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

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]

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

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

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

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...

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...

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...

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

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

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!

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...

... 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...

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

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...

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...

... 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...

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 :-)

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!

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

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!!!