Beauty Killed The Beast

I just watched "King Kong," and let me tell you: What a great masterpiece! Every little piece fits in nicely. I like the story, the choice of actors, graphics, music, the direction. I like it all.

I wasn't excited at first about it being 3 hours long. I remember loving everything about "The Green Mile" but its length. I was numb by the end of it. "Kong" was totally fine however. With all the action and the jaw-dropping graphics, I didn't feel it was long. Did I say graphics? Damn! Hollywood has indeed come a long ways! Everything looked very real! I can't even tell whether all of Kong was graphics or there was some hardware involved.

The fight sequences were great. With the sound track in the background, you literally get the sense of greatness of Kong and the other monsters. The fight scene between the characters and the giant insects and worms had a very queit, slow music background. It was creeping-quiet!

What a second project for Peter Jackson. They say he only took the "Lord of the Rings" series to establish himself as a qualified director for "King Kong." Peter, you used "Lord of the Rings" to audition yourself to Hollywood? If I were Hollywood, I'd tap you on the back and say "go for it, boy you're good. Yo' good."

I give it a 4.32 out of 5. Definitely go see it!


Note to KNCC: Is it really the case that until now you haven't received enough complaints about how freezing it is inside? I was wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt and a heavy sweater, and I almost got hypothermia in my fingers!


P.S.: Kong looked a bit too chubby, didn't he?

Very Moving!

Listen to this with maximum volume!

Jandeef's Shorelines IV

ّIt's already December 20th, winter. Are you kidding me? I got stuck with all the heavy sweaters I brought with me! Last night I couldn't sleep so I opened the window, but our deeeech refused to shut up at 3 am, so I turned on my room's AC.

------

Last Friday was my first zwara this holiday, which means FUN with the KIDS! I was told my 3 year old cousin falls asleep if you yawn in his face. I let it go at first. Then, another cousin sat in front of him and pretended that he was yawning for about 7 minutes, and the little one SLEPT SITTING UP!!! OMG, It cracked us all up LOL. He slept as in they took him to bed, not just a nod! You'd wish all kids were that easy.

My cousin's daughter is also 3 year old and she's confused. Sometimes she calls me "3ammi Jandeef" and sometimes "Khaali Jandeef." Cute!!!!

Another 9 year old cousin is super chubby and has a big karsha. Everybody calls him now Thaif Allah Sharar. He looks and walks like him LOL!

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Last night I had to pick from the following: Nadwa about "The Liberal History of Secularism" at Dar Alathar, Qurain Fest. Concert, or national high school concert finale. Tough decision! I ended up going to the Qurain concert, and it wasn't much :( I guess having this many cultural activities is a good thing afterall.

By the way, what was Mr. Yousef Alhajji doing in the concert?

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This week's obsession: للغيرة سبايب .. بفراق الحبايب

I listened to it on my way to the concert by Moh'd Alsha3lan. Then it was played in the background after the concert. Now it's stuck in my head!

عودة من جديد .. بلا جديد

أعود من جديد ..
بلا شيء أعود متشوقاً له
فشيئنا إياه كان ..
ولم يعد يكون .. انتهى

أضحى كما يقال ..
"مثل الزجاج .. كسرها لا يجبر"
إلا بمعجزة .. وأعلم وتعلمين ..
أنها مستحيلة لغير الأنبياء والرسل

ترى لو لم ينكسر زجاجنا ..
كيف حالي سيكون؟
ربما ما كنت سأعود
ربما كنت سأقضي عطلتي متسكعاً
في ربوع هاواي .. تحت نخيلها
معك

تباً لهم
أعلم أنك تحبينهم ..
ولكن تباً لهم
كسروا زجاجنا ..
فماذا عساي أن أقول؟
أحبهم؟

****

لماذا في تمام الساعة الرابعة
تعمدت دخول زحام الدائري الرابع
رغم أن طريقي أسرع ..
لو سلكت شارع منظمة المدن وصندوق التنمية
شارع الأم تي سي والبنك الوطني

ثمة مغناطيس يجذبني هناك
قاومته فغلبته ..
معركتي معه شبه يومية
لا أدري إلى أي يوم سأبقى غالباً

****

ثم أعود للبيت
وأقرأ ابن العسكر يقول ..

"قـبّـل فديتك مبسمـي دع جيدي .. وإلى اللقــاء صبــاح يـوم العيـدِ
لم لا وأهلي ، ويح أهلي ، بالغوا .. بــاللــــوم والتعنيـــف والتهـديــدِ
لا تقتـرب من دارنـا هم أقسمـوا .. أن يقطعوا إن جئت حبل وريدي
يا ليت شعري هل أثار شكوكهم .. حولي ، قيامي بالـدجى وقعـودي
وتـأفـفـــي وتـلهـفـــي وتـبـــرمـــي .. بـهــم وهــذا ديــــدن الـمـفـــؤودِ
يا للحـمـاقـة والـرعـونـة فـــرقـــوا .. بينــي وبـين الـوامـق الـمعـمـــودِ
يا لـلـتـعــاســة مــن يــواسينـي ويـسـلـيـنـي بـأيـام الـفــراق الـســـودِ"


ثم أقرأ نزاراً يقول عن حبيبته ..
"تقتحم التاريخ من كل الجهاتِ..
إنها تدخل كالإبرة..
في كل تفاصيل حياتي.."

صدق نزار .. كل تفاصيلها


وتقول سومة قبل نومي .. مع بعض التحريف
"إزاي أوصف لك يا حبيبي إزاي ..
أنا من بعدك بأيت إزاي ..
يا حبيبي ...
أنا ولا امبارح فاكراه ..
ولا عندي بكره استناه ..
ولا حتى يومي عايشاه .."


إلى لقاءٍ .. غير قريب
----

Connexion

I just wanted to say that the In-Flight Wireless Internet Connection ROCKS!

See you in Kuwait.

..

Jandeef

35,000 feet above the Atlantic

وسومة تغرد .. ده انته زيك ما تخلأش اتنين

Religious Or Traditional?

I'm sick of the on going Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays debate in American media. Left-wingers are calling for the removal of anything that has to do with Christmas from public property, saying the government shouldn't endorse one religion over another. Valid point, I thought. On the other hand, right-wingers say the constitution was written with a christrian spirit, and the vast majority of Americans are christian anyway.

Many well-known department stores replaced "Merry Christmas" banners with "Happy Holidays" ones. Some even instructed their salesmen to greet their customers with only "Happy Holidays."

In response, right-wing media pundits are fighting back. Heading the effort is Fox's Bill O'Reilly, pushing for boycotting such stores. He and others say their motivation is tradition, not religion. O'Reilly presents himself as a "traditionalist," which by his definition means something like "sticking to the original American values and resisting radical changes to them for political gain." I find that funny coming out of O'Reilly's mouth.

Anyway. Today, my ex-host mom asked me to come pick up some gifts for my mother since I'm going to Kuwait. She said "I bought her some stuff for the Christmas tree. Does she put up a tree at all?"

I was the third Arab/Muslim student she had hosted, so she knows very well we don't celebrate Christmas. That got me wondering "maybe O'Reilly and his gang, to some extent, have a point in saying it is more of a traditional matter." Maybe an average American, like her, celebrates it merely out of tradition, not religion.

What'd ya think? If it's just a tradition, is that a good defense for keeping Dec. 25th as a Federal holiday in a supposedly secular nation?

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

On an unrelated subject, I did very very very well on my last final today. Thank you Victoria. My exam preparation couldn't have been better without you yesterday. Much Love (L).

The City Where The Heat Is On

Pictures from my short cruise trip in Miami (Celebrity citing at the end):


The bridge connecting Miami with South Beach.


Beautiful!


I want to have such activities at my disposal!


Dolphin fin.

Some Celebrity house with an OUTDOOR living room!

Line up of fun.

Where my honeymoon will be inshalla. The big one that is.

Al Capone's former house

We passed by his house, and to our surprise, he was hanging out with his children.

Ladies and Gentleman .. Shaquille O'neal!

"يما بس خمس دقايق"

يقولون الإنسان يقضي ثلث عمره في النوم ، أي معدل النوم الطبيعي للإنسان هو ثمان ساعات في اليوم ، بس ما أعتقد كثير منا ينعمون بثمان ساعات نوم منذ دخولهم الجامعة على الأقل.

مادري ليش قلت هالمقدمة
:P

على العموم .. اليوم قعدت مو شبعان نوم ، وكنت مضطر أن أقوم .. فتذكرت أيام ما قبل الجامعة لما الوالدة تقعدني من النوم وأقول لها: "انشاءالله يما .. بس خمس دقايق" ، وأرد أنام الخمس دقايق...

اللــــــــه!! ... عندي هالخمس دقايق تسوى الليل كله! صج صج صج لها لذة لا توصف.

وبس
:D

Now That's Somethin'!

Haa Haaa Haaaa!! :D

Jandeef's Shorelines III

I'm going to Kuwait soon for x-mas break. The last time I spent winter in Kuwait was 4 years ago, so I'm excited.

Who's taking me out?

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ّI slept in today and missed Real vs. Barca, but I just made it up with USC vs. Fresno St. Damn! Arguably, the best college football game I've seen in a long time.

Reggie Bush for Heisman! 300 yards in a single game! What the hell!

On a related note, while watching ESPN's SC, they introduced "one of the nation's oldest football rivalries was played today between..." - and I was anticipating anxiously - "... Harvard and Yale." No offense, but doesn't it sound like a sentense fragment? Anyway, Harvard won.

While I'm sure USC tonight is partying till the morning, I had an image in mind of a Harvard player saying "Oh wonderful we won. I'm in a good mood for doing homework tonight."

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Last night, I dreamed that I'm attending Al-Laila AlMu7amadiya and mitt bachi on Alruwaishid's performance. Does that mean somebody's invading us anytime soon?

--------

This weekend's obsession: Just The Two of Us (L).

--------

I refuse to spend $6 on a movie by someone I refuse to accept as a rapper.

So fake!

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Finally, check out my latest post on Sa7at Alsafat for a few smiles and laughs :)

immmBbaAaAaaAaaAaaa3!!

There is a reason why our football team is not doing well.

Recentlly, our backup running back was arrested for DUI. He failed a sobreity test after getting pulled over by the police. So far, the story sounds normal until police looked in the back of his car and found a 200-lb sheep!

After some investigation, the sheep turned out to be stolen from our university's animal research center. He claims it was some kind of a prank. Anyway, after more investigation, the sheep turned out to be the subject of a study about homoxuality in animals. Lol!

So there you go. Our RB stole a homosexual sheep! He was suspended by the team; the player, that is. I'm not sure whether that was a result of the DUI or stealing the poor sheep :P

A couple of my friends are with him in a class. They say, since the incident, everytime he steps into the classroom, all the students would go "hmmmmBbaaAaAaa33." Hehe :P

Croissaunt .. Supposedly :P

Okey, I'm not the greatest hand craftsman, but still edible :D

Passionate At Work

Two of the people that fascinate me the most are Steve Irwin and Jack Hanna. I don't see that many people around who are as passionate and enthused about their jobs as these two guys. Their personalities differ greatly from each other. Jack is a quiet, soft-spoken, laid-back oldie, while Steve is an in-your-face freak that you feel his words are racing his lips when he talks. In other words, Jack is a frequent on David Letterman, while Steve is a frequent on Conan. However, both share a great knowledge of wildlife and, more importantly, a passion to what they do.

How amazing is it to have this much fun on a daily basis, and call it a job? I'm sure we all have some degree of passion, if at all, to what we do, yet I think it's very hard to top these two guys. Such jobs would be ridiculed in our retarded, third-world societies. It's sad that people don't get the point of being passionate and doing what you'd love to do.

Side Joke: Jack was on Letterman last week and he showed him some weird monkey. He explained to Dave "this one lives upside down. It feeds upside down. It breeds upside down...," and Dave interrupted "sounds like my first wife" ... LOL! It's been a while since Dave made me laugh, but that one cracked me up for the next 30 minutes hehe.

الــمــــــــوذي

من إحدى ظواهر مجتمعنا التي أكرهها هي عندما يتمتع شخص ويتفاخر بإلحاق الأذى بالآخرين ، أياً كان نوع الأذى ، وتجده يحرص بأن يظهر أمام الناس بشكل "الموذي."

في الصيف الماضي كنت في ديوانية ، ومن عرض السوالف قص أحد الشباب قصته في ستاربكس عندما ركز على بنت وأرسل لها بلوتوث صور "خلاعية" واحدة تلو الأخرى ، وكيف كانت البنت تغضب وتتأفف كل مرة ، وكان يذكر السالفة بكل طاقته والكشرة شكبرها على وجهه ، ظللت أستمع لقصته متوقعاً أن تنتهي بشيء يسوى ، "أدز لها ، وهي تعصب وتنفس ، وأدز لها وهي تعصب ..." وانتهت السالفة ، انزين ، وبعدين؟

هناك من يسبب الأذى للآخرين لغرض ، وأستطيع على الأقل أن أتفهم ذلك كون الشخص لديه هدف يسعى إليه ، ولكن عندما تؤذي أحداً فقط لتؤذيه ، ليش؟

من الملاحظ ، على الأقل بالنسبة لي ، أن هذه النوعية من الناس هي في الغالب نفسها التي تتفاخر دائماً بتحدي القانون وكسره ، وتجدهم يؤمنون بأن اتباع القانون والقواعد ينتقص من كبريائهم ، فلا توجد لديهم مسؤولية تجاه وطن أو مجتمع ، فما بالك تجاه الآخرين ، أو حتى تجاه الحيوانات ، كمن يشب النار في كلب ضال فقط لذلك ، أو من يتعمد الدوس على قط في السيارة ، أشخاص عديمو المسؤولية تجاه كل شيء.

إلحاق الأذى لهدف يأتي بعد تفكير وتخطيط وتنفيذ ، ولكن إلحاق الأذى من قبل هذه النوعية من الناس ودون هدف يأتي بعفوية تامة ، مما قد يعني أنها عادة مكتسبة منذ زمن ، أتذكر أخو صديقي عمره 10 سنوات يتفاخر بعدم ربطه حزام الأمان في الطائرة ، ويقول "حتى لما قالت لي المضيفة اربطه ، ربطته ولما وخرت فتحته" ، وهو بطريقة التفكير تلك يتبع أخوانه الكبار ، أي عادة مكتسبة من المحيط الذي يعيش فيه ، فتجد عندهم تحدي القانون والقواعد أهم من التفكير بلماذا فرض علي ربط حزام الأمان؟ بمعنى أنه يا ريته قال لم أربطه لأن احتمالات حوادث الطائرات قليلة ، بل يقول لم أربطه تحدياً للقواعد.

سبب كتابتي لهذا الموضوع هو ملاحظتي لاقتحام هذه النوعية من الناس لعالم المدونات ، فقد لاحظت بعض التعليقات مؤخراً هنا وهناك التي لم أفهم منها سوى ترك انطباع سيء لدى قارئها عن كاتبها ، وكنت متوقعاً ذلك لأن المدونات ، كما المنتديات ، ستصبح انعكاساً لمجتمعنا شئنا أم أبينا ، فالله يعيننا وياكم عليهم.

Charles & Cuban Feuding Bloggie Style

When asked whether he knew what "blog" means, Charles Barkley answered:

"No, but I know it's got something to do with the internet. You know, I don't use internet. Anybody who can sit around and thumb a keyboard all day just has no life."

Lol! Well, there it goes, fella's. Ya'll are lifeless; straight out of Sir Charles' mouth :P

That came after Dallas Mavericks' owner, Mark Cuban, attacked him and Kenny Smith on his blog for criticizing the Mavericks for being "a bunch of cupcakes" on defense even after they beat Phoenix on NBA's opening night. Mark said:

"The only downer of the night was listening to the idiots on TNT after the game... They haven't gotten any better... There is a reason why Kenny and Charles haven't gotten head coaching jobs... Charles has earned the right to be the comedian who has some insights... Kenny wants to coach, but won't do the work, so never will be more than a sidekick"

Then Charles and Kenny responded, and Cuban fired back again.

I'm not a fan of Dallas' up-tempo-soft-defense style. At the same time, I admire Cuban's untypical persona of an NBA owner. I admire his enthusiasm for the game and his no spin talks, but he just gets so blinded when it comes to his cupcake Mavericks. C'mon Mark! You even traded Michael Finley, the only player to bring toughness to the team.

Agree with them or not, I thought Charles and Kenny's responce was mature and reasonable. Mark's taking it way too personal. He even lashed out at poor Reggie Miller. I'm sure his remarks will fire up the cow bells in his arena, but look forward to the boos his team will get on the road.

Anyway, his blog is interesting. I'm amazed how such people manage to find the time to blog.

How Much Is Your Blog Worth?

Thanks to my newest visitor, Tololy, I found this interesting link on her blog. Dane Carlson, a blogger/entrepreneur, used Technorati, which is a blog search engine, to develope a tool that calculates how much your blog is worth; not based on traffic, but on the conversation and other sites linking to your blog.

Here is Washed Ashore's net worth:

And here is Sa7at Alsafat's:

Not bad at all. Of course, these are not solid, absolute numbers that you'd make if you listed your blog today on eBay. As of now, it's just a means to compare against other blogs. So check yours out ;)

Thoughts of Blog Change

It's been a little over six months since I started this blog (don't worry I'm not writing this to celebrate any kind of milestone). I'm unhappy about a couple of things:

1. I don't like the template because:

• It's a blogspot template, so it's not unique.
• The text space is so narrow that posts appear longer than they are.
• I picked it because it was the least I disliked.
• I don't know what the stuff on the header mean, and I don't care.

2. I don't like the blog name (Washed Ashore) because:

• I came up with it after a five-minute only brainstorming.
• It's so cliche`-tic and boring.
• I'm not a big fan of حرف الشين, and to my garada, it has two.
• Google turns out a bejillion results for it, making it un-unique.
  
• When I hear it, I just don't feel that I have a blog with that name.

I've been ignoring this displeasure for some time, thinking I'll like it more when it becomes more populare and I see more people linking to it. It was a friend who brought these thoughts back to me when I showed it to him. He's a computer programmer, web designer, and entrepreneur who owns and runs a web design/hosting/advertising company. He started throwing in ideas for making my blog look better and getting it more out there. He even offered his help if I'm interested in making a change.

Sounds intriguing, but I'm thinking if I'll go for a change, it'll most likely be for as long as this blog is alive, so it better be good. Also, if I go for it, I might as well move to a domain name instead of blogspot.

What do you think? Should I or should I not? If you think I should change, feel free to throw in any suggestions.

NBA Dressed-Up For A Better Image

The NBA announced its player dress code. No more baggy pants, jerseys, shorts, sneakers, bling-bling, etc. Only business casual attire. The code gets very specific even about what players must wear on their way from the bus to the arena; a 100-ft distance! In other words, Chauncey won't have a problem adjusting. Rip might.

Obviously, the NBA is trying to rebuild its deteriorating image. More interestingly, the code was agreed upon by all parties: NBA commissioner, team owners, and the players union. I can understand the commissioner and owners' position as they're desparate to improve their teams' image. I'm not sure about the union's position. From the player's stand point, and strictly business speaking, the code reduces their endorsement bargaining power. In the end it's the younger demographic that's buying their jerseys and sneakers. A demographic not very impressed by business suits and leather shoes.

The code concerns me a little in terms of personal freedom of expression. I'm not happy with how "rapper-hip-hopic" the NBA has become; even though some hip-hop doesn't hurt (you can't say Dr. J's afro didn't make it more fun to watch him), but I think the code only suppresses it rather than solve it. Suits didn't stop players from participating in last year's Detroit brawl anyway.

The NBA ought to look at the way players are being recruited. The recently agreed upon age limit will partly help. You can't pay 18 year-olds millions of $$ and expect them not to enjoy it. Also, the great increase in recruiting European players will help improve the image, even though it takes away from the NBA's "dunk" edge. Those players have shown that they care more about the game's fundamentals than what's on off the court. Also, it's either today's coaches are too soft or players are too snobby. More effective discipline is needed. Last year a coach imposed a $10,000 fine on players not wearing suits, and to avoid the hastle, one player wrote a big check to him in advance because he wasn't willing to comply.

On the same day, the NBA launched it's "NBA Cares" charity program. Bad, bad, bad timing for the dress code announcement! which has taken over the news and done enough damage by the players reactions such as Stephen Jackson calling the code racist, and Iverson asking for more money to afford business suits, heh. They could've done PR for "NBA Cares," which is much more sincere and effective in improving an image than a dress code.

In a nutshell, NBA is playing a classic business, PR game in which they're fooling the fans whom they're trying to improve their image to.

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

Side Note: Make sure to tune into Michael Jordan's interview on "60 Minutes" on Sunday at 7 pm.

زنــوبــة ولـهــــومــة

عسى ما شر؟ ما شفناكم هالسنة

Apple Again .. Now Video iPOD!

Ok, this is just ridiculous! Apple just unveiled their new video iPOD!

15,000 songs.
25,000 photos.
150 hours of video!
All in 60 GB for $399 (the 30 GB one is for $299)

Although the video feature is not very appealing to me, it just agrees with what I said in the last post about Apple's reliance on innovation.

Apple's Innovation

I finally got to see the new iPod Nano. Damn, it's even smaller than what I thought by looking at its pictures. I was fiddling with it in my hand and imagining how different it would be if I had a Nano in the gym or just walking instead of the GIGANTIC 15G that I have.

I always try to avoid walking into the Apple store because with the way their showrooms are set up, add to it excellent customer service, it's hard to resist buying something. And if I manage not to buy, I'd come back to it later. If I still manage, I'd be thinking about it for the next few days, or have serious thoughts of switching to Mac. Like today, all the extensive research I've done on windows-laptops was washed away when I saw the cute, shiny PowerBooks.

Don't get in the habit of buying something just because it's new because with Apple, you'll run out of money. They rely heavily on innovation, which I think is their most valuable intangible asset. In fact, I can't recall any other company that relies as heavily on innovation and aesthetics. Let Apple cease to innovate, and it'll run out of business.

Apple's boom started back in 2000 with their flashy, colorful iBooks, and it caught incredible momentum with the iPod. A look at their stock chart is enough to make a correlation. Shares bought 2 years ago (wish I did) have seen a five-fold increase in value now.

Gotta' admire the magic of Steve Jobs.

-------

Speaking of apple ... elyooo3 kaafer!

S/He is Him/Her

I'm in the lab right now, and I'm wondering who is this girl sitting to my left. I've never seen her in our department before. She goes away and comes back to her seat, and I realize this:

It's Larse!

A GUY IN MY CLASS!!!!!!!!!!! Apparently he had a sex change over the summer. S/he is different! Hair, body figure, boobs, 7arakat, etc., except the ugly face was still there.

S/he was in many of my classes when I was an undergrad. What's interesting is that I noticed him/her acting in a way like if s/he's new to here. From the way s/he was talking to the guys who were doing homework with him/her, s/he was talking like a new, different person. One of the guys asked him/her skeptically, I thought, (hiff with these slashes) "Are you a new student here?" S/he answered with a truthful answer, but the way s/he was talking was .. hmmm .. I don't know how to explain :S

Unbelievable! We talk and read about sex change all the time and see people who've actually done it, but when you see someone whom you've been seeing on campus almost daily for the past 5 years, it just doesn't sink in very easily. I remember him being very outspoken and opinionated. He even used to write a column in our campus paper. More interestingly, he was a hippie!

Anyway, I'm leaving now. S/he's just distracting, so I'll finish my work at home.

Song of the Week

انت فاهم .. شنهو يعني؟

بكل سهـــولــة

إنــتـــهـــيـــنـــــــــا

Jandeef's Shorelines II

The saga of weird animal dreams continues. My uncle and I were on a camping trip, and we had a couple of zebras in a small room. My uncle pulled a little one out by his tail, I held it to the ground, and my uncle slit the lil' one's throat!

I didn't see any blood. So, what on earth does that mean?

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As SheWrites said, this summer in Kuwait went by so fast. I didn't get a chance to do many things I planned to do nor did I meet many people I planned to meet.

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Speaking of vacation in Kuwait, I should probably mention that my first Sushi experience didn't go very well =(. Maybe next time Q ethabbi6ni.

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A huge wave of Saudi students has come to the US this year. I'm hearing the government handed out about 10,000 scholarships. In our state alone, the number of new Saudi students is at least a 3-digit number. I'm surprised by how this many of them got visas!

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Speaking of new students, I'm starting to feel lonely here. Almost all my friends have graduated and I'm trying to develop skills to befriend people with whom I have a relatively large age gap. I met a new guy the other day and he told me he was born in 1987. Cuuuutee =)

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I spent some time during the first day of school hanging out in the middle of campus watching elraye7 wel yaay; mostly freshmen looking kind of lost. With that, crush rate remains high.

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From now on, I won't have that many classes to take, and I'll have a lot of "free" time on which I can go to school whenever I want and do as much research per day as I want. Unfortunately, I have a tendancy to not get things done without pressure from someone/something else.

Self-discipline is what I need.

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I'm changing my advisor today. He taught me 4 classes and I love him as a professor. However, since he became my advisor 6 months ago, I haven't been able to deal with him smoothly. Yesterday, I e-mailed him about a scheduling problem, and he responded by saying "I suggest you talk to your advisor" :/ Who the hell are you then!

Eghhhhh .. raiba

Not good to have within hands reach!

حـصــــار الــزواحـــــف

حلمت حلم غريب.

طالع من بيتنا من الباب الخلفي ورايح حق سيارتي ، وأجد سيارة جدي واقفة عند الباب وضب قاعد على الكبّوت! ألتفت حوالي وأشوف أكثر من بريعصي على باب البيت نفسه.

استاحشت ، فقررت أني أطلع من الباب الأمامي وألف حوالين البيت عشان أوصل حق سيارتي ، وانا ماشي في الحوش لاحظت إني ماسك بيدي حيّة مرنقطة بس بلاستيك مو صجية!

كملت مشيي في الحوش والا أشوف بريعصي رابي ، كرشه شكبره ، على طوفة البيت ، يوم قربت حواليه قام يركض صعوداً على الطوفة ، فجأة وبقدرة قادر انفجر البريعصي! وطاح على الأرض بالأقساط ، وكل قطعة منه تلبط!

كملت إلى الباب الأمامي ، وتوني باطلع وإلا أشوف Komodo Dragon مرتز عند الباب! تصروعت ورديت دشيت البيت.

قعدت من النوم أند آي واز لايك ... وات ذا هل!!

أي تفسيرات؟ والا أتصل على النهام؟

Crazy Sports Fans

According to ESPN ...

A Detroit Pistons fan who threw a coin at the Philadelphia 76ers' Allen Iverson, hitting him in the back of the head, received a five-day jail sentence Thursday.

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This is how things are taken seriously; even the slightest incidents. When people know that even one trouble maker will not get away with it, the other 20,000 in the arena will behave themselves.

I read this and had flashbacks of our soccer games and the animals who intentionally bring stuff in just to throw them! It's not like they happened to have those items in their hands. No, they brought them in on purose. They do their best to smuggle them. It's a shame that police guards have to hand-search the fans at the gates.

A few years ago I attended a soccer game, and Mohammad Bnayan (former Alqadsiya and National Team defender) was hit on his ear with .. guess what .. Fireworks! A kind of long-range 9a33aaadi was lit way up in the stands and it exploded at his ear! Nothing was done to the person who did it!

War of the Worlds .. In Kuwait !

To My Beloved .. Laptop (RIP)

Dear Laptop,

It's been a wonderful four years. We've had our ups and downs. Sometimes together and sometimes against each other.

I broke you today. I swear it wasn't intentional. Although I was going to salvage you very soon, that wasn't the way I intended for our farewell.

I didn't know what to write exactly for this elegy. Should I cherish the good times we had together? Or should I curse the hell out of you for the down times?

Remember when you ruled? When I bragged about you everywhere. That was when Pentium III was da man! And XP was the new kid on the block. Not anymore. Not since I'd been having to format you every four months just so you stay alive. It was like keeping you up on life-support. You deserved being faithful to though. I tried my best to extend our commitment to each other. Today, though, was the ultimate ending. You couldn't take it anymore, and I couldn't either.

I still brag about you. It is indeed very rare to see a laptop still functioning alright after even three years, keeping in mind how many new processors were released after yours.

I am not going to salvage you anymore. I'm even going to fix you then place you on my Shelf Of Fame. I need some stuff inside you anyway, so you better be fixed! Also, just so you don't get surprised, I'm going to bring in a new one. However, out of respect to our years, I'll always make sure you're in a different room.

Tell me. Is it only a myth that a car, machine, or just anything breaks when the owner plans on getting a new one? Honestly, did you hear me asking friends for recommendations? Or was it easier to figure out since I've been using you to research labtop makers sites? If I hurt you by doing so, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to be rude. Please, forgive me.

It broke my heart when it happened today. I was helpless. I only had a few minutes to say goodbye before your battery ran out. I didn't use these few minutes to save whatever I can save. Instead, I just stared at you, remembering all the glory days we had between us. You've been a great companion. You were with me at home, in the classroom, in the lab, on the train, on the airplane, in the hotel, and every where I went.

You've been great. So long, partner. I'll meet you in heaven.

Jandeef's Shorelines I

Finally things have settled in Kuwait for me ... sort of. Sleeping is sorted out, work load is a little less, and I finally went out and hung out with friends and family. Once again, I feel like a stranger.

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Speaking of free time, I need a weekend in a chalet alone. No computer, no phone, and nobody! The thing is I don't have a chalet that I have so much control over. I can't ask my uncle to dedicate his chalet just for me.

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A lot of repair work is going on in our house, and it's irritating. Strangers walking in and out, paint smell, noise and Mr. Jack hammer above my room, grandpa not liking their work almost all the time, and it's taking longer than it should.

By the way, did I tell you that I'm getting my own semi-apartment at home? :D I demanded at least a bedroom, living room, and bathroom, and my demands were peacefully met. I'm sick of white walls, so I decided I'll paint the living room light beige with darker spots, but it wasn't a perfect finish. Since I didn't like how the color looked anyway, now they're repainting it very light grey-bluish background with blue and dark grey spots. (Blogger's color collection wasn't very helpful).

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I made a new real-life friend. I met a fellow blogger for the first time in my short blogging history. We had a conversation about our careers over coffee for her, snapple for me, and an Oreo cheese cake that I didn't like. We're picking up the conversation today as we'll be meeting a guy who's going to talk to us about his career, which is related to mine.

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Miami's "Ya Booya" is hillarious! "Oo Shooo Sawwa?"

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Girls here are getting more gorgeous by the minute! Crush rate is at an all-time high.

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A friend of mine is going through "sexual frustration." Help him please. 9a3ban 3alay.

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Finally, I know I've been posting personal things about me that have probably revealed my identity to you, so I'll repeat Mobi's pledge: if you know me, please don't tell me! I too don't want to know. And keep it to yourself, will ya? Don't go spread it around, please. Worse than that is someone trying to trick me, either on purpose or just double checking that it's actually me, like asking me whether or not I read some posts (especially on Sa7at Alsafat), and these posts all happen to be written by Jandeef!

JetLag .. Dust .. NBN

I arrived a while ago and still battling jetlag. Last night I slept at 8 pm and woke up at 4 am :/

Anyway. I haven't been able to post anything because I've been a little busy and nothing to post about. Here are a couple of things.

It appears that I came to Kuwait and brought the dust with me :/

Not being able to sleep, I was flipping through TV channels at around 4 am, and I came across this channel. It's called NBN and I have no idea as to which country it belongs to. The show was an audience-participation quiz, and they get prizes. Poor hostess. She spent about 30 minutes begging viewers to call in and participate! She was saying "Yalla ma bedkum etza3loonee .. yalla etti9looo! .. badna musharik wa7ed 3al a'al" I was like OMG is this real! Hehe I laughed my head off. Not only that. Do you see the circle in the middle that has like a timer clock? That's a timer for the current quiz. Once time is up, she moves on to the next quiz. Time ran out on this quiz but she stopped it at 2 minutes "to give viewers a chance to still call!" Hehe. How dumb can you be to broadcast a quiz show early in the morning :/ Still I couldn't believe that no body called.

We'll Never Forget

Courtesy of Sarah

Raِmadhan Visiting Early This Year

I know I know. Too much red and yellow, but what the heck. All I could find in my fridge was potatos and tomatoes, and three thighs. Chicken thighs that is.

Bel Janna Inshalla

Inventor of Jeans

Inventor of Ketchup

Inventor of Automatic Transmission

Inventor of Corn Flakes

Inventor of Deodorant

Inventor of Dayquil/Nyquil

Inventor of Vaseline

Inventor of Vicks

Inventor of Kinder

Creator of Tom and Jerry

Inventor of Pepsi/Coke

Inventor of Pizza

Inventor of Chay 7aleeb

Irritating ... Can't Stand 'em

Geraldo

Nancy Grace

Shepard Smith

Sean Hannity

Christiane Amanpour

Carlson Tucker

Greg Anthony

Magic

(Only when he's on TNT's Inside The NBA)