2009 Revisited

2009 is wrapping up, and it wasn't a bad year at all. Odd years are always better for me, so here goes:

- Favorite Film of 2009: The Hangover

- Favorite Album of 2009: The Fray

- Favorite Song of 2009: I told you so - Carrie Underwood

- Favorite new artist 2009: ADAM LAMBERT BABY!!

- Favorite Book of 2009: The Moneypenny Diaries by Kate Westbrook - Female James Bond? Awesome!

- Least favorite book of 2009: Salman Rushdie's Midnigfht's Children - I like the idea but the dude is seriously overrated - i could not get past the first hundred pages. Perhaps if it's a movie i'd enjoy it more.

- Favorite TV Show of 2009: Glee!! I just love everyone on the show - especially Kurt! Also I loved Drop Dead Diva - it hits a nerve

- Favorite Moment of 2009: getting a piano, I've dreamt of this moment since i was 5!

- Favorite Holiday of 2009: despite all our bickering, Hurghada with Lara :P

- Favorite new discovery of 2009: The Osiris Singers :)

- Best Decision of 2009: to find a hobby that makes me happy

- Biggest Achievement of 2009: 10 Kilos bay-bee! .. and counting

- Favorite Food of 2009: Mori Sushi's philadelphia rolls, pink panthers and crisp shrimp roll

- Favorite Drink of 2009: LATTE!! Who knew coffee was so good!

- New Habit picked up in 2009: snacking on Apples, Yogurt and popcorn made with PAM.

- New Celebrity crush in 2009: Alec Baldwin - I guess he ages well, like wine i guess.

- Favorite Celebrity in 2009: Neil Patrick Harris - his song at the Tony's was great!

- Favorite new outfit/clothing in 2009: My rocker-chique black jacket

- Favorite new accessory in 2009: My pearl necklace

- Favorite new person in 2009: My boss, who has reminded me that female managers can be awesome!

- Favorite Website of 2009: Entertainment Weekly - it provided good entertainment during those long work days

2010 be kind!

The future of aviation!

So I was checking out some Have Your Say on BBC News and came across this. BBC was asking readers whether they believe tougher Airport Security. When i had them sorted by how many recommendations a comment has received i found the first three pages bitching about how Muslims are just ruining it for everyone and should basically dig a hole and lie in it. And wow, the number of people who are for racial profiling is like A LOT!

See people have suggested we run flights that are tied with religious affiliation. Muslims fly one plane, the rest of the world flies another? Or does each religion run their own thing?

So how bout we hand over the management of airplanes to religious authorities. So we have the Cross Airlines, the Crescent Airlines and the David Star Airlines.

As for the atheists i think we hand them over to the Church of Scientology, where in flight movies will all be Tom Cruise movies! Man they got the short stick didn't they?

We could have lie detector tests for each passenger to check his/her religious affiliation. The results would be valid for like 2 years and then need to be refreshed. Or if they stay in a different place for longer than 6 months it can also trigger some changes in affiliation.

Then we can hand out stickers that people can stick on their chests while in airports, that way each group can stick together, so that if one person explodes he only takes down his own people. Each groups will carry their symbol - atheists will have a pic of Tom Cruise :P lol!

And in 10 years time we can just compare the numbers of explosions and see.

Wouldn't planes then be a great way to meet prospective husbands/wives ?

I think the people on this Have your Say are on to something...

Protest Signs - an art!

So I saw this page which had the 50 Best Protest Signs and I decided to waste some time and put the ones I thought were funny and then type what i thought in my head as I scrolled down.

and with color combinations that good, there's no wonder you would say that :P
Yes, I get you man, i really get you!
Ok, Kanye's annoying but really - Kudos for coming up with the best phrase of 2009!
Ehh, now seriously people - if you're gona bitch and moan about protesting, then just do it from facebook like all the lazy suckers do!
I agree Juice is very bad for you! The amout of sugar in there, seriously, no wonder shows like the Biggest Loser exist!
I actually really like this! Memorable, makes a point - me liky!
Ok, i'm trying to figure out what exactly that person is protesting? Is there like a company that issues secret codes to games and they ruin it for the rest of the players? Is that it? Sort of like a spoiler without any preceding spoiler alert?
You should be looking at the man in the middle with the stripped shirt with the sign saying "We have NO idea what we're talking about". You gotta admire his honesty, and the way he doesn't mind standing there to point this out. I'm guessing his Bingo playing group was cancelled that day?
Uhh, bring on the Beyonce! You really think an old white haired republican and/or conservative religious person is really up to date on the Billboard 100 Chart? Really dude?
I like this one too - it's like hello, are we still talking about this? Do I really need to protest this? me liky
Yes, he does suck - lamest Batman ever!!
Look at how he colored only the first letter of every word. He hates protesters so much he can't be bothered to complete his sign to protest protesters!
I don't get the fuss about Arrested Development, really! It wasn't that good!
I know!!! mr. with the pink sign! Although i'm sure it's not you, coz wearing red while sporting a pink sign? talk about fashion faux-pas!

Yes, those youth in asia - they're a real killer - lol

ahh i'm so easily amused :)

World Domination is far from your reach

when you struggle to understand the best idea that Mr. Mohamed El-Erian - No 16 of the Foreign Policy 100 Global Thinkers - has come up with.

"Best idea: To analyze the longer-term impact of the economic crisis in the context of the old-fashioned core-periphery characterization, including the extent to which a shock to the core weakens adhesive links and overwhelms asymmetrical circuit breakers."

Say What?

It looks like reading all the Shopoholic Series does not mean you're all that well read...

Integration Contract, Really?

Quoted from the BBC Article: Europe's identity crisis

"In future an immigrant arriving in Germany and wishing to stay may have to sign an "integration contract". That is the idea of the Integration Minister, Maria Boehmer.

The contract would set out basic German "values," including "freedom of speech" and "equal rights for women". The idea behind this is the club: if you join you have to accept the rules. "Anyone who wants to live here for a long time," says the minister, "and who wants to work has to say 'yes' to our country"."

I was very surprised when I read this today. It came as a bit of a shock to me to see how clueless people can be especially when they are in positions of power.
The mere 3 people that commented on the Article all seemed to disagree with this, and so do I.

I think that idea is so off point it's ridiculous! The idea that a contract is the thing that will govern the way immigrants choose to live their life shows how weak of a grip Europe really has on its integration problems. You cannot sit on the outside and watch a hot mess and think you can solve it. The people thinking of solutions need to understand how those immigrant communities think, understand without passing judgement. Once you understand a problem, then you can start to fix it, and it's obvious that some countries are no where near understanding things.

I think if they take a few examples of well integrated immigrants and compare their characteristics with those who are not well integrated they might get some idea as to why people behave the way they do. My feel is that they will find that the reasons are closely tied with the goal one has for immigration. There are those who seek immigration for financial reasons and those who seek immigration to improve their quality of life. Those who cannot survive in their countries seek immigration to the EU since they will be able to survive off of the minimum wage and will reap the benefits of a good social welfare system. Then there are those who seek immigration in order to fulfill career aspirations, better quality of life and a good future for their children. The main things that differentiates those two groups are money and education.
Generally, well educated and well off people are more respecting of women's rights and freedom of speech.
I'm not saying a clear cut solution is obvious, but I think some understanding of the realities of immigrants is necessary before jumping into actions that will not add any value.

Another problem I see is that - to Europeans - the sight of a veiled women, more often than not, represents female oppression, devout religiousness - sometimes even fundamentalism - and inequality. This is not always the case, some women are open minded and independent and choose to wear the veil. The problem is that a person's looks already alienate him/her when they are different from the main stream, add to that all the social factors and religious ones too and you find that people on both sides prefer this separation, and would much rather stick to their own world than be open to challenging their own views and perhaps changing or adjusting their convictions.

Finally, I think we need to acknowledge how difficult is it for human beings to change. Expecting a middle aged man/woman to change his/her ways is not realistic. Change is gradual. For immigrants to develop ownership to their new country and integrate with them and adjust their values and belief systems takes generations not years. Which can also indicate that maybe a big part of the problem may be resolved in time.

I think it's sad, how little progress has been made to understanding - not even solving - a problem that has been out there since as long as I can remember. You'd think the developed world would do a better job at handling their problems.

Love and Pride - two different things

I've finally been able to pin down exactly how I feel towards Egypt - given recent events.

I've realized that one does not have to be proud of something to love it. You can love something and still be very ashamed of it.

And while I love my country dearly and i feel frustration over its wasted potential, i am not very proud of it.

They say your true character shows only in difficult times. Time and time again we're faces with difficult situations, and we just throw it out of the park.

Historically, there are things that I am proud of, things that Egyptians a very very long time achieved, but since then have rotted in ignorance and apathy. Many of the great things we see today that bring national pride are works of non-Egyptians.
The Rosetta Stone may have been written by Egyptians, but was discovered by the French. The Metro system that has so far been sufficiently consistent is done by the French. The streets and squares of down town Cairo were mapped by the French. The railway system that is slowly decaying was done by the British - the 2nd railway built in the world! Even the Suez Canal was not built by us.

But if we put the past aside, what in today's modern word do I have to be proud of? Not much.
When Egyptians go on a mad riot frenzy and claim they want to declare a war on a country, because a bunch of hooligans allegedly attacked 20-something fans - i feel appalled, not proud. When the President of the country takes time from his schedule to mention it in his public televised speech, I feel sad, not happy.

More often than not, I am left ashamed at how we - Egyptians - handle ourselves.

Jimmy rolls up his sleeve, Mobi won't back down

Hold on to your seats everyone, it's about to get interesting!

The Ahram Newspaper is Egypt's leading newspaper, even though it's full of absolute Bullshit! It reports growth, when no body else does, it omits news that everyone should hear, and if you were on a deserted island and didn't know the state of the world today and only got Al Ahram Newspaper dropped from the sky every day, you'd think Egypt was in the G8.

Despite all of that you can get a lot of insight into what's happening in Egypt, even if you admittedly only read the headlines, & look at the pictures like yours truly.

Being mentioned in the Ahram newspaper is good - but where you're mentioned is what says a lot! You can be mentioned in the front page (Mubarak related news), page 3 (other worthy news), the middle pages (Egypt related news) or in the last page (a.k.a the seen and heard page)

Gamal Mubarak (aka Jimmy) was mentioned in the Ahram a lot over the past few years. Early on it was in the seen and heard page, then he jumped up to the middle section pages - news about his Party, the decisions he makes etc.

This week he has consistently been on Page 3! A nice upgrade for little Jim! He's made headlines on plenty of other places too - and has therefore become the latest topic by the watercooler! Jimmy is rolling up his sleeves and getting ready to take in the limelight.

Everyone thinks it's with the support of his loving father (aka Moby) but a look at the Ahram newspaper would show that Mr. Moby is none too happy about Jimmy's rise up the Ahram-page ladder. Every time there's an article about Gamal Mubarak's vision for the future, right next to him and even bigger one is showing Moby in full swing 'running' the country. Moby, whose news generally fill the first page, now fill the first and 3rd page as well.

Now, if you were trying to support your offspring's rise to the throne, wouldn't you take a step backward and let you boy take in some of the limelight?

If Moby truly wanted to pass down his throne to Jimmy, shouldn't he be sorting him out while he's still in power? Why leave it up in the air when Moby's number could be up any minute now? So he tested fate and tried for 5 more years - a risk i would call stupid when you're eighty something - you'd think he'd get wise and start easing Jimmy in before it's too late!

Based on the news coverage, this is not happening - and it looks like Jimmy's patience with his father has ran out and he's taken matters into his own hands.

It seems as though things are in fact going to get interesting...Moby vs. Jimmy is not what everyone expects, but it might just happen!

P.S. I found this on Masrawy just as i published this post - if you read Arabic check it out.

Summer hibernation - over!

Summer is finally O-V-E-R! I know it's still like 30-something degrees out there and the electricity bill is still triple its usual amount but it's Autumn now - move over summer!

It's also the end of Ramadan...

Now, let me take a moment and do a little happy dance...

Ok, i'm back!

Over the weekend I made some purchases: Pink Reebok's, Membership at club next to the office, cheap-but-funky-looking squash racket

Sunday I finished work and headed over to the Gym then hit the Squash courts. Monday morning I realized I have muscles in places i never knew. Tuesday morning did not feel any different. Today I was able to laugh without wincing with pain - and like the diligent person i pretend to be i'm heading over the gym & squash court again today.

TV has started again so my couch potato blog should be showing signs of life as soon as I finish my Lost marathon (man, Season 5 is good!)

Game on!

Scrabble nights have been happening for a while, even though they're not as frequent as they once were.

Lately Nis and I have had our asses handed to us by Adrian - who, much to Nisrin's dismay, happens to be Canadian!

So Adrian decided to help us and sent us this to help us beat him - it's funny:

Captain Jack is back!!

* happy dance

Great news from EW.com! Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On stranger tides

Now we have to wait till Summer 2011 - :(

AIESEC influence reaches the Oscars!

Apparently the Academy Awards have decided to rely on AIESECers to help them vote for the Best Motion Picture.

If you've ever been in a PAI election or a National election in AIESEC you'd instantly understand the system they've derived - in fact you'll think it makes complete sense. For others, it seems a little complex.

And given the fact that PWC is a big AIESEC Partner, and also the company that counts the ballots for the Academy Awards, i'm thinking my theory is not too far fetched.

Here's the new procedure according to ew.com:

"In the past, once the nominees were announced, Academy members voted only for the one film they thought should win the award, and the film with the most votes won. But with so many nominees next year, it’s feasible that a movie could have won Best Picture with only 11 percent of the vote, which seems crazy. So now, once the 10 nominees are named, voters will rank the films from 1 to 10. All the No. 1 votes will be counted, and if no film has more than 50 percent of the vote (which will certainly be the case), the last-place film will be eliminated and the voters who voted for that film will have their No. 2 votes counted instead. That process will continue until one film has a majority of the votes. As Pond points out, there is a chance that the film that ends up winning won’t actually have the most No. 1 votes, but will instead emerge the victor in the second, third, or fourth rounds. "

Now tell me that it's not an AIESECer who came up with this!

CNN likes juice!

No body likes to twist the facts a little to get some juice like CNN does! Especially when it comes to Muslims and Arabs. It's like a big lucrative punching bag right there in your face, and of course they'll want to take a swing.

So the article was discussing some Nigerian player in Italy who was fasting because it's ramadan, and didn't perform well in the match. The Coach was not happy. This is of course a valid discussion - I understand the Coach's concerns. Personally I think the player should fast on his days off to make up for his Ramadan, he needs to eat to be able to earn his living. This, however, is not what ticked me off.

At the end of the Article CNN says:

"Meanwhile, the Egyptian team preparing for the under-20 World Cup in their home country have turned down the chance to break their fast. The country's religious authorities gave the squad members permission to avoid fasting during Ramadan, but the team ignored the instruction.

The competition starts just a few days after the end of Ramadan, but the team is in strict training in a bid to claim the prestigious title."

Religious authorities don't have a say in whether you're allowed to break your fast or not. This, much like daily prayers, is up to each person. So the team does not need "permission" to not fast.

Why throw something like that in there that would just send the message that this mean evil religion is starving its people and they need permission from religious authorities to let them eat? The truth is that religious authorities give their opinion - not an instruction or permission!

But hey, this sells more doesn't it?

blame it on the

HEAT!

Life's been quiet, and a little boring if you ask me. I blame it fully on heat...

I'd like to start walking and maybe potentially move to Racewalking coz it's got this cool hip shaking action. However I hate sports, and I hate heat. So it's hard to start something you hate in conditions you hate. I'm claiming that if it were fall/winter I'd have happily hopped off my ass and gone Racewalking...

So far I've bought a stop watch and i'm looking for new running shoes and sports clothes - all in preparation for when the weather is a bit more bearable.

Another thing I'm blaming on the weather is how i've ignored the Piano sitting in my living room for the past month. My un-air-conditioned living room is just too hot. Adding a new A/C is not an option, and the Piano won't fit in my room. Yesterday I tried playing and turns out I've forgotten the little piece i'd busted my ass in learning earlier in the summer.

I blame it on the heat

Mysteries i'm dying to un-ravel

1) Did man really step on the moon when they said he did
2) Was there a plot to kill Diana and Dody
3) Did JFK and Marilyn Monroe have a thing (although i can guess!)
4) Was Darwin right

and finally
5) And how the HELL is Windows so successful?!

ahhh, a little bundle (read: attachment) of joy was left in my email today

Seems like someone's been listening to my advice about CVs!

Kudos for adding a few crativity points:

- Colors! Yes, pink, red, green and blue are the new Arial & Bookman Old Style of professionalism

- Kiss ass comments - Yikes! Coz we all love to get our asses kissed by potential applicants - ahh my self-actualization needs have been fulfilled - eat that Maslow!
- Not leaving out important details: Just coz you took an ICDL and Introduction to Computers course doesn't mean you know how to use windows and internet! It is, therefore, necessary - even mandatory - to list down the sophisticated applications you can use, like word, excel, windows and internet!

Finally, I'd like to give double Kudos for the currage this dude has in showing how he's moved jobs every year! Seriously, nothing makes an HR manager happier than hiring someone who will leave after one year - talk about Return on Investment!!

I will print screen and post below because what's a good laugh if it's not shared among loved ones (read: the few people who actually read this)

Enjoy :)

The Clinton's still got it goin'

Even more evidence has risen that proves just how much of the "it" factor the Clintons have:

While in Kenya, Hilary received a renewed offer from Godwin Kipkemoi to marry her daughter. The lucky girl would receive 40 goats and 20 cows as dowry. That's apparently the second time he's offered to marry her.
So fret not Chelsea, you'll never become a spinster - there will always be some takers. And you'd get a handsome dowry out of it too!

Hilary has promised to convey his kind offer to her daughter, and the hopeful suitor is now waiting for his answer:
"She promised that she will take the proposal to the daughter and I am now waiting," he said.

Read the BBC Article here

Wouldn't it be cool if a whole bidding war started between us African countries? I can see an Egyptian camel herder going: I see your 40 goats and 20 cows and raise you 20 camels; then a Congolese going: I see your 40 goats, 20 cows, 20 camels and raise you 15 Elephants!

Now there's some Emmy-worthy reality show material in there!

not even enough time for prayers

If your name is Nora Hamdy please do not – I REPEAT DO NOT – read this. If you do, don’t worry – flying is a safe and a fun and amazing experience only a fraction of the world population experiences – so savor these few hours and enjoy your reclining chair, posh menu and in-flight movie (pick the Hangover, it’s hilarious and Bradley Cooper – YUM!)

Nora, I’m serious, stop reading…

Someone mentioned the Egyptair Flight 990 that crashed into the Atlantic 10 years ago and started a discussion about whether the co-pilot actually crashed the plane or not; which I found out later was quite a big deal in the investigation. I haven’t exactly followed that accident at all. So I put my googeling to task and found out all about the investigation.
So yeah, it seems like the dude did in fact crash the thing,,, I’m not big on conspiracy theories, and yes, we’ll never know, but evidence point to where evidence point.
I ended up reading the transcript of the audio tapes of the cockpit; and I found them quite haunting.
The last minute the audio tapes shows the co-pilot repeating something you’d typically say when you start doing something. The captain’s last words were him basically asking what was happening and saying repeatedly “pull with me”.
I have no idea what brought me to read such a disturbing document, and now I can’t get it out of my head.
I don’t really think about the co-pilot, or the passengers; it’s that captain trying to pull the plane up that is stuck in my head. While the passengers were saying their prayers, that captain had no time to say his prayers – his mind was probably racing trying to find out what the hell went wrong while he was in the toilet, wondering if he should have just held it in, hoping his pulling efforts would work. He didn’t even have time to say his prayers!

I should stop googeling things…..

Our very own Miley Cyrus!

two posts in one day? i know!

Hamid El Shaeri is an Egyptian/Libyan singer/songwriter/producer.
He posted a video on Facebook of his 10 year old daughter singing 'The Climb' by none other than Miley Cyrus. (Notice how she imitates Miley's imitation of Celine Dion with all the hand gestures?)

The kid is good - little nasal - but good.
However, much like Miley Cyrus's videos, the video has auto-tune written all over it.
In case you're not familiar with auto-tune it's a pitch correction technology that makes people like Miley Cyrus, and in the future Nabila El Shaeri, able to get record deals. That and the fact that daddy is a music industry guru...

Leave Egypt and conquer!

well, that is if you are Dr. Magdy Yacoub.
Read yet another one of his ground breaking procedures here

Dissed and Dismissed!

and by that I mean the "Broadway comes to Egypt" show.
The title is quite misleading, I initially thought that some genius has finally convinced some Broadway troupe to come perform here for the weekend. So I decided, it's ok to shed out some considerable amount of moolah, since let's face it, my efforts to make it personally to Broadway have been unsuccessful for a few years in a row now.
My first hint was when my friend told me the tickets were for 25 pounds, and that's when I smelled foul play. At first i thought she forgot a zero, and I was happy coz 250 pounds for a Broadway show sounds pretty cheap ( Stomp cost 1000, so did lord of the dance, and Bocelli)
Then it was confirmed to me that it was in fact only 25 pounds.
I wasn't too disappointed with the show, since i had pretty low expectations. And for 25 pounds, i was not going to complain.
But now that i'm reading the Daily News Egypt's review of it, I can't help but be very amused.
In general i'd put my music abilities no better than being able to keep a tune; turns out in the Cairo Opera House keeping a tune - barely keeping it at some points - can get you quite far.
I was planning to stay quiet about this. I'm a part of a local amateur singing group that does Musicals, the operative word here is amateur. So it was a clear case of glass house vs stone scenario, but then again the Opera House claims to be professional so bring on the stones.

Here are some excepts from the review which I found so amusingly true:
"Despite being blessed with a truly remarkable voice, Hany El-Shafei (in the role of Tony) was clearly out of element in here. Donning a white shirt and jeans, El-Shafie looked like an 18th century count plunged by accident into 1950 New York while his intonations were distractingly off in several parts."

Imagine you get the three tenors and ask them to vocally coach the singers to sing 'Anything You Can Do'. Do you think it would really turn out like this? or more like this? Can you really call the second one Broadway?

For those who attended it, why don't you treat yourself to a version of Maria that doesn't sound like it was a song written for Pavarotti (excuse, the glitch with the last Mareeaaah)

"The night’s single most remarkable performance was of the banter-filled “America.” Nesma Mahgoub sang her half of the song with natural mastery, lending her voice the desired lilt and bounce to complement the jabs in the lyrics. All skirts and flounces, heels-clicking and pose-striking, the dancers took to the stage as if the repartee inherent in the song were second nature.

Later, amid “Grease” numbers, a convincing performance of “Sandra Dee” was given by — no surprise, Mahgoub again! — though dressed in dull black, it carried only half the charm of the bouncy skirt and frolicking dance of the earlier “West Side Story” number. "

Funnily (well more like tragically) enough, the two most remarkable performance (yes, they were my favorites too) are by "Nesma Mahgoub" who is the amateur AUC student, not the professional Opera-House-employed singers. Barvo, Opera House!

"With Ibrahim Hany’s looking and dressing up for the boxing ring than as a dreamy Danny, and Maysa Orensa as Sandy smiling through “summer dreams, ripped at the seams” the ever-popular “Summer Nights” was laid to rest, and turned in its grave."

At this song, I was undoubtedly happy: My sister, who is quite stingy when it comes to giving compliments told me that I can do a better job that that. I secretly rejoiced their suckiness, and patted myself on the back for finding someone even more mediocre than I am! That person sings for the Opera House! Oh, the dreams I had forgone!

This is how the journalist chose to end his review:
"Broadway sadly stayed where it was, and you wonder what part of it came to Egypt. “West Side Story” did not carry aptly the heartbreak of divided lives and loves, depriving the songs of their story. And while “Grease” was more successful in conveying the atmosphere of juvenile high-school drama, the achievement was more likely effortless."

The reason I found that tragically amusing i because the Opera House has consistently showed us it's true colors, I mean have you listened to our Orchestra or seen our Ballet group? Why would a musical be any different?

My Memories of the King

- My earliest memory of Michael Jackson was his Black and White song - that was the first time i heard about him. I think i was about 9 or 10. I always associated the song with United Colors of Benetton; did they put it in their ad? Or was that just my imagination? I remember thinking what an absurd song to sing for someone who 'changed his color' coz he didn't like the one he was born with (it was what the gossip mags were saying at the time - I was into celeb gossip early on). Whenever I’m shopping at Benetton I find myself humming Black and White..
- I remember googleing his different looks trying to find out how it changed - i guess i yahoo-ed it, coz Google wasn't there at the time. I might have even used Lycos or webcrawler.
- I remember taping his single "Scream" off the radio on a mix tape from the show 'At your request' on the European radio broadcast channel. The show came on from 10 to 12 every Friday - my sister and I woke up especially for it on the weekends. The presenter, Hala Hasheesh, spoke over the end of the song; and on my mix tape the next song after (or maybe the one before, i can't remember) Scream was Bryan Adam's 'To really love a woman'. We didn't leave enough space between the two songs, so they were almost merged as one song. Whenever i hear the Bryan Adam's song i think of MJ's Scream and vice versa. I also still remember the words that the presenter spoke during the song...
- I remember watching 'Free Willie' in the movie theater, and later renting it from the video store next to my house (for 3 pounds) and from the video store at the sporting club and singing along to "Childhood". Whenever i listen to the song i think of the scene where Willie jumps to the other side of the ocean with the little boy standing underneath him. I remember being a little apprehensive the second time I watched thinking the whale might end up squashing the kid. The first time I watched I was emotionally invested in the scene, i.e. crying my eyes out
- I remember the school band singing 'we are the world' - with Susi (my class mate) on the Drums and doing the back up vocals
- I remember buying the HIStory cassette tape by the label 'Voice of America’; I was captured by the song "Little Suzy". One of my frenemies at the time was called Suzy (not the one in the band that one is still a friend) and found it very disturbing that he was singing about the murder of a little girl called Suzy. I was about 13 at the time.
- HIStory, along with some Whitney Houston album and Elvis Greatest hits were my favorite Voice of America cassette tapes at the time. 'Help' was my favorite movie at the time - i would go watch it at the British Council right up the street from my house.
- I remember loving all his collaborations with the Beatles - especially 'The girl is mine' with Paul McCartney. I distinctly remember the line 'Paul, I think i told you, I’m a lover not a fighter'. I think i've quoted that in a conversation once.
- I remember the chain emails where peole claimed he said "if i had known muslims would listen to my music, i would not be singing". I thought these emails were ridiculous.
- I remember following all his gossip online (still do now)
- I am a big fan of a movie called 'Center Stage' which is all about Ballet. Their final act is with MJ's 'the way you make me feel' - it was really good! I remember thinking if I were a Ballerina I'd want to do that dance with this song.
- Earlier this year I downloaded his King of Pop album and put it on my mp3 player. I read about his concerts and was sure they would be an amazing success and he'd be back in no time. Around that time American Idol had a MJ theme in one of their episodes. I had never heard P.Y.T till then, and the girl who covered Dirty Diana did it very well. Goes without saying that Adam rocked Black and White...
- I checked out the tickets for his concert and took a pen and paper and saw if I could make it up there, but decided: It's ok, he's still young, there'll always be next year. I was even more sure of that after they increased his concerts to 50.
- I followed two friends (Sherif and Shireen) on Facebook because I thought they would definitely go and I admit I was a little jealous. I remember reading their walls and statuses where they complained about how they couldn't get tickets coz it sold out only hours after the tickets went on sale. I might have evil eyed them, but I doubt that was true since i was very confident i'd see him live in the next couple of years...
- Last week I tried to enter the Nile FM raffle for a trip to the UK to see him live, I remember thinking 'if i win, i may have to ditch my friend who was coming to visit me in July'; I tried to make up what i'd say to her in that case. It seems so long ago now.

Life is short

Iran shows us how it's done!

I never really thought anything of Iran or Iranians. For some reason we're not supposed to like them, something about their Shah, Sadat and some fall out? One day when I'm bored at work I'll educate myself 'bout that - but i haven't been bored at work in 3 months so i guess I'll be ignorant for a while.

But really, what they've been doing this last week is pretty darn impressive! They've officially put us - Egyptians - to shame! I thought the protests would die out after day one or day two, but today - 6 days later - they're still going strong. I'm just at awe at these people's courage and determination. Kudos!

I've always thought Iran is one of the countries that has so much potential from the greater middle east (do we still use that now that Bush is gone?). Iran, Iraq and Egypt are in my opinion the main countries in the region who can lead this region and become the respected members of the world community they once were. If only they can just get it right!

It seems like Iranians have finally had enough. As I see all of this unfold I can't help but think just how soulless, selfish and numb Egyptians are. So it is possible to revolt? It is possible to cause major headache for your government and weaken their legality even more? It is possible to make a statement and demand a change?
People are doing it right now, and what do Egyptians do? They settle for the 50 L.E. they get for voting for the very government that has perpetually violated their human rights and have continuously made them poorer, less safe and more miserable over the last 20 something years. Da7na ma3andenaash dam sa7ee7!

Then I start thinking practically, how this could be done.
And right there my hypocrisy - and much hated elitism - makes a grand entrance: Would I storm off to the streets after an election? No, I most definitely would not. Why not? Because i think there are better way for me, and people like me, to make a difference. Jeopardizing my career and future plans is not smart, and I don't feel very guilty because my future plans all involve futile efforts to do my part in developing this country. I believe people like me should not storm the streets and instead apply themselves differently in order to achieve some sort of change.
So who should storm the streets?
I know I should be hung in a public square for saying this - but I expect the poor and prospect-less proportion of our population should do it. That's the main value adding thing they have to offer at this point. The people below poverty lines, who live in slums, beg on the streets, whose rights for a decent living, proper health care, and some sort of social welfare system are ignored.
Even though I expect it, I do feel it's wrong and hypocritical from a moral stand point and in an ideal world it should not happen, all people are equal.
But realistically speaking, people are not equal: I'm lucky. My basic needs are covered, I have no possible motivation to do something that dangerous. Bad traffic, polluted weather and poor infrastructure - the things that affect my life the most - are not exactly reasons strong enough to make me react so strongly. And I do not expect anyone with the same situation to do so either. The day I start losing those basic needs, is the day I start taking more drastic action.
It doesn't make sense to expect the educated productive working class to storm the streets given the current conditions they live in right now in Egypt. What is necessary though is more efforts to develop this country, more political presence, more use of the media to call the government on their actions and demand a change. A different kind of headache for the government, something we are very slowly getting better at - but no where near good enough.
I expect those people whose basic needs are not covered to do something more than what they are doing right now, much like I would have done myself if I were one of them. And I do not understand why these people are silent. They can't work and develop the economy, they're uneducated, they can't write in the papers and defend their opinions, they are illiterate. The main thing they can do is storm the streets and cause a riot. But here in Egypt they don't! I wonder why.
Moral grey - even black area - yes, but realistic.
The world is not fair, each person has a different capacity to make a difference, some more dangerous than others, but each equally important. Sad, but true.

I'd like to think that I'm not just another arrogant yuppie, and that if my luck turns against me and I end up living in a slum somewhere then I'd have the courage to stand up and do what Iranians are doing.

We have women in parliament, so get off our back America!

Well Hooray for us!
Starting next year we will have fifty seven - maybe even sixty four - women in the Egyptian parliament. Do we get ice cream treats for dinner tonight, mama amrika?
The Egyptian government, in what it calls a 'well thought through decision', has decided that there will be an additional 57 seats in the Egyptian Parliament held only for women in next year's election.
Women all over the world rejoice! Because the Egyptian Government, protector of the fragile defenseless "gens el na3em" (the softer gender), is stepping up to the game and will provide you with a nice fluffy soft security blanket to help you in against all those big evil bullying men. The big guys are letting you make your grand entrance on the play ground and show them that you're really worth the effort, and if not - it's ok - they'll just happily put you back on the "samna falla7i" billboard ad and the enticing Melody Arabia video clip.

Had enough of sarcasm just yet? Coz i sure have not!

The 57 (maybe 64 now) seats will be exclusively for women, but this is not a long-term deal, it's temporary for two years to see how it will work and then they'll take more decisions. That's pretty much the gist of what's on the newspapers these days.

- So how is this going to work exactly? Will it be like "taboor el gam3eya" one for women, one for men? Will there be two sets of elections? One to vote in 411 men into the men section and one to vote 57 women into the women section? Or will we disregard the election results and pick 57 men and tell them, yes we know you won but we're kicking you out and giving your position to women instead? Or will we pick 57 seats and only let women run? How will you pick the seats? Aren't they distributed by geographical area? So which district will be the suckers/lucky bastards who are stuck with women?
This is what the dear gov calls "thought through"?

- And this is a temporary thing to "test" things. So it's like a probation period for your new recruit? If they don't perform you fire them? So if those 57 women turn out to be the most useless and corrupt members, you'll back off and say no more?

- I know this is the same old affirmative action story which I have strongly opposed since for ever - i want the best person for the job - be it man, woman, transvestite or even monkey; you get it done best, then you're the one. Proponents argue that not everyone thinks like that and this is a step forward towards a world where people are voted in or hired according to who's best not any other attribute, to those (and to this issue at hand) i say

• Now you're the one who's idealistic! Your gender, ethnic background etc DEFINE who you are to a certain extent, we'll N E V E R get to that place where all people judge people purely on who they are. And if we do, it will not be because of affirmative action! I'd like to see a study that shows exactly how many people have changed their minds about equality because of affirmative action. My guess? It will not be that many
• Lebanon has a system like that with religions, how well is that working? You don't see Maronites, Sunnis and Shiites holding hands and singing kumbaya, now do you?
• To be fair, if we're going to assign seats for women, then all other minorities should get seats too: Copts, nubians, bahaai, sufis.
• So women go from being discriminated against to being the discriminator. She'll get the seat no matter what coz she's a woman, that poor hard working man who would have done an even better job will get the boot because he does not have a uterus? How is that fair? What good could possibly come out of that?

- What if next year 100 women get elected in the normal elections for the 411 seats? Will we add 57 to those? Or will women not run for the original seats?

- What sort of credibility will this woman voted in specially because she's a woman have, once she starts working with other members of the Parliament. How are you supposed to demand respect and equality with other members of Parliament who've been officially voted in when the reason you're there is not because the people want you more than they want anyone else to represent them, but because they were told to only pick from this group because they are women.

The whole notion that women need some law or rule to help them get ahead in politics is just wrong! They do not need a chance to prove that they - as women -can add value, each person speaks and acts for himself or herself not on behalf of all other members of a gender. We cannot judge a gender's value based on some individuals.

A huge step forward? I think not!

Twisted Brain Trilogy - Part I

Trying to untangle the inner workings of my twisted brain is no easy feat! So I'm resorting to the interweb to at least rant about my brain's ability to take the most normal things and blow them - seriously blow - them out of proportions.
It's those things that make me 'special' and not in this endearing warm and fuzzy on the inside special, more like she needs strict observation special.
On a typical day I think about explosions about 5 times, and it's never when I'm asleep, it's when I'm completely awake, sane and lucid. I imagine what would happen if the car driving right in front of me explodes, what if the gas tank in our house explodes, what if the washing machine explodes while it's on it's fastest spin, before I go to bed i think what if the A/C exploded. I don't want anything to explode or anything, but the thought is always on my mind no matter how hard i stop myself from drifting in that directions.

I guess i have to have something wrong with me!

My Make believe weekend!

So the last month i hadn't had a proper weekend. Life's been busy, rehearsals, workload and lessons!
So this week i decided to treat myself to a day off and pretended it was a weekend :)
It's the end of the day and it went so well - i'm so relaxed and got a big smile on my face :D
I woke up at noon, pretty relaxed no stress, and took a couple of hours to finally leave the house. Diwan decided today is the day it will be nice to me and within 10 minutes i found two really interesting books - who I don't find trashy at all! The first one is called The Moneypenny Diaries which is almost like a Bond movie but with the woman being the lead (my type of story). I find the notion that these people might have actually existed quite fascinating regardless how far fetched that may be.
The second one is A woman of Cairo which i have yet to start, but it's set in old time Cairo which is again is like my favorite type of books.
Then i headed down to the pool where i chilled for the day till my piano lesson and got a faint hint of a tan - must work more on that on Saturday.
The lesson was fun in spite of the level of difficulty! Bach in the first month of playing is no easy feat...
Then i ended the day by paying my lovely nutritionist a visit where i found out i have un-expectantly passed a minor health milestone, and if that wasn't great enough he continued on to inform me that i have "made his day" after gushing a few seconds on how we should slaughter something as a form of celebration. He was both adorable and motivating :)
So i left his office and decided i'll indulge my rare craving for something sweet by treating myself to a Starbucks double chocolate chip muffin - and it was so divine, the noises i made while eating it vaguely resemble those that Sally made in a restaurant with Harry in a scene often sencored from egyptian/arab TV.
Now one peek at eye candy and his even eye candier boyfriend and i'm off to bed to start my week again!

And here's what's even better - it's a two day week!

AI Seaon 8 Wrap up - The Confetti Shower goes to...

(This post is imported from my 'Couch Potato' TV blog - supertvlover.blogspot.com)

Kris Allen...
I'm bummed out about this. I had said previously I wouldn't mind if Kris won, but turns out I do. Adam should have won. And any appreciation i have for Kris is momentarily gone - he's the guy who by his own admission took what he did not deserve. But alas, I'll get over it.

Ok, things that make up for Adam's loss:

- The crappiest song ever made "No Boundaries" will NOT be on his Album - YAY!
- He does not ever have to sing the song that shit-for-brains-Kara-the-terrible-DioGuardi wrote, the aforementioned "No boundaries" (the Kara terms are proudly borrowed from TopIdol blog and EW recaps)
- Michael Slezak who is Entertainment Weekly's American Idol guru - bringing us recaps and Idolatry interviews and commentaries - will dye his hair Allison Fuchsia because Adam lost. Can't wait to see that!
- The American Idol title comes with some lame-ness that is associated with reality TV, so maybe Adam will get some street cred for being the season 8 reject.
- Now 19 entertainment will HAVE to sign Kris and will chose to sign Adam (they get priority for all contenders)
- Kris's loss for words when he was announced as the winner, the only thing he could muster was "Adam deserves this" - yes thank you Kris, we think so too!

Before i go out let me just put out here my predictions for each of the Top

13 - Jorge Nunes: Will fall off the face of the earth
12 - Jasmine Murray: Will fall off the face of the earth
11 - Alexis Grace: Will earn a decent living on Broadway or country music artists, despite wrecking Dolly Parton's beautiful Jolene - (i secretly hope I'm wrong and she becomes the new Carrie Underwood)
10 - Michael Sarver: Will earn a decent living as a country music artist
9 - Megan Joy: Could either fall off the face of the earth or get mediocre to reasonable success
8 - Scott Macintyre: Will be a successful song writer/musician but no solo career (and he knows it)
7 - Lil Rounds: Will be a failed gospel R&B has been
6 - Anoop 'Dawg' Desai: Will fall off the face of the earth - c'mon an Indian singer in Billboard's 100? When did that ever happen? The best he could do is take over the role of Kumar in the next Harold and Kumar movie and start a career in the movies
5 - Matt Giraud: After removing his famous forehead mole, he will have GRAND success! I love Giraud - he will be a STAR, and i will buy each of his albums which will be Gavin Degraw/The Frey-style fantastic and will go platinum at least! We'll be hearing a lot of his riffs in the future.
4 - Allison Irahita: Will be a good punk rocker (coz that's what's 'in' with the tweens nowadays) and will play in the league of Fall out Boy and Pink - but it'll take her a while to reach her peak
3 - Danny Gokey: Will have one album that's a total disaster, unless he duets with his old buddy from earlier this season Jamar, then he may make it!
2 - Adam Lambert: Will be an international SUPER STAR and will sell more than any American Idol contestant ever has, including Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Daughtry
1 - Kris Allen: Will make a decent living out of his music but no big success story here

Other people I'd love to hear from:

- Normund Gentle: Have his own comedy show somewhere - I'll go see it
- Felicia Barton: Put out a good Album that is Alicia Key's style
- Jesse Langseth: Put out a good Album that has some sexy slow songs like her rendition of "tell me something good"
- Bikini Girl: Will get a much needed boob job and will move into the playboy mansion

President does not want his ass kissed

Well, this is a first!
In the obituary of his grandson it says "The family would appreciate if no printed condolences are done". In my opinion this statement is what any decent person would do - so i guess this makes our dear first man 'decent' (yes, you read this right, i just said something nice about him)
Usually when someone important passes away people print condolences in the news paper. With Government officials this turns into a huge kissing ass competition where the bigger the space the better.

Let's see if people stick to it...

Optimism BITES!

I was optimistic (and a little cheap) when i decided not to buy an Anti-virus for my new PC at home. Comon, torrents are safe, and Chrome has no spyware, and i will be careful.

WRONG!

So now i'm debating - should i just format the thing every 2 months or just go out and buy that 40 dollar Norton!

No more internet porn in Egypt

That is what the Ministry of Communications has been mandated to do according to yesterday's issue of Al-Akhbar daily newspaper.
They state that this decision does not breach any human rights to freedom of speech, and that it's against our "morals" and "religious beliefs". It it therefore, according to them, justified to apply a ban on Internet porn sites in Egypt.

Now let's think things through here. First thing is first; I think people should be allowed to "read" whatever they want. The government will not dictate what is appropriate 'literature' and what isn't. Does this mean they will ban sex novels too? Playboy?
But I understand why this pro-censorship non-secular country would disagree with this as a principal. Most people believe in absolute truths, and somehow the government has assumed the role of the guiding angel that will guide its people to the pearly gates of paradise.

Let's look at things from a different angle, where truths are relative and not absolute.
Let's check some facts here:
- The price of getting married - and thus having a healthy outlet for sexual desires - is high. Youth struggle to meet the financial demands of marriage that are posed by society. This means a man has to wait longer to get married, until he saves enough money for it.
- Egypt is a poor country with 20% (in 2005) living below the poverty line (Reuters - 2007). So this means that that the number of men struggling to get married is high - a logical assumption here, right?
- Sexual harassment on the streets is an obvious phenomenon. There are no documented statistics about this at my disposal, but let me make up one for myself. A 26 year old of less than average appeal would encounter 5 in every 10 men that will either say something inappropriate, attempt at some sort of physical contact or in some occasions decide to let certain 'things' see the light of day. I'm going to make a guesstimate here and assume that for females of above average appeal the average would increase to about 7.
- Sexual violence is a question mark. Cases are not reported, but at least one item in the Ahram Newspaper Crime section is related to some group or individual act of sexual violence. Now Ahram is a very toned-down newspaper that opts for understating the negatives and overstating the positives of the country.
Some data is available in this article by IRIN - the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:

'Hend is one of 20,000 women or girls raped every year, according to Egypt’s Interior Ministry, a figure which implies that an average of about 55 women are raped every day. However, owing to the fear of social disgrace, victims are reluctant to report cases, and experts say the number may be much higher. “If the Ministry of the Interior gets 20,000 then you should multiply it by 10,” said Engy Ghozlan of the Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights (ECWR) anti-harassment campaign. '

So we've stated some of the facts, let's look at some consequences.
Internet sites constitute an outlet for people that doesn't break the law or harm an innocent person. The lack of such outlet could lead to some of the following:
- Increased sexual harassment on the streets
- Increased sexual violence
- Increased demand on prostitution, which will lead to more Hepatitis C, HIV, and other STDs in addition to more problems with human trafficking and exploitation.
- Increased emotional frustration for men waiting to get married
- And if we take Saudi Arabia as an example - more men turning to same sex partners. If you oppose that, then that is a consequence on its own.
- If you do not oppose same sex partners then it means also an increase in STDs since proper same-sex sex education with reference to protection is non-existent

Has the government really studied the real impact of this decision? Can they say without a doubt that i will not directly or indirectly lead to one or more of these consequences? Has a study been carried out by one of the millions of sociologists in this country to support this? Are they going to respond with stricter laws against sexual harassment and violence to make sure there's no back-lash?
Call me sceptic but I'm going to answer with a big undeniable NO to each of those questions.

a little eye candy for everyone!

The After Elton 100 hottest men topped by wait-for-it.... Neil Patrick Harris

http://www.afterelton.com/people/2009/hot100

and the After Ellen 100 hottest women topped by Portia De rossi

http://www.afterellen.com/people/2009/hot100

They have tags for MOC (men of color) and OUT (of the closet) and +40, and each of those tags has their own top 10 (is anyone else disappointed with the OUT ranking?)

For the women there are no tags 

Anderson Cooper makes it in the top 20, and me likey! Glad to see he's not in the OUT list, so i can officially add him on my "list"

But i feel it's wrong to put baby Zac Efron, what is he? 17? I would keep it in the over 21 age range! And what's with hugh jackman being in the top 10? really?

Obama makes it in the top 50 which is expected, who would have thought Jason Mraz would be that cute huh? 

And i thought Jared Leto would be on the OUT list, must brush up on my hollywook gossip!

Fantasy Trips

- Driving from Cairo to Jo'burg and then going back through a different route

- Madagascar!

- Back pack through Latin America and visit every country 

- India and Nepal

- 'round the world ticket: Cairo - Moscow - Tokyo - Auckland - Bogota - Mexico City - Cairo

- Back pack through Australia

- Route 66 in the US dressed in blue jeans, a white top, cowboy boots and a cowboy hat with a toy gun that sprinkles water :P (talk about cliché)

- A tour of West Africa

- Caribbean tour in a private yacht

 

An official appology

This is my official apology for all you Star Academy fans. For years i despised your messages of "Please vote of Ahmed/Moahmed". I thought you were shallow people with no lives, i thought your time should be invested elsewhere, and thought you were completely crazy for watching stupid reality TV. I did not get the obsession - the text messages - the fan sites - the constant conversations by the water coolers - and the way it dominated our big family gathering last month.
I passed judgment and i am sorry.

Today, i am officially one of you guys. Although i'm still not quite on the Star Academy boat, but on another boat that has a little bit more talent, that has no arabic songs that are all about love and has no face veiled parents coming on stage (sorry, but if i want to watch darth Vader I’ll watch Star Wars instead - at least it's a classic)

As my Thursday night was in desperate need for some quiet-night-in entertainment, I decided for laughs i would follow American Idol. It put me in the singing mood, and gave me good laughs (thanks to Norman Gentle). And then things started turning around after Michael Jackson week. The kids were good. I started having favorites and liking them. Started looking forward to what they do, and soon enough i was hooked.
I had no idea how AI worked, i had never watched it before - and i didn't realize it was running for 8 long seasons. And i knew that most of the people coming out usually achieve only mediocre success except for Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson and Jennifer Hudson.

Soon i became the obnoxious one telling everyone to vote. And last nights result show has turned my head around.
And it was at this point i started realizing that Star Academy fans and not shallow and stupid (and no, i'm not defending them now that i am one of them). They are people who connect with other random-Joes (or mohameds in our case) and who like seeing how one person’s life can be turned upside down over night. And it's entertaining, so why not?

after a long wait,,,

it probably won't be worth it, but either way. Julie has surfaced again, inspired by her colleague's latest rambling over lunch about a long weekend that has gone a little sour.

what? a year already? crap!

So i limited my notes on facebook to cool people. So if you're reading this on Facebook pat yourself on the back. I think you are cool :)
Bloggers can see whatever - they're innately cool (yes, suck it facebookers)

On to more important things.
Things that have gone through my head as a result of my apparent quarter life crisis:
- How do you get 18 year olds to think you're cool and not old?
- I wish i identified more with Rory than with her mother in Gilmore Girls - i am closer to 18 than i am to 36!
- How would people at work look at me if i walked in with hair blue-black hair?
- How bout a Goth look? The cool kids at school were all a bit gothy (german influence i guess)
- How much would it hurt to get a nose ring?
- Where can i find a tattoo parlor has an anesthesiologist?
- Is it too late to shift careers to become an astronaut?

I'm not sure i like this "growing up" thing - it is just not cool...

i need to snap back to earth (or maybe just egypt)

An evening at our household is never event-free.
After a long discussion that was initiated by mentioning the movie "Milk" I can't help but find it mind boggling just how much lack of understanding there is out there.
I can understand if someone who was born in the 50ies wouldn't be so understanding, but even the not-so-religious 80ies generation? Seriously? I was surprised.
I think i'm living in a bubble, because i was genuinely baffled to find that very few young, not-so-religious, generally open-minded, well travelled and smart people still don't believe a "live and let live" attitude...
Ok, so you don't have to be totally on board with the whole marriage, kids and all (even though i see no reason why not) but seriously? i mean seriously?
still can't wrap my head around it...

on a day like today

is when I hate living in a 3rd world country...

Normally I think it's quite a privilege, an eye opening experience and definitely an advantage for someone like me to live in a developing country...

Except for today

Imagine a street that looks right from the scene of slumdog millionaire, there's a big restaurant on the corner where a man hands people greasy sandwiches with his big hands and black dirty nails. Opposite that is an ironing guy using his feet to maneuver a big iron, the street unpaved and the cars parked with a layer of dust and quite a bit of rust on the sides of their bumpers. A poor old woman, who looks like she's not a day under 90, sits with her cheek resting on her hand and a bag of bread to sell next to her. Right in front of her a guy passes on a bike with a box in the front that holds termes - a yellow seed - and paper cones - he uses his small hand with nails that have been bitten like there’s no tomorrow to grab some termes, stuff it down the cone and pass it to the buyer. He kisses the old raggedy one pound note and stuffs it down his pocket.

On that very same street is where I will go get a medical checkup for the National Insurance. Inside i have a few lines of thought: 1) i don't need to be doing this, it's not like I’m ever going to use a public hospital -  I hope 2) thank god and Ericsson for my insurance at the only 2 hospitals in Egypt that meet international standards 3) do i really need to do this?  4) i hope they don't stick me with a needle 5) what am i going to say if they show up with a syringe and i didn't see them open it. 6) my hep c and hiv tests came back negative, let's keep them negative please!

I walk in, they are mopping the floors, the water is grey with very little white soap bubbles in them. The man greets me with a smile takes my name, i go pay then i'm shown to the second floor where a female doctor greets me. She's short and round and veiled with a frown on her face - killer combo. She tells me "is this what you call 5:30" "they had me do a few things first before coming up" "you should be on time" i'm thinking in my head, oh boy i'm gonna give that lady attitude coz who does she think she is! I retract my thought and think, who do I think I am. I go in a corner covered left and right with curtains made out of latex in a color that used to be off white but time has taken a toll on it and it looks like a mesh between beige and grey. She does a bunch of stupid tests, eyes me up and down and asks me to lift up my shirt and holds the stethoscope. She basically asks me to flash her so in my head I’m like "shit, this is uncomfortable" I hold my breath, close my eyes really tight until she's done, it only takes a second. My mind drifts, my level of discomfort reinforces my belief that I am, in fact,  straight - i could watch the show "L-word" just in case i need further reinforcement..

Ok snap back; sit down on a chair, regular eye check, and just as I was about to let out a sign of relief for successfully avoiding the grueling duo (syringe and cup) the Doctor hands me….a cup!
Damn it, it was so close. Resigned i take my cup which has the number 318 written on it, the cup looks old and probably used. I walk into the bathroom which reeks of urine. The floor is wet. The toilet seat splashed with water (I hope). 3 other urine samples are sitting out on a table next to the toilet. I reach for my wet wipes - thank the lord for wet wipes. For the first time in my life I have trouble doing my business, despite of the constant sound of water dripping. 

I'm done, now I need to put this piece of paper with colors on its tip in the sample and off I go. As I leave the doctor, which I had chosen to hate, tells me "you're a pretty girl, I hope someone's said that to you before". She catches me compeletely off guard and i'm surprised, she didn't need to say this. I try to recall the last time someone's said that to me. I say "thank you" as sweetly as i can and think, ok maybe she's not that bad.

Downstairs I take my signed and stamped paper and walk home. It takes me 5 minutes to get home - I head straight for the shower - thank the heavens for Dettol. My mind drifts, i think i'll write a song about how much i love Dettol

The end

Is decoy effect the right word?

While i was championing the sport of wasting time i came across a blog that i would have enjoyed a lot more up until a month ago - back when i shared the writer’s frustration with the J O B.
My guilty confession is that i came across it while trying to find this particular American Idol's twitter. (yes, yes, i know - Olympic Gold Medalist in Waste of Time) I will remember to keep my AI obsession off my Harvard application...

So the blogger writes about what he calls the decoy effect, and when i read it I remembered a random thought.
Last year when the world’s worst boss stopped giving me work to do i started staying home more than ever. In the mornings you get old shows. So i started following this show called "American Dreams" which isn't an old production but place during the war in Vietnam. I remember thinking to myself, that show can be about today if only Vietnam will be renamed Iraq and the Russians would be renamed the Muslims.
Things haven't changed much, really. An old evil is replaced by a new one, hate is just shifted from one place to the next. For the old evil life is good, next to the man with the beard in a funny dress the black man with a scar on his cheek looks far less threatening.

I actually have no problem with that theory - if you think the world is, or even should be, fair then you're incredibly disillusioned, it isn't and it won't.

But the thing is that hate breeds hate. Before 9/11, there were much less people willing to strap on some explosives and go bomb some white ass. You can totally see the proliferation of hate over the last 8 years. Every person is shifting one inch closer to hate. Those who love the west, now only like it, those who liked it, now only accept it, those who accepted it, don't want to tolerate it, those who tolerated, decided not to verbally object, and those who verbally objected started organizing demonstrations and those who were already demonstrating have been pushed to the deep dark side. 8 years were enough for one person to keep shifting inch by inch.

And because this time we're not talking about a single country with borders, we're talking about people scattered over the world who can easily escape from the eyes of the law, the hate cannot be stopped overnight. It would take years to un-hate.

So you look at how things went down in these recent years and think, couldn't this have been handled better? The west reached the right root cause of the problem - lack of democracy, poverty and ignorance. Not to take away our responsibility in this whole thing, but couldn't the west have done better?
That said, I don't really disagree with the fact that Muslim extremism is something that needs to be dealt with, and if i were the one having to deal with this - I’d be pretty annoyed having to deal with the mess that my retarded little brother let grow out of proportions because of his mere incompetence and greed.

I think that's probably my first pro-Arab thought ever (minus the incompetence and greed bit - wouldn' want to get too carried away, would i)

Updated blog?

more like updated luli!
- So i have myspace to follow the music scene and where maybe one day i'll get creative and post something myself
- I'll move my TV-related rants (of which there's plenty of) to my Couch Potato blog
- I'm tweetering my tweets on the right-hand side

For this site, i'll stick to writing my non-tv related thoughts.
No Sex in the City is going slow - Julie, my alterego, doesn't show up quite as often as some of you hope she would (judging by the responses i get for her posts) I'll let you know here when Julie makes her new post.

I really want to update the color to this blog coz it makes me want to pee everytime i see it, but i can't be bothered, it's the old version where you have to edit HTML code.

Fox was brilliant and stupid on the same night!

Update: Ok fox, you're forgiven for your glitch - he's safe!

So This morning i jumped out of bed to check CNN and find out how American Idol went, and thankfully things looked good in Adam Lambert land. So i dashed to work with a smile on my face. As the day progresses i find out that Fox - the channel that airs american idol - has fucked up during the show and it went on for 10 minutes longer. This meant that all the american viewers who DVR and TIVO the show missed out on the last performance of Adam Lambert (practically the next American Idol). Now the concern is, how will people vote for someone that they haven't seen perform?

The reason why i'm so passionate about this is coz i really think we are whitnessing the birth of a true star, and i'd hate to see stupid Fox mess that up! And c'omon, they have dress rehearsals and they've been doing this for 8 years, how the hell could the mess it up?

Alas, we'll see what happens tonight - but i'm not too worried because if Adam's in trouble the judges will save him using their one save for the season - let's face it, the "save" was made for him.

And now we get to the stroke of genius that Fox has managed to pull of on the same night. Right after American Idol comes a show called "Fringe" which is by the creator of "Lost"and "Alias".
I love that show because if combines two of my fantasies/dreams/ambitions: It takes place in Harvard University and stars Joshua Jackson (Pacey from Dawson's Creek - remember?) , seriously - it's like a show tailor-made for ME!It's like i don't know what to oogle and drool for - the boy or the school.

The fringe follows a series of events called " The Pattern" - unexplained phenomenons and incidents all linked to fringe science (basically science that has a big IF next to it, like telepathy for example). Each time right before a pattern occurs "The observer" - a bald creepy looking guy who cannot taste food and has looked the same for the last 30 years which makes me think he's a robot - is seen looming around the scene where the pattern occurs.

Last night as American Idol started, the camera focused on Ryan Secrest (the host) as usual, then turned to the audience, and guess who was seated in the first row? "The Observer" looking like he's waiting for another pattern!

I dunno why, but i found that brilliant! It's cool mixing shows up - expecially when a sci-fi thriller like Fringe leaks into reality TV - you get a nice "what the F?!" effect when that happens.

I guess it's needless to say that i'm a TV addict?