Thoughts of someone

AMD Vision - Learn more about it here

2011-08-16T01:07:00.001+04:00

Hello peeps

As a follow-up to my previous post about the AMD Vision technology (and the challenge I’m gleefully taking part in), I will give you some more information on the technology, this will appeal to techies and non-techies alike (I fall under the latter category). Going through these great features will also give you a better idea about AMD’s Vision. After you have read this, you will be able to test your knowledge with a relatively simple 3-question quiz at the following link: (After you click on vote!).

What will you get out of this? Well, as you might be aware I am collecting votes for this challenge, and the competitor with the highest number of votes (completed quizzes) under his belt from his followers and online entourage so to speak will win a trip to Austin, Texas (There are 5 challengers vying for this prize). You as a participant in this quiz/voting you will enter a draw to be one of lucky recipients of the brand new DiRT3 game (Full version, totally for free). You may vote here: http://visionchallenge.votigo.com/ara/contests/showentry/816898

Here you go ladies and gents:

Who is AMD?

AMD designs microchips found in desktop and notebook PCs and popular game consoles like Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. Our technology is the heart and soul of your PC experience and enables you to watch a movie, video chat with out-of-town friends and family, or draft a presentation for work. AMD processors and graphics cards are found in computers from companies including HP, Dell and Acer to power your experience.

What is VISION Technology from AMD?
VISION makes you more you. With VISION Technology from AMD featuring the new A–Series APU, you can enjoy smooth, streaming movies in stunning HD. Video chat with far-away family and friends or watch the game-winning goal in crystal-clear 1080p. Edit images and videos like a pro. Discover a fire-breathing, lifelike world of gaming. VISION Technology gives you the power to do what you love and be more you in Brilliant HD.

VISION Technology is AMD’s PC platform technology. It enables users to enjoy smooth HD video playback, edit HD photos and videos with blazing speed, experience the thrill of mega-multitasking, and escape into the world of casual gaming with lifelike characters and ultra-realistic effects. All of this and more in an energy-efficient notebook or desktop.

Brilliant HD Performance

Gorgeous HD entertainment and ultra-realistic 3D gaming
Ultimate multitasking with quad-core power, up to 400 Radeon™ cores and dual graphics capability
Supreme performance, battery life and energy efficiency

Brilliant HD Entertainment

· Mega-multitasking and video editing with quad-core power and up to and 320 Radeon™ cores

· Transform any room into a hub of HD entertainment

· An amazing HD experience with impressive energy efficiency

Brilliant HD Everyday

· Take your photos to crisp, clear, exhilarating new HD heights

· Edit HD photos with blazing speed

· Rich, smooth performance in a quiet-running, energy-efficient system

Smart HD

· Enjoy smooth, skip-free HD playback

· Discover impressive speed and performance in everyday applications

· Energy efficiency without compromising power and performance

ACCELERATED PROCESSING UNIT (APU)

APUs: the power and beauty that drives VISION Technology from AMD.

AMD has always been at the forefront of innovation. But our newest technology is designed to completely shift the computing paradigm.

Why the flow of information needed an innovative solution.

Information inside a computer flows between two critical areas: the GPU (for creative and visual tasks) and the CPU (for analytical and logic-based functions). Traditional PCs have separate CPUs and GPUs which leads to a communication bottleneck. This often results in extensive slowdowns for consumers.

Introducing the innovative AMD Fusion Accelerated Processing Unit (APU):

Powerful AMD processor technology and discrete-class, DirectX^® 11–capable graphics combined on a single chip. It’s the perfect combination of beauty and brawn—delivering smooth HD video, powerful multitasking and energy efficiency.

AMD's new APU features up to 4 x86 cores combined with up to 400 Radeon™ graphics cores in a single microchip.

Learn more about APUs at http://www.amd.com/vision

Definitions of AMD Technology

Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) — AMD’s CPU and discrete-level GPU on a single power-efficient chip.

AMD AllDay™ Power — CPU speed-throttling and power-saving technologies that help reduce heat and noise in AMD technology-based notebook PCs.

AMD HD3D Technology — Supported by an advanced and open ecosystem that, in conjunction with specific AMD hardware and software technologies, enables 3D display capabilities for many PC applications and experiences.¹

Central Processing Unit (CPU) — A microchip that acts as the computer’s “brain,” executing instructions sequentially as if following a recipe for making a cake. AMD Athlon™ and AMD Phenom™ processors are examples of AMD CPUs.

Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) — A specialized microprocessor that offloads and accelerates graphics rendering from the central microprocessor. It is used in PCs, game consoles, mobile phones and more.

AMD VISION Engine — The foundation of VISION Technology from AMD that enables vivid HD entertainment, blazing-fast Internet browsing and accelerated media applications.

Additional hardware (e.g. Blu-ray drive, HD or 10-bit monitor, TV tuner, HDMI connector, 3D enabled panels, 3D-enabled glasses/emitter, Blu-ray 3D drive) and/or software (e.g. multimedia applications, 3D content, 3D middleware, games) are required for the full enablement of some features. HD video display requires an HD video source. Not all features may be supported on all components or systems - check with your component or system manufacturer for specific model capabilities and supported technologies.

¹AMD HD3D is a technology designed to enable stereoscopic 3D support in games, movies and/or photos. Additional hardware (e.g. 3D enabled panels, 3D-enabled glasses/emitter, Blu-ray 3D drive) and/or software (e.g. Blu-ray 3D discs, 3D middleware, games) are required for the enablement of stereoscopic 3D. Not all features may be supported on all components or systems - check with your component or system manufacturer for specific model capabilities and supported technologies.

Once you’ve finished your reading, you may take the quiz here: http://visionchallenge.votigo.com/ara/contests/showentry/816898. Remember, you can get yourself a free copy of the DiRT3 game just by taking part of the quiz! (And answering the questions correctly =)). All the best!

Regards

Omar

Vision - My Latest Challenge

2011-08-15T01:09:00.002+04:00

Hi everyone!

I want to start this with a small disclaimer, I don’t usually do this but I’m banking on your support in an interesting new challenge that I’ve entered. Basically it is to promote the products of AMD , their brand new VISION technology to be precise.

Here is the deal: 5 active and well-respected members of the facebook and twitterverse have been chosen to represent AMD in this challenge, each one with the main objective of getting the most number of votes. Votes are acquired by simply visiting the page of the person you are voting for and answering three questions about the Vision Technology from AMD. What does the winner get? Well the lucky winner will win an a paid trip to Austin, Texas to attend the Austin City Limits Music Festival and a chance to win a massive cash prize in the second phase (The first phase winner gets to go to the US of A).

The chaps at AMD were kind enough to give each one of the 5 candidates a notebook/laptop (shows you how tech-savvy I am, or not) equipped with the abovementioned Vision Technology to use in this challenge. In all fairness, even to someone who is somewhat technologically challenged I must say I am impressed by the overall speed, performance and clarity on offer (Obviously one would expect that from a brand new machine, but still, having used and changed at least 7 personal, work and family laptops in the past 2 years I guess I can tell when things are going better than expected!). Highly recommended, I will check out some movies and do some testing myself with some video calls and such and keep you posted. I can already tell that this small machine with its uber-advanced AMD chips will serve up a treat.

Ok, enough talking. To cut down, all you have to do dear family member, friend, acquaintance, colleague, stalker, online friend, follower etc etc etc is to visit the following link: http://visionchallenge.votigo.com/ara/contests/showentry/816898 and vote for yours truly. What will you get out of this? Well, for starters, you will be doing me a huge favor! And if you have the slightest interest in video games, you will be eligible to enter a draw for a copy of the DiRT3 game (Winners will get a download link to get the full version. Awesome, eh?)

Hope to see your votes coming in sooner rather than later! The voting window is only open for a week from now (Last day for the votes is on the 20th of August, 2011)

Thank you in advance and best regards

Omar Abu Omar

In case you missed it (and you have a habit of scrolling down to the end of articles, here is the voting link again:

http://visionchallenge.votigo.com/ara/contests/showentry/816898

Julys

2011-07-28T02:11:00.000+04:00

I’ve been trying to make time for this for the past month, but it’s been a mad, mad July, just like last year. I made a vow to post this before the end of the month, as otherwise it would be even more pointless than posting it towards the end of July.
So why has July so busy in the past 2 years? (Well, historically speaking it’s been a hectic month ever since I graduated from university). Let’s look at some events:
July 2010: Family going to Lebanon for the summer, football World Cup reaching its climax, reached probably the peak of my fitness of that summer with fitness boot camps, jogging and swimming (not all at the same time but you get the drift), changing jobs and doing 2 jobs at the same time and plenty of socializing and trying to stay in touch with friends and people in general, all in 24 hours. Phew
July 2011: Well, family leaving the country for good, hitting the gym + running track again, not going to run any marathons any time soon, although I would love to somehow become that fit. Also- Getting more responsibilities at work (not a bad thing), coupled with two leisure trips to Amman in the space of 3 weeks, some soul searchin’ and finding my feet in this abyss of ‘living on one’s own’.
It’s been busy, and I am loving it. I still need to manage my time better I reckon, but that shall come with time and practice. Hoping I’d be able to pick up new (good) habits, especially since Ramadan is about to start (i.e. less working hours and more time to do other stuff, traditionally including sleeping, shisha-ing endlessly and whatnot. Hopefully not this year). Maybe I should give cooking a shot, the last time I touched a pan was back at university (Gotta love those hot stoves and cookers).
I have posted some shots of Amman taken on my most recent visit there on my personal facebook profile, I decided to share some of them on my website as well. Check out www.omarabuomar.com =)

أحيانا

2011-07-10T09:43:00.002+04:00

One of my best friends sent this quote to me, so true

أحيانا تشتاق لمن لا يشتاقون .. وتعطي لمن لا يحسون .. وتبقى عظيما ويصغرون .. فالحياة أمران .. أما ان تكون انت أو تكون كما يكونون

Use Somebody

2011-05-21T06:04:00.003+04:00

Indirectly inspired by Armin Van Buuren's rework of Use Somebody (Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00I8pbWXlEI), or maybe that's only the title. Insomnia's effect? Call it whatever pleases you and/or makes you sleep at night (no pun intended)

For every false dawn there must be some silver lining in the sky. Whenever things go pear shaped with someone that you thought she or he could be the one remember that fate has weird ways of working things out (Either with that person or someone else). As hard as it may sound, but try to cherish the good memories, at the end of the day that person brought some sort of happiness into your life and some sort of change, even if you don't notice or feel it. It might be easier to fuel your anger with bad memories and what you despised and loathed in that person, but you won't get far. Things happen for a reason, some things don't work out for various reasons. In a few weeks/months/years, depends on how resilient you are really, you will look back and feel numb about it or have some sort of longing (Or maybe have other feelings, we're human, not robots). If you do feel some longing (even if you are happily married/engaged/in a relationship/single/whatever), then that sensation of longing for someone does not mean that you still like or want that person, it merely means that they did indeed bring some sort of happiness in to your life. We're humans, we learn, we evolve as we grow older. Enjoy the ride that's called life and stop crying over spilled milk.

Ps. I have not broken up with anyone recently (or hooked up with anyone for that matter). This post is made out of ancient memories and feelings, combined with observations, reflections and feelings shared by close friends. Now I wouldn't mind that, but that unfathomable organ that occupies most of my skull thinks I shouldn't be arsed yet :). Excuse any spelling/grammar/etc howlers, it's 6am and over half that organ in my skull is already hibernating (Not that it's any different when I am supposed to be fully-awake, but let's keep that as a small little not-so-secret secret)

Disappear Here

2011-03-27T06:06:00.002+04:00

Writing this while sitting outside in the backyard. Was sleepless and had a lot on my mind. Overwhelmed myself with my own thoughts which I’ve somehow managed to escalate (internally) to almost unbearable levels. Happiness is not a destination, this is something that I try to remind myself of. You choose your own level of satisfaction and you, rather than the circumstances around you choose how content you are with life in general, or specific aspects of your life.

Now that you’ve read the above few lines you must be wondering what mess I’ve gotten myself into this time, or what ordeal has taken over my life recently, and in all fairness, nothing happened. It’s my mind going through the motions, looking at things now and what I wanted to do at this stage of my life or at least hoped to be doing I’d be lying if I said that I am doing a horrible job and that I am underachieving, in fact, I’m doing an OK job thus far. I’m (still) very happy with how my career is going (Cobone FTW #justsaying), family is doing well (despite the fact that my father is still in Lebanon) and money-wise, well, it’s not really an issue at the moment, which I am really thankful for since I dread the thought of owing money to anyone (Well I owe my folks a coupla grands, but that's different.)

So, with these things all in order, what more could I want? Well, one of the things that bug me is the fact that I was hoping I’d be doing my masters abroad by now, but I haven’t really saved up enough dough to cover the cost of such a move (Especially since I have no secondary regular source of income, although photography can potentially offset some of the expenses, somehow). In all honesty the main reason why I want to do masters abroad is to, erm, get a chance to live abroad and experience a new culture while knowing I could always come back here to Dubai to my ‘comfort zone’ when I am done, if I want to.

I am due to do my GMAT exam tomorrow, I am far from ready for it, and I know for a matter of fact that I will flunk it (Any score above 400 will be miraculous), but at least it’s a step in the right direction. It’s a step that will help me decide to do some proper research on schools and degrees to see at least if I should attempt to do it again, maybe, just maybe I will find that elusive school in Europe with that perfect program that caters to my ever-changing ideal requirements that just fits with my laughable current budget. There are some other things that are on my mind, but I won’t delve into them yet, at least not now.

Ok I’m going to go a bit random on you now, so here goes: Spider has been roaming around the backyard’s garden for hours and he looks bored and hungry, adorable as f***. He’s definitely one of the things I’d miss if I ever decide to leave, he might show constant apathy and indifference to me and the whole family, but I guess this is part of the ego that fills up any pussy (cat). The weather has been odd, it hasn’t gone ridiculously hot yet, as a matter of fact, it’s kind of breezy and almost chilly now (Was 5ish early morning at the time of writing).

Someone just tweeted this: “What are you looking for? If you know 'you', that's all you really need.” (Thanks @HyperchickAisha! ). True, sometimes all you need is peace of mind, rather than someone or something (This kind of relates to the ‘happiness is not a destination bit mentioned at the start).

Speaking of twitter, the global #twestival event took place on Thursday the 24th of March, and it seems the whole of the city’s ‘Twitterati’ were there, I took some half-decent (or half-crappy, depending on which side of the fence you want to be on). You can view them here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=301213&id=505218165&l=999016418f (Don’t worry, you won’t have to add me as a so-called ‘friend’ to check them out).

If anyone cares, this was typed while listening to the following #trance & #prog tracks:
Aruna with Mark Eteson - Let Go (Nic Chagall Mix)
Hybrid - Disappear Here (Andy Moor Ecomix)[Inspired the entry's title]
Solarity - North Circ (Steve Haines Remix)
Juventa - Dionysia (Skytech Remix)
Marsbeing & Matvey Emerson - Come Again
Filip Konecny - On the Waves (Alllende Remix)

Till next time peeps. God knows when I will bother to update this blog again

Some trancy tracks for valentine's

2011-02-15T19:45:00.002+04:00

I know valentine's day was yesterday, not that I really care. Here is a small list I compiled of tracks related to the event for those who care. Tried to not make it too cheesy. There are plenty of vocal tracks, tried to add in a couple of 'emotional' non-vocal melodic or uplifting choon here and there to mix things up a bit. Not all of them are all chirpy and happy, not everyone out there has so-called 'significant other', some are not bothered or looking

“For That Special Girl” Juventa
“Beautiful Together” Oceanlab
“Do For Love” Vinny Troia feat. Jaidene Veda [Matt Lange remix]
“Amsterdam” Luminary [Super8 & DJ Tab remix]
“Sand In My Shoes” Dido [Above & Beyond remix]
“Not Enough Time” Cosmic Gate
“Far Away” Nitrous Oxide feat. Aneym
“Back To You” Dj Shah Feat. Adrina Thorpe [Aly & Fila Remix]
“Your Loving Arms” Karen Overton
“Body Of Conflict” Cosmic Gate
“As The Rush Comes” Motorcycle
“Far From In Love” Above & Beyond
“One Last Look” Signalrunners
“Barra” Cosmic Gate
“For An Angel” Paul Van Dyk
“Don’t Look Back” Signalrunners
“Louder” Amnesia Brothers feat. Jennifer Rene
“Sun & Moon” Above & Beyond
“Impossible” Matt Hardwick [John O’Callaghan remix]
“Can’t Sleep” Above & Beyond
“Not Giving Up On Love” Armin Van Buuren & Sophie Elis Baxter
“New York City” Paul Van Dyk [Original Mix]
“New York City” Paul Van Dyk [Super8 & DJ Tab remix]
“You Belong To Me” Bobina feat. Betsie Larkin
“Empire” Super8 & DJ Tab
“These Shoulders” Signalrunners
“Without You Near” Markus Schulz
“Read My Mind” The Killers [Gabriel & Dresden remix]
“Thing Called Love” Above & Beyond
Sunlounger feat. Zara - Lost (Aly & Fila Remix)
“Let Go” Aruna with Mark Eteson [Nic Chagall remix]
“Perception” Markus Schulz
“Fallen In Too Deep “ Manvel Ter-Pogosyan feat. Jenni Perez [Amurai Remix]
“Satellite” Oceanlab
“Breaking Ties” Oceanlab [Above & Beyond Analog Haven remix]

Review of Armin Only Mirage - Beirut 2011

2011-01-27T05:00:00.002+04:00

Here is my humble review of the recent Armin Only Mirge event in Beirut.

I don’t recall when exactly this was announced, but I think it was back in November 2010 or around that time. Armin Only is basically a huge show that is focused on the man himself, his productions and his collaborations with other artist. This was the 6th installment of the event (Or so I’m told) after playing in places like his native Holland and in Beones Aires, and it is the first time such an event is brought to the Middle East. Mix FM were the ones behind the event, which was held at Biel in Beirut. Biel is a big venue, but I don’t think they have ever had all its halls used for an EDM event, but then again this is Armin, the world’s # 1 DJ (as per the much-maligned DJ Mag annual poll for the past 3 or so years), one of the most consistent performers and the undisputed king (and face) of trance. Millions of fans listen to his weekly radio show ASOT (A State Of Trance). Going back to Mix FM, kudos to them for putting this together. Organizing an event of such scale go almost flawlessly is something definitely worth getting a lot of credit for (Please note that it was ‘almost’ flawless, more details on the small areas where things could have been done better below).

The ticket pricing was a bit steep (But it is justified if you read on), I did not do any research on that other than checking the price of the regular (silver) tickets (Where my friends and I were), there were Gold, Platinum and Diamond, now I have no clue whatsoever what the specific differences between the tickets is, but what I know is that the tickets ranged between $75 to $200, considering that $75 is what people normally pay for a vip ticket at events gives you an idea of Armin’s appeal to the Lebanese crowd (Needless to say it was quite costly to make this event, but still). The high ticket price was no hurdle in stopping people from going to what was advertised as the “biggest event in history to be hosted in Lebanon” (At least biggest of this kind).

Getting to the venue was straight forward if you did not have a car to park, if you had one then you’d have had to wait for quite some time to get into the parking as the roads were narrow and there were hundreds of cars queuing to enter the parking. Anyhow, not a major thing there and it is quite expected since the roads surrounding Biel (The venue) are narrow 1-lane roads. Once in front of the venue there was a huge queue waiting to get in at the Regular tickets entrance. Now what was communicated by the organizers is that the doors will open by 21:00 and that AvB will start his set at 22:00 sharp, I was outside at around 21:30 and the doors were still not open. People were allowed in once the doors opened in small patches, but a weird route had to be taken (Instead of a direct entry from the side entrance we had to enter a small foyer sort of hall then into the venue, which took time. We were standing outside for 20+ minutes and tickets were checked twice. I understand the logic behind gradually letting people in to the venue but the process was risky, some pushing here and there may have resulted in a stampede and at least people getting hurt. The last ticket check was at the door leading to Biel where there were only 3 or 4 people admitting thousands of people. Another thing (bit minor though) which could have been done is to double the number of people with one checking the tickets with another person giving the drink vouchers instead of the same person doing both.

Once in (at around 22:00), you could tell how massive the venue is. There was only some atmospheric music, hardly any edm really. There were no signs of AvB and it was rather obvious that he won’t start his set before 23:00. All the areas of the venue apart from the very back where the massive bar was were pretty much packed, but we managed to make our way through to the front with relative ease, and that is where we stuck for most of the time. Music started playing at around 22:40 and went on for 2 hours (The Armin intro started at about 00:40). The tracks in the warm-up ‘set’ (Which was probably pre-recorded) varied, kicking off with some prog and going on with some big trance hits from the past few months. A couple of live tracks (“Who’s Watching” with Nadia Ali & “Closer” by Susana) were teasers to what would soon follow. Personal favorites from the warm-up were Schulz’s “Perception” (vocal mix), Mark Eatson’s “Let Go” and AvB’s brother (Eller, no?) playing Zocalo out live on his guitar. There was a (fitting) grand 5-minute into to the Armin-thon that would follow, think the track was Mirage, with Eller, Susana, several performers and a band with all instruments in support (and of course some smoke machines, lasers and fireworks). The stage was basically hidden behind two big moving screens which were moved around the whole night, the visuals on these and on the main screens behind the stage were breathtaking and complemented Armin’s set throughout.

Amin’s set was definitely prepared for in advance, it certainly had chaotic flow to it (in a good way), as the bpm and the energy would shift with every transition and sometimes every single minute, he’d be dropping a monster uplifting big room choon then suddenly you’d have Sophie Elis Baxter (The much-talked about surprise apparently) popping out of nowhere for the sound to tone down a bit before it suddenly pick up again with another massive track. The night was full of unpredictable twists and turns that would make it akin to a thrilling bestselling novel with endless plots, sub-lots and the likes. A lot of tracks (especially his) were tweaked with unidentified remixes, but then again this show is his baby so it’s not surprising. I gotta say that as hyper and energetic Armin seems to be, I’ve never seen him that pumped up before, his excitement lasted for the whole set. Epic.

Now I have been fortunate enough to see Armin Van Buuren play live at least once a year since 2006 (In 2009 I saw him thrice), but this has truly been one of the biggest and most impressive performances I have ever witnessed by a producer/dj live. “Life is made of small moments like these” is what the marketing guys behind Above & Beyond would say about their gigs, and moments and majestic performances like these make you appreciate trance even more an they make the cold that I got right after heading out of Biel at 7am seem like a minor nuisance. Thank you Armin, MixFM and Beirut for throwing one hell of an event. The visuals, speakers and sound, lasers, set-up, crowd etc etc were top notch.

For fellow ID junkies, here is a draft. I copied and pasted it from my phone with minimal updates (So expect a lot of “ID”, “Vocal choon”, “some adjective + choon” etc etc etc. If you happen to recall specific IDs of tracks, remixes etc. There were several classics which I totally forgot their names and/or the producers’ names then please let me know :). Thanks Ramy Barghoud for helping out IDing several tracks.
Warm-up:
Some IDs
“Who We Are” Luigi Lusini
“Closer” Susana feat. Omnia & The Blizzard (Live performance by Susana)
“Departures” Robbie Rivera (Cosmic Gate remix)
“Let go” Aruna with Mark Eteson (Nic Chagal remix)
ID
“Right back” Yuri Kane
“Who’s Watching” Armin Van Buuren ft. Nadia Ali (Live performance)
“Back To Earth” Cosmic Gate (Arty Remix)
ID
“Zocalo” Armin Van Buuren feat. Gabriel & Dresden (Live performance by Eller Van Buuren, Armin’s brother)
“Perception” Markus Schulz ft. Justine Suissa (Vocal Mix)
“This Moment” Nic Chagall (Prog Mix)
ID (vocal track, “Drowning in your love”?)
ID (vocal Armin track)
Couple of other IDs

Avb's set actually started at 12:40
Mirage (Intro Mix with a live mini-orchestra)
“Alpha” W&W
“Exploration Of Space” Cosmic Gate (Back 2 The Future remix)
“ThIs Light Between Us” Armin Van Buuren ft. Christian Burns (Live Performance)
“Tomorrow” Marcel woods
Mirage (I think, lol)
ID (famous track Schulz plays it often, several ID tracks during the next hour or so are tracks played quite often by Schulz on his live sets and his weekly radio show GDJB)
ID another Schulz fav track
“Aisha” Armin Van Buuren presents Gaia
“Tuvan” Armin Van Buuren presents Gaia
ID techy track
ID another Schulz fav
“These Silent Hearts” Armin Van Buuren ft. BT
“Loneliness” Tom Craft (Remix ID)
“Jurame” Miguel Bose (Armin Van Buuren remix)
“This World Is Watching Me” Armin Van Buuren vs. Rank 1 ft. Kush
“Begging you” Cerf Mitiska ft. Jaren (ID remix)
Aly & Fila track (Can’t recall its name at all :()
“Not Giving Up On Love” Armin Van Buuren Ft. Sophie Ellis-Bextor (Live Performance)
“Pandorra” Ali Wilson
“As The Rush Comes” Motorcycle
Some new track by Nadia Ali (Live performance)
“Rapture” Nadia Ali (Live performance)
What The F**k, some remix of it (O_o)
ID (Schulzy track)
ID (Melodic track by Armin)
“Found A Way” Jon O'Bir feat. Fisher (Joint Operations Center remix)
ID Anjunabeats track \o/
“Broken Tonight” Armin Van Buuren ft. Van Velzen -
“Nothing Else Matters” Max Graham ft. Ana Criado (Aly & Fila remix me thinks)
“Banshee” Sean Tyas
ID (slightly vocal)
“Every Other Way” BT ft. Jes
“Not Going Home” Faithless (Armin Van Buuren remix)
“Unforgivable” Armin Van Buuren ft. Jaren
“FAV Rain” Armin Van Buuren vs. Cosmic Gate
“In and Out Of Love” Armin Van Buuren ft. Sharon den Adel
“Never Say Never” Armin Van Buuren ft. Jacqueline Govaert
“Communications Part 3” Armin Van Buuren
3 or 4 IDs
“Going Wrong” Armin Van Buuren & DJ Shah
ID live performance (I surrender?)
“Who Will Find Me vs. Not The End” DJ Shah ft. Adrina Thrope (Armin Van Buuren mash-up)
“Use Somebody” Kings of Leon (Remix ID)
“Remember Love” Armin Van Buuren, Paul Oakenfold & Paul Van Dyk
ID (uplifting techy choon)
Few more IDs
“Sanctuary” Gareth Emery (Sean Tyas remix)
Coupla uplifting choons
“For An Angel” Paul Van Dyk (Played out live)
“Satisfaction” Benny Benassi (lol)
“Seven Nation Army” The White Stripes (Played out live)
A few classics, forgot their IDs
“Synaesthesia” The Thrillseekers (Not sure if it was the original or the Alex M.O.R.P.H. remix)
“Till The Sky Falls Down” Dash Berlin (Remix ID)
Few more IDs
“Shivers” Armin Van Buuren
“Burned With Desire” Armin Van Buuren (Live with the all the vocalists)
Set ended at 6:44am. 6-hour set
Several tracks I did not ID but Ramy Barghoud helped with, in no particular order (Please note that in my own tracklist the track name came first, in Ramy’s track list it is the other way around. Can’t be arsed to change the order!):

Funkegenda VS Steve Angelo What the knas
Steve Angelo - Rave and Roll
.W&W - AK47
Marcel woods - advanced
Ernesto Vs Bastian - Thrill
Till the sky falls down is the nitrous oxide remix
AVB - Serenity
AVB - Orbion
Daniel Kandi - Symphonica
Marc Simmz - Forbidden city
Binary Finary - 1998
AVB - Down to love
AVB - Virtual friend
AVB - Sail
Rank1 - Airwave
Rank1 - Led there be light
ARmin And Ferry - Minac (with some vocals saying turn off the lights)
Energy 52 - Cafe del mar

Feel free to add any tracks/IDs etc that you recall from the night! Hope you enjoyed the review

End Of An Era

2011-01-15T12:45:00.002+04:00

Back in the day when Nokias were the shizzle (seems like centuries ago), they used to have a simple yet straightforward feature which informed you of how long all your calls to date have been, now I’m sure the fancier and more sophisticated smartphones of today have the same thing, but I stop caring really .A phone in this time and age is anything but a phone, ask a certain Steve Jobs what he thinks about his iPod Touch that makes phone calls and he will brag about every single feature on it, other than its capabilities as a phone. I’d appreciate the technology in phones a bit more the day people are able to take DSLR quality images on them, but this is rather far-fetched now.

Now, what does that have to do with photography/omography etc.? I have upgraded my ‘entry level DSLR’ and basically ended my old 400D’s service, since the new one (550D if you are wondering) does everything that the 400D is capable of and more, and it’s definitely more technologically advanced, lighter, faster etc. Now the reason why I upgraded is that the gap between my 400D and the 5D was just massive and the contrast in quality was quite annoying. I wish I could somehow calculate the total # of shots that I took with the 400D in a way akin to how the total length of phone calls is measured in phones. My guess is that it would surpass the 100,000 mark.

Whatever the total number of shots is, the 400D (Known to you N. American peeps as the Rebel XTi me thinks) has been a very, very loyal and resilient servant which has proven its worth time and time again, and it has never failed me when I had the occasional brain fart of forgetting to charge my other camera’s batteries. I will vividly recall driving to Muscat, Oman only to realize after getting there that I forgot to take my 5D’s battery along (Major brain fart there). The 400D’s performance was top notch, it sure wasn’t on par with its bulkier sibling, but heck, it saved the day and I got some good shots out of that spontaneous journey.

My ancient Canon Powershot S2 IS finally has a new buddy (Or I’d rather say ‘body’, since the 400D will be lens-less) to keep it entertained while both gather dust and get the occasional look of sympathy while they lie gracefully on my desk.

More randomness

2011-01-14T14:36:00.000+04:00

So for the 2nd week in a row I spend Thursday night (and pretty much the whole of Friday morning) in bed with a heavy head and a physically, mentally and emotionally drained body. My recent (slight) change in lifestyle should have changed things and made me a bit more laid back and mellow, but based on this, it seems it has done the complete opposite. Maybe I’m just making a big fuss out of nothing and this is normal. At least it is not affecting anything, and it is just proving the fact that I’d rather spend more time at home rather than head out and ‘socialize’ (How ‘social’ can one get in such a relatively small town?).

Every day of my life now I realize how valuable the commodity of time is and how crucial it is to manage and control it well, which is not an exactly straight forward task for someone who grew up being forced to do things and be put on the right track (The right track being set by others, of course. Oh the beauty of being a push over). At least then I had my ambition restricted by what those around me dictated, namely because I simply had little or no signs of it (ambition) and because I spent a large portion of my teenage/early adult life being told what to do in a field/industry I had mild passion for. The move to doing something I actually enjoy and having time and resources to actually do and initiate projects I fancy at work and in my personal life has been a bit tricky, but heck, it’s always fun to learn and to cope. If the previous chapters have taught me anything, it’s probably that the more one struggles with something, the more they learn on the long run.

Some of the personal (fun) projects I’ve initiated:
- Starting to play more video games
- Bashing my personal laptop unintentionally
- Avoiding the world, somehow
- Starting a freelance photography business. Google/FB/Tweet “Omography”, a less serious initiative is “Om The Road”, which can only be found on FB now.

7-minute miles

2010-09-27T18:12:00.000+04:00

Typed up at some point during the recent Euro Trip (Blogged about in the previous posts below). Believe it or not, yours truly has actually took a break (albeit a short one) from ranting to write something that can somehow be motivational... Happy reading peeps

We are all different people on this earth , we have different races, backgrounds, experiences and aspirations in life.

Due to the variety in people out there, this smorgasbord means that different people will always have their own ways of doing things, they will probably be influenced by things such as social norms, upbringing and the culture, amongst many others deeper and more micro reasons. I'm not a psychologist, doctor or expert in cultures, so I won't really scrutinize the matter, people do seemingly endless researches and studies into this, so my likited insight on this should be kept to that, I.e. Limited

Motivating oneself and trying to see the more positive side(s) of life is not always an easy or a straightforward process. Some of us have funny ways of doing so, some might go binging (ice cream cravings?), some might surround themselves with positive people and ultimately positive energy, others may spend time alone to reflect on things and regather momentum, while others may indulge in uber cool activities (cool only to them perhaps). Some may punish and agonize themselves to make themselves eager to prove themselves and perhaps the people around them wrong.

Yours truly is one helluva moody and odd individual, so perhaps it wouldn't come as obnoxious or eccentric to me to admit I may do any of the above to get myself back on track (hold on, I actually have a track to begin with? I might...). One recent addition to my list of random sources of motivation would be jogging/running. I never imagined myself saying this, but as boring and mundane as jogging might sound, it is really rewarding to me, especially since I've somehow not only managed to run at a decent pace. With an incline, but I also manage to do a mile in 7-minutes (apparently doing one in under 8 minutes is somewhat challenging). Not bad for a lazy bum/geek like me.

Just so you know...

2010-09-25T05:03:00.003+04:00

The previous posts were typed up during my recent trip to Europe (Paris + Barcelona to be precise) in September 2010

Hope it will be an enjoyable read, especially since I have not updated this blog for quite a while

Nou Camp

2010-09-25T05:02:00.002+04:00

Last day of the trip, revisited the Nou Camp stadium, this time on the stadium tour rather than a spectator, read about the entire history of the club, truly amazing stuff. Really shows you how massive this club is and gives an inside on to how crucial it is to the 'Cules', not only in footballing terms, but also socially and politically. The stadium (and the club overall) oozes with class and european pedigree so to speak. Too bad the same cannot be said about some of its fans in the Middle East.

Burp Olympic

2010-09-25T05:02:00.001+04:00

Excuse the vulgarity of this post's title, had the first proper meal of this vacation at a touristic strip on the sea called Port Olympic. It was awash with half empty restaurants mainly (and predictably) serving sea food. A couple of fortunate ones had huge groups of Asian tourists, there must have been at least 300 tourists filling up the two outlets.

Food was great and a fitting end to the afternoon after spending most of the day on that 'hop on hop off' tour of the city, food was good, but nothing to write hone to mom about. Got a couple of decent subset shots from the marina/port before the last of my cameras ran out of battery.

Forgot to mention that I met up with the brother of a very good friend of mine, lucky bastard saw Armin Van Buuren last night at Amnesia in Ibiza! The guy didn't even know his proper name lol! Might see him (my friend that is, not Arnin) later on tonight at some club

Hop on hop off

2010-09-25T05:01:00.001+04:00

Eventually found my way back to the hotel, went with a coupla vacationing friends to a club Opium, not my favorite typa place but had fun nevertheless. On an open bus tour around the city and the suburbs. Fun but I'm a tad exhausted and famished! (a breakfast of kitkat, frappé and a single espresso shot wasn't enough I reckon). Managed to find the street that my friends referred me to head to to find camera chargers, sadly couldn't find any of the accessories I needed (or even interesting lenses). Oh well, I'll make do with whatever battery I still have in the 2 dslrs.

Currently in the outskirts of the city, just passed Espanyol's stadium which hosted the 1992 Olympic games. Lots of history in the area.

Barca on and off the pitch

2010-09-25T05:00:00.002+04:00

Day 4 - Barcelona

Ok WHAT A DAY! I fell in love instantly with Barcelona as soon as I stepped outta the airport! It is VERY relaxed and chilled out, made me realize how uptight Paris is (I still like you Paris though).

After checking in at the hotel (which by the way made the one we stayed at in Paris seem more like a hostel lol) I ventured into town to one of the malls (glories, or something like that) to try and find chargers for my cameras and possibly tickets to a FC Barcelona game in the Champions League. Eventually couldn't find either an ended up going to an area called passage Garcia or something like that to catch up with some of the peeps. Had a breather, bought some souvenirs and gifts before heading off alone to the Nou Camp stadium. Was an epic experience! Got an expensive ticket and saw them put 5 strikes against a hapless panathanaikos side (did I spell that right?). Was thrilling to see the excitement levels and the passion, even when the Catalans were leading 4-1 (ended 5-1). Making my way back to the hotel now, quite lost to be honest lol!

Sleep-deprived

2010-09-25T04:58:00.003+04:00

For some reason I'm quite knackered today, had a very, very eventful evening yesterday as I finally managed to go to a place that was not touristic at all, it was called Quartier Latin, or the Latin quarter I suppose. Went with a classmate from university who is doing her internship in Paris, ironically we never really met properly back in Dubai, but it was quite nice to catch up with a fellow EAHM-er. Turned out there are a few other 'academians' in Paris too now, too bad they could not make it. I took some photos there, finally using my new tripod for that. Used up a lot of battery though in the process, so I really have to find a Canon shop to charge my cams! Well worth it though hope

Just an observation (or two)

2010-09-25T04:58:00.001+04:00

Typed this up while chilling (a cooler way of saying waiting for a ride my friends are on to finish) at Disneyland. If I were to describe the park using as little words as possible, I'd probably call it overrated, way too family-centric, bit overpriced and dare I say cheesy. Having said all of the above, it's probably not like that to the visitors of the park and their kids. I should know better especially since I was a huge fan of anything and everything that had to do with Disney as a kid! A lady at a souvenir counter described the park today as "quiet and calm", as opposed to weekends when double the number of visitors would show up. Not bad I reckon
tt-see attractions that you will probably not consider visiting again

That pot

2010-09-25T04:56:00.001+04:00

Your soul is a massive pot, fill it up with good ingredients and you shall reap he rewards, mix some rotten additives and the outcome will probably. Well, not the best analogy but you get the drift.

It's probably not an easy feat to know how to take the best actions and make the best of decisions, especially when you are relatively young, but the trick is to embrace change and appreciate mistakes that you commit along the way. It's part of the (often painful) learning curve, rest assured that as long as you learn from these mistakes, then you are definitely on the right track.

Doing the right thing does not necessarily have to feel or seem right.

When the morning comes

2010-09-25T04:55:00.000+04:00

Overslept and missed the morning batch's trip to Disneyland, having breakfast and coffer now at a small cafe next to the hotel. Sunny day so far!

Yesterday was quite chilled, went on the river seine cruise before going to the moulin rouge are, was a bit awkward walking towards the place in hat dodgy area (was full of sex toy stores, strip clubs and god knows what else!)

Today's agenda: catch up with the morning crew at disneyland then go to see a coupla friends from Dubai for dinner back in Paris :)

Seine breeze

2010-09-25T04:51:00.001+04:00

Caught up with the gang and went on a cruise of the river Seine, was quite fun! Got a few minutes to spare as people refresh and get some souvenirs and warm beverages and such. Was quite a chilly day thus far compared to day 1, don't mind that at all, especially that in less than a week I'll be bearing Dubai's 40+ degree temperatures!

I love the unpredictability of the climate here, was drizzling when we woke up and by afternoon the sun was out with some clouds scattered around the sky (great for the pics!). So far this evening the sky is clear and it is breezy and chilly, loving it!

Having mentioned the pictures, I had a brain fart while packing for assuming that I won't need any camera battery chargers, which predictably turned out to be an ill-fated decision. Now I will have to find the Canon shop tomorrow to make sure I'll still be able to snap away for the rest of this trip. Thanks to Stouts for helping me out with the store addresses!

Bird s**t

2010-09-25T04:50:00.000+04:00

Day 2 - Paris

So, another exciting day thus far. Went to Champ-ellisys again after going to the Louvre museum (yes I saw the Monalisa). Quite an eventful day, love the confusion when it comes to the metro stations and the routes.

I probably saw the biggest LV and McdonLd's outlets so far in my life in champ ellipsis, massive! Ended up paying for a yummy (but overpriced) meal at a 'smaller' Mcdo (still was bigger than any branches in Dubai).

Off to catch up with the rest of the gang for a seine river cruise! Not sure what the rest of the night holds for us!

Before I forget, a bird shat on me a coupla hours back, hence the title. Is that supposed to be a good omen?

Clear blue skies

2010-09-25T04:49:00.000+04:00

Day 1 - Paris
So day 1 of my small Euro trip has been quite a random one so far... From waiting at the airport for an extra hour or two till the whole brigade on this trip gathered and made it successfully to the same terminal section that we were at, to having to wait for another coupla hours at the hotel we are staying at to get our rooms cleaned (and inspected). Add to that the restauranteur at the Italian bistro next door that turned out to be an Egyptian from "6an6a", aptly announced that right after we settled the bill (very, very awkward, especially since we were typical Arabs making the occasional mean remark). That was followed up with me missing a metro ride as I forgot my fancy tripod at another section of the station. Thankfully I somehow caught up with he rest of the crew back at the hotel and we ended up going to the Eiffel tower after a lot of gesturing and asking around in the French capital's dodgy underground stations. The day is far from over, it's already 8 in the evening and the sun hasn't set yet, eagerly waiting for it to set so we can take some neat images of the infamous tower.

Enjoying the great weather, the clear blue skies, checking out the women (well, not all of them are all that attractive, but it's not bad nevertheless).

Random- Other than the awkward incident with the Egyptian gentleman, an Algerian/north African on one of the metro rides thought we were Israelis or at least Jews lol! I'm proudly wearing a Palestinian scarf :). Love you Falasteen <3

Belated post

2010-09-25T04:41:00.002+04:00

This was typed up when I was coming back from Jordan after the quick raving trip (Early August)... Found it on my iPhone when updating similar travel notes on the trip I went on after that (Some updates of that coming up)

Written on the way back from the trip that was mentioned earlier. Have I satisfied my wanderlust? Well, somewhat. Ironic that as soon as I started typing this "As The Rush Comes" comes up on the iPhone's shuffle

New friends? Check. Bad service? Check. Countless chuckles, check. Another rave? Check. Many other things that don't come to my sleep-deprived mind? F*** yeah

Random flight thoughts

2010-08-01T05:24:00.003+04:00

Written on the 28th of July, 2010, haven't proof-read it or edited anything in it as of yet, so expect some grammar and spelling blunders:

On a relatively small Royal Jordanian plane midway through my flight from Dubai to Amman. Just watched Date Night again and had a good laugh. Having some thoughts now since I'm sitting idle (a very, very uncommon situation I should say).

What is it that I really want? I'm still indecisive, always opting to just go with the flow of things, waiting for the best and working hard. Now life over the past few months has been rather generous with me. God had answered my prayers by opening a new career path for me. Now the past couple of years have been grueling to say the least, but every now and then I'd try to remind myself that I was still better off than many people and that God probably had other better things in store for me. I admit that it was a struggle, a huge learning curve which has changed me as a person and made me somewhat indistinguishable from that young bright fresh-graduate a coupla years back who was full of life, albeit low on confidence an experience.

I hope my parents are proud of me, I'm probably still considered in the spoiled brat category to most people, but that has no bearing to who I really am. I might have a snappy attitude, I might be moody as f**k, I might have failed to stay in touch with people I value and love in my life, but I'm still that somewhat self-doubting & reclusive introvert. I still try to help out whenever I could and as much as I can, but I have created limits, limits so i don't drain myself and my resources when there are bigger priorities.

My perspectives have changed, I just want to rediscover that free spirit I had, but that will be rather tricky, but as I say, it is doable. The recent events will probably help me become a better person. I hope my folks are proud of me, I wonder what they and my amazing sisters describe me as to their acquaintances and the people around them... I'm sure that it would be a combination of praise and humorous flack.

I am disappointed and infuriated with the service levels on display here in Dubai. It goes from delivery boys not even being sure if they can deliver the goods or not to car technicians who blatantly pretend everything in your car is perfect while it is under warranty, while confidently asking you to pay once that warranty is over to pay for anything and everything that may require repairing or replacing.

Social media: now I am glad I became addicted to twitter over the course of the past few months. A lot of people do not see the point in it, but in all fairness I have the same thoughts nowadays when it comes to Facebook. That's just a personal opinion. For those of you who would like to follow me on twitter, you may definitely do so here: www.twitter.com/omardxb

Sorry for the incoherent blabbering, been up for quite some time and my brain is pretty much hibernating now.

Hav a good one

Not that either you or I care or give a flying f*k anymore, but...

2010-05-30T02:58:00.002+04:00

... I'd like to wish you a happy birthday, idiot :)

100th post

2010-05-23T03:45:00.003+04:00

Happy 100th post to me and to the irregular visitors and stalkers of this blog and yours truly

It’s been a while since I made time for this little blog of drivel and self-inflicted angst. I usually need a motive and/or an inspiration, or sometimes some sort of provocation to entice me to babble. Credit for this post goes to a young (Well, she’s older than me) fellow blogger… Missed the blogging sphere in all honesty

So, what’s new? Quite a lot!

Thankfully started a new job, and pretty much enjoying my new field. It’s certainly a major step in the right direction. I am doing e-commerce and e-distribution for the chain of hotels that I started my post-university career with. It keeps me occupied, gives me an opportunity to actually use my brain's overtly analytical cells (As opposed to the brain numbing repetitive routine that I had sometimes in my previous post). Hamdella for everything

Other than that, went sky diving, and to my surprise, it IS such a big deal. It didn’t occur to me until I saw the reaction of people when they found out… Didn’t find it that scary or nerve-wrecking as some people make it out to be, namely because the guys behind the sky diving operations here are so good at what they do. I mean come on, what are the chances of something going wrong, and me being the poor sod who ends up getting injured, or worse, dying? Very marginal at worst. Heck, there is a higher probability that one would die on Dubai’s roads sitting in the back of a cab than while sky diving or flying somewhere for that matter.

Since I’ve touched on the topic of public transporation, God bless the Dubai Metro. Had my first proper ride on it (Gold class, because I’m posh, wannabe posh that is and I have taste for the finer things in life). The ride is extremely smooth and quiet, the staff are professional and efficient and the trains are extremely clean and almost always on time (But taking one’s car is not as time consuming, which may among a few negative). For green, hassle free and affordable commuting, I would hail the metro as a total success! Sadly (Or maybe fortunately, depending on how you see things) I don’t need to get on the metro that often. Why did I even use it? Well, the place I did the TOEFL (A point that I would get to in a bit) was literally on the other side of town in an area that I don’t recall ever going to as an adult or a kid for that matter. A massive taxi fare would not have been very justifiable in such dire economic conditions (As if I’m starving myself to death to stave off creditors).

So, TOEFL you say? What for? Part of the big plan to do masters somewhere, somehow at some point. Speaking of which, I find it ironic that a certain university here still requires TOEFL for its post-graduate courses, even if you provide adequate proof that you did your bachelors degree in English elsewhere. That is in stark contrast to some schools in the States, which in theory should be much pickier about this, but they are actually more than satisfied to waive off the TOEFL if you provide documentation proving you studied in English. Oh well, the imperfections of this world are staggering.

What else? Went back to working out, it is notable that I have never been so out of shape appearance-wise in my life as I am at the moment, yet I am quite fit exercise-wise and got a decent endurance level which I never had during my ‘skinny’ days. Paradoxes of life? Or maybe I needed the additional fat to store energy and God knows what else, and hence the improved stamina and endurance levels? *sarcasm*

Other than that, I’ve become more picky and careful with my time, learning time management skills the hard way, the ‘compromise’ way. I still make time (Barely) for photography and trance, which are still my legal drugs, but I kind of toned down on certain activities that consume time and/or are tedious in nature.

Such a self-centered post, but heck, after having to deal with some narcissistic boring individuals often, I reckon I can cut myself some slack and blabber a bit about lowly me :).

On a more outwardly note, well, more bad acts of nature happening around the world, be it the endless volcano ash-gate, or the PMS-ing weather (It’s been quite weird for this time of the year in this region, thunderstorms in Bahrain, rain in UAE, flash floods in Riyadh to name a few) If that wasn’t enough, then you have the man-made hot topics, such as the Greek economic meltdown, the mini-civil war in Bangkok, the continuing agony in my homeland (Palestine), the stupid elections in the UK, the football World Cup (And the endless scandals unfolding in England’s 2018 World Cup bid), all strive for journals' attention to ensure they have some headlines, columns and 'in-depth analysis' to sell more papers the next day…

Small piece of advice for the masses- Put yourselves first whenever possible, and when you don’t, make sure it is justifiable in some way or another.

Thanks B =)

Right now

2010-03-22T00:23:00.003+04:00

I’m knackered and half asleep as I lie on my bed with one eyelid open that is struggling to focus on the screen (I’m long-sighted, you know, or whatever the proper medical term for that is). For some reason I’m compelling myself to half-arsedly type this up

So, it seems that everything in my life is nicely falling into place, all but one thing. It’s fascinating how God tests our patience and our willingness to move forward in life. I’m rapidly jumping to a conclusion that I fathomed and digested a couple of years ago before I indifferently decided to chuck it outside the window and just start having a new outlook based on a nonexistent recipe.

That simple (defunct) recipe/perspective used 2 years ago stipulated the basics: Easy come easy go, and whatever you don’t strive and work hard for just loses its allure, value and meaning.

Maybe there is no test here. Maybe it is just a part of my life that I should learn to live with rather than try and alter. Maybe I’m destined to be a ‘giver’ in this life rather than a taker (Well, to a certain extent). Maybe it’s better to be misunderstood than to be exploited and vulnerable once found out. Open books are not as fascinating as dark, twisted and deceitful novels that twitch every existing cell in that brain of yours.

M&M- Thanks =)

En route...

2010-02-01T13:26:00.002+04:00

Typed up a few days ago (26th Jan to be specific)

This must be some achievement, blogging twice in the same month. I can’t really recall the last time that happened. Oh well, not something to dwell on

So moving on to more important things! Sitting in the passenger seat for a change while my sister is driving, usually I’d be the one driving, but I don’t mind the (slight) change of perspective and in scenery. Was a bit blank when I started typing, so I asked her ‘What should I blog about?’, got the predictable ‘I don’t know’ from her. In return I asked her about topics we might have discussed that ticked me off, so she joked and mentioned the renaming and rebranding of Burj Dubai into Burj Khalifa or Pluto not being an official planet anymore, and just being a wannabe-planet that is actually a big lump of rock floating peacefully in space. Just for the record, these are things that my elder sister off was baffled about, but she has thankfully come to terms with it. I have no qualms with either thing, yet (Well it’s not like I will have something against either life altering issue here)…

Anyhow, I might be slowly realizing how it is not worth it to fret about certain things, and more importantly people (Sad, eh?). I should understand slowly that certain people are not worth the hassle, but it is Important not to make matters escalate to reach a dead-end where no one of the parties involved reach the point of no return (In simple words, keep it in a way that things can be ‘worked on’ so to speak)… That does not work with everyone of course, but maybe that’s to the better.

More randomness to follow some other day/night, since we reached our destinations *Switches social butterfly mode on*

Blah blah blah

2010-01-24T01:29:00.002+04:00

Alright, new year (And decade). Was a decent start in all fairness… Spending the first day of the year in the Lebanese mountains with some of the coolest and funniest people around and recalling the previous night’s eccentricities and the random moments… Too bad it was a brief trip, but it was well worth it. Spent some excellent quality time with my father, experienced some unique weather conditions (Well, not exactly unique since I experienced it twice or thrice before in Lebo and Jordan, but you know, you savor the most recent experiences sometimes and put them ahead in nostalgic and ‘intriguing’ value than relatively older experiences and events)… Also got to see some old friends before ’09 drifted away into semi-oblivion, and also saw a certain individual that is known to a few million people as Armin Van Buuren, whom if you have not heard of yet is one of the godfathers of Trance and one of the biggest names in the scene.

Armin Van Buuren, number 1 dj in the world, globally famous, has the most popular and successful radio show blab la bla (All should change in a year or two hopefully, as Above & Beyond slowly, yet surely take over the reigns ;)). Why out of all places on the planet he chose to play in Beirut on the 30th of December, 2009 and then Dubai the following night on new year’s eve?! Beats me… (Well, Dubai probably threw a lot of money at it, but still…)… Oh well, sod it… The event was a success (The one in Beirut, of course), in comparison to the Dubai one (At least from the limited feedback I heard thus far about the latter)…

What else… I always have the urge to babble, rant, bitch and bicker about things when I cannot do it, let’s say when I’m in the shower before work (And running late), or when I am heading back to the office from lunch break, or when I am out and about with no means or ways of jotting my ramblings on a piece of paper (Or hotel paper for that matter, as that teenage crush of mine Michelle Branch used to ‘rhyme’)… I thought about updating it from my BlackBerry, but it does not feel the same to type up something on a tiny screen like that… Speaking of the BlackBerry and ranting, Twitter is perfect for that. It’s quick and concise, and chances are you would find a funny/good (Very recent) update from a friend or via some news agency/dj/football team/whatever… If FB nonchalantly encouraged stalking, then Twitter in a way is the next step of stalking (But I doubt anyone would really give a flying f*k about how many hours of work are left for me or how many times I mention the likes of Armin and Schulz per day…

One thing I wish I could fix- The inconsistent moods, the ups and downs… I don’t want a lovely shrink-suggested medication or anything; I just wish that consistency could prevail instead of disharmony… Maybe there is a way of eradicating certain aspects of one’s personality, or at least play down their significance in one’s daily life… But then again, when you think of it, it takes up a lot of energy and may lead to more stress, and heck, every flaw can be ‘repositioned’ to be a trait… God bless marketers and the subconscious psychological warfares

Wow, maybe I really should stfu… I will not even proof-read it for another week or two perhaps, so please bear with me and make excusation for the makation of mistakes in the grammar, sbellinj and or not making any sense whatsoever overall

A late edit to this:

For the tranceheads out there:
Simon Patterson "Miss You"
Sunny Lax "Misgrey"
Lange pres. Fireweall "Wanderlust"
Stoneface & Terminal "Don't Give A F*ck"

X
O

Year-end update

2009-12-22T04:43:00.001+04:00

So, as 2009 draws to a close, I think it is about time I made some of that (Time that is) for this humble little public semi-diary of mine.

So, few more days to go before a new decade commences, one that promises nothing but more political unrest, a fateful and devastating depression, more hunger and probably more natural disasters (And if the Mayans or whatever they are called got their calculations right, mankind has less than 3 years to go before we cease to exist).

What has this year brought upon me as a not so modest, yet somewhat timid ‘young’ man? (Depending on your take on ages, but that’s a whole different and very subjective argument that I’d rather not go into)

- More progressive trance (The genre has mellowed down over the years and has become far more proggy than how it used to be 2 or 3 years ago. Not that I mind though. Armin & Above & Beyond amongst other trance djs are doing a remarkable and very impressive job in changing the perception of the once taboo ‘T word’… Very good year for Armin and the Anjunaboys, and a very impressive one for the likes of Markus Schulz, Cosmic Gate, DJ Shah, Gareth Emery, Ronski Speed, John O’Callaghan, Super8 & DJ Tab amongst others whom have been working tirelessly in their studios and on the road. Well done gentlemen

- Still single, which may not be an entirely bad thing looking at the rough patches some (Read- Most) of my supposedly ‘more fortunate’ acquaintances and/or friends have had with their supposedly loved ones. Again, I think I’m better off alone. Too complicated, random and incessantly annoying to be with someone. If things are not meant to be, then so freakin’ be it. Won’t bust a gut over people who are not really worthy of my attention, care or time just for the sake of it (And that is saying something, since I do a LOT of things just for the sake of it)

- Football- Last season was not bad, this one is simply one to forget… I know it’s not over yet, not ‘til the fat lady sings at least, but we’re out of Europe and with a hapless and ridiculously inconsistent league record (Beating Everton and then losing to a team like Pompey that was rooted to the bottom of the table and without any sort of liquidity or freakin’ cash flow)… Oh well, at least Man U are not faring much better domestically (But I still hold that belief that they are the ones that will lift the title come May to surpass our record of league titles *sobs*)

- What else? Hmm… Been getting closer to my elder sister over the past year, and I mean really close… I admit, we never really got along before, but I don’t know why, over the past year or so (Basically after I entered the workforce and left the comfort zone of university) we have gotten closer and we talk far more often nowadays than we used to… Guess I might have matured a tad. Not complaining, loivin’ it actually! She has been extremely supportive and helpful… Bless you Susuuu =)

I am sure there are other things to babble about that happened in ’09, but for the time being, this is what my half-awake brain can conjure up at this late hour (Or half-asleep brain, again depends on your outlook and perspective on life. It’s not like it has ever been optimized in its operation over the past few months of somewhat mind-numbing tedious work, but as we say, hamdella for everything, and as usual, patience is the key)

Back to the effin' drawing board

2009-09-24T18:12:00.001+04:00

I think I should get into the drawing board business; I keep on going back to that more often than not

Rather lame attempt at cracking a joke I reckon, not the funniest soul out there.

I seriously need to change, and it has to come from within… You blew it, but I don’t blame you really... Or maybe it’s the uncertainty that’s frightening you.

Oh well...

Dark thought (Somewhat realistic)

2009-08-11T04:44:00.000+04:00

Not sure if this should count as a dark gloomy thought or a sign of maturing and moving forward. Never was the best in judgment really, so I will just follow my hunch as time goes by…

I was thinking about how my life has been going thus far, and thinking about my interactions with people and my so-called friendships with people (Can’t really include relationships because there haven’t really been any despite my delusion). From all those, the one thing that is common across the board in many of them is the fact that none lasted for long. A lot of normal people (Yes, I tend to consider myself as an eccentric outcast) would have someone or some people that they can confidently refer to as their ‘best friend(s) since childhood/elementary school/university/military service/first job or whatever. I used to wonder why I never had anyone that I could refer to as that, and I eventually got to the blatant conclusion that it’s due to my moodiness, and because of my ever-changing and perhaps evolving personality that I keep on moving on from certain phases of my life to the next rather quickly, without fully living or experiencing the previous periods. Another thing is that I might tire from people when things get rather customary and predictable. I don’t know really, familiarity breeds contempt perhaps? Maybe I am the one who naturally drives people away with time.

OK, let me get to the point, the above has made me reach a conclusion that it is not very likely that I will get to have lifelong ‘best friends’ or even get married. Not that the world is missing out on anything really, just another lunatic whom decided to spare you for his endless crap & nonsense

Long live reclusiveness

Vicious cycles

2009-07-05T05:10:00.001+04:00

June 20, 2009 (The date that this was actually typed out on, just didn't feel comfortable posting it right away)

Engrossed in quite a few (Well, at least a couple), and in all honesty (Which I something that I seemingly do not posses any of anymore) it sucks

Well, at least one loses their trust in you and in turn you lose your trust in someone else, karma is a b***h

Questioning the simplest things about myself that I’ve taken for granted... Should take a break from everything and everyone, note to self: some people are just not good (i.e. me). It’s not the age I’m in, it’s not the people, it’s simply me.

Maybe everything I do breeds contempt, not only familiarity…

TyDi feat. Audrey Gallagher - You Walk Away

2009-06-20T00:38:00.001+04:00

With the night behind you
You walk away, and I will find you
We are locked in this emotion
We will find the way home

And it's too late
To regret the mistakes we made
Easier to walk away
And it's too late
To remember all the words we say
Nothing will ever be the same

When the world surrounds you
You take your place with me, behind you
These are every word unspoken
This is our way home

And it's too late
To regret the mistakes we made
Easier to walk away
When the world surrounds you
You walk away...

And it's too late
To regret the mistakes we made
Easier to walk away
And it's too late
[To remember] all the words we say
Nothing will ever be the same

And it's too late
To regret the mistakes we made
Easier to walk away
You walk away...

Thanks to "STSFD"

Familiarity…

2009-06-08T04:27:00.003+04:00

Familiarity…

Inspired by a ‘sista’ from another mother, SA…

Familiarity breeds contempt… I don’t know what brought that expression to mind, but it’s been lingering in my head for the past few days, it basically opens up my naïve, oblivious and undiscerning eyes to a small, yet crucial aspect of human interactions…

I shall vow to keep my distance and not get close to anyone, regardless of the gender or nature of the relationship (Working/professional, mere acquaintance or even a potential partner). That is unless it is willingly sought after by both parties (Obviously does not have to be written in stone, it may be on a subconscious level)

When you veer away from getting too engaged and involved with something and/or someone, you somehow ensure some peace of mind, it allows you to retain some ability to observe see, analyze and judge things as an outsider, because you are not fully-engrossed with whichever thing it may be, it removes the personal bias and similarly it preserves some neutrality to a certain extent… I hold no regrets, I might come across as a remorseful person sometimes, but at the end of the day, everything happens for a reason and it is all God’s will, as we Muslims say "قدر الله و ما شاء فعل"...... We learn from life, perhaps it’s good to mess up every once in a while, it’s a learning curve of life, part and parcel of ‘growing up’…

One further snippet of random thoughts- It is ironic that beneath fancy façade of each and every one of us hides a character that is far, far from perfect… Sadly some hide their respective blemishes rather well and draw everyone around them to their nonexistent traits… Would rather refer to as the Souness Nobody’s vs. Everybody’s Fool Syndrome…

What a pity… Many people definitely know how to talk the talk, too bad you’re massively lacking on the walk the walk department (Worse enough, arguing about being more than capable walking the walk when sparing us your and hollow words and lies certainly does you more good than harm)… There’s a smart tactic called ‘damage limitation’, it does not only exist in wars and battles, extends to way beyond that…

Couple or so people very, very worthy of a salutation:
S- I don’t care if I don’t interact with you for ‘eons’ so to speak, I/we don’t need to… It’s the type of unique thing where you don’t have to go through the typical formalities of staying in touch and all that crap that is so cliché … X

D- Well, you’re adorable in every single ‘snacking’ way =)

M- I wish ‘they’ could see you the way I see you...

G- I wish you would get off that edge and come back to your senses sooner rather than later… Hope it’s not too late, because you’re losing your real friends to gain some plastic friends… Trust me fella, it will be a very painful fall from grace when you fall down from that throne that you happen to be sitting on so high up there in the clouds…

L- Miss you!

I- Such a shame… Expected way more, too bad the fake façade is overwhelmingly convincing in your case

Just for the effing record

2009-03-02T03:56:00.001+04:00

I am only writing this up to remind myself of the happenings of the 1st of March, 2009.

It is a day when the victim and the convict were found out to be the same person, and the judge, the witnesses, the attorney and perhaps every other living creature in or around a courtroom that may exist (Including that bird that happens to be taking a dump outside the window that overlooks the courtroom).

Today was just further proof of the self-inflicted misery that I put myself in. I simply need to change to the better… I don’t know what to add really, I’m ashamed of myself… I have always thought that you lot were naïve and somewhat foolish, but I have proven to myself that I am not any better, I actually turned out to be even worse, with little or no self-respect or realization of one’s self worth and having little, or no dignity…

I will be fine, you lot will be fine… One day my head might be sorted out

p.s. Z, N & D – I :heart: you

Ina Lillah...

2009-02-14T15:55:00.001+04:00

When you think you have problems, think twice

When you tend to wonder what has gone wrong in your life, think twice

When you’ve just spent days whinging about immaterial and trivial matters and then something of that magnitude comes and delivers that long due slap in your sorry face, you realize that perhaps it’s not as bad as you might have thought…

You assume that things should take a certain pattern in life, in some magical due course, when they don’t take that course for a certain person, the first thing that comes to ‘mind’ in our short-sighted, critical and naïve thoughts is “what went wrong?”… Well, here is the deal for you and me, things do not necessarily “go wrong”, you might be the best thing since fucking sliced bread, but there is a small, tiny fact of life that is known as fate.

Someone passed away in our extended family earlier today, youngest amongst their siblings, out of the blue, had no symptoms whatsoever on the few occasions we met, but death knows has no age criteria, it has no prerequisites, it just happens… He might be in a better place now… I hardly really knew him, but that is irrelevant I reckon… Life and fate’s twists and turns…

...

2009-02-10T23:24:00.000+04:00

"It's not in my hands who I feel for"

Rat race...

2008-11-27T14:12:00.002+04:00

Good read...

The Rat Trap

The rat trap
by Mishal Kanoo on Wednesday, 26 November 2008
"From a young age we are taught that we should work. We work hard at school to get the best grades to go to university. We work harder at university to get a good job. And we work yet harder at the job to get that promotion. Finally, we work harder still to keep on getting promotions until we retire.

In the meantime, we fail to love our parents for taking care of us. We miss out on being children with time to laugh and play because we so want to be an adult.

We learn to hone our competitive edge to the degree that we forget our humanity sometimes. And as we grow older, we forget what it means to genuinely love unconditionally and the meaning of forgiveness.

Story continues below ↓
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Instead, we learn that everything is an obstacle that we must overcome or we will never reach the next stage. Look at the way electronic games are set up. It is a learned behavior. The child learns to fight and push forward but is never taught to share and include.

As a famous person once said, "you are either with me or with the enemy." This doctrine is not far from the hearts of many people. Perhaps they might not agree with the statement when it comes to politics, but I assure you, look around, and you will see it in abundance in everyday life.

We then bemoan about not having enough time to do all the things we wish we could do. We are more than ready to sacrifice our humanity for money because that is what many of us were taught to focus on. Some of us will work ten, twelve and sometimes fourteen hours a day, not because we need to, but because we have trained ourselves that this is the right way to show that we are dedicated to our work.

Of course there are people who genuinely work because there is no alternative for them to survive. But most of us look at work as a competition that we have to win.

That is the fruition of the learned behavior that we took from our childhood in school. We are graded in school, not to see what subjects we excel at, and thus should focus on - we are graded to see which of us has the ability to learn the system the fastest and thus ensure a better chance of survival in the work environment.

We are even often told that some things naturally present in one person's personality can be taught to others, rather than to celebrate our diversity. The new buzz word in business circles and at universities is ‘entrepreneurship'.

Some people actually believe they can teach this as a skill. What can be taught is the thought process and how to hone the skills by someone who has it in him or her, and gets paid to teach it. What cannot be taught is how to be an entrepreneur. So we learn yet another idea that will encourage us to compete even more for money, and that will ultimately result in us failing to focus on, or care about, humanity.

It is said that money is the root of all evil. I would contend that it is not money but the spirit of greed that money invokes that is the root of evil. Because if we allow acquiring things to be our goal in life, we lose vision of what is truly more important - ourselves. "

I swear I'm not the devil...

2008-11-24T01:58:00.002+04:00

"And he said…
I swear I’m not the devil…
Though you think I am…
I swear I’m not the devil…

I always fail to see…
The little things in front of me…
The things that mean so much to you…
A way to let you know…
That I appreciate…
The way you always tolerate…
But sometimes when I medicate…
Frustration in you…
Shows me how you feel…"

November drizzle

2008-11-22T23:49:00.006+04:00

So, it's already November, I don't even remember the last time I updated this little blog of mine… What have I been up to? Not that many (Or anyone for that matter) would care or even have the slightest interest, but here goes nevertheless: Work, socializing, partying (Soberly, as usual) and trancing. Not much has changed then, eh? That’s what you might think, but photography has been missing from my list of activities for quite a while… I am still that geek who carries his camera with its full gear (Minus that Sigma 70-300 zoom lens which I wonder why I bought it, I think it’s because it was rather cheap, and for the wannabe stalker that lies within)... I still love photography, but haven’t have had much time to go on those shooting trips, which is a pity, especially since the weather has been improving tremendously lately. I like this month.

Work, well, I am learning to cope with stress, emotions, deadlines, “urgent” tasks and assignments which were eternally ‘pending’ yet suddenly become increasingly important out of the blue, but hey, that is work. Learning to deal with people, learn new things every single day, BEING BUSY! I am quite thankful that I eventually landed this job, especially considering the crisis in world economy, and the announced and unannounced layoffs that have been on the increase for the past two or so months in Dubai… The more fortunate companies are freezing their recruitment; the very fortunate ones are going ahead with their plans and projects. Something that makes me look forward to the coming months is the fact that things will get even busier, with two whole projects coming online in the next 6-8 months, and countless others (Well, depending on how the economy goes worldwide, since the others are not in Dubai)… I hope I will still be in the company by then, and hopefully my plans of continuing my studies will go unscathed despite everything… One word: Hamdella… Hamdella for everything, having a great family that haven’ pressurized me and gave me nothing but continuous endless support no matter what, being at a decent company with a good and relatively stable job within the field I studied and for lovely friends (Husam, Suha, Rasha, Mirna, Amal, Noreen, Zeina, Ghada, Mohammed, Cristina, Khaled, Marcus, Rania, Nassouh, Heba, Zayna, Saeed, Sheena, Lisa and countless others, you know yourselves :))

Useless and irrelevant piece of information there- I am at work doing the late shift today, obviously I haven’t had much to do in the last 15 or so minutes so I decided to blog, I am officially done for the day, so I guess I will wrap up this little post here, in the hope that I will get to update this further later on.

p.s. “Z” suggested that such postings should be kept to myself, and that they shouldn’t be shared, I beg to differ there though… There is a reason why I haven’t removed all the old posts, even the cheesy and teenager-ish ones (To be specific, ones relating to that ungrateful cunt I once adored, excuse my abusvie language there, but I think I am actually complimenting her with those words, and yes, I am ungrateful myself I reckon). They (Old posts) are there for nostalgic value, also, to be an eternal reminder of how everything changes and that the only fucking constant is change. Till this day I cannot explain things or make sense of what happened, but maybe it is better that way… Someone told me that in such situations, (Won’t call it a break-up, we were never together in the first place) you never know how it is at the other person’s end. Another reason is to be a bold reminder of how naïve I am, and how naïve I will always be, I’m not the brightest star in the sky, but I sure can be a force to reckon with when my mind is set to do or achieve something, like father, like son (God bless him).

If...

2008-11-04T20:56:00.002+04:00

If the truth be told

All our vanities have gone
Wasted so much time with them
Pride the victor all along
Building walls between two friends
It was too high to pull it down
It was too high to climb so far
Now we laugh just like the clown
Who reminds us what a fool we are

In times of uncertainty

2008-10-13T20:14:00.003+04:00

... you better be grateful for whatever little you might have...

Thankfully I am still alive, with a job (Shall I make a booking for you, sir/ma'am?)... As we say, hamdella 3a kul shi (Thank Godness for everything)... One should be grateful especially with the whole 'global' economical crisis showing no signs of waning, and with all the major 'players' in the market falling like pieces of domino... Kind of ironic given that a few years ago the Western world (AKA. The safe, smart, progressive and developed nations of the world) was rolling on the floor laughing at a certain information minister and his vain attempts to assure the masses that everything is alright... Now the roles are reversed in a more traumatic way so to speak, OK there are no people losing their lives, but people losing their future... Companies once labeled as "very safe and secure" are now filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy...

What's even more ironic? I can't recall the last time I saw the following words in a news headline:
Iraq, Iran, Terror and terrorism, Middle East crisis, peace and peace talks, US Troops, Afghan militants... These have been replaced by words along the lines of Collapse, bailout, rescue plan, economical crisis, sub-prime crisis, credit crunch and economical instability... What a difference, eh?

To be fair though, no economy is immune to this, and the market here has been struggling a 'bit' more than it does usually (Who are they kidding?)... But anyway, enough blabbing about stuff I have little actual knowledge about, I'm quite thankful for arabianbusiness.com's updates and the little discussions I hold with my lovely mother every evening over dinner over the 'shituation'...

Rambling on...

2008-09-19T03:45:00.005+04:00

Not intended towards an individual, more like a general rant- I appreciate your treatment (Or lack of), makes one feel how small, unimportant and useless they are...
- I love the fact that I am not the only one in this fucking boat.. Makes it all seem worthwhile, this sense of unity is serene *tongue firmly in cheek*
- I admire how you believe your own lies BUT... I do NOT admire the manner in which you forget your own lies... At least be considerate to my effing blatant gullibility and follow through the BS

-The more you ask me, the more I might seem upset, but eventually it makes me even more self-absorbed

Omar...

2008-09-10T23:31:00.002+04:00

... wonders if you are wondering about the same thing that he is wondering about (In typical facebook status fashion)

New horizons

2008-09-05T23:28:00.001+04:00

It’s been a while…

Well, I don’t want to jump on the “I’ve been busy” bandwagon, but I’d rather put it in a different way, I just couldn’t MAKE the time to blog really… Last year I had so much time to waste that I had daily diary posts about my trip, but this year all I could manage was a half-arsed effort of typing a paragraph or two on the second night, and nothing else… I had a good time in Jordan nevertheless, was actually much better than I expected… I wish that the previous trips were as ‘cool’, but hey, hopefully the ones in the coming years will be even better ;-)

So, I got back, started work 2 days later, learning a lot of things, and looking forward to more challenges and encounters of the so-called real world… It's going to be a tricky, tricky path, I can assure you that, but hey, no pain, no gain

Got the impression this post is dull and tedious, but might be a reflection of reality?

Hope whoever still stumbles upon this page is well :)
Beace

Attempt at an update

2008-07-27T09:28:00.001+04:00

I have the impression that this blog is all over the place, each rambling (A.K.A. post) has little or nothing to do with the previous post(S)… Randomness at its best, but it can be annoying for some (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder people? Or whatever it is called)… Maybe it isn’t too bad to have thoughts all over the place

So, here is a post to try and decipher some things and try to put things into some sort of logical perspective, I know I will probably fail miserably at that, but here goes nevertheless…

I have the impression that this will take a while, started typing in the evening of the 26th of July at a café, before a couple of friends joined, now, these lines were typed in the wee hours of the 27th…

Before I ‘commence’ my sense making attempt, here is the code for the titles: Date & time ~ Location or setting ~ Irrelevant piece of information ~ Eargasm specifications (If any)

[July 27, 7 AM ~ My bedroom ~ drinking water ~ ASOT 361]

So, I have officially graduated, my GPA somehow stayed above 3.50, which is quite good considering the lack of serious effort towards the end, thankfully the first ever C+ that I got did not have a major impact on the overall cumulative GPA. Can’t believe I used to be on the dean’s list, I must have been such a geeky workaholic, wonder where all that determination, motivation, hunger and drive went, down the drain perhaps? Answers on a postcard please

We have finally moved to the new house in a quiet residential area, it’s quite different when compared to our old ‘crib’, the garage is significantly bigger, the garden is massive, rooms are more spacious, better sound insulation (Which means that I can listen to whatever I want at a relatively high volume level without having to anticipate my sister’s eventual knock on my door :)) and closer to my father’s workplace, a bit of traffic though due to all the cheapskates that avoid the lovely road toll gates which are situated perfectly after the last exit that leads to our area :)…

[July 27 9 AM ~ Same ~ Fed up with customer service (Or the lack of) ~ Same]

My workplace is quite nearby as well, even closer than my father’s office (But that doesn’t really count for a lot when there is minimal available parking)… Had to dash out to check on the status of my bank account, they didn’t bother to give me a call to let me know that there is a discrepancy that required clarification, anyhow, that is sorted… I applied at a bank that is in the same complex as the one where my office will be, due to start work as soon as I come back from Jordan…

Jordan? What about Vegas? Well, OK, I won this scholarship trip thing that entitles me to attend a conference in Las Vegas from 8-12 August, but I sadly couldn’t get the visa, thus, I managed to convince my folks to let me repeat my antics of last year of going to Jordan for a few days to attend that Distant Heat rave all over again, difference is that I will get to stay there for a few more days until they come over, instead of coming back to Dubai for a week then flying AGAIN to Jordan with them, not bad. Had a good deal at a couple of hotels in Amman and Aqaba for the 10 or so days that I will spend there on my own, not bad either.

I will miss Spider/Katkoot/LuLu/Whatever name you deem appropriate for our fat, yet adorable cat. He is over a year and a half old now, yet still as beautiful as he was the day that I got him and sneaked him into the house. He still has that uncanny habit of venturing outside the house whenever he could to run around in the garden and to walk on any available patch of sand, making his cute little paws dirty. We just bathed him a few days ago, yet he repeated the same annoying action! Oh well, you can’t force kitties to do anything really, it’s their way or the highway baby, but I still love him! :) The ‘fur ball’!

One small thing, I don’t know why I have this habit of procrastinating. (Whoa, can’t believe I actually spelled that right from the first time, unless the Microsoft Word spell check feature is having a brain fart). Back on topic: I don’t know why I have that habit when it comes to things I have to do for my own sake, like the bank thing for instance, I should have had that damn bank account done and dusted before I even signed and sorted out my papers with my lovely employers, but hey, nobody is perfect, you can’t do it right all the time (As if I ever got it right!)… Quoting Staind “I was made for chasing dreams” (Does that even relate, in any way to whatever preceded it?)

So, what else is there to talk about… guys and their ‘take’ on relationships perhaps? I don’t know what is it with people, but I’m starting to slowly give up on the most decent guys that I know, it’s a bloody rat race, whom would ‘nail’ this chick or that chick and lure her into, erm, you know what… Guess this is ‘the game’, would rather stay away, never grasped the rules, and I don’t think I fit with the whole ideology behind such things… Guess I’m either too naïve or too stubborn, or just too nice in a way… Oh well, all to his or her own… Can’t change the world, heck, I can’t even change my sleeping habits… Been awake since 5 PM yesterday, forcing myself to stay awake, still got to finish off some small shopping, and exchange some money to Jordanian Dinars, yey. Hope I will find some cheap Tamron lenses, I really want a wide-angle lens for my DSLR no particular reason, or even better- A fish-eye! Let’s see how things go today, and whether I will be able to keep myself awake…

It pains me...

2008-07-11T12:04:00.004+04:00

... to see that things have gone down this route... Whatever hope I had was slashed to meaningless fake optimism, back to the naive state of mind that I can't seem to get rid of, or at least manage to balance against the realities of this world...

I know that this doesn't make much sense, and that I would probably read this again in a year or two and wonder what the heck I was high on when I wrote it, I know that I sometimes over analyze situations and such, but alas...

I hope this dead end gets sorted out somehow, not for my own benefit, just so that life goes on with minimum disruption for you lot (And somehow, ultimately my conscience) ...

I wish I could grow a thicker skin and be more selfish (Assuming there is any way I could be more selfish and self-centered than I already am)

I despise the fact that I might have just lost another friend because of reasons beyond my control and comprehension... I hope you don't change though... Would be a shame...

Good luck... It's scarce...

Double standards

2008-06-25T05:59:00.002+04:00

I’m a major victim of applying double-standards in my life... Double standards, prejudice, moodiness and materialism to a certain extent... Some negative traits this generation is infamous for I reckon... Not accepting the fact that other people do tend to treat me using the “double-standards” technique while expecting the opposite to be normal is a bloody double standard indeed...

At some point I admit it gets staggering, when unforeseen circumstances for other people are more than convincing and acceptable excuses, while they are conceived as lies when used by yours truly... I’m a self-centred attention whore for this and that, while you’re the coolest thing since fucking sliced bread for the same...

I know my mind does not function as brilliantly as you ‘people’, I know that my genes are not as advanced and superior as you and your whole families and ancestors, yes, you people are all far more superior to me in every single fucking way, now get back to your ultra-cool lives and delicate tastes instead of wasting your time with a loser who values you for who you actually are

Shame... Shame...

...

2008-06-14T19:14:00.001+04:00

Blank... But the only two words that come to mind at this very moment are:
Utterly disappointed...

"Home"

2008-06-08T07:33:00.000+04:00

...

2008-06-07T07:05:00.005+04:00

Do I follow different moral standards to the rest of the planet? I know for a matter of fact that my common sense is fvked up, or nonexistent at times, but still...

Maybe I am actually the one who is outdated, ignorant, stupid, spoiled, naive and not able to achieve (Or determine) what I want? Maybe I have to go through great lengths for some things that I 'assume' I am in utter need for...

As much as I would like to convince myself otherwise, but I hugely doubt I have any self-awareness whatsoever. I don't really know my limitations, but what is more worrying is that I don't know my capabilities and what I might be capable of doing, or how good (Or bad) I actually am as an individual... Maybe I do have a great mental capacity, after all, I tend to over analyze everything sometimes... I don't like thinking of myself as 'young', because that thought was abolished a while ago, it's a paradox, I mentally find people in their mid or late 20's young, while I do not think of myself as such for some reason... Maybe I am wasting away... Drifting away from reality...

Maybe I need an eye-opener... Maybe one day I will come to terms with who I really am... Maybe one day someone else will love me and take me for who I fucking am, for being different in my own fucked up way

bla bla bla

2008-05-28T11:26:00.000+04:00

For the ones who give (Or eat) a carrot, this was typed a couple of days ago while collecting questionnaires… Didn’t have the time after that to post it, yesterday was extremely hectic, and today is hectic as well, catching my breath before yet another job interview…

Movers booked for the 2nd of June, not bad, glad that we’re not taking much of the old furniture along with us, only the relatively new electronics as far as I know (No, my 2 or 3 year old PC is not old, I insist on taking it, it can be really reliable when the laptop disappoints).

Collecting more surveys at the moment, tedious process, can’t wait till this questionnaire collection process is all but over in a few days (Hopefully), should be done with this by next week, the whole thesis is due in a month’s time, yippee. I thought I was behind when compared to others, seems I’m more or less at a similar stage as most, apart from the geniuses who are better than time management than me I guess. I can’t believe I barely did anything in April, would’ve saved me a lot of time (And thinking) I reckon, but hey, working hard (Or in this particular case, trying) never killed anyone… I don’t mind the free dinners along the way while collecting surveys, although I’ve been characteristically hesitant to abuse the privilege.

Job hunting too, interviews, presentations, recommendations, suggestions, career advices and so on, that’s what has also been going on in the past few days (Since last Thursday to be precise), got several more to come, the one I am looking forward to the most though at the moment is one that is for a enviable spot on a career development program by one of the industry trend setters here in Dubai (And soon globally), it is aiming to recruit some Arabic speaking people in the region… I hope I am not jinxing my already not so glorious chances by talking (Well, typing) about it, but I’ve been waiting for this opportunity to come around again. Missed out the last time since I wasn’t really inspired to participate or even bothered to try my luck against some of the finest talents that applied from all over the world, as I kind of realised that I would be punching way above my weight, and I was not quite convinced yet back then about the whole program (Nor was I keen on working in the industry) , but now that one of my classmates has deservedly been picked, and hearing first hand about his experience thus far, it’s quite tempting… I can go on for hours about the pay in the industry, but to be fair, of my limited knowledge and experience, it is this industry that I have the slightest clue about, easy money made in other jobs goes as fast as it comes perhaps (I emphasize on ‘job’ rather than career)… Got to think of some so-called nonexistent “qualities and exceptional attributes” that might get me picked ahead of the Jassims Mansoors of this world. Jolly.

Life is quite ironic… What makes such paradoxes easier to take is that what goes around comes around eventually, quoting Aaron Lewis of Staind “Everything must come full circle”…

...

2008-05-18T17:28:00.001+04:00

Knackered and I barely started! Oh boy, I’m going to be in for the shock of my life when I start actual work!

In & Out

2008-05-17T03:41:00.000+04:00

Moving out in about 2-3 weeks, graduating in 40 or so days, not bad, eh?

Most of the stuff (Read: Crap) that had to be sorted out for our house have more or less been taken care of, it’s being painted now, so we are waiting till that is done, then the curtains people will install the er, curtains… Guess after that it’s just a matter of organizing the deliveries of the furniture from the various shops, guess it will be a pain in the backside (From a logistical perspective)… Garden needs a lot of work apparently, but that will be taken care of too… Electronics will be a hassle too, making sure everything works, the satellite, telephone and internet subscriptions all up and running (I’m kind of excited about the wireless, hope we’ll be able to make it reach every bit of the whole thing, including the backyard :)).

Spider (The cat) will have his small tiny opening where he will be locked up when he is being naughty or when someone is trying to get some sleep in the living room but can’t because he keeps on jumping on them. Will keep his food in my room so he kind of gets attached to it (My room that is, he is already attached to food, lazy fat arsed cat!)

Mmm, what else? Dissertation is the same, slow progress, but getting somewhere, I still find it quite irrelevant to our future careers, and way too academic for people in the fourth year of a hotel management degree, an industry that requires more practical and operational knowledge and awareness, not theoretical and/or academic… But anyway, I guess this is the case with other majors, heck, a friend of mine did film making and had to do a dissertation as well, so there you go.

Photography-wise, had the first shoot with a friend in a long time recently, was quite fun and I liked the outcome of the pictures in general… Got to try different settings that I didn’t experiment with before, and realized that my general lens is quite crap (For the fellow photography and Canon geeks: Sigma 18-200 OS)… Mind you, it’s OK, but as I found out myself, it’s not the best out there. Next on my list: Either a fish-eye lens or the long awaited wide-angle lens! (Sigma 10-20mm!)

Summer plans, mentioned that in a previous post? Not quite sure. Confirmed: Jordan (*Yawn*) in August with the family. NOT confirmed: Jordan and Germany in July with a couple of friends. Wonder how many graduation gifts one can ask for :P

A small rant- I just hope people would stop asking me “Oh, you haven’t finished it yet?” when they ask about the dissertation, it’s not your typical kind of school project that you can finish from start to finish in two days (Or less).

Football: Would rather not go in to that, didn’t have a lot of expectations this year, and we (Liverpool) had a disappointing season in the premier league… Our showing in Europe is a plus, wasn’t the main objective, although I admit reaching the European cup final for the 3rd time in FOUR years would have been quite remarkable, but as said before, fate can be a little slut sometimes, we rode our luck against Inter and Arsenal (and on other occasions in previous seasons), so it was about time that the run of luck ended… Torres , Babel and Mascherano are bloody legends though… Well, till next season… I just hope the bloody Tom Hicks don’t fvk things up all over again as they did before :(… and in Rafa we trust!

p.s. I don’t think I really believe in the sayings “They are no longer on speaking terms” & “Their relationship is beyond repair”. That is how the media describe the defunct relationship between the owners of Liverpool, Tom Hicks and George Gillette. I mean I know that they don't talk to each other, but I am referring to myself, for some reason I don't think that such things on a personal level are "beyond repair"... Guess I'm quite stubborn...

Moving out, dissertation and so-called relationships

2008-05-10T05:35:00.001+04:00

Just to let you know, half of this was typed on Thursday May 8th, while the remainder was typed on the morning of Friday May 10th. (As if anyone gives a carrot).

So, thanks to the “Jumeirah Garden City” project we are forced to move out from our ‘headquarters’ (As mentioned in the previous post). A project that nobody knows exactly anything about, nobody has the master plan and nobody knows how it will look like. All what is known now is that they are demolishing small areas of land here and there. Based on two maps that indicate that the compound we live in is amongst those set to be destroyed, we decided that maybe we should just stop wondering whether it is true or not and start looking for a new place. We found a new one pretty quickly and got the contractual agreements and stuff sorted out, but the problems increase by the day. Furniture that is “definitely available” now suddenly becomes sold out the next day, promises by the landlord to do some basic maintenance works before we move out are never carried out and keep on getting delayed, snags in the bathrooms and in general are another worry that the mysterious landlord is not really bothered about (We have to deal with someone else). But to be fair, most of these problems just need a bit of work and patience, and even if they are not sorted, some of them are not major problems… Should be staying there in about two or so weeks hopefully, so let’s see how things turn out. It’s significantly bigger than our current ‘crib’, it’s near my university (As if it makes a difference now, when I have less than 2 months to finish off my last semester!), closer to where my father works and the school of my small sister.

University is alright, barely going there anymore, this dissertation is quite endless though, taking ages just to do the preliminary stuff like the literature review and the pilot study, but it should sort itself out with time and as I get used to working on it, dread going to the library and looking for resources to analyze information and such. But one’s gotta do what one’s gotta do I guess, it is not like I will get to spend much time ever again there after the end of these two not-so-lovely months, and by the way, this is the point in time in every semester that I start contemplating whether such courses and projects are relevant at all. On one hand, it should be useful when (And if) I decide to pursue a masters degree, but otherwise, what good would a dissertation be really in this major? So far I only see it as a corner-cutting practice to make up the total number of required credit hours (It’s worth nine credit hours, rather than the typical three, yey).

Starting to look for a job, but not so intensely, no rush, I’ll have to work and build my career for the rest of my sad life anyway. Talking about ‘sad lives’, I guess I already lead one. When it takes you more than a year (And counting) to get over someone who doesn’t really care or even remember you, then that is quite sad indeed. I guess it is part of my personality, that, along with the small incident I ranted about on DeviantArt with the so-called ‘consultant’ kind of proved to me that I find it quite hard to take things in my stride and more importantly, accepting that rejection is something ‘normal’ and not that awful really. Maybe I should write a bit about my take on relationships, but I have limited experience with that, heck, I never even dated properly (Or at all) in the first place… But on a second thought, you never know… All I can say is that the fear of rejection and losing not only a friend, but a loved one, makes it quite complicated and complex to get into one, I never really believed in casual relationships either.

God knows when I will have a second read of this and realise the ridiculous amount of similarly ridiculous spelling and grammar mistakes this post has, just like all the others

Again...

2008-04-25T08:26:00.002+04:00

All this happened recently...

I quit smoking (Last night’s puffs of a messed up argeelah don’t count)

Started working out

Did something stupid

Wished I could be somewhere else

Almost got into another retarded accident in the university’s parking lot

Stayed awake for 20+ hours and slept for the following 18 hours

Tried to convince myself of some fundamental issues, but to no avail

Got myself yet another camera

Thought about the past 12 or so years spent at our soon to be demolished ‘home’, thus, leading to an actual state of “looking for a place called home”
Had a few nightmares and déjà vu moments, not good

Got back to reality, maybe I should just hide in my bedroom forever

Realised that some things are significantly easier said than done

Found out the hard way that karma and fate can be a little slut sometimes

cough cough

2008-04-10T03:51:00.001+04:00

Paying the price for a few days of pure madness, seeing Above & Beyond in Beirut, beating Arsenal in the Champions League and meeting several new friends and learning a thing or two about a fascinating country. The constant change of weather + smoking indefinable amounts of sheesha has gotten me a nasty flu, headache and a running nose. Yey! Slowly getting better though, slowly

Scorchin'

2008-04-05T13:50:00.000+04:00

Taken away, astonished, surprised, blown away, dumbfounded, are all words that perfectly describe how my feelings were last night, some still linger, but lack of sleep and fatigue is overwhelming. The memories are imprinted in my memory forever.

This place is messed up in a fascinating way, the unique mix of pretty much everything here is probably unorthodox anywhere else in the world.

Beirut, I love you! A proper post to follow hopefully, I was planning to do a similar travel blog or diary, similar to what I did last summer, but didn’t really have much time, laptop’s battery doesn’t help either when it keeps on running out after 40 minutes! (Or less), but hey, being out and about is better than being stuck in a hotel room ;)
Back in Dubai in a few hours

The art of dissing

2008-03-25T06:40:00.001+04:00

Typed this around 24 hours ago, couldn’t upload it due to the internet issue I had (mentioned below). Happy reading

This is endless… Well, endless for three more months… Doing a dissertation, as I am sadly finding out is not something that you can finish huge chunks of quickly, it's a tedious, continuous and painstakingly endless process of work, work and more work… Once you have something in place you have to re-do it, re-look at it, examine it, analyze it and you can't just 'finish it', you have to go back to it at some latter point… It is something you have to follow through rigorously, it's true that this should be the case with everything really, but I'm finding out by doing this that I am NOT a perfectionist, I don't like relooking at things I already did, because I don't like finding silly mistakes that are always bound to be there, not the most professional attitude, and definitely not one for someone who claims to try to improve himself, but hey, nobody is perfect. I try to make the original as good as possible… Although I have to succumb eventually and ask someone to proof read it for my lazy ass.
Been having router problems for the past three or so hours, relying on an unreliable and unsecured network from one of our lovely neighbours to access the internet, thankfully I don't need it desperately now, but it's just annoying… Especially when the internet connection has supposedly been 'upgraded', something that we're yet to experience, hope this router failure and my persistent nagging will lead to even more changes in the I.T. Infrastructure at the O residences

For the time being, I have to find a way to motivate myself to read at least two more articles

Getting there

2008-03-20T17:14:00.000+04:00

Funny ol’ game.

I had my first job interview yesterday, I like to convince myself that I did well, thanks 4-years of studying (almost) and my relatively limited experience in life and half-decent talking skills. I doubt I will be offered anything since the property doesn’t open for another 3 years, but we’ll see... Haven’t had interviews for quite a while... The school work has more or less reached a halt, couldn’t motivate myself to continue, but will try to be slightly productive today, somehow.

Random- I wish I could harm someone, had the opportunity before but couldn’t, maybe I’m either too ‘nice’ or just too stupid. Cannot understand you anymore, I guess this is what happens when the person in front of you is either extremely intelligent, or absolutely retarded.

False state

2008-03-18T03:35:00.002+04:00

One of those long days, practically almost over, should be asleep and get ready for an even more hectic day, running out of time while still being in my comfort zone, not realising that it’s time to start doing actual work. Keeping on convincing myself that I have half the work cut out by my previous efforts before the little logic in my head tells me that it’s not enough, endless cycle really. Losing track of my surroundings; I admit I never had a proper sense of place or time (Especially the latter), so when someone like me says that, than that means something! At this very moment, I think I’m taking things for granted. Not good.

I feel the whole of 2007 has come and again very quickly, it wasn’t a particularly bad year or anything, in fact, it was probably another major turning point, but still, when I look back at general trivial events like the last world cup, when I got my car, certain courses and some events, I get the feeling that the whole year didn’t even count or exist in the calendar... Seems I’m not the only one with that damned sentiment either, “N” is there too... Can’t blame her, more or less similar situations, but some people have more at stake than others. Waiting, praying and hoping does not always yield positive results, learning that the hard way

Trying to figure out my mental strength is not easy, or fun...

Projectation

2008-03-15T21:10:00.002+04:00

One week into the semester and I haven’t done ANYTHING for my dissertation, I don’t have a research question, haven’t considered the variables, NOTHING... I guess I will use the excuse of having another project to worry about when I meet my supervisor tomorrow afternoon. I still have the gut feeling that it should not be as hard as I imagine or as hard as they try to make us think...

Have to give credit to K for an amazing set, as usual, brought back many memories of starting to listen to trance, old car, old friends, old everything that reminds me of those times two or three years ago... Didn’t hear the whole thing yet, but hearing Ferry Corsten’s remix of Aven’s “All I want” was more than enough I guess! Ferry at his best probably

As far as R is concerned, I wish he’d stop confusing me and giving me those scares every now and then. Had a good weekend though, didn’t do much school-related, but still...
One last thing- Etisalat = Greed!

My half-arsed attempt at a rant

2008-03-08T09:48:00.000+04:00

The following things suck:

Politics, anything from presidential elections to the lack of any global condemnation of the so-called self-defence carried out against children and women in Gaza

George Gillett and Tom Hicks, and their “dreamland” dreams and stubbornness, how many drinks do we have to spill on Tom’s son? How many chants, banners and God knows what else do we have to come up with to make you dumb asses realise that you are not welcome at Anfield? Get the hell out ffs

Traffic, yes, it does suck, and no, the metro won’t solve this city’s traffic issues

The weather, seriously, how many times can one possibly get the flu in one winter season?! Let alone a whole year.

Relationships: note to self- there is no perfect match or a match made in heaven. Get over it, if you’re not willing to make sacrifices and if you still think that real love exists, then maybe you should get your head fixed.

Friendships, sigh

Dubai ‘raves’, they aren’t actual raves, how often do you go to an actual rave and see people in neat dresses and suits?

Tech-trance is shit compared to uplifting...

Bla bla bla

2008-03-07T23:55:00.000+04:00

So it’s already March, indecisive about a few things, how to carry out my dissertation (and where), where to work, whether to give a hoot or not about the consultancy project, work in the same field of my major or seek new and different challenges, start applying or stay put and wait to see what fate (And wasta) might throw my way. Where to go, what to do in the summer, use the last few months of being a student to go to places on someone else’s expense (In other words: my folks).

Working on an external consultancy project now, which is one of two courses in my last ever semester at the university I currently go to. Having to wake up at 6 AM and report to ‘work’ by 7 AM is not really an experience I’m fond of, given my tendency to stay up late, add to that natural sleeping disorders and you have a recipe of a grumpy ‘worker’. Thankfully I don’t really have to do anything serious, as the work revolves mainly around observing and discussing with employees the current procedures and the nature of their jobs, in addition to assisting and doing bits and pieces of what they do, to get an idea of the nature of work and give suggestions on how to improve it. Thing is though, I doubt there is much we can do really or come up with that has not been discussed previously or suggested already. Fortunately, I am doing this project with a classmate, as we had the option to do it individually or in groups of two people. And by the way, I was supposedly off for the past month, but started this earlier than we’re supposed to. My partner in this project is not ‘dissertating’, thus it was in our interest to start it earlier and get it out of the way for me, and get him finally graduated. =)

Supposedly upgraded the internet to a 4 MB connection, but it’s quite irrelevant when the router is of pathetic quality, now I have to go through another hassle to choose a new router and install it (Read: Get someone to install it and test it). Talking about the internet, haven’t updated my ‘mobile’ blog (http://omthego.blogspot.com) for a while as for some reason, on the rare occasions that I feel like updating it, the service encounters a ‘failure’, typical Etisalat...

Saw Blake Jarrell and Armin last week, as a set, Armin’s set was fine, a bit confusing, but overall, significantly better than PvD, certainly kept the crowd going (But not me, tech-trance and house-ish stuff are not really my thing... Finally got the time to sit down and try to write up some mini personal review of the event. As a whole experience, there were some disappointing bits that had NOTHING to do with Armin’s set, just personal crap... Nothing coming up in the next month or so trance-wise apart from Sander Van Doorn, which means more tech-trance, although I’ve been hearing that his album is quite good, yet to listen to it though... Not expecting much, sometimes I get more excited by listening on my own to radio shows and sets on my laptop or on the radio.
Above & Beyond are playing in Beirut in less than a month, contemplating going, seriously. I missed their gig here for ludicrous reasons, hopefully I will be able to go, just got to get things organised a bit at uni with the two projects mentioned earlier. On a totally different note, thinking about deactivating my Facebook account (Again)... It confuses me sometimes.

Almost there

2008-02-13T05:16:00.001+04:00

Finally this hell-ish week is almost over. Had relatives visiting (And vomiting) from Oman staying in my room, had to ‘stay’ at the university’s dorms. The iPod has retired and the car has ‘axel’ issues to be sorted out (In addition to the lovely squeaky brakes), that overrated idiot called Tiesto is playing here again, couldn’t care less about him... Why pay an over the odds amount to see him play a typical and predictable set on Valentine’s day (Out of all days). Would rather go see one of my friends spin some house (Although it’s not my ‘thing’, nothing compares to trance) but on the plus side, he’s underrated and talented (And nice, not an arrogant dickhead. Talking about trance, Armin is visiting these shores again, and the Anjunaboys (Above & Beyond) are playing in the Middle East again, this time in Beirut. Time to make up for missing out on their gig here and revive some 2007 summer memories, hopefully I will be able to make it.

On a positive note, sister has sold off her old car and getting a new one within a few days (Probably before the weekend), got my old camera and zoom lens back and was told that I’ll be able to get some additional accessories for my camera, yey! A few months away from graduation too, not bad. Will probably miss uni days, but I have a feeling it won’t be the last time, I’ll probably occupy myself at some point in my career with courses, seminars and such (As long as it’s out of someone else’s pockets of course. Greed!). Spider had that surgery, was dizzy for a day or two before getting hyper all over again, poor thing is terrified though thanks to our extremely adorable (NOT!!!!) guests.

Another thing, stopped really tracking the number of visitors to this blog and other useless trivial details related to it, lost interest, more importantly, why should I bother? As if it makes a difference anymore.

Cynical

2008-01-23T16:40:00.001+04:00

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...

2008-01-19T17:43:00.000+04:00

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...

2008-01-17T12:31:00.000+04:00

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

2008-01-07T22:17:00.000+04:00

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 :).

To whom it may concern...

2007-12-19T10:57:00.000+04:00

Saturday November 10, 2007
We're halfway through with the semester already, a lot of the motivation is gone, and the fact that the grading system has been changed does not make things much better, since it is relatively easier now to get good grades with the same amount of half-arsed effort...

Tonight is the prom for our university, why on earth we have the graduation and ball four months after some of the graduates have even stepped foot in the Academy is well beyond me, but anyway, will try to make the best out of it, was not planning to go in the first place, until I learned that a good friend of mine was going as well, should have anticipated that anyway as it is her own graduation, another brain fart by me.

Still got an annoying sore throat and flu...

Sunday November 11, 2007

Woke up an hour ago, it's late in the afternoon and I still have that bad flu and painful throat, the ball was awful, it was as if it was the first time I see many of the people there, as if it was the first time I see people drinking a 'bit' too much, ended up leaving early as I had nothing better to do then frown, avoid the next drunken hug or conversation. It was weird, fake... I just hope I did not ruin it for my graduating friends and our 'gang' by being so down. Saw that coming anyway, guess I was expecting too much, and after all, last year, despite everything, was better for obvious reasons...

I seriously wish I could get away with murder now, I know exactly whom to kill now... I don't understand how that person's brain functions really, assuming it does function in the first place..., I believe in fate and karma, but what is more agonising is that no matter how many times karma has come back to bite that certain "A" in the back, they still go back and do it shamelessly...

Sigh

Tuesday November 13, 2007, early morning

Had a midterm yesterday, or as they like to call them at our Academy: 'progress tests'. I have no clue whatsoever if I did well or bad, just glad it is done. Trying to motivate myself to resume working on some projects which have been put on hold for well over a week now, one of them I had the intention to have it done and dusted by tomorrow, obviously things did not go according to plan.

The following is quite different to whatever is above, it's all about the bloody hype, not many people like trance, but the mere mention of a name like Tiesto or Paul Van Dyk is more than enough to lure thousands of people to suddenly become 'trance lovers' when they should actually describe themselves as 'hype lovers', the likes of Aly & Fila, Sean Tyas, DJ Amadeus and Richard Durand all came to town about a month ago, yet few people seemed to care or bother, although they are very well-known names in the EDM scene. And since the word scene was brought up, this city has no scene and never will, the clubs want one thing, the 'clubbers' want another, hotel operators want something totally different, what do you get at the end of the day? A city with an over-rated nightlife, just because the names are coming does not necessarily mean that there is a strong scene and following... The more time that goes by, the more I realise that sooner or later, I will prefer to stay in and listen to downloaded radio show and live sets from PROPER raves and gigs than to go out expecting something finally different...

I heart Angelli & Nelson

Friday November 16, 2007, early morning (around 6am)

OK, another day, was it eventful? Not really sure... Overslept as usual, was a bit late for a group meeting for yet another annoying project, but we had some progress nevertheless. Had a dream about me and 'her' hanging out again, might not sound a like a big deal, but: a) I rarely have dreams b) they're usually nightmares and c) I rarely remember dreams a day after having them. Felt good to be in a fake state of 'satisfaction', but it might be some sign... Anyhow, I doubt

Went to the motor show, was awesome, hot cars, pretty people and awesome cameras (yeah, how geeky), finally got to see the Audi A5, that vehicle is so bloody seductive, if I ever want to actually own it, I will have to save up big time (DUH!), that thing is likely to cost quarter a million when it is eventually released here! God knows if the S5 will be released in this region or not, but if it will be, then it might be a wiser idea to wait longer and save up more $$$! Just to be a bit realistic and not get too carried away, I am not likely to buy a new car before I have been working for a couple of years (And I haven't graduated yet to begin with!), point is, it will take a while, and so much changes and happens in a year, so let alone three or four years, tastes change, new models come out, trends change, and God knows if I will even be working then or studying (AGAIN!)... Que sera, sera...

Monday November 19, 2007 ... Very early, again...

Sleeping disorders, you either love them or loathe them, on one hand you get to sleep at the most random hours, on the other hand, you sleep when you should be awake and productive, not so healthy, but I've never been the most health conscious person to begin with.

I'm down, I should be a bit chilled and satisfied since a project's deadline has been pushed back a few days, but I'm disappointed with myself, all the talk of finishing off projects early has flown out of the window, I'm behind, but on the other hand, all the projects (Excluding one) are group projects, i.e. if the groups do not pick up some pace in the next couple of weeks, then we will be struggling a 'bit'.

On a positive note, we have a couple of new students who are into photography, one of them is a gem, we've been exchanging messages every now and then on Facebook, but we finally had a face-to-face chat, was quite good. He has a sweet, really sweet Olympus DSLR, which leads me to another point... I've been quite down lately; well, more moody than 'permanently down'... Getting the urge to go shooting again, but I really feel like splashing out on some accessories, also, I'm even contemplating the crazy idea of getting the same Olympus that a certain Florian has... Will wait till this weekend or the following weekend and make up my mind, the longer I take, the better (More saving, more money for the potential spree)... Also, if I wait long enough, the timing might be better as in a month I will be done with three courses and will be off for a few days (Christmas and Eid break)... Potential accessories? External camera flash, new lens/lenses and a more reliable tripod...

Few days left, one week actually, but I'm not bothered... All I want is... Well, who knows me will know what I REALLY, REALLY want this time around...

Friday November 23, 2007, early morning again

Another early morning post... Don't know what to write... Had something in mind but I totally forgot... Hmm, something that I wanted to ask my father about is the debt-to-equity ratio for a three star hotel in Belfast... Finance is not my thing I guess, but we have to work on a whole feasibility study for such a hotel, won't be fun... Being a so-called 'strategist' is not my thing either...

I was checking out lenses and camera accessories this past week, some nice pieces of 'glass', found a good tripod, I think I collect tripods for fun, I already have three (One useless, the other not so flexible and the third, well, it's good value for money but not good for the long run, but I'm happy with it... Lost TWO other tripods, don't ask how... just don't)...

Lingering feelings are not so good I guess...

Sunday November 25, 2007, yup, you guessed it right, early morning... 6am to be precise

I will quote myself in a SMS I sent to a classmate a while ago... That should reflect how I feel now academically at least...

"I'm fed up, this project is endless. I already have over 6,000 words and 30 pages so far. It's just too much, and I have barely started the final part of the project. I'll just BS my way through it all now, can't take this anymore, half the stuff we suddenly have to do now were not even included in the original course outline/syllabus..."

Cheer frustration... There is time, but suddenly a very relevant course has become so useless due to over-emphasis on areas that should be or should have been covered in other courses IMHO (In My Humble Opinion)

Anyhow, I will be fine, a bit of hard work never killed anyone

p.s. miss you

Tuesday, December 4th, 2007... Late at night... 2-ish AM

So, the long-awaited (NOT) big day came and went, got told off for no reason twice by a teacher, had my day ruined by that and some other silly remarks which usually I wouldn't bother about... Went back home and slept early, very early if memory serves me right...

All I wanted last year was to be with you.... All I wanted this year was to hear from you...

The waiting game is not enjoyable, I thought I was fine before, maybe a month ago... Guess I was fooling myself, back in limbo... Can't move on, can't make a move... Being idle, very idle... Had a big report to supposedly distract me, but it didn't, I didn't complete it as early as I expected or wanted, but I still finished it with almost a week to spare, was more than enough to proofread it before submitting it... Wonder what courses you're taking, what sort of annoying assignments and tests ... Time flies, it's been almost a year already... just shows how sad I can be.

Saturday, December 8th, 2007, yup, you guessed it, late, 4am...

Woke up characteristically late, typical Friday... Just when I thought I was 'back to normal', a serious discussion takes place in the SMS land that made me think, think and think... What is the point? Why cling and hold on tightly to illusions? Why do we build imaginary castles in the sky? Why do we lie and believe our own lies?

I always believed that what goes around comes around... Last week was a stunning proof of that personally with that 'mini-humiliation', I don't think I've ever been one who takes criticism lightly or even constructively sometimes, I usually tend to take it personally, especially when it's unjust and uncalled for (In my moody opinion)... I got a dose of my own medicine that I gave to you a year ago with some uncalled for and retarded comments, and it hurt, I never realised how hurtful it was for you until that point, it was shattering to be honest on different levels, not only I was blamed for something not worth the fuss, but it was very, very agonising to realise how awful I made you feel at some point... All you wanted was someone to supposedly understand you and 'be there'... I guess I wasn't, despite my attempts to convince myself that I was when it was the other way around... You were the one who cared about how I felt, got and felt happy for me when Gerrard scored, or when I heard a track I know... I don't know if I ever felt that for you, maybe I did, but my consciousness thinks otherwise... I'm full of guilt nowadays... no amount of apologising will make up for it I guess, but I still so bloody miss you and want to be with you... I finally got to hear the vocal "Inner Sense", a year after you did, doesn't sound like the 'non-vocal' mix, but still, pretty nice lyrics... Been also a year since Spider became part of the family (By force), was on December 5 th that he looked like a sick rat more than a 2-month old kitten... I'm glad that my folks got used to him being around and care for him and everything... He's such a spoiled cat, but he's adorable, there was a point after we stopped talking that I wanted to not see him again and avoided him because every time I looked at him I visualised you holding him, I even asked Sawsan if I should get rid of him... I'm glad I didn't, she wouldn't have let me do that anyway, shows how much he's liked, he's still lame, still runs around like a headless chicken (But got lazier lately and heavier), but he's as healthy and cute as ever! (Like you perhaps...) I hope you got your own cat and called him or her za3tar or bateekh or mishmash...

A random question just crossed my mind... Do you even remember me?! Even if negatively? :(

Sunday December 9th, 2007, 2am...

OK, another late night emo rant... Less than 10 days left, one group presentation due in 13 or so hours... I like to think that I worked my backside off for this one, but it might mean nothing if we don't explain our ideas and strategist 'recommendations' well... I trust my team, maybe blindly trusting them now when I was about to throw the towel, but I should've just gave in to the fact that we're pretty much typical students who would rather leave everything to the last minute...

I'm bloody gutted, I ended up preparing for that by sitting somewhere that was showing a Liverpool game, was the first game that I get to see live for quite a while, and we lost, thanks to the bloody ref and our players who couldn't translate our superior possession and chances into goals.... Could get much worse in midweek if we don't beat Marseille in France (Anything but a win means an early elimination for us)...

Still looking for substance (i.e. you)... I was dropping a friend late last night to his accommodation at the AUD dorms, I bloody miss seeing that area when its buzzing when energy, people from all walks of life, all the cars, etc etc... In case you saw my car roaming there, but don't worry, I wasn't stalking you, I go to that area from time to time (Rarely during the day, I'm nocturnal after all and loving it)... I never did that (Referring to stalking) even when I had the opportunity and enough information to do so... How is M aka. R? I wonder...

Sunday December 16, 2007, 1 AM

Trying to skim through some chapters in a damage limitation effort, can't even try that... Had a weird conversation with someone... When one doesn't really like herself/himself, people avoid them... When one loves himself/herself, they're bashed... Weird state of affairs... And then someone gives you the argument that in order to be loved, you have to love yourself first... Food for thought there
Three finals in two days and a Liverpool – Man United game in the evening...

Tuesday December 18. 2007, 4:04am...

So, had the last final yesterday, suddenly all plans are all over the place since there is no pressure to 'rush' things, and before we know it the break will be over.... Will do something stupid now

Does it make a bloody difference?

2007-11-02T16:48:00.000+04:00

sub·jec·tive
play_w("S0841800")
(s b-j k t v)
adj.
1.
a. Proceeding from or taking place in a person's mind rather than the external world: a subjective decision.
b. Particular to a given person; personal: subjective experience.
2. Moodily introspective.
3. Existing only in the mind; illusory.
4. Psychology Existing only within the experiencer's mind.

What is success? What is good? What makes something beautiful?
It’s all so damn subjective, doesn’t everyone think at some point, does it even matter if they think of a certain thing or person of being ____ (insert adjective here), everyone lives in a state of subjective prejudice (Well, maybe not everyone, but we all have that to a certain extent)…

What means a lot to me might be totally irrelevant and worthless to the majority of people out there… C’est la vie…

Couple of things

2007-10-23T01:15:00.000+04:00

Well, just a few university related 'stuff'

OK, so the hardest course of last semester ended in a similar fashion to the others, good course work, not so good final exam, I did not study at all during the course of the semester, but I did fairly OK in projects and such. What's so special about that so-called 'hard course'? It was the most useful out of the six courses that we had, and it had the most challenging project we have had thus far. We basically did a research proposal, but without actually conducting the research (Imagine creating a poll, preparing everything, such as ways to analyze your findings and all, but without actually giving the poll out to participants and getting actual feedback). Apparently I did a good job on that project, so good that the lecturer is considering using it as an example for this year's students that are doing it, not bad, eh? On another note, I was stupid enough to actually tell the lecturer of that course a few days before the dreaded final that I haven't studied the theoretical part at all, you should have seen the look on her face when she heard that!

Another thing, they liked one of the photographs I took of the university's new building, they liked it so much that they actually used it on the cover page of our first ever newsletter! That was an honour in all honesty, especially since that the particular shot was kind of out of focus and the fact that I took it only a month or so after getting my new SLR, i.e. when I was still rather clueless! To make it even better, we had a 'professional' photographer come to university and take pictures for the new website (Check it out, emiratesacademy.edu), they used several of his shots inside the newsletter, but mine was on the cover page, kind of says that one doesn't have a professional set-up, lights, assistants, 'posers' i.e. models to make shots good... I showed them some more recent pictures I took of the university, I hope they will be used in the new edition :)

And, one last thing (Reminds me to recommend a track by the Signalrunners called "One Last Look"), the whole grading system has undergone a complete review by the new dean, and now we FINALLY have a decent and fair grading scheme. What is even better is that it has been applied for previous years as well, which has made my GPA 0.01 higher than my sister's GPA when she graduated from AUD, it's quite marginal, but I aim to keep it there or try to improve it, which is not an impossible task now, just needs some more dedication and commitment... I like to think of myself as being more 'committed' and having more intent and drive this semester than say the past two semesters, something that was totally lacking... I honestly feel that I have a LOT to prove, I have to prove myself wrong basically... Proving others wrong will follow

The more you get to know…

2007-10-21T07:48:00.000+04:00

… The more you realize how little you actually know

On a different note, the higher your expectations are, the higher the potential of you being disappointed, thus, hope for the best and prepare for the worst

Remember September

2007-09-11T19:41:00.000+04:00

Had to undergo another minor surgery to remove a new lump that surfaced in a similar location to the one I had a few months back… Finally found the proper medical name for it, which is an “abscess”. Was given local anesthesia AND sedation (Thankfully), which made it a breeze as I slept throughout the whole thing.... Back home now resting with a similar big bandage wrapped around my left arm. Hoping it will be the last one, but one can’t be sure, especially since I have no clue whatsoever what its causes are, and the professionals don’t know either as there are several potential causes (Sweat, heredity, skin type, diet and/or many others)

When I arrived, the nurses gave me a briefing of how things will go, took a blood test, etc, the normal stuff you’d expect to have before a surgery. But at one point, I checked the file they had and noticed the date, September 11, 2007… I have been losing track of the time and the date rather easily these days, so, what do people usually remember this particular date for?

- The whole world (Well, almost) recalls the tragic attacks of 2001
- In our small family, it’s the 26th anniversary of our lovely parents, bless them! :)
- Personally, well, it is a good memory, a really good memory. Do you remember September?

p.s. Boom Jinx “Remember September” [Original mix] (Anjuna Deep)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPKsePQFJU4

Back to the humidity…

2007-08-14T13:47:00.000+04:00

Will start this on a sad note… May the soul of H’s father rest in peace… Was shattering to hear the news on Friday morning… My deepest condolences... Il ba2eye bi 7ayatek H :(, I hope you will continue to be strong, as you’ve always been dear…

I slacked again and haven’t bothered to update this blog of mine for a while… Although I do post something every now and then on the other one, it’s relatively easier to find something to put up there, it’s copied (And formatted) lyrics…

So, I am going blank again… Ironic that you always think you have stuff to write about, yet, when you start typing away everything disappears… Frustrating at times! Will get inspiration as soon as a random thought pops up in my head..

I finally got the Powershot G7 camera, so far so good, pictures are ‘noisy’ sometimes and I initially struggled while taking night shots, but eventually it turned out fine, still, not as good as the 400D, but it does the job… And oh, just to prove the fatuous guys at the Duty Free in Jordan wrong, I hope I will take the bill when we go there again (the difference was over $100). Yeah, so mean and narrow-minded you can say, but I always jump at the opportunity to prove something wrong (Even myself).

That “go again part” was quite vague me thinks, one of those moments when we rattle on about something, assuming it is a well-known and well-documented worldwide fact, when the reality is not many (Or none at all) have any bloody idea what we’re on about! So to enlighten the masses: I’m going to mansafland (i.e. Jordan, also known as el Gordon) towards the end of this month AGAIN. My family were already planning to go and booked everything, when I came back from that ‘raving’ trip, I changed my mind about staying in Dubai, another reason is the fact that I couldn’t find a ‘proper’ summer or part-time job. Surprisingly folks were glad I changed my mind… But there was one really, really important issue… SPIDER aka. KATKOOT! Where to put the poor little mixed Persian thing? {Although I’d rather consider him a pure Persian when he is NOT!)… We eventually decided to put him at a “pet chalet” somewhere in Dubai, never knew such a place existed here till we got him in December as a tiny and scared two-month old kitten… I still remember how worried I got the first time he sneaked out of the house… He always tried, but to no avail, but that night it was a gloomy and dark one, and it was even raining (Pouring cats and dogs as some say ;)), was out at football practice (Which I miss nowadays since we stopped it ages ago) to be told when I got back home that he has been out for over two hours…The fear of losing him was immense… I never thought one could build any sort of emotional bond with an animal, how wrong I was… After some more searching around the compound, the silly “Spider” turned out to be lost in the garden next door, seemed equally delighted to be ‘found’… Dam, that was a LOT of stuff to write up about a kitten, but he’s adorable nevertheless…

Electronic-music wise, last four weeks have been lovely… New tunes, new sets, nice gigs (Bart Claessen in particular)… Paul Van Dyke’s new album should be out soon, and the dude from Berlin himself is due to play in Bahrain in November (Road trip anyone?)… Above & Beyond are not coming in September anymore (Maybe I mentioned that before, not arsed to check), but hey, Ferry Corsten is coming in mid-September… Cosmic Gate supposedly signed and confirmed, but neither their website, nor anywhere else… All I hear is that they’re due to come before Ramadan (Which also starts in Mid-September)…I will miss their gig in Amman though, it’s happening four days before I land there… Won’t get to hear Nic play his own “What You Need” live *sigh*

Now, I wish I could write more… But, I can’t… Finished it on a totally different note to how it started: With psychological blankness… So much to say now... Things I ponder whether they should be concealed or revealed...

Till the next time...
*hug to all*

Trip diary - Waiting... Again

2007-08-03T07:26:00.000+04:00

Note: You might have read this, I posted it then removed it after realising that there was another 'diary post' that I have not posted yet.

Trip diary Day 5 – Queen Alia airport [July 29, 2007]

Haven’t slept since yesterday, was kind of worried that I might miss my flight if I went to sleep… Will continue where I stopped last night...

Here goes, Ashtek began playing at around 12-ish me thinks, another good local dj, nice warm-up for Gunther & Stamina, I think they’re quite underrated, it was the first time that I see them perform live (Missed their gig at Fashion TV Arabia’s gig in Dubai a few months ago). They played for about two hours, before Beebee took over the mixing duties. (Note: Flight started boarding at that point, now I am completing this 24 hours after arriving back in Dubai…). Bee Bee started his set with Karen Overton’s “Your Loving Arms” (The only track I ID-ed, hehe), played for about an hour or so.

Fila, one-half of Egyptian duo Aly & Fila, he's the one who’s more into DJing, leaving the production duties to Aly, started spinning, at that point, I decided to try my luck and sneak into the backstage area, luckily enough the security personnel didn’t spot me, and even afterwards, they did not seem to bother, thinking I was part of the crew maybe. It was far more fun there, seeing Fila mixing, in addition to meeting a childhood friend of his (A cousin) and a fellow trance hitter! Cool stuff, Fila is one really down to earth guy, gotta like the guy! He was brilliant, tracks that I expected him to play and he did anyway: “Whatever”, “Why” and his collaboration with Shadi of Lebanon aka. Amadeus “A Dream Of Peace”. He was forced to stop playing at 4:00am, as Julian, the event organizer asked him to do so as apparently the yacht club operators/managers/owners/whatever wanted that, in addition to the fact that guests of nearby hotels were complaining about the loud music. I bet he would’ve loved to play on, so many people came up to the dj booth asking ‘us’ (Me and Kevo, the fellow TH member) if the party is over or not, and other random questions, one even asked us where he can get the CD of the tracks that were played, hehe! Stayed there for a while talking to Gunther, Bee Bee, Fila, Julian and the people in charge of the lighting and the amazing visuals…

Went back to the hotel with Kevo, we initially planned to take the 7:30am bus back to Amman, but ended up falling asleep after eating a late, late dinner, woke up at 2:00pm (!), checked-out, and that took ages, the service overall at the Inter Continental was below par. Also had to struggle to find a bus back to Amman, ended up being put on separate seats for the long journey, but hey, at least we got on a bus when initially the bus was full. One was seated on the ‘hostess’ seat, when there was no hostess to begin with, and usually the hostess on such buses is a MALE! During the 4-5 hour journey, we met some new friends who were there at Aqaba and Wadi Rum (They were also staying at the same hotel). Cool bunch =). It took a while to find a cab while in Amman, when I finally found one, he started the same stupid price haggling argument, I wonder why they initially answer your question of how much are they going to charge with “Whatever price that suits you, sir”, only to begin arguing once you bring up ANY price! Even if it was well above the normal rate if they used the bloody meter… I mean, they should realize that sometimes if they don’t push for it, they might get that extra 1/2 JD or 1 JD that they're nagging about… Idiots!

Was checked-in and given the exact same room at the Holiday Inn! Bet it hasn’t been occupied at all since I checked-out three days earlier. Met with a friend, cruised around Amman for a good hour or two, finally got to see the new ‘place to be’ in Amman that's called Vy… The gym, bar, café and God knows what else (Not sure of what it offers exactly, but it’s quite massive and luxurious =)). After some driving around, went to get some sweets before heading back home. Stayed up watching tv, and decided eventually to stay up, simply becaue I overslept on every single day of that trip, thus, I just couldn’t risk missing my flight (Although thinking about it now, it might not have been THAT bad to spend another day in Amman…)

At around 4 or 5am, I signed in on msn (Well, not online, appear offline mode/status is good enough), and found a friend whom I only knew online, one that I argue about football with, the Champions League and AC Milan (The team he supports), and we decided to meet up, went cruising again in the early hours of the morning, empty streets rock! Went to the new bridge again, to Abdoun, deer ghbaar which has Casper & Gambini’s and Noodle House now and also to some oldish parts of town! Sometimes I wish I knew more people there to go to such places (Referring to NH and C&Gs), maybe I finally do now... But on a second thought, Dubai has these places and more, but I hardly go there either… Hmm, some food for thought there. Asked Mohammed (My friend) to drop me somewhere near our house there, I walked for a bit in a neighborhood that I shouldn’t have gone to (Second time in that trip), before going to our neighborhood… Felt awkward, first time being there in almost a year… Took some pictures before the battery of my SLR died (Didn’t have the spare one on hand :(, too bad).

Went back to the hotel, chatted on the phone with a friend for a bit, very constructive convo (Bless you H =)), before packing, checking-out (3rd check-out in 5 days!) and heading to the airport, everything was smooth. Got myself in mini-trouble when I cost the Duty Free a $700+ sale of a Canon camera, I advised the lady that wanted to buy it to NOT do so, as the price was ridiculously inflated when compared to prices in the UAE and probably the US. Some cameras in the States are sold at almost half the price they sell them for here in Dubai. The sales executive followed me after that to criticize my so-called unacceptable attitude, and accused me of being wrong about the prices, at that point, I claimed for the first time to be a so-called “professional photographer” and that I know the prices of these cameras, especially the G7 and my very own 400D, hoping that would shut him up but he kept on blabbing. Anyway, screw them, they’re supposed to be competitive prices and WITHOUT taxes, hey, I intended to buy the G7 myself from them IF it was cheaper than Dubai… If they want to cheat people into that, it’s their problem. They still had my obsolete S2 IS on display! Didn't check the price, but it would have been some ridiculous figure probably. The S3 IS and even S5 IS are out now! In the Dubai duty free on the way to Amman I checked out the prices of the same cameras, and they were the priced the way they should be =)... Their loss afterall.

On the flight, I happened to be sitting next to a mature and cool woman, kept on talking for most of the flight, was cool to do so. Most of the passengers are usually grumpy old farts after all or annoying crying and screaming kids ;). Upon arriving back in Dubai, it was a case of continuous and endless dozing off and waking up again. Was an exciting and enjoyable trip, but at the same time it was also tiring… I can safely say that I somewhat miss Jordan (Never expected I’d say that before), I hope I get to go there with my folks when they go there next month… Let’s see what happens =)

Cheers to Julian, Laith and his gang, all the djs, the ‘bus’ people, Kevo the fellow TH-er, Omar, Mohannad and many others for everything! Rave on peeps and see you on July 25, 2008 =)! Praying it wll be John Askew warming up for Paul Van Dykeee!

Trip diary - End of a rave, and the long road.

2007-08-03T00:17:00.000+04:00

Trip diary day 4 – Bus going back to Amman [July 28, 2007]

The raves are over, now on the way back on yet another bus heading back to the more familiar and busy surroundings of Amman. Been two crazy days really. I’m kind of blank now, just sitting there not knowing what to type! Guess I should just talk about what made me go on this whole trip, the Distant Heat electronic music festival!

We finally left Aqaba’s yacht club at around 9 pm, the bus ride was fun, met some cool people, amongst them is a couple of sponsors working with radio stations (Play FM IIRC), a couple of Jordanian/Palestinian dudes and many Europeans (Irish and Dutch), of course, the first few interactions were to teach them the typical swear words in Arabic, amongst a few other more reasonable expressions such as hello, sorry, good night, it’s always fun to see how foreigners pronounce Arabic words, khmaar instead of 7maar (Hmaar as in donkey), but for some reason if the word already had the ‘kh’ part they wouldn’t be able to pronounce that part! Don’t worry, we ‘exposed’ them to a more abusive array of abusive terminology ;).

Arrived there at around 10 pm after a stop at a checkpoint and a long sandy road, I simply have no clue whatsoever how people actually managed to get there, let alone the fact that most cars were small (As in small, I mean salons, hatchbacks, and so on, not big SUVs and 4x4s), there was no signage and directions (Or at least I couldn’t notice them), no street lights and no proper roads, but hey, many people probably know the exact location, apparently that is where people usually go to camp when they go to wadi rum (Hence, the adjacent camp with many tents. Also, the small fact that this is not the first time the festival was held, it’s been held for several years in a row boasting names such as Markus Schulz, Armin Van Buuren and Ferry Corsten.

Got off the bus, got my wrist band and proceeded to the main area in front of the dj booth, BeeBee, a Jordanian talent was doing the warm-up and boy, the first time I hear a set of his and it was magnificent, he certainly knows how to get the crowd pumped up. Played a mixture of some electro, prog house and prog trance if memory serves me right, wicked stuff. Roamed around the massive ‘venue’, VIP area was neat and well-planned, seemed a tad too crowded though after midnight, not that it matters much to me as I hardly hanged out there, Wonder why I paid extra, I didn’t sit on the comfy couches, nor did I drink any alcohol, thus, coupons were gone for water bottles and red bulls. The water was supposedly being given out for free, but it wasn’t, not that it matters much now though, the whole extra coupons thing is a control measure and to entice big drinkers.

Dave Seaman took over the decks at around 12 or 1, can’t recall correctly, he was until recently a dj that I only recognize by name, but his set was magnificent, perfect for electro and prog house lovers. By the time he started mixing, the place was already busy with many ‘ravers’… I wish I could remember some of the tracks he played, all I recall is Muhannad aka. Moe (Met him on the bus, cool fella) IDing two or three tracks produced or mixed by Trentmoller, other than that, I remotely recall a track being played towards the end of his set, one that Gabriel & Dresden have something to do with, probably was either “Tracking Treasure Down” or “Till There Was You”… Before Dave finished his set, while being in front of the dj booth I saw Toni and Jono Grant of A&B talking to someone in the backstage area, I simply couldn’t stop myself from going there to try and talk to them, which I succeeded at after persuading one of the security personnel to let me in, I talked to them briefly and took pictures with them, I went again with a couple of new friends (God bless Facebook), but couldn’t get in without the event promoter, organizer, manager, EVERYTHING (God bless her!), Julian, sneaked us in, we took a picture as a group with the two Anjunaboys who came with MY CAM (Will get back to this point later), Paavo stayed back in London, it seems a habit for dj bands to divide activities and tasks between them, usually someone is more into production and the other is more into mixing and DJing =). Also met FILA of Ali & Fila! Who by the way didn’t spin at Tala Bay in the morning as I thought and anyway, I thought it was ALI rather than Fila! Heh, people will know this by the time this is posted, but the Lebanese beach-goers will be in for a big surprise on Sunday, as part of MixFM’s great beach parties called One Big Sunday, he’s the one who is the surprise, I went on Trancehits today and read comments showing how curious people were, I PMed a couple of them spoiling the surprise, I just couldn’t hide it hehe! Some went as far as thinking it might be Ferry Corsten or something, but my first impression so far is that this Fila fellow is the friendliest and most humble dj I have met personally thus far, he didn’t have ANY attitude whatsoever, and he seemed even happier than us! Respect to the Egyptian dude! Also met BeeBee, djing and party animal hehe! Tried to talk to Dave Seaman, but I guess I ran out of my luck with security guys at that point.

Above & Beyond, world number 9 djs according to the controversial DJ Mag yearly poll, who have recently rocked the Olympic stadium in Los Angeles graced the decks of Wadi Rum soon after that. Two tracks into the set, for some f***ed up reason, naïve and stupid me entrusted a total stranger to carry my camera while I was recording a video, only for what I imagined was unthinkable to happen. As soon as I turned my head, that lowlife and tactless effing cunt disappeared with OUR memories, excuse my French, but that is the least I could describe that piece of s***… I am still kicking myself in the backside for assuming he was with the new friends I met there, I don’t want the camera itself, I was whining and nagging about it in my last diary update!!! I just want the bloody memory card with all the videos and photos that I took. He can shove the camera up his backside as far as I am concerned, chances are he will not even know how to use it in the first place! Thank God I still have my baby, my Canon AND I will get another Canon when I am back in DXB, a smaller one of course than the 400D. This just shows you how precious pictures (and recently videos) are to me, they have no monetary value, but the fact that they evoke memories and good times is more than enough. And by the way, the less I say about the crappy attitude I got from people I asked for help the better, you can keep your silly advices and hoes to yourselves!

Back to the music, it took me a while to recover from the fact that everything from that night is gone, par a few pictures other people took, but I eventually got back to a state of trance, I kept track of the, err, track list of A&B’s set, I couldn’t ID everything, but I recognized many of them, which were played on their radio show, Trance Around The World, I’ll nag again and say that IF I still had my cam, I’d have been able to ID them later on when I watch the videos. (Or at least someone would’ve helped out on Youtube, Trancehits, or wherever. Here is my improper track list with a few comments:

“Welsh Morphology”. kind of an intimidating ‘vocals’(But no lyrics) in this track IMHO, but still quality beat nevertheless.
A Life Less Ordinary – Alex Morph vs. Rank 1. YES, I finally IDed it after hearing it live for the umpteenth time!! But of course, I have no clue whatsoever which remix
Needs To Feel – Super 8 & DJ Tab [Wippenberg remix]. This is one of my favorite tracks at the moment, limited, but deep vocals, I ‘overheard’ it while arguing with security at the venue entrance :P
Air For Life – Above & Beyond vs. Andy Moor. They simply had to play it, the first track I ever heard by them, still recall hearing it on the radio in Lebanon in the summer of 2005, massive, massive tune.
I Can’t Sleep – Above & Beyond. They played it at 4:30 am!!! I couldn’t quite understand why Jono & Toni were pointing at their watches when the track started playing, took me a few seconds to figure out, but I went berserk nevertheless once it started, call their productions cheesy if you want to, but this isn’t, this is a classic.
Waiting Here For You – Thrillseekers feat. Aruna. YES, they played it! Don’t think it was the original (Breakfast remix perhaps?).
Fly Away – Vincent De Moor (me thinks)
No One On Earth – Above & Beyond [Gabriel & Dresden remix]. Reminded me of a former trancehitter (S), always nice to hear this track.
Untitled Audio (Not sure)
Dangerous Power – Gabriel & Dresden (I think!). Another track that I didn’t expect to hear.
“Touch Me” – Mike Koglin & Jono Grant mash-up/remix. Crowd went absolutely nuts when he played it, again. Great timing as the sun was rising!
Sun Is Shining – Bob Marley [MLV remix]. Wohooooooo! Orgasmic, simply orgasmic, with the sun literally shining on the rocks in the magnificent natural setting!
Tri-state – Above & Beyond. [Some remix, I think Robert Nickson]. No comments!
Nothing – James Holden. Top notch.
Sand In My Shoes – Dido [Above & Beyond remix].
Good For Me – Above & Beyond.
Alone Tonight – Above & Beyond. This was it; I’d have been content if they stopped playing after this!
Home – Above & Beyond [Club mix]. I expected a “Satellite” finale rather than Home (I think this was the last track of their set), but it was good to hear it nevertheless… “Looking for a place called home” :(

As mentioned before, there were several other tracks that fall in the HIB category (An acronym I made up for Heard It Before type of tracks). They finished their set at around 6:30-7-ish…

BeeBee, did the after-hours set, only recognized Armin’s Rush Hour, the third track of the set. I left the area soon after and met up again with some of the guys who were on the bus, what was after that was an organizational scramble, as we could NOT find the bus that brought us in the first place, and kept on asking the bus drivers till after more than 30 minutes of canvassing, we finally found one. Don’t recall the time we got back to Aqaba at, but it was a long journey nevertheless. Was too knackered to go to the after party at Tala Bay, where some upcoming local Jordanian DJs were spinning till sunset… Went online for a while before sleeping till the evening, headed to the Yacht Club, where the ‘smaller’ rave was taking place. Arrived at 11, only to be told at the doors that the ticket was NOT sufficient to guarantee entry, what else was needed? COUPLES, they must be freakin’ kidding me, luckily, Stamina, one half of the BO18 club residents in Beirut Gunther & Stamina was entering at the same time, I talked to him for a bit and he managed to convince the bouncer to let me in, chatted with him, Gunther and another Jordanian DJ called Ashtek when we got in the club briefly about what set they’re going to play (Hope I got the spelling right).

At the time of writing, we are about 90 kilometers away from Amman. In total, it’s more than 300 KMs. I wonder how much time would it take me IF I was driving my own car, the last time I drove to Abu Dhabi in UAE, it took me about 50 – 60 or so minutes, with ‘normal’ driving it takes one hour and a half.

I stopped writing at around 7:30pm as the bus stopped for the passengers to refresh for a bit by buying some overpriced stuff. Chatted all the way back with some more new friends, yey! Will continue later, got to consider what I am supposed to do now…

Trip diary - in Aqaba [July 26, 2007]

2007-08-02T09:40:00.000+04:00

Trip diary – Day 2, @ Intercontinental Aqaba hotel

Well, well… Second day in Aqaba, three more hours to go before I get on another transportation medium, the bus that will take me to Wadi Rum and Distant Heat, apparently there have been buses to take people from Amman to the festival and back, but I wasn’t aware of that, but hey, some touring around the country (In Arabic ruboo3 il wa6an! Heh) won’t hurt anyone. The hotel is much nicer than Holiday Inn, almost as good as the Four Seasons in Amman, the family’s preferred accommodation in the capital. Actually, it might look better, it’s roomier in general and has nice décor, the interior design is spot on. Won’t go into architecture and exteriors, all the buildings in general look alike in the Levant region with no distinctive features (Apart from a few trying to look distinctive). But the service here does not match the Four Seasons, the interactions, the small details, the unspoken things as well; the ‘feel’ you get from people is lacking here (First impression? Having to drag my bags up the stairs leading to the entrance, a misunderstanding with the bellboy, and some minor errors in check-in)… But hey, it’s way better than many, many properties around the world, and it is probably amongst the top hotels in this country, I am just being mean and picky I guess!

Extended my stay as I wished for another night, meaning I can still recover here without bothering to check-out and find another hotel. Yesterday was quite good, after chilling in the guestroom for a while, went downstairs to have dinner. After that I contacted a very friendly and cool guy whom I’ve arranged to buy my rave tickets from, had a brief chat about how things will go, some small tips and such… Went afterwards to a beach/pool type of café at the hotel which serves argeela/sheesha and drinks, was very calming! Made me miss the cooler months in Dubai (Although it is humid here, but not as bad as DXB! Trust me!). Took some pics around the property, including a representation of my infamous long exposure dancing ghost picture, but this time on the beach, better background than a parking lot! Bet people were wondering how bored and silly I am, but hey, this is me, I guess I’m destined to always be the odd one out and quite eccentric. ;)

Now I’m bored out of my skull, waiting for the minutes to pass, I just hope everything goes according to plan, no unpleasant surprises such as any cancellations, technical failures, terrorist attacks (lol) or even worse: My cam’s batteries to die! Talking about that, I think sometimes that I shouldn’t have gotten a point-and-shoot Nikon which doesn’t offer much flexibility to control the outcome of the pictures (Well, it probably can, but I’m a manual mode whore, shutter speed and all that crap), but hey, it really, really makes up for it by having a flexible body and quick responses or whatever the actual description of something that, err, responses quickly. (Google it, Nikon Coolpix S10). Two batteries and three memory cards with a combined capacity of almost 3.5 GBs, that should be enough, eh? ;)

This will be the longest party I’ve ever been to; I think I’ve been in Dubai for too long! But I’ve been sick, I’ve been knackered and shattered before, only to be ‘saved’ by EDM, so, I think and hope I will last till the very finale of above & Beyond’s 3-4 hour set… I guess the trick will be to not get too excited during Dave Seaman’s set that precedes the Anjunaboys’ few hours of madness. (Tony, Jono and Paavo, heard all three are coming… I really want to meet them :()… Before I end this, currently ’warming-up’ by listening to TATW # 173, this track rocks: “Saved Again” – Cerf, Mitiska & Jaren (I think, I have the track list though somewhere)… Hope they play it, along with Falling, Shadow World, Waiting Here For you and Dave202’s Generate The Wave (Don’t think I heard it at any clubs live yet, I’d go mental if they actually played it, although it’s a bit old now…

Fingers crossed… Let the voyage into the rum commence (Well, in 2:30 hours time ;))

Trip diary - Going to Aqaba

2007-08-01T22:59:00.000+04:00

Trip diary – Day 1, bus going to Aqaba [July 25, 2007]

Overslept today (surprise, surprise), but was able to check-out on time and rush to the bus company to book my place on the bus, which was leaving in 10 minutes. Opted not to fly by plane as it turned out to be a hassle, lots of waiting and commuting, by the time the flight would’ve landed in Aqaba, I’d be already or almost there on coach. It isn’t that bad, the ‘music’ is horrible, lots of the new cheesy Arabic tracks that I do not even know. Such songs were al I knew really a couple of years back. Thank God for the iPod and the stuff I downloaded on the laptop before traveling, the 2MB connection back in the Academy has proven to be very useful when it comes to downloading torrents and uploading videos to Youtube, I guess I should reduce the size of the videos I take, I was checking out some old videos yesterday, including some videos of the Above & Beyond gig almost a year ago, the video quality was OK, more like webcam quality, but the sound was almost as good as the videos I usually take with my point-and-shoot Nikon camera, the size was significantly lower.

Didn’t see anyone yet, doubt I would, apart from the few Facebook friends which I contacted and will probably meet there in Aqaba or Wadi Rum, there is a gig in Lebanon that has been pushed forward to this Friday instead of the following Friday as originally planned, it’s tooo tempting to go, Dirty South and Ron Van Den Beuken, would be something! But for the time being I should be content with Above & Beyond, Dave Seaman and the bunch of Arab talents, such as Bee Bee & Aly & Fila. Didn’t eat anything yet in Jordan, not hungry, I guess it’s psychological, would probably eat well and not feel stuffed if I forced myself. (Late correction: That was wrong, RVDB plays on Friday August 3rd, 2007 in Forum De Beirut, excuse the spelling).

On another note, apparently Above & Beyond won’t be spinning at Peppermint come September as originally planned, the last time I checked, their website still had Pmint pinned for the 6th of September, before Ramadan, but nothing has been confirmed yet by the club itself. Would be gutted, was looking forward to telling them I saw them live at Distant Heat as well, lame, I know. But also, they really have to unleash their talents at a big club like Peppermint, hope they change the set-up for them like they did for the recent Sasha gig. But I also hope that Deep Nights bring a cheesy house DJ on the same night, that would do the same effect as Markus Schulz vs. Benni Bennassi, I think I mentioned it on the other blog, but many people went like “Markus who?!” when it should’ve been the other way around. At least we had more space to ‘shake it’! The whole (Well, almost) two or so rows of people that were in front of the DJ booth are more ‘ravers’ than posers, would be fun to party with them again once everyone’s back to DXB, too bad one of them is leaving to Canada though for good, all the best to her! (Although we hardly spoke to each other, but Peppermint connects people, how cheesy, eh? =))

Trip diary - Greetings from Amman

2007-07-31T23:51:00.000+04:00

Trip diary – Day 0, Holiday Inn, room # 1315 [Evening of July 24, 2007]

So, I’m finally in my hotel room, if I want to briefly describe the hotel, I’d probably say that the exterior looks unique and somewhat modern, but the interiors are outdated. Anyway, I’m supposed to check out in 12 hours anyway, hope I manage to find a flight to Aqaba, my bum can’t take 3-4 more hours of sitting, especially NOT on a coach… Will I be able to go to Petra? I doubt, although it would be a pity not going there, but hey, three months ago I couldn’t even envisage myself making this whole ‘rave’ trip in the first place.

So, after checking in, I settled in my room, finally got my phone to function (Well, it was an electricity socket problem rather than a technical problem within the phone itself), checked my e-mails, jotted down the important numbers, then changed and went out with my trusted camera, took some nice pictures. Well, to be fair they looked good on the LCD screen, on a normal laptop/PC screen all the flaws become far more obvious. Fingers crossed, I won’t get many other chances to take night shots during this brief trip.
Lots of walking, for some reason I went to Starbucks, couldn’t get anything as the Point-Of-Sale system was down, I was impatient and it was getting late… I did somethin stupid though, I’m always a fool, unfortunately.

I forgot to mention how brilliant the weather is outside compared to Dubai, it was breezy, a bit too breezy in fact that I was wondering if some of the photos will suffer from motion blur. It’s obvious that I didn’t upload them yet to have a look, I will have a LOT of time to see them and play around with them later on anyway… I just hope that I wake up on time tomorrow morning; I really don’t need my sleeping disorders, not now!

Tomorrow is another day…

p.s. For some reason I didn’t (And probably won’t) check out the family’s flat/apartment here.

Trip diary - Dubai Airport

2007-07-31T05:23:00.000+04:00

Trip diary – Day 0, Dubai airport [July 24, 2007]

Hmm, didn’t think that I would take my laptop out of its bag before boarding the flight, I don’t know why I’m calling it day zero, should it be day one instead? Magazines, newspapers, etc. always start with issue number one. Well, whatever. Flight was originally scheduled to depart two hours ago, but there has been a ‘little’ delay and the gate has been changed as well (Apparently it was changed twice). Checking my bag every two minutes, to make sure that I haven’t lost anything (yet).

Has been so random, unexpected as well, but thankfully the planning of the trip worked out, now the fun part should start once I arrive in Amman. I walked around the whole terminal probably twice already (In terms of total distance), guess that’s my workout for today! Took several photos, saw people from literally all walks of life, some sleeping on the floor, others playing with whatever gadget they have, some totally engrossed with their books. Talking about books, NO, I didn’t read the latest Harry Potter book, and I don’t know why people actually want him to DIE in the latest edition of his book. I don’t even read my school books. School? Hmm, what about it? Oh yeah, I ended my 3rd year last Thursday, was an OK semester, one could always say that there is room for improvement. Apart from a couple of courses, any efforts are wasted (Got my lowest grade EVER in one, the other’s grade is not out yet). But hey, I’m less than twelve months away from graduation, part of me is happy, another part of me is shocked that time flew and went past so quickly, it still feels like yesterday that I went to the Academy on a somewhat foggy day in a suit that was a bit too big, sitting in the café, anticipating my ‘fate’ quietly with two fellow students, somehow ended up talking about football (One turned out to be a Manc, the other an Arse fan), another part is NOT looking forward to working hard, and yet another part is looking forward to finally being productive (Despite the hard work bit!) and earning money… This is life at the end of the day and one’s gotta do what they gotta do, right? ;-). How many parts are there of me already? Hehe! If that implies that I’m torn, then yeah, it kind of how I am these days. (“Torn” by Natalie Imbruglia comes to mind).

Flight’s boarding now (Finally!)… Will get back to my lovely laptop if I got bored on the flight, fingers crossed, hope no screaming and crying kids are nearby, also hope that no XXL-sized person is seated next to me. Aah, always feels good to go back to economy class… NOT!!!!

Sick...

2007-07-17T00:29:00.000+04:00

It’s finals time… Finally, that dreaded week in the middle of July has come, already halfway through. Three days to go, seems they will be the longest few days I’ve gone through in a while… That economics teachers f***ed us over in yesterday’s final, just like last semester, but the major difference is that I had a cushion to save my backside the last time around with good course work. That cushion has vanished this semester. Will I fail? Not really, failing is not an option. I will graduate in four years, period.

Why the three remaining days seem so long? Well, I’m sick, it’s not the first time I’ve gotten sick this year, in fact, I had several one to two day colds (If not less), but this ‘sickness’ has lingered since Thursday if memory serves me right, headache, throat, coughing, running nose, you name it! But hey, Hamdilla (Thank God) for everything… It is bothering me as it’s annoying, but it’s not affecting studying THAT badly, at least not yet… I’m not that stressed either yet, I’m just sick… This semester has been a roller-coaster ride, actually, the whole year so far. Much has changed even if I can’t point it out directly off the top of my head, but I know that things did... I still would have a LOT to do even after finals are over… I’m quite not over the fact that I’m less than 12 months away from graduation, but hey, c’est la vie =)

Before I forget these, I’ll just post them here before copying them to my other little blog… Not sure about them, but a good attempt at it nevertheless ;)

Wear that dress tonight
The one that I have seen
The one that does it to me
I don’t care that it was cheap
I think I will like it more

Wait for the moment
You can’t control it
You can’t look life in the eye

Wait for the moment
You can’t control it
You can’t look life in the eye

Agnelli & Nelson “Wear That Dress” (Deep Blue Productions)

Hug-less...

2007-07-11T18:22:00.000+04:00

Someone indirectly reminded me of one of the sweetest videos that I recall seeing on youtube (Or wherever else for that matter), it's about a campaign for free hugs... I don't mind a hug now... Actually, I NEED one!

I don't think I've made someone's day for quite a while... Assuming I ever did in the first place :-(

Even Spider (Our infamous kitten) ran away when I tried to hug him... *sigh*

If you can, then do it! You don't have to hug a stranger, just find a good friend and do it, brighten up their day a bit, cheer them up, there's enough depression and negativity going around in the world... Doesn't it make you feel a bit different when a total stranger smiles to you? ;-)

*BIG HUG!!!!!*

p.s. totally irrelevant to the above, but here goes nevertheless: if anyone reading this, who by any chance is an AUD student, then whatever you do, never, EVER take economics (Either macro or micro) with Muhamed Zebib, I don't know about the other courses that he might be teaching there, but as far as these two are concerned, just do yourself a favor!

Alas...

2007-07-01T17:08:00.000+04:00

Ironic how a routine design class can bring out such... so-called creativity... Didn't have a go at this for years...

I don’t know if this should matter
But alas, I still face this daily stutter
Although it has been a while
I don’t think I have ever crossed that mile

Your absence during all that time
Has made me attempt a silly rhyme
I hope these words are read someday
Although your life has been hectic everyday

Summer has come, sun scorches and glows
Unlike my hope that no longer grows
Trying to keep that so-called faith alive
With prayers for something that seemed would last

*sigh*

Temporary agony

2007-05-07T13:14:00.000+04:00

I underwent a surgery on Saturday, thankfully this time it’s a minor and very small one, nothing like that major 5+ hour jaw surgery a few years ago. Turned out I had a lump and I had to remove it, hurt a bit during and after the operation, but within a few hours I was back to normal, hamdilla.

Although it paled in comparison to the jaw nghtmare, but it still evoked similar memories, at least this time it didn’t feel as lonely and emotionally painful.

Being a bit down recently, the Liverpool win in midweek lifted the mood briefly though.

Random question that I ‘should’ answer by myself in my next entry: What is really important?

p.s. started another blog, not very active really yet, but here goes anyway:
http://lyricalo.blogspot.com

Joyful tears

2007-05-04T09:21:00.000+04:00

Exhausted, sleepy, yet happy...

How many times in our lives do we get to cry out of happiness and cheer delight? Not many times I assume... What thing or event has that much of an effect on one anyway? Some people might be moved by anything, and others are ice cold.

Tuesday night was one hell of a long evening, the level of tension, fear, optimism and a couple of hundred other feelings probably were all present, it was the biggest game of our season (So far), we had to shut up a certain so-called 'Special One'... Daniel Agger, heavily criticized the previous week for his bad performance and his mistake that led to Joe Cole's goal, he scored this time for us from a cheeky Gerrard free-kick, 1-1 it was, what followed was a bore-fest for the neutrals, but nerve-wrecking stuff for fans of either team. We eventually won the game on penalties after Pepe Reina saved a couple of theirs, while we scored every single one of our 4 spot-kicks to make it to our 2nd CL final in THREE years! Only Milan have had a better record in the Champions League in recent year, and surprise, surprise, we're going to play Milan in Athens in 19 days ;).

I couldn't help the "tears of joy" from going down my cheeks, it's not like everyday that one's favorite team makes it to the final of such a prestigious competition and in such a 'fashion', I went out and drove around, with a big smile, even saw a complete stranger wearing a Scouse red top and hugged him! Couldn't curb my excitement at all... Was equally delighted the following day when AC Milan dominated and outplayed a clueless Manchester United side in rainy Milan. Made a minor scene at the uni's library congratulating a Milan fan.

Call me crazy, but I will quote lovely "S" here, "they say it's just a game, game my arse. This (And EM) is what keeps me alive"
Another quote by a great manager of Liverpool FC:
"Football is not a matter of life and death, it is much, much more important than that."
- Bill Shankly (R.I.P.)

What makes your tears fall down of joy? Is it a special someone? Certain events or milestones in your lives? Whatever it is, cherish it forever like me :)

I'm a rainbow too!

2007-05-01T03:02:00.000+04:00

I want to update my little blog before the current state of optimism that I am currently in fades away…

Listening now to TATW w/A&B, episode number 161, tracks that stood out personally:
MLV re-remix of Bob Marley’s “Sun Is Shining”
DT8 Project “The Power Of One”
Super8 & DJ Tab “SURU”
Above & Beyond’s club mix of “Home
Amadeus vs. Aly & Fila original mix of “A Dream Of Peace” (Massive tune, Lebanese and Egyptian EM pioneers collaborate! Was also played by PvD in his sets sometimes! Brilliant ;)
The first one and the club mix of “Home” are stuck in my head, freakin’ amazing… Can’t wait to see A&B visit these shores again

Had an eventful day, was pretty tired due to lack of sleep which in turn is due to the lovely insomnia I have nowadays, had a small career fair/talk at university today, will come back to that later, but when I woke up I went on XT to read comments on my beloved Liverpool FC’s crucial champions league tie which is due to kick-off in less than 20 hours, and our great moderator, Arfy, posted this, it literally sent shivers down my spine and brought back some amazing memories, celebrating like a maniac with a bunch of Norwegian classmates to name one! Hopefully will SOMEHOW manage to go to Athens if we beat Chelski… Make us dream you REDS! The kop will be on fire, the players will not be able to even hear each other on the pitch due to the unprecedented sound levels… I haven’t felt so nervous, yet emotional about a Liverpool game for quite a while now… Will we win number 6? Will we shush all the doubters who said that the night in Istanbul was a fluke? Will we make it clear to everyone that we are NOT the freakin’ easy pushovers and underdogs they thought we were? Let’s see today at 10:45pm (UAE time ;))

Going back to the career fair, we had four guest speakers at university today with vast experience in the hospitality industry, we had:
- The former VP of food & beverage at Hilton, not bad at all! Was a chef, executive chef, food and beverage director, GM and so on, quit being a chef back in 1974 (!)
- A writer about wines who has her own company with its own publications etc., who started off being a business writer/journalist, but found her passion in writing about wines and beverages in general
- A lecturer at EHL, was a food and beverage director as well, until he tried being a teacher and it turned out to be his ‘thing’, his talent, been there for 15 years and never looked back
- Finally, a photographer, a big one (Well, not literally), he was a general photographer who got into photography by coincidence, now he has published more than 20 books (11 just for Le Notre), he’s a food photographer basically and he turned his passion into a successful agency…
They shared their overall experience in the industry, the main point that their talk revolved around was finding yourself and what you’re made for, you have to find what you excel at, your talent, it doesn’t have to be something obvious or tried and tested time and time again, 10 or 20 years ago probably nobody gave a toss about photos of dishes or articles about how great this Chilean wine is in comparison to a Spanish one or whatever, you never know what will the next big thing be, it’s as much as the general assumption (Or I’d rather call it misconception) that it doesn’t take a lot of hard work to run and operate a hotel property, think again mate! Trust me, it’s NOT easy! So, it kind of a good question: What are we really into, and what are we really good at? I have to find myself, somehow…

I’m starting to love myself… Hope it doesn’t turn into even more arrogance though

I can't...

2007-04-29T06:21:00.000+04:00

... sleep

Been having insomnia for God knows how long... Sleepless, tired, blank, kind of stressed and worried, combined with feelings of miserable apathy.

For once, I don't feel as if I am behind, feels alright, but something's missing...

Good luck to everyone who's having finals these days, I feel you, will be in the same crappy situations come July...

Untitled...

2007-04-28T07:55:00.000+04:00

Another untitled (but short) post

Fate can act in a curious way
When all that mattered means nothing today
All that concerns me, that drenches my thoughts
Is the sensation that seeing you brought

I was alone out there, with no one else around
Now I've fallen for you, and there's no coming down

Things to ponder

2007-04-24T20:40:00.000+04:00

Random, very random...

Some things to consider in the next two or so years, thanks A!

Cornell, MBA, Masters, GRE, GMAT, TOEFL (Again... Argh), SAT, GOETHE, DELF (Not sure about this one)

Thinking about starting another blog, one where I post lyrics that resemble my ever-changing moods and/or my thoughts.

Time to... Start doing something

Dreams...

2007-04-23T05:43:00.000+04:00

Now here we go again
You say you want your freedom
Well who I am to keep you down
It's only right that you should
Play the way you feel it
But listen carefully to the sound Of your loneliness
Like a heartbeat...drives you mad
In the stillness of remembering what you had
And what you lost And what you had And what you lost

[Chorus]
Thunder only happens when it's raining
Players only love you when they're playing
Say women they will come and they will go
When the rain washes you clean, you'll know

Now here I go again, I see the crystal visions
I keep my visions to myself
It's only me
Who wants to wrap around your dreams and
Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?
Dreams of loneliness Like a heartbeat...drives you mad
In the stillness of remembering what you had
And what you lost
What you had And what you lost

[Chorus]
Thunder only happens when it's raining
Players only love you when they're playing
Say women they will come and they will go
When the rain washes you clean, you'll know

*sigh*

Can't even find myself...

2007-04-10T03:48:00.000+04:00

... in the choices I make

So odd, so insecure, so unusual... This is how I feel now, when you think you're well aware of what is going on in your life and your small world, only to realise you're so lost and so clueless about everything and everyone who it consists of.

When you try to convince yourself that this whole life is a one big fat arsed game. If you do not know how to play the rules of the game, you pay the price to play it. If you DO know how to play it, someone else pays it...

If only one would have the will to change things, but what if changing things around means that you have to let go of what you lived by for all your life? Your habits, the people, the thoughts, the mentality and beyond, the good and the bad of all of them...

So lost... so... alone...

One of these days where you feel you're on Mars and everyone else is partying on the moon while you're physically in the same freakin' room/space with them, but your mind and thoughts are elsewhere

Fade...

2007-03-06T11:11:00.000+04:00

Fade…

Note: This was written yesterday afternoon

OK, after a minor encouragement, I decided to update this little blog of mine, I always wondered why the spell checker always shows that “blog” is NOT correct, showing alternatives to weird words like bloc, bog, blot, etc.

Anyway, at the time of writing I was at the pool, this is looking quite nerdy, picture a guy tanning while typing away on his laptop!! Actually, I got so bored sitting at home doing nothing, so decided to go outside for a bit and wait for my car to come back, finally got to fix the stupid dent…

Been off for about 10 or so days already, got 13 more days till school resumes… Enjoying sleeping at random hours, going out cruising at weird hours and not having many things to worry about, I should be thankful that all my parents expect from me at the time being is attend classes when I have any and pass my courses, almost nothing else. Well, they obviously expect me to not do stupid things like come back home trashed or break a leg and some other body parts by jumping off the second floor of a building!

OK, I will talk now about a couple of things, they might be unrelated or sound ‘normal’ or ‘3adi’ as we say in Arabic, but they meant something to me. Last week, while being in a similar state of boredom, decided to go out and start walking late at night, really late. It wasn’t one of my usual thirty or so minute strolls, I actually was crazy enough to walk all the way from my house to my university and back (Excluding the last 1 or 2 kilometers where I couldn’t walk anymore and went home by cab), I have no clue how long the distance is, but it took me about 2 hours and a half to get there including tiny toilet breaks and refueling myself with H2O…My feet and legs hurt me for the next 3 days, left leg was bleeding after coming back home, but heck, it was fun nevertheless! As “S” once asked me, “when was the last time you did something for the first time?” This was the last time I think.

That leads me to my next point, I was talking about my long (and crazy) walk with an online friend the evening after, and mentioned how much my lower body generally felt (It hurt, obviously), earlier today while talking, she popped a simple question. All what she said was, “How is your foot by the way?” it was a pretty straightforward one as well, but what made me ponder it is that I haven’t been asked such an unpredictable question for a while… Questions out of nowhere that relate to things you got over or forgot, but were so important and overwhelming not so long ago… Enquiries that show sincere curiosity about our so-called wellbeing & feelings… There’s nothing wrong with them, they’re actually appreciated… But it’s the combination of the timing, the circumstances and the current lack of such enquiries that makes one halt and start thinking… Or maybe it’s only me and my weird thoughts.

Been forcing myself to eat over the past 3 days, have had those shitty mood swings for a while now, they suck, but heck, people can’t be the same every single day, maybe some people are better at hiding how they feel and their mood swings, but it’s not easy to control them or at least hide them ALL the time… We’re not freakin’ robots

As usual, been listening mostly to the same Staind stuff in addition to house & trance (TATW 153 KICKS ASS, personal highlights: Inner Touch, Analog Feel, Paul Moelands’ remix of Beautiful, Sjamaan, Bluebird & Deep Breath Love Over Sedna), there’s a song that reminds me of someone special whom I miss their presence in my life, it might indicate otherwise, but this just relates to the last two months ONLY when things have taken the wrong turns time and time again… Maybe time will get things ‘back to normal’ somehow, and maybe it just won’t. People forgive, well, I did, but they do not forget, but fuck that, I am willing to forget and open a new page as they say… I might be “inconsiderate & pushy” at times, but I’ll boast here: My loyalty determination, dedication to the cause and anything I put my mind to and anyone I really like are all second to none, and these are traits that the people whom know me well (Including that person) know. Will she ever read this? Well, I would appreciate it, but at the same time I would be surprised if she did… anyway, enough blabbing, here are the song’s lyrics

I try to breathe
Memories overtaking me
I try to face them but
the thought is too
Much to conceive

I only know that I can change
Everything else just stays the same
So now I step out of the darkness
That my life became 'cause

I just needed someone to talk to
You were just too busy with yourself
You were never there for me to
Express how I felt
I just stuffed it down
Now I'm older and I feel like
I could let some of this anger fade
But it seems the surfaceI am scratching
Is the bed that I have made

So where were you
When all this I was going through
You never took the time to ask me
Just what you could do

And oh, in case any smart asses are wondering, I am still at the pool now, but I will attach the lyrics when I have access to the internet. Yesterday I had my laptop with me while cruising in my father’s car, I wanted to check something on it so I pulled to the side of the road, and to my surprise, there were two wireless connections detected, unfortunately there aren’t any here. Talking about his car, it’s nice to abuse the prowess of an overratedV6 like the one he drives (Pajero)…

Clubbing front: Saw Ferry Corsten & Nick Warren, top djs, quality guys as well… Was kind of gutted that Ferry didn’t play “I Love You”, but I was going mental when he played a couple of songs I requested (The Ones We Loved & his own remix of Adagio For Strings). Nick Warren rocked the house the following Friday, “1983” & “Mr. Brightside” still stuck in my head since then, wish he had played the latter at the end of his set though like he did in Lebanon last May at the defunct Beirut Train Station… Looking forward to Christopher Lawrence in two weeks time :-)

krazi :-)

2007-02-19T12:16:00.000+04:00

So, time to update this little blog of mine… Its funny how I always feel like updating it when I am busy, but when I am free I go blank! (Like now for instance). Interesting weekend, watched Will Smith’s movie “Pursuit of Happyness”, quite a fascinating story, great deterimination, went after that for shisha at Fudo (Gotta love that place!), ending it with my usual late night cruising in Jumeirah.

Friday was one hell of a day! Was told late on Thursday night that the VW & Audi club here in the UAE are organizing a drive to Abu Dhabi & Al Ain, was so much fun! Took some wicked pics and videos, I just hope that no radars caught me, was speeding over the generous speed limit! (I just couldn’t resist it ;)). We went as well to Jabal Hafeit in the outskirts of Al Ain, the highest mountain in the UAE, when back in Dubai we went for shisha at La Marquise, was cool as I got to shower and change after that long day (My house is within walking distance). I don’t recall I ever drove for such a long distance (500+ kilometres) in one day, was it worth it? Hell yeah! Can’t wait till the DVD for the trip is out! Was well planned by M and co., S should join with his yellow devil the next time around! Just a note to myself: Don’t eat a lot zeit & za3tar at night!

Finally went to Peppermint as usual although I was dead tired, the Japanese master Satoshie Tamie was on the decks, unique mixing style I should say, can’t comment on track selection really as I couldn’t ID a single track (As if I am THAT knowledgeable as far as EDM is concerned!) but it wasn’t as uplifting as I hoped, lacked ‘energy’ IMHO apart from the last 15 or so minutes. But on the other hand I learned something, I should NOT listen to a lot of trance before going out, that usually builds up a different ‘mood’, and you can figure from the videos posted that trance was on full blast for most of the journey! Apart from bits when I switched to beloved Staind & tuned to some warm-up tunes, don’t recall by whom, either Greg Stainer or Judge Jules (Or maybe even both or neither! mixing up between Thursday and Friday night I guess!) Saturday was a typical day, nothing really exciting, ventured around blogland, studied for a bit, uploaded some stuff and finally went to the mall to do some shopping and have dinner with mates from high school.

Car’s due to be serviced today, I dread the consequences, I know for sure that the brakes and the suspension perhaps, speakers and the dent in its body have to be sorted out, God knows what else might need fixing or changing (gears maybe?). I hate being car-less, even for a short period… Will have to rely on the driver to pick me up and drop me for tomorrow at least (Jeez, how spoiled). I hope I get it back ASAP, got to change a thing or two in it as well next month. Will see if I can have the S4 bodykit put on it as well!

The partner of one of the VW & Audi lovers had an amazing looking mobile, turned out to be called HTC S620, a hybrid/collaboration between I-Mate & Q-Tek, thin, full-keyboard, nice screen and it has style, something that can’t be said about most I-Mates out there. Got my eye on it, It’s on sale at Plug-ins, and the price is not bad. Went there late last night, it was out of stock at the Madinat branch but they can get it. Sales executive there recommended it over the SE P990i.

Came across this today, was mentioned by the lecturer. Quite fascinating, people became lendant dollar millionaires (And on the other hand some lost a lot of money), funny how obsessed we can get with virtual, well, in this case it becomes virtual reality. Companies held meetings on it instead of doing so in an actual meeting room physically. You learn something new everyday!

Enough blabbing for now… I am pretty sleepy, thus, no personal messages this time around :-D, when I am fully-awake I might be in a blast & bash mood =p

Tag time!

2007-02-17T14:39:00.000+04:00

Hello people... I've been tagged by Jaz, I have to talk about 5 obstacles I encountered when I started my journey in the maze of blogland

1. I don’t know about Wordpress, but for Blogspot, before the new beta/google version was introduced, one had to struggle with everything. Changing a small little thing like a ‘link’ would require a lot of messing around with the HTML codes and such.

2. Time constraints. I did and I still struggle with consistency, I don’t update my blog too often, the reason for that though is that I’ve involved myself in one-too-many things online, I lost track of all the forums, online communities, photo sharing websites, news sites, etc. that I am supposed to frequent! It also a mood issue! I need at least 30 or 40 hours in a day to be able to do everything! Unfortunately I will have to battle like the rest of the world with the measly 24-hour days we have ;)

3. Finding what to write about… I think I even mentioned that in my first ever blog entry, I had no clue what to write about… Ended up filling this cyberspace with a lot of personal stuff and what I’ve been up to (Or not)

4. Wondering who’d read it, well, it’s not an obstacle but in a sense it was puzzling me if anyone bothers/bothered to drop by and actually visit again =p

5. Layout and how it looks… I don’t bother much about that now as I find it neat and somewhat professional the way it currently is :)

Another post to follow with what happened yesterday!

p.s. a bit rude & mean (But who said I am nice anyway? I can be but depends), but have to say it nevertheless to some people:
Don’t like my attitude? E-mail us at feedback@FUCK-OFF.COM
At least I BOTHER

Staind

2007-02-13T17:23:00.001+04:00

Great week as far as uni and family and concerned, small sister resumed class, father's happy, sister has been offered a great training offer (Well, great on paper and benefits, not in actual working conditions, but that is Dubai for you). She just called to tell us that she's been offered a job interview at Dubai Media City tomorrow, so happy for her! Personally, things are normal, chilling and enjoying being almost free, I like crash courses. You don't have to multi-task and balance one thousand things at the same time, just got one thing to concentrate on & khalas! Got a quiz tomorrow as usual, not bothered to study yet. So far this is my third crash course and it's been pretty smooth (Hamdilla), the last one was OK, but lacked organization and proper communication between the lecturers and us (Risk assessment project anyone?!)

Yesterday (Well, technically it was today as it was 1 am), went on my longest walk to date, about 2.5 hours, Sheikh Zayed Road, stopping to fetch water from star bucks, on to dhiyafa road, a nature call and refuelling with more H2O at a petrol statio (In addition to bumping into a coupla 'friends' I didn't even recognize), moved on to Jumeira beach road and then finally heading back home. Equipped with a jacket and the trusty iPod, was (and still in) a Staind mood... Switched to Trance Around The World (Episode # 133) for the last hour or so to give me a final push, Kuffdam & Plant's "The Ones We Love" is one of them vocal trance tracks that make you grin like an idiot but be on the verge of depression at the SAME TIME. *Take a deep breath love*

From the Staind songs I listened to, "Falling Down", it's such an amazing track, I think everyone can relate themselves to the words of this song at some point or another of their lives. *sigh*

Was thinking about the people who left (And came), L is gone for a month, the two Ss are busy, busy, busy with work (Bless you two!), A is back but couldn't give a flying fuck for someone who wouldn't give a toss back, another S is still country-hopping somewhere in Europe but due to come back soon (We will go to Bizza hut and mcdonalds again I assume) and the final S is in a certain autocratic country getting tipsy while H is being sent into a state of shock after shock (Thanks to her uni), R is "fayet bel 7ei6", like me, should see him today. Good luck to you all! (Even the ones I couldn't bother about, they need it)

Clubbing front: Satoshie Tomie, Tiesto, Ferry Corsten, Nick Warren, John Digweed and God knows whoelse are all coming in the next 2 months. Can't wait till I see Ferry live again, wicked, wicked few weeks coming up!

And oh, get well soon kus kus!!!

Kaputt...

2007-01-25T22:03:00.000+04:00

Hmm... Tired, sleepy, stressed and to some extent: lonely... Fate and things can change so dramatically and radically suddenly... Don't know what to say really, but I hope that amazing state returns somehow... Everyone needs to talk and express themselves somehow I guess.

I am still relatively clueless and out of it... One can't adjust to a massive change in such a short notice, maybe to make matters worse: never adjusting.

Keeping one's fingers crossed, in addition to hope and pray is the best I could do, for the time being

*sigh*

Feel like taking photos...

2007-01-21T07:06:00.000+04:00

I feel like going out and start taking pictures now... I really do... Can't do so though, both cameras are out of order (Lens issues)...
Also feel like going out cruising and listening to some more trance... But can barely move...
Wish I could go jog... Too tired to do so though

It's official... I am back to my very worst... I am as clueless as I've ever been, I'm in shambles all over again... I lost any sense of direction that I ever had... I just want time to pass... I don't want to look forward to anything because the future's bleak... Anyway, que sera, sera... Should revert back to having NO expectations whatsoever in life in order to be 'surprised' (hopefully positively) by whatever it throws my way... But all in all, things are pretty messed up generally...

On a bright note, Liverpool have given Chelsea the freakin' hiding that they deserved... The special one can stuff his injury excuses up his backside and can whine and rant as much as he wants, the team in Red that was playing was not worth 25% of the scumbags in the blue shirts, yet we OWNED them... Now if only we would carry on from this game and kick butt for the rest of the season... Still, there are 42 points up for graps... So let's see how things go :-_