Obscure And Melancholic

على هامش الثورة

2011-02-05T00:23:00.002+02:00

انتهت جمعة الرحيل, ولكن ماذا حققنا في هذا اليوم؟ أولاً أتحدث بصيغة الجمع التي تعود على شباب مصر الذين أنتمي إليهم, لكنني لا أدعي كوني على نفس قدر أي من رجال ميدان التحرير, شباب مصر الذين أشعلوا ثورة الخامس والعشرين من يناير. الشباب الذي ضحى في سبيل هذه الثورة بدمه وأمنه وجهده ووقته. الشباب الذي تحاول الآن أحزاب المعارضة الكرتونية والحزب الحاكم حرمانه من هذه المعجزة التي لم يتخيل أكثرنا تفاؤلاً قدرتهم عليها حين تقدمت أحزاب المعارضة بطلباتها إلى الحزب الحاكم الذي قبل بمناقشة هذه الطلبات ووجدها مشروعة! على حد قول رئيس وزارتهم الجديد, في حين لم نسمع أي رأي لأصحاب هذه الثورة حتى الآن سوى بعض الشباب الذين ظهروا على التلفزيون المصري يتحدثون عن الوضع في ميدان التحرير وكأنه مهرجان للسينما والتلفزيون. ما أخشاه فعلاً, وهو ماقاله عزمي بشارة على شاشة الجزيرة, هو سلب الشباب ثورتهم وتحويلها إلى مجرد اعتصام يقدر الحزب الحاكم على التعايش معه بمزيد من الوعود الإصلاحية للشعب واللعب على عامل الوقت إلى أن ينسى الشعب معجزته ويضيع الزخم ويستمر النظام.

ما قاله عزمي بشارة وهو محق تماماً هو أن الحزب الحاكم يسير في طريق تحويل هذه الثورة إلى مجرد اعتصام آخر لشباب الإنترنت, الثورة تقلب نظام الحكم وتفرض شروطها على الحكم ولايبقى من التفاوض سوى كيفية تسليم هذا الحكم للثوار. أما أن يرى الحزب الحاكم وأحزاب المعارضة أن أقصى مايمكن تحقيقه من هذه الثورة هو تغيير الوزارة والوعد بإصلاحات طلبها الشعب لثلاثين عاماً فهو أقصى درجات الخيانة للشباب الذي ضحى بحياته في سبيل هذه الثورة ضد هذا النظام الغاشم.

برغم العدد المهول من المصريين الذين تظاهروا من شمال البلاد إلى جنوبها. برغم المليونين الذين تظاهروا في ميدان التحرير بقلب العاصمة ألا إنني لا أزال خائفاً. معظم من قابلتهم من الناس يأخذون على هذا الشباب تعطيل لقمة عيش هذا الشعب الذي يعيش معظمه تحت خط الفقر, الناس الذين يودون لو تنتهي هذه الثورة حتى يتفرغوا لكسب العيش والعودة إلى حياتهم الطبيعية وهي الرغبة التي قد يؤدي تحقيقها إلى القضاء على مجهود شباب التحرير وتضيع على مصر والمصريين فرصة قد لن تتكرر للإمساك بزمام الوطن وتمكين الشعب من حكمه ومن فرصته في الديمقراطية.

اتفهم تماماً إصرار هؤلاء الشباب على تنحية الرئيس ,الفاقد الشرعية فعلياً, فهو قادم من فهم كامل لما أقدموا عليه, الثورة. والثورة هي أن يتنحى الحكم تماماً حتى يبدأ نظام جديد بشروط الثوار لا شروط الحاكم.

إلى كل من يدعوني إلى التوقف عن المظاهرات والإنصراف إلى عودة الحياة إلى طبيعتها وإعطاء الحكم فرصة أخيرة لمدة الأشهر القليلة المتبقية, إذا تمكن فعلاً النظام هو وأحزاب معارضته الكرتونية من إعادة الوضع إلى ماهو عليه وسلب الشباب لثورتهم فلا تلومن إلا أنفسكم وأرجوا أن تجهزوا من الآن تفسيراً عندما يسألكم أولادكم كيف بقيتم محكومون بالحديد والنار طيلة حياتكم وكيف فوتم على أنفسكم فرصة الخلاص. وكمثال على تصرفات الحكومة التي نود إعطائها فرصة أخيرة, فمن منكم يملك تفسيراً لعدم إقدام الحكومة على المجزرة التي كان يتوقعها الكل لوقفة جمعة الخلاص خصوصاً بعد إبعاد جميع المراسلين ومصادرة جميع الكاميرات التي تراقب الميدان. هل ترددوا بسبب العدد الكبير للناس الذين حضروا إلى الميدان؟ خصوصاً مع تأكيد الكثرين على تواجد كثير من البلطجية في الإنتظار قرب الميدان بل وقيامهم بعمل نقاط تفتيش على مداخل الميدان! وهي الملاحظة التي ذكرها الكثيرون ممن توافدوا إلى الميدان. هل لو كان العدد أقل من هذا أو لم تكن وسائل الإعلام وأنظار العالم كله تتجه إلى الميدان في هذا اليوم كان النظام سيقدم على القضاء على المتواجدين بالميدان؟

على جنب:

لا أعلم إن كان عدم التزام المصريين بحظر التجوال نوع من التحدي أم هو نوع من اعتياد عدم الالتزام بالنظام!

رغم إعجابي بمعظم هتافات المظاهرات التي حضرتها والتي تعبر بصدق عن سخرية المصريين وهزلهم حيث لم أتمالك نفسي عن الضحك من بعض الهتافات, فلم تعجبني إطلاقاً الشعارات الدينية خلال المظاهرات وأرى أنها تسلب الثورة من روحها الشبابية والوطنية والوحدوية بين جميع فئات الشعب المصري وتلبسها الثوب الديني. هتاف كـ "الله أكبر" و "لا إله إلا الله" ,دون انتقاص لوزنها وقوتها, لا يتناسب مع روح هذه الثورة وإنما مع روح معركة ضد الغزو الصليبي.

بعد استماعي للعديد من المعلقين على مختلف القنوات, لم يملأ دماغي غير عزمي بشارة بأسلوبه الظريف وتحليله العميق.

إلى كل من قال إن أحمد شفيق شخص جيد, هل استمعتم إلى لقائه مع التلفزيون المصري؟

Today's Quote

2011-02-02T23:27:00.000+02:00

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin

رجالة مصر

2011-02-02T22:55:00.002+02:00

احساس بالخزي والعار ينتابني بينما أشاهد رجال مصر في ميدان التحرير, الرجال الوحيدون بمصر وغيرهم ليسم برجال بما فيهم أنا. رجال مصر هم من يحارب النظام بالتحرير ويتلقى ضربات هذا النظام الغاشم ورئيسه الذي خول شعب مصر إلى عدوه في معركة خسرها بالفعل بأيدي رجال التحرير. رجال مصر الذين نظموا أنفسهم وضمدوا جراحهم وتابعوا الكفاح في سبيل الحرية التي قد لايستحقها الشعب المصري, الحرية التي لايستحقها سوى هؤلاء المتواجدين في ميدان المعركة. رجال مصر الذين هبوا هبة لم يتوقعها العالم وقلبوا الطاولة على الجميع وفرضوا رأيهم وفكرهم وقضيتهم ببسالة.

احساس بالخزي محى ما اعتراني من فخر بانتمائي للشعب المصري بتواجدي في المظاهرة المليونية بالإسكندرية والتي حضرها رجال الإسكندرية, رجال الإسكندرية من رجالها ونسائها, شبابها وبناتها من الذين تغلبوا على الخوف الذي انتابهم لأكثر من 30 عاماً ونزلوا يهتفون الشعب يريد إسقاط الرئيس بينما بقية الإسكندرية ممن لاسيتحقون عشر الحرية التي يطالب بها محاربو التحرير يحرسون مداخل شوارعهم من دخول المتظاهرون إليها وكأننا سبب الظلم الواقع عليهم, وكأن هؤلاء المتظاهرين هم سبب البلاء. سلبية ما بعدها سلبية من شباب يفخر بكونه من "أجدع ناس" بين هم يحاولون تثبيط عزيمة المتظاهرين المتجهين إلى جامع القائد إبراهيم حيث بداية المسيرة.
شعور بالخزي لن يمحيه سوى تواجدي بين هؤلاء الرجال في قلب الميدان, وفقكم الله يا رجال مصر فالنصر أصبح في متناول يديكم.

شكر واجب لقناة الجزيرة التي فضحت النظام على الملأ.

Me, Ramsis, Trains, and Egypt

2010-12-31T17:45:00.002+02:00

Another trip back to Alexandria after a week of work in Cairo. A metro trip to Ramsis station. Another sad look on my face watching the marvelous steel ceiling of the station being shadowed by an ugly steel structure that destroyed the beauty of the irreplaceable old structure. Huge columns of welded steel boxes that will apparently be covered later in a completely out of context marble cladding.
An urge inside me to take some photos of what is spared from the ongoing “renovation”. I got out my camera and started roaming the station looking for good angles and shots, something of a rarity after all the small ugly book booths and other meaningless plastic cubes scattered around the station. People bearing the usual sad Egyptian face, the smell and roar of the diesel engines pulling the renovated yet still old carriages. I’m suddenly stopped while taking some photos of workers trapped in a huge cage of scaffolds creating an interesting texture of horizontal and vertical lines.
An “undercover” nformer in civilian clothes asking me for my I’d and giving me this look as if I made a huge crime. I was thinking not another place in Egypt where you need a permit to take some pictures, an addition to a growing list to the list of such places which now seems to be almost everywhere. I’m dragged from one officer to a higher ranking one until I found my name being logged in the station’s police outpost’s log book for taking some freakin pictures! Or “elteqat magmoo3a men el sowar bedoon tasree7″ as the undercover agent kept saying. I was surprised by the amount of informers all over the station wearing civilian clothes. I signed in the log and went to platform 3 to get on the 1919 9:00pm train to Alexandria which was now due in 10 minutes.
As soon as I get in my seat happy by the fact that my chair was next to the window. A place that I prefer over the isle chair cause I can rest my leg on the little area between the chair in front of me and the wall. A woman starts arguing with her voices getting louder with every word. I assume my usual state in the train, headphones in my ears, book at hand, completely oblivious to what’s going around me. It’s been a while since I decided that I don’t have to listen to the dumb arguments going on around me.
The woman’s voice was still getting louder hitting a very high pitch at points to the point that I stopped doing what I was doing, pulled off the headphones and waited for this crab to finish and choosing not to look at her like all the passengers in the car are doing now and wearing a disgusted face looking out of the window watching the train now moving out of the station.
All the conductors now gathered in the isle with their supervisor calmly watching the situation and standing in the little space in front of the chair next to me.
The woman kept blaming the guy who booked her the tickets for booking her on the 9:00am train instead of the 9:00pm trying to throw the ball on one of the train’s conductors to find her a solution and sticking to her chair not permitting the guy who’s supposed to sit in her place, and who’s interestingly calm throughout the fight. The lady and her daughter finally decide to move to another carriage where they found her empty seats after making the child sitting with his mom across the isle from where I’m sitting start crying and making me wish they charge her double the fare for the seats she got.
As soon as I thought the fuss was over, music starts coming from somewhere to the front of me. I raise my head and see that two laptops are on on the other side of the isle. I decided that the music was coming from the laptop two rows to the front and stood up and politely called the guy and running the conversation in my head to let him either stop the music or put some headphones on and not start yet another fight, a completely normal consequence of asking anybody in Egypt to respect your personal space. I was surprised by the woman in front of me and telling me that it’s actually coming from her phone and quickly turns it off. Not five minutes later I start hearing an old tune by Amr Diab whom I have nothing against coming out of some other asshole’s cell phone in the back. I concentrate to figure out where the music is coming from and to my surprise I found that it was coming from the seat right behind me! The dude must’ve heard me asking the woman to the front to turn the music off and started to think that he’s only doing this to bother me, still didn’t prevent me from asking him to turn off his music too.
Rested my head on the seat and started paying attention finally to the book at hand. 10 or so pages later, the sounds of a football match starts coming from the previously wrongly accused laptop dude in the front watching a replay of the Ahly and Zamalek match which just ended an hour or so ago. I decide that this’s too many people for me to solely handle and ask the conductor to ask the guy to turn his speakers off, the man says that he can’t ask a passenger to turn his speakers down and if it’s bothering me I should ask him myself! Getting himself out of the trouble of dealing with another snappy passenger after the woman’s incident in the beginning.
Furious, I immediately step up to the laptop dude, spending a lot of effort trying to prevent myself from punching him in the face and managing to speak as calmly as possible, speakers off, round three won.
Back on my seat again, I start thinking that Egypt needs a solution, incidentally the title to the Fahmy Howaydi book I’m reading.
I put the book down, knowing that there’s no solution, and fall asleep.

رباعية اليوم

2010-11-05T13:46:00.000+02:00

فارس وحيد جوه الدروع الحديد
رفرف عليه عصفور وقال له نشيد
منين منين.. ولفين لفين يا جدع؟
قال من بعيد ولسه رايح بعيد

عجبي!!

زهرة الخشخاش

2010-09-20T14:07:00.002+03:00

بصراحة شديدة, لا تعني لي كما لا تمثل للعديد من المصريين لوحة زهرة الخشخاش أي قيمة ولم أضبط نفسي حزيناً على سرقتها من متحف محمود خليل بل على العكس تماماً فقدت دهشت مبدئياً لوجود لوحة للفنان فان جوخ بمتحف مصري.أعلم أن العديد منكم سوف يتهمني بالتخلف وانعدام الحس الفني لكن على العكس. لقد حاولت كثيراً الذهاب إلى متاحف الفن الحديث ليس آخرها متحف الفنون بمدينة أبردين مع صديقي سماحة وعلى الرغم من استمتاعي بالوجود في المكان ألا أنني لم أستمتع كثيراً بنوعية الفن المعروض, معظمها على الأقل. لا أجد أي متعة في النظر إلى اللوحات التجريدية وأستغرب من استمتاع البعض من النظر إلى هذه الخطوط والألوان العشوائية. قد لاينطبق هذا الكلام على لوحة زهرة الخشخاش بالضرورة لكنني كمعظم المصريين أستمتع أكثر بنوعية الفن الفلكلوري المصري سواءاً كان غناءاً أو رسماً أو شعراً. أغنية لمنير قادرة على السمو بروحي إلى مستويات أعلى بكثير من النظر إلى هذه العشوائيات التجريدية. أزعم أن عشوائيتنا التي تجدها في سوق للخضار أو المناطق العشوائية أو القديمة بمصر أو الإسكندرية, تداخل ألوان الخضار والبضاعة المعروضة مع أصوات الباعة والمشربيات والأبواب, المشغولات النحاسية بالنسبة لي أجمل بكثير من الذهاب إلى أي من هذه المعارض.
قبل حادثة السرقة لا أعتقد أن أحد المصريين -الذين لم يزر معظمهم المتحف المصري حتى- كان يعرف بوجود لوحة لفان جوخ ثمنها ملايين الجنيهات بمتحف محمود سعيد وحتى لو عرف فلا أعتقد أنه كان سيتجه للمتحف لرؤية هذه اللوحة الثمينة. المحزن حقاً في هذه الحادثة هو كم الإهمال والتسيب الذي تسرب إلى كل شئ حولنا في مصر. مجرد مثال آخر على الدولة الرخوة كما يصفها جمال أمين, حيث الأنظمة والقوانين موجودة لكنها غير متبعة. فمختلف النظم الأمنية كانت موجودة بالمتحف ألا إنها كانت شكلية وغير كافية للحفاظ على محتويات المتحف بل ومع معرفة القائمين على المتحف بعدم صلاحية معظم هذه الأنظمة لم يكلف أحدهم نفسه بالإبلاغ عن هذا الوضع أو محاولة تغييره. فما هم أي من هؤلاء العاملين -خمسون منهم كان في “إجازة” يوم السرقة- من لوحات ومعروضات لا يهتم أحد برؤيتها أو تقديرها -بما فيهم أنا شخصياً-. ان أتحدث أكثر من هذا عن موضوع الزهرة خصوصاً مع انشغال الناس بلغز أزواج زهرة الخمسة وتصريح غادة عبدالرازق بوجوب اكتفاء الرجل بزوجة واحدة والمرأة أيضاً بزوج واحد إعمالاً للعدل!
وجود لوحة ثمينة كهذه في مصر أساساً غلطة كان يجب أن يتم تفاديها بترحيل هذه اللوحة إلى بلد يهتم فيها الناس بهذا النوع من الفن وليس بلداً تستمع إلى أبو الليف و سعد الصغير والعنب العنب العنب. من هذا المنطلق أيضاً وبعد زيارتي للمتحف المصري ومتحف تاريخ العلوم بمكتبة الإسكندرية, أعتقد أن آثارنا المسروقة أسعد حظاً من آثارنا المعروضة وأطالب لحماية الباقي منها بتصديرها إلى الخارج أيضاً إلى أناس أكثر منا اهتماماً بتاريخنا وليس لدى أشخاص لم يذهبوا للمتحف إلا في زيارة مدرسية أو لالتحاقهم بكلية الفنون الجميلة

البلد بلدك

2010-09-01T03:49:00.003+02:00

يغيظني جداً لما ييجي واحد يقوللي طيب إنت عايش عيشة كويسة, بتشتغل شغلانة كويسة وبتاخد مرتب أحسن من ناس كثير غيرك. بتاكل كويس وبتخرج وبتتفسح وبتصرف, عندك عربيتك وشقتك ومتجوز ومبسوط, زعلان ليه بقى من الحكومة؟

أولاً, لا أعتقد إطلاقاً إن الحكومة كان لها أي علاقة بنجاحي شخصياً -باعتبار إني عشت أساساً وتعلمت بالخارج والحمدلله- ولا أي من الأشخاص الذين أعرفهم من نفس الطبقة الإجتماعية أو الذين حالفهم الحظ بمستوى من الدخل أكبر من عموم الشعب المصري. الناس دي كويسة علشان طلع عينها علشان تبقى كويسة ولسة بيطلع عينها لحد دلوقتي علشان تفضل كويسة وتفضل أحسن من الناس الكثير اللي ما اتوفقتش أو لم تتح لها فرصة تحقيق طموحاتها. أنا أعترف تماماً إني من القلة المحظوظة الحمدلله التي استطاعت أن تصل لشئ في مصر يخفف وطأة الوضع العام المتدهور. لكن هل يعني هذا أن الحكومة كان لها الفضل في وصولنا إلى ما نحن به الآن؟ لا أعتقد إطلاقاً, نحن أقلية لا يصح القياس عليها نجاح الحكومة من عدمه في تحقيق حياة إنسانية للمصريين. أقلية تعلمت بالخارج أو في جامعات أو معاهد خاصة توفر مستوى من التعليم لاتوفره أي من المعاهد أو الجامعات الحكومية. أو أشخاص كانوا على قدر من التميز والكفاح كفل لهم النجاح وتخطي عقبة ضعف النظام التعليمي.

ثانياً, حتى مع تسليمي بارتفاع مستوى معيشتي مقارنة بمعظم الشعب المصري الذي يعيش معظمه تحت خط الفقر -أقل من دولار واحد يومياً أي حوالي 150 جنيه في الشهر- فهل يعني هذا فعلاً رضاي عن الواقع المصري؟ ما معنى امتلاكي لشقة تنقطع عنها الكهرباء لساعات يومياً معرضة للإنهيار عند أقرب زلزال نتيجة غش مواد البناء؟ ما معنى امتلاكي لسيارة في ظل تهالك معظم شبكة المواصلات في البلاد لدرجة أصبحت معها قيادة السيارة مغامرة غير مضمونة العواقب؟ ماذا سيحدث إذا -لا قدر الله- وقعت لي حادثة مرورية هل سيضمن لي القانون حقي أو حق الأطراف الأخرى في هذا الحادث؟ هل ستضمن لي الحكومة وصول سيارات النجدة والإسعاف في الوقت المناسب لإنقاذ أي من المصابين؟ مامعنى عدم توفر وسائل مواصلات آدمية تتيح لي أو لأولادي التنقل بأمان أو تعليم محترم يساهم في جعلهم أعضاء فاعلين في المجتمع؟ هل سيغنيني راتبي مهما بلغ -دون احتلالي لمنصب وزاري أو ماشابه- عن معاناة يومية تسببت فيها الحكومة بسوء تخطيطها أو بقراراتها الطائشة؟ هل سيغنيني هذا عندما يستوقفني ضابط أو أمين شرطة لأي سبب في ظل قانون الطوارئ وسلطته التي يمكن أن تنتهي بي مخنوقاً بكيس بانجو أو معذباً في سراديب الداخلية؟ هل سيغنيني أي شئ عن ضعف المجتمع حولي لدرجة تركي أضرب حتى الموت أمام الجميع؟

إن النظر إلى أن ارتفاع الوضع المعيشي لقلة محظوظة من الشعب لايعني انعدام حقها في الإعتراض على الأوضاع الخاطئة وانكسار عينها في وجه الحكومة منظور لايسعني فهمه بل أرى أن هذه القلة هي أقدر الناس على الإعتراض على الخطأ سواءاً لكون مستواهم يساعدهم على التطلع إلى حياة أفضل أو كون مستواهم التعليمي والإجتماعي يساهم في رؤيتهم لتردي الأوضاع بطريقة تختلف عن بقية الشعب المطحون الذي يقضي يومه باحثاً عن الكفاف ولاوقت لديه للإعتراض وإلا مات من الجوع.

من هنا كانت سعادتي بوقفة شباب الجامعة الأمريكية الإحتجاجية على تطبيق قانون الطوارئ كون هذا الشباب -المنعزل عن الحياة التي يعيشها معظم الشعب المصري في وجهة نظر الكثيرين- أثبت خطأ وجهة النظر هذه وكونه شباب يتمتع بقدر من المسئولية يمكنه من فهم انعكاس مثل هذه القوانين على حياته في مصر مهما كان وضعه الإجتماعي كونه في وقت من الأوقات مضطراً للتعامل مع مايتعامل معه عامة الشعب. أسعدتني كثيراً شجاعة الفتاة التي رفضت وجهة نظر أهلها السلبية ورأت أن هذه هي البلد التي سوف تتزوج فيها وتنجب أولادها فيها وكون سلبيتها في وجه الأوضاع الخاطئة ستؤثر لامحالة عليها وعلى عائلتها في وقت من الأوقات.

تجدد هذه المواقف الشجاعة من شباب بلدنا الأمل بداخلي كلما خبت شمعته. الأمل في إمكانية تحسن وتغيير واقعنا الحزين إلى مستقبل واعد.

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المخدة المصرية

2010-08-25T22:41:00.002+02:00

أذكر عندما كنت صغيراً وأثناء إقامتنا المؤقتة في منزل جدتي أثناء الإجازة الصيفية تعرفي على المخدة المصرية. كعادتنا كمصريين, أصحاب حضارة تزيد على السبعة آلاف عام, وكوننا شعب ميزه الله عن بقية شعوب هذه الكرة الأرضية, بالتخلي عن المخدة العادية المتعارف عليها لدى جميع شعوب الأرض وتحويرها إلى هذا المخلوق المشوه الغريب الذي لازلنا نطلق عليه مجازاً اسم “المخدة“.

تتميز المخدة المصرية أولاً بأبعاد غير تقليدية, حيث تكون غالباً شديدة الإستطالة لتماثل عرض السرير المخصصة له, لسبب غير مفهوم طبعاً, مما يؤدي إلى عدم تناسب أغطية المخدات العادية مع هذه المخدة “المطويلة” -أشرح لاحقاً كيف أدت هذه الأبعاد إلى واحدة من أول صدمات حياتي- تكون المخدة المصرية عادة محشوة بالقطن, قد تمر هذه المعلومة مرور الكرام لكن لسبب ما, فهذه هي المعضلة الثانية للمخدة المصرية.

تختلف “حشوة” المخدات التقليدية من مخدة إلى أخرى لكن العامل المشترك بين جميع هذه الحشوات هو كونها لينة ومريحة وخفيفة حتى يتمكن النائم من إراحة رأسه عليها بعد يوم عمل شاق والتعامل معها بسهولة. يعني باختصار, مريحة, تحط رأسك عليها تغطس, ممكن تشيلها بإيد واحدة وتضبطها تحت دماغك بالضبط في المعركة اليومية المتكررة للوصول إلى وضع النوم المثالي.

لا تنطبق إي من هذه الصفات على المخدة المصرية حيث أن خللاً ما يحدث فيها جميعاً يحولها إلى مايشبه شوال الزلط من حيث الوزن والطبيعة, حيث لا تتجاوب المخدة المصرية أبداً مع وضع رأسك عليها وإنما مايحدث هو أن رأسك هي التي تتكيف على شكل المخدة غير القابلة للـ -مش عارف ألاقيلها كلمة, مش طرية يعني!- المشكلة الثانية عند محاولة النوم عليها هو اكتشافك أن طول المخدة ووزنها غير الطبيعي يؤديان معاً إلى شبه استحالة تحريك المخدة تحت رأسك أو احتضانها للعثور على وضع مناسب لها, وهنا تتحول المخدة إلى مخلوق غتت وسئيل يعكر عليك تماماً صفو النوم ويهدد الهدف الأساسي من وجود المخدة وهو الراحة.

الغريب أنه عند إثارة هذا الموضوع تطفو على السطح فوراً حقيقة كون المخدات القطنية “صحية” وهذا جانب لايمكن إغفاله طبعاً عند الشعب المصري حيث لايخفى اهتمام المصريين الكبير بصحتهم. الغريب أن حقيقة كون هذه المخدة الغريبة صحية, كعادة جميع معلومات المصريين, حقيقة غير مرتبطة بأي دراسة علمية أو دلائل عليها. هي صحية وخلاص, ليه طيب؟ ماحدش عارف. وتترسخ هذه الحقيقة لدى المصريين لدرجة اعتبارهم جميع البدائل الطبيعية للمخدة المصرية العتيدة “غير صحية” وشر لابد من الخلاص منه, بل وربما سر يجب الحفاظ عليه من الإنتشار كونه سر الحالة الصحية السليمة للمصريين والتي يحسدهم عليها سكان العالم أجمع.

اصطدمت بوجهة النظر هذه شخصياً عندما انتقلنا إلى شقتنا الجديدة وكنت حينها بالمرحلة الإعدادية حيث قررت أمي وجوب كون المخدات والمراتب بالبيت من القطن المصري الممتاز واتحفتني بمعلومة كون هذه المراتب والمخدات المحشوة بالقطن هي الخيار الصحي وأن المخدات البوليسترية والمراتب السست التي اعتدت عليها طيلة حياتي كانت خياراً غير صحي, فحمدت الله مقدماً على الطفرة الصحية التي سوف تشهدها حياتي نتيجة النوم على المراتب القطنية.

استغربت مبدئياً بعد انتهاء مرحلة التنجيد وبدء عملية نقل المراتب إلى الشقة من شيئان, أولاً الشكل الغريب ليس فقط للمخدات, بل للمراتب أيضاً التي بدت كصرر عملاقة مليئة بالقطن والذي أكسبها, وهذا هو الشئ الثاني, وزناً يقل قليلاً عن الطن للمرتبة الواحدة التي لم تتزحزح من مكانها حتى قام برفعها أربعة أشخاص معاً.

لم أعر موضوع وزن المرتبة هماً باعتبار عدم احتياجي لرفعها بعد استقرارها على مثواها الأخير حتى بدأ سريري الجديد يئن تحت حمل هذا المخلوق الغريب, وهنا استوعبت وجود ارتفاع جبلي بمنتصف المرتبة سرعان ما طمئنتني الست الوالدة إلى سبب وجوده وهو كون المرتبة “جديدة” وأنه سيختفي وستتحول المرتبة إلى مرتبة طبيعية بعد استخدامها بيوم أو اثنان. الشئ الذي مازلت أنتظر حدوثه حتى الآن.

Moved to WordPress

2010-08-24T15:14:00.000+02:00

Dear You,

On the remote chance you were interested in this blog, it's moved now to WordPress, a step I was planning for quite a while now dumbing all my associations with google the data thieves!

Shattabna, yalla 7anrosh mayya ya gada3!

لجنة الإستماع

2010-07-20T19:41:00.000+03:00

أعتقد إن احنا الدولة الوحيدة في العالم اللي يحتاج المطرب فيها إلى تصريح للغناء. يعني اشمعنى البيروقراطية حتقف هنا؟ بصراحة, ماعنديش أي اعتراض على البيروقراطية, يعني اشمعنى المغنواتية هما اللي حيختلفوا عن بقية الشعب ويخرجوا عن السياسة العامة بوجوب ملئ التصاريح والتعامل مع الروتين الحكومي؟ الإعتراض الحقيقي اللي عندي هو وجود عدد من الناس اللي بيجدوا في أنفسهم الغرور الكافي لتحديد ما إذا كان فلان أو علان صوته يصلح للغناء من عدمه. أولاً, مين اللي عين الناس ده ومين اللي قال إنه المجموعة دي بتمثل الشعب بجميع طبقاته وتوجهاته الغنائية أو الفنية؟ ثم مين اللي قال إن الواحد أساساً لازم يكون صوته حلو علشان يغني؟ مين المقياس هنا؟ هل يتم مقارنة جميع المطربين الجدد بعبدالحليم حافظ مثلاً؟ هل لازم الواحد يكون صوته عامل زي صوت عبدالحليم علشان يغني؟ أنا شخصياً أعتقد إن أم كلثوم صوتها وحش وعامل زي الرجالة! ومتأكد –مع احترامي الكبير للست- إنها لو كانت غنت قدام لجنة الإستماع كان حيبقى نهارها أسود من كوع النمس على رأي صديقي محمد عبدالهادي. أنا غير معترض إطلاقاً على تمتعها بحنجرة نادرة إنما هناك فرق بين قوة الصوت وحلاوته! ثم أنا حر عايز أسمع واحد بيغني صوته وحش أو صوته حلو الموضوع دع بيرجعلي أنا! مين اللي قال إن المجموعة دي تعبر عن ذوقي أنا في الإستماع للأغاني؟
يمكن اللي مضايقني فعلاً في الموضوع ده هو التدخل في الحرية الشخصية, اعتراضي على تحكم زمرة من الأشخاص بمن يحق لي سماعه أو تحكمهم بمستقبلى الغنائي إن طقت في دماغي وقررت أغني. لعدد من الأشخاص صوتي –وليس بالضرورة الصوت هو المحدد الوحيد لإمكانية المغني في الإطراب من عدمه- قد يستحق الإستماع إليه حتى ولو من باب السخرية. الموضوع هنا هو تمتعي بحرية التعبير عن نفسي بأسلوب غنائي وهذا ما أعتبره جزء من حريتي الشخصية بالضبط كحريتي الشخصية في شراء ألبوم غنائي لشخص ليس بالضرورة حسن الصوت ولكن مايتطرق إليه من مواضيع أو ماتحمله أغانيه من ألحان يستحق الإنتباه, محمد منير كنموذج ليس مثالاً على الصوت الجميل ولكن بالنسبة لي ولمجموعة كبيرة من الناس فهو واحد من أهم –إن لم يكن أهم- مطربي الجيل.
ما يفاجئني هنا هو إحساسي بكوني من الأقلية التي يضايقها هذا التدخل السافر في حرياتنا بل وفي أذواقنا الشخصية حيث أنني حتى الآن لم أسمع اعتراضاً واحدا ولا حتى من المغنيين على هذا الوضع. ربما لكونه من الشكليات في الزمن الحالي –وعبور سريع على أي من محطات الأغاني دليل على عدم تمكن الرقابة من السيطرة حتى على الأصوات الرديئة- مما يدفعني على التساؤل على أهمية وجود هذا النوع من الرقابة من أساسه.

طيب حد يقوللي

2010-07-17T16:05:00.003+03:00

موقف أنا متأكد إن معظمنا عدى به وإن كنت غير متأكد لو كان حد فينا فكر في معناه.
كشخص "قادر" وبعد انتشار موضوع التاكسي أبو عداد في القاهرة وتحولي لزبون باعتبار إنه قام بكسر حاجز الخوف من انتهاء كل مشوار بالتاكسي بخناقة على الأجرة, كنت في مشوار في أحد هذه التكاسي الجديدة لأفاجأ بسائق التاكسي يستأذنني في دخول محطة البنزين لتموين العربية. طبعاً تفاجأت ولكن زالت دهشتي بسرعة عندما تذكرت إن هي دي مصر يابتعة وباعتبار إن دي مش أول مرة يحصل معايا الموضوع ده فيها بس كانت أول مرة في واحد من هذه التكاسي الجديدة.
للأسف افتكرت إن سائقي هذه السيارات الجديدة هم نفسهم سائقي السيارات الجديدة واكتشفت كم كنت ساذجاً باعتقادي إنني لمجرد ركوبي سيارة جديدة ودفعي لتعرفة أكثر من سيارات التاكسي القديمة فإنني سوف أستمتع بخدمة وتعامل أرقى من العادي. صدمت أولاً من اعتبار سائق التاكسي لدخوله المحطة للتموين أمراً عادياً جداً بل وربما حقاً أصيلاً ولا مجال لي أساساً في الإعتراض عليه, يكفي أنه قام باستئذاني أولاً رغم تأكدي من كون رأيي مجرد "تحصيل حاصل" حيث أنه كان يهم بدخول المحطة فعلاً مغلقاً المجال لإبداء أي اعتراض.
رغم قلة فداحة هذه الحادثة عن موقف سابق قام فيه سائق سيارة الميكروباص بالتوقف للتشييك على ضغط الهواء والناس ياأخي قاعدة "كأنك ماجيتش" ولم يبد أحد حتى اعتراضاً بسيطاً على غرابة هذا الموقف ربما كجزء من "العشرية" التي يتصف بها شعبنا المصري الظريف وترك السائق يشوف شغله, مش كفاية إنه بيطمن على مصلحة الركاب؟
عموماً, كل هذه الحوادث إنما هي جزء من فقداننا كمصريين لإنسيانتنا الطبيعية وتجاهلنا لحقوقنا الأصيلة كبني آدميين أن تكون سيارة التاكسي أو أيما كان نوع المواصلة جاهزة لتأدية غرضها بدون تعطيلي لسبب لادخل لي به عن تقضيه حاجتي. هي جزء آخر من اضمحلال القيم الإنسانية لدينا من اهتمام بالآخرين وتقديم إي اعتبار لحريات الآخرين الشخصية ورغباتهم لدرجة أن أصبح هذا هو الأصل. يكفي للتعبير عن هذا التحور, صدمة سائق التاكسي الذي قمت باستئذانه لإشعال سيجارة خوفاً من كونه بيتضايق من ريحة السجاير أو لديه اعتراض على إشعالها في سيارته, حيث حلف لي الرجل أنني أول شخص يساله مثل هذا السؤال. لهذه الدرجة تحورت شخصيتنا, لن أقول المصرية, وإنما البشرية لدرجة اندهاشنا مِن مَن يعاملنا كبني آدمين.
مع شعب كهذا, كيف نأمل في مستقبل أحسن؟ حد يقوللي طيب يمكن أنا غلطان.

هل نققد الأمل في مصر؟

2010-07-17T13:36:00.002+03:00

هل وصلنا في مصر إلى نقطة اللاعودة؟ نقطة انعدام الأمل في تغيير الوضع في مصر إلى الأفضل؟ ما الذي يبقي الأمل بداخلنا مشتعلاً باحتمال تحول وضع البلد وما هي الدلالات على احتمال حدوثه بالفعل؟
هل تكفي النوايا الحسنة ووجود قلة متعلمة تسعى فعلاً للتغيير؟ وما معنى أن هذه القلة تسعي فعلاً للتغيير؟ أدرك كشخص على درجة معينة من التعليم والإحتكاك بالعالم الخارجي وتصنيفي لنفسي كفرد من الطبقة المتووجود العديد من الأشياء التي يجب أن تتغير في مصر وأدرك المسئولية الملقاة على عاتقي وعاتق كل الشباب الذي يمر بنفس ظروفي ولا أنكر رغبتي لحدوث هذا التغيير.
أبسط دليل على كون التغيير هو الهم المشترك لنا هو كون هذا التغيير وسبله المحتملة هو محور حديثنا دوماً, ولكن عندما يجئ السؤال لما الذي نقوم به فعلاً لدعم هذا التغيير تكون الإجابة غالباً واحدة, سأبدأ بنفسي.
في رأيي الشخصي هذه الإجابة وحدها دلالة على فقدان الأمل لاستيعابنا بداخل عقلنا الباطل باستحالة هذا التغيير, قد نكون مليئين بالأمل في التغيير والوصول إلى وضع أفضل ولدينا العديد من النظريات والنماذج لكننا ندرك تماماً كوننا أقلية نادرة غير قادرة فعلاً على مواجهة الوضع الحالي.
مع كل مانراه من حولنا من سلبية تامة لمعظم المصريين واهتممهم التام بأنفسهم وفقدان ثقتهم نهائياً بتحسين الوضع, وكون هذا حال غالبية المصريين فما الذي يمكننا فعلاً عمله؟ المشكلة الحقيقية في مصر تكمن في تشوه الشخص المصري لدرجة عدم احساسه بسوء الحالة العامة حوله, تشوه يجعله غير قادر على تمييز الخطأ والتعليق عليه ومحاولة إصلاحه, وإنما الحادث فعلاً هو استسلام تام للوضع السئ وقبوله كوضع طبيعي ومحاولة التعايش معه دون تغييره. هذه السلبية أدت ليس فقط إلى اعتباره وضع طبيعي وإنما بمرور الوقت واعتياد المصريين عليه فإنهم فعلياً يقاومون التغيير أو محاولاته بسلبية مفزعة.
هل كوننا حنبقى كويسين ومحاولتنا وضع "نموذج يحتذى به" عند الناس الثانية كفاية لحدوث التغيير أم هو استمرار للسلبية التي نتعامل بها مع الموضوع واهتمام فقط بأنفسنا؟ هل لم أتأثر أنا بالسلبيات الموجودة بعد وجودي هنا لمدة ثلاث سنين؟ لقد عدت إلى مصر وكلي أمل بالتغيير المرتقب وانصلاح الحال في فترة كانت مليئة بالـ"حراك السياسي والمجتمعي" ورغم استمرار تفائلي بهذا الحراك واستمراره حتى ولو بصورة بسيطة تماماً ولكنه دليل على وجود حركة على الأقل. على اعتراض البعض واعترافهم بوجود مشكلة وامكانية تحسينها أو حلها. لكنني أعترف الآن بفقداني الأمل تماماً بعد معاشرتي للشعب المصري وبعد تجربتي القصيرة معه. يواتيني دوماً الإحساس بأن التغيير يجب أن يسبقه تغيير الناس أنفسهم وهنا أقف عاجزاً عن الوصول لحل يؤدي إلى إعادة تأهيل البشر أنفسهم, إلى إعادة الإحساس بالجمال والأمل إلي أناس أصبحوا جثثاً غير قادرة على الحركة بغض النظر عن كون هذا نتيجة للظروف المحيطة بهم أو غيره.
هل أصبح الحل الوحيد فعلاً الخروج من البلاد؟ شخصياً, لا أرى حلاً آخر...

لكن انظر إلي الضحايا!

2010-07-16T12:41:00.001+03:00

لكن انظر إلي الضحايا!

أخيراً حد غيري بيقولها, المصريين لا هم شعب مضياف ولا متسامح ولا حاجة. وفي مقاله الأخير في الدستور, يؤيدني صلاح عيسى عن طريق تفسيره لحادث أوتوبيس المقاولين العرب وأنا أتفق معه تماماً في كوننا تحولنا إلى شعب متكاسل متراخي -شكراً لأبو حديد على تعريفي بمفهوم الدولة الرخوة-.
للأسف يوجد الكثير من الصفات اللي بنقولها عن نفسنا كمصريين وبنرددها كالبغبغانات بدون وجود أي دليل ملموس على وجودها أو حتى بعد أن أثبتت العديد من الحوادث انتفاء هذه الصفات من المصريين مؤخراً طبعاً كلنا سمعنا عن إحصائية أن الطفل المصري هو سادس أذكى طفل في العالم والتي بعد بحث مضني على الإنترنت لم أجد لها أي مرجعية تذكر وفي التقييم الوحيد لمستوى الذكاء على مستوى العالم لم أجد سوى كتاب واحد يربط بين غنى الشعوب ومستوى ذكائها وبه نحب بالمرتبة الستين ومع ذلك لانكف عن ترديد هذه المقولة غير مفهومة المصدر ونقتنع بها تماماً كنوع من ترضية النفس بكوننا حتى وإن كنا نعيش في بعض أتعس الظروف فإننا لازلنا نتفوق على العديد من الدول في شئ ما حتى وإن كان هذا الشئ دون أي دلالة فعلية -يعني إيه أساساً سادس أذكى طفل في العالم؟ طب وعملنا بيه إيه الطفل الخارق بتاعنا ده؟-.
لا ينفك المصريون يرددون مثل هذه العبارات والتي منها أننا شعب متدين ومضياف وكريم دون أي اعتبار للشواهد على العكس والتي نراها كل يوم في حياتنا العادية ومنها ما تحدث عنه صلاح عيسى في مقاله من كوننا شعب غير متسامح يقتات على الضعيف ويستهين به ويستجدي الحلول غير المنطقية ويتبع الخرافات بعد فقدانه الثفة تماماً بالحلول العملية.
الخطوة الأولى للحل هي الإعتراف بالمشكلة, وطالما يترسخ بداخلنا اعتقاد أننا أحسن وأنضف شعب في العالم حنفضل طول عمرنا كدة.

Today's Quote

2010-04-18T22:20:00.002+02:00

"Statistics show that 9 out of 10 guys prefer girls with big breasts. And the 10th guy prefers the 9 other guys." -- Just Shoot Me

Today's Quote

2010-04-16T16:31:00.001+02:00

"Invention, my dear friends, is 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation, and 2% butterscotch ripple" -- Willy Wonka

Today's Quote

2009-09-16T20:43:00.002+02:00

"I never think of the future, it comes soon enough." -- Albert Einstein

Today's Quote

2009-09-10T03:24:00.002+02:00

"A person who never made a mistake, never tried anything new" -- Albert Einstein

عجبي

2009-06-24T15:21:00.001+03:00

بحر الحياة مليان بغرقى الحياة
صرخت خش الموج في حلقي ملاه
قارب نجاة!.. صرخت قالو مفيش
غير بس هو الحب قارب نجاة

Today's Quote

2008-12-29T17:52:00.003+02:00

"A husband is what's left of the lover after the nerve has been extracted." -- Helen Rowland

Today's Quote

2008-12-29T17:48:00.003+02:00

"I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying." -- Oscar Wilde

Why It Hurts So Bad

2008-12-17T20:41:00.000+02:00

Today's Quote

2008-10-01T06:54:00.001+02:00

"How do you write women so well? I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability." -- Jack Nicholson in (As Good As It Gets)

Today's Quote

2008-09-30T04:23:00.000+02:00

"A man can be happy with any woman as long as he does not love her." -- Oscar Wilde

Today's Quote

2008-09-28T02:38:00.001+02:00

"It's always darkest before it's totally black." -- Chairman Mao

Today's Quote

2008-09-27T08:32:00.002+02:00

I know I've already posted a quote for today, but this just came in and I just had to post it, so here it goes...
"“If money isn’t loosened up, this sucker could go down,” -- President George W. Bush

Today's Quote

2008-09-27T06:20:00.002+02:00

"Cooking is nothing but a process of size reduction and heat exchange" -- Uncle Kamal Shemeis

Today's Quote

2008-09-26T17:18:00.003+02:00

"All my life, I always wanted to be somebody. Now I see that I should have been more specific." -- Jane Wagner

Today's Quote

2008-09-25T15:51:00.001+02:00

"The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations." -- David Friedman

Today's Quote

2008-09-25T01:45:00.000+02:00

"Gravitation can not be held responsible for people falling in love." -- ِAlbert Einstein

Today's Quote

2008-09-24T02:47:00.003+02:00

"If something goes smoothly, something is wrong" -- James Hetfield

Today's Quote

2008-09-22T23:02:00.001+02:00

"To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering one must not love. But then one suffers from not loving. Therefore to love is to suffer, not to love is to suffer. To suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love. To be happy then is to suffer. But suffering makes one unhappy. Therefore, to be unhappy one must love, or love to suffer, or suffer from too much happiness. I hope you're getting this down." -- Woody Allen

Today's Quote

2008-09-22T23:00:00.000+02:00

"Love is grand; divorce is a hundred grand." -- Anonymous

صباحك سكر زيادة

2008-09-19T08:26:00.002+02:00

صحيح إنني ماشفتش منه غير حلقتين ثلاثة, صحيح إنني حتى من الحلقتين دول ما اتفرجتش إلا على نص الحلقة بالكثير - الجوزاء بقى لما يضرب ومايبقاش عنده صبر على إنه يفضل على محطة واحدة ولازم يغير اللي بيخليني ساعات أغير الفيلم اللي عاجبني موت لما الإعلانات تيجي وأنسى أرجعله ثاني يا إما ده بقى من الزهايمر اللي عندي اليومين دول- بس لازم أقول الكلمتين دول: صباحك سكر زيادة أشد برنامج في رمضان وفكك من البرنامج كله واتفرج على آخر حتى بتاعة ميمي جمال و "إيمي" قنبلة البرنامج. البنت دي صايعة موت وبأموت فيها.

أولاً فكك من الأفكار الجريئة بتاعتها والمعبرة جداً عن الجيل بتاعنا وبصراحة طريقة تفكير الليبراليين مننا شوية زي ما بأحب أسميهم من مشجعين استقلالية المرأة وما شابه, الي همه يعني الناس اللي الجماعة السلفيين نفسهم يموتوهم يعني. بس طريقتها في التعبير عن كدة, بساطتها وتلقائيتها الرهيبة في البرنامج, ضحكتها الهستيرية اللي المفروض ماتطلعش على التليفيزيون أساساً بس زي العسل.

ده غير طبعاً مدام ميمي جمال اللي بتعبر عن اللي ممكن نقول إنه صوت واعي من الجيل القديم, رغم اعتراضها على بعض آراء فتاة بانفتاح -اللي أنا مش باستخدمها هنا بطريقة عيب خالص- إيمي بس كلامها كلة دبلوماسي وبرضه بتحاول تتجاوب مع متغيرات العصر وعمرك ماتسمعها مثلاً بتقول لآ غلط.

تو إكزامبلز على الموضوع ده.

أولاً الحلقة اللي كانوا بيتكلموا فيها عن اللبس والشعر الطويل وهل ترضى إن ابنك يرضى يتجوز واحدة بتلبس كذا أو بتطلع بكذا, أنا بصراحة كنت مع مدام ميمي في موضوع إن لو ابني جالي وقاللي إننه عايز يتجوز بنت حاطة في مناخيرها وودانها وماأدراك أكثر من كده فين كمان فإن أنا غالباً حاعترض.

دلوقتي أنا من أشد معارضين إن حد يتقيم على أساس لبسه وإن ده توتالي حرية شخصية, يطول شعره, يلبس ألوان غريبة, وات إيفر بس في حاجات معينة في اللبس أو المظهر بتعبر عن وجهة نظر معينة في الحياة يمكن ما أكونش موافق عليها. مدام جمال كانت بتشبه البنت اللي بتحط بيرسنج دلوقتي بالهيبيز بتاع زمان وإن ماكانش الكلام ده توتالي صح بس غالباً إن اللي ماوصلش لإيمي ساعتها إن هي مش معترضة على البيرسنج نفسه وإنما على ما يمكن أن يحتويه البيرسنج من آراء ممكن تكون غريبة حبتين.

النهاردة كانوا بيتكلموا على موضوع شغل الستات, وبصراحة مت من الضحك لما البنت دي اتكلمت في التليفون وقالت إن البنت في الدين المفروض مكانها البيت وإن شغل الست اليومين دول جه بس نتيجة "إن الرجالة مدلعينهم حبتين" كان لازم تشوفوا إيمي شكلها بقى عامل إزاي, شي ونت إنتو شوك.

المهم, رأيي في موضوع شغل الستات ده إز كمنج سون, بس اللي عايز أقوله إن مدام ميمي وإيمي إنتم الإثنين زي العسل وبأموت فيكم بس اللي نفسي أعرفه هو إيمي صحفية فين بالضبط ولا إيه البلوج بتاعها ولا أي حاجة عنها علشان بجد لو بتكتب حتبقى واحدة من المفضلين تيت عندي.

بس خلاص.

Why We Should All Drink Beer

2008-09-17T02:42:00.000+02:00

One night at Cheers, Cliff Clavin explained the "Buffalo Theory" to his buddy, Norm. "Well ya see, Norm, it's like this. A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine! That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers.

Today's Quote

2008-09-16T23:52:00.001+02:00

"I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours."
-- Jerome K Jerome (Three Men in a Boat, 1889)

Today's Quote

2008-09-15T01:30:00.001+02:00

"When used separately, women and alcohol can be a lot of fun. But if you mix them, they can turn you into a dumbass." -- Red Forman (That 70's Show)

Chaos

2008-09-14T04:08:00.000+02:00

There was a doctor, a civil engineer, and a computer scientist sitting around late one evening, and they got to discussing which was the oldest profession. The doctor pointed out that according to Biblical tradition, God created Eve from Adam's rib. This obviously required surgery, so therefore that was the oldest profession in the world.

The engineer countered with an earlier passage in the Bible that stated that God created order from the chaos, and that was most certainly the biggest and best civil engineering example ever, and also proved that his profession was the oldest profession.

The computer scientist leaned back in her chair, and with a sly smile responded, "Yes, but who do you think created the chaos?"

Today's Quote

2008-09-14T04:00:00.001+02:00

جسم المرأة الذي له جغرافيا, سوي يكون له تاريخ صعب.
-- أنيس منصور

Today's Quote

2008-09-12T04:37:00.001+02:00

"We all have our time machines, don't we. Those that take us back are memories... And those that carry us forward, are dreams." -- Jeremy Irons (as Uber-Morlock in the movie "The Time Machine")

Thing I Hate (part II)

2008-09-12T00:58:00.002+02:00

From the spirit of Ramadan.

I hate it when people take a lot of time after the Imam starts praying to make sure that their toes are touching and that they're perfectly aligned and then, after the Imam already starts reading alfate7a, they get in the prayer.

I hate it when people hum and whistle during rokoo3 and sojood -which are supposed to be done silently-.

I hate it when people move while praying before the Imam completes "allaho akbar".

I hate it when the same people who rush wait a little longer before moving from the sojood position.

I hate it when people spend half their Ramdan day sleeping and then make sure they attend the tarawee7 prayers and the fajr prayer.

I hate it when people act crazy just because they didn't smoke a cigarette for a couple of hours.

I hate it when everybody turns Ramadan into an eating contest.

I hate not having 2atayef all year round.

Stop the Playboy Invasion

2008-09-03T20:28:00.002+02:00

For all of you who have noticed the playboy logo invading Egypt, try to make a difference. Educate the public.

Join my group on facebook.

Ahmad and Mona's Wedding

2008-09-03T20:20:00.002+02:00

First of all congratulations to my little brother Ahmad and his beautiful wife Mona, may your life be filled with happiness.

Anyways, for all of you who want to see the pictures, follow this link. And if anybody have any other pictures he/she would like me to upload please send it to my e-mail: adham.khairy@yahoo.com

Today's Quote

2008-08-17T08:38:00.001+03:00

الحياة أهل ومجتمع ومدينة ووطن ..
الحب هو الحياة ولا حياة لمن لا حب فيه ولا حب منه ولا حب له ..
إذا كنت محباً ذاك هو الغرام.
إذا كنت محبوباً ذاك هو الدلال.
وإذا كنت محباً محبوباً فذلك هو الحب بعينه.
-- أحمد حسن فتحي

The Traffic Matrix of Egypt

2008-08-16T22:07:00.003+03:00

The discussions about the new traffic law in Egypt reminded me of Morpheus in "the Matrix" when he was talking to New about why some people can't be hooked out of the system of the Matrix; "You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.". Although the case here is the opposite but the same concept applies. We as Egyptians are so hooked on having no system what so ever that we refuse any change that will enforce an improvement, or will at least try to force us to respect the law, any law, weather it's good or bad for us.

Just a note here, when I say "We" I mean "we as Egyptians" even though the fact that not following the law is not at all my nature but again, some might say that I'm not even an Egyptian having lived here for less than a couple of years. Just had to say it cause somebody telling me that I'm not organized really bugs me.

The point I'm going to base my argument here upon is the part in the new traffic law that says that every car has to have a first aid kit and a hazzard triangle. Now, call me crazy, but, don't new cars come already packed with at least a hazard triangle? I know that some top-of-the-line cars like Mercedeses and BMWs come with both, but think about it a little, aren't these things here for our own safety?

I know everybody is going to tell me that it's all a scam from the government to get more money for us and that we are not going to get any services out of all this money they're taking, that the roads are getting worse, the roads are still jammed with traffic, everybody still runs red traffic lights and that the law is only going to apply on poor people. I know all of this shit. But, have YOU ever been in a car accident? Haven't you lost someone close to you in a car accident? What if the thread between life and death for you was inside this first aid kit? Would you still be unwanting to pay for it? I bet not.

The only problem here brings us back to what I personally consider the biggest problem in Egypt. Education. Even if people have the hazard sign and the first aid kid they wouldn't know how to use them or what to do with it. I remember from when I was a kid, that's back at KSA, they had these educational short movies on TV that tells you what to do in a case of accidents and a lot of first-aid procedures. There was also a lot of short movies about traffic laws and stuff like that and I just loved to watch them, everybody did, even if you didn't like them you were bound to see them because they were like on all the time and like a bad commercial there's going to be that one time that you're going to say to yourself that what the heck, there's nothing better on right now, let me see what they're talking about here. And it's going to be useful. That's why almost everybody -at least in my generation- knows all about the traffic laws and who has the prvilage to go first and how to understand the lines and traffic signals, all of this was build into our brains when we were kids.

Now compare this to Egypt. It's just like when someone here tells me that there's this restaurant that makes this great shawerma when to me, if you haven't lived in Saudi Arabia and tasted a shawerma sandwich prepared by a Syrian osta then you are not in position to judge weather any other shawerma is good or not cause you simply didn't taste good yet. And that's exactly what happens when anything gets done in Egypt. People who haven't been abroad will never be able to tell if a road for example is paved or lined right cause they have been living in a total chaos and have no idea about what a highway for example should look like -fyi, none of our roads here in Egypt are considered real "highways", at least not to me-.

Back to our main subject here. What I was trying to say here is that we as a country have become so missed up, our standards so low if any, that wer are actually afraid of doing anything right again. We have been living so long in so much shit that when we fall into fresh water we run back again to the puddle of shit we've been living at cause that's to us is the "normal".

Just yesterday I stopped a taxi and before I get in I asked the driver if it was ok to smoke inside cause I was still holding a half smoked rod of cancer and he was like shocked or didn't get what I was saying or something, anyways, I glimpsed a pack of cleopatra's so I assumed that it was ok to smoke in the cab. As soon as I got into my seat, the dude turned to me and told me "enta ragel mo7taram", I told him "kattar 5eerak leh?" ally "enta awel wa7ed fee 7ayati yes2alni el so2al da abl mayerkab!". The dude was shocked.

This was just to give you a glimpse of how inconsiderate we became towards each other. How everybody now is only looking for how he could benefit no matter what happens to others.

-----

We don't need a new traffic law. What we had was enough. What we need is to have a little consideration towards each other. To respect each other. This plus some organization of course. Kids at schools have to be taught how to respect the law, how the law is there for their benefit and safety. How crossing a red light could mean somebody's life. How to respect the pedesterians right to cross the street. How to be humane to each other. And that is going to take years. I don't expect anything in Egypt to get better anytime soon because of two main reasons.

1\ You can't solve a problem that has been developing over decades in one week or in one day as they're trying with the new traffic law.
2\ We didn't even start to try to solve these problems - that will surely take like at least a decade to solve-.

And until we figure out how to re educate ourselves and how to raise our children with true human values, I don't think that traffic problem in Egypt is going to be solved, to say the least.

Todays' Quote

2008-08-15T12:46:00.001+03:00

"My mind works like lightning, one brilliant flash and it's gone" -- Funny bumper sticker

حتى لا أنسى - 1

2008-08-15T12:04:00.001+03:00

اليوم هو سابع يوم أمضيه في الحرية.
حريتي التي استعدتها في الأول من أغسطس بعد ستة عشر شهراً من المعاناة هي بلا منازع أسوأ ستة عشر شهراً مرت من حياتي ولا أكذب حين أدعي أنها قد تكون الأسوأ حتى في ما هو قادم من أيام. لأن هذه التجربة التي خضتها رغماً عني لن أسمح بتكرارها باعتبار نهاية الفترة التي يمكن أن يجبرني فيها أي مخلوق على القيام بشئ لا أود القيام به.

لمن لا يعرفني بعد, فإن هذه الفترة التي أتحدث عنها هي فترة الخدمة الإلزامية بالقوات المسلحة المصرية. فترة هي من أغرب وأسوأ فترات حياتي والتي أرغب في الكتابة عنها لسببين. أولاً: حتى أفرغ بعض من المشاعر المكبوتة بداخلي مما مررت به خلال هذه الفترة , من اكتشافي لذاتي ولمصر وأناسها, مشاعر ظلت تتراكم بداخلي لمدة الستة عشر شهراً ولم أجد منفذاً لتفريغها حتى الآن فقررت كتابتها هنا. وثانياً: أردت أن أدون انطباعاتي وذكرياتي عن هذه الفترة سريعاً, وربما أنا الآن متأخر فكم أود الآن لم كنت بدأت بالكتابة مبكراً حتى لا تضيع مني بعد التفاصيل حيث أن ما سيلي إنما هو انطباعات عامة قد لا يصاحبها بالضرورة الأحداث التي قادتني لهذه الإنطباعات , حتى لا أنساها ولا أسمح لنفسي بنسيانها أو حتى أصل للدرجة التي يحدثني عنها كثير ممن أنهوا فترة الخدمة الإجبارية بالقوات المسلحة حين يقولون أنهم "يفتقدون" هذه الفترة من حياتهم ويعتبرونها واحدة من أجمل ذكرياتهم وهو شئ لن أسمح به لنفسي إطلاقاً مهما حصل.

لا أدعي أن هذه التجربة لم تكن مفيدة رغم قسوتها. لا أدعي أنني لم أخرج من هذه التجربة شخصاً أقوى ولا أدعي أنها لم تغيرني كما أنها بالنسبة لي خصوصاً بعد أن أمضيت معظم حياتي بعيداً عن بلدي كانت كافية للتعرف على مصر كما لم أعرفها من قبل وكما لم يكن ممكناً لي أن أعرفها دون دخولي هذه التجربة الغريبة. لكن, السؤال هنا هو, هل مازلت أحب مصر كما كنت قبل تأديتي للخدمة العسكرية؟

يمكنني القول بأن هذه التجربة سمحت لي برؤية مصر, متمثلة في أناسها, بعيداً عن أي أقنعة أو مظاهر. مكنتني من الغوص مباشرة في عمق مشاكلها وهمومها وصدقوني حينما أقول أنني صدمت من قلة معرفتي السابقة ببلدي.

ولكن أكثر ماصدمني خلال هذه التجربة هو ما أعتبره الآن أكبر مشاكل مصر, الجهل.

أعتقد أن جميع مشاكل مصر يمكن تلخيصها في هذه المشكلة الواحدة, الجهل. ولا أقصد الجهل هنا بمقدار التعليم -الحكومي أو غير الحكومي- الذي يتلقاه الفرد هنا فمن خلال تجربتي الشخصية, لا فارق بين خريج المعهد الفني الصناعي وخريج كلية الهندسية أو حتى من لم يكمل دراسته الثانوية.

إن أول ما أثار صدمتي بالواقع هنا هو انعدام الإرتباط التام بين نوعية التعليم الذي تلقاه الفرد وطموحه للمستقبل أو لنوعية الحياة أو الوظيفة التي يتمناها. فخريج الهندسة الذي يود أن يمتلك نت كافيه وخريج المعهد الصناعي الذي يعمل سائقاً لمشروع أو خريج معهد الخدمة الإجتماعية الذي يعمل جزاراً. هناك انعدام تام للعلاقة بين التعليم والعمل, هذا باعتبار وجود تعليم أساساً. فما لاحظته هنا هو انعدام الإهتمام بالتعليم من أساسه باعتبار أنه واجهة اجتماعية لاغير لا يمكن أن تؤدي بالفرد إلى الحياة الإجتماعية التي يستحقها هذا بالإضافة إلى تدني مستوى التعليم حتى الأساسي.

لشخص مثلي يقضي معظم نهاره سارحاً على الإنترنت وقارئاً للجرائد كان من الصعب علي تخيل كمية المجندين -الذين هم في الواقع عينة للشعبة المصري- الذين لا يعرفون القراءة والكتابة, ومن هنا كانت البداية حيث لا يمكن أساساً التحدث عن نوعية التعليم الجامعي والعالي في وجود هذا التدني الرهيب لمستوى التعليم حتى الأساسي, القراءة والكتابة. كانت هذه نقطة تحول كبيرة بالنسبة لي ولنظرتي لمصر كدولة -على الرغم من جميع مشاكلها- لكنها تسير ببطء نحو التغيير والتحول باعتبار كل التطورات التي حدثت خلال الفترة السابقة لمجيئي إلى هنا والتي كانت دافعاً أساسياً في عودتي, فكيف يمكنك الدفع بالناس إلى التغيير إذا لم يكونوا قادرين على استيعاب الدوافع وراء هذا التغيير المطلوب؟

إن الجهل وحده سبب رئيسي وراء توقف عجلة التطور في مصر, ولا يمكن لأي استثمارات أو مصانع ومناطق حرة من تغيير هذا الواقع الأليم الذي نعيشه. وهذا هو السبب وراء عدم وصول آراء الطبقة المفكرة لعامة الشعب المصري, لآن الشعب المصري لا يقرأ ليس لعدم رغبة منه أو لتكاسله لا سمح الله وإنما لعدم قدرته أساساً على القراءة.

للأسف كنت دائماً أقيم مصر على أساس عائلتي المتواضعة. في الغربة كانت عائلتي هي مصر بالنسبة لي, وكان وضعنا اجتماعياً واقتصادياً هو وضع عامة الشعب المصري باعتبار تقارب حالتنا هذه مع معظم أصدقائنا ومعارفنا وحتى بعض أقاربنا. كنت أتوقع أن كل الأمهات قادرين على القراءة ويتابعون الصحف والبرامج السياسية وغيرها كأمي, وكل الآباء قادرين على الحوار والتفكير والنقد كأبي, وكل المتعلمين -على المستوى الجامعي حتى- قادرين على فهم اللغة الإنجليزية -كضرورة علمية وحياتية للتواصل مع معظم سكان العالم- والتعامل مع التكنولوجيا والإنترنت لهذا لم أصدق أذناي عندما علمت أن معظم رفاقي في كتيبة "المتعلمين" بمركز التدريب لم يكن لديها بريد إلكتروني وربما لم يستخدموا الإنترنت إلا للـ chat , هذا التصور بأن الإنترنت إنما خلقت لمعاكسة البنات ومشاهدة الفيديوهات!

ثلاث وقفات هنا كانت بحق صدمة رهيبة لمنظومة التفكير عندي:
1/ بناءاً على تجربة شخصية لا يعرف معظم الشعب المصري ماهو تحديداً الفرق بين البرق والرعد ناهيك عن أسبابهما التي تراوحت بين "اصطدام السحب ببعض" إلى بعض التفسيرات المضحكة لدى كل من سألت, وقد سألت كل من أعرف بالجيش. وهذه كانت بداية معرفتي الحقيقية لمستوى التعليم المصري حيث أن معلومة كهذه لابد أن أكون قد عرفتها قبل إنهائي الدراسة الإبتدائية فتخيل صدمتي عندما لم يستطع بعض "الجامعيين" الإجابة عن هذا السؤال البسيط.
2/ فيما يبدو, فإن المتعارف عليه بين معظم "القرويين" أن الجسم البشري لا يحتوي على لحم وأن العضلات المكونة للجسم البشري وإنما -طبقاً لمن سألتهم هناك- مكون من "أنسجة" وأنه لاعلاقة هناك بين عضلات الجسم البشري واللحم البقري -كمثال-, الصدمة الحقيقية هنا هي أنني عندما حاولت الإستشهاد ببعض "المتعلمين"و "المتمدنين" من الموجودين هناك استغرقوا في التفكير في هذا السؤال كأنما لم يفكروا به من قبل وكأنما هذا السؤال البديهي أساساً يحتاج إلى تفكير أساساً.
ومع مقدار صدمتي ورغبتي في تغيير هذا الواقع المخيف ولو حتى على المستوى البسيط, أسلوب اتبعته مع كل من تعاملت معهم هناك عن طريق إثارة التساؤلات ومحاولة تنمية الرغبة المعرفية لدى رفاقي هناك,قمت بالإتصال أمامهم بأحد الأطباء من أصدقائي حتى أؤكد لهم هذه المعلومة ولكن حتى بعد أن سمعوا ذلك من طبيب بشري رفضوا التصديق بأن هناك شبه بين تكوين الجسم البشري وتكوين أي كائن حي آخر.
3/ القناعة الغير قابلة للتغيير بأن كل أنثى لم يتمكن أهلها من قتل أنوثتها وتشويه جسمها بعملية الختان سوف تتحول إلى وحش جنسي غير قادر على السيطرة على رغباته مما سوف يقود المجتمع بكامله إلى الإنحلال. لا تعليق.

Today's Quote

2008-08-11T23:00:00.000+03:00

"2 is not equal to 3 - not even for very large values of 2." -- Don't really know who said this one!

Today's Quote

2008-08-08T05:17:00.001+03:00

"Life is just one damned thing after another."
-- Elbert Hubbard

Today's Quote

2008-08-08T05:02:00.001+03:00

"See, the problem is that God gives men a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time."
-- Robin Williams

A Very Weird Night

2008-08-06T04:44:00.003+03:00

I'm probably the first one to publish anything about this accident online or even in print. There was a catastrophic fire at the hospital my brother, Ahmad is working at this night, people got injured and even died because of the extreme negligence and ignorance that I'm starting to believe are genetically imprinted qualities in Egyptian genes.

But that actually isn't what I'm here to talk about. Cause out there at the hospital as I was checking on Ahmad and bringing him some stuff he wanted, I met one of the most beautiful girls I've seen in my whole life.

A dark haired gal wearing extremely simple clothes with a beautiful large scarf covering most of her body carelessly dangling over her shoulders. Her face had this twinkle because of the sweat covering her face of a very weird night I'm sure she had tonight but with a calm beautiful look on her face she just hypnotized me. She was gorgeous. She was a little chubby and I'm sure that if anybody I know saw her would tell me that I have a terrible taste in women but to me, she was the best thing that happened to me today.

Anyways, still talking to Ahmad and trying to ignore her and avoid the now very frequent uncomfortable eye contact because of me not being able to take mine off her to the point that I grabbed a chair gave her my back and sat in front of Ahmad. This huge dude was going in and out half naked he too exhausted from all the action that happened that night. And then the shock. Ashraf, my younger brother who was there too asks Ahmad about the half naked dude whom until now I thought was another doctor working with my brother on that cursed shift to discover that he's only a relative of one of the patients at the hospital that night and that beautiful creature is his wife.

The only cool thing here is, Ahmad is probably going to be famous all around Egypt tomorrow night when the news of the fire and how he helped save all these people reaches the media. Enjoy your 15 seconds of fame bro!!! And god bless you for all what you did that night man... I know sometimes I just want to throw you out the window but you also make me proud.

God bless you. And that other half naked lucky bastard dude.

Engineers

2008-08-04T01:51:00.002+03:00

There are just a lot of stuff that we, engineers, do that a lot of other people don't understand and may even consider "weird". But that's just the way we work you might find it hilarious, I did especially the one of treating any spending situation like an optimization problem!!!

Today's Quote

2008-08-03T20:30:00.002+03:00

"Instead of getting married again, I'm going to find a woman I don't like and just give her a house."
-- Lewis Grizzard

We Are The Martians

2008-02-18T21:51:00.002+02:00

I'm not a fan of conspiracy theories, not at all. But that doesn't mean that I dismiss all of them. Now I'm not talking about the Jews and Israel and all that shit that fills the stereotypical arab-muslim mind. In fact, it goes much deeper.

I don't believe anything right away. I always research and try to find the right information from the right sources and then come out with my own idea of what the truth is. And as anyone with a scientific inquisitive mind I keep my mind open for all possible explanations. And I ask you to do so too cause some of the stuff I'm going to tell here is simply unbelievable.

I've been interested in UFO's "Unidentified Flying Objects" ever since I read Anis Mansour's books "الذين هبطوا من السماء" and "الذين عادوا إلى السماء" and this was the start of reading a lot about this subject. I was also interested a lot in ancient history and civilization and always thought that there was some missing link, some untold facts that are going to make the whole thing make sense. And the more I read the more puzzled I become.

I dropped the subject for quite some time since there wasn't that much stuff to read and I found that I'm reading the same stuff only by different authors and decided to wait till something new comes up regarding this matter. That happened almost a year ago with me finding out about the "Disclosure Project" by Dr. Steven Greer. who was the first one I saw who took this stuff seriously enough and then studied it scientifically and developed a scheme to encourage people to come out with their stories and then he went the extra mile and never published something without getting the same story from different sources to confirm it. And what an amazing list he ended up with of eye-witnesses. I recommend that you see the video -which is a shocking collection of eye-witness statements regarding this subject but was overshadowed by the 911 incident-. Thats when I started researching the subject myself and trying to find out whats new, and believe you and me, there is a lot of garbage out there on the net about it, enough to make anybody skeptical.

Then I found this book, "The Biggest Secret" by David Icke which really connected the whole thing together. UFO's, the new world order, the illuminatti, George W. Bush. everything seems now to fall into place but it is only a beginning for a whole different set of questions. What about us? What about our part in the universe? How does that stuff affect religion? Our image about the god creating Adam?

I don't know if I am ready to accept all of this but I recommend everybody to try to download that book and read it, just for fun, and see if it evokes any reaction .

Funny Cartoons

2008-02-18T21:18:00.001+02:00

Today's Quote

2008-02-18T13:59:00.001+02:00

"Those are my principles. And if you don't like them... well, I have others" -- Groucho Marx

Today's Quote

2008-01-03T18:40:00.000+02:00

"Ah, yes, divorce... from the Latin word meaning to rip out a man's genitals through his wallet." -- Robin Williams

So Why The Fuck Am I So Bored?

2008-01-03T17:53:00.000+02:00

Fianlly, after 40 days at the freakin army, I get a vacation. You'd expect I'm spending it all out hanging out with the guys and having fun especially that the first day of the vacation was new year's eve but for some reason, that isn't the case.

By the way, before you read this to the end and then discovering that you've just waited some precious time reading what a depressive whiny dude is blabbering on his blog then just leave now cause this post isn't meant to be informative or useful at all, it's just a way for me to let some steam out and/or try to see what the hell is the problem here.

Maybe its my depression kicking in again, but somehow, I'm avoiding leaving home and I'm pinned to my laptop watching videos about UFOs and conspiracy theories and checking my e-mail. At the end of every goddamn vacation I take the same decision that the next vacation I'm not going to stay at home at all even if I'm just going to roam the streets alone doing nothing, but let's face it, that's not exactly "having fun" either!

The way I see it, there are more of a couple of reasons why I'm feeling this way. First of all, I don't really have "friends" here. I do know some guys but I'm just avoiding calling anybody for some reason. At the end, all we're going to do anyways is just sit at some place have a cup of coffee and consume half a pack of cigarettes and laugh a little. Maybe that's all you need, but I don't know, may be I'm expecting too much, but that kind of stuff doesn't really amuse me anymore.

The second reason is I'm on a limited budget, and I just hate it. Me just spent like three quarters of my allowance -I know its a shame to admit that at 25 I'm still getting an allowance, but, I'm in the army now, how the hell am I going to get money anyways?- fixing the goddamn car. You might say that thats a good cause, but do you think I'm using it? Actually my bro is the one who's using it and he's the one who ruined it in the first place and believe you and me, I have no idea why the hell did I have to spend money fixing it... I don't even have a driving license -which according to Ahmad, is why I'm "not allowed" to drive it- fuck it.

Anyways, I barely have enough money to get the stuff I need in the army so I'm choosing to stay at home instead of having fun which for some reason, always seems to require spending cash.

I've been saying for a very long time now that I need a girlfriend. It's moments like these that you'll know why people still get married, cause loneliness is fuckin unbearable! I wish they invent some pill for that or finally develop the technology for having some kind on a virtual girlfriend gizmo that you put in your pocket and when you need her you just press a button and -as my orientation year english language teacher used to say- voila! she's there. I bet ya that when they invent such a device you're going to see a dramatic decrease in the number of marriages.

Today's Quote

2007-12-31T02:26:00.000+02:00

On Marriage:
"When two people decide to get a divorce, it isn't a sign that they 'don't understand' one another, but a sign that they have, at last, begun to."
-- Helen Rowland

Today's Quote

2007-11-19T13:58:00.000+02:00

"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt."
-- Bertrand Russell

Today's Quote

2007-11-17T21:32:00.000+02:00

"The number one reason for divorce is marriage" -- a very wise guy

Today's Quote

2007-11-17T00:09:00.000+02:00

"Sex is not the answer. Sex is the question, "Yes" is the answer".

Today's Quote

2007-11-13T05:08:00.000+02:00

"I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to too" -- Mitch Hidberg

I'm a No. 4

2007-08-29T21:43:00.000+03:00

You Are 4: The Individualist

You are sensitive and intuitive, with others and yourself.
You are creative and dreamy... plus dramatic and unpredictable.

You're emotionally honest, real, and easily hurt.
Totally expressive, others always know exactly how you feel.

At Your Best: You are inspired, artistic, and introspective. You know what you're thinking, and you can communicate it well.

At Your Worst: You are melancholy, alienated, and withdrawn.

Your Fixation: Envy

Your Primary Fear: To have no identity

Your Primary Desire: To find yourself

Other Number 4's: Alanis Morisette, Johnny Depp, J.D. Salinger, Jim Morrison, and Anne Rice.

What Number Are You?

ايدي

2007-08-02T14:30:00.000+03:00

ايدي في جيوبي وقلبي طرب
سارح في غربة بس مش مغترب
وحدي لكن ونسان و ماشي كدة
بابتعد معرفش أو بأقترب

One of Mounir's greatest songs, at least to me. It just strikes a nerve with me. The music alone is enough to make this song one of Mounir's greatest songs. The words are a great example of "السهل اممتنع". Not a single I love you, I left you, I hate you, the regular themes of all Arabic songs. Words that just goes directly to your heart and music that instantaneously elevates your soul. Mounir IS truly the KING. After discovering it the other night on my hard disk I went on a downloading frenzy and downloaded all Mounir's albums since 1977.

New Photos Added

2007-05-22T11:19:00.000+03:00

Check out the latest pictures I've added to my flickr page which includes pictures of me in the army.

Today's Quote

2007-04-13T03:10:00.000+02:00

"War is much too serious a matter to be entrusted to the military."
-- Georges Clemenceau

**This one is inspired by me doing army time starting tomorrow and having seen already the types of people being recruited.

Today's Quote

2007-04-12T17:40:00.000+02:00

"I've had bad luck with both my wives. The first one left me and the second one didn't."
- Patrick Murray

Today's Quote

2007-04-11T16:05:00.000+02:00

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody." -- Bill Cosby

Today's Quote

2007-04-10T02:08:00.000+02:00

"I took a speed reading course and read 'War and Peace' in twenty minutes. It involves Russia." -- Woody Allen

Foot Note: It became considerably easier writing these quotes now that I'm in Egypt. I no longer have to wonder when this day is going to end to post tomorrow's quote :)

God bless Egypt.

And happy easter!

Today's Quote

2007-04-09T17:48:00.000+02:00

"Marriage is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. Second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience." -- Samuel Johnson

Today's Quote

2007-04-08T13:48:00.000+02:00

"A man in love is incomplete until he is married. Then he's finished." -- Zsa Zsa Gabor

Today's Quote

2007-04-07T17:26:00.000+02:00

"I know a lot about cars. I can look at a car's headlights and tell you exactly which way it's coming."

Mitch Hedberg

Adham 2.0?

2007-04-06T00:26:00.000+02:00

Will, not quite yet!

A little less than four months in Egypt now. The rate of new stuff happening to me is slowing down or is it that I'm just getting used to all of it. The rush of getting into something new is fading away yet I'm on the door of what could be the experience of my life time. The Army.

Have I changed during this short period? Certainly. Am I satisfied with the results? Well, thats a much harder question to answer now. I don't even think that the question is a valid one. I certainly weigh less, laugh less than I used to, I take more care of what I say and do, much more care, than what I used to. I'm still in this weird spot where I'm still trying everything and decide which is better. I'm accumulating as much experience as possible dealing with people. I used every type of public transport in Egypt except the "tok tok"! I feel changed, but its a hard thing trying to keep the things I liked the most about me, or at least getting them under control, and at the same time not be like everybody else or what everybody else thinks is the "normal"

I say English words when I speak way more than what I'm supposed to. I use the "comma" sign when I speak way too much. The kind of humor I'm used to is too different than what they have here. I still feel that I have this little kid inside that just wants to break loose and play and get away with everything but the reality is more difficult than this. I'm still deciding on how am I supposed to deal with people, family, friends, girls. I'm still trying to figure out what kind of persona I want to reflect to people, what kinds of limits do I need to set for people. I'm still learning how to not to treat everybody equally good -or bad-. I'm still trying to figure out where my life is heading right now but at least I know how I'm going to spend the next year. 10 months to be exact.

After 4-5 visits to the army recruitment camps my fate in the army has finally been determined. I'm going to go in for the compulsory 9 months plus an extra month for being late on my original recruitment date. I'm starting next week, on the 14th of April, my 45 days in the "training camp" which is supposedly the toughest period in the army and after that I still don't know whats exactly going to happen. I could be sent to any where in Egypt, but of course I'm hoping on Alex where at least I'm going to spend the nights sleeping in my own bed.

I'm taking the army thing with the most positive attitude I could summon. Most people around me are amazed on how cool am I with this army thing. My only second option is to blame the whole thing on my Dad who was responsible for making me miss my original recruitment date and the only chance I had to be exempted from the service -which I now know that I would've surely gotten for at least three different reasons-. The only thing I'm happy for now is that I'm only going to spend 10 months there instead of a nasty 27 months period which was a real possibility till a couple of weeks earlier.

I stopped my diet a month ago and have been keeping my weight at around 90 Kgs, and if you're saying thats still to much then you should know that when I first came here I weighed around 120, so thats a very good achievement for me. Plus, according to everybody here, I'm going to lose around 50% of my mass during the first 45 days period. The only thing I'm worried about in the army is bathrooms. You could do anything to me but when it comes to bodily functions thats a major do-not-miss-with part of my life. I'm also going to be able to run 15 kilos straight which has been a dream of mine for a very long time now.

This is probably my last post before going in. So, to answer the question I started with, am I "Adham 2.0" yet? Will, No. "Adham 1.6" maybe. But I'm guessing "Adham 2.0" is coming in two months with the latest version "Adham 3.0" coming early next year.

Today's Quote

2007-01-05T17:27:00.000+02:00

"Justice delayed is justice denied" -- John F. Kennedy

My First New Year's Eve...

2007-01-05T16:15:00.000+02:00

For the first time in my life I've celebrated new year's eve and it was everything I hoped it to be. It was on of the best days of my life.

I was in Cairo during the eid to visit my cousins, a visit that ended in me regretting that I don't have a sister! We arrived at 11:00 pm the night before, left our stuff at my uncle's and started a marvelous 30-hours activity-filled day of fun that ended with Mohammad Mounir's concert at the opera house where I spent a lot of energy jumping and screaming and singing. The party along was one of the best things I've ever went to in my whole life and I was only disappointed that Mounir didn't sing longer. I wasn't a big fan of mounir until I heard his album "3an2ood el 3enab" and I was instantaneously hooked up to his style and at the concert I discovered that the dude has A LOT of great songs that I haven't heard yet. One of the best was a song called "7addoota Masreya", the whole concert had a "national" theme and almost all the songs were about Egypt. It was great.

I've seen a lot of people that day that I haven't seen for more than 7 years including some of my own cousins!

Anyways, I know that some people are frustrated because I didn't write a lot since I came here and I'm sorry guys, especially Jawad, but nothing much happened regarding my army thing. I've discovered a couple of days ago that nothing is going to happen before the 15th of this month so I'm technically on vacation for two more weeks but I'm starting to get a glimpse of what is going to happen on that day. The funniest thing is how the medical examination goes in the "largest room on earth" according to my cousin who's been there. The whole room is empty except from a bench that spans it 1.5 m from its wall and it has two small door at each end one that you come from and the other one to exit. Everybody should be standing almost naked on the wall waiting for the doctor to pass by them if you have a medical problem you're told to wait on the bench for another doctor to examine you. After everybody is examined you're told to leave through the other door for the eye examination, and yeah, you're expected to be completely dressed by the time you reach that door. This's one version of the story, the other version is that you're still half-naked and after the eye-exam thing -which is not an exam at all but a simple question of if you suffer from a problem or not- you're told to wear a jacket that 5000 people wore before you to take your picture and then after that you could slip into your clothes again.

I'll keep you updated with what exactly is going to happen!

First Impressions...

2007-01-05T16:11:00.000+02:00

First impressions: nothing seems to have changed much since the last time I've been here, but starting to talk with anybody you immediately see that everybody is angry at everything, everybody says that there's no money, poor people are getting poorer and rich are getting richer. From my personal experience, people are becoming more blunt in asking for tips, bribes to be accurate. Tips are what you give to a waitress, but every where you go people are asking your for money to do what they are actually required to do, and when you give them what you think should be enough they look at you like an alien or something and tell you "e7na mesh bnesh7at ya basha", the get the fuck out of my face! The only solution with this kind of people according to my brother is to "eddaken" -derived from the famous word "dakan" coined by Marwan Nabarawi and meaning "to be dakeen" or "to exercise dakan on others"- and treat everybody like shit, which seems to be working with him quite well. According to Ahmad's theory, all Egyptians are cowards with really loud voices and as soon as the feel that you're capable of doing them physical damage the back off, and if you are not convinced here's a story...

Two days ago I was sitting with Ahmad and one of his friends on "gawharet stanely" a nice little place on stanely corniche, when suddenly from the far end of the street, and this was around 3:00 am, a little white car with a guy and a girl which was being chased by two other cars filled with guys, the white car stopped right in front of us and the guy came to us followed by the girl who we found out that she was actually his wife and they were being followed by these ravages and asked us for help, as soon as we stood up and looked at them -since they were still at the middle of the street waiting to see what we're going to do!!- they disappeared! The guy and his wife still obviously traumatized from the experience.

Back to my first impressions:

Trains take almost an hour more to reach Cairo than they used to do, and they're not getting any cleaner too but are still dependable, at least their departure times are accurate!

The best news paper here is "el dostoor", although I heard much more about "el-masry el-yoom" but it didn't rise to my expectations, but el-dostoor is just full of good material from the beginning to the end. I spent three hours in the train reading it!

Everybody is trying to rip you off, even your family. Money seems equally capable of pulling families together -as long as there's something for everybody- and tearing them apart -as soon as one of them knows how to rip the others off and go undiscovered-.

Unveiled women are a minority, especially in Cairo, and especially in Cairo University where I saw only 5 unveiled women, and i paced the whole campus that day, twice. What was even more interesting was the amount of girls wearing the saudi-type abaya or wearing the niqab. I have also seen the weird new types of hijab, the spanish hijab and the latest advancements of the "sexy mohaggaba" which now appears to allow for short skirts, and extremely tight clothes that I doubt even unveiled girls dare to wear. But so what? Isn't her hair covered?

An old observation that still holds: no craftsman does what he's required correctly or faithfully, and in many cases doing something faithfully meant nothing more to him than cutting a piece of textile horizontally instead of vertically!

Egyptians still don't understand the concept of "queues" or even "numbers". I was happy to find that my favorite place for a coffee in Alex, the "Brazilian Coffee", has got a face lift, so I went inside to get a cup of cappuccino and I got a computer print-out with my order and a number, till now everything was fine but thats until I discovered that you have to push through all the people standing on the counter, give your ticket to the person making the coffee -who by the way is the complete opposite of what a customer-friendly people-serving person should look like or behave like-, tip him, and then of course shout a little with the occasional re-arrangement of the crowd in order to allow the lucky fucker who got the coffee to pass through spelling half his coffee in the process. A fuss that could be avoided by simply sticking to the FREAKIN NUMBERS ALREADY PRINTED ON THE FREAKIN PIECE OF PAPER!

Of course I was so frustrated that I decided to go back home on-foot, a 50 minutes walk on the corniche that ended in an awful cold that hit me for four days -thanks to our locally manufactured antibiotics that seems to do nothing and indeed according to doctors here does absolutely nothing-.

A lot of people are getting either engaged or married, and even more are doing the opposite. There's so much stupid things that happened with a lot of people I know that I really care about when they got married that I'm going to write about later.

Everybody is expecting a "change". The government is aware of it and is spreading its forces and tightening its hands on everything in anticipation. Security in Alexandria is not tighter than ever according to everybody here.

Everywhere smells like urine!

I know some of these observations might sound stupid to somebody who's been living in Egypt for a while, but I hope these don't become the norm.

Today's Quote

2006-12-28T13:33:00.002+02:00

"If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich" -- John F. Kennedy

Finally Settled...

2006-12-28T12:10:00.000+02:00

For all my friends who were waiting to hear my news since I came to Egypt, I'm really sorry but I'm just starting to feel settled now, finally found a place for my laptop and some time to surf the net and check my e-mail and to blog some!

It still feels weird for me here, I don't yet feel that I "fit in" but I'm happy. Egypt is still as I remember it, always full of surprises. Adventures started the day I sat foot here, I've seen a heck lot of people, relatives I haven't seen for like 8 years. Went to Cairo a couple of times and going there again today in preparation for the double-shot eid-new year's party. Its even more thrilling since its going to be the first time I actually celebrate new year's eve, ever!!! I remember the last time me and some friends tried to do so back in KSA we ended up laughing alone in a parking lot.

I've lost a little less than 10 kgs, a great achievement by any means especially that the only exercise I'm doing is walking :) seems that I'm not going to need the xtra large stuff I bought lately for long.

The only thing I missed during these past two weeks is blogging and reading my daily-shot of blogs like I used to do back in KSA but as the smoke is settling down now and a daily routing is starting to surface I'll be able to write a little more.

Today's Quote

2006-12-10T10:53:00.000+02:00

"The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans are suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you." -- Rita Mae Brown.

My Last Post From Saudi Arabia

2006-12-06T23:20:00.001+02:00

With 18 hours left, I think this is my last post from KSA. The only major thing in my life that didn't happen here was being born. 25 years, with all it ups and downs, happy times and sad time. I went to school here, I graduated from college here. All my friends and memories. I admit that I wasn't the best friend and I truly appreciate the few of that kept up with my weirdness -especially recently- and I hope they will always remember these times because my brain is doing its tricks again and all of my memories from school are already lost and of college already fading.

It is hard to leave the place where you've lived for a quarter of a century especially if you're leaving for a place thats totally new and much more complex, but after 25 years here I've decided its enough. I know that a lot of people will not fully understand my choice especially that I'm leaving a great opportunity here -according to almost everybody in Egypt I have discussed this with- for getting an M.S. degree -which I have already started- but some point during the past two years it stopped being about getting good education and became an issue of personal development.

A lot of people like living in KSA, my folks love it here. But circumstances changed a lot since my dad first came here almost a year before I was born but yet a lot of stuff also remained exactly the same. My folks may like the slow rhythm of life, every day here is almost exactly the same as any other one, nothing major ever happens, the perceived lack of troubles etc. But living in such a place for so long makes you awfully aware of the emptiness of such life and of the limitations to how much you could grow. I feel that at 25 I have missed a lot of experiences in life -but I only have myself to blame for this since it is I who chose to come here in the first place- and the choice I have is either continue living here and hide from the troubles or face it right on and go back to Egypt and try to finally reach the emotional and social maturity I'm sure I'm never going to reach living here. This issue became so important to me lately -and it should- that it overthrew everything else from my priority list even if it meant the suspension of my post-graduate studies and even the probability of not ever completing it.

Every time I go to Egypt in the summer I spend a couple of weeks in a sort of "cultural shock". Life there goes so much faster its hard to keep up with. Stuff that happens in one day there could be spread over a whole month here. The number of people you have to deal with on day-to-day bases triples or even quadruples, and its not only the number of people, but also all the different types of people that you have to deal with. I feel that I have to be on-guard 24/7. Everybody recognizes from the first moment that I'm from the gulf area "khaleeg" somehow -well, not somehow, I know its obvious :)-. Its a weird situations, how much should I give the taxi driver, who and how much should I tip in a cafe. The money stuff alone is enough, your perception of the value of money totally changes when you live in Egypt. The price of a cup of coffee in a coffee shop here could keep you full for a whole day in Egypt, but I admit that the only cheap thing in Egypt is food! Clothes are way more expensive in Egypt.

I'm going to miss studio-1 FM, I'm going to miss mishwar's shawerma and of course "Ganoup Modern Cafe". And of course I'm going to miss all my friends here who were the only reason I kept on going this far without suffering from a mental break down and making it that much more bearable. Thank you Naji and Jawad, you'll always be my best friends. Thanks to all the people from the diwaniya who during the past two months helped me -maybe without them knowing- get out from my summer depression phase. Thank you Ali, Faleh, Basil, Rashid and everybody else. I know I've been a little weird in the beginning but it was out of my control, ask Naji about it. Thank you Muthanna, Dodo, Sherbini and Noami. I'm really sorry I had to go without telling you but it has been awfully hard for me and I know that you will understand, someday. You were and always have been my closest friends. Thanks to Tawfiq, whom might be surprised to when he knows that I'm leaving KSA, you've been my safety valve and always been a joy to be with in my lowest moments. Thanks to all my friends from kfupm, to Khaled, Ali and Ehab and all the crazy things we've done together, you were the only people who I've been so close with from my college years. To Faisal, my fashion advisor, to Ahmad Bukhari, to Abdulhakeem, Abdulkareem, Said and Alaa. And to Bukhari and Alaa especially since I'm going to miss their weddings.

Thank you all. And wish me luck.

end note: after settling in Egypt I'm planning on writing about the experience of living in Saudi Arabia for so long, all its ups and downs and good and bad things, about the people and the country. It is after all a unique experience, with people from all over the world, I don't think that living in Egypt I would've met people from all over the World, to appreciate the difference between a Syrian and a Lebanese. I've me and been close friend to people from all over the arab world and have been exposed to their cultures and this is one of the greatest experiences of living in Saudi Arabia.

I've always wanted to write this down in a book. I've even chosen the name of the book: Esm Ommak Aih - اسم امك ايه. classy, huh?

Dodging Bullets

2006-12-06T03:40:00.001+02:00

Now here's a weird thought.

Bullets, when it comes to physics, should behave like any other projectile. So theoretically, a bullet, after being fired, should travel some distance and if it hits nothing in its way it will just fall to the ground with a trajectory that looks like half a parabola with its axis in the direction of the bullet. Now, still theoretically speaking, the force with which the bullet is fired could be calculated and consequently we could get the distance a bullet travels before it loses its momentum and falls down -or simply by experimenting and trial and error- but, and here's where it gets interesting, a bullet fired at from point "A" as shown on (Diagram 1) should naturally fall at point "B". A point "C" on the trajectory of the bullet could be found where the bullet has sufficiently slowed down to the point where someone could just catch it in his hand!

Theoretically, I should be correct, so how nobody ever tried it before? If any body is interesting if this works out or not, I have a gun, bring a calculator. :)

Today's Quote

2006-12-06T00:21:00.000+02:00

"All marriages are happy. It's the living together afterward that causes all the trouble." -- http://www.pioneerdrama.com/playwrights/rh.html

Today's Quote

2006-12-05T05:30:00.000+02:00

"In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out."
-- Joey Adams

Who Stole Islam?

2006-12-04T23:13:00.000+02:00

If I have to agree with the Egyptian government on one thing, it would be the banning of the Muslim brotherhood group. And if I had to give one reason for me not liking the brotherhood so much it would be the way they look down on everybody else.

One of the thing I admire the most about people like Ahmad Zewail or Farouk El-Baz -and in fact almost everybody with such knowledge- is how having all this knowledge made them so humble and so polite because science, just like religion, has a way of elevating a persons spirit which makes me think that maybe the gaia people were right! But when you look at most religious people you will find something that almost the complete opposite. This look that they know so much more and that they're so much better than you just because you don't grow a beard or -if you're a woman- you don't cover your hair.

I'm OK with anybody who wants to go the extra mile with his religion whatever it is but I can't help it feeling that there's something "troubling" with most of these people. I know some people who either joined or tried to join the brotherhood and I noticed that the "recruiters" usually targeted people with somewhat troubled personalities, people who could be easily manipulated and maybe back then in my subconscious I felt that these people were actually being "brain washed" but I never really saw it this way until the era of terrorists attacks and suicide bombers came upon us especially after the Iraq invasion. And this maybe the main reason why I never trusted the brotherhood. But this is not the main reason why I don't like them having an "Islamic" party.

I can't get myself to forget the Luxor massacre on 1997, and I know that the group behind the attack are not the brotherhood but the Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya who actually did it originated from the brotherhood. Living in Saudi Arabia too I could tell you that the followers of the brotherhood who took refuge there and who mostly worked as teachers in schools and universities were one of the main reasons behind the development of extremism -in a country that was on top of this following the wahhabi extremist understanding of Islam- which eventually lead to the emergence of Bin Laden and his friends. I can't really put my hands on it but there must be some kind of a connection between all these extremists link to the Muslim brotherhood.

You can do like my father and try to convince me that they're good people and they do a lot of services to the community, but, don't you think that this is just "marketing" for their group? To brainwash the people they're helping into thinking that they're good people so that they have their support when they call for them in any of their crazy endeavors against the government? "El qa3da el sha3biya" elly zahha2o ommena beeha? Its the same technique they've been telling us in schools that Christian missionaries are using in the poor countries of Africa when they offer them food and medicine in exchange for them converting to Christianity, something that I don't believe anymore but try telling this to almost all school students in Saudi Arabia.

Just take a look at their logo and their motto: "God is our objective, the Quran is our Constitution, the Prophet is our leader, struggle is our way, and death for the sake of God is the highest of our aspirations". If their message is so peaceful then whey do they need the sword for? and then below the logo you have "وأعدوا", this alone really scared me! Its as if our whole mission as Muslims is to fight and kill the infidels. And where does it say in Islam that dying should be our "highest aspiration"? These kinds of teachings are what gave us the suicide bombers and terrorists. Instead of teaching people to respect the soul and to forbid the killing of anybody regardless of his religion they're teaching us that dying should be our highest aspiration.

I still have a lot to say on this issue, wait for me...

Today's Quote

2006-12-04T02:21:00.000+02:00

"I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian because I hate plants." -- A. Whitney Brown

The Solution

2006-12-03T01:58:00.000+02:00

Something I've noticed in the blogging world: Everybody is writing about problems, nobody's offering a solution.

I'm not saying that its a bad thing, not at all. At the very least problems are finally being discussed in public and its an indication that most Egyptian are still not corrupted by the rotten system. But talking about the problem is only a first step and it should be followed by another and another till we fix these problem, and here I'm going to propose my humble suggestion on what the second step could look like. But just in case, if anybody with legal knowledge of the issue thinks that this post could lead to me getting arrested for provoking public unrest or planning to overthrow the government please notify me so I could delete it in time 3ashan mama mwasyani arga3laha 7etta wa7da ya3ni.

The solution in one word is "education". Democracy is the legal child of a well-informed society and as long as we suffer from these horrifying rates of illiteracy we're never going to make it. A couple of days ago I was reading the Asharq Al-Awsat news paper and I came upon this article on how the Jew, originally mistreated by the "religious" mostly christian Americans, and how they forced the American public to respect them by becoming highly-educated and consequently highly influential and recognized. And they're still doing it, according to wikipedia Israel ranks 3rd amongst countries spending on Research and Development. Of the best 10 universities in the middle east, seven are in Israel. Among the same list no Egyptian university shows up on the Asian top 100 -the 100th university by the way ranked 3656th world wide! mine was the 1681! yeppy!-. Going through such statistics and noting the countries you'll find that there's a relationship between a country being an industrial and a high-tech nation with a strong economy and their education standards. Countries like China, India and Korea dominate these lists.

Now, improving our educational system is a key to both having a democratic country and one that plays a key role in international politics not a country that its foreign policy is dictated else where. I know its an obvious solution to a lot of people that we should start with the education, but what I want to say here is what can we do as highly educated Egypt loving people. My suggestion is to interact with the current educational system and putting in a little of our own time and effort trying to make it better. Small things like going to your little brother's school to talk about your profession, parents organized and financed school trips, summer camps all around Egypt where college students spend a couple of hours every day teaching illiterate people to read and write and at the same time while doing this we could tell them that we have a constitution and that we have rights. A grassroots movement to educate people on political issues and to eliminate illiteracy all at once. And I'm going to try to start something like this myself in my little brother's school after I settle in Alexandria and see whats going to happen with my army service but I promise you that I'll do my best and I'll keep you updated.

One of the things I'm going to miss the most is a two-minute radio spot called "Second Thoughts". A short radio spot where Mort Crim, the presenter, tells a short story of how one person saw something that he thought he could improve a little, and DID! And the results were much greater than he expected. At the end of each show he says "Now YOU go make a difference".

Let's all go make a difference.

Today's Quote

2006-12-03T01:33:00.000+02:00

"The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic." -- John F. Kennedy

1000 visitors

2006-12-02T16:11:00.000+02:00

My blog reached 1000 visitors today, a huge milestone for me considering I've been writing for only a little more than a month right now!

I started finding out about blogs after reading the report on the events of the 25th of May, 2005 and for the first time I thought that I could be part of something that is in no way under the influence of our outdated leaders -or so called leaders-, something thats purely Egyptian and by people who carry hope for a better Egypt. Luckily, this coincided with me getting a DSL connection and the nearing of my final return to Egypt from my exile and I started reading everything like crazy and I fell in love with it and decided that I have to be part of whats happening.

I have chosen to write this blog in English for a couple of reasons, and no, its not because I'm that guy with the American accent because I admit it right here that my English accent is not that good but its comprehensible at least. And although I love the American accent I've always hated people who think they're cool because they talk in English. The main reason is because I could type up to 40 words per minute in English plus my laptop's keyboard doesn't have Arabic letters and every time I have to write something in Arabic I have to open the windows "On-Screen Keyboard". The other reason is that I think that there are a lot of people who are writing in Arabic who are far better and more experienced than me. And when it comes to writing in Arabic the style is really important cause I discovered that in the blog world you could get bored from a post really fast, I think that most people wont read this far in this post either! But do you write in "fos7a" or in 3ammeya or in the arabic-english style, its just a huge burden, besides, I've always thought that I could express myself much more clearly in English because its a "primitive" language, its not a fancy language at all, not as much as Arabic at least.

Another main reason is that if I write in Arabic, I know that only Arabic speaking people will read it, and since I'm an advocate for reaching the "other" I thought that English will do the trick, and it did. People who read my blog, according to my statcounter, come from almost all over the globe, and mostly from Europe and the States, I even have people from Chile, Iceland and Korea accessing my blog! How cool is that?

Anyway, I have to thank everybody who visited my blog or left a comment, thank you all...

Today's Quote

2006-12-02T14:59:00.000+02:00

"On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero." -- Tyler Durden, from: The Fight Club

Today's Quote

2006-12-01T16:27:00.000+02:00

To err is human, but it takes a computer to really screw things up

Today's Quote

2006-11-30T02:47:00.000+02:00

"The pen is mightier than the sword, and considerably easier to write with."
-- Marty Feldman

Today's Quote

2006-11-29T01:33:00.000+02:00

Beauty is skin deep, ugly goes to the bones.

And the meeting was successful...

2006-11-28T22:44:00.000+02:00

"wakan al-egtema3 mosmeran"
"wa entaha el egtema3 benaga7"
"naga7 al qimma al-3arabiya"

I know all of you are familiar with these clichés on newspapers -usually government controlled- after any meeting between high-ranking officials either inside Egypt or with others from outside, and I always wondered, who evaluates meetings and gives the judgment that this meeting was a success or that other one was a failure? Especially that 90% of these meetings -especially between arab officials- are deemed "successful"?

Is their like a checklist? Arrived on time? check, dressed accordingly? check, no swearing? check. Is it the same in western newspapers? or is it another Arabic tradition?

The Social Significance of Bars

2006-11-28T19:32:00.000+02:00

Bars have a bad reputation, especially in the Arab world. Their mere association with serving alcohol is bad enough in any country with a Muslim majority and only to make matters worse bars became the refuge for prostitutes since according to how an Arab mind works if somebody is doing something wrong the he must also be doing all sorts of bad things -which is how somebody who's harassing a girl in the street justifies himself "if she's wearing like this she has to be a bitch" and also in politics, whenever somebody disagrees with the regime he is accused of being a traitor, a thief and all these sorts of insults that we're familiar with.

But, I think that bars in the states and in the western world in general has a much more significant role. A bar is somewhere where people could gather, chat together, dance, meet new people, have a conversation, watch a sports event, sing or have parties. I see it as a corner stone in a normal a normal social life in the west. A place to go when you're feeling bad, good, need to meet somebody, hit on a woman, especially hitting on women since in a bar is the perfect atmosphere for something like this. Girls come with the intention of meeting somebody already in their minds which makes it that much easier for guys to attempt to make a move on them. Booze is readily available, you could dance and chat, all the requirements for a perfectly good first date are there. And thats exactly what we don't have in Egypt.

If we just had a public space where it is well-known that anybody who's going there has the intention of meeting a person from the opposite sex then we're eliminating -or at least reducing- the amount of harassment that happens on the street where women are usually defensive and anybody with even the purist of intentions could be humiliated and even beaten -depending on the location :)-, and for all the conservatives out there, there shouldn't even be booze, just regular drinks or coffee or whatever, the only important thing is the concept itself.

Just another great idea by moi.

Is It Really Worth It?

2006-11-28T02:07:00.000+02:00

I don't like to talk much about the Palestinian issue. Its not as if my opinion is going to change anything in it or going to reach anybody who's capable of doing anything anyways. A lot of times I read the newspapers and ask myself if all these people writing on all of these subjects do really believe that they have a unique angle or the solution for any of our problems! Anybody who watches TV nowadays will be surprised by how many experts we have on any subject you could think of but to me, it only comes to a couple of people worth listening to what they say. I can't help but think what would've happened if half of these people actually did something instead of getting their faces on TV and thinking they're famous now. Whats even weirder is what happens when these experts -and presumably intellects- start arguing with each other and the time immediately goes back 50 years to when everybody was calling his enemies traitors and agents of the west and all that bullshit that got us nowhere, or is it that we have fallen in a crack in the space-time continuum -I love this word :)- and the whole Arab area where time doesn't move forward any more.

I empathize with the Palestinians and with the all the pain and suffering they have to go through to stay alive but I think that they fell victims to an ideology that is not suited for solving the current situation. Until Arabs solve their own problems first and develop a sense of unity -and not unify because I don't believe that this is possible- the Palestinian issue should be treated as a humanitarian crisis. If we set aside our prejudice and start thinking about it, our first priority is not what type of government and what kind of borders, its the ability for the people to sustain themselves and be able to work and learn and for their children to play safely. I don't believe that any normal sane mother will accept that her son will go blow himself to pieces to injure some Israelis and by no means is it acceptable that a 57 years old woman blows herself to injure three soldiers! And the assholes who shot a video of her before she goes, what kind of sick people are they?

Now I'm not saying that I have a solution, but I'm certain that what's currently happening there isn't one. Killing an Israeli using tin can rockets is not going to benefit anybody and we all know that the Israelis are the kings of manipulating the media and they're going to benefit from something like this far more than the palestinians will, if the do at all.

To be cont'd.

Today's Quote

2006-11-28T00:35:00.000+02:00

"Sex without love is an empty experience, but, as empty experiences go, it's one of the best." -- Woody Allen

Did anybody read this?

2006-11-27T17:33:00.000+02:00

While looking for a piece by Osama El-Baz on the Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper website, I stumbled upon this interesting document:

مصادر: مبارك سيلغي قانون الطوارئ بعد عودته من رحلة العلاج

The article is dated 1-July-2004. Is he back yet? :)

The Uniform

2006-11-27T11:01:00.000+02:00

Sometimes to change from the inside you have to change from the outside.

All Egyptians now know that their country is being controlled by a few corrupt figures whose corruption spread through the entire community that corruption has become the new norm. But, knowing the problem is still only half the answer, an answer that is becoming increasingly difficult, how do you save the country?

Every time I watch an American high school on TV in a movie or a series I feel that I missed a lot of things. The school I have been didn't make us wear a uniform, but thats something we had to fight for every single year until a couple of year after I graduated they finally won and made it compulsory. I have never understood the reason behind the school uniform and short hair. Why do they want everybody to look the same? The image that comes directly to my mind when I see uniformed schoolboys in the street now is that of a military school with an oppressive authoritarian figure on the top of it, somebody screwed enough in his head that he hates everybody else to the extent of ruining their individuality and personality. Brainwashing, we are all being brainwashed, just like the Nazis brainwashed the Germans we're slowly being brainwashed into thinking that we should obey our leader and not question him, we are being taught to be all the same and not to think for ourselves because authorities know whats best for us, even in what we wear.

To me, school uniforms and short hair is a sign of oppression as anything else. I believe that schools is the ticket to solving all of Egypt's problems. Maybe American schools are not much better than ours only because they have colorful well-printed textbooks or because they have chemistry labs that rivals those in our engineering schools, maybe its because their students are taught to think for themselves and to ask questions, they're not given answers they're required to look for them and this is the foundation of scientific research that our government thinks that only by building labs we're going to produce science.

Their students have a "student governments" and these are not the "top students" the 4.0 students who well automatically be assigned to these position just because they study hard -the Egyptian model-, no, they are elected, and this is the foundation for your democratic country.

It all starts in school people. And schools are not the tables and the chairs and the textbooks, schools are much bigger than that. Schools are where we learn to be people, to learn, to tolerate the other.

I had a very close friend in primary school called Zein. Zein's mother was Australian and he himself looked very much Australian too, and this was his mistake. Just because he looked different everybody automatically hated him, just because he doesn't fit in their built-in image of what a normal person should look like and because we were all taught to look the same -I'm not talking about the school here cause I already said we didn't have a uniform, its the image by society of what a normal person should look like, and if you don't get what I mean go out to the street and see for yourself how 90% of the people look almost identical- because they were all taught to look the same he was treated like a freak!

This post is running long, continue later...

I'm Che Guevara Goddamnit!

2006-11-27T01:58:00.000+02:00

Check out the results of my "Famous leader test" at similarminds.com

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

More results coming as soon as I get them! By the way, I DO have a picture of Che in my room! Freaky huh!

Today's Quote

2006-11-27T01:10:00.000+02:00

"If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed." -- Albert Einstein