside my head is persuading me to take SK and another guy to alzoor or somewhere else for a kashta type of pique-nique.. Hmm details will generate as time proceeds.
In the mean time, I better get ready for another long exhausting day at Mcdonalds where I get paid less than the minimum wage that a pissed commentator at Jewaira's blog kept whining about some time ago. (Right now I got a bit angry :@)

Eeh anyway, this post was supposed to be a ShUzPl but obviously it wasn't. Thank you, please qom again :)

UzF.blogspot

Coastal [Wet-]Dreams

2005-06-05T07:08:00.000+03:00

This entry doesn't have any thing to do with physiological wet dreams, hence the brackets.

When people use the metaphor "batteries charging" to describe relaxation they hardly imagine it. Well, I don't imagine it too because I don't like metaphors (long story. had to do with school, of course).

Last weekend I stayed with my friend Big_Abdomen at their chalet beach house, and with us came SK and another guy. From conversation with this "other guy", he turned out to be a blogger at (blogspot), but he wouldn't tell me what blog he runs, and naturally I didn't tell I even blogged. But I think I'm too obvious to hide myself, and of course this post will blow it ha ha. Er anywayz..

I did not hesitate in expressing my opinion on how the majority of these so-called"chalets" are suffocating our beaches and preventing people from enjoying them. Anyway he lived in a "project-chalet" which is supposedly better than the random constructions everywhere else. I despise the monopoly, and I hate random constructions, hence i'm not so keen on the concept.

Either way, we had these days when the difference between day and night is non-existing, and the food is anything that can be found in the kitchen. For a dinner I cooked spaghetti with inauthentic polognaise sauce -however it's spelled- and I say inauthentic because everything except meat came out of a Maggie envelope. Me and SK took care of cooking while the other two prepared the table, and boy, what preparation it was! They packed the table with candles and set the TV on a music channel that played strange arabic music. So much for a gang of down-atti, freshmen-level "Tyoos" -so unfitting- lol

However, we had to mess here and there (otherwise I would be worried). We sneaked into the Julai'a Kempenski resort and toured it alone, and had a dip in their pool ha ha. And we were not even CLOSE from being caught ;)
And being in the southern parts of the country we had to check out the local malls, Ajyal, Al-coot, and Kuwait Magic; first time being to each except K'Magic.. They were okay but I liked al-coot the best. The others were so-so.

We played Cout in the food court at Al-Coot!

Yeah, these were cool days and I took a lot of pics. I'll upload some to flickr but they won't contain me or my friends because I became paranoid. (The gay bloke wants to live with me in america. What sin did I commit in a past life? I'm working on excuses :s).. eeh.

Click on the picture to take you to my Kuwait Summer photostream at flickr. I'll be adding few pics every few days. And if you use flickr add me as a contact coz I like to see your pictures too (Nibaq has already done that!). So don't be shyye..

Coming up next: Shocking UzF Playlist #9; It's all about music. Grosses Bises..

UzF.blogspot

Memories Factory

2005-05-25T21:56:00.000+03:00

What can I say?
One thing for sure, too many precious memories are in the making. I'm just too concerned by capturing each moment in my head that I'm not quite really enjoying.. too bad I've always been like that.
I'll quote this from my last meditative essay..

"Going back in time, I (...) had to make efforts to remember a word, a face, or a sound.. too many bittersweet memories that are bound to be forgotten. (...) And it was painful."

It came in a different context but it expresses how I'll feel probably. This is just too lame.. I am so feeling the irony of the saying "The grass is always greener on the other side". To put this saying in my terms I would say something like "The grass is always worse in the side to which you will have to go". But I'm not complaining.

I didn't need the assurance, but the past few days proved I have the ultimate buddy of all. In g-d's willing I'll show him what on earth he means to me. The crude idiot; the absolutely wonderful crude idiot.

*A moment of awakening*
Hell, why am I making a funeral when no body is even dead? I didn't come here to count time and feel sorry. Ouff mentality will be shifted upside down , it'd better I swear. And we'll see soon..

Now with that off the way..

I'm concerened about Peach. She's been absent for quite a while now which is unlike her.. I hope she's doing fine and is only busy with life.

To Begin

2005-05-18T18:18:00.000+03:00

Hello, I'm back.
The 25+ hrs journey was a pain. In the flight over the atlantic between the US and Europe, when I was supposed to make all the sleeping I could to avoid the jet-lag, I was blessed to sit just in front of a very "orally-gifted" family. They had this horrible 2-3 yrs child who couldn't shut his hole. Worse still, instead of silencing him, his mom joined him in the malaqa frenzy. And just as if this wasn't enough, they spoke the most absurd of languages: they pronounced painfully explicit (Kh`s) more frequently than both Arabic and Hebrew - combined. It must have been Dutch or German since we were on the way to Amsterdam. Awful people.
So I had my jet-lag thanks to them, and now I don't sleep until after sunrise yet wake up no later than noon, feeling like a showbiz person of a sort: headaches.

A funny thing is, I seem to have more [fake] relatives/acquaintances than I realized, or cared for. This couple of weeks I describe myself as being high on PR. (stress, stress,). Can't wait till this fakeness week is over so I hang with the real people, my downatti homeboys; excessively.
In any case I'm not letting any of that interfere with enjoying my time with my family. They deserve I spend with them my quality time being in my best shape and I deserve the same back.. we spent too long apart. (relatively).

Recently I seem to have become ..mm.. a celebrity? lol. In the past few weeks I received a couple of e-mails from people I had never heard of inquiring about my opinion about my university and other related details that I didn't even mention on this blog. Groovy, innit? As I said I don't think these people got their infos from the blog or they wouldn't mention such details. I would be happy to help anyway.. but this forces me to consider the anonymity of my identity online more seriously. Who knows when I'll become a fugitive or something! (semi-relative example: check this.. I have the strangest readers apparently).

Now I'm making the connections to host a gathering tonight pour les amis. I'm looking forward to that.

Seeing all these people has put the kohl on my eye*. Ma famille et mes amis, ils sont ma vie. (*: this should make perfect sense in Arabic, but for some reason it sounds too weird in English lol).

Yes, it is the beginning.

UzF.blogspot

2005-05-13T07:52:00.000+03:00

513
and it's a Friday too! I'm one lucky tees, aren't I?
!~Happy*Home*Fukka~!

..and by that I pack-in this expensive piece of junk too, so until i see you again from KUWAIT!,..

cares:)>

A Thing to Remember

2005-05-09T23:23:00.000+03:00

Misery is relative,
so is success.
Difficulty is relative
like tolerance is.
Happiness is relative
the same way everything else is, really.
..and this can go on..
and on..
and on.. ..
and off!

"If only it's easy to keep that in mind all the time.. pitty." :/

An ode to MC^2, Einstein

UzF.Blogspot

This goes out to you,

2005-05-08T07:04:00.000+03:00

You read my blog regularly, and silently. You know who you are.. I love you and really am proud of you. Wishing you all the success and happiness in the world;
Happy Birthday Dear :*

UzF

5.08.05

On Time

2005-05-03T23:00:00.000+03:00

In 4:01 pm

Holding on, holding about.
Done with more than half of the stupid exams. When not staring at books, I'm either sleeping or doing useless things like getting snacks or goofing on internet. *glee!* Oh well, after 100 years people will say (Did you know uzf wld flan el flani? he wasted time and watched porn! Wheee ambaai tsk tsk) sigh, as if.
Checking my posts recently, they all seem to be on weekends. Back when I started it used to be once around every three days.. somewhere along the way I became a "weekly blogger".. too bad. Anyways, if I'm over with school soon this would change, probably.
The news is, I found out that a blogger will join me in university next school year (which is actually less than 4 months from now) so that shall be exciting! This blogger is included in my Homemade Blogroll on the side bar, which I update every now and then. Recently I added TheNothing, a new blog by a good fat friend of mine, Ilya. (CAUTION: content might not be suitable for all tastes!).
Hmm, also on blogger news; it's been rumored for quite a while about a celebrity figure in the kuwaiti blogging scene. Now this doesn't only seem to be confirmed, but also this blogger will attend a local bloggers meet-up! (link). isn't that going to be the bomb or what?

I am a Taurus, and many of my friends (and family) happen to be so. Since we are in the time when these birthdays are celebrated it's just fun to send greetings around and expecting to get some soon ^^. I'll celebrate mine on the 13th by miserably packing my suitcases and staying up through night and praying to make it to the airport on time next day. It's true that visiting home will be such a valuable gift, but I dread the journey.. Im stacking m&m`s and bottled water. 11 more days whoa!

Oh not quite over with blogger news. Apparently my writings sort of improved thanks to my blogger ramblings; my English teacher and her "committee" graded my 20-pages portfolio (with maybe 80 pgs of drafts and re drafts and rere drafts lol) with an ever-so-satisfying A. This comes very good to a cless with an expectation of C or B max. so that's it with English. Fukka! (=what a relief, j.i.c.). Of course in my cover letters I referred too much to things like the title's subscript in this blog (success is my revenge -cbx v4.2), and an item in my (Before I die) list without really giving a clue to what I'm referring to. But they were not angry about that apparently, or they just didnt get it.. Because I got an A! Just in case somebody didn't get it yet: I got an A in this nerve-wrecking course! Fukka!

Library time is over, and last class of biology will just begin. Yalla, can't wait to say Fukka about biology as well. Pizza :)

Out 4:29

UzF.blogspot

7elfay!

2005-04-24T19:34:00.000+03:00

Time feels as if it has flown by! I can't believe that in the course of 3 weeks I'll be home again. Anticipating that for so long makes the anxious feeling I'm having kind of ridiculous.. but well, as I stated in an earlier post, I am dreading things won't be as good as I expect (and hope for). Yesterday was my homie's day. Tees I miss him!
Right now I desire nothing more than labaneh with zeit and zaatar with a hot bread. OH YEAH!

***

Hmmm, how to tell this story in the most diplomatic way?
Well, there is this girl who I knew for sometime. We were good friends, and with our common friends we had really good times. Sometime this month while chatting on internet she told me a guy (whom I happen to know, and relate to!) was "hinting" to her! She and her family know the guy for sometime and he sounded serious... and when I asked her to show me some of these "hints" I was surprised, they are Ashkara, too obvious to be described as "hints"! Why do they pretend ignorance? lol

And she asked me what do I think of the guy.

The thing is, as I said the girl is a good friend and I didn't consider her to be any thing more than that. But was there some part of my mind which thought of her as otherwise? Of course engagement is a big NO-NO for me now; hell, i don't even consider it for at least the coming 10 year (or less o.0) but there might have been a slightest potential in some sort with her (among few).

So then I was standing on a crossroad:
a) either I tell her he's such a fine young man, which he is. [discarding any potential]; or
b) use my fertile imagination in implying what a scumbag he is, how cold he can be most of the time, and how gay he can appear; [just maybe,]

But some angel or muse gave me the inspiration to tell her that "I can tell you he's the best guy, your family can, 100 people can; but you can only be sure if you knew him well enough". There! what a relief. It's not black or white, it's just an escape. This is the worst type of conversations that can take place over internet. Alas, one less option to be worried about..

morals:
-~~No matter what they tell you about relationships, they still are too damn confusing. and can cause headache~~.
-~~it gives such an controlling feeling to play khattaba~~.
-when you're not in the mood for a chat, appear as "away" when signed into an IM.

***

yaaiy still can't believe it's only 3 weeks!
But oh my; I could kill for labaneh :?

UzF.blogspot

Shocking UzF Playlist #8

2005-04-17T21:01:00.000+03:00

1- The Caesars - Jerk It Out.mp3

2- Trick Daddy - Sugar (Gimme Some).mp3 NEW

3- Right Said Fred - I'm Too Sexy.mp3

4- Kelis - Candy (ft. Foxy Brown).mp3 explicit

5- Moby - Honey.mp3

***

Well, Shocking UzF Playlists are back.. let's see who was eager teh.

I have to catch what ive missed for the past period.. too much school was only a factor lol. Beginning with The Caesars, who don't seem to realize what a silly (and irrelevant!) name they chose for their song .. but well, i guess that how it works with some people. Jerk It Out is a lot like Smash Mouth's I'm A Believer in a way. Warning: the stupid-yet-addictive kinda songs.

Trick Daddy, whose website is simply thug.com, didn't go farther in choosing a title for his song than BabyBash did. Our track today would be easily mistaken for any of OutKast's back-in-business tracks.. at least this is what I first thought when I heard it. Track mentions many desserts which can be inspiring like this post by NY Chick. Thanks for the eye delight NY Chick w alla ysam7ech! Of course, I had to hunt for the clean-edit of this track so you can share it safely with your parents/children.. or not!

Right Said Fred, Right Said Fred... you must have been enjoying a wonderful spring day like im having here (what a bliss), when you got suddenly too horny or something. "I'm too sexy for my clothes, too sexy for my car, too sexy by faaaahr!" Well, let's say okkaaay. BUT, "I do my little turn on the CATWALK" excuse me??!!! why would a man who supposedly feels sexy switch his hips on a catwalk? People, you'll only be shocked then to hear "I shake my LITTLE TUSH on the CATWALK!" uh, aha, ok! Okay Fred, you're too sexy for this ShUzPl.

Candy is a delight from the long-time missed "Dark Angel" with my once-upon-a-time heroine Jessica Alba. Her last thing with GQ magazine was too lame and needless.. Jessicooo you disappointed me. Anyway, back to the track, A killer! Probably it's what has gotten Kelis into the spotlights-- just to blow it all with the horrible Milkshake! Ugh just thiking of it makes me want to throw the desk lamp on my roommate! (kidding! he has nothing to do with it anyway). Definitely a dance-to track.

Moby has rocket-climbed my favourite artists database not long ago. His works are masterpieces and each track has its own "feel". He has few tracks which I cant absorb like the one I gave to Maryam some time ago (ISS, go figure :D). I can't wait until tracks from his latest album "Hotel" become available illegally on internet. Isn't technology devilishly wonderful? But at least I'll serve a good cause for him.. maybe someone will read my reviews and decide to buy the album. See? :) wow i outsize myself sometimes heehee. Whatev, Nevermind.

Well people, that was my little come-back after I feel self-satisfaction because of completing this bigass homework, so I deserved posting an entry. Hope y'all enjoy this playlist.. Y'all, c'ya y'all! ha ha

Moby

Awkward, She Says!

2005-04-10T20:40:00.000+03:00

The weather is getting better each day which grants a good deal of satisfaction. Good sun charges my batteries with energy and i'm content.

I lack exciting happenings recently. Nothing to make each day special except the mundane of school-food-weekends-... . I can't wait till it's summer holiday (I dread that it won't be as good as I desire, though).
Recently I've been suffering from tasteless mood-swings; the extreme-to-extreme type of swings and it has gotten too boring. My psyched english teacher thinks my language "becomes awkward at some locations [in my essay draft]" which is just too lame. She could've just explained what she meant, for example if my tenses are wrong or sentences too long, what an encouraging teacher! In class when I got the paper I was hiding my hard laughs while reading her comments because they were too funny. She probably thought I was laughing at her which is true in a sense.. Ahh anyway.
Not only her who is puzzling me with that attitude. Too many people seem to enjoy giving incomplete instructions or information. Perhaps they think it's degrading if they offered useful help -how sad-. One has to work hard to find the way.. tease!

Well, to shift the subject a bit, I was finally able to take pictures of the blossoming cherry trees around campus. Very nice-looking and refreshing, but because I hadn't had much time I resorted to the ctrl+C trick! Anyway, here's a poem stolen from Drunk'n'Gorgeous, a fellow blogger friend, to have words going along with the pictures. Enjoy!

Peach, you won - sort of ;)

UzF.blogspot

April's Fool

2005-04-03T03:12:00.000+03:00

This is not fair!
I was so looking forward for this month long time ago, the spring, the sun, the birthdays of 3 of my best friends, and 1 month closer of getting back..

But then there's all these depressing happenings and news:
A friend in is going through a down-cycle, the pope died in Vatican - how sad, my biology bullsh.. all that and the first week of the month is yet to finish!
I was planning to publish pictures of the sakura blossoms around campus and write words in light pink hues to celebrate spring, but well- obviously I did not!

Because my eyes are aching after being stuck in front of the screen since noon until now, thats ungodly 7 hours doing researh papers for this biology, what a waste for both time and effort. I hate how this teacher discusses every possible way of biological diversity but never even comes about mentioning creationism; he even said that our whole existence might have been "transferred" from Mars by "smarter beings" billions of years ago. the dumbathi. I wish this is the only reason why he's so revolting, he is super boring: when im not about to fall into sleep, many people around me are; and I am not exaggerating.
I hell gave him a wonderful review in ratemyprofessor.com, and not to my surprise there were already many bad reviews so I made sure mine was the worst. he asked for it!

April why did you have such a bad start?
Well, I better eat something. I'm starving- Unbelievable! this damn Biology is actually hurting me physically as well.

Yeah, at times it's hard not to feel like a fool -_-

UzF.blogspot