Julys

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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?