Riyadh sucks

Is it me or is it lately that whenever I update my blog I end having to start with "I'm not dead, just haven't had time to update."?

Phew been a while hasn't it? I managed to get a job at an exhibition design company working as a designer in Riyadh. Salary is pretty average but hey you gotta start somewhere right?

Why is the driving in Riyadh so atrocious? I've been here since July and its like something out of a Super Mario Kart video game. Driving in this city is literally a life and death situation. Are people really that retarded that they can't stop at a red light for 2 minutes? Freakin pisses me off. Which reminds me to update my list of types of drivers in KSA....

Back in april me and two friends took part in a graffiti competition in dhahran organized by Fainak. This was our entry called "D-Hazard" short for Design Hazard.

Despite all our efforts and hard work we didn't win. Because apparently we used the help of cartons, tape, and cardboard stencils we had cut and made ourselves in order to spray our work. I guess nobody told the 4 knucklehead judges (university girls) that there are no rules in graffiti. Its street art. Anything goes!

I also took the opportunity to revamp my blog a little, adding much needed graphics. The person in the noir Sin City image in the header in question, is yes indeed, yours truly. I used a picture of myself and messed around with it in Adobe photoshop & illustrator.

Guerilla Radio!

As you may have noticed I have indeed changed my blog name from the emo-ish "Insight into the mind of an Obsessive Depressive" to the more erstwhile "Guerilla Radio!". I felt it was a good time to turn a new leaf considering the fact that Ive been using the name IITMOAOD since I was 15 years old (before on the now defunct bolt.com then finally here on blogger). I needed a title that would suit my more contemporary outlook and my political interests and thus Guerilla Radio, which happens to be the name of a song by RATM, managed to fit the bill.



So my humble readers you're probably asking what exactly has Mr. Crow been up to lately. Well simply put, nothing.

Ok fine almost nothing, I finally graduated last month. I am now officially an architecture grad. Yay for me.....



Unfortunately this was probably the most fucked up time ever to graduate. Due to the economic recession jobs have virtually become an extinct species in the US, dubai, and elsewhere.

And no I dont want to work in KSA anymore. Seriously. Frankly speaking, for an architect, KSA is a good place to work only when you already have experience from somewhere else. But to start in KSA from square one? Disasterrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.



So there you have it. I really don't know what the hell I'm supposed to do. Theres a career day coming up next week so we'll see how that goes.

Lately I've started writing my fantasy novel. I'll make sure to post that up soon. I'm also researching information for my graphic novel stories. I need to brush up on my artwork however.
Btw has anybody seen that ridley scott movie Body of Lies? The movie itself was ok, nothing amazing. The acting by Dicaprio and Crowe was pretty good. However the movie was stolen by the insanely intense and smooth acting of Mark Strong as the jordanian head of intelligence Hani Salaam. This guy makes me want to wear suits all the time.

Hello 2009

Well here we are finally. 2009 hath cometh. How many people actually celebrated the new year? This is the first time I havent even bothered. The present crisis in Gaza pretty much overshadowed it. How am I supposed to be in a celebratory mood when people are being slaughtered over there? And the funny thing is that apparently it seems that nobody really cares. When I saw nobody I mean the arab leaders. Raising money and setting up blood drives is one thing but actually confronting the problem is another. The bottom line is....the arab leaders are cowards. Bought and tamed by their masters.

I came across a video on youtube about the philosopical arguments of whats going on in the context of Batman and The Joker. I thought it would be pretty interesting to share. And yes I do agree that the joker was right.

http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tFnxeW25O8

Getting the shoe treatment.

I almost spit my out my low fat milk I was drinking this morning when I happened to glance at the frontpage of today's newspaper: "Bush 'shoed' during Iraq visit" along with the hilarious picture of Bush ducking to avoid the shoe thrown at him. Now THAT is what I call entertainment. The late-night talk show hosts are gonna have a ball with this one. Not to mention the footwear companies (Cmon seriously who else thinks this would make a great advertisement for Reebok?)

Anyways.....its been a while since I last updated. I admit I was being lazy. I was finally compelled to after seeing todays newspaper. Lets see now...what have I missed.

Happy Thanksgiving!
All I could find was the pumpkin pies that the bakery at Safeway usually has. I couldnt find a turkey anywhere unfortunately. The funny thing is when I asked one of the employees they straight away led me to and introduced me to, "Ahmet" a guy from Istanbul (with a last name I couldnt pronounce) who was working in the fish section. I wonder why they did that. Weird...

Eid Mubarak!
Went out to eat dinner with friends and then had a BBQ at aramco beach the next day. I was half expecting someone to be wearing a "burkini" but alas to no avail. The mass slaughter of sheep, goats, chickens, cows and camels was pretty interesting. What can I say, I'm a carnivore.

Classes started again!
Wait a minute why the hell am I even celebrating that.

Welcome to the village

Since the semester began at the start of october it was nice to see my old classmates again. Everybody talking about the crap and not so crap jobs we took over the summer. Despite the fact its good meeting them again, there are times when I wish didnt have to see them. Like for example an incident of questionable nature that went down last monday afternoon with two of my friends when I was driving them back from lunch at Dhahran mall (I'll call them A and L for our sake).

Me(driving): So L, did u get those viagra pills u needed from the pharmacy? *laughs*

L(passenger seat): Yea very funny*rolls eyes* I told you they're subscription allergy drugs.

A(back seat): I bet condoms are real cheap at that store.

*Me and L both laugh*

L: Yea knowing you, thats the only thing that interests you about a pharmacy.

Me: *grumbles* This traffic is really shitty.

*I notice that A has opened one of the car windows*

Me: Hey why are you opening the window? I already put on the AC.

L: *sniffs air* Hey do you smell that?

Me: *sniffs* Ugh yea what the hell is that?

L: Smells like...

A: *chuckles* whoops

L: You farted??! Idiot! *opens his window*

A: Yea man I couldnt control it any longer.

Me: I can't believe you just did that in the backseat of my car you jackass!

L: Yekh. You seriously need to get your bowels checked.

Me: The smells not going away. Quick! Open the glove compartment. There's an air-freshner spray.

L: *Opens glove compartment and fumbles with spray bottle*

Me: Do it already man! For the love of God, DO IT!!

*L sprays everywhere especially on A sitting in the backseat*

A: Wtf man you sprayed some in my eye!

Me: Great, it smells better now. I think you might have overdid it though.

L: Yea maybe. Desperate times calls for desperate measures.

A: Drive faster man. I need to go crap really badly.

Me: If you crap in my car I'm gonna personally enslave you to Ustad Hafiz(our university Arabic & Islamiyaa teacher)

A: Then you better hurry up!

---------------- 0 --------------------

I'm still considering whether I should burn the backseat of my car just to sterilize it.

Gobama!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jll5baCAaQU

Unbelieveable. Thats all I gotta say. Folks we have just witnessed history in the making.

Barack Obama has been elected the 44th president of the united states of america! Despite all the shit that the Bushy administration created at least I'm secure with the knowledge that the will of people comes always through in the end (ha yea right whatever).
Still....it makes me feel all proud and patriotic like. So does that mean I'm still pledging my alliegance to the red, white and blue? Not exactly. I'm still pledging alliegance with the will of my fellow americans though, I can say that much.

Of course we'll really see just how much of a statesman President Obama really is with regards to dealing with all the screw ups that this country has created in the middle east. Will there be a difference? Most likely not. But then again we'll just have to wait and see.

Happy halloween you mortal fools.