country club

an interesting article in al-akhbar today about political marriages in lebanon ... just read the list ... the most interesting one to me was that naseeb lahoud's wife is the sister of one of king abdullah's wives ...

ramadaning

i had iftar by myself on the first day ... a big plate of macaroni and some yoghurt salad ... i went to work the next day ... man there is so much traffic in the morning ... and at night too ... the only time there is no traffic is when i'm going home from work and also around iftar time obviously ... had iftar with my brother that day ... i let him pick the restaurant ... he wanted to go to a seafood place i took him to last time he was here ... it was very disappointing ... their food is good but the service was terrible ... plus they redecorated and the new theme is really tacky ... i took him to the rajhi mosque for taraweeh ... that's a big mosque here in riyadh ... i always pass it on the way to work but i had never been there ... so i told him let's go there and check it out ... the guy took way too long ... way way too long ... the next day he was busy so i had iftar at my friend's house instead ... i'm going to invite him to a restaurant for iftar ... maybe tomorrow ... had iftar with my brother again today ... at crepaway ... he left today ... he may or may not come back next week ... batman arkham asylum is out on ps3 and the reviews say it is frickin awesome ... i passed by the store but he told me he doesn't have it yet ... tomorrow or after tomorrow he says ... we passed by a pet store that's right next to the store that sells the games ... just to look ... they had a lot of cool pets like iguanas and chameleons and cats and so on ... but i just loved the dogs ... man i want a dog so bad ... current living conditions don't allow it ... i need a house and a yard ... but i would love to get a puppy and raise him ... felt so bad for the dogs inside the store ... they must be so depressed ... i would free them if i could ... work is boring ... so boring ... as it always is during ramadan ... i'm always leaving early ... on the first day i left two hours early ... but the past two days i left half an hour early ... i need to get an oil change ... also need to get the car washed ... they give me a free wash when i get an oil change so i'll do them together ... but i digress ... sorry to say i'm not feeling the spirituality yet ... i'm going through the motions ... fasting ... only listening to quran in the car ... trying to pray ... and what not ... but something is lacking ... on the other hand i'm keeping my word of not watching bab el hara ... also my sleeping hours are completely messed up ...

hmmm

Palestinian Prime Minister, Dr. Salaam Fayyad, stated Sunday that the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank is not holding any political prisoner in its jails.
source

According to the Maan News Agency, Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, had ordered the release of 200 political prisoners detained by his security forces in the West Bank.
source

Bravo

Despite Israel's harsh protests, Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet published a second article accusing the IDF of harvesting Palestinian organs.
story

true love

It's amazing what people will do for love. A Palestinian woman has braved the threat of Israeli bombs by crawling more than one kilometre through a dangerous underground tunnel between Egypt and Gaza just to marry her sweetheart.

read the story

gay capital of the arab world

an interesting article about beirut in the nyt ... click here ...

Egyptian Dates

For the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Egyptian fruit sellers have named their best dates of the year after President Barack Obama in a sweet tribute to the American leader for his outreach to the Muslim world.

"We love Obama and so we named our best dates for him," said Atif Hashim at his busy shop in downtown Cairo.
Huge barrels in his shop were piled with "Obama" dates, selling for just under $2.50 a pound ($5 a kilogram). For an additional dollar, there is an even better date, labeled on a sign as "Super Obama."
"We put a sweet date in Mr. Obama's mouth and a message in his ear," Hashim said. "Please help to bring peace to the world. We have a lot of hope in you."
Hashim named his poorer dates after Israeli Foreign Minister Avidgor Lieberman, a hard-liner who is particularly disliked in Egypt for once saying its president, Hosni Mubarak, can "go to hell."
Other low-quality dates were named after Lieberman's predecessor, Tzipi Livni, and after Bush. They all go for about 17 cents a pound (36 cents a kilogram).
In 2006, many sellers in Egypt named their best dates after the leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, whose popularity soared among Arabs because his militants battled Israel in a devastating war that summer.

story

You're Too Kind

Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi have decided to ease a series of restrictions on the Palestinian population during the month of Muslim month Ramadan, which begins Saturday.
The soldiers were instructed to act respectfully towards the residents and refrain as much as possible from eating, drinking and smoking in public in front of the Palestinian population, particularly at crossings, during the fasting hours.

but they can still shoot at them right?

I Heart Sweden

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt has rejected Israeli calls for official condemnation of a Swedish newspaper article about organ harvesting, saying freedom of expression is a cornerstone of democracy.

In his blog Thursday, Bildt also rejected claims that Sweden harbors anti-Semitic feelings, adding that the condemnation of anti-Semitism was the only issue in which he has been involved where there has ever been complete unity in the Swedish Parliament.

meanwhile ...

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Thursday evening slammed the Swedish Foreign Ministry for saying that Swedish Ambassador to Israel Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier's condemnation of a newspaper which accused the Israel Defense Forces of transplant organ theft does not represent the Swedish government's stance.

"It's a shame that the Swedish Foreign Ministry fails to intervene in a case of blood libels against Jews. This is reminiscent of Sweden's stand during World War II, when had failed to intervene as well," Lieberman said.

get ready to fast

fasting begins tomorrow ... work is from 10 - 4 ... sweet ... i think it was from 9 - 3 last time ... either way ... sweet ... no smoking during work ... i swore i wouldn't watch bab el hara this year ... i plan on keeping to my word ... i was so disappointed last year that i swore i wouldn't watch it this year ... they still haven't formed a government in lebanon ... that's what's on tv right now ... lbc evening news ... things in palestine not much better ... there was best of sl chi earlier ... it was pretty funny ... i'm almost done with wolfenstein ... what an AWESOME game ... i'm gonna try it on hard ... i was playing normal ... going back to work tomorrow ... kind of excited ... i saw one of my work buddies today ... we played fifa ... i beat him 7-2 playing with germany and him as ac milan ... then he beat me 7 - 1 playing with brazil and i was italy ... my big brother's coming tomorrow night ... to riyadh i mean ... should be staying at least a week ... hardees has this thing called an oreo shake ... it's frickin delicious ... i've been having one everyday for like the past three or four days ... with a mushroom and swiss meal ... that's been dinner of the week really ... i kind of miss the cooking in amman ... i've also been eating kudu for lunch ... where will i get iftar from tomorrow ... ah ramadan ... i plan on having a good one ... nshala ... my friend and i sort of agreed we would read the entire quran ... he's doing it as a نذر ... i'm just doing it cuz i want to ... so yeah ... BcL ... LiiM ... zzzzzzzz

Hypocrisy

The release of the only man convicted of blowing up a Pan Am flight in 1988 has brought high drama and controversy: the jeering mob outside a Scottish prison, the cheering crowd at a Tripoli airport, the furious families of the 270 people who died in the Lockerbie bombing.

Britain on Friday condemned the "upsetting" scenes of jubilation in Tripoli at the return of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi and considered canceling a royal visit to Libya as a sign of displeasure. President Barack Obama said the warm welcome in Libya was "highly objectionable."
story

maybe he doesn't deserve the warm welcome ... maybe he does ... we could disagree on that ... but the US and the British government have no right to lecture us about terrorism ...

shameless

we shop a lot more during ramadan don't we ... it's one of those things that have nothing to do with the spirit of the month ... it's just the commercial aspect ... anyway ... so do me a favor and buy mara3i products cuz they are our key client and what's good for the goose ... is good for the gander ...

NDILUIRRRRD

A i b H

mumblings

god bless that black dress ... and the girl wearing it ...

i never get sick of these

remember that

J a G i N b

M p B

Pray For Palestine

to everyone who reads this blog ... ramadan is just a few days away ... kul 3am wintu b5air w si77a w salameh ... please include the people of palestine in your du3a2 ...

mumblings

you know how they say "everyone has demons" ... well my demons have demons ...

scar tissue

you know how when someone breaks up with you but they say something dumb to soften the blow like but it doesn't have to be bitter ... umm yes it does ... that's like me telling someone yeah your parents just died in a nasty car crash but it doesn't have to be sad ...

SoM

B i A

mumblings

you know how martin luther king is famous for saying i have a dream .... well i had a dream ... i wanna be famous for saying that ...

CoMing From A cm

hobbies

realizing stuff ... becoming things ...

mumblings

child ... adolescent ... adult ...
isn't that how it goes?
well i never got to be an adolescent ...
i went from being a boy to being a man ...

vacation summarization

back from jordan ... somehow i don't feel like writing about it ... i stayed for two weeks ... my brother had his wedding ... now it's my turn ... to get married that is ... as in i'm next in line ... but i don't want to ... not now ... not soon ... there's time for that tomorrow ... went to the movies a lot ... transformers 2 sucks ass ... what a shit movie ... gi joe is way better ... saw a few other movies besides those two ... went out ONCE with some really old school friends who i never get to see except when i am in amman ... also went on a barbecue trip with some cousins ... it wasn't bad but it wasn't as good as it could have been if there had been a little more planning ... what else ... really the whole point of going was to attend the wedding ... i bought a pair of shoes while i was there ... it wasn't that great ... not having a car really sucks ... i'm used to having a car ... i would have gone to beirut if i didn't have to go for the wedding ... i might go in eid ... 5 days isn't bad ... so that's what i've been up to ... i don't have to go back to work until next week ... just resting at my apartment ... i saw my friend yesterday ... saw him again today ... yesterday was a lot more fun though ... watching this anime called death note ... it's not bad at all ... also i got wolfenstein on ps3 today ... sweeeeeet game ... it is hot here ... even at night ... all in all it was a much needed break from work ... but far from being the perfect vacation ...

FYI

too tired to say anything ... i just arrived today ...

but i will resume posting in the next few days ...

wil 7adir yi3lim il ghayeb ...

w ramadan kareem 3al jamee3 before everyone starts saying it ...