Above and Beyond

harley carla

2012-01-24T20:52:00.000+03:00

while driving home for lunch today .. suddenly i felt the very loud very powerful sound of a harley davidson roaring .. and i looked around me to see where is this beast making all this noise .. only to realize it was my car .. as it turned out there was something wrong with my exhaust system .. no biggie .. got it fixed on the same day only cost 150 riyals .. but for a short time today .. my car kind of sounded like this ..

nice try

2012-01-23T18:26:00.001+03:00

reviews

2012-01-21T20:45:00.000+03:00

i finished two things this weekend ..the first was shaq's autobiography .. shaq uncut .. i bought it when i went to dubai last month .. i read most of it on the plane .. i only had a few chapters left but you know after i got back i just couldn't be bothered anymore .. but i finally finished it .. it's actually a decent book .. although it's written by shaq so it's not exactly deep or profound .. no disrespect but he's an athlete not a writer .. so you know .. but despite the lack of any real insight it's still interesting when shaq dishes about the drama that went on between him and kobe or later on between him and pat riley .. needless to say if you are not an nba fan then you should not read this book .. you might appreciate the earlier parts in the book when he talks about his upbringing and family and such .. but once he gets to the nba part you will be completely lost .. simply because you will not get any of the references .. but all in all it was a nice light read .. i think any true nba fan would appreciate it .. regardless whether they are a fan of shaq or not ..

the other thing i finished was assassin's creed revelations .. the fourth installment in the series .. and apparently not the last one .. enough already ubisoft .. make a final one already .. so you are ezio once again .. although every now and then you have a flashback as altair .. a very old altair .. who cannot run or jump .. in fact he can barely walk .. anyway .. they made a few minor changes as they always do .. took a few things out .. put a few things in .. but overall the game remains the same .. the setting is turkey this time by the way .. so you run around and jump and leap and kill and climb and purchase shops and all that stuff we have come to be familiar with .. once again the story makes zero sense with all its animus templar mumbo jumbo but the gameplay is wonderful .. looking forward to the next one ..

song of the day

2012-01-21T00:09:00.000+03:00

slice of life

2012-01-19T15:00:00.002+03:00

a little context before telling the story .. in saudi, residential buildings are either singles or family .. that is either singles live in it .. OR .. families live in it .. but not both .. it is one of the many ridiculous things that go on in this otherwise wonderful country .. so i live in a family building .. what's that i hear you say .. but jundi you're single .. yes well the owner of my building happens to be the brother of the guy who owns the company i work for .. and there is your explanation .. anyway .. a new sexy building was just erected next to mine .. it is almost done but they are still doing the wiring for the electricity .. that's all that remains .. so i was considering moving to that building .. anyway today i passed by in my car and there was this guy outside smoking .. so i parked and went to talk to him .. here is the conversation that took place ..

- assalamu 3alaikum
- wa 3alaikum assalam
- inta ilmas2ool 3an il3amara
- na3am
- tayeb ana saken bil 3amara ili janbkum .. su2ali ino mata 7atkoon il 3amara jahze .. 3ashan 7abib ashoof sha2a feeha
- wallahi il3ilm 3ind Allah hiye jahze bas ba2i ilkahraba
- ya3ni ma 3indak fikra aimta mumkin tijhaz
- il3ilm 3ind Allah
- mmm tayeb w 3adi law 3azzabi
- shoo
- 3azzabi
- la 3azzabi ma fee
- abadan
- abadan
- ya3ni ansa ilmawdoo3
- insa ilmawdoo3
- tayeb shukran

my life in memes

2012-01-14T23:43:00.001+03:00

mom: m7amad you are almost 30, y u no get engaged la hala2

me: FFFFFFUUUUUUUU

when you're strange .. when you're strange

2012-01-12T23:06:00.006+03:00

sometimes an old school friend will add you on facebook ... you have not seen or talked to this person for more than a decade now and hadn't planned on it either .. but you accept because it's fun to rummage through their profile page .. see how their life turned out .. not that we give a crap .. mostly we just want to browse their photos ..
and sometimes someone from school - not a friend - just someone who was in your school will add you .. and it's like ok well we went to school together i guess i'll accept .. because once again it's fun to rummage through their profile page .. it really is ..
and sometimes .. and this happens very rarely but it happened today which inspired me to write this .. someone who didn't go to school with you .. who never even knew you per se .. they knew of you but never actually knew you .. like they were aware of your existence but there was never any actual contact between you .. for example you had mutual friends but they hung out with you separately .. or maybe you were both at the same party once .. someone like that will add you .. and that's when i feel it gets a little too weird .. it's like dude i never even knew you .. not even on a went to the same school basis .. and even when i did "know" you .. that was a decade ago .. so why are you adding me .. but again you accept .. why .. that's right .. also your friend count goes up one .. vanity's a bitch ..

i am a follower

2012-01-11T21:17:00.002+03:00

so i'm starting to get into this whole twitter thing .. i never liked it but i'm slowly warming up to it .. yes i can be like that sometimes .. for example i still refuse to buy a blackberry or an iphone ..

reflections

2012-01-08T21:40:00.003+03:00

watching an old porno is similar to watching an old sports game .. the players have weird hair .. they are not in as good shape as the ones today .. and they are not as exciting to watch either ..

just wondering

2012-01-08T20:21:00.002+03:00

russia is probably the only western country that supports bashar .. i wonder if the fact that the country names sound so similar in arabic has anything to do with it .. you know .. soorya .. roosya ..

abu dhabi

2012-01-06T22:58:00.000+03:00

it's not jerusalem .. but maybe one day ..

مطلب مين بالزبط؟

2012-01-06T09:55:00.001+03:00

the tag for this week's friday protest in syria is "جمعة التدويل مطلبنا" .. i wash my hands of this ..

i wonder

2012-01-05T22:44:00.003+03:00

what is it about dora the explorer that makes little girls go crazy .. she's not even "pretty" .. at least not in the conventional disney way ..

ghosts from the past

2012-01-05T21:27:00.002+03:00

i stayed in the aub dorms for my freshman year .. two semesters that is .. i had a different roommate each semester .. my first roommate was an older guy .. we never really talked .. mostly i just slept in the room and that was it .. the next semester my roommate was a newcomer .. a freshman like me .. here's why i bring it up .. the second roommate and my brother have a mutual friend .. and they recently met .. he told him that we didn't get along as roommates .. that's an understatement .. truth be told i was a terrible roommate .. so i don't blame him for saying that .. i wonder what else he told him ..

shades

2012-01-03T20:53:00.003+03:00

i never owned a pair of sunglasses before in my life .. but i finally bought a pair .. not sure why ..
those are them above ..

my short vacation a.k.a the escape from hell

2012-01-03T15:03:00.007+03:00

i got back from my short vacation late late last night .. i was supposed to be back at work today but i didn't go .. too tired .. way too tired .. anyway it was great .. a much needed change of scenery from my routine life .. i visited my brother in abu dhabi for five days .. i got there wednesday night .. i took an economy airline so they landed in the crappy terminal .. and my brother was waiting in the terminal where normal airlines land .. so there was some confusion there .. and to make matters worse his phone didn't have reception for a while so i couldn't reach him .. but in the end he found me and we went to his house .. it was very late so we picked up some sandwiches for me to eat on the way and that was it .. we soon went to sleep and that was that .. the next day we went to dubai .. we went to the mall of dubai first .. which is basically the biggest fanciest mall in all of the uae .. or so my brother said .. it is definitely nice .. burj khalifa is right outside .. so we did the mall for a while .. ate at the foodcourts .. and left .. next we went to the jumeira beach "walk" .. which is basically like this beachfront strip of restaurants and cafes .. we had coffee there .. and went home .. we is me my brother his wife and his daughter by the way .. his daughter is growing up .. she calls me ammo now .. not 3ammo .. ammo .. i got her this baby doll that you can feed and tickle and such .. and it makes noises .. i got perfumes for him and his wife .. but i digress .. next day we went on a trip to al-ain .. my cousin joined us there with his wife and his daughter .. we went to this mountain area that has a spring .. we had a little barbecue picnic .. it was delicious .. next day was new year's eve .. we went to the abu dhabi marina .. there is a mall there where we had dinner .. then we saw the fireworks on the corniche .. nothing special they only lasted a couple of minutes .. interesting fact there was a coldplay concert not too far from where we were sitting .. so we got to see all these people who were heading there .. i think the most memorable one was this fat girl who was totally drunk and speaking very loudly .. also we could see the stage and kind of hear the music .. anyway so we went home after that .. the next day we went to see this mosque which is like a replica of the dome of the rock mosque in jerusalem .. then we had dinner at this mall nearby .. i paid for that dinner by the way .. then we went to meet up with my brother's in-laws who were also in town .. his wife's sister and her husband and their four children that is .. so we all went to a mall .. when we got there we split up .. i went to the cinema they went off on their own .. i saw mission impossible 4 .. good movie .. i mean the story is nonsense but the action is superb .. also paula patton in that dress .. mercy .. anyway .. the next day my brother had work .. i went off on my own to ferrari world .. it was cool but it's something you only do once .. like i don't think i'll ever go back .. the rides are decent .. they have the fastest roller coaster in the world which is pretty cool .. so anyway i was there by myself for most of the day but later on his wife and the in-laws joined me there .. by that time i had already been on all the rides and everything so i served as their guide .. and finally my brother came and picked me up and we went to the airport and that was all she wrote .. i got home at 2 am .. my plan was to go to work late but i ended up blowing it off completely .. i was too tired .. but i'm going tomorrow .. i have a lot of photos that i took .. mostly of my brother's daughter and also of ferrari world .. maybe i'll share a few later .. by the way speaking of photos .. i wanted to put a picture with this post so i went on google images and searched "vacation" and literally every single one of the results involved a beach .. why is it that vacation equals beach .. all in all it was a good trip .. nice change of scenery .. good to see my brother and his family .. and good to get out of saudi for a few days ..

merry christmas everyone

2011-12-24T21:06:00.001+03:00

cliche cartoon

2011-12-24T19:24:00.002+03:00

dear cartoonists of the world .. this whole santa going through an israeli checkpoint or being confronted by the separation wall has been done to death .. literally thousands of similar cartoons exist .. enough already .. think of something new ..

best burgers in jeddah

2011-12-24T01:15:00.002+03:00

hot waves .. better than burger king and mcdonalds and hardees and all that nonsense .. a little bit pricier though .. just a little bit .. and just like a pizza they let you add toppings for more money .. also they have these giant fries which are wonderful ..

diablo wisdom

2011-12-23T21:44:00.004+03:00

who remembers the game diablo .. well anyone who who has ever played computer games should remember it .. classic game .. anyway here's why i mention it .. like i said i was in makkah the other day .. so remember your first mission in the game .. or was it called a quest .. anyway .. so you go to the town monastery .. and as you enter your character says the sanctity of this place has been fouled .. my feelings exactly .. still .. it is makkah .. and inshala one of my 2012 resolutions is to go more often ..

fact of the day

2011-12-23T10:37:00.000+03:00

Israel's Civil Administration issues 101 different types of permits to govern the movement of Palestinians, whether within the West Bank, between the West Bank and Israel or beyond the borders of the state, according to an agency document of which Haaretz obtained a copy.

me in makkah

2011-12-23T10:24:00.001+03:00

quality time with the family

2011-12-23T01:05:00.005+03:00

my parents came to do umra on monday .. i joined them on tuesday .. they were already done with the umra by then .. i didn't do umra myself .. i took a cab from jeddah to makka .. it's cheap and about a 40 minute drive if the guy is going fast enough .. i got there before asr prayers .. prayed asr in the haram .. had lunch back at the hotel .. then maghreb .. stayed in the haram until isha .. stayed a little longer in the haram .. finally went back to the hotel and had dinner .. and everyone went to sleep .. i think i was the last one to fall asleep .. i slept on the floor .. the next day we prayed duhur and went to jeddah .. they stayed with me for the day .. i took them to a mall for five minutes before we decided to leave because nobody was in the mood for it .. so i took them to a super fancy lebanese restaurant called byblos for dinner .. my treat .. paid a shitload of money .. anyway i learned that i can never drive with my dad in the car .. no seriously .. he wants me to not go faster than 60 .. and he panics whenever he anticipates anything .. which drove me absolutely nuts .. so that wasn't much fun .. dinner was good though .. but i did snap at him at one point .. i apologized later on .. but i feel it was warranted .. i mean he really zawwadha .. anyway .. after dinner they slept over and the next morning i drove them to the airport .. i got this guy to come clean my place so it would be sparkling clean when they came .. and yet my mom who is a super obsessive neatfreak was not satisfied .. she insisted on redoing my dishes .. which were apparently not clean enough for her .. so they are leaving ksa for good in about a week or so .. happy trails .. also mom kept telling me i should get married but i said no .. i'm going to take another short vacation next weekend to go visit my brother in abu dhabi for a few days .. that should be fun ..

doublespeak

2011-12-16T11:09:00.004+03:00

apparently RUH is sext for "are you horny" .. which i thought was funny .. because it's also the IATA code for riyadh .. those who have lived in riyadh will appreciate the irony ..

time to get paid blow up like the world trade

2011-12-13T21:30:00.003+03:00

i had a little shouting match with my boss's boss today ... he's kind of both our boss in a way ... like on the organizational chart i report to my boss but in reality there's also a dotted line going up to his boss ... anyway ... so i finally said some things i've been wanting to say for a long time ... but it was cool ... we had a laugh later on in the day ... so nobody went to bed angry ... but still it was something ... i told him i had a certain limit and when someone pushes me beyond it i don't know what can happen ... i swear his face went yellow for a split-second ... but he soon recovered and shouted right back ... anyway ... so the group division manager was in the room next door ... as was the visiting consultant ... so they heard everything ... or at least they definitely heard the shouting ... anyway ... i love our group division manager ... he is algerian and speaks english with a delightful french accent ... but anyway ... it was another chapter in the ongoing saga that is my time with this company ...
i can get away with shouting at my boss's boss ... because i am indispensable ... everyone else fears him greatly ... it's like news when someone shouts at him ...

fool me once

2011-12-13T20:41:00.001+03:00

is the arab world so dumb to believe that those who have been propping up our dictators for so long have suddenly had a change of heart ... western governments want us to be free ... really ...

quote of the day

2011-12-13T00:18:00.000+03:00

“America will deal with the Islamists or anyone else who can deliver what they want,”

from a very interesting article from the nyt about jordan ...

asking nato for help is halal

2011-12-12T23:43:00.003+03:00

i read in the news that qardawi issued a fatwa saying that it is ok for syrians to ask for foreign intervention ... i have to say i just lost all respect for this man ... yes he is a scholar and i am but an ignorant fool ... but i beg to differ ... my position is that it is NEVER ok ... i don't give a fuck what the circumstances are ... it's just not done ...

they callin me

2011-12-12T23:23:00.002+03:00

well my last post was about ringtones .. so i figure what the hell .. this one is for my best friend at work .. this one is for my boss .. this one is for his boss .. except the one i have just has the catchy part which starts at around 0:40 and ends at around 1:12 .. this one is for my mom .. and i have one for my dad but i have no idea where to find it online .. but it's like this calm serene music ..
by the way it's been a long two weeks at work ... extremely tiresome ... can't wait to finish this project ...

this gets me

2011-12-12T23:19:00.002+03:00

it's my current ringtone ...

foot down

2011-12-09T23:52:00.002+03:00

i don't care how beautiful you are sorry the answer is no ... and i know i said that there was nothing in the world i wouldn't do for you ... but this is one of them ... and honestly i think it's a little pathetic that you would make such a silly request ... although maybe if you did something for me in return i might reconsider ...

this life oh this life

2011-12-01T16:54:00.002+03:00

i did an interview today .. it was the first interview i've done since i started the job i'm currently working at .. the last interview i did was the one that got me this job .. it's nothing to be excited about honestly but if they pay me what i want i might do it ..

jundi does standup

2011-12-01T16:40:00.003+03:00

you know what's funny .. one of the side effects of anti-depressant medication is decreased libido .. meaning weaker erections or even inability to get an erection at all .. well isn't that something that would make a man depressed ..

close your eyes and drift away

2011-11-21T18:52:00.002+03:00

hey-oooo

2011-11-16T22:32:00.004+03:00

so i haven't written anything here in a while .. i should and i will ... but not now ... gonna let this ride out a little longer ... vacation was great ... im in a good place these days ... so anyway just stopping by to say hello in case anyone out there is reading this ... just wanted to let you know that ... like that pearl jam song goes ... heyyyy iiiiiiii ohhhhh iiiiiiiii im still alive ... which brings us to our next segment ...

fyi

2011-10-29T09:44:00.001+03:00

my two week vacation begins today .. will not blog in that period .. see ya!

movies

2011-10-29T09:05:00.002+03:00

watched a couple of movies this week .. the first was kung fu panda 2 .. it was good but i liked the first one better .. still it was good fun .. unless you don't like animation movies then you should enjoy it ..

the other was crazy stupid love .. sort of a romantic comedy i guess .. but not a very realistic one .. not realistic at all actually .. great cast though .. steve carell, emma stone, marisa tomei, julianne moore, ryan gosling .. so basically you have a bunch of intertwining love plots .. so unlike most romantic comedies which are about one couple .. there are multiple stories going on here .. it's decent enough .. it's not too cynical but not too mushy either .. good for watching with your significant other ..

song of the day

2011-10-24T18:54:00.000+03:00

work and a review

2011-10-23T22:09:00.010+03:00

so the cold war at work is now at truce mode .. i got my vacation .. not all of it but i got a week .. we get another week off for eid so technically it will be two weeks .. oh baby .. gonna visit my folks .. it might be the last time i see them in saudi .. they're moving to jordan soon .. like a couple of months .. but yeah we reached a truce at work .. the management sort of said we hear you loud and clear and we acknowledge your complaints although we may or may not agree with all of them .. though we will admit some of them are valid .. but not all .. i'll take it for now .. so i'm gonna cool it .. they're gonna cool it .. and we're going to live happily ever after .. ahhhh office politics .. sweet drama for my otherwise dreary life ..

i beat the game rage .. i have mixed feelings about it .. on the one hand it is a fantastic shooter .. but the story sucked .. i don't even know what the story was .. honest to God i'm not making this up i beat this one mission next thing i know there was a cutscene and then the credits began rolling .. and i was like what the hell did i just beat the game .. so yeah that's a sure sign it's a shitty story .. but as a shooter it was beautiful .. roaming the wasteland and killing the bad guys provides an adrenaline rush that is second to none .. the racing element was a nice touch .. it was very road warrior-esque .. remember those old mad max movies .. but the racing bit doesn't even come close to comparing with the shooting part of the game .. forget the racing that's just a minigame at best .. this game is a pure shooter .. although you would think bethesda would've added an rpg element similar to what they did with fallout but no .. so that was a bit disappointing as well .. but basically it is your cliche shooter in terms of execution .. you go to town and buy ammo and weapons and supplies and such .. also you can gamble .. talk to people in town .. they give you corny missions .. like retrieving booze from an abandoned distillery .. or fetching some plant with healing powers from a mutant infested area .. but the gameplay is fantastic .. weapons are beautiful .. when you pick one up for the first time you sort of turn it around and check it out .. there are various types of ammo for the same weapon .. the enemies are clever .. the voice acting is great .. the blood and way people die is awesome .. so yeah .. but the story .. so woefully bad .. it loses major points for that .. worse than that there is no multiplayer .. only co-op .. still it was a great shooter .. 7/10 ..

song of the day

2011-10-21T22:37:00.001+03:00

a to the k

2011-10-19T20:46:00.004+03:00

she's pretty enough .. lovely light brown complexion .. great smile .. cute short brown hair .. i mean she's not ugly .. but also she's not like maxim hot .. she has a very quiet very gentle beauty .. yet something about her makes guys go crazy over her .. it's not her looks .. it's something else .. maybe she's a witch .. putting magic spells on them .. no .. maybe it is her boldness .. no .. maybe it's all that money .. hmmmmm ..

مسخرة

2011-10-19T20:44:00.000+03:00

"I am proud to stand here on the soil of a free Libya," Clinton said amid meetings with Transitional National Council Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril and interim leader Mustafa Abdul-Jalil.

"The United States was proud to stand for you in your fight for freedom and we will continue to stand with you as you continue this journey."

reflecting

2011-10-16T23:49:00.002+03:00

so you may have heard of the iranian plot to kill the saudi ambassador in washington .. personally i think it's a filim hindi .. but that's just me .. but i was thinking .. have you seen this ambassador .. he doesn't look very saudi does he .. he looks more like a lebanese .. which he may or may not be .. but think about it .. being the saudi ambassador in washington .. away from politics and principles .. that's a hell of a job isn't it .. think of the perks and the prestige that come with such a position ..

movie and a game

2011-10-14T22:17:00.003+03:00

watched the movie she devil .. it is an old movie .. 1989 .. remember roseanne .. yes that roseanne .. she's in it .. meryl streep steals her husband .. so she destroys both their lives .. it's a nice movie actually .. watching her go about her evil plan is quite satisfying .. and meryl streep .. oh she was hot back in the day .. damn .. not to mention she is an amazing actress .. i enjoyed the movie .. 9/10 ..

playing rage these days .. picked it up earlier this week but only opened it this weekend .. it's produced by id and published by bethesda .. id brought us doom and bethesda brought us fallout .. and that's how this game plays out .. a mix of doom and fallout .. in other words .. fricking awesome .. also they included a racing element in the game .. again .. fricking awesome .. i'm still nowhere in the game .. only logged in about two hours of playing time .. also i'm playing on hard .. so this is gonna take a while ..

no homo

2011-10-14T04:00:00.004+03:00

there is this pizza place i go to sometimes .. i don't eat there i get takeout .. i usually go for their subs or pastas i don't get pizza usually .. anyway .. the staff all are filipino .. one of them is particularly girly ... and i think he has a crush on me .. and it's totally making me uncomfortable .. i think i might stop going there ..
like i noticed him looking at me before .. but now he is trying to be friendly with me .. giving me a free drink while i wait for the order .. asking me where i am from .. what my name is .. fuck off already ..

i had a similar encounter in beirut once .. i was walking down the street and this guy stopped me to talk to me .. and as it turned out he was looking for some love so to speak .. i was like ehh good luck with that ..

the cold war

2011-10-13T00:02:00.006+03:00

so i spoke of a cold war at work .. well today it turned burning hot .. in a nutshell my boss said that they hired someone to take over for me and i will be handling a different section .. it's not a promotion or a demotion .. just being transferred .. i've made it clear i wasn't happy where i was so .. anyway .. he said the new hire would do a better job than me .. but not in that way .. but kind of in that way .. i said game on bitch .. not in those words .. i said something along the lines oh i am going to love watching him crash and burn .. and i was like but under one condition as long as you don't give him more staff because that would be unfair .. i told him i promise you he will not be able to handle it .. see the cold war is that i want a raise since i do so much work .. and i have gotten a 10% raise since joining and i've only been here a year but i want MORE .. and i deserve MORE .. i mean they're even reluctant to give me a vacation because everything goes to fuck if i am ever gone for more than a few days .. they don't agree so much .. anyway so this is their way of trying to tell me you're not as important as you think and we can manage without you .. but i guarantee you i will win .. and my boss kind of tried to backpedal at the end .. he said i may be wrong i don't know .. maybe he won't be better than you .. and i was like it's not that you might be wrong .. you are 100% wrong and you will see .. i am very proud of how i did in there .. i stood my ground and very confidently so i might add .. thing is i had a grin or a smirk on my face the whole time .. so it wasn't like a heated exchange where we were yelling back and forth .. it was just two cool calm conniving assholes negotiating ..

song of the day

2011-10-11T23:25:00.001+03:00

love the chorus!

raqam mummayaz

2011-10-11T23:13:00.002+03:00

saw this plate the other day .. ا ح ل 1 .. get it a7la wa7ad ..

click the image to see it ..

white folks

2011-10-11T22:40:00.003+03:00

this is hank williams jr who sings the theme to monday night football .. espn fired him and yanked the song after this interview .. if you look up redneck in the dictionary you will see this dude's picture .. this was one awkward conversation .. but i thought the hosts handled it very professionally ..
this hank williams jr fellow reminded me of the guy in the below video ..

randoms

2011-10-09T23:26:00.007+03:00

went to the store to buy some games today .. i havent bought a game in like five months .. the last game i bought was la noire .. that game is in my opinion the second best game on ps3 in history .. number one being of course heavy rain .. although i can see others saying la noire is better .. but i digress .. i wanted nba 2k12 and rage .. got rage .. but nba was out of stock .. he said they'd have it again in a few days .. i told him reserve me a copy .. havent played rage yet .. probably wont until the weekend .. there's some sweet games coming out soon .. mainly batman arkham city and also uncharted 3 .. listen to me going on about ps3 games .. maybe i should get married .. is it possible to be married and still play ps3 .. looking at my older brothers i can say the answer is no ..

i spoke about a cold war brewing at work between my boss and i .. well today he walked by and gave me a pat on the back .. which i took as a gesture of goodwill .. but i will not let my guard down ..

my parents are leaving saudi in a couple months .. my dad said he wants to give me his car .. i was like sell it i dont need it .. but he insisted .. he was like your car got fucked by the flooding and it's giving you a hard time .. i was like no but i fixed it .. and he said yeah but still i want to give it to you .. anyway in the end i was like well ok if you insist .. so it looks like i might be getting a car? .. im contemplating selling it .. that would be rude wouldnt it .. i dunno .. its better than my car but i love my car .. and i spent so much fixing it since the floods last year .. if i sell it i will not get much .. its working fine now .. i mean sure it can never go back 100% the way it was but it's running like a tiger mashalla .. my friend said sell both and lease a new one .. and i was like hmmmmm .. i duno .. we'll see ..

a vision in white

2011-10-09T23:22:00.003+03:00

she is kind of wise in a way .. but sometimes she tries too hard to sound philosophical .. but she's pretty so i let it slide ..

best game ever revisited

2011-10-08T19:13:00.006+03:00

v

i beat heavy rain over the weekend ... heavy rain is probably in my opinion the best game ever made ... the last time i beat it was like two years ago ... never played it since then .. well not really two years ago .. like a year and a half ... but that's not the point ... i don't usually write about games here but this game deserves a post ... as good as la noire was but heavy rain is better ... there is no other game like heavy rain ... basically it is like a movie ... you're just watching a movie ... but occasionally the game lets you decide what the character should do ... most of the time you're just watching a movie unfold ... but here is the thing ... the game makes you a part of the movie ... you get to control the slightest things ... like when your character is dancing you just press the button prompts that pop up on the screen ... or when you are bandaging a wound you roll the analog stick in a circle to wrap it around the person's arm ... or changing a baby's diaper ... or applying lipstick ... or shaving ... or breaking into a mansion and shooting the place up ... or hitting golf balls while a rich tycoon tries to buy your silence ... or even making out ... it's just magical ... and the graphics ... oh the graphics ... such detail ... right down to the last small thing ... what a work of art ... but it's short ... like i said i beat it over the weekend ... and i didn't get the same ending i got the first time i played ... see that's another thing ... depending on your choices the movie unfolds differently ... people can end up dead or alive at the end ... or together or broken up ... it's just the best game ... there is no other game like it ... it's in a league of it's own ...
but it's a very dark very depressing movie ... which i guess only enhances the immersional experience of the game ... the game or the movie revolves around four different characters ... they don't know each other but they come to do so ... and you get to control them in the various scenes of the game ... but the main character is ethan mars ... he once had the perfect family ... beautiful house beautiful wife two beautiful little boys ... then one day at the mall his son got hit by a car ... and he blames himself ... and now he and his wife are separated ... then one day he takes his other son to the park and loses him as well ... he is kidnapped by a serial killer ... and now it is up to ethan to save him ... so there's ethan ... the other three are an fbi detective who is also on the case ... and he has a drug addiction ... then there's the private eye investigating the case but you never really know who hired him ... which serves for a very unexpected twist at the end ... and there's madison ... the sexy journalist who is following the serial killer story and falls for ethan ...
so far i played the game twice and both times the son is rescued alive at the end ... but there are endings where he doesn't live ...
maybe i'll play it again in another two years .. until then ...

quote of the day

2011-10-07T09:07:00.001+03:00

To my Syrian brothers and sisters: don't mimic the Lebanese when they take pride in someone who is (in reality or through the imagination) of Lebanese origin even if he/she has never ever made any connection to his/her real or imaginative roots. Steve Jobs did not have any dealings with his Syrian father: he was raised by different parents. And most importantly, Jobs never ever made any connection with Syrians or Arabs. Just avoid the silly and humiliating path of Lebanese popular culture.

angry arab

from facebook

2011-10-06T20:47:00.002+03:00

‎10 years ago we had Steve Jobs, Bob Hope and Johnny Cash - Now we have no Jobs, no Hope and no Cash.

صدق الله العظيم

2011-10-05T20:09:00.001+03:00

و إن تعدوا نعمة الله لا تحصوها

the old ball and chains

2011-10-03T22:00:00.000+03:00

horrible bosses

2011-10-02T23:36:00.004+03:00

great cast but not so great movie .. jason bateman jason sudeikis charlie day .. all hilarious guys .. also kevin spacey and colin farrell .. not too shabby .. though jennifer aniston not so much .. kristen wiig would have been funnier .. anyway .. they all hate their bosses and decide to kill them ... and that's the story without any spoilers .. it's kind of like the hangover .. sort of a bromantic comedy .. it doesn't suck but it's also not special ... it's just good ... nothing more nothing less .. 7/10 ..

the power of beauty

2011-10-02T17:45:00.002+03:00

if someone who looks like that .. not to mention dressed like that .. told me snuck is not a real word .. i would completely agree .. even though i know she is wrong ..

you can't make this stuff up

2011-09-30T23:01:00.001+03:00

al-qaeda has an english magazine .. and it's called "inspire" ..

source

words of wisdom

2011-09-29T23:31:00.002+03:00

every problem has a solution .. in some cases figuring out what the problem is, is the solution ...

KeD

Fe

2011-09-28T23:28:00.000+03:00

cold war state of mind

facebook espionage

2011-09-28T23:08:00.002+03:00

got a call a couple of hours ago ... it was this guy who works for a consulting firm we deal with ... i knew he was coming ... just wasn't expecting the call ... i was like i don't think he's calling about a work question because it's awfully late for that ... anyway so he's like yeah i arrived and i'm checked in and i was just wondering how i would get to the site tomorrow ... and i was like mmm i'll pick you up ... how nice of me right ... i know ... actually any excuse for getting out of work is welcome ... even if it is picking up some dude from the hotel ... anyway ... so i know the dude's name and i know where he works ... but i'd never met him before ... so i was like hmmm ... and so i looked him up on facebook ... and i was able to find him ... and see his profile photos ... yes his privacy standards are very lax in that regard ... so he has a latuff cartoon about rafah ... that's cool ... i know he is a lakers fan ... so we both like basketball ... we both went to university in beirut ... though i'm aub he is lau ... so seems we have a lot in common ... if he were a girl he would be the one lol ... anyway all i'm saying is facebook is useful sometimes ...

bears logo

2011-09-25T23:14:00.005+03:00

this is the chicago bears logo ... is it just me or does the shadowing on his left cheek resemble a scary ghost ... see like that's his eye and his mouth is open and that's his tongue ... do you see it ... also his nostrils are like a skull ... makes the bear even more menacing doesn't it ... i'm assuming it was intentional ...

jundi the office guru

2011-09-25T22:23:00.003+03:00

when your job sucks .. you have three choices .. get another one .. quit .. or look for ways to make it more tolerable .. hating it is not an option .. that just makes it suck even more ..

mumblings

2011-09-25T21:38:00.002+03:00

they say the forbidden fruit tastes good because it's forbidden .. and i agree ... but i would add .. even if it wasn't forbidden .. the fact remains it tastes fucking delicious ... being forbidden just makes it sweeter is all ..

mr. bossman

2011-09-22T21:28:00.003+03:00

the fire that seemed to rage in his eyes was a double-edged sword ... on the one hand it struck fear into the hearts of all ... on the other hand it was very painful for him ... because it literally felt like a fire was burning in his eyes ...

spiritual conversations

2011-09-22T17:30:00.000+03:00

stop ignoring the signs

what i learned today

2011-09-21T22:24:00.002+03:00

my parents decided to leave saudi for good .. it's only a few months now ..

wha?

2011-09-20T23:36:00.000+03:00

the meaning of life is searching for the meaning of life

what i did today

2011-09-19T20:09:00.001+03:00

threw some bait in the ocean .. still waiting to see if the fish will bite or not ..

not literally .. it's a metaphor ..

the arab spring

2011-09-17T23:22:00.000+03:00

another "great arab revolution"?

L from L

2011-09-16T00:56:00.002+03:00

it was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen ... her skin was a beautiful bronze ... her dress was the same colors as the hot desert where she lives ... she was clapping and smiling ... her aura literally glowing around her ... a look of pure happiness on that perfect face ... it was her friend's wedding ...
he knew he would never see her again after the wedding was over ... but he prayed to God that she remain that happy forever ...

P s X 3

mumblings

2011-09-16T00:54:00.002+03:00

i may not be living the dream ... but i am certainly living a dream ...

im going going back back

2011-09-16T00:53:00.000+03:00

isnt it ironic we call it the right of return even though a lot of us have never even been to palestine before .. how do you return to a place you've never been to before .. it doesnt make any sense

politico

2011-09-13T23:39:00.005+03:00

with all the turmoil in the middle east power balances are shifting .. old alliances being broken and new alliances being formed .. everyone is trying to fill the vacuum .. turkey is a rising star .. nato .. america .. britain .. france .. italy .. iran .. pretty much everyone is trying to get a slice except the arabs ..
they're either a) too busy trying to start over after having toppled the regime .. or b) too busy trying to preserve themselves from being toppled .. or c) too busy trying to topple the regime .. so yeah i would say things are definitely starting to change .. and not in a good way ..
i have a friend who is a coworker recently return from yemen .. he spent the eid holiday over there .. he told me tales that were quite chilling .. he said the sound of gunfire never stops .. that death is everywhere ..
i have always said that if and when the revolution comes to my neighborhood .. i would rather go out and die than try to flee .. i still like to think that is true ..

four thumbs down

2011-09-12T21:20:00.003+03:00

so last night was the entourage season finale .. series finale as a matter of fact .. great show but what a shitty last episode .. so disney .. what the hell everyone got back together and lived happily ever after ..

quality time

2011-09-12T01:15:00.003+03:00

i went down to the corniche and had a meal there .. it was dark and not a lot of people .. around 11 pm .. i got two fajitas from this place called shawermatak .. they sucked but ilhamdulila .. never going there again .. but i'll definitely do this again .. it was fun .. i had a cigarette afterwards .. it was very contemplative .. there were these cats and i fed them meat from my sandwiches ..
it reminds me of beirut in a way .. being a coastal city .. i like it ..

nobody's perfect

2011-09-12T01:12:00.001+03:00

she has a beautiful face .. and a beautiful personality .. but she's kind of a slut .. albeit a very beautiful one ..

the end is nigh

2011-09-10T22:13:00.003+03:00

man shit is about to blow up in the world .. we're only a few months away from 2012 .. you thought this year was bad .. talk to me again one year from today .. oh the stories we'll tell ..

peace of mind 101

2011-09-10T00:05:00.002+03:00

the key is balance .. moderation .. and most importantly .. occasionally taking a step back to see the bigger picture ..

reflections

2011-09-09T19:04:00.003+03:00

there's no better way to unwind than taking a trip down memory lane .. depending on which road you take to get there ..

tv reflections

2011-09-08T02:45:00.001+03:00

weeds is breaking bad with a sense of humor .. breaking bad is like the clinically depressed version of weeds ..

mumblings

2011-09-05T22:11:00.003+03:00

you can only think about what you want to do for so long .. there comes a time when you just need to choose something and go do it ..

auto reply

2011-09-05T01:42:00.004+03:00

this is awesome ...

resume the position

2011-09-04T23:51:00.003+03:00

well one week of holiday is over .. technically it was five days but i added two on my own .. one before it started and one after .. i got to khobar on tuesday .. we went to bahrain on wednesday .. came back to khobar friday night .. i came back to jeddah last night .. and going back to work tomorrow morning ..
this was the highlight of my holiday ..

pretty excited

2011-08-29T16:46:00.005+03:00

i fly to khobar tomorrow to visit my folks .. we will go to visit my older brother in bahrain .. my other brother is flying in from abu dhabi .. and then there are my two younger brothers who still live with my parents .. it will be the first time all of us are in the same room since forever .. like two years almost .. plus i will get to see my older brother's daughter for the first time .. and my other brother's daughter for the second time ..

i want to make this into a poster

2011-08-29T14:10:00.004+03:00

this picture is awesome for two reasons ..
one because it just is .. and second because that's eddie vedder ..

despite

2011-08-28T04:51:00.003+03:00

i was at subway .. and this guy was telling them what he wants on his sandwiches .. that's plural .. sandwicheS .. i guess he was ordering for his whole family because he had ordered like seven sandwiches .. so anyway .. he seemed to be saudi but he spoke good english .. i mean the accent wasn't that bad .. but here is the thing .. when the guy asked him what he wanted on one of the sandwiches .. he said .. everything despite the chili pepper and onions .. which i thought was a strange way of phrasing it .. despite .. don't you mean except .. or but .. i mean it's like the chili pepper and the onions don't want him to put everything on his sandwich .. but he's doing it anyway despite them .. so anyway i just thought it was funny .. i didn't say anything though ..

mumblings

2011-08-28T04:33:00.003+03:00

it's a miracle i'm still alive considering the way that i drive .. and yes i am trying to jinx myself .. by the way that first part rhymed ..

se7en

2011-08-28T03:30:00.003+03:00

well it's almost twenty years old but i finally saw it .. yeah i have a bunch of those in my collection .. that is movies everyone else has seen but me .. inception comes to mind .. anyway i'll get around to them sooner or later ..
back to se7en though .. i can see why it is such a classic .. it really is a great movie .. morgan freeman and brad pitt play two detectives investigating a string of serial killings that have a theme .. that theme being the seven deadly sins .. when they first talk to the killer it is over the phone .. and as i heard him speak i said that is kevin spacey .. and sure enough i was right .. so i deserve a cookie for that .. anyway .. some major twists towards the end of the movie .. 10/10 ..

the joneses

2011-08-27T00:00:00.005+03:00

the joneses is a movie with a very interesting concept .. but very poor execution .. the joneses are a fake family .. that is they are not really family .. they are actors playing a family .. they work for an advertising company that pays them to do so .. they move into the suburbs and pretend to be this perfect family so people around them can strive to emulate them .. what is known in marketing terminology as being an opinion leader .. but of course this is all just a facade .. and beneath that perfect surface they have their own drama to deal with just like any normal family .. no matter how hard they try to hide it .. like i said .. great concept .. poor execution .. david duchovny and demi moore play the mother and father .. while amber heard plays the daughter .. and some guy i never heard of plays the son .. could've been better .. 6.5/10 ..

ramadaniyat

2011-08-26T23:56:00.004+03:00

i went to makka with a couple of people from work the day before yesterday .. we got there as isha prayer was starting .. it was hot and crowded .. but i don't regret going .. it really was crowded though .. a bit overwhelming really .. you never see so many people in one place in your life ..

i'm just saying

2011-08-26T03:29:00.001+03:00

what happened in libya was regime change .. period .. way too soon to start throwing the word freedom around .. way way too soon ..

$0.02

2011-08-23T17:01:00.002+03:00

so there is kind of a debate surrounding libya .. was it or wasn't it ok to ask for nato's help .. i personally feel it wasn't .. i feel that nato's involvement defeats the whole purpose .. but let me put it this way .. i hate qathafi .. but i hate nato more ..

once upon a time

2011-08-23T04:07:00.002+03:00

me: you and i are so different though .. we're like from different worlds .. i mean your family is so rich

her: what my family is not rich

me: look maybe compared to the rest of your parents friends you guys are not considered rich .. but compared to my family you guys are fucking rich

cartman would approve

2011-08-20T07:10:00.004+03:00

An Arsenal football club fan website has drawn harsh criticism from anti-racism campaigners for using the Star of David to indicate which members have donated the least to the site, Britain's Jewish Chronicle newspaper reported Thursday.
The Arsenal fan forum, “We are the Herd”, has more than 1,000 members, and mandates that each member must donate money if they wish to access certain parts of the site. The site automatically places Jewish stars next to the posts of members who have not given funds to the site.
"We are the Herd" states the site "isn't for the politically correct, it isn't aimed at children.”

offensive? kind of yeah .. hilarious? absolutely ..

bridesmaids

2011-08-20T05:52:00.004+03:00

if you can recognize the girls in the photo above you can guess this movie is a comedy .. you have kristen wiig as the lead .. fellow snl alum maya rudolph .. there's erin from the office .. that one blonde chick from reno 911 .. also rose byrne who i had never heard of before but my she is beautiful .. she plays the perfect girl in the movie so .. then that fat chick in the corner .. who plays a kind of butch character .. anyway it is kind of a chick flick .. but it's produced by judd apatow .. so the humor is somewhat vulgar .. not that vulgar by apatow standards but very vulgar by chick flick standards .. all in all it is a funny movie .. basically wiig and rudolph have been best friends since forever .. and now rudolph is engaged .. but her new friend played by byrne is planning every last detail .. leaving wiig feeling a little jealous .. also wiig is feeling the sting of not having a serious relationship herself .. drama unfolds .. 8/10 ..

company iftar

2011-08-19T11:16:00.002+03:00

in the loop

2011-08-15T17:59:00.004+03:00

this is a brilliant comedy ... i laughed out loud so many times ... and that rarely happens when i watch a movie ... especially if i'm sober ... just kidding ... but no it really did make me laugh a lot ... it's kind of a political satire that makes fun of how politicians build a case for - or against - war ... in this case it's the british and the americans and the war is on iraq ... it's probably not a very realistic portrayal of how things went down .. but it's hilarious so who cares .. it's just one of the better comedies i've seen in a long time .. also .. i had never heard of this peter capaldi fellow before but i was mightily impressed ... his cursing abilities are second to none .. 10/10 ...

the yin and the yang

2011-08-15T17:41:00.001+03:00

sometimes i want to write you sweet poems full of mushy crap like how your smile is a ray of sunshine ... and sometimes i want to send you dirty texts that would make satan blush ...