Guerilla Radio!

Happy birthday to me!

2011-09-18T18:44:00.000-07:00

A dying granny tells her granddaughter:

"I want to leave you my farm. That includes the villa, the tractor, and other equipment, the farmhouse, and £22,398,750 in cash."

The granddaughter, absolutely stunned says:

"Oh Granny, you are SO generous! I didn't even know you had a farm. Where is it?"

With her last breath, Granny whispered:

"Facebook..."

---------------------------------------------------
I always hate growing older. Why can't I just be goofy and stupid like these two?

But then again I'd probably end up working at a pizza place for the rest of my life. Thats life for ya. Meh.

9/11 and the Georgetown University event.

2011-09-11T20:54:00.000-07:00

So 10 years ago from today two planes crashed into the World Trade Center and completely changed (re: screwed) the course of history forever. I had just spent my first year in Saudi Arabia and I was just about to turn 17 later that month when I turned on my TV and saw all hell break loose. I still remember my reaction: bewilderment, mixed feelings, not sure what to make of it. I guess I would have had a much stronger reaction had I actually still been living in the US. The reports came out that the attacks were carried out by so called "islamic" terrorists from Al Qaeda. Now things had gotten even more twisted. Because I was also "islamic". But I was also an american. Two sides of a coin that is still flipping in mid-air to this day. Little did I know this dichotomy would eventually define me as an american who happened to be muslim and a muslim who happened to be american.

Well the 10th anniversary was a fairly quiet affair as was the rest of the day, typical for a Sunday. While nothing particularly interesting happened that day, more interesting things occurred three days prior. On Thursday September 8th I had the opportunity to visit Georgetown University's Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding for an event called "Religion and the American-Muslim Community Post 9/11". The speakers were John Esposito, Linda Moreno, Arsalan Iftikhar, and the keynote speaker was Karen Armstrong.

Here's some pics from the event.

Before going into the event hall.

The speakers.

Me and Professor John Esposito

You can view more pictures right here.

Here's a video clip of me speaking with Professor John Esposito. Check it out!

Check out the other videos from the event on my youtube channel.

The event itself was good however I wasn't completely sure if doing so would really affect any immediate change to the current islamophobic environment prevalent in parts of the US media and unfortunately, the government as well. I was also a bit disappointed by the lack of media coverage the event received. However in general it was a fairly eye-opening event, particularly the talk given by Linda Moreno. You can see her video right here.

Salam!

Eid Mubarak!

2011-09-10T20:21:00.000-07:00

Ok ok first off.....wishing everyone Eid Mubarak! Even though i'm like almost 2 weeks late....ya know...cuz thats how I roll. My eid was pretty uneventful, I basically went down to Fairfax in virginia to pray Salat al-Eid at my uncle's masjid then just hung out at his place for a while. This is of course just days after Maryland was struck with Hurricane Irene which hit the northeast coast of the USA. So what did you guys do for Eid?

Rumble in London (Part 2)

2011-08-14T16:31:00.000-07:00

(Continued from Part 1)

Now that we've looked at what exactly happened in London we need to ask ourselves an obvious yet crucial question. Why did this happen? As The Merovingian in The Matrix Reloaded aptly puts it "Our only hope, our only peace is to understand it. To understand the why. Why is the only source of power. Without it you are powerless."

Ok charming french accents aside we must understand why these riots took place, and I think thats where things get a little bit interesting. I need to make something clear, the riots have nothing to do with "race" or a "liberal agenda" contrary to what some right wing conservative outlets would have us believe. The rioters came from diverse backgrounds and I highly doubt that their political beliefs spurred them to loot stores and set cars on fire. So while it wasn't about liberalism or race, it however had everything to do with class. And when I mean class I'm talking about the Upper class, Middle class, and the Working class. What we're seeing is young members of the Working Class rising up and rioting against the economic imbalance that is prevalent in the UK as in many other countries as well. The unavailability of jobs and general unemployment rates are a major factor at play here as it was in the protests in Greece. In fact, things aren't looking so good here in the USA either according to the recent Gallup polls despite a moderate improvement in job conditions just last month. In the UK its not just the working class that are struggling to find jobs but it seems the middle class isn't having a great time either. And many of these people who DO have a job however are finding it increasingly difficult to afford their standard of living. Costs are going up but salaries and wages on the other hand aren't. In fact in most cases they're even going down.

Now what we know from Police reports coming out of the UK is that the vast majority of the rioters arrested were young working class people, many of whom were teenagers (born in the 1990s). Now get this, according to the BBC the highest employment rates between 6.0 - 7.9 % were prevalent in the largest urban cities such as London, Birmingham, Manchester, etc etc. Well guess what? These are the same exact areas which were hit by riots.

*cue dramatic music*

I think we have a significant correlation here, Ladies & Gentlemen. Quick someone phone Prime Minister Cameron about this! More statistics can be found here at the Office of National Statistics and on their youtube channel.

What the UK government needs to do is come up with a viable economic solution, not harsher police measure as was ranted by the PM David Cameron. In fact whats happening in London is symptomatic of a greater economic problem across Europe and in the USA in general. You have to be completely nuts to give tax cuts to the insanely rich while increasing taxes for the not so rich. As long as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer these problems will continue. Now I'm not saying that this excuses the actions of the idiots who went out and looted shops and stores in London, however at the same time we also cannot ignore the economic situation in the UK which is no doubt the underlying factor behind these riots.

Salam!

Rumble in London (Part 1)

2011-08-10T06:13:00.000-07:00

Ahlan wa sahlan.

My first reaction on Saturday evening was.....what.the.hell.is.going.on.in.London?! As if the nonsense in Syria wasn't insane enough now we have riots breaking out in London too? Latest news reports coming in speak of riots, looting, violence, and arson spreading out from London to other major cities such as Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham, and Gloucester.

So how did this all get started? Lets rewind the clock back to Thursday August 4th, when 29 year alleged drug dealer Mark Duggan was shot dead in a police operation during an attempted arrest in Tottenham, an area in the London borough of Haringey. His death and the circumstances surrounding his fatal shooting were questioned by his family and friends during a peaceful protest in front of a Tottenham police station on Saturday August 6th. However things soon changed when reports of a police assault on a 16 year old girl began to surface, subsequently sparking off a violent riot by several youth gangs. Attacks were carried out in Tottenham late into the night on police cars, a double decker bus, local businesses, and homes. Several assaults on police officers and looting of stores were reported as well.

By sunday and monday the violent riots had spread into other areas of London with even more looting and vandalism of shops and police cars. Due to the local police force being overwhelmed, local turkish and kurdish shopkeepers were forced to protect themselves by forming vigilante 'units'. On monday reports starting coming out that there was also sporadic incidents of violence being experienced in cities outside of London, notably in Bristol, Liverpool, Birmingham, and Nottingham. Cars were set alight and even incidents of news reporters being assaulted by teenage gangs began to surface.

The violence and vandalism peaked all through yesterday (Tuesday) and early today. Several fires were started in parts of London such as Barking, Clapham Junction, Ealing, and Croydon as well as the looting of several major retail stores and banks in East Ham. A 26 year old man was shot dead in Croydon as well. The police were able to make over 500 arrests in London and 100 arrests in Brimingham.

However the worst was yet to come.

Due to the preoccupation of the police force in trying to fend off rioters (as if thats an excuse) many shopkeepers and business owners were left to fend for themselves and their neighborhoods, most notably amongst the turkish, kurdish, and south asian desi communities. However standing in the line of fire has its risks. In the city of Birmingham early this morning three british pakistani men (two of whom were brothers) were mowed down in an apparent hit and run while trying to protect local businesses and a mosque from looters and rioters. The three victims were 21 year-old Haroon Jahan and brothers Abdul Musavir, 31, and Shazad Ali, 30. All three subsequently died from their injuries.

To be continued in Part 2 Inshallah

Related links
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/10/manchester-riots-salford-arrests
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/09/london-riots-reporters-attacked_n_921908.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/08/10/uk-riots-three-men-killed_n_922923.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLfIGFkCTgo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKa4T8F66m0

Park 51 NYChildren UPDATE

2011-08-10T04:06:00.000-07:00

Ahlan wa Sahlan

So apparently theres been a breakthrough with the donations for Park 51's NYChildren project. Someone pledged $20,000 raising the amount of donations to $64, 237 which is just under $6000 short of the required $70,000! Mashallah! Unfortunately today is also the last day for donations (Aug 10). I tried my best to help raise awareness about the issue by handing out flyers at my local mosque and in M street in Washington DC as well as posting on facebook & twitter. I don't even know if it made a significant difference to be honest. I'm beginning to think I have a OCD hero complex or something. I always find myself having to do something about anything that nobody is doing anything about. Maybe I'm just a sucker....

Anyways today IS the last day to raise donations for this project. If theres anything you can do to help (donate, hand out flyers, facebook, twitter, youtube, etc) and if you believe you can make a difference, today is the day to do it Inshallah! Never lose hope.

Salam

NYChildren link
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/park51/nychildren-exhibit-lets-open-park51s-doors-to-the

Park 51 link
http://park51.org/

Abu Dhabi Gallup Center event in DC

2011-08-04T22:08:00.000-07:00

Ahlan wa Sahlan

Okaaaaay... I know I should have finished this at least by yesterday, but what can I tell ya...I gotta work too ya know. So if you haven't already figured it out, I attended the "Muslim Americans: Faith, Freedom, & Future" event by the Abu Dhabi Gallup Center this past Tuesday (Aug 2nd) in Washington DC.
For all extents and purposes I thought it was going to be a literal snooze fest. I had woken up later than I had planned and anticipating intense traffic on my drive into Washington DC, I wasn't particularly in the best of moods. But Alhamdulillah I was wrong. The traffic was relatively light and I managed to step into the glittering lobby of The National Press Club with ten minutes to spare on the clock before the event kicked off at the scheduled 10:00 am (he shoots, he scores!).

Shortly before the event

The event started with a brief introduction by PBS Newshour's distinguished senior correspondent Ray Suarez followed by opening remarks by Dr. Jocelyn Cesari, a research fellow in Political Science and Director of "Islam in West" program at Harvard. You can view both of them on my Youtube channel here and here.

However the real meat and potatoes of the whole event came next with Senior analyst of the Abu Dhabi Gallup Center, Mohamed Younis's presentation of the in depth study of the Gallup surveys conducted throughout 2010.

Mohamed Younis

Among the key findings presented were:

Though most major religious groups rate their lives better now than in 2008, Muslim Americans' life evaluation ratings have increased the most. Sixty percent are thriving in 2011, up substantially from 2008.

Muslim Americans are among the most critical of the institutions and interventions associated with counterterrorism. They are the most likely among major American religious groups to see U.S. actions, not misinformation, as causing unfavorable views of the U.S. in majority-Muslim countries.

Nearly all Muslim Americans (92%) say Muslims living in the U.S. have no sympathy for al Qaeda.

Muslim Americans' political and social views are often closest to those of Jewish Americans, who are more likely than other major religious groups (at 70%) to believe Muslim Americans have no sympathy for al Qaeda. Jewish Americans also view U.S. Muslims as loyal to America (80%) and are more likely than Muslims Americans themselves to say that there is prejudice toward U.S. Muslims (66% vs. 60%). Additionally Jewish Americans and Muslim Americans show similar levels of support for a future in which an independent Palestinian state would coexist alongside of Israel (78% and 81%, respectively).

Muslim Americans have high levels of confidence in many American civic institutions. Fifty-seven percent say they have confidence in the honesty of elections, the highest percentage of all major U.S. religious groups studied.

Muslim Americans are as likely as other major faith communities to have confidence in the country's judicial system and in the quality and integrity of the U.S. media.

Muslim Americans (83%) are the most likely of all major U.S. religious groups to say the Iraq war was a mistake.

The part which particularly piqued my interest was the fact that 57% of american muslims say they have confidence in the honesty of elections. Saay whaaat?! I totally expected that number to be lower! You can watch portions of that presentation here and here. You can also see some of the slides here in my yfrog page. And if you're just too damn lazy to do all of that you can read Mohamed Younis's article about the Gallup study findings right here or watch him talk about it in this segment of PBS Newshour.

After the presentation, a panel discussion was held with the following panelists:

(L-R)

Mohamed Younis
Senior Analyst of the Abu Dhabi Gallup Center

Rabbi Saperstein
Director and Counsel, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism

Imam Mohamed Magid

President, Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)

Ray Suarez (Mediator)

D. Paul Monteiro
Associate Director, White House Office of Public Engagement

They were joined by Dr. Jocelyn Cesari for the Q&A session directly after the panel discussion.

You can view portions of the panel discussion here, here, and here.

Overall I was fairly impressed by the study itself. It was very thorough and managed to hit on important and significant points across the board. I liked the fact that the report also gave a series of recommendations for government and civic leaders.To quote Mohamed Younis:

"The report provides a snapshot of the Muslim American community as we see it today," said Younis. "As we look toward the next 10 years, it is vital to consider what actions can be taken to positively impact the U.S. Muslim community."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Imam Mohamed Magid & Yours Truly

On another note, besides taking this kodak moment with Imam Mohamed Magid, I also managed to bump into activist extraordinaire Raquel Evita Saraswati who was also present at the event. And here I was thinking I was the only tweep who managed to get out of bed to show up!

Salam!

Related links:
My Event Pictures
My Event Videos
PBS Newshour

Rumble in Syria

2011-08-02T16:39:00.000-07:00

What do you get when you mix 1 part dictatorship and 2 parts brutal family legacy? A syria killer! Get it? Astaghfirallah I can't believe I'm even joking about this. While most of us were celebrating the advent of this year's month of Ramadan, others elsewhere where picking up pieces of their friends and family....literally. An apparent crack down on anti-government protesters in Syria has turned into something so bloody that its no doubt re-opened very very old scars. In an ill-advised attempt to reassert his authority, Bashar Al-Assad sent in state military forces comprising of tanks, snipers, and militiamen on July 31st on the eve of Ramadan into the central syrian city of Hama killing at least 50 people. The ensuing carnage continued unabated all through yesterday raising the death toll to at least 100. Eerily reminiscent of a similar episode in the very same city in 1982 when Bashar's father Hafez al-Assad ordered a similar attack to crush an anti-Ba'ath uprising that left a horrific trail of 10,000 dead victims.

Surely his son wouldn't be so foolish as to follow in his footsteps. Well...surprise surprise...apparently he is. Before the assault on Hama, I had a tremendous amount of respect for Bashar al-Assad, perhaps naively so. Yes he might be a dictator, but at least he was one of the better dictators, paling in comparison to many of the other regimes around Syria. Well mannered, well spoken, well educated and with a professional and humble demeanor to boot. I admired the fact that he was able to maintain Syria economically without having to cow down and bow his head to the interests of the USA and/or Israel. Syria, home to Damascus, the oldest continually inhabited settlement on earth with its diverse religious identities and long rich history is indeed a marvel to behold. But what does any of that mean when you're killing your own country's civilian population in a desperate attempt to quell potential opposition? These are not the actions of a civilized individual. It seems I was wrong about you Mr. al-Assad. Did you really think that your political tighthold in Syria would last forever? Nothing lasts forever in this world. In the end you really are no different from any of the other despotic egomaniacs running their own little side-shows in the middle east. And it also seems you are no different from your father.

Like father, like son.

The old adage seems most fitting, wouldn't you agree?

Related links:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/31/syria-hama-crackdown-tanks-protests?CMP=twt_gu
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/01/syria-ramadan-brings-arab_n_914867.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/syrias-ramadan-massacre/2011/08/01/gIQAZHCKoI_story.html
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/8/2/as_ramadan_begins_assad_regime_intensifies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ROqAcX2BJk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMazylnrt0k

Ramadan checklist (with some manly man talk)

2011-07-31T17:14:00.000-07:00

Ahlan wa sahlan

Tis the season to be fasting falalalala LAAA la laaaaa laaa.......wait hold on a sec. I think I'm getting mixed up with another holiday.

Anyways I want to wish a very merry Ramadan to all muslims everywhere and especially to my loyal blog readers (all three of you lulz). So with the end of the month of Shaban and the start of Ramadan just an hour away, It got me thinking....time really flies doesn't it? This month has been one hell of a ride, I finished the summer classes I wanted to take, I moved to maryland, started a new job, and learned a hard lesson about myself.

Now that I'm all settled in the next question is.....how do I want to spend Ramadan this year? I need to use this blessed month to improve on the things that I think are necessary for me. One of the things I personally believe I need to improve on is trying to be a better man. A man you say? Yes a man is honorable and chivalrous. A man is brave. A man always does the right thing, no matter what the cost. In short I need to be like this:

Ok I admit I watched Lord of the Rings the other night. Gimme a break already! But all jokes aside I personally believe that its just something I need to improve on Inshallah. And don't get me wrong I'm not saying that I'm not already a gentleman as it is (what would the other alternative be...an orc?)

So what does it mean to be a man? A man is:

1) Honest. Even when the truth may be hard to say or hear. He doesn't lie to save himself nor does he lie to make himself sound more important or interesting.

2) Honorable. He does the right thing even when doing the opposite would be more beneficial for him.

3) Compassionate. He shows sympathy and concern for others. and tries to help when he can.

4) Educated. A man tries his best to seek knowledge.

5) Diligent. He always works hard to make sure his goals are accomplished. He doesn't let anyone or anything stand in his way (including himself).

6) Introspective. He is always in touch with his feelings and emotions and is reflective of his actions.

7) Leader. He chooses his own path and direction in life and follows it for himself.

8) Responsible. A man is conscious of his obligations and duties and always makes sure that his affairs are in order.

Sound familiar? All my requirements for being a "man", are also requirements for being a good muslim. Indeed all of these characteristics were exemplified and espoused by The Prophet (pbuh). We're only as good as we allow ourselves to be. So why not be the best that we can possibly be using the best role model we have? Inshallah.

Now some other things on my checklist I plan on getting done are:

1) Finishing the Quran at least once during this month.

2) Memorizing that surah I've been meaning to do for a while.

3) Learning up on some much needed hadith.

4) Improve any deficiencies I think I may have in my prayer or Quranic pronunciation.

5) Helping out more at my local masjid.
6) Attend all the tarawih prayers
7) Finish off all the work I've put on hold

8) Eat more hummus (just kidding)

Now if you haven't checked this out I highly suggest you do so. Its a series of animated videos on how to be a productive muslim during the month of Ramadan. Check out their youtube channel right here.

Ramadan Kareem :)

Salam!

Abdal Hakim Murad, Whole Foods, and Apple

2011-07-29T14:18:00.000-07:00

Ahlan wa Sahlan

Abdal Hakim Murad is probably my favorite academic 3alim al-din from Europe. Not only are his lectures on islamic theology, history and other related contemporary issues extremely informative and insightful but they're also simple and to the point Mashallah. I recommend his videos to anyone interested in increasing their 3ilm al-din. “It is only those who have knowledge amongst His slaves that fear Allah.” - Al-Quran(35:28)

In other news, Whole Foods has decided to run a Ramadan marketing campaign with the halal frozen brand Saffron Road. How cool is that? Now if only Whole Foods can reduce their crazy prices somehow. And maybe get Walmart to jump in on the fun. I really hope this thing works out well. You can read up more about that in this article right here.

And in a more bizarre twist, its seems that Apple has finally outgrown even the US treasury.

US Treasury cash balance = $ 73.8 billion
Apple cash balance = $76.2 billion

Maybe Obama should just kick out Tim Geithner and let Steve Jobs take his place . Instead of the Apple Store we'll just have one big Apple Treasury. Has a nice ring to it doesn't it?
Check out more about it right here.

Salam!

Friday Mention

2011-07-29T07:53:00.000-07:00

Ahlan wa Sahlan

I made a deal with a friend that I'd advertise her blog if she sent me a big package of assorted baked homemade muffins (just kidding!). Check out her blog "Tears & Laughter" right here.

Salam!

Park 51 NYChildren photography exhibit

2011-07-29T07:40:00.000-07:00

Ahlan wa sahlan.

Been meaning to put this up for a while now. The Park 51 Islamic Community Center in NYC also known as the "Ground Zero Mosque" by its unscrupulous detractors is trying to raise money for their NYChildren photography exhibit. You can donate anything as small as $1 or $5 to $50, $100, or even more. Any contribution helps whether you live in the USA or not. However they have a set deadline for August 10th so please let other people know as well Inshallah. If you'd like to donate online please click here. And you can also find more information about NYChildren on Park 51's official website right here.

The reason I'm doing this is because after the hell they went through last year I believe this a positive step forward. Allahu 3alam I don't know how they're going to raise enough money in 12 days. I'm personally going to distribute some flyers at my local mosque today after Friday prayers in order to raise some awareness on the issue. Allah works in mysterious ways, so let us never lose hope.

Salam!

Rumble in Norway

2011-07-28T02:25:00.000-07:00

Ahlan wa Sahlan!

So by now you've all probably heard about the tragedy that hit in Oslo less than a week ago on July 22nd. 68 people were killed through the shooting spree at a Labor Party youth camp on the norwegian island of Utoeya by terrorist Anders Behring Breivik. He is also allegedly involved in the bomb attack that ripped through Oslo's government district resulting in the death of 7 people.

Whats interesting about this particular incident is the actual media storm that ensued. Even though initial reports coming out of norway's TV2 indicated that a "blonde, nordic man" had been arrested in connection to the attacks, the reaction of most news outlets was to simply presume that he must have been a convert to Islam hence a connection to Al Qaeda. So eager was the news media to involve muslims in the attacks that they jumped on even the least credible information source possible. Thus emerged reports that a group called "The Helpers of the Global Jihad" had claimed responsiblity for the attacks. Source? From a (now deleted) discussion thread on an obscure arabic militant forum website called "Shmukh", where the quote of responsibility was diligently copy/pasted (in arabic) by one Will McCant, a blogger at www.jihadica.com. This was immediately picked up and published by The New York Times.

My first reaction was......"That doesn't even make sense. Why would islamic extremists attack Norway of all places?" My bewilderment did not cease despite answers that perhaps it was because of Norway's involvement with NATO. So they were compelled to attack Norway but not Denmark from which the cartoons of The Prophet (pbuh) originated from? It just didn't add up.

My skepticism was redeemed by Norway's official police report when it soon became apparently clear that the perpetrator of the attacks was not muslim nor had any ties to Al Qaeda, but was a radical right-wing christian fundamentalist from Norway.

But wait, it gets even better.

The 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik held anti-Muslim, anti-government and anti-immigration views, undoubtedly a hallmark of right-wing neo-conservatives in the USA and right-wing anti-immigration movements like the English Defence League (EDL) in Europe. This became no more obvious when it was discovered that Breivik had in fact written a 1,500-page manifesto entitled "2083: A European Declaration of Independence" espousing the same views that many if not all right-wing neo-cons enshrine on a daily basis. He goes on to cite the works of such infamous islamophobes as Robert Spencer, Daniel Pipes, and Pamela Geller as "required reading", all of whom have amusingly tried to distance themselves from Breivik and his criminal actions.

As soon as the US media caught up to the fact that the terrorist acts were carried out by a blue-eyed blonde-haired radical right-wing christian, they immediately dropped the "terrorist" label opting for more benign terms as "madman" and "lunatic". Bill O' Reilly of Fox News even went so far as saying that Breivik was not a christian fundamentalist.

This ridiculous double standard is not just insulting to its viewers but is also an indication of a severe lack of objective journalistic practice. Given that journalistic integrity in the US is almost nearly non-existent these days, you'd still think they'd be able to call a spade a spade even if its staring at you straight in the face. Well.....apparently not.

Stephen Colbert does a great job of lampooning this sad state of affairs in his segment of The Colbert Report.

Salam!

Related links:
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/07/201172611337853373.html
http://www.firstpost.com/fwire/uk-group-admits-links-with-norwegian-killer-48562.html
http://storify.com/jannelouisa/oslo
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/26/anders-breivik-christian-terrorist_n_910379.html
http://thinkprogress.org/security/2011/07/26/279093/anders-breivik-recommended-popular-anti-muslim-documentary-obsession-for-further-study/

Guess who's back? Back again.

2011-07-25T12:56:00.000-07:00

Ahlan wa sahlan! Yes its true I am indeed back. Now before you all start waving your pitchforks and torches at me and demanding an explanation of why I took an almost near 1 year hiatus and attempt to sacrifice me to the children of the corn (bad movie reference there), allow me to humbly explain.

A lot of stuff happened in my life during these many many months. Very important things which no doubt carry immensely significant and profound implications for my future For example, I lost a couple of pounds and Rebecca Black has continued to make soul sucking songs. Seriously. I dare you to try listening to just one of her songs (just one!), but I digress.

What a lot of you may not know is that I actually moved out of saudia and went back to the USA late last year to finally pursue higher studies. It's been quite a while since I've been back and settling down hasn't been a piece of cake. On top of managing my college applications, taking classes, getting a job, getting an apartment, getting a life (oh snap), and having to remind myself that this isn't saudia where the burgers at Burger King are actually halal, I've also had to prioritize my time to compensate my religious obligations. Don't get me wrong I wuv my country, but it really sucks when your nearest masjid is a 15 minute drive away instead of a 5 minute walk down the street. Baaah but its alright, if other american muslims can manage, then I can too Inshallah.

And just in case you were curious, no I don't live in california. I dunno, apparently everybody thinks anyone who goes to the USA goes to cali for some reason. Maybe Six Flags has finally come out with a mildly comprehensible marketing campaign for once, who knows. I on the other hand actually live in around the Washington DC area in south Maryland. Thats right, east coast represent!

A lot of things have happened this year with the arab uprisings, the recent attacks in oslo, and whatnot, so I'll definitely need to play catch up. Do any you guys use Twitter or Google +? If you do, add me:

Twitter: yousaf83
Google +: RY. S

Oh yea one more thing I might start making some vlogs on youtube as well to accompany my blog. I'll keep you updated on that Inshallah.

Salaam

Paranoid journal

2010-04-15T04:13:00.000-07:00

Entry 1

My nascent attempts at starting this journal is in order to leave behind a testament of my existence in the event that something......terrible should happen to me. For I suspect that someone or some people are trying to put me to sleep. Permanently. Perhaps the NWO or the hobo down the street who I never bother giving money to.

My suspicions increased not so long ago when I strolled into the kitchen in order to grab a snack from the refrigerator. As I picked up the inconspicuous looking white box of Hostess Twinkies from the bottom shelf, I noticed something strange. The once white linoleum of the area underneath where the twinkie box lay was stained with something that appeared to be oddly dark green in color. On a closer inspection I realized to my horror that this was no mere stain, but the growth spores of........a fungus. All this time I was consuming food placed in a refrigerating unit that was contaminated by a deadly fungus. I was slowly being poisoned!

I immediately alerted my younger sister to the threat and it was resolved that a quick and evasive extermination of the fungus was the only appropriate course of action. After much debate I decided that while my sister would isolate the unwelcomed creature and sanitize the fridge, I would take my box of cream-filled yellow spongecake treats and consume them while updating about the perilous incident on my blog. Judging from my sister's unamused reaction it seemed obvious that the fungus had no intention of vacating the premises, and tough actions would be needed.

I admit the use of a deadly biological weapon was clever however because of my never-ending vigilance, an almost successful attempt on ending my life was averted.

Yours Sincerely,
RYS

P.S. I eventually suffered some minor bouts of sickness which I believed was due to unprotected exposure to the deadly fungus, however it was only after my mother scolded me for eating the twinkies that it became apparent that they were way past their expiration date.

Ima arukidasou nanika ga hajimaru!

2010-02-11T15:11:00.000-08:00

What is it with anime and underage teenage schoolgirls? Why this incessantly perplexing trend of having the protagonist either being an underage teenage schoolgirl or being involved in a relationship with an underage teenage schoolgirl? Hmmm.

In case you're wondering the pic is a promotional ad for "Full Metal Panic?", an anime series that I recently snagged off a friend. The story is basically the life of a 16 year old special ops soldier (the logical choice) who masquerades as a high school student in order to protect a high value asset (aka a 16 year old girl) in a school where all the other 16 year old girls apparently wear C-cup bras, mini-skirts, and sport bright lustrous hair in about every color you can find in a box of Froot Loops. The stoic and somewhat frigid demeanor of the hero creates awkward situations between the bad-tempered heroine and other girls to comedic effect. That along with the funny yet vulgar off-color sexual jokes and the somewhat crude occasional shots of cartoon breasts, legs, buttocks, and groins make this yet another amusing run of the mill anime cartoon.

What makes this all the more disturbing and creepy is that the animators of these cartoons are all middle-age 30 or 40 year old men. I wonder whats going through their minds when they're drawing semi-naked teenage schoolgirls being stalked at night by a strange man wearing a horse mask whose only desire, is not to molest them, or rape them, but to use a hairbrush and some glue and wire in order to tie their beautiful hair into long pretty ponytails? Who are these people?

Theres only one answer. Hentaaaaaaaiiiiiii.

----------------------------------------------------------

Back in the day (aka a couple of months ago) I would make the regular rounds to the gym and the running track to keep fit and trim. I would sweat it out like Stallone preparing himself for another lame sleep-inducing installment of the Rocky series. So what went wrong, you ask? Where did this lumpy belly come from, you ask? How did I get chubby all of a sudden, you ask?

How? I'll tell you how. By snacking on cakes, muffins, pasta, lasagne, and a whole plethora of other rich tasty yet artery clogging treats and goodies baked and cooked by none other than my little sister. You see when family becomes involved, it becomes almost near impossible to refuse. Especially when they look like this.

Chocolate chip oatmeal cookies hot out of the oven. May the Lord have mercy on my greedy gluttonous soul.

----------------------------------------------------------

Now on a serious note I wanted to commemorate the passing away of Howard Zinn last month on the 27th. Zinn was an american historian, writer, and political activist who was involved in the anti-war movements and the fight for civil rights in america during the 60s. He along with Noam Chomsky were both against the invasion of Iraq and the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestine. His death along with the death of Edward Said in 2003 is slowly bringing to close the chapter of the prominent voices speaking out amidst the increasingly loud war chants emanating from the american right wing. The only person left from the old-school is Noam Chomsky who himself is over 80 years old. Does it mean the future is dark and bleak? Not necessarily. I have yet to make my appearance in the academic and political arena of my home country. So I guess only time will tell.

"We were not born critical of existing society. There was a moment in our lives (or a month, or a year) when certain facts appeared before us, startled us, and then caused us to question beliefs that were strongly fixed in our consciousness-embedded there by years of family prejudices, orthodox schooling, imbibing of newspapers, radio, and television. This would seem to lead to a simple conclusion: that we all have an enormous responsibility to bring to the attention of others information they do not have, which has the potential of causing them to rethink long-held ideas."— Howard Zinn, 2005

Happy (late) new year

2010-01-27T03:23:00.000-08:00

"I believe I can see the future
Cause I repeat the same routine
I think I used to have a purpose
But then again
That might have been a dream
I think I used to have a voice
Now I never make a sound
I just do what I've been told
I really don't want them to come around"
NIN - "Everyday is exactly the same"

Time: 3:00 am
Its funny the odd and unexpected places where one stumbles across bits of packaged wisdom, even if its from a song. At the turn of this year I rose from bed in my relatively undersized apartment in Riyadh and realized that perhaps everything IS exactly the same. My routine was basically to work, eat, and sleep. However looking back at my past life it becomes abundantly clear that a constant uniform routine or stream of experiences has been against my nature (and my namesake for that matter) from the very beginning of my existence. I always need my immediate reality to be dynamic and changing. Simply put, I thrive in the Verve.

Either that, or I have Attention Deficit Disorder. Hmm.

Anyways I quit my job, packed up my things, moved out of my apartment, drove back to Dhahran, and spent the new year and much of January visiting relatives in pakistan. Aaahh the land of the disenfranchized.

Time: 3:12 am
"To buy a bullet-proof vest, or not to buy a bullet-proof vest?" is the first question which popped into mind before my flight to pakiland. Alright I'm kidding. (It was the second question).

Time: 3:15 am
After quitting my job I have intentions to continue my higher studies this year back in Texas, mainly in animation. Though I do also intend to study various other related and unrelated fields like philosophy, poli sci, linguistics, art and of course, architecture.

Time: 3:20 am

A muffin in the hand is worth two in the oven. True story.

Time: 3:21 am

If I have to endure hearing Lady Gaga's name one more time I will hang myself with a shoelace.

Time: 3:22 am
While my appreciation for good art tends to go into the far flung nether-regions of graphic novel-dom and comic bookry, I am able to discern good art when I see it. Take this piece for example, by iranian painter Iman Maleki titled "Omens of Hafez" or in farsi فال حافظ.

A prime example of an impressive style of art known as Realism.

Looks real doesn't it? In a way its almost like a reflection of life itself. Some things that are real seem less real to us, and things which aren't seem more real than they should be.

Time: 3:30 am

All right thats all from me now. Adios!

(And for the record I have no idea why theres so many huge gaps in my paragraphs/lines. Must be a new year's glitch in the blog matrix.)

Driving in saudi arabia Part 3

2009-11-24T23:01:00.000-08:00

If any of you can remember (which you probably won't) back in 2006 and 2008 I posted up my thoughts about the traffic situation in KSA, and classified the fascinating variety of drivers present in the kingdom. Well apparently since then I've come across some even more different & dangerous breeds of drivers.

If you haven't read them I suggest you take a look at them before proceeding.

Driving in saudi arabia Part I

Driving in saudi arabia Part II

The Drifter: Forget the speed freak and the linerider, this guy may quite possibly be the most dangerous driver on the road at the moment. Initially this individual seems to be the epitome of a normal driver. However as soon you approach him from the next lane, he will for some inexplicable reason, slowly begin to drift in your direction, onto your lane. These guys even seem to time their movements too so that when they drift onto your lane, they do so exactly at the same point where your car is intended to be. Kind of like a predatory animal stalking prey in the Serengeti. Was there a lion documentary marathon on the National Geographic channel that I wasn't aware of?

The problem is almost everybody on the road is doing it. Somebody needs to inform these idiots that the rear view mirror is there for a reason, not for trimming your nose hair or fixing your gutra in any one of your preferred 3 million combinations.

The Cellular-Man: This guy likes to keep himself connected all the time. Even when he's not taking a call. And especially when he's driving and supposed to be paying attention to the road. I suppose having the latest iphone taped to the ear gives these men a false sense of sophistication. But in the end not even your awesome bluetooth earpiece will save you from the embarrassment of having to stand in front of your wrecked beamer waiting for the police to arrive because you thought you could be Waleed bin Talal for a day.

The Car-horn Master: Not as dangerous as the above two, but sure as hell is the most annoying. Ever notice that one driver that honks his car-horn for no apparent reason? Like at a red light. Or on a road with few cars. Or when you're waiting in line at the McDonald's drive-thru. Yea thats the Car-horn Master. Legend has it that the these particular individuals are trained in the mystical art of Noise. So adept are they that no street, road, highway, or quiet neighborhood can defy their almighty power. Except for the police. And any person with a stick handy.

The Woman Driver: Oh thats right, I forgot....

The good news is that KSA now no longer holds the record of the highest traffic accident rates in the gulf. The UAE as of this year has a higher traffic accident rate according to the WHO, approximately 37.1 road fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to KSA's 29.0 road fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants. Which is pretty crazy when compared to Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait who have rates of 12.1, 23.7, 16.9 respectively.

I know people are trying to improve the situation in KSA, but frankly speaking, TV adverts on the dangers of car accidents, while being informative, is not going to do anything. Neither is having big bearded sheikhs on TV ruling bad driving as "haram" going to help much. If saudis want to decrease traffic accidents, then all they have to do is just improve the training in the driving schools. Yes its really that simple.

Riyadh = Major Trouble

2009-11-15T07:01:00.000-08:00

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? 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!

2009-04-05T06:47:00.000-07:00

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

2009-01-05T17:37:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-12-15T09:17:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-11T10:52:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-05T10:23:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-10-31T09:47:00.000-07:00

Getting married.

2008-10-21T12:08:00.000-07:00

As I sink my teeth into the helpless BK Big King XXL burger, a multitude of thoughts race through my head. Even though this double patty burger with lettuce, cheese, and some odd named sauce in a sesame sead bun may look scrumptious to the naked eye, it is in fact greasy, loaded with calories, and might probably clog my arteries (along with contributing to my ever expanding waist-line which I gained over the summer).
So why exactly am I eating this? It is after all the prime example of junk food, which in my opinion is the lowest form of foodstuff available. I could have just went and eaten a much healthier and less expensive shawerma meal. The reason being, to put it simply as in the words of a certain good-guy turned traitor in the movie The Matrix: "Ignorance is bliss".

Sooo..........what does all this have to do with getting married?

Absolutely nothing. I just felt like talking about burgers for some reason. Anyways....

Marraige has always been a somewhat humorous topic for me. Its not the apparent mishaps between a married couple that strikes me as funny as does the attitude most young people I know have about getting married. How many times have I seen or heard about young men and women (including your average high schooler) getting all misty-eyed over finding their true love and living the romantic life that they've always dreamed of just like in those amazing arabic music videos. Of course things don't always turn out the way they're expected to.

I've personally always taken the concept of love and marraige with a grain of salt. In fact I don't even believe in the concept of true love. This eventually leads to me laughing at the people who do. I suppose thats my nihilistic side speaking out.
You see what I think is that people tend to fall in love with the idea of falling in love rather than actually falling in love. And when they do fall in love with someone, all they're doing is just being satisfied with the "compatibility" that this particular person has with their own life. The only other reason I can think of is Lust.

This attitude of mine doesnt mix too well with my mother who for the past year has been nagging me nonstop, much to my chagrin, about getting me married off. Yea mothers bug guys about this stuff too. I guess I havent made it clear enough that I have no interest in doing anything of that sort. Not for a long time anyways.

BLOG RENOVATION UPDATE
I haven't started yet. So....like....uhh yea. lol hmm

new phat fresh

2008-10-17T16:14:00.000-07:00

I think its time for this blog to undergo a serious make-over....and i know exactly what needs to be done *cracks fingers*

Bahrain, uni and future plans....

2008-10-14T13:03:00.000-07:00

Well I drove to Bahrain last thursday with a couple of my friends to see The Dark Knight. The movie was pretty good though not as spectacular as all the hype made it out to be. Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker was top-notch. I was kinda frustrated that Two-face didnt have as much film time though. There's no batman villain that has a darker story than Two-face (at least in the comic books anyways). All in all it was defintely worth seeing in the movie theater.
Going to bahrain is always loads of fun. Only a mere 40 minutes away and yet its like a totally different world. Actually maybe the word should be a totally NORMAL world. I mean seriously its kinda a relief that you can stand behind a woman in a checkout queue in a store, and not have her think that you're about to rape her or something. On the flip side, my friends made a big deal out of seeing chicks drive cars. Its like they've never seen a woman driving before. Oh wait thats right, they havent. Either way its pretty embaressing.

Anyways this is the first week back to classes. This is my last semester (thank God) and inshallah I'll graduate in Februrary once and for all. I've taken waaaaaaaay too long. Though it comes as no surprise considering the architecture program is a whopping 148 credit hours, which is at least up to 15 or 20 credit hours more than any other major, making it the highest credit hour major at uni.
My interests have shifted somewhat as have my plans for the future. I'm probably not to going to continue in architecture after I graduate. Instead I have my eyes set on getting an internship at Pixar in california. You know...the 3D film animation company that made Finding Nemo, Toy Story, Ratatouille, and this year's WALL-E. My background in using a 3D modelling software (3D Studio Max) for architectural renderings is definitely a plus. Having experience with a 3D modelling software (3DsMax, Maya, RenderMan, etc), university degree, and a strong portfolio are amongst the things they'll be looking for. The other major thing is broad artistic and technical skills. I have until March to submit my portfolio. Wish me luck!

Of course I'm also going to try for DreamWorks, LucasArts, and Blue Sky Studios. I'm also interested in the gaming industry, and might try to see if I can get a job later in one of the numerous game development companies dotting the states. And if things don't work out....well I still have architecture. And if that doesnt work out....then i'm just going be an unemployed bum.......lounging at home obtaining sustainance off deep dish pizza and twinkies.

Eid mubarack obama

2008-10-07T16:07:00.000-07:00

Well I know I'm a little bit late with my eid greetings but whatever. So I was dragged by my somewhat dysfuntional family to Makkah and Medinah for umrah during the last week of ramadan. I know I shouldnt say it like that but I seriously wasnt in the mood to go this time. All I wanted to do was watch Seinfeld and go with my friends to eat at a hotel buffet on Eid morning as we usually do. But you know what, who cares what Mr. R thinks....

Anyways so Makkah and Medinah were hotter than usual. Medinah was still nice. If I ever wanted to live in saudia the two places would be either here in dhahran or in medinah. Praying in the harem was great too.
Though this will be, without a doubt the last time I share my sijjadat salat (janamaz/prayer rug) with anyone else. You know how people will be all nice and generous and lay their sajada sideways lengthwise so that at least two other people dont have to touch the ground with their heads when they go into sujood?

Well no more!

I've had enough with people repaying the generosity by coughing and snivelling all over my sajada. No wonder I caught sore throat on the last day there...which happened to be Eid. And one guy had the nerve to start pulling out long gray hairs from his beard and flick some of them right on the sajada. On MY prayer rug!

Well anyways hope everybody had a good time. Ahem.

Aggh.

2008-09-24T15:05:00.000-07:00

Aggh. Just aggh.

Thats all I got to say. Why, you may ask is all that I have to say is aggh? Why, you may ask is there is nothing other than aggh for me to say? And why, you may ask am I unwittingly saying other things than aggh when I specifically said that aggh was all I had to say thus contradicting my first statement about aggh?

I suppose I could say its because just this saturday (20 september) after iftar, a dumptruck filled with RDX and TNT just happened to drive up to the Marriot hotel in Islamabad in pakistan and blow it to kingdom come leaving 60 people dead and a massive crater in the ground about the size of mexico. All this during Islam's holiest month.

Or I suppose I could say that its because Asif Ali Zardari, the worst, most corrupt, and most useless politician in paki history (second to his deceased wife of course) won 281 out of 426 valid votes during the recent presidential elections. (Actually scratch that, he's not really much of a politician either). I'm sad to say this but it looks like its the end of pakiland. Wait, what am I saying. It IS the end of pakiland. RIP.

Or I suppose I could say that after the pakistani electorial dissapointment, that I thought I could count on looking forward to the upcoming US presidential elections.......

...........But alas. To no avail my friends.

Everybody seems to be rooting for Obama. But to be honest in the end there isnt gonna be any substantial difference between him and McCain in regards to foreign policy. Same old useless tactics. Same old AIPAC and zionist lobby ass kissing. Its pretty much down to which of the two lesser evils gets the highest number of votes.

I'm not even sure if I should bother voting this time. The last time I was able to vote, Bush and Kerry were in the hotseats and it was pretty much a no-brainer then. So much that I didnt even bother voting for Ralph Nader (the preferred candidate amongst most of my friends anyways). Eh what the hell. If we as a religious faith are gonna suffer and be marginalized anyways then I might as well put in my two cents and root for the democrats and feel happy that I made the right choice (hardy har har). And besides, anything from getting that self-righteous hypocritical biatch Sarah Palin getting to be vice president.

At least Obama is making an effort to emphasize the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and decreasing the influence the lobbyists. Yessssssss finally! At least somebody has finally said something about those snivelling little bastards. This is definitely a step forward. I guess I might vote after all.

So yea maybe this is why I have nothing to say other than aggh. Aggh aggh aggh aggh. Aggh all the live long day.

hapyp bierthday

2008-09-20T03:07:00.001-07:00

Well it was my bday on thursday making me a whopping quarter of a century old. I wasn't really in a celebratory mood but my family took me out to eat anyways. I don't like having birthday parties for myself because I hate being the center of attention.

Anyways heres a couple of interesting things that have happened in the past on my birthday September 18.

In 1573 - Spain attacked Alkmaar which was a city in the netherlands. (Huh jeez thats nice)

In 1873 - The Panic of 1873 begins. (How about that)

In 1885 - Riots break out in Montreal to protest against compulsory smallpox vaccination. (oh boy)

In 1939 - William Joyce's first Nazi propaganda broadcast. (this just keeps getting better and better)

In 1970 - Jimi Hendrix dies in London (nooo not jimi !)

In 1982 - Christian militia begin killing six-hundred Palestinians in Lebanon. (you gotta be kidding me)

In 2001 - First mailing of anthrax letters from Trenton, New Jersey in the 2001 anthrax attacks. (nothing like some anthrax on a birthday to spice things up)

Well that was just wonderful. I feel so much more better now.

Go fish!

2008-09-15T02:12:00.000-07:00

Ramadan always seems brings out a deep seated animalistic hunger in people. Near around iftar time you can't help but notice how people sit around and wait, eyeing the meal before them like potential prey which has been caught unaware. Stalking from afar, the hungry predators watch for the right time to pounce. The right time........ to go in for the kill.

Anyways here's a quick and deliciously scrumptious recipe for baked fish fillet that I had to beg (literally) to get from my mother. Now before you all start whining like a bunch of poverty stricken poster children for testosterone poisoning, allow me to say that I have personally taste tested it, and despite being fish, it is actually really really good.

And I'm sure you will enjoy it too. Unless you screw it up. Then thats your fault.

Baked fish fillet

You can get boneless fish fillets from your nearest grocer or super, hyper, ultra, mega (etc) market. Take them home and wash the fish fillets with water (and if you're really adventurous, with detergent too). Leave them aside and prepare the marination.

Before you start, make sure you pre-heat your oven. Turn it on to 350 degrees C.

Next thing is to prepare the marination. Take a big bowl and mix the following ingredients:

3 - 4 tablespoons of white vinegar
1 tablespoon of any powdered fish or seafood seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon powdered cocaine ( just kidding)

Note: This is enough for ONE fish fillet only. If you have more fish then make more marination. You can adjust the ingredients accordingly to your taste.

Marinate the fish fillets and leave them in the bowl for about 10 minutes (or for 1 day if you're really hardcore).

During this time fetch a baking tray/pan/whatever and grease the inside with 1 tablespoon of olive oil or any cooking oil you prefer. Take the fish fillets and place them length-wise in the tray. Depending on the size of your baking tray, fit as many fish fillets as you can as long as theres a little space in between them.

Pop them into the oven and bake for around 30 minutes or until they look somewhat dry. And presto! You have some deliciously mouth-watering baked fish which not only tastes good but is healthy as well. Now you can eat it by itself, in a sandwich, or hell you can bring out the bedouin in you and have it with some ruz bokhary. Serve with a glass of chilled ice lemon tea.

Next week I'll tell you how to make delicous octupus & liver eggplant pie.

Sa7tain

Ramadan Kareem

2008-09-01T02:32:00.000-07:00

Ho ho ho! Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la laaa............oh wait. Whoops wrong holiday. Anyways I wish everyone has a peaceful and prosperous month.

Just try not to get too fat ok.

Driving in saudi arabia Part 2

2008-08-20T05:20:00.000-07:00

If any of you were around long enough to remember my post about driving and drivers in saudi arabia you will undoubtedly understand that traffic in this country is a huge problem. Well since my last post Ive come across a host of new types of drivers of whom I'd like to discuss.

The Line-rider: This guy learned nothing about driving on a road from the little that is taught in driving school. Is under the impression that the white lines dividing the road are in fact the lanes themselves. So he drives over the line making sure to keep it within the tires of his car. These guys are completely oblivious to the great amount of honking generated by other drivers.

The Player: Ever watched a game of american football? Where players run and dodge opponents in order to reach the other side? Well considering most young shabab are crazy about soccer, these type of drivers have been watching the wrong sports channel. Think of this guy as the younger unmarried version of The Camel Jockey. Not only do these guys not look when they turn in from an intersecting street, but act like that any ensuing mishaps resulting thereof is invariably the other teams fault. In the event of an accident will either phone his daddy or every friend on his mobile phone's contact list.

The Bus: These big and gentle giants are unfortunately very annoying. Not only are they slow but they take up a whole lane forcing its giant metal ass to take up your whole front view. If you end up being in the unfortunate situation of heavy traffic with a bus in front of you then you will also have to endure breathing heavy exhaust smoke filtering through your car's air-conditioning system.

The Truck: Very similar to a bus however unlike the bus these come in a variety of wonderful forms such as:

The dumptruck. The waste disposal truck. The garbage truck. The people's truck. The water transportation truck. The toxic or potentially dangerous chemical/substance truck.

Either way if you're behind a truck on a road it would be advisable to move immediately. Or you might end up getting some strange substance on the front hood of your car...

And last but not least...

The Pedestrian: Somehow its ingrained in our DNA to be idiots. Why oh WHY don't people use the overhead walkway bridges instead of just stumbling across the roads like they've got a bad case of diarrhea? Some of these people have a death wish. Standing in the middle of the road it makes one think if they actually want cars to turn them into squishy little smears on the asphalt..

Exit musharraf

2008-08-20T03:02:00.000-07:00

Well it was going to happen sooner or later. I really don't know if I should feel glad or dissapointed. You see despite the fact that Pervez Musharraf made it a point to ally himself with the US and other pro-western forces, and despite the fact that this was basically the reason why most pakis were unhappy with him, and despite the fact he wasn't democratically elected after staging a coup ousting the then prime minister Nawaz sharif in 1999, he is in my opinion much much MUCH better than the ass-hats now vying to take his place.

Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif (again?)?? Are you frikken kidding me?? Two of the most corrupt and useless politicians in paki history? The very fact that Musharraf ousted Nawaz sharif was exactly BECAUSE of clowns like Zardari and Sharif. Not only do these two not care about anyone else except their greedy selves, but have proven in the past to be totally incompetent when it comes to running a country. I would have been ok with musharraf's resignation if the current presidential candidates were actually sane people looking to finally set the record straight with pakistan's messed up past.

Ok yes I know Musharraf kicked out a bunch of high level judges last year and he tried to censure the country's media following that fiasco, and he imposed a nationwide state of emergency, and he toyed around with the constitiution a bit, but to be honest he is probably the most honest and uncorrupt high-level government leader that pakistan has seen since maybe Muhammad Ali Jinnah himself.
At least he managed to open up the paki economy to foreign investment which in '99 was almost negligible and encourage industrialization, which I should add is far far more than Zardari or Sharif have ever accomplished in the past.

Its left to be seen what the future of pakistan holds, but if you ask me they've taken a major step backward.

Cats

2008-08-14T10:18:00.000-07:00

soundtracked by: Al Stewart - "Year of the cat"

I know what you're thinking. As you scroll down you're expecting to see a couple of pics of some cute furballs and possibly a hand or two stroking one of their fuzzy heads. Well nothing could be further from the truth.

This post isnt about why I like cats. Its about why they're so annoying. You see I have this backyard. And the only thing in this backyard are......my 11 cats. Yes I have 11 cats (well technically 3 cats and 8 kittens) running around my backyard.
I've noticed that cats are just like homeless people.

You give them food once, they come back asking for more.

They try to become your pal when you really don't wanna know them.

They're always raiding the trash cans 3 or 4 times a week.

And they pretty much plop down and sleep anywhere they want. Like on the side of the street or in the middle of the park. The only difference is cats can give themselves baths and homeless people can't.

Plus they use their cute fuzzy exteriors to induce sympathy amongst people in order to manipulate them into giving them food. Homeless people don't have fuzzy exteriors. And even if they did it wouldnt be cute.

------------------------------------------------------

So anyways when a guy has a cat it tends to be a sort of a father-child relationship. You have to take care of the cat, feed it expensive cat food (btw those bastards at the supermarket raised the price of whiskas again), and provide it a place to sleep...just like a child. The good news is at least you dont have to potty train it.

Now, the 10 of my 11 cats are the result of my three-legged cat called Gato. Yea she's been sleeping around the neighborhood alot. Now as a 'father' this sort of presents an upsetting situation. First of all the cat that you've been nurturing for all these years, one day decides to get up, go out the door and disappear for like a month. You don't know where she is and what she's doing, and even if she's alive and well. And then just like that BOOM she returns back pregnant with a kid (or kids). Now what do you say to this cat? You can't yell at her because the poor thing is pregnant and all emotional and what not, and besides its not like she really listened to you much anyways to begin with.
And thus this leads to the birth of a whole batch of new furballs and then the nightmare starts to repeat itself. This is also compounded with the fact that you have to deal with your friends making inappropriately perveted jokes like "So dude...which pussy you gonna feed tonight?" (wink wink).

Now you might simply say...well gee don't keep a cat if you don't wanna have to deal with all that. But apparently theres an upside to a guy having a cat....

....Women love cats.

(well except for Sous and Pinkish's sister)

So therefore if a guy has a cat, women will automatically like you. And even IF women don't like you they'll still wanna see your cat, which means they'll be around you alot resulting in the likelihood of them possibly hooking up with you. So it pretty much works out in the end.

So why am I still single? Damn cats.

Tagged by a whole bunch of people.

2008-08-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

Oh wait a minute. I'm a guy. I don't do tags.

Oh well. Maybe next time.

suckers :)

Arabic blunder # 3

2008-08-01T13:56:00.000-07:00

Don't you just hate it when people drive up to you when you've stopped at a red light, ask you for directions and you don't know what the hell they're talking about?
You see people ask me for directions ALL the time when im out driving. And I mean ALL the frikken time. I dunno is it the way I look or something? Do I exude some kinda superficial charm that I'm unaware of? Is there some kinda sign that makes people think "oh gee you know what I think i'll ask him, he looks like he knows everthing" ?? WTF man

Anyways this was back when I just got my driver's license after spending 2 weeks in that shitty excuse of a driving school (and people wonder why saudis can't drive). So its a hot summer night and I'm ready to go out somewhere. I stop at a red light and lo and behold a white landcrusier driven by some saudi in his 40's (as usual) pulls up next to me. He pulled down his window and motions to me. So being the good natured idiot that I am I pulled down my window to hear what he had to say. This is what ensued:

Him: Hala ya shabab. T3aref wen Abqaiq?

Now this was before I even knew any of the other cities in shargeya besides dhahran, khobar and dammam. I can't say "maafi maloom" again because I already tried that and I'm not afghani. So while trying to think of something to say I see across the road a bakery with the name "Bayt al Cake" in arabic. I dunno what happened but all of sudden I made this instant connection with "abqaiq" and "bayt al cake". So thinking I'm a genius I say with a smile on my face:

Me: Cake? Aha! Shoof cake hinak (pointing to the bakery)

The guy stares at the bakery for a minute and then looks back at me as if I was the strangest looking creature he had ever seen.

Him: Aghollak wen abqaiq. Ma t3aref?

Me: *shrugs* uhh la2.

Him: Tab gol hada! Ish feek? *drives off in a huff*

Of course now that I know lots of arabic if anyone asks me wheres abqaiq is I'll just say "Up your ass thats where you mofo! Ask somebody else!".

laterz.

Checklist

2008-06-19T07:30:00.000-07:00

Things I need to do this summer:

1. Practice using 3D studio max

2. Practice graffiti

3. Improve my guitar skills

4. Join a band

5. Lose some weight

6. Work out at the gym

7. Get laid (im kidding)

8. Get drunk (im kidding again)

9. Get high (ok i'll stop)

10. Brush up on my illustration and graphic design skills

11. Somehow get the Unreal Tournament 3 engine and map editor (along with the game)

12. Study through the big textbook on architectural sustainability issues.

13. Check out everything the library in the jam3ah has on "Anamorphism".

14. Start writing story and developing concept and character designs for graphic novel.

15. Start developing character designs for future 3D animated episodes.

16. Get a job.

17. Get a life.

18. Get a woman! Oh Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! lol

.....Its gonna be a busy summer. I gotta get ready for those two interviews too. Wish me luck!

Its Friday the 13th

2008-06-13T10:05:00.001-07:00

No wonder I don't feel so good.

Speaking of which, when that happens I usually go on youtube and watch the music vid for that song "hulm romancy" by hamad al amri al wasmi or whatever his face is called.
I dunno theres something upbeat about that song, makes you feel like its Eid all over again. And of course I just find something hilarious about two grown men singing about the wet dream they had, and not to mention the group of women wearing white gowns in the vid showcased like they were a herd of sheep wandering around the place. Ahahahaha sweet.

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

Fool of a took!

2008-05-18T10:06:00.001-07:00

Soundtracked by Nine Inch Nails - "Just like you imagined"

"And thus I, Ren_crow aka Rys-Raziel returned back from the precipice of madness. The long absence from the blogosphere had destroyed me as I surely had perished in the darkness of the deep abyss (university)...................yet I lived! And now at this dire hour of need I must relinquish my presence furthermore (until mid june)..........so that I may henceforth learn and prosper............and not become an unwitting pawn to the foul machinations of life insurance scams, overtly priced tech accessories, and assholes (uni professors)."

See you after the semester. Wish me luck.

Arabic blunder # 2: "maafi maloom"

2008-05-15T16:43:00.001-07:00

Back in the day when my arabic wasnt as sophisticated as it was now, i usually picked up on anything I heard. After hearing the bengali workers constantly using the word "maafi maloom", I thought that this was basically what I should say whenever I dont know anything. Unfortunately i would frequently end up getting into stupid situations like this:

*walking down the street in the university housing area*
Lady: Ya shabab! T3al dageega...

Me: *walks over* n3m

Lady: T3aref wen makaan "Al-hayel ferdaws"?

Me: uhhhh *thinks for a while* hmmm hayel ferdaws.......wallahi maafi maloom.

Lady: Huh? Maafi ish? Ish gult?

Me: Maafi maloom hayel ferdaws.

Lady: Maafi maloom?

Me: Eywa

Lady: .......inta afghani?

Me: .............

And no i'm not afghani just in case you were wondering. Close, but no.

Arabic blunder # 1

2008-05-03T07:49:00.000-07:00

I only just realized today that I've been saying "abgha saksouka" instead of "abgha shakshouka" to the cashier guy sitting in my local mat3am in the mornings. No wonder he's been looking at me strange all year. How embarresing.

Felicity

2008-04-12T14:04:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc4gL1zusoQ

Hehe i remember watching this show back in 10th grade. Kind of made me think of what exactly would happen if I got into college or grad school. Would I go through the kind of things felicity went through? Now that I AM in that stage I realized its not as dramatic as I thought it would have been like, in context with friends, ex BF's (non-existent GF's in my case), and her problems with choosing the right college major (hint: Do NOT take pre-med. You'll just break up with the love of your life, proceed to cut your hair off and look like some dumb english school teacher from those black & white Charlie Chaplin films).
Then again who am I to say that if I had gone to college in the states instead that I wouldnt be going through that kind of drama?

........ok thats just starting to sound a little too girly-ish for my comfort. I think i'll grow a beard.

I'm not dead. Just fried like a zombie.

2008-04-06T05:41:00.000-07:00

Ok before I say anything i'd like to say:

1. Eid Mubarak
2. Merry Christmas
3. Happy new year 2008!!!!!!!!!!!!
4. Krispy Kreme finally opened here in shargiya
5. Happy Mother's day
6. Happy Valentines day.......actually scratch that, its a bullshit holiday
7. Happy Easter
8. I got married :) .......................

...................yea April Fools ya fools!

Anyways, my new semester started in February, and so has my senior project. Which is why i havent been on the blogs much. Which is a really lame excuse because ive been spamming the hell out of facebook. But you get my drift right?
This is my second last semester and the last semester in which i have my studio classes. One more semester and I will graduate and be officially outta here!

Summer, Bahrain, Procrastination

2007-10-04T13:29:00.000-07:00

Didn't think not blogging for 4 months would have left these many cobwebs on my blog. But anyways, Yes the one and only Mr. Ren is back from the dead..........yet again.......mwahaha (hust trying to ghet into the halloween mood here). You're just gonna have to blame facebook for this. I'm innocent.

Well alot of stuff has happened and come to pass since my last post. Namely the summer training/internship/torture that I managed to survive through. Ok it wasnt torture, but it wasnt as great as I thought. I got into a design office in Khobar called VADO which stands for Vision Architectural Design Office. Lol no shit? Even though its not the largest design office, it however does recieve most of the commercial projects in Al-Shargiya. They were also the ones who designed the landscaping for Khobar corniche & Dammam corniche. so that was kinda cool. The general manager/head architect was a pretty decent guy. A bit demanding at times, but in general he was nice.
However its not the work, or the amount of work which bothered me......its just the actual sitting in an office for like 10 hours for 5 or 6 days a week (depending on the work load) which bugged me. It is SOO boring. I cant stand it. I was destined to move and wander around (as is explicitly apparent from the meaning of my arabic name, which unknown to my parents who gave it to me in the first place, is what I would be doing for the latter part of most of my life).

Tres creepy, non?

Anyways besides the internship, my summer was also the season for Bahrain! Im sure alot of people have heard of the notoriusly amusing stories of saudi shabab going to bahrain and getting drunk or harassing girls. Well this is where it all happens.
Of course I dont go to get drunk. I dont drink, nor do I plan on drinking. I go for what most guys I know go for. The Movies ;)
And since I live in Khobar, it takes like what......40-60 minutes maximum to drive there? Which is why its usually reserved for a weekend thing. Though one must be careful. It does take its toll on your bank account.........as I so unabashedly found out.

Procrastination should be categorized as a degenerative disease. Seriously. Its one thing to be lazy, but its a totally other thing when you're scrambling to finally do assignments like an hour before its due because you were too dumb to do it in the 2 weeks that you had *grumbles*.
I really need to start praying more taraweeh. Now that we finally got our ramadan vacations starting since yesterday, I should have no problems praying the extra mile. Hope everybody's ramadan is going well. Inshallah you will gain great barakah from this most holiest of months. Why, if you like i'll even make du'aa for all of you. Yes I'm that nice.

*waits patiently for someone to send baklawah to his house for iftar*

Its all about science, mom!

2007-05-11T06:39:00.000-07:00

Mom: Just look at your room! Its a mess!

Me: Hey, Its not that bad

Mom: Not that bad?! Astghfirullah! You're a senior college student and you can't even take care of yourself?

Me: Hey i'm a busy guy. Besides, its just a couple of shirts and jeans on the bed...and my desk and chair but thats all. No problem.

Mom: Oh? And for what reason do we have closets?

Me: Because it's a good place to store my guitar?:p

Mom: No sir, so you can hang your clothes nice and properly instead turning them into cloth balls like this *points to random bundle of clothes on the bed*

Me: Its not like anyone is gonna see. Nobody comes into my room anyways.

Mom: So what about when you get married? Whats your wife gonna say when she sees you cant even keep yourself tidy?

Me: Uhmm err ahh *quickly tries to change subject* actually theres a scientific reason for why my room is messy.

Mom: Like what...

Me: I rememeber reading in my high school physics book about the Law of Entropy. It says that disorder is the natural state of the universe. Anything that is in order will eventually turn to disorder. So theres really no point in cleaning up my room because it'll just get messy all over again. I can show you the chapter in the book if you like.

Mom: .............that is the dumbest thing I ever heard. Who made up that theory?

Me: Uhmm I'm not sure. Cant rememeber.

Mom: Yea he must have been a slob just like you. Now fix up this room!

------------

So the moral of the story is..........well actually there is no moral. Basically I'm a junkie.

Hail the procrastinator

2007-05-10T09:56:00.000-07:00

soundtracked by Sarah Mclachlan - fallen

OKAY so yea i know said i was gonna update my blog over the weekend. But as always something came up and I had to.......hey whoa! *dodges crowd of angry stick waving blog readers* ....stop! take it easy! Gimme a break already.

Actually I didnt even know I had fans. I personally think my blog is full of useless crap not worth reading......but theres actually people who LIKE reading it. I know it sounds crazy, but its true! Hmm I suppose this is somehow the remainder of an unbalanced equation inherent to the programming of my blog. It is truely the eventuality of an anomaly, which despite my sincerest efforts I have been unable to eliminate from what is otherwise a harmony of architectural precision. While it remains a burden assiduously avoided, it is not unexpected, and thus not beyond a measure of control. And the reason which has led you, inexorably, here.

Yea whatever

Anyways last week was horrendous. I had to prepare for my final presentation for my project. So being the genius I am (emphasis on genius) I ended up working almost 3 days straight without sleep (however i managed squeeze in 3 hours of sleep somewhere along the line), and I STILL didnt get everything done. Damn im good. Hail the procrastinator indeed.If only you could have seen me during that 3 day period. Ahh yes I was a blubbering blurry-eyed unshaven greasy-haired mess of a monkey.
I need as much practice as i can get with my last studio project for the semester because of the fact that I'll be doing my internship/training this summer. And I dont wanna screw up. Unfortunately......due to the inherent unbalanced equation i mentioned above, screwing up may be unavoidable....and thus inevitable.

Speaking of screwing up...ive been feeling pretty screwed up lately. For the first time in a very long time, ive started to feel.........lonely. I guess being a good unfoolish little boy for the past 7 years is seriously starting to take its toll on me. Besides, is it me.....or do girls in this country like u as long ure some fugly chain-smoking crazy assed lunatic? Well apparently it seems that way. What does a man have to do to socialize but still keeping his dignity intact? He stays on the internet 24/7 thats what he does lol. I guess the problem is i'm not like those desperate guys who are always looking for some relationship in order to keep them to mentally stable (unlike some guys i know:p).

I know ure probably thinking "well gee thats a good thing!". But the hard truth is that those half-assed shabab that go running around after girls....are the ones that eventually hook up with some. I'm sort of a loner by nature. U know...like in those movies. The only thing is, in the movies they're either reluctant heroes or complete psychos:I personally think dating is kinda....corny. Of course I wouldnt know anything about it cuz I havent been in one, but u know...u can make an educated guess.

======================================================

Spider-man 3 opened up this week in theaters across the states! How many of you actually used to read the comic books before the movies came out? I know I did. Hmm i'll make a note of driving to bahrain on one of these weekends...

On a serious note, I want to give my condolences to the family of the people who were killed in Virginia Tech last month. I remember visiting Blacksburg occaisonly as a kid because my dad was doing his phD at VT at the time. Seriously sucks how people can just get up and murder a while lot of people because they think their life sucks. Deal with it!

Anyways verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose so I will thus bid you all adieu.

Oh btw, rememeber I said I would show u all my dubai pics? Well uhhh....due to a technical problem it seems that............... *dodges crowd of angry sword wielding blog readers* will you all just chill out? I have some other pics to show you. For all the people who know me on facebook, this is will be nothing new. But for the sake of the crazy sword wielding bloggers, I have generously provided the link to my photo album on facebook. Enjoy!

enter your doom

Dude I love your shirt

2007-03-12T07:14:00.000-07:00

Well well well guess where I was off to during this past weekend(thats Thursday and Friday in Saudia just in case u didnt know)? The one and only Dubai!
What was i doing in dubai u ask? Why i was getting ready to attend the Dubai Desert Rock Festival, the first day which took place on friday(Mar 9th). One word: AWESOME!

The line-up for the first day was Junkyard Groove, Lauren Harris, Mastodon, In Flames, Stone Sour, The Prodigy, and the one and only Iron Maiden! Of course if u're female the chances of you knowing any of these bands is highly slim, even though given that there were tons of girls at the concert.
But dont worry ladies, all your lame sappy bands were on the second day mainly being Robert Plant, The Bravery, Prime Circle, and Incubus(Ok ill make an exception with incubus).

Anywayz, it was me and four other guys, A and N who were friends in uni and the fourth guy Z who was their friend from Riyadh. We decided to not to take a plane to dubai cuz they were on a tight budget as it is so we made a plan to drive there in A's car which was btw a stylish nifty Saab 93 convertible. Oh yeaaa. A bit cramped but it was alright.
I was the one who made the hotel arrangements. I never realized just how expensive Dubai could be until i started hotel shopping. Cuz the room prices were nutz! Fortunately I booked through a travel agent and he found us a better deal than I could ever find on the net.

We decided to leave early on Thursday morning and after a 5 hours of driving and blaring heavy metal music on the car stereo, we reached the UAE border checkpoint. We could have gotten there sooner if we didnt get stopped along the way by some idiot cop. We werent even speeding or anything. Eventually we had to follow him to some dumb police station in the middle of nowhere where we discovered that him and the police chief of that station were the only two people there!
When we asked the chief why we were stopped he didnt give us an immediate answer. Eventually he made up some excuse about us not respecting police officers on duty, after which he let us go. But we figured out why they stopped us. They were just plain bored outta their skulls.

Anywayz we reached the border checkpoint and after doing the necessary arrangements we were finally allowed into UAE. We still had a good 4 hours drive ahead of us to Dubai. At that point it really didnt look too much different from Saudia (except more cleaner). 4 hours later we finally reached the outskirts of Dubai only to discover that we had just gotten ourselves stuck in a traffic jam on Shiekh Zayed road! Dammnit!
We must hav stayed for like an hour just on that road. At least one of us was having fun. N was busy pointing out all the "muzaas" in the surrounding cars lol. Welcome to dubai ya wierdo.

So we finally got outta the jam but our journey was far from over. We still had to find the damn hotel! The name of of the hotel was the Grand Moov hotel on Moqqarabaat st. in Rigga district. Or at least that was what was written by the travel agent. So after an hour of driving around asking clueless indian taxi drivers ("Gaaraanda mooov hotel? ahh yes u take right turn here*he was pointing left*), I remembered I had a phone number so I gave them a ring. I discovered first of all it's not on Moqqarabat St, its on Rigga street! The dumb travel agent got the address mixed up!

Eventually we found our way to the hotel and were pleasantly surprised to find out that even though its a 3-star hotel, it looked like a 4-star or even 5-star! What a relief. It must have been around midnight that we finally settled in and we decided to go out and eat something. fortunately there were loads of restaurants nearby at walking distance. Some were already closed but a few were opened. We decided to go eat at Nando's, after which we went over and ate some ice cream at Haagen Daz.

The next morning we got up and and got ready. Today was the big day, the day of the concert bwahahaha! We checked out of the hotel and drove our way to the Mall of Emirates. Man that place is freakin huge! We went guitar shopping for a while and then had lunch at the food court over there. Now the time had finally come. We had to make our way to the Dubai Country Club. So we drove there with the roof of A's convertible car drawn back enjoying the great weather.

The concert started with Junkyard Groove and then Lauren Harris as opening acts. Eventually as the other bands started playing things started getting rowdy with guys moshing like crazy. I was in the crowd near the front and it started getting hectic! I was getting squashed like a bug. People even starting throwing bottles of water and cans of beer up into the air. I must have gotten like 20 cans of beer spilled over my shirt because of that:S
Speaking of beer, what kinda dissapointed me was seeing guys who i KNOW are from saudi guzzling down beer by the bucketloads. Fortunately the guys I was with werent like that.
Eventually Mastodon came up, and then In Flames, followed by Stone Sour and then The Prodigy. Needless to say the crowd went nutz.
Last but not least Iron Maiden came up, the headliners of the concert. The singer was a really nice guy. They finished and left the stage but the crowd kept shouting for more. So they came back and played not one, not two but three extra songs! how about that eh? Up the Irons!

Oh btw. Three different people came up to me and told me they liked my shirt and thought it was awesome. Lol huh? I dont know what was up with that. I was wearing a black t-shirt with the new "Tool 10,000 days" logo which I bought in the states during the summer (Tool is the name of a band, "10,000 days" being their latest album).

Aaaalrighty then

2007-02-06T04:29:00.000-08:00

After much constant nagging from the female half (i know its much more than that) of the blogosphere i have decided to write another post (ta-da!)
I was busy with exams and projects so i literally could not find time to make another one of my insightful blog entries that all you kids seem to enjoy so much *fake smile*

Whatever.

anyways, since my last post alot of things have happened........Like me finally losing my virginity..........

.................
.................
.................
.................

I'm just kidding u fools. I'm still a fully certified virgin. And the way things are going thats probably solid for the next 30 years or so.

Anyways like i was saying alot of things have happened such as:

1. Saddam hussien getting hanged. I cant say he didnt deserve it. Then why do i feel kinda sorry for the old man? It might have something to do with the fact that he was hanged on the morning of Eid (which moron came up with that bright idea?). Unfortunately the whole mess smacks of double standards. He SHOULD have been tried in a impartial criminal court like in The Hague, but of course we all know when the americans are involved in anything, things tend to get a tad screwy.

2. Happy new year! 2007 came in a breeze and is in danger of going out like 2006. Whoop de doo.

3. People started complaining that alot of the young female spectators at the Saudi arabia soccer matches were *gasp* uncovered. Yes, they were unveiled!! How outrageous is that!!!?? :p

4. The miracle of facebook is actually a curse. Just how i got myself involved with this dangerous phenomenon is unclear. Apparently it seems i was under the impression that it was just a harmless network site from where i could keep in touch with friends overseas. Apparently it seems.... i was decieved.........hmmm

5. I've finally started taking graffiti seriously. Before it was just a hobbie i'd do sometimes. But now i've decided to practice non-stop and then eventually became a menace to the Maintanence department and to every flat surface in the university.

6. YouTube is as addictive as it is entertaining. Thanks again for making yet another one of my boring mundane days, less so.

7. I'm meeting with other guys who are actually serious about making a band. This is good considering i was supposed to make a band earlier with some other guy who never called back after we talked about it over the phone...........................the bastard.

8. Ive learned the hard way that people dont give a shit about anything that doesnt neccesarily involve them. If you want to get things done you have to do it yourself.
"A man makes his own way. nobody gives it to you. You have to take it".
Couldnt have put it better myself.

9. Celldweller is an awesome band. And thats all you need to know.

10. I'm so hungry right now. But I've gained a bit of weight (from scarfing down all that pizza, no doubt) so no food for me today.

Well how about that. A lucky 10! I should get a kiss for that. No in fact i should get 10 kisses for that. Because i'm a man. And men deserved to be kissed. Cuz i'm cool like that.

stop laughing.

Eid mubarak!

2006-12-29T13:49:00.000-08:00

U wont believe what I've been doing. Going to every blog that i know of and giving "eid mubaraks" away like candy in a freaking pinata party, which included some I havent even read before! But hey it was worth it.

............Even if the time now is close to 1 am which means i have close to 3 to 4 hours of sleep before i have to get up and get ready for Eid prayer, and the fact I have to walk home so i can lose a little wieght from eating all that pizza tonight in order for me to fit into my suit which I'll be wearing to that special Eid lunch at Holiday Inn with my friends, which by the way I am hoping to be able to take nice pics of because I'm planning to maybe post a couple here in my blog for all of u strangers to pore over.

Admit it...... I am the King of the run-on sentence.

I have so much work to do........Eid is gonna be only half as fun as it used to be.

Have a great Eid!

2006-12-25T03:00:00.000-08:00

Cola ad (not Coke) very sexy and clever

check out this funny cola commercial

Update

2006-12-18T16:01:00.001-08:00

I just realized something.

I need a haircut.

............fascinating isnt it.

10 more random things which u (probably) didnt know abt me

2006-12-03T04:33:00.000-08:00

Well what more can I say. My laziness binge isnt over yet so I might as give u some more pointless stuff about yours truly:

1. For some unknown reason in the past 12 years I have been teaching myself to learn how to read, write and speak english backwards. At least i know can always get a job as a linguist in the UN!

2. I have a strange fascination with obscure languages and civilizations. Did u know that Maltese spoken by the people of the island of Malta in the Mediterannian sea, is the only european language that is based on Arabic?
Or that the people normally called Gypsies in Europe are actually known as Roma and originate from the indian subcontinent. Their language Romany has many shared words with urdu and hindi. They were called gypsies long ago because people in europe mistakenly thought they were from Egypt(hence the name gypsies).

3. When I'm in areas of low temperatures, be it the snowy cityscape of New york in december or in an overly air conditioned room, my fingers tend to become ice cold. Which is about as unremarkable as it gets:p

4. I used to skateboard when I was in Singapore until I was busted by the cops for "disturbing the peace of the neighborhood". Im more into roller-blading now.

5. I have been playing bass guitar for the past 6 years. I literally had to force my parents to give me the cash to buy the guitar.

6. A poem I composed three years ago got a nomination on an international poetry website and I was invited to attend a conference in Philidelphia in Feb 2004. Of course there was no way I could go as I had fucking exams and also my dad would be less than willing to send me to the states just for some poetry conference:(

7. Most people think I'm usually a happy and carefree kind of guy. However underneath my sugar-coated exterior I actually have a very dark and nihilistic personality.

8. I went to The Family Values tour concert in Phoenix, Arizona of August of this year. I met with and got an autographed CD of one of the bands, Walls of Jericho.

9. In the same month I also met the famous 87 year old italian architect Paolo Soleri. Brilliant guy. Too bad he was such an arrogant egotistical asshole:p

10. I have 5 fingers on each hand. Yea I bet u couldnt ever have imagined that one.

Aaaand there u have it. Alrighty then, ill c u later or something(damn i really am getting lazy)

2006-11-30T18:32:00.000-08:00

Legacy of Kain : Soul Reaver Intro

This is from the game Legacy of Kain: Soul reaver, the third game in the Legacy of Kain series.
This is one of the most famous ones because it introduces us to Raziel(and how i got that name!)

10 random things (u didnt know about me)

2006-11-29T15:35:00.000-08:00

Ive been stricken with extreme laziness as of late and the fact that ive been super busy with classwork. Im sure you've all noticed considering that the last time i updated was well over a month ago. Which is why i'm about to treat you to THIS:

1. I'm fascinated by all the different types of information found in dictionaries and encyclopedias. I can actually spend hours and hours with my nose buried in the pages. And no im not a freakin' nerd.

2. I'm an obsessed graffiti artist. Someday I plan to "bomb" (as they say in graffiti terminology) the side of Building 21 which houses our university's administration offices. That should be a nice sight when the Rector comes driving up in the morning.

3. Ive been single for the past 23 years (hint hint)

4. I once nearly drowned in a lake when I was 4 years old. If i did drown I would make sure to pull a Jason Voorhees-esque Friday the 13th scenario on all of you.

5. I have a green belt in tae-kwon-do. And im sure id still get my ass kicked.

6. I almost became a goth when I was 16. With the makeup and the black clothes. U know what i mean.

7. It was also at 16 when I made a failed suicide attempt. What can i say. Cruel world!:p

8. As a kid the first type of music i ever got into was actually trance/disco. Which would eventually be replaced by rock, metal and rap. Thank God. I dunno what people would say if they thought I was still listening to ABBA.

9. I have had mild asthma as a child. And what may also be mild ADD (attention deficiency syndrome). So dont be surprised if one day on the streets u see a wheezing puffing guy drinking coffee, reading the newspaper, walking in and out of stores each at different 2 second intervals.

10. When I was a kid I wanted to grow up be a cartoonist. U should have seen the look on my mom's face.
Anyways this later changed in middle school to me wanting to be a scientist(yea parents finally got to me). In high school however i made the decision that i wanted a career as a medical doctor specializing in psychiatry and psychology. I wanted to check up on people with mental disorders which included myself:p (This was no doubt inspired by watching too many episodes of ER)
Obviously things didnt work out that way (i'll admit i couldnt get into med school) which eventually lead me to study in the field of architecture. And now im getting screwed:p

Anywayz i promise to update later. Until then, Ciao!

Paraskevidekatriaphobia - Friday the 13th!!

2006-10-13T12:19:00.000-07:00

Have any of you heard of that term before? Paraskevidekatriaphobia.
Apparently it means "a fear of the day Friday the 13". ha ha ha

These kind of fears, where a person is completely scared of something are called "phobias". Like for example many people are scared of heights. Thats called acrophobia.

This is for all of you who dont know what friday the 13 is all about:

Friday the 13th is considered a "bad luck" day in many countries around the world. According to many people, everything that should not happen, will happen on Friday the 13th.

On Wikipedia it states that:

"Strangely, there is evidence to suggest that Friday the 13th really is actually unlucky. Psychologists have found that some people are especially likely to have accidents or fall ill on Friday the 13th. This has been attributed to such people feeling a heightened state of anxiety on that day. The Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina estimates that in the United States alone, $800 or $900 million is lost in business each Friday the 13th because people will not fly or do business they would normally do.

The date is also well-known in the motorcycle (biker) community: since 1981, motorcycle enthusiasts and vendors gather every Friday the 13th in Port Dover, Ontario, Canada. This tradition started on November 13, 1981 by Chris Simons as a gathering of approximately 25 friends. The event has grown substantially, with an estimated 100,000 people attending in August 2004, as well as music bands, vendors, a bike show, etc.

In the Spanish-speaking world, it is Tuesday the 13th (as well as Tuesdays in general) that brings bad luck; a proverb runs En martes, ni te cases ni te embarques (on Tuesday, neither get married nor start a journey)."

Interesting eh?
Anyways here's a list of other phobias u might find interesting:

Top 5 phobias
Fear of snakes (ophidiophobia)

Fear of giving a speech (glossophobia)

Fear of heights (acrophobia)

Fear of rodents (musophobia)

Fear of flying (aviophobia)

Others
Papaphobia—fear of the pope (hah yea right)

Scorodophobia—fear of garlic

Pteronophobia—fear of being tickled with feathers (huh?)

Ranidaphobia—fear of frogs

Philematophobia—fear of kissing (damn that must really suck)

Aulophobia—fear of flutes

Ostraconophobia—fear of shellfish

Graphophobia—fear of handwriting

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia—fear of long words (seriously)

Blennophobia—fear of slime

Triskaidekaphobia- a phobia of the number thirteen (oh cmon now thats pathetic)

Gerontophobia—fear of old people

Peladophobia—fear of bald people

Geropeladophobia—fear of old, bald people (the best of both worlds!)

Phobophobia—fear of developing a fear (ure on your own on that one pal)

Well there ya go. Hope u have a great Friday the 13th!

Big brother

2006-10-07T10:58:00.000-07:00

I'm sure all those people who read my blog have brothers and sisters too. And I'm sure there always is some sibling fighting or rivalry of some sort. And I'm sure u always say it was "her fault" or "his fault".

But I'm gonna admit something. Its usually "my fault". Bwahahahahaha

Yes I have siblings too. I'm the eldest of three kids. The other two being my younger brother and sister. Now all of u who are first-born like me understand that we are given the power of greater age and experience over our younger siblings. Which gives us the privelige to mess around with them.

For example, I remember long ago when me and my brother were kids, I decided to tell him his "true origins":

Me: "Hey come here, u wanna know a secret?"
Him: "Ok what is it?"
Me: "You're not really human"
Him: "Huh?"
Me: "Yep. You heard me. You're not a real human like me"
Him: "But if I'm not human than what am I?"
Me: "You're..........................................a horse-mutant"
Him: "Horse-mutant?"
Me: "Thats right. You were born to a horse on this farm. The farmer went into the stable to see the new baby horse, but instead he saw you. You were all mutated and freaky. He got so disgusted that he took you and threw you up as hard as he could. You flew up far into the sky. Then you started falling down down down, until you finally landed in a hospital, and somehow got mistaken for my brother."
Him: "...................................Yeah right"
Me: "Right. I know I'm right"
Him: "Well if thats true then why hasnt mom told me anything about it?"
Me: "Thats 'cuz she doesnt want you to know anything about it. Go ahead and try asking her. She won't tell you"
Him: "Well......if I'm like a horse-mutant then how come I don't look like one"
Me: "Thats because you had plastic surgery"
Him: "Oh. Oh man."

Needless to say that kept him wondering for a couple of years until he grew mature enough to understand that his hands actually do not look like hooves.

Ahh fun years:p

Ramadan Kareem!

2006-09-26T05:04:00.000-07:00

Ahhh tis' the season to get fat on delicious iftar food. And to do some good deeds(for once!)

And so on we trudge

2006-09-18T11:32:00.000-07:00

I understand my post about my stay at Arcosanti is long overdue and by this time all you who visit my blog have probably lost all hope of me ever posting about it.
But fear not me scalleywags, because patience is the key to great a many thing, ahhrr! Except of course when it comes to waiting in line at banks, because those scurvey fools have the intellect of boiled seawater slugs (no offence Foof:p).
Besides, Capt. R always keeps his word. Unless thou were to bribe him with Dominoe's pizza. Hardy har har.

Anyways I got back to Saudi shortly after the start of this month and resumed classes last week. So far its been interesting, using the knowledge I gained during my stay in the US to go about designing at a different angle. It was nice to see my old classmates again. However there are times when I wish didnt have to see them.
Like for example an incident 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 Abe and Lou for our sake):

Me(driving): So Lou, did u get those contraceptive pills u needed from the pharmacy? *laughs*
Lou(passenger seat): Yea very funny*rolls eyes* I told you they're subscription drugs.
Abe(back seat): I bet condoms are real cheap at that store.
*Me and Lou both laugh*
Lou: Yea knowing you, thats probably the only thing that interests you about a pharmacy.
Me: *grumbles* This traffic is really shitty.
*I notice that Abe has opened one of the car windows*
Me: Hey man, why are you opening the window? I already put the air-con on.
Lou: *sniffs air* Hey do you smell that?
Me: *sniffs* Ugh yea what the hell is that? Smells like....
Abe: *chuckles* whoops
Lou: You farted??! Idiot! *opens his window*
Abe: Yea man I couldnt control it any longer.
Me: I can't believe you just did that in the backseat of my car!
Lou: 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.
Lou: *Opens glove compartment and fumbles with spray bottle*
Me: Do it already man! For the love of God, DO IT!!
*Lou sprays everywhere especially on Abe sitting in the backseat*
Abe: Wtf man you sprayed some in my eye!
Me: Great, it smells better now. I think you might have overdid it though.
Lou: Yea maybe. Desperate times calls for desperate measures.
Abe: Drive faster man. I need to go crap really badly.
Me: If you crap in my car I'm gonna personally enslave you to Ustaz Hafiz(our university Arabic & Islamiyaa teacher)
Abe: Then you better hurry up!

I'm still considering whether I should burn the backseat of my car just to sterilize it. Maybe boiled seawater slugs might help.

Intermission

2006-09-18T11:21:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday to me!

ok back to work

When women can be extremely scary

2006-09-06T21:10:00.000-07:00

Well it's 7 in the morning and im listening to heavy metal music as I type my latest entry. Besides thinking of the scrambled eggs, toast, croissant and tea which I'm considering to have for breakfast, what else is there for a good man to do?
Read a good blog of course. Something like this for example

I pinched this one off of Natasha's blog. Her description basically sums up wat ure about to read:

>>"Allow me to sum it up: Last month, on advice from her best friend, Emily began writing this blog to vent her frustrations about life in general. However, about a week ago, she discovered her husband was cheating on her- with that same best friend! Now, she is devoting her blog to "14 days of vengeance" and you won't believe the lengths she's gone to.
It's disgusting, but I can't not read it. I'll be interested to hear discussion of it in the comments."<<

enjoy!;)

G'day pardner

2006-08-30T16:49:00.000-07:00

Yes I know I havent posted anything for most of my stay here in the states. Its because I'm a lazy bum. So there.
Anyways I already finished my workshop in Arcosanti (in Arizona) on Friday the 25th. Right now I'm hanging out with my uncle in El Paso, Texas. The bad thing is, the internet connection is completely non-existant in the house for some strange reason, therefore making forcing me to find a different alternative. Which is why I'm in the public library right now, sitting in front of a computer as I type. Of course they have a time limit on how long you can use their computers which is why imtryingtotypedamnfastandkeepingmysentencesbriefandtothepoint. Don't worry I have tons of stories to tell AND pics to back it up (well mostly anyway). Oh did I mention about my trip to the The Family Values Tour concert in Phoenix on Friday the 18th?........hehehe

Thats gonna have to be done when I get back to saudia on the 2nd of September Inshallah. And hey, you probably wouldnt have even visited my blog by that time so its all good;)
........Hold up. The saudi customs make a big deal if u bring CD's into the country, right? *peers at shopping bag full of CDs*......ahh shit.

P.S. Watch out for the ice cream truck (more on that later) ;)

Ahrrr!

2006-07-18T13:04:00.000-07:00

Well its been a week and a half since I got here to the states and I havent posted anything on my blog.
I could have said that I've been extremely busy (which I have) or i could just say I've been extremely lazy. maybe both:p

Well anyways my flight from bahrain took me to frankfurt in germany where I took a connecting flight to new york. It was long and boring except for the part where I had a conversation with the lady sitting next to me. She was a director of some childcare company in North Carolina. She wasnt even that old like around 30 or something. She was also kind of wierd.

Anyways when I reached New york I took a taxi to the Greyhound bus terminal. I got to see downtown Manhattan in all its craziness. Of course it wasnt the huge billboards or interesting buildings that got my attention not as much as the chicks that seemed to be on every street:D

Well i took the greyhound to the Atlantic city in new jersey where my uncle was. After he picked me up we took a trip down the boardwalk. One word...wow!
I also took a trip down to philidelphia, but thats another story. Right now im in el paso in texas. Ill be heading off to arizona in a couple of days.
And yes i do have loads of pics. Ill load them up the next chance I get

later,
R

Plans

2006-07-06T01:43:00.000-07:00

Well I picked up my plane tickets yesterday from the travel agent which means I'll finally be leaving for the US on sunday night!
I'll be heading off to New Jersey first where Ill stay with my uncle for a week. And then I'll be off to Texas to meet my other uncle (aaah its so good when u have family to depend on:p).
After this I'll head off to Arizona where I'm slated to attend a 5 week workshop at Arcosanti near the city of Phoenix!
I finally decided to go this year instead of the next because, well, the founder of Arcosanti, Paolo Soleri just turned 87! Yea he's an old geezer and I wanna make sure I catch him before he decides to take his permanent trip to Davy Jones locker(Ahhrr me matey!)

Ok so maybe I was being a little mean but hey I do have a point:p

Have you ever noticed when you travel abroad to some developed nation, how friends and family give you these lists of stuff they want you to bring back for them? Hehe yea I know all toooo well.

Anyways, I still have to pack my things (havent even started), and buy any necessary stuff that I'll need to take with me plus make sure my passport and plane tickets are all in order.

I just hope I don't get jet-lag:S

Infamy!!

2006-06-30T03:21:00.000-07:00

Looks like Arab News has finally caught up to the controversy thats been headlining the blogosphere lately (finally:p)! They made it to the 3rd page of KSA's english daily.

Unless you're new to blogging or just uninvolved with the bunch of blogs that make up an online community in Saudi arabia (and the gulf in general), then you will obviously be aware of the whole fiasco that has occured between a certain number of bloggers (namely Farah and Jo) and the self styled Official Community of Saudi Arabian Bloggers (OCSAB).
Technically however they are not really official since they don't have any government backing or any real institutionalized basis from which to operate from. They're just a group of bloggers expressing their views albiet sometimes a little strongly.
I not against them offering their opinions, however, the only thing that serves to bother me is the fact that the OCSAB have somehow put it unto themselves to regulate the content of other people's blogs. Like some kind of offshoot of KASCT.

While I'm sure their intentions are well I seriously doubt that their views will be very constructive, since they ultimately seek to limit creativity and free speech, not to enhance it.

For more on this you click here

Joke

2006-06-27T09:57:00.000-07:00

I remember watching one of eddie murphy's old shows in the 80's. The guy was hilarious even if he was wearing those ugly tight leather clothes that seemed so prevalent at that time.
Anyways I think it was on one of his shows Delirium or Raw (can't exactly remember), that he was up on stage doing his act when all of sudden he looked at the audience and noticed two kids seated in the second row. His show of course has an above 18 age limit. Instead of making a fuss about it, he just laughed and said "ooooh u kids are in trouble now!"
Then he decided to tell a joke just for them. Ya know the kind that (in his words) "you can share with aaaall your friends at school":

Once upon a time, deep in the forest a bear and a rabbit were taking a shit near a tree.
The bear turned to the rabbit and said, "Do you have any problems with shit sticking to your fur?"
The rabbit replied, "No not at all."
So the bear wiped his ass with the rabbit.

Lol that just cracked me up. Kinda crude I admit but still I couldnt help from laughing my head off.

My room.......

2006-06-27T09:54:00.000-07:00

............is a dump. It should have its own hazard warning label. I'm gonna have to clean it up.

Someday.

:p

Driving in Saudi Arabia

2006-06-24T19:31:00.000-07:00

Before I start I want to make something absolutely clear:

People here do not know how to drive. Fullstop.

Whether its from lack of experience or just sheer incompetence (i'm assuming the latter), one thing is for sure. Men in KSA really suck at driving. And I know why.

As most of us know here in KSA, a man's driving education starts when he's about 10 years old. Yes you know what I mean. Thats the reason we sometimes see some brats zooming around in a old white pickup truck creating havoc and chaos wherever he goes. Hala Wallah my ass!

Of course the situation hardly changes when that boy grows a little older and finally becomes eligable for a driving license. The only difference is he's just a tad bit more interested in the opposite sex. And I think we're all well acquainted with the antics of hormonally charged teenagers and young men.

Now before he goes to the driving school theres a 98% chance that he's already taught himself how to drive. The problem is just that. He only knows how to drive the way he taught himself to drive. This behavior usually tends to trancend even after passing the test and finally getting the license. After all, the only reason we get the driving license is so that the cops at the checkpoints don't make trouble for us, right?

This is basically how i classify drivers in KSA:

-The speed freak. Believes the road is some kind of F1 racing circuit and must press the metal to the pedal in order to get the checkered flag and fullfill his dream of impressing females in any other passing vehicles. Tends to remember the brake pad AFTER he crashes.

-The tailgater. Likes to come up extremely close behind vehicles in front of him in order to coax the other car out of his way. Uses headlights, the car horn, or a combination of these to get the other car's attention. In other words is a complete nuisance.

-The headlighter. Similar to a tailgater. Uses a cars headlights in equal importance to the steering wheel, pedals and stick. In some cases it is used in greater importance! Likes to come up behind a vehicle and flash his car's headlights repeatedly in an attempt to make the vehicle give him way. Sometimes he does it when he's about a mile back, ya know just to warn any cars in front of him beforehand. (Isnt that just nice of him)

-The minor. Like I have mentioned before, the person behind the wheel is usually under the age of 13. Doesnt know how to drive properly but treats it like some new videogame for the PS2. Usually tends to create a mess wherever he goes, if not an accident.

-The blind driver. Forgets to look both ways before turning. He's the kind of carefree driver that really doesnt give a fuck. Just zoom right through an intersection or from a merged street without looking at who is coming from behind. After all, other drivers can take care of themselves right?

-The camel jockey. This guy likes to think he's still in the 14th century. So he rides his car like a camel or a horse going into battle. Swerving, speeding, crossing lanes, and generally just being extremely annoying. The really bad part is that he usually does this with family in tow. So not only is he endangering other drivers but his loved ones as well. Someone seriously needs to take his camel out for a graze.

The problem with driving schools in KSA is that they don't give drivers experience out on the road, just inside the training compound. So when these drivers are set loose they don't know exactly what to expect. You can teach them how to accelerate, turn, brake, park, and reverse but if there isnt any experience out on the highway and the streets then whats the point? Its no wonder that this country has such a high rate of traffic fatalities per year. Traffic accidents alone cost the kingdom an average of 2.4% of its GDP, compared to 1.8% in Kuwait, 1.6% in UAE, and 0.75% in the USA.

Isnt that just sad. What a total waste of resources.

Riyad bank

2006-06-21T02:18:00.000-07:00

Well here i am again. i havent slept the whole night and now its the 12:30 in the afternoon.

Which is why im kinda in a daze at the moment.

Somebody really needs to check up on the bank system in this country. After i couldnt withdraw cash from the ATM because my ID had expired, i was up and ready to go to Riyad bank and sort the stupid mess out. Lucky me, i got there an hour early. The bank didnt open until 9.

So to kill time i decided to go to dunkin' donuts and have some breakfast(which itself is extraordinary since i usually dont have breakfast). Its amazing what the smell of freshly baked donuts and coffee can do a person when they're feeling woozy from lack of sleep.

Anyways when I got back to the bank, there were only a couple of people sitting there waiting to see the guy at the Sales & services desk. I thought to myself 'no big deal, ill be finished in no time'.

Would u believe it, it took me nearly 2 hours just waiting until I could see the fool behind the desk, for something that takes 10 minutes max to fix!
The bank employee's lack of efficiency wouldnt have bothered me as much as the fact that they would immediately start concentrating their efforts for some idiotic friend of their's who manage to walk in every 15 minutes. "Yallah get the chai" they would yell to the asian guy who works there, while they reminisce over what happened 3 years ago.

Wtf. How abt a little respect for the people who have been waiting an hour or so to see your sorry ass so they could fix their problems? But noooo....

Film noir

2006-06-18T20:41:00.000-07:00

The Movie Of Your Life Is Film Noir

So what if you're a little nihilistic at times?Life with meaning is highly over-rated.
Your best movie matches: Sin City, L. A. Confidential, Blade Runner

If Your Life Was a Movie, What Genre Would It Be?

Nancy Ajram gets robbed in Egypt

2006-06-14T14:30:00.000-07:00

ahahahahahhahahaahahahahahhahaha
ahahahahahhahahaahahahahahhahaha
ahahahahahhahahaahahahahahhahaha
ahahahahahhahahaahahahahahhahaha
ahahahahahhahahaahahahahahhahaha
ahahahahahhahahaahahahahahhahaha
ahahahahahhahahaahahahahahhahaha
ahahahahahhahahaahahahahahhahaha
ahahahahahhahahaahahahahahhahaha
ahahahahahhahahaahahahahahhahaha
ahahahahahhahahaahahahahahhahaha
ahahahahahhahahaahahahahahhahaha
ahahahahahhahahaahahahahahhahaha

That just made my day.

http://www.arabnews.com/

(find the damn story yorself)

fine

2006-06-14T13:59:00.000-07:00

YES i know i said my previous post was gonna be my last and yes i said i wasn't gonna blog anymore, but at the behest of certain people, ive decided to postpone closing my blog. Obviously some sectors of the blogging world have a vested interest in the continuation of my blog. Call it conspiracy theory. Or call me crazy. I oughta change my blog name to Area 51 or Roswell.

Speaking of roswell, do u think its possible to OD on Smallville? Yes I'm talking about that show about Clark Kent's life before he turned into Superman and started wearing his underwear outside his pants. Lately every night has turned into a Smallville marathon with me sitting in front of the computer watching Tom welling running around saving Kristen Kreuk's life and then acting all innocent and tormented because he can't tell her the truth. Aww poor thing :*(

HAH yea right.

What do chicks see in him anyway?? Every girl ive talked to says Tom is a uber hunk. Wtf. Thats just stupid. Have u seen his acting? Its absolutely terrible!
Then again maybe im just kinda envious that I dont get to bend steel with my bare hands or make out with a hottie like Kristen (cmon u have to admit she IS yummy)

I have 4 seasons of Smallville at my disposal bwahahaha. So far Ive finished the first season and ive just started the second one. And I only started watching a couple of days ago:D

My fave character believe it or not is actually Lex Luthor. I mean seriously, how can wimpy whiny Clark kent compete with the suave and super sharp son of a multi-billionnaire tycoon that himself runs a branch of Luthorcorp just in the outskirts of Smallville? Kudos to Michael Rosenbaum for pulling off Lex (and sporting the bald head too lol).

Well i'm glad I got that off my chest.

Alright then

2006-06-10T09:36:00.000-07:00

Well its official. The summer has started and schools finally out.

It's been a while since last time I was posting due to all the final exams and presentations I've had to put myself through. Most of them went well Alhamdullilah except for my studio class. The grade he gave me was rather dissapointing. Even though I talked to him afterwards, im sure its unfair considering the amount of work and effort i put into it all. But I did much better than some of my classmates:S

So far its been a strange but interesting semester. Some pretty good things have happened. So have some not so good things. And some things that I'll probably never get over. All in all a pretty good 4 months:p No seriously its been rough not to mention exhausting. I just hope it gets better from here. Seriously. I really need the break.

I finally went to Bahrain last wednesday! Watched The Da Vinci code and Scary movie 4 at the mall over there. The Da vinci code was alright in my opinion considering there were idiots there going "tsk tsk" through out the whole movie. And Scary movie 4 wasnt as good as the last ones. But overall me and my friends had a good time.

Well I have the next 3 months to do pretty much nothing. Other than attending my classmate's wedding at the end of the month in Riyadh or watching The World Cup with my friends, there really isnt anything much to do. My msn messenger has been dead for who knows when, along with pretty much everything else on the internet nowadays. Or is it just me?

Anyways Ive decided this is gonna be my last post. Well at least for a very long time anyway. Was going to just delete the whole blog but I decided to let it stay, ya know as sort of like my mark on the blogging world or something lol. I dunno I'm just kinda sick of this blog after all this time. The stuff i post is bullshit anyway. So i'm gonna give it a rest.

Anyways take care and all the best

Salam,
R

poor guy

2006-06-10T08:19:00.000-07:00

Hmm and they are, aren't they:p

Excerpt

2006-06-09T14:36:00.000-07:00

'The strangness of my situation....compelled me, in more ways than one. Even as I move swiftly amongst the shadowed rooftops with the cool night air whipping across my face, the memories still burn with the same intensity of the day they were made. And how they burn.

I do not want to remember. The flashes of the past return only to pierce my already battered heart, the pain unbearable. Her voice, her smile....her eyes. Her dark eyes. They were enough to break the heat of the sun and still soothe the anger of a man. They were my strength in my darkest of times. How I would love to gaze into them and be lost amongst the calm tranquility. As if time would stand still and there would only be her and I. And I thought I could make it mine.......but I was a fool. As I always am. As I always have been.

Because what I had thought was real, was not really there at all. I possessed the brashness and impatience that only a young man could have. A slave to my frustration I eventually caused the very thing I had been fearing. Her eyes no longer gazed into mine. She had turned away.
Disgusted by my flaws, her anger waxed hot. And if there is something that can rival an army, it is the anger of a woman unleashed. She no longer wished to keep company with a wretched man such as I. Her tears flowed hot like lightning from the very clouds themselves.
And just like that, everything I had hoped for shattered like so many shards of glass. I had nothing left but to pick up the pieces. Alone. Just like before.

Which brings us back here. Back to reality. Back to the shadowed rooftops with the cool night air whipping across my face.....my face. Or is it?
My gloved hand which reaches up and tentively touches the smooth masque, tells me otherwise. Ahh yes, the masque. How could have I forgotten?
Its deathly paleness and emotionless expression tells me what I have become without saying a word.

The Curse. The Flaw. The Villian.

The hate I carry for it is nothing compared to the hate I have for myself. Not even the darkness of the shadows and the night combined could rival my self-loathing. And yet here I am, bound to the system...and the masque. Which is why I wait every passing day for the person brave enough to rid the world of the curse that I am.
But until then, I must hide forevermore in the darkness alone with my obsessions and the painful memories. And to face each night haunted by the unflinching gaze of the masque.'

excerpt from T. A. Emer's The Masque

uhmm

2006-05-20T19:14:00.000-07:00

So here i am. Ive been up the whole night doing assignments and now it's past 5 in the morning. And how much have i finished?

zilch.

ok im kidding, not zilch, but not a hell lot either. Good Lord, since when did Macromedia Freehand 10 become such a bitch? I swear this illustrating software is driving me up the wall. Burn in heeellll.......

Some of the stuff that im doing in Freehand would take me half the time in Adobe Photoshop. The only reason I'm not using Photoshop is because everything gets pixelized therefore making it easy for our instructor to know we've been trying to pull a fast one *grumble*

So far this graphic design course that i took (as an elective mind u) has been going downhill. Who knew graphic design could be so complicated??

Well i gotta get back to work and just TRY to do something decent enough to allow my instructor to actually hand me a grade.

Rock show pics

2006-05-20T15:17:00.000-07:00

Ok so i only got one at the moment from the gig at Thursday night. Hopefully more will be one the way. Here's a pic of my friend in his band Grieving age(which was the last band to play that night)

Rock show

2006-05-19T08:10:00.000-07:00

Last night was crazy! Went to a rock show fronted by more than a few bands from jeddah/riyadh(probably 12 or 13 in total). And no I wasn't in any of the bands this time around, maybe next time;)
One of the bands had one of our friends so we came to see him as well. It was at some compound so that meant a free hand to make a lot of noise. And man, did they ever.
Since it was in a compound there wasn't really such a big deal about girls/guys mixing and the show was open for anybody as they long as they had a ticket. But its not like u could tell the difference. The ratio of guys to girls was like 10:1, so yea basically it was a sausage fest:p

The noise these guys made was insane. Guitars screeching, keyboards blaring, drums smashing, and singers howling just to be heard over the incredible din. All band members played very well and there wasn't any screw-ups (as far as i'm aware of). Some of them had very expensive gear like Gibson flying-V guitars, Dean Markley and B.C. Rich (puts my Yamaha to shame). Most of the songs they belted out were covers from various metal bands, some well known and some less so. And some songs were their very own original songs (which were pretty good!)

If you weren't paying attention to the band then it was the crowd with us. We had guys head-banging and jumping around like there was no tomorrow. Speaking of jumping around, they all even started moshing in the middle of the auditorium. Not a real mosh pit, but eh it worked anyway.

The only problems I had were the fact that the music was so loud it left you half deaf afterwards hah. And the cigarette smoke. Good Lord every idiot was lighting up and filling the place with a thin mist of disgusting acrid cigarette fumes. It was so bad that afterwards my clothes reeked of it. Ugh. Not cool:(
I don't have pics of it, but i might get some from some of my friends since they did take some pics. Ill post some up if I get them.

later,

Oops she did it again

2006-05-10T13:40:00.000-07:00

OMG! Have u heard the news?? Britney Spears is pregnant again! Its unbelievable, like they just had their last baby a few months ago. Oooh that Kevin federline couldnt keep his pants on could he? Will it be a boy or a girl?? Wat kind of outrageous name will they give their new child?? Could it be possible...that her baby might overshadow the fame of Brad pitt & Angelina Jolie's baby?? Oh dear oh dear....

Too bad i couldnt care less. Seriously, the media is getting lamer with every passing day.

P.S: Britney was spotted shopping with her baby at some expensive baby store! Holy Cow! Amazing! blah blah blah blah

riiiiiight

Anyways

2006-05-04T01:08:00.000-07:00

well

2006-04-29T13:39:00.000-07:00

It's past 12 midnite here and i feel sooo wasted. I had an exam today so i was studying for it since yesterday. Literally. stayed awake the whole night except for one hour of sleep that i got.

I swear Red Bull is amazing lol. I drank two cans of that stuff last night and it kept me awake until 6 am. And even then i didnt feel that tired. but just in case i drank another one haha. Gave me enough time to study for my test. Later during my after noon studio class i drank some str0000ng black coffee too keep me from dozing off. Woohooo so ive been pretty hyper.

Junk

2006-04-28T04:50:00.000-07:00

damn. i guess thats the bad side of having "more cushion for the pushin' " hah

RYS logo

2006-04-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

i hope u get this imprinted onto the back of your minds bwahaha

Eh 2

2006-04-23T14:53:00.000-07:00

I'm so freaking tired and thirsty yet again. *double yawn*

eh

2006-04-22T16:14:00.000-07:00

im so freaking tired and thirsty. *yawn*

RYS

2006-04-20T17:18:00.000-07:00

Aha

2006-04-19T09:07:00.000-07:00

Well here we are, another dull and bland weekend for yors truly. Most of my friends are headed off for Bahrain today to see DJ Van dyke's concert at 9 pm. Unfortunately due to certain reasons and circumstances I was not able to go. Damn. I would have been half-way to Bahrain by now.

Anyways things are going alright here in Building 19 A.K.A. College of Environmental Design A.K.A. CED A.K.A. not a place u wanna hang out on a wednesday night. Couldnt get anymore sadder than this.

I might have to go see a doctor about my hands. For some reason they tremble slightly, when im under stress or concentrating hard, then they tremble even more. What the hell is up with that? Even my friends have noticed. My only explanation to them is well, "Gee i dunno I have a problem i guess"
Im only 22 and im already having wierd motor muscle coordination problems. Bleh.
A friend told me it might be due to my lack of getting adequate sleep. Yea it could be that. Or just that im messed up more than I thought lol.

Kiss from a rose - Seal

2006-04-19T08:35:00.000-07:00

There used to be a greying tower alone on the sea.
You became.....the light on the dark side of me.
Love remained a drug that's the high and not the pill.
But did you know,
That when it snows, My eyes become large
and The light that you shine can be seen.

Baby,I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grey.
Ooh, The more I get of you, stranger it feels, yeah.
And now that your rose is in bloom.
A light hits the gloom on the grey.

There is so much a man can tell you,
So much he can say.
You remain, my power, my pleasure, my pain! baby
To me you're like a growing addiction that I can't deny.
Won't you tell me is that healthy, baby?

But did you know, that when it snows,
My eyes become large and the light that you shine can be seen.

Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grey.
Ooh, the more I get of you, stranger it feels, yeah.
Now that your rose is in bloom.
A light hits the gloom on the grey,

I've been kissed by a rose on the grey,
I've been kissed by a rose
I've been kissed by a rose on the grey,...
And if I should fall will it all go away
I've been kissed by a rose ...been kissed by a rose on the grey.

There is so much a man can tell you,
So much....he can say.
You remain my power, my pleasure, my pain!

To me you're like a growing addiction that I can't deny,
yeah won't you tell me is that healthy, baby.

But did you know, That when it snows,
My eyes become large and the light that you shine can be seen.

Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grey.
Ooh, the more I get of you, stranger it feels, yeah
Now that your rose is in bloom,
A light hits the gloom on the grey.

Yes I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grey
Ooh, the more I get of you, stranger it feels, yeah
And now that your rose is in bloom
A light hits the gloom on the grey

Now that your rose is in bloom,
A light hits the gloom on the grey.

Thank You - Dido

2006-04-15T14:46:00.000-07:00

My tea's gone cold, I'm wondering why
I got out of bed at all
The morning rain clouds up my window
and I can't see at all
And even if I could it'd all be grey,
but your picture on my wall
It reminds me that it's not so bad,
it's not so bad

I drank too much last night, got bills to pay,
my head just feels in pain
I missed the bus and there'll be hell today,
I'm late for work again
And even if I'm there, they'll all imply that
I might not last the day
And then you call me and it's not so bad,
it's not so bad

Soo..

2006-04-04T09:24:00.000-07:00

well things have been pretty uneventful until now if you dont count the presentation of my project I had yesterday and the fact that I may have unknowingly mentioned some unnecssary things in my last post, which I'm sorry for. Its funny what a person can do when they're upset. Sometimes i have alot on my mind, and i just let it out straight.
I admit.............i am tactless.
My presentation went alright for the most part but the jurors agreed i should have put more effort into the look of my presentation. yea right, as if i have time. I put all the requirements just like my instructor wanted.
Anywayz...other than than that i dont have very much to say.
later,
R

Insight into the mind of an Obsessive Depressive

2006-03-11T13:47:00.000-08:00

Insight into the mind of an Obsessive Depressive

Ahhrrrr!!

2006-03-11T12:49:00.001-08:00

Ahoy me mateys! I be Capt. Jackass Sparroff and this here be Ren's blog!
Now me lassies and laddies if u excuse me, i need to wipe away the black eyeliner im wearing 'round me eyes. (curses be to revlon, ahhrrr!)

Well anyways, after being prodded and poked by Taq (literally. she's evil ya know) i have decided that i will indeed post an entry into my Blog. *audience clapping*

But seriously, how the hell can someone find the time to post three page long posts almost everyday or every other day??.............unless of course ure a(ahahohoho wait for it)................girl! Living(barely) in Saudi i might add. (my buddies the banat-al Riyadh are soo gonna kill me for this)
D'oh! Of course! how could i have not seen that?? Vaguely existing female stuck 99.99999657% of the time in her house, would only naturally post a three-page-long-critical-analysis/essay-on- virtually-everything-that-bothers-her-in-this-day-and-age-in-Saudi-society-and-the-possible-implications-to-her-future..........on her friendly neighborhood blog.

Ok enough with female angst. I'm guessing(probably wrong) that ure still wondering who exactly am i, if u actually bothered to read the About me section on the right hand side of the screen. yea i know, its easy to miss.
Anywayz, if ure still wondering..............then keep wondering! bwahahaha did u actually think i was gonna tell?........

My real name is Raheel aka Ren, Rys, or Raziel. And yes before u go asking what my name means, its arabic for "travel" or somewhere on that line. Which is pretty wierd cuz i have been travelling abroad for most of life. I am American by birth however my parents are pakistani, so that makes me paki too....Damn.

just kidding. abt the Damn part.

However i have picked up quite a alot of arabic so dont even think of trying to pull off the "lets-swear-at-him-in-arabic-'cuz-he-can't-understand-it" trick. Cuz it wont work! hahaha

Oh dear Lord. I can't believe my eyes. I've actually filled out a post filled with the usual bullshit that u find on other Blogs like this. Now all i need to do is wait for someone to read it................................yea ill be over here waiting with my year's supply of pizza and nacho dip.

later,
R

greetings

2006-03-11T12:49:00.000-08:00

YOUR ATTENTION PLZ

Mr. R has entered the Blog.

Proceed ahead for autographs.