Cynical

Maybe I do actually think a bit too much sometimes and try to overanalyze everything… Trying to read more into things, events, facts and so on might be good sometimes, but when it’s done excessively, it becomes a burden as you tend to doubt everything when thinking that “Dam, there must be more to it which might be hidden”… Sometimes one should literally calm down… Maybe some things ARE exactly like how they seem to be, believe it or not… Insecurity perhaps?
MLV’s remix of Sun Is Shining just popped into my head for no reason.

Karma...

اشوف فيكم يوم بس أنا... حسبي الله و نعم الوكيل
كما تدين تدان

Depressing that one sometimes has no choice but to deal with low-lives like you. Karma will find a fucking way to bring all the bad karma you brought to me back to you, whether I will be there to witness it is irrelevant because I know it will happen someday, somewhere... Everything happens for a reason

In Rafa we trust...

Disclaimer: If you are not into football, then don’t bother reading this post. What is in this post is my interpretation of what has been happening; I might be totally wrong or accurate. Point of this is to rant and voice my clear lack of satisfaction at what is happening in the boardrooms.

Been trying to get myself to write this rant for a while, I don’t know where to start. To describe the whole situation in a few words: We are f***ed. The club has been bought about a year ago by two American investors, Gillette and Hicks, this was the latest takeover in a series of several other which has seen the likes of both Manchester clubs, Chelsea, Newcastle, Birmingham, Chelsea amongst others changing hands. What makes this different is that ever since the 2007/2008 season started, problems have been occurring from left, right and center… The owners promised something, and are trying to do something totally different, used the term ‘trying’ because they are not even succeeding in their devilish contingency plan. They promised that they will invest from their own money, not throw the debt on to the books of the club like what a certain Malcolm Glazer and his family did a few miles away at Old Trafford. What they did is finance the takeover using debt, now, since that initial loan is about to expire and they have to pay it, they want to somehow get ANOTHER loan to pay for the original loan AND instead of taking liability for it, making the club and the holding company (Kop Holdings) bear with the loan.

What else have they done wrong? One of them comes out and gloats in November, when spats between Rafael Benetiz and them started regarding providing enough financial backing for player transfers during the January transfer window. What did that useless living object tell the press? He goes and tells the world that him and the other owner went and talked to the coach of the German national team in 2006 and discuss with him replacing Rafael Benetiz in case the club did not make it past the group stages in the Champions League, thankfully we made it through, and one normally would expect that nobody will ever know about that meeting between the owners, the German and his wife. Why did he come out and talk about it, then in the same amazing announcement provide assurance to Rafa saying that they are fully behind him and that he has their full support! Actions speak louder than words, and what he did was clearly unprofessional and more importantly, totally uncalled for. During that interview, he used terms such as that Klinsman (The German manager who for the record has NO experience whatsoever in managing clubs) was an “insurance policy” in case things did not go according to plan in Merseyside and that the ‘hiccups’ encountered in November regarding the transfers and financing were due to “bad communication” on Rafael Benetiz’s behalf! Outrageous, unacceptable and simply pathetic, the other owner has made it clear that he is quite unimpressed with his partner’s revelation, making the rift not only between manager and owners, but also owners themselves. Who else is to blame? The chief executive of our club, Rick Parry, he might be good for a midtable club, but he certainly lacks the ability to take this club further. All he cares about is his ego and himself, if it wasn’t due to his mismanagement and retarded decisions we would have been bought by DIC (Dubai Investment Corporation, or whatever it is called), but no, he opts to listen to the Americans instead because it would guarantee keeping his job. It’s becoming a nightmare, not a single week goes by without more confusion and uncertainty. The new stadium is still far from being built, despite the long wait (A decade or so me thinks), Javier Mascherano’s permanent stay is yet to be confirmed (We need 17M pounds for that, but even the bloody Yankees fail to see that we need a player of his caliber in our squad), we are already out of contention for the league title (We were realistically out of it by the end of December after a run of disappointing draws home and away). Some fans might question Rafa’s policies and his regime and say that there hasn’t been any major progress, but sacking him is NOT the way forward… The last thing we want is to sack one of our most ambitious and knowledgeable managers for almost two decades and become a laughing stock like a certain football club that is known as Newcastle United.

In Rafa we trust, but FOR FUCK’S SAKE GIVE THE MAN SOME AUTONOMY

A look back at 2007

Maybe it’s a bit late to wish whoever might stumble upon this blog of mine a happy new year, but I’m always late, bet I will be late for my own funeral. Always said it, and will always say it again in amazement: Time flies, and so much happens in one year. Won’t go into every little single thing, as it’s impossible to remember everything… Will try to mention the so-called highlights…

I never imagined myself taking pictures with a big fat ass camera, something in me tells me that I made the upgrade way too soon, as a friend’s suggestion in the summer of 2006 rings in my head that it would be a waste of money, but at least I enjoy it, became such an addiction. Had my first proper photo shoot with a DJ friend, DJ Afroboogie, the resident DJ at Peppermint Club here, gladly it turned out quite well and he uses the pictures in his official press releases, not bad I guess, I also became quite picky with pictures. Lately tried to experiment with HDR, it’s not as easy as it seems, and it’s diluting my previous concept of avoiding photo manipulation… But I have to admit that although HDR photos ARE fake, but they sometimes turn out amazing.

Another addiction is trance, kind of drifted away from house and electro. Trance Around The World with Above & Beyond remains my favorite radio show, the Deep Blue Radio Show with Solar Stone and Agnelli & Nelson and their lovely guest mixes, along with A State Of Trance by Armin Van Buuren (The new number 1 DJ in the world according to the overrated DJ MAG poll and ranking). Met some great and humble guys, such as Fila of Aly & Fila, Sean Tyas, Robert Nelson of Agnelli & Nelson, one half of Mark Norman and one of my all time favorites, Ferry Corsten amongst others. I missed out on Above & Beyond’s gig here in Dubai due to some messed up reasons, but 2008 promises to be even better, with a slight, very slight chance of going to Trance Energy in Holland, the line-up is scary, on a more domestic note, in the next month Ferry Corsten is coming again here, while one of trance’s new sensations, Sied Van Riel is playing in Muscat, Oman (Yes, considering going to that after missing out on DJ Amadeus’s gig there).

I got myself a second set of decks as the first one was utterly useless and did not even work, the new one is more than double the price, but much better, way better actually and easier to carry around. I still don’t have a clue how to mix, beat match or anything, heck, I don’t even know how to use the use the infamous cue button, but I’m taking things slowly, after all, you can’t learn and master such things overnight. As we say “God didn’t create the world in one day” (Six days to be precise, according to the Quran).

As far as education goes, it’s been a hectic year, especially the fall semester, out of the dean’s list, but at least the grading system changed, which boosted everyone’s GPA dramatically. It’s a pity how when you look back it the mistakes seem so easy, but at the time of committing them; it didn’t seem worth it to even bother. But hey, I’m a few months away from graduation, and since I mentioned that, I’m seriously considering NOT going to my own ball/prom/graduation party or whatever it is called, such an overrated affair. Quite ironic that I went to all the other balls during my four years at university, but won’t go to my own. (As if anyone will notice my presence or absence).

Summer was surprisingly good, despite me insisting that I will NOT go anywhere, I ended up going to Jordan twice, the first was for Distant Heat in Wadi Rum, memorable event, generally for the right things, a look back at my older posts will show you the not so good things when all the memories (Almost) were stolen by a freakin’ cunt. (Excuse my French)…
Football-wise, I posted my thoughts and reflections on the year on XT here: http://www.xtratime.org/forum/showthread.php?t=226083 , happy reading! It’s funny how a year ago we thought the Americans (Gillette and Hicks) and their takeover was the best thing to happen to our ‘big’ club, but a year on, we’re full of doubt over the future of the club, where it is going, whether we will finally win the league title again or not, now everything is uncertain, the new ground which has been in limbo for a decade or so, the new signings we need to seriously challenge for the title, our boss staying or leaving, the tactics on the pitch, getting rid of the deadwood (Riise and Kuyt for instance) and so many other less serious issues, but ones that still have a serious impact on the club as a whole. We reached the Champions League final again after a mesmerizing run that saw us beat Barca and Chelsea, they were quite emotional moments only comparable to the 2005 win, we were labeled the worst fans in Europe by the UEFA because of the lack of proper organization and planning on THEIR parts, I don’t know what the heck Plattini is doing up there, trying to change things that are fundamental parts of the game… We eventually lost 2-1 to AC Milan), but even that is seen as a distant memory now…

I met many new people thanks to friends, Facebook believe it or not and university, also lost contact and fell out with others… C’est la vie really. You can’t have it all your way. One can just hope for the best but prepare for the WORST.

New year’s resolutions? Nothing really, it’s just the same long-standing hopes that transferred from 2007 to 2008. On an off-topic note: My elder sister is planning to do the switch from Peugeot to Audi like me and get the Audi Q7 inshaAllah if everything went well, personally, the mere mention of the Audi A5 (Or even better, the S5) turns me on! Hoping I would be able to afford that piece of German brilliance at some point after I start working :).