| Cognitive Genocide |

Ciao? Ciao!

2008-11-18T11:56:00.000-08:00

Cognitive Genocide has been dead for a while now. Apart from a few moments, few and far between, I've not really felt like blogging. But of late the desire to blog has come back to me. When it happens, I log on to Blogger...and lose interest.

I think I need a change of scenery. I'm moving...sort of. illogicist is hanging up his guns (for now), Cognitive Genocide is shut for the night. I've decided to take a new approach, and with it comes a new identity, and a new location.

c i a o.

US08

2008-11-04T18:31:00.001-08:00

As I write this, Obama has just won Joe the Plumber's home state of Ohio.

I think if the rest of the world got to vote, Barack Hussein Obama would get 95% of the vote.

Is there a real hope for change, or is it just more false promises?

We live in interesting times.

2008-08-01T09:37:00.000-07:00

Goodbye my oldest, most loyal friend. You will be missed.

Rest in Peace.

A tribute to you:

Quick Update

2008-06-05T10:02:00.000-07:00

Quick update, re: my last post. Its almost the midway point of the year (already! and yet at the same time feels so long). I have to say, thus far this year has exceeded all, well, most expectations - maybe because expected where in the gutter to begin with, but regardless, can't say I'm displeased. Still things I've been letting myself down on - I havent gone diving, skydiving or rockclimbing, and instead of shedding a couple of kilos ive actually gained. Nevermind, these things will come.

All in all, aint too shabby.

'Til next time, whenever that may be.

Celebrations

2007-12-30T22:09:00.000-08:00

NP - Goo Goo Dolls - Name (I think this is a good end-of-year song)

Eid Mubarak, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year. Hopefully the coming year is even better than the year that just passed for you.

Personally, I don't know how thats possible - its been a great year, many milestones, many key breakthroughs. It was definitely a year where a lot of things changed for me. Mostly good, mostly good, even if not at first apparent. But 2008 holds a lot of promise for me, so I'm optimistic. Hopefully you are too.

Im tired and out of it, and its not even the 1st yet. Happy new year wherever you are.

Books and Books

2007-08-17T01:29:00.000-07:00

Now playing: Jack Johnson - Good People

I'm reading a book.

Don't blame me, its just something I do nowadays. Anyway, its a pretty good book, fun to read, etc. Its entertaining. I've never thought about it before, but books are just like movies. You have books, and you have books. You get your run-of-the-mill, book that tells a story, which can be entertaining, make you laugh, make you sad maybe, and probably have one or two little lessons to be learnt at the end of it. And then you have other books, where the actual story is secondary to the the book's very presence. There are movies like that too. People will disagree about what movies they may be, but I'd volunteer names like The Shawshank Redemption, Crash, American Beauty (Babel tried, but didn't do it for me). These movies/books just have their own power, and are in a completely different class. Sometimes I'm a little anal about this kind of thing, but I guess that there are different books to fulfill different desires, and its okay to enjoy both the profound type which leaves a lasting effect, and the other kind which brightens your day a little.

The Big Empty

2007-08-15T01:52:00.000-07:00

Now playing: Pearl Jam - Alive (Live)

I dont have much routine these days...I sleep early cause there isn't much to do at night, I wake up late because there isn't much to do in the mornings. Then I get up, check the sports news (don't even bother with the real news anymore - whats the point?), read a select few blogs, and then turn on the TV. So today I'm watching TV, and I come across this spectacle which I find...fascinating, and more than a little sickening.

We all know what wrestling is. Its called WWE now apparently, although when I used to watch it as a kid about 8 or 9 years ago it was called WWF ... like many things, I cant seem to get used to the new name. Anyway, there was this match between this guy called 'The Great Khali' from 'The Punjab' apparently, and 'Ric Flair'. This Great Khali (which unless translates to something in Punjabi, seems to mean 'The Big Empty'...probably not an inaccurate description) is massive...and thats an understatement. He's 7'3" (2.21m), and 420lb (191kg)...which is insane. Hes about twice the weight of an average person. Hes fighting against this Ric Flair, who, at a 'mere' 6'1" (1.85m) and 243lb (110kg), looks like a midget next to this freak. And thats not even the worst bit...Ric Flair is 58 years old. He LOOKS older than 58, and hes having the crap beaten out of him by this deformed giant.

I dunno, maybe as a kid I would've considered it entertainment. Conversely, maybe if I was a little less jaded to this kind of thing I would've been horrified and outraged gone into a rant about how these people should be role models for our kids and should be planting trees and taking care of pensioners and all that. But I dunno, I just find it interesting. I don't feel too strongly either way. Oh, there is one thing that scared me a little though. Apparently, before he became a 'professional' wrestler, he was an officer for the Punjab State Polica. Now THATS scary.

-----

I watched The Bourne Ultimatum the other day. I hadn't watched the previous two movies, but a friend called me up and said he had free tickets. Something about a VW promotion. Fair dos, I'm sure I can enjoy it without watching the other two. And I did. It was a good movie. I especially enjoyed the opening scenes in Waterloo Station - I've been in that station countless times, and it was kinda cool watching the whole scene. I also enjoyed the free popcorn and the free drinks ... I enjoyed them a lot. And repeatedly :D. And the free mug and t-shirt. I'll probably be in the Week actually, showing Oman just how much I enjoyed all the freebies ...

Uh-oh.

-----

Two more things. Firstly, the bit at the top where it says 'now playing'. If you click on that it'll take you to the artist's profile page on FoxyTunes, where you can find out more about em, videos, etc. I dont know much about it, but it seems like a pretty cool feature. Secondly, I'm thinking about changing my theme - much as I love this one, its getting old and I think I need something new. Not decided yet, but if anyone's interested in helping me out, let me know. There's milk n cookies in it for you! (maybe)

2007-06-07T18:25:00.000-07:00

Hello...(hello, hello...)

Is there anybody there... (out there...)

Is there anybody home...

...

iRant

2007-02-05T10:43:00.000-08:00

NP - Dark Tranquillity - Focus Shift

Ive always resented the whole fuss made about the iPod, but when asked about it, whatever. Its a powerful mp3 player, colour screen, interesting (if gimmicky) navigation system...and very pretty. All in all a nice mp3 player. But seriously, its been blown WAY out of proportion.

My lecturer was going on about it today and for me that was it. The myth that the iPod was the first mp3 player, or launched a new market, or exploited a niche, its absolute bollocks. And nobody's been able to convince me of it. Lets be clear: first you had the Walkman (cassettes: remember those?). Then you had CD players - nifty little things. I'm not sure if you had MD players or MP3 CD players after that, but with MP3 CD players you were getting into the convenient mass-music market.

And then you had MP3 players.

Thats right, the iPod is an mp3 player. Its not some brand new funky spunky alien technology, come to revolutionise our pitiful human ways. Its an mp3 like any other. Im sick of how people act like its the 2nd coming, or how my university's exam rhetoric states 'no calculators, electronic dictionaries, or iPods'.

The only revolution the iPod launched is a marketing revolution. Its success is ridiculous. Purely because of marketing, the iPod became the DEFINITION of digital music. Sure, its an awesome piece of hardware, but its not the first, nor the last. The fact that I can go to eBay and get a 4GB mp3 and video player with a 3 inch digital screen which is smaller than the iPod for 30 pounds is proof of that. Oh yeah, and its ridiculously overpriced. RIDICULOUSLY. Contrast the funky chinese device just described with an iPod nano, which is something like 130 pounds (and half the capacity).

But the iPod is a status symbol, like a Merc or a Beamer. Suddenly a device that sits in your pocket and lets you listen to your favourite rocker wont do it anymore - it has to be an iPod. Or you're not cool. People forget that there were mp3 players before, theres mp3 players today which are just as functional and cheaper, no it has to be an iPod.

I swear, people are sheep. It drives me nuts. Most people dont have any complaints about their iPods, and if it were significantly cheaper I would probably get one myself. Paying for an iPod, clearly you're getting more than an mp3 player, you're getting status. But I'm not the kind of person who needs to play ridiculous amounts of money for self-validation. I don't need an iPod to feel accepted. I need an iPod for music. And theres better alternatives.

Happy Holidays! ...

2007-01-29T05:46:00.000-08:00

Np - Spiritual Beggars - Throwin' Your Life Away

Happy holidays? Go to hell. If I ever receive a card around the end of december that says 'Happy Holidays', Ill rip it up. Its Christmas, bizzatch. I may not celebrate it, but trying to pretend its NOT the occasion in question is political correctness gone mad.

As people get older they get more bitter, more jaded, more cynical. I've heard a lot of arguments that there is no God based on the fact that no God would allow such atrocities to happen. Atrocities that we see and hear about everyday, which is just the tip of the iceberg, because our media is so clean-cut and superficial (to be fair, all I ever read these days are the sports pages). I can understand such sentiments, and at certain times almost sympathise with them. But they're based on opinion, which is based on emotion. When we're particularly distressed things - be it the premature death of a loved one or the sorry state of the world in general - we forget that we've made the assumption that whoever 'God' is, he actually cares about good and bad. And that everyone should be happy. Sometimes I think thats a load of bollocks. We all know by now the world is not a happy place - and whoever said it should be? The world's never been a happy place, never will be. Where the existence of God actually fits into this logic escapes me.

Maybe I have the advantage of being an economist. We have positive and normative economics - positive economics being the way things are, normative economics being the way things should be. Normative economics can be argued from many different viewpoints, positive economics generally cant be denied - its theory. The debate about whether god exists or not shouldnt be based on normative arguments. The discussion should be kept in the realm of the positive. Hence, the fact that the world is one f*cked up neighbourhood doesnt change jack. By somehow relating it to the existence of God, you've only being one weak, emotional pain in the ass.

PS that felt good, gotta do this more often.

Its that time of the year again.

2006-12-31T07:39:00.000-08:00

NP - Agalloch - A Desolation Song

So. Its the end of the year. As usual, its come and gone so quickly we're all left wondering just what happened. It gets harder and harder to draw the boundaries between where last year ended and this year began, as more and more of the present becomes lost in the jumbled memories of our past. But for me, its been a decent year overall. Not the best, but not the worst by far. But its been difficult - no surprise there, every year is always more difficult than the last. But I've been well prepared this time round, so it was alright. Summer threatened to be really bad - all sorts of problems, financial, family and social. But things worked out. Eventually, you just get used to it.

Funnily, the last 6-8 weeks were the most difficult in terms of workload. Its not an exaggeration to say that I got about 4.5 hours of sleep a night, on average. Even weekends, I barely pushed 6. But it was also the must fun time of the year - especially the last 2 or 3 weeks. Ive also learned that sleep really can be postponed - and here I am sleeping it off. I slept early last night and was only woken up by a text message, 11 hours later, because I had a social meet an hour later. If it weren't for that message, I'd have slept through it. So yeah, I'm making up for it.

In my last new years message, I said something like '2005 was the year I lost my mind, 2006 will be the year I lose my soul'. I didn't lose my soul this year (although I came very close quite often), and I no longer believe I'm in danger of losing it. I think I've reached a comfortable niche where my soul is resting, at least temporarily. I think thats due to knowing myself better, and knowing everyone around me better. My perspective on a lot of things has changed and matured, for the better or for the worse, I cant do anything about it. Thats life. I'm less cautious now, less reserved, and less afraid of making mistakes. Thats not a bad thing.

Happy new year. 'Happy' new year. We all know it wont be 'happy'. There'll be happy bits, there'll be bad bits. There'll be ups and downs. We just have to hope that, compared to last year, there'll be more ups and less downs. I'm too skeptical about such pointless celebrations to wish people a happy new year. Sure, as its a change in the calendar, its a great time for reflection, but if you think about it, so is the end of every month, or week, or day. We dont do it, but maybe we should. I know some people do. So yeah, resolutions are always a great idea. Most of us dont stick to them, and that leads a lot of us to stop making them altogether. Thats a dumb excuse though - even if u dont stick to them, firstly at least you tried, and secondly at least it got you thinking. I still havent made mine, but I have a good idea what theyre about. They wont be detailed, they'll be broad. Its enough. So to conclude, I cant really wish you all a happy new year, but I raise my glass (of non-alcoholic beverage!) to a year less bitter than the last.

Time to Go Home

2006-12-14T00:38:00.000-08:00

Its that time of the year again, time to go back to Oman for the winter break. Winter break is always great: best time of the year. The weather is fantastic, everyone is back home, good food, good fun, good times, a break from the routine, a break from the miserable weather, a break from study. For two or three weeks we're allowed to forget that our futures are being shaped by how we perform in our studies. We're allowed to be free for a while.

I'm in my last year, and so this might be my last 'official' winter break. I might do a masters next year, who knows, in which case I should get one then too. But if not, I imagine the way my holidays work will be a bit different. Its sad, because at the moment I do get a lot of holidays. It'll be tough to adjust to just 3 or 4 weeks a year, rather than a season. But who knows. Even if I do stay in university, the fact that everyone else in my year (my pre-uni friends) are moving on as well, getting jobs or going into postgraduate study, means everything will change anyway. They wont have the same holidays, the same routines, etc. etc.

So in a sense this is probably my last 'typical' winter break. I plan to make the most of it.

See you all in Oman!

Paul Daniels

2006-11-28T14:45:00.000-08:00

The legendary Paul Daniels. Why hasn't he been knighted?

This guy was my favourite magician as a kid. He was awesome, man. It was really great to hear that hes gonna be coming to my uni - even though hes old and washed up now, I should probably go see him anyway. But I checked out some stuff on YouTube and its amazing how much he looks like someone else...

and...

Mr. Daniels, I do believe that you have met your match! And the scary thing is, they both make use of the FORCE :o I think Paul Daniels really is a Jedi...

(PS If you've never heard of Paul Daniels, Im not going to explain anyway)

Cosmopolitan?

2006-11-23T01:05:00.000-08:00

I've found a table of cities, with those foreign born as a percentage of the metropolitan population. Its interesting, as I assume its meant to represent some sort of measure of diversity. But have a look - does it?

1. Dubai - approx 82% foreign born
2. Miami - approx 46% foreign born
3. Toronto - approx 42% foreign born
4. Muscat - approx 42% foreign born
5. Hong Kong apr. 41%
6. Vancouver apr. 40%
7. LA apr. 38%
8. New York apr. 37%
9. Amsterdam apr. 29%
10. London apr. 26%

Look at cities you'd normally associate with diversity - London, New York, LA, Dubai (especially Dubai). But then, Muscat? Anyone who lives there knows it doesnt fit in with the rest of the cities. Most of the 'foreign born' are from a certain region. I suspect it'd be similar but to a smaller extent with Miami.

A Projection of Your Future

2006-11-12T05:04:00.000-08:00

I read the news. Im guessing most people do, probably a lot more than me. I dont make it a habit to read every headline, every day. i dont think thats particularly useful. Headlines dont tell you much really. When it comes to front page news, I'll read the details every now and then, which is always there, at least to some degree. Its after the first few paragraphs. The first few tell you what happened: skip those and you get some background.

Other than that, I read random articles and those opinion pieces. I think those opinion pieces are fantastic: they let you gauge the feeling of the general populace. Same with random news articles, like today, Elton John said in an interview that organised religion should be banned. Its interesting really, and he makes some decent, if grossly overgeneralised points. But its this kind of thing that lets you make trend predictions about where the worlds going and why, based on where we've been. The headlines only ever tell you where we are now.

And where are we going to be? To me the future looks bleak. Well, lets take some random facts picked up in some random pieces I've read or have been told about.

- In the UK, the average person is picked up on CCTV some 300 times a day (I found this impossible to believe, I still do, but when I counted I get picked up by CCTV at least 10 times a day...those are the ones I know about).

- The government is planning to calculate council tax not just on the value of your home, but according to your post code. How? In the UK, every street (I think) has a unique post code. The government has information on the incomes of people at each post code, age demographics, how many VEGETARIANS live at each post code (vegetarians are generally more in upper-middle class areas), the crime rate, what kind of car people there drive...etc. So basically, council tax will charged not only on how you live, but how your neighbours live too. Not a big deal? Read on.

- One of my lecturers told me about a brother-in-law who works for an insurance company that will be able to give you a quote for house insurance just by you providing a name and a date of birth. Using this, they will be able to pull up all the info they have on you: age, sex, criminal record, race, religion, employment history, what kind of area you live in, etc. All that info is in their hands, and theres nothing you can do about it.

- If you've seen Minority Report, you'll probably be shocked and disturbed at the bit where hes walking through this mall, and all these advertisements are screaming out at him, using his name personally. My university is working on creating such a system (so that advertisements can be personalised to what YOU want, they say). Me and a friend joked about someone walking down the street, and some talking billboard screaming at him that he can solve his problem with VIAGRAAAAA.

- Richard Perle, former foreign policy advisor to GWB, (jokingly) describing US foreign policy as 'whos next?'

- The numerous antiterrorism laws cropping up which give governments more and more power to eavesdrop, follow what we're doing, and hold is in detention without trial for longer and longer with less and less evidence.

- The head of the UK's MI5 saying that terrorism will define 'our generation'. So, its not a few years, its a generation. If this is the problem that characterises our generation, how do you think government will respond, by letting us mind our own business? Or, as Orwell envisioned, with TVs that watch us more than we watch them?

- the fact that its actually illegal to BUY music online and burn it onto a CD to listen to in your car.

- I dont know if this was passed in the US or not, but the idea that flag burning could be a punishable offence.

- A man was sentenced to 40 years in jail the other day for plotting terrorist attacks across the US and in Britain. The details were quite disgusting, but the dude was apprehended before he could do anything. The worrying bit was that, even though it was alleged he was well backed up by Al Qaida, he was convicted on evidence and information found on hard drives. But no money from al qaida was actually found, no weapons, no chemicals, no nothing. Yet, based on that evidence, he was given one of the harshest sentences possible, reserved for those who have committed the worst crimes.

And theres a lot more. Read the opinion pieces in the middle of the papers. Those are key. But where does this all take us? All I see is control, control, control. Fear and uncertainty will dominate our times, and its not our choice. Our governments are scared of terrorism (whether its genuine or its a political tool I dont know), and the more scared they are, the more they take actions which fuel it. You have voiced on both sides of the populace arguing loudly for radical action. In the end I fear its the voices on the right who will be listened to, as they demand purging the threat, by whatever means necessary. Freedom of speech is already compromised. You cant glorify terrorism or incite hatred - which I dont disagree with, but the problem is where to draw the line. I may want to express my support for the palestinian cause, but I dont know where to stop, in case I'm locked up.

And this will continue for a while, and will be sped up if we have another big terrorist attack sometime. Fear and uncertainty is warping our ability as a society to think, and its this thats gonna drive us towards something resembling a police state in the next few decades.

Pharmaceuticals

2006-10-20T13:40:00.000-07:00

Ah, gotta love medicines! God bless the people who come up with this stuff XD:

This last one some will find inappropriate, so I'll post a link to the image:

link to image

Looking Deeper

2006-10-19T18:28:00.000-07:00

NP - Thomas Dybdahl - From Grace

The last week or so I've started looking at words a lot deeper than I used to. I've been forced to, because for one of my courses (well for all of them actually), the language is very technical. Its easy to come across a term like 'intermediate macroeconomic intervention' and just glaze over it, without looking at each word individually, and then putting them together and trying to figure out what it really means.

Anyway, I've been forced to do this recently, although I really should've been doing it for years. I do two different subjects as my degree, and they are both taught quite differently. One of them is very theoretical and needs to be read three or four times and illustrated with figures and graphs and what not in order to be understood. The other discipline uses a lot of rhetoric, but asks you to be open minded about it all and apply everything to real life examples...and as such everything is much more weakly defined and less vague. Sometimes I find it difficult to reconcile these two approaches when I approach my study.

I've also taken up a language, and even though I've only been to one class so far, it got me thinking recently about the construction of language, and its schematics. When I speak english, it comes so naturally to me, people ask me how hard it is to learn and I say its a really easy language. But I've been listening to people - my German flatmate, my Sri Lankan lecturer - and trying to understand why they make the mistakes they make. Its hard to think of a language the same way you'd think of something like physics or engineering, but they really are similar I think. Languages are constructed by sub-parts - tenses, all the grammar, etc - just as anything else is. When you're learning a new language, you tend to try to translate from your own language. Keeping this in mind, I've started to look for these things in weaker english speakers. For instance, my flatmate says 'excuse me' instead of 'sorry'. They're similar, but their usage isnt 100% interchangeable.

So back to looking into words. In a lot of research papers you read, you think that they're just using pointless rhetoric for the sake of it, to try to look smart. And they probably are - but maybe they arent. I've written this whole post because I was reading a book, and the author thanks his wife for her 'patience and understanding' in reading his drafts. Simple words, patience and understanding. But for some reason when I read them this time they really hit me...he didn't just pick any words to describe his appreciation, he chose those. I think we need to be more careful with what words we use, in everything, so that when we say things, they have actual meaning. Not just sound good.

Aint It Funny...

2006-10-16T15:53:00.000-07:00

NP - Warren Zevon - Lawyers Guns n Money

Some Thoughts:

- Chelsea FC had both of their main keepers injured yesterday. Following that, Bolton said they would consider loaning Chelsea a keeper. Does anyone else's mind make the connection that mine did? ALI AL HABSI? CHELSEA? This is too much!

- I met a guy today whos name was Stewart Liddle. He was this scary looking guy with an earring and a shaved head...and he worked in the library. It was hard not laughing when I saw his name tag.

- Ever see those football pitches and wonder why the grass is stripey? I did. But the other I realised its because of the direction of the grass. If you walk into the middle of a field and look straight ahead, you'd see the stripes in 2 colours stretching away from you. But if you turn and look back, you'll see the colours have reversed. Its because of the direction the grass is pointing, and its because the guy who mows the grass walks backwards and forwards...in straight lines. I suppose its an obvious point, but I never realised before. I thought they dyed the grass. Which raises the question: why 2 shades of green? Why not red and blue?

- Im afraid of trees. Yep, my secret is out, trees scare the hell out of me. Why? Because everytime I walk to the Avenue Campus (every other day these days) I walk through these woods with these big scary (but beautiful) trees which ... drop things. Big, scary conkers. And its SCARY. Because I hear them landing to my left, to my right, behind me. Ive even seen one land right in front me. Its only a matter of time until one lands on my head and knocks me out.

Its not everyday you meet someone from Oman

2006-10-12T15:47:00.000-07:00

NP - Lynrd Skynrd - Freebird

Its not everyday you meet someone whos been to Oman. Hell, its not everyday you meet someone who's HEARD of Oman. Today was interesting though, I actually met two non-arabs who lived in Oman for a few years. I know, nothing out of the ordinary really, but its been a fascinating day, and it doesnt make it less interesting.

The first is a German girl on one of my courses. Its a small class, only about 25 people. Come to think of it, all my classes this semester are small...the biggest is about 50, and the smallest is probably around 13. Anyway, it was a double lecture, so we got a short break in the middle. I went outside for a breath of fresh air, and she came out for a smoke (she was a bit uncomfortable about the fact that shes the only person in the class who smokes). We chatted for a bit, and when I told her I was from Oman she got excited. Apparently she lived there when she was about 5. When I asked what her dad was doing there, she laughed and told me not to ("something to do with oil, you know"). Anyway, she doesnt remember it at all, but its strange...theres so few arabs in my university, so when you hear about Germans in Oman...I dunno.

The 2nd was a recruitment officer from a particular oil company who was here trying to give us an introduction. She worked on a project in Oman for 3 years, and I have a nice chat to her after her presentation and about Oman. That was really cool. I hope she offers me a job.

Oh, I also bumped into someone who was enrolling for arabic lessons. I thought she was english, but when I talked to her it turned out she was half Malaysian half Iranian. I've NEVER heard of that combination before, and its actually pretty interesting, for a variety of reasons. But all these things on the same day, well, its pretty unexpected. Im not a believer in coincidence, but I'll use it for lack of a better word. Interesting coincidence =p.

2006-10-10T12:54:00.000-07:00

In recent weeks/months, my blog's been something of a personal diary which is probably a decent read but at the same time says nothing at all. I've just spent over an hour sitting in the most comfortable of chairs reading a newspaper, something I haven't done in the longest time, and so this post will take me back to the kind of thing I used to blog about in the past.

When you watch the news in the UK, or read a paper, you'll always come across an article about Islam. Young muslims, being muslim and british, about whether Islam 'fits in'. Depending on what channel you watch or what paper you read, you'll come across different viewpoints, of course. Some of the viewpoints are plain ridiculous, but thats one of the drawbacks of a free press, I guess. You take the good with the bad. Anyway, as a young muslim reading these articles, sometimes its worrying how misguided the authors are, how they have such an incomplete picture of who we are and what Islam actually means. Its distressing. Alot of the time - most of the time actually, save for a few insightful journalists - they just dont seem to understand what Islam is. An ideology, a religion, a set of instructions on how to live your life...they dont seem to understand that while it may be all of those things in varying degrees, its also an identity. I cant really think of a stronger word right now, but thats what it is, isn't it? Its inextractibly linked to whatever we do. You can argue about the degree to which culture plays a role and how culture is often confused for Islam, and you'd be absolutely right, but its undeniable that Islam, at its core, dictates our way of life.

Why is this hard to fathom in the West, even by so-called intellectuals? Its hard to say, but I'm entitled to an opinion. It would be wrong to say that because Islam is our identity, people in the West therefore have none (although when you're feeling defensive, its tempting). But Western identities are very, very different. Our belief system, as well as our attitudes towards the mechanisms of life can be on complete opposite sides of the spectrum - if you could put them on the same scale at all. But one of the beauties of a multicultural society is that this doesn't even matter. All you need to do is take a walk through central London to see what I'm talking about. You see people from all walks of life, dressed so completely differently, talking a million different languages...and thats just on the surface. If you took the time to talk to them all, the differences would probably blow your mind. But they coexist, right? They find a way to live and work and breathe next to each other.

So what is a 'Western identity'? I dont know, but be sure it exists. The multiculturalism you'll see in places like central London isnt western identity, but it does have it thrown in the mix along with those thousand others. Is Islam incompatible with it? In fact, is the 'islamic identity' incompatible with all of the others? It almost makes me laugh, because theres no way its true. The only thing that matters in this situation is tolerance, and Islam has enough of it to go around (the question is - do Muslims?). If you're tolerant of the people around you, you can get along. And you can thrive.

All the debate about whether Islam 'fits in', whether integration is possible, its all nonsense. In fact I hate the term 'fit in', its almost offensive to me as a rational human being. We're told that we have to shine, to 'stand out' in every aspect of life, and here we're told to 'fit in'? Not to be different? We should celebrate our differences, its what makes us special. Its not too hard to think of examples in literature of societies where everybody 'fits in'.

It makes me cringe. You have voices on the far-right who are demanding that if muslims dont like any aspect of life in this society they can leave. At the same time you have well-intentioned voices on the left who are so afraid of offending muslims that...well, they bend over backwards to satisfy. Its irrational. What else is irrational is muslims demanding special treatment - shariah courts, or proclaiming that anyone who disagrees with them is a 'kafir'. Its just these kinds of things which bring out, not the differences we ought to celebrate, but the sources of tension and conflict, which there isnt really cause for. Sure, dialogue, great, as long as its meaningful. Jeeez, people should just start using their brains, seriously.

I was reading this Robert Fisk article (fantastic journalist), and I came across this fantastic line. The article is too long for me to go back and find it, but basically, in response to Bush and Blair's statement that 9/11 changed the world as a justification for their actions, Fisk replies that we shouldn't let 19 murderers change the world.

Name

2006-10-05T14:47:00.000-07:00

And even though the moment passed me by
I still can't turn away
'Cause all the dreams you never thought you'd lose
Got tossed along the way
And letters that you never meant to send
Get lost or thrown away

And now we're grown up orphans
That never knew their names
We don't belong to no one
That's a shame

But if you could hide beside me
Maybe for a while
And I won't tell no one your name

And I won't tell em' your name
And scars are souvenirs you never lose
The past is never far
Did you lose yourself somewhere out there
Did you get to be a star
And don't it make you sad to know that life
Is more than who we are

We grew up way too fast
And now there's nothing to believe
Reruns all become our history
A tired song keeps playing on a tired radio
And I won't tell no one your name
And I won't tell em' your name
I won't tell em' your name
Mmm, mmm, mmm,

I won't tell em your name...

I think about you all the time
But I don't need the same
It's lonely where you are come back down,
And I won't tell em your name

Goo Goo Dolls, Name. Love this song.

The Goo Goo Dolls are actually playing here on Saturday... I would've tried to get tickets if I knew, but theyre all sold out (and I'm not willing to pay the insane eBay prices...I'm not THAT big a fan). Oh well, at least I get to see Ed Byrne on Sunday...gotta love British Comedians. Heres an old clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT1TVSTkAXg&NR

2006-10-04T02:54:00.000-07:00

Its only halfway thru freshers week but already its been interesting. This year, more than last year, feels like my freshman year. I dont know why...well, I have some ideas. I've been to Monte more this year. Monte is where I lived in the first year. It so happens this year the iftars are being held there. So the whole walk down to Monte, or taking the bus, that I used to do every day in the first year, I've repeated often, something I only did once or twice the whole year last year. Secondly, I'm living 'alone' again (I have a flatmate, just one, but we barely see each other). And thirdly, I went to a movie at the Uni Cinema today - the free movie they show for freshers and international students.

I went to it in my first year. Watched Kill Bill Vol. 2. I didnt go last year though. But I went this year, and its weird, I felt like a fresher again. Especially because of all the people around you who feel the need to fill the silence with anxious conversation. But it was fun, it was fun. I think the biggest aspect is the second one, living alone. Its a weird feeling, sometimes pleasant and liberating, sometimes...well...lonely (duh). But it pretty much characterised my first year. I wont have time to be lonely this year, but maybe the reminder of it was enough to bring back those vivid memories of my freshman year.

Hmm, what else. Today is Bunfight day, where all the societies get together in one big massive hall and try to pull people to join. Its fun, the only hangover is that in the morning you get about 3 billion emails telling you stuff you dont really care about. Oh, because of some computer problems at the Language Center, and the fact that I took so long to register (because of both paperwork, my not studying, and a zillion other things to do), I dont think I'll be able to take spanish courses this year. Bollocks.

Freshers Week

2006-10-01T12:16:00.000-07:00

NP: Nelly - Ride Wit' Me

Ahhh, freshers week. Its that time of the year where the university goes from peaceful and quite to being full of nervous looking sheep roaming around during the day, getting lost, bumping into things, close to tears. Afraid of their own shadows. Theres no shame in it - we've all been there. But those of us who got through it are allowed to have a laugh at their expense :D They're kinda fun to be honest. They're all dripping fake friendliness, trying to project some kind of confidence they dont have. You gotta feel for em I guess. It doesnt last long though, most of them get comfortable in a couple of weeks.

Fresher's week is actually a pretty exciting time. Cause although I just ripped into em, a lot of freshers are actually really cool people. Its a good time to make new friends. Freshers week 'officially' starts tommorrow, but I've already met a bunch of new people. Yesterday was pretty odd, because I met up with my former housemate for the first time since the summer, a girl I haven't seen since my first year (she did a year in Switzerland - turns out I missed her more than I realised), and this guy who studies in London. I ended up crashing at my friend's house without a pillow or a cover, and got about 3 hours of sleep. but hey, thats uni, you gotta love it I swear. Oh, and my reputation is already being soiled. All my friends are SO eager to convince everyone they meet that I'm some kind of playa (dammit, they always do this :s). Already they're trying to set me up with this lebanese girl who's new to the university. I guess its fun if you dont take it too seriously, but its all just a lot of talk :p

Its tough being a fresher because theres so much crap you gotta consider - opening a bank account, registering with a GP...hell, just finding your way around. But for a senior like, theres also a lot of crap you gotta deal with. Example: researching your dissertation. You gotta be in the library finding reading materials, while everyone else is still chilling. Also, theres applications. For the future: masters, job, internship. All that is time consuming, and it aint easy trying to plan out your future when you still have a year of hard slogging ahead of you. But you probably gotta do it, just to keep your options open. After staying up till 4am talking to friends and neighbours, I'm flirting with the idea of living a year or two in Switzerland. It seems like an awesome place. Its a thought.

But its kinda strange right now. You KNOW its you're last year (inshallah, unless you fail), and you wont be here this time next year. You're senior to everyone except your classmates, who you feel a strange closeness to - even if you've never talked to them. I guess its because you know that you've all been through the same crap. Hmm, this is starting to sound like a graduation speech. Ok, but its an interesting time, its fun I swear. I think the real difficulty is organising my time after classes start, so I can enjoy the stuff I enjoy right now even when I'm swamped. I mean, its all good studying all day and getting the grades - I can do that and make top grades (and I believe everyone can), but if I'm giving up all the stuff I enjoy, like having a night out, or just a chat with friends, well it aint worth it. And the funny thing is, I think you can do both. All it takes is organisation. I've done it the last couple of years, and while it ain't easy, its doable. Just depends what you think is most important to you I guess.

In My Head

2006-09-27T03:17:00.000-07:00

So everyone gets songs stuck in their head once in a while. Sometimes its cool, sometimes its...well, awful. I've had some pretty terrible songs stuck in my head before - Britney's toxic, those 3 Euro guys dancing on an airplane...and more. But for the last 4 days I've had whats got to be the worst song EVER stuck in my head. And it wont go away!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jl_0p8agmY

Ramadhan Kareem!

2006-09-24T13:01:00.000-07:00

Ramadhan Kareem All!

Have to admit, ramadhan really crept up on my today. I'm not ready for it at all, physically, mentally, spiritually. Just hope I can make the most of it. I've been unsettled for quite a while and moving into my new apartment and starting the new year, theres still a lot to do. I just hope Ramadhan doesnt affect me, or all this affect my ramadhan.

Again, ramadhan kareem!

2006-09-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

quick update: v. busy, will update soon. No net connection at home though, and not for a while.

Why are all the lights going off...? Gotta run it seems :S

Im a Slave for YOU Baby

2006-09-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

NP - Mike Jones - Cadillac on 22s

Im a slave for two things.

Firstly, the weather. I realise that I'm very sensitive to the weather. I dont know if its true for all people, but if thats the case, then I cant understand why anyone would want to live in the UK. When it rains, or its cold and windy and terrible, then IM terrible. The whole day will be depressing and awful and I'll want to go to sleep and not wake up. Everyone around me will be irritating and smelly and ugly. But when the sun is out, and its a beautiful day, then everything is great. My spirits soar, I feel like I'm the king of the world and I can do anything. Everyone is wonderful and good looking and happy. Its actually really surprising how much the weather can affect how I feel.

I used to the master of my music, but now my music is my master. When I'm listening to sad depressing stuff, I'll be pretty down. Aggressive music doesnt make me angry, but it makes me more energetic. Happy, uplifting stuff makes me feel...well, happy and uplifted. And some songs are just undescribable. Its not the words, you see - lyrics are just lyrics. Beautiful or generic, its how they SOUND thats more important to me. For that reason I can listen to japanese or german or french and still feel the mood a whole lot more than a crooning Chris Cornell. Have you ever just walked around listening to music and looking at peoples faces? Sometimes its a startling experience. Personally, I start to wonder: what are these people thinking? What are their hopes, their fears? What are their deepest desires, their secret worries? Are they just like me? Today was the first day I do this in something like 3 months, so its definitely interesting experiencing it all again.

The Secret To Life

2006-09-09T08:25:00.000-07:00

NP - Kasabian - Club Foot

Wow, theres so much I want to blog these days. I already have 3 other blog posts in mind, but for some reason I'd rather post them one by one. I'll probably do 2 of them tomorrow, and let the third one go.

Anyway, I dont pretend to have the answers. If I did, I wouldnt be here. I'd either be the CEO of a huge corporation that runs the world, or be blissfully alone on some desert island in the middle of the Pacific. But although I may not have the answers, I have some ideas, and who knows, there might be some truth in them. And theres nothing new here, just old, rehashed ideas that people were saying before our grandmas were born.

The secret to life. How do you live a long, healthy, happy life? Theres no way to guarantee either of those things - you could die in a car accident tomorrow, you could get some horrible disease and waste away...or you could just be miserable. But I think theres things you can do that can help you ensure that, barring those things, you live more or less the best you can.

1. Diet: I'm a huge believer in the importance of diet (but sadly I dont practice what I preach). Its everything. And its simpler than most think. The way I see it, fundamentally you cant go wrong if you go natural. Minimise preservatives, chemicals, etc. Get fruits and veggies. I cant go into too much depth because I'm not a dietrician...and I'm lucky in that I've never had weight problems, so I cant talk from a weight-loss perspective. But I think keeping an eye on your diet, cutting out the stuff you know are bad, then you're on the right track.

The importance of diet? Everything. The three things I list here all relate, and I'll get into that in the end.

2. An active lifestyle: its the curse of Oman: the lack of activity, the lack of movement, and consequently the lack of energy, the lack of motivation. When there IS something to do, you feel lethargic and dont feel like doing it. If you can, you put it off. Sit at home, watch TV, sleep a lot, and do nothing. But the strange thing is, when I'm active, I find I have more energy than otherwise. I feel like doing things, and when I do them, I'm not tired afterwards. I have that energy, I get things done, and I feel good about it. Because lethargic people dont feel good about anything.

3. The right mindset: I'm still learning this one. You cant sit back and wait for things to make you happy, you need to make yourself happy. It sounds silly, but it seems to work. Ever feel happy BECAUSE you're feeling happy? It almost sounds insane, but hey, if it gets you happy, then why not? Happy people are successful people. Also, you need to be positive about everything. Even if bad things happen, its important to be able to shrug them off, or see the bright side (if there is any), and take things as they come. Like I said I'm still learning this, I'm not very good at it. But the point is I'm learning.

So how does these all link? I dont think you can have, say, the right mindset and an active lifestyle, without giving the proper attention to your diet. I dont think you can have one or two and expect things to work - thats why it isnt easy...you need all three. A healthy diet will do wonders for your mood and your motivation - its hard to be active when you're diet consists of McDonalds for breakfast. And I've found that when I do eat healthy, I'm more motivated to do stuff, and I'm generally more upbeat. Having an active lifestyle will also have a positive effect on your mindset, whereas being down all the time is likely to keep you from doing anything. So theyre all interlinked.

I dunno, it seems to make sense to me. Obviously the hard part is putting it all together and living it. But I think, as a general philosophy towards living, it doesnt need to be too much more complicated than nurturing those three things. For sure, you can go into a lot of depth regarding each of those, but what works in that case will differ from person to person. But as a general overview, I think what I've said makes a lot of sense.

El Mariachi

2006-09-07T00:20:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here checking my email (or more like, sitting here waiting for a couple of important emails to magically appear in any one of my three hundred email addresses), when my mom comes into the room holding my little 18 month old cousin. Hes a cute kid, and more fun than waiting for emails, so I play with him for a little. He runs into my room, and starts plucking at my guitar.
"Ok," I say, "so you wanna be a guitarist, huh? I'll show you how a real guitarist plays, boy."
Pick up my guitar, which is an acoustic, and try to think of something to play. How can I get his attention, what should I play that will interest him? Hes 18 months old, he should be transfixed no matter what I play...in his eyes, I ought to be a guitar god!
So I start with some basic strumming, which isnt gettng much of a reaction, hes kinda looking at his feet. I try a bunch of stuff, different chords and what not, and hes getting a little more interested. Rock? Lets try some rock...how about some Sweet Child O' Mine? So I play that as best as I can on an acoustic guitar, and now hes interested. Hes watching my right hand motoring away. Oh yeah, you're gonna be a fine guitarist one day, kid. I can see it in your eyes...and he reaches out. Takes my plectrum from between my fingers. Puts it in his mouth.

Maybe I should go wait for that email.

Oman FM's Love Affair with Madonna

2006-09-05T09:44:00.000-07:00

NP - Anything But Madonna

So....who listens to Oman radio? When I'm driving and I get bored of whatever CD I have in there, I'll sometimes turn on 90.4 FM and see if theres anything interesting on. There usually isnt, but at least it adds some variety to my usual driving music (Variety? Oman FM? What a joke). I kinda miss that guy DJ Face, he was awesome. He was funny as hell, even if he didnt realise it. Just listening to him made me laugh hysterically sometimes.

But okay, to the point. Whats with 90.4FM and Madonna? Everytime I turn on the radio, they play a Madonna song. Seriously - every single time. I'm not kidding, its almost scary. I think one of the DJs must have some secret (or not so secret) Madonna fetish. And I dont listen to the radio that much - maybe 3 times a week, for no more than 20 minutes at a time. So how is it, in that limited time, I ALWAYS hear a Madonna song? And I'm barely exaggerating. Just today, they had a Madonna song, then a non-Madonna song...then ANOTHER MADONNA SONG.

This is just insane, someone should call in and complain. Actually, it should be me who complains, but I cant really be bothered, I'm leaving soon anyway.

2006-09-02T04:27:00.000-07:00

NP - Guns N Roses - November Rain

I have about 10 days left in Oman, its strange how quick the summer passes. I mean, you work your ass off for months at uni with barely time to breathe, and you look forward to those summer months to catch your breath, and theyre over all too soon. And the strange thing is, while you still haven't quite caught your breath yet, you're still looking forward to going back.

I'm looking forward, for sure. And most people I've talked to who are in my situation are looking forward to as well. Oman is the most awesome place in the world, but inactivity leads to boredom, and boredom leads to frustration. I tried to make use of my time, but its not always possible. And sometimes this place gets to you. So yeah, just over a week left. Too bad, everything is so cheap here. I can go out to dinner, go the movies without feeling that twinge of guilt that comes with spending too much money. God, movies are so expensive in the UK, and the popcorn :s popcorn and snacks can cost more than the movie itself...

Oh speaking of movies, I watched Click a few days ago. Expected it to be okay, typical Adam Sandler thing, but it was actually a lot better than I thought. Probably the best movie I've seen since V for Vendetta. I liked the message, it was good, and well done. Oh, and it was funny. But it could have been better if there was less of the needless dirty humour - its an Adam Sandler movie, so I expect some, and I can laugh at some, but when its too much its hard to take the movie seriously.

I'm listening to some of the clips that are leaking on the net from 'Chinese Democracy', the new Guns N Roses album (whens the release date??), and some of them are pretty cool. Im not a big Guns N Roses fan, but they have a few awesome songs (November Rain, Paradise City, Sweet Child O' Mine!), and theres one clip from the new album which sounds particularly awesome, its called 'Better', so I'm looking forward to that.

What else...anyone interested in the football? With the transfer deadline came a few shocks, the biggest of which would be Carlitos 'Apache' Tevez and Mascherano going to West Ham...whats up with that?! I still believe its an MSI/Abramovich plot to get them to Chelsea in 07. In other news, Gallas goes to Arsenal along with 5 million pounds, in exchange for Ashley Cole to Chelsea. People are saying Arsenal were ripped off, and maybe they were. But Cole was never happy, and maybe Gallas can provide is with some experience that we desperately need with the departure of Campbell to Portsmouth. People have faith in Clichy as left-back. I dont know much about him, I hope he can do it. Reyes to Real Madrid...I never liked Reyes, and I dont like Baptista. But maybe Baptista can bring us some power and muscle in the middle, and if thats the case then its worth it. I still hope we can get Ribery next season from Marsielle - that should've happened. Seriously.

Insomniattack

2006-08-23T04:23:00.000-07:00

Everyone's had difficulty sleeping at one point or another in their lives. You'd think that eventually you get used to it, but I'm not sure you ever do. So for the past 2 hours I've been lying down, trying to fall asleep. And its almost funny, or would be funny if it wasnt so damn frustrating, how, when trying to fall asleep, you're never more awake.

So, 2am. Lie down. The room feels too bright tonight. Theres no more light than usual, all is dark except the light from the corridor outside, streaming in from under the door. But tonight it just feels a little brighter than usual. If I was smart, I would've taken it as a sign, a big neon sign that says YOURE GETTIN NO SLEEP TONIGHT BUDDY. But, of course, I think nothing of it. Turn so that my back is facing the light, and close my eyes.

And open my eyes. Click, click, click. Somethings clicking. Somewhere in front of me. What could it be? Is it my cat, sitting on the windowsill? Is she click-click-clicking her claws against the double-glazing? Is it the CD cases on my bed just a few inches away, sliding against each other as the bed moves under my breathing? Or is it something more sinister - a bogeyman, waiting for me to drift into unconciousness, so that he can crawl under the covers and dance on my bellybutton? Well, no such luck, Mr. Bogeyman, theres no sleep for me tonight.

Forget the clicking, turn the other way, you wont hear it. Except now the light is back in my eyes, and the sporadic crackling of my AC is bothering me. I contemplate turning it off, but that'd be pretty stupid, for obvious reasons. Wheres the cat. Is she still on the windowsill? I wish this light would just go away. Even with my eyes closed, its creating patterns under my eyelids. I could turn it off, but I'm supposed to be sleeping. And the more I move, the further I am from it.

And its funny how when you sleep, all your thoughts and worries and hopes flit through your mind, too slow to be ignored, to fast to hold on to. Some random thought will come, flirt with your consciousness, and be gone before you have time to grasp it, replaced by another flirtatious little tidbit.

Roll onto my back. Now I have the clicking of the CDs-slash-bogeyman on my right, and the crackling of the AC on my left. Maybe they'll cancel each other out. Counting sheep. What a good idea. It always works in the cartoons, right? The first few sheep (read: few thousand) are okay, but then they start to look like goats. Whats the difference between a sheep and a goat anyway? How can I not know? Maybe this is a good sign - maybe I'm falling asleep. Oh look, they're sheep again. Wait, no they're not, not anymore...what is that? Looks like some curious mix of the two. I wonder if thats possible. Can sheep and goats mate? Dammit, looks like I'm all out of sheep. Or goats. Shoats?

Time for another plan. Breathing exercises. Yes! This's worked before! Ok, so deep breaths. Deeeeeep breaths. Feel the tension leave your body. Breathe in...picture the air flowing through your limbs like water, filling every pore. Now breathe out, and with that water, expel all the tension. Let it all go. Now try alternating your breathing through your nostrils. Breathe in left. Breathe out right. Breathe in right. Breathe out left. Breathe in left...dammit, blocked nostril! WHY do my nostrils block randomly?

Open eyes. Get up. Turn off corridor light. Pick up book, read book, put down book, do situps, get tired, move CDs so that they stop making that horrible noise, get back in bed, close eyes, breeeeeaaaaaathe....

Click, click, click.

It's gonna be a long night.

2006-08-20T01:19:00.000-07:00

Obadiah Parker

One of my friends emailed me this video, I thought it was awesome.

2006-08-15T01:14:00.000-07:00

NP - Agalloch - Falling Snow

I seem to be getting back into this blogging thing. I know what it is: for me personally, I cant plan posts. They have to be spontaneous. If theres a thought in my head I want to blog about, there has to be a computer nearby. Otherwise I either lose interest or forget what it is.

Anyway, I was reading 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin', and theres this bit where one of the characters is describing life in the army. It threw my mind back to 'Jarhead' which I read about a month or so ago. Its pretty interesting how they describe life in the army, both of them. One of the biggest aspects they talk about is the lack of women, and the almost obsession soldiers have with them. It seems, without exception, they all start to see women as being objects of sexual fantasy. It also seems that they all have unfaithful girlfriends back home. Jarhead is really interesting in that it really delves deep into the psychological aspect of it. It paints a picture that left in me an impression of total despair and destitution. That these soldiers are resigned to their fate. That everything is screwed. If anyone's seen the Jarhead movie, I'd have to say that it doesnt even come close to describing what the book is trying to describe.

The character in Captain Corelli's Mandolin casually mentions that the soldiers come to love each other, one of the reasons being because they need each other, and they're "in the same shit together". Its interesting because I thought a lot about this yesterday, after watching this movie called 'Sorry, Haters'. If you dont want to know what happens in this movie or what the twists are all about, you might want to stop here, cause the rest of this blogpost is about that.

Its a pretty interesting movie, I'll just say that. Anyway, the antagonist/protagonist in the movie is this woman who feels totally unwanted, unloved, unneeded. The one time she meant anything to anyone was on september 11th, when her totally dominating friend turned to her for consolation. At that time in her life, she felt needed.

One of the DVD extras was a round-table discussion about the themes of the movie, and they discussed this. One of the participants didnt believe it was a true phenomenon, but I think it is. I think you can always see it: after sept 11, everyone put aside their differences and pulled together. Same with the tsunami. An overwhelming sense of 'community' comes over people, which fades after the tragedy has passed somewhat. Relating this to the line in Captain Corelli's Mandolin about soldiers at war, it just seems to make sense to me. But its an interesting thought: do we need tragedy? Does it serve some purpose in our communal lives?

Hmm.

An Issue of Trust

2006-08-14T23:54:00.000-07:00

NP - RHCP - Tell Me Baby

Its interesting how, when you wake up in a bad mood, a million good things can happen without raising your mood much. And when you wake up in a good mood, the smallest thing can bring you down.

I got up feeling great today. Woke up at just the right time (well, 15 minutes late but who cares), had good dreams, felt refreshed. Even went up to the mirror and brainwashed myself that I was going to have a great day, just to be sure.

Go downstairs, breakfast with family. Thats sure to dampen anyone's day, but today for me wasn't too bad, I got through it more or less intact. Then I came up to check my email, and finally got an email from a guy I've been waiting a while for. So crossed my fingers.

So yeah. Got some bad news. Very bad news actually. Long story short, the guy I was counting on to live with next year for uni wouldnt able to make it (and this is the second time). So my search continues, and time is running out.

Onto the issue of trust, maybe its just me, but people in general seem to be so untrustworthy. I mean, lying and cheating and what not is looked down upon in any decent society, but it seems everyone does it. I have two friends who in the past month or so claim to have broken their legs. One of them says that because of it he can't leave the country for the next 6 months, because doctors want to follow up his condition. The other, who broke his leg in Pakistan, flew back to Oman practically the next day. I haven't seen any of them, so I can't be sure they're telling the truth. But why would I even doubt them? Is that normal, or is it just me being suspicious?

Shaken

2006-08-14T00:53:00.000-07:00

Im a little shaken, in the last 2 or 3 days I've had 2 incidents where I've come THIS close to having a car accident. The first one would have been messy, but not dangerous, but the 2nd could easily have been fatal. And they were both my fault, mostly. I dunno what it is, lack of concentration? Yesterday I was tired, and I misjudged which way the car was going - it looked like he was turning off, when in fact he was coming straight on. It was pretty close, and left my heart in my throat for a while. The one before was kinda his fault as well.

Anyway. Am I the only one who's noticed an increase in the number of police cars on the road? Police in Oman are generally invisible - you know they're there, but you dont often see em. But this last week or two weeks I've seen so many police cars, people being pulled over, etc. I drove to the vet this morning for my cat, and just on the way I saw 3 or 4 police vehicles. Maybe its just me, but I'm wondering what this build up is about. Is it because of the tense political situation right now, with Lebanon? I had a little run-in with the police last week because of that. Its very strange.

2006-08-08T09:09:00.000-07:00

NP - Black Eyed Peas feat. Sergio Mendez - Mas Que Nada

I've been saying this for a while, that to see it as Hezbollah attacking Israel out of the blue is preposterous. This has been going on for quite some time. This was always just an excuse that Israel's used to go into Lebanon - although I dont think its going as planned for them.

I like George Monbiot. Whatever he's got to say is definitely worth reading, and he writes the article I've linked to. I've pasted bits of it here. (also check www.monbiot.com)

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarti...7&ItemID=10722

Since Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000, there have been hundreds of violations of the "blue line" between the two countries. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) reports that Israeli aircraft crossed the line "on an almost daily basis" between 2001 and 2003, and "persistently" until 2006. These incursions "caused great concern to the civilian population, particularly low-altitude flights that break the sound barrier over populated areas". On some occasions, Hizbullah tried to shoot them down with anti-aircraft guns.

In October 2000, the Israel Defence Forces shot at unarmed Palestinian demonstrators on the border, killing three and wounding 20. In response, Hizbullah crossed the line and kidnapped three Israeli soldiers. On several occasions, Hizbullah fired missiles and mortar rounds at IDF positions, and the IDF responded with heavy artillery and sometimes aerial bombardment. Incidents like this killed three Israelis and three Lebanese in 2003; one Israeli soldier and two Hizbullah fighters in 2005; and two Lebanese people and three Israeli soldiers in February 2006. Rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel several times in 2004, 2005 and 2006, on some occasions by Hizbullah. But, the UN records, "none of the incidents resulted in a military escalation".

On May 26 this year, two officials of Islamic Jihad - Nidal and Mahmoud Majzoub - were killed by a car bomb in the Lebanese city of Sidon. This was widely assumed in Lebanon and Israel to be the work of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency. In June, a man named Mahmoud Rafeh confessed to the killings and admitted that he had been working for Mossad since 1994. Militants in southern Lebanon responded, on the day of the bombing, by launching eight rockets into Israel. One soldier was lightly wounded. There was a major bust-up on the border, during which one member of Hizbullah was killed and several wounded, and one Israeli soldier wounded. But while the border region "remained tense and volatile", Unifil says it was "generally quiet" until July 12.

...

On July 12, in other words, Hizbullah fired the first shots. But that act of aggression was simply one instance in a long sequence of small incursions and attacks over the past six years by both sides. So why was the Israeli response so different from all that preceded it? The answer is that it was not a reaction to the events of that day. The assault had been planned for months.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that "more than a year ago, a senior Israeli army officer began giving PowerPoint presentations, on an off-the-record basis, to US and other diplomats, journalists and thinktanks, setting out the plan for the current operation in revealing detail". The attack, he said, would last for three weeks. It would begin with bombing and culminate in a ground invasion. Gerald Steinberg, professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University, told the paper that "of all of Israel's wars since 1948, this was the one for which Israel was most prepared ... By 2004, the military campaign scheduled to last about three weeks that we're seeing now had already been blocked out and, in the last year or two, it's been simulated and rehearsed across the board".

A "senior Israeli official" told the Washington Post that the raid by Hizbullah provided Israel with a "unique moment" for wiping out the organisation. The New Statesman's editor, John Kampfner, says he was told by more than one official source that the US government knew in advance of Israel's intention to take military action in Lebanon. The Bush administration told the British government.

=============================

Can anyone dispute, then, that Israel had this in mind all along, and was just waiting for an excuse? But I dont know if things are going their way. First, Israel is like, we're gonna eliminate Hezbollah. Then the rhetoric was that they'd disarm Hezbollah. Now its that they'll push Hezbollah away from the border.

Another point I'm been wondering about, the actions of Hezbollah and Israel, what are the wider consequences in the region? Well, a very high number of lebanese support Hezbollah for now. Christians, druze, shias, sunnis. Outside of Lebanon, the arab masses, often suspicious of hezbollah because theyre a shia group "controlled by syria and iran", are now backing them. Theres some unity being created there. In Iraq, the so-called allies of the US, the shias, have been protesting in support of Hezbollah. This is clearly humiliating for the USA, who want to portray themselves as friends of the people (the sunnis have been quite silent though, which is something of a shame: if they were to display their unity with the shias, it would be a very strong message to the USA). All this makes the situation very, very interesting.

Heres another interesting article which I dont have a comment, but anyone interested should read in their own time. It basically talks about who's supported Israel since its creation, and the attitude and approach its had towards its neighbours. Worth a look.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=10713

Cleaning out my Inbox

2006-08-01T14:39:00.000-07:00

I just had a very interesting experience. I dont usually delete SMS messages on my phone, but this morning I started to run out of space, so I decided to go back and delete all the messages that I didnt want to keep (I keep some of the nicer ones). And it was like a trip back through time, to about october 2005. The major events of last academic year were all chronicled in those text messages. And the most interesting part is that they arent detailed as such, but through communication with other people - and their subsequent communication with me - those events were brought back to life in my memory. And it was in reverse order. So from when I first arrived back in Oman in June, to my 2nd semester exams, backwards to Eid, my first semester exams, my xmas break, and finally to the break up of a close friend (which is the first event my phone captures). And almost everything in between.

Almost, but not all. This is the bit which I like. There are some things which you would really expect to have chronicled on your phone via text messages which were missing. I guess it tells a lot about those events, but at the time, you dont think of it :p.

Now my phone is nice and clean, with only about 20 SMS messages I've kept. In time more SMSs will come in and maybe in another year, maybe, less, it'll be time do clean out my phone again. That'll be interesting too.

Oil: Should we Regulate the Market?

2006-07-27T04:03:00.000-07:00

NP: Agalloch - Falling Snow (<--- click on the link to hear them)

I was watching the news today, and it was reported that Shell has announced a rise of 36% in profits. Think of that - 36%. Thats a pretty big rise. Meanwhile, oil prices are soaring and we, the consumers, are paying the price, whether we like it or not. Whether we like it or not, we are paying for Shell's shareholders' luxuries. All in the name of market uncertainty. Boy, do they love uncertainty.

Anyway. It got me thinking, oil is the most important commodity in the world (probably even more important than water). Everyone needs it, and yet we let it be controlled by market prices. Its not even a pure free market - we have a cartel, OPEC, which has the power to raise or lower prices at will. And, because of this system, we end up paying higher prices on everything everytime theres uncertainty. And the shareholders of Shell, Exxon, etc. make massive profits. Surely this system is unfair. Surely theres a more equitable system we can put in place?

My suggestions fly in the face of every neoliberal and every capitalist. Market controls and regulation are the number one sin, and with an industry like oil, its unthinkable. But Im not a neoliberal or a capitalist, so lets think about it. What would be a better system?

Price controls? Setting a maximum price for oil, with taxation by governments to extract revenues that would otherwise go to the oil companies. According to economic theory, it doesnt matter who you tax, because in the end both consumers and producers will end up paying a certain amount. But if you set a price cap, that wouldnt happen I think. Price caps are apparently troublesome too, because they create shortages. At a lower-than-market price, people will want more, and they wont be able to get any. That is a problem, and a solution to that would probably lead to yet more problems. But its worth thinking about.

Another possible solution (one even more terrifying for neoliberals) would be to have a regulatory body which sets prices and outputs, and allocates how much each country is to produce, how much each country is allowed to buy, etc. Basically, a centrally planned market. This would be difficult and complicated, but would at least mean that companies like Shell wouldnt make record profits while everything gets more expensive for the rest of us.

Any opinions on this? Is the current system the best, or can we improve it at all?

-----------

On another note, I seem to be having problems with comments on this blog. I dunno whats up, I'll try to get it fixed though.

Israel-Lebanon: A Couple of Links

2006-07-23T04:34:00.000-07:00

NP - Agalloch - Falling Snow

A few links that are definitely worth reading (well, one anyway).

http://siegeoflebanon.blogspot.com/

This is one of those blogs that gives you an insider view beyond Reuters or AP or any of the sanitised media outlets thats forever spewing rhetoric or irrelevant figures. I suppose you could say its 'human interest', but you cant write it off. Its these 'human interest' stories, come together, that precisely characterise this kind of situation. A lot better than Reuters.

http://www.camera.org/

This, on the other hand, is one of those websites you need to be aware of, because it vomits nonsensical articles that berate anyone who strays from the line, even the slightest bit. Its laughable, until you think about the fact that many people read these kind of websites, and get their education from them. So its something to be aware of, for sure.

http://www.zmag.org/weluser.htm is great too. Lots of articles worth reading. On this conflict, theres been a lot from both Israeli and Lebanese writers. Apart from the conflict, theres a lot of other good articles there. And its updated daily.

Watch This Space

2006-07-21T09:33:00.000-07:00

I'm going to try to go to the demonstration tomorrow in support of the people of Lebanon. If I can, I'll take pictures and videos and post them here, so watch this space.

Greetings from Lebanon

2006-07-19T00:40:00.000-07:00

We all know that Lebanon is being attacked by a vicious and insane Israeli army (IDF: Israeli Defence Force...it almost tries to be ironic). I've talked to a few of my friends in Lebanon, and Lebanese friends outside Lebanon, and they're all very scared. Trevelyana's blog has a great post detailing her 'holiday' in Lebanon. Some of them blame Hezbollah for an act badly planned, some of them spit venom at Hezbollah, still others defend Hezbollah and remind us that it was Hezbollah that drove the Israeli army out of Lebanon a while back. From what I hear, theres a sense of solidarity amongst Lebanese, but if Iraq is anything to go by, that won't last long.

I came across this article on ZNet, written by Rania Masri who's in Lebanon. Ive posted some bits of it here, but I recommend you read the whole thing.

==========

Dear friends,

Thank you all for your letters of concern. Yes, I am in Lebanon, and, yes, I am safe, as safe as one can be when one's country is under attack.

I appeal to you all: we need your voices of outrage to be heard.

Since Wednesday, we have been under vicious, unjustified attack, and the attacks have been intensifying.

Vicious. Perhaps you have not heard the news because the western news has not been reporting it. Perhaps you have seen the pictures because the western news is not printing the pictures (the media has access to the pictures, but is choosing not to print them).

See: www.angryarab.blogspot.com for some pictures. As for the attacks, the level of infrastructural damage exceeds that of the 1982 Israeli invasion:

Every airport has been attacked and rendered unfit for travel. The main airport (our only commerical airport) has been attacked several times over several days. The smaller military airports, none of which were in use for years, have also been attacked and rendered useless.

Every port from the south to the north has been attacked by the Israelis. For the first time, the port of Jounieh was bombed. (Which opens up the rather narrow question: how can the Americans, French, British, and Italians -- all of whom have called for the evacuation of their citizens -- evacuate their citizens?)

Several major gas stations and electrical stations have been destroyed. There is a rumor that every major gas station in the country is under threat.

The major bridges in the country have been destroyed. 64 to be exact. We are hesitant to cross over any bridge for the fear that it could be the next target.

The main arteries of the country have been destroyed -- from the south to the north. What does this mean? This means that travel between main cities *throughout Lebanon* is physically impossible.

...

What does all this mean?

Israel is attempting to scare the Lebanese into submission by forcing us to remain in the country and not "escape." This is terorism - in its purest form.

Vicious. Barbaric. Horrific. And Unjustified. Yes, unjustified. Let us remember: attacks by the Israeli Offensive Forces on the Lebanese border did not begin this Wednesday with the apprehending of two Israeli soldiers. For more than the past month, the Israeli army has been conducting live ammunition training on the border. Lebanese shepherds have been killed. The response from the "international community"? Silence. Let us remember: Israel continues to imprison Lebanese in their jails, and the call from Hezbollah has been clear for years: Hezbollah will work for their release. Lebanese are not the only ones held in Israeli jails; there are thousands of Arab prisoners. And in contrast to the incorrect reporting by The Guardian (UK), Hassan Narsallah, Secretary General of Hezbollah, stated quite clearly that Hezbollah will use these 2 Israeli soldiers for negotiation and he did not specify the conditions; he did NOT say that he will release these soldiers only upon the release of all Arab prisoners in Israel. Let us also remember: Israel has refused to submit a map of the 400,000 land mines that it deliberately left in South Lebanon, and these mines regularly kill Lebanese children.

==========

Its quite funny how Israel and the US both drew Iran and Syria into this conflict, when it was an insane Israeli reaction that is the problem. And naturally the media will lap it up, and they already have. And you'll get idiots telling us that Iran and Syria are behind all this, proof be damned. And that Hezbollah are not letting Lebanese leave

On the issue of sectarian conflict, we've seen how wildly successful this approach is in Iraq. Sunni killing shia, shia killing sunni...the US army doesnt need to kill anyone, muslims are doing it to themselves. And while the whole country tears itself apart, the instability serves at least 2 purposes:
1) No organised force can come out of Iraq. American soldiers dont die, its only Iraqis that die. The military need not be worried. Everyday we hear some 50 Iraqis have died in a carbomb outside a mosque, carried out by muslims (how tragic is that). Every now and then, a soldier - whos job it is to get ready for death - is killed. And the Western media goes crazy. But the instability means that the US presence in Iraq and in the region can be solidified, as long as we need them.
2) Baghdad is a ghost town, so I'm told. Something like 5 million people have left the city. Even if the conflict does settle eventually, theres nobody left. All the minds have left, and will be too scared to come back. Some Iraqis are describing it as the 2nd Exodus.

How does this relate to Lebanon? Insecurity between muslims, christians, etc. will throw the delicately made peace out the window. The Lebanese somehow recovered after the assassinati0n of Hariri, which is testament to their resolve and strength of character. This is another story though, and I only hope that they can pull together once more once this is done.

Theres an interesting article, also from ZNet, written by Uri Avnery. Its clearly written and to the point, and I think its a good read for everyone, even if you dont have the background.The article's long, so I wont post it here. But I definitely think you should read it. Its an absolute eye-opener.

So I guess in conclusion we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Of course the US and Israel will point the finger at Iran and Syria. But I cant really predict what'll happen next yet. We'll see. For now, they've dumped the baby on me, and I have to go make faces at him and teach him to fly :s.

So...Milan...

2006-07-18T13:03:00.000-07:00

I bumped into a guy today at the gym. I dont remember his name, but there was no reason to. I never talked to him in school. I just remember him as being small and pretty shy. Hes changed a lot though - hes bigger and seems pretty outgoing. If I remember he was in the grade below me. I asked how where he's at these days, and apparently he's studying Design in Milan, Italy. Which is pretty awesome - I didnt realise people from Oman went to Italy.

I should expect these things to happen, after all, this is Oman. But its always interesting bumping into people from your old school and seeing where they've ended up.

Technology

2006-07-15T13:17:00.000-07:00

"This one is 43 rials, this one is 46. Whats the difference? They look the same, theyre the same brand."
"This one you can plug it into USB, so its better."
"Ah. But that one is cheaper."
"Yes."
"..."

*sigh* That was for an mp3 player. Im considering one, but I just dont understand technology anymore. My dad got a new one a little while ago, and told me to 'figure it out'. So I fiddled with it today. I used to be pretty good with technology, but today I was outsmarted by a little metallic box called 'MP3/MP4' (I know, nice name). I just couldnt figure it out. I think I'm getting old.

I Cant Bridge The Macro-Micro Divide

2006-07-11T14:10:00.000-07:00

NP - Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Tell Me Baby

Yeah, so I'm having a problem with that. What I mean is like, suppose you have some problem which is to do with you and only you. You feel its pretty big, but on the scale of things, its pretty minor. But it doesnt matter - its important to you. And then you have problems like billions of people starving around the world. They dont directly affect you, but they're massive, huge problems.

I cant seem to give these problems in my own life the appropriate level of importance. People tend to take these 'micro' problems pretty seriously, e.g. having an argument with a best friend, liking a girl who doesnt like you back, getting a low grade in a subject you thought you did well in. Macro problems on the other hand, like the death of an uncle whos left behind a wife and children, tend to have less importance for most people, because they dont affect them personally as much.

I tend to fluctuate. When I have these micro problems, they dominate my mind and I cant think of anything else. I cant take my mind off them at all...until I'm hit with a macro problem. When that happens, I feel guilty for giving so much importance to my micro problems, which on the grand scale of things, have no relevance. Which is why sometimes (and only sometimes) I just cant sympathise with a lot of the stuff I see on TV. Like stories about bullying may not arouse as much emotion in me as stories of civil war for example. Im not sure if I'm getting it across right, but this happens sometimes, and I cant seem to balance what I should be worried about and what I shouldn't.

Theres also the issue of what I can do something about and what I cant. Generally the micro problems you can do something about (although not even close to always), while the macro ones you're helpless about. So it makes sense to give those macro ones less thought and concentrate on the things you can do. But I'm not so good at this, which needless to say, leads to problems.

Anyone able to relate?

2006-07-07T23:44:00.000-07:00

JZL says:
i know abt 10 economics majors that graduated within the past 10 yrs
JZL says:
all of em are unemployed right now

...thats really encouraging.

Famous economics graduates: George Bush, Mick Jagger, Jesse Jackson

...maybe I made a mistake somewhere down the line after all.

Italia! Germania!

2006-07-05T05:46:00.000-07:00

Sleepless Night! I was supposed to watch the game downstairs, but those *ahem* scrambled the channels. So I had to follow the game on BBC. Tried to get it streaming - first off CCTV, which wasnt such a success (but the commentators were hilarious). Then off ESPN...which was okay for a while, but kept cutting. And the commentators were annoying as hell. So I just followed the updating scoreboard on the BBC website. 90 minutes, no change. Screw this, I said, Im going to sleep.

I couldnt sleep all night. I was tossing and turning, and the words Italia and Germania kept repeating in my head. In between being awake and asleep I would 'dream' of people telling me the score...7-1, Italy wins on penalties. 7-1 on penalties? How is that possible? I read it in the paper, my sister says, 7-1. Wait a second, how could you read it in the paper, its still 3am...the online paper! Oh. But no, thats not right...you're part of my dream! And so it continued till about 9am. At 9am enough was enough, and I came online to check it. 2-0 Italia, with two apparently miraculous goals one minute from the end of extra time. Wow! Italy seem to keep scraping through - Australia and now Germany. Im glad Italy won, it makes it more interesting, because despite the fact they're a strong team, nobody expected them to beat Germany. But now I hope France get into the final and beat them. Im not a big supporter of any team left in this, but I admire the French team somewhat. I guess I'll be going for them.

Dairy Queen

2006-07-04T01:56:00.000-07:00

I went to DQ in Jawaharat Al-Shatti yesterday. I have to rant about this - they suck. First, they're overpriced. Now thats fine, as long as the food is anything special. But they made us wait about half an hour for the food (fast food??), and when it came, the burgers were tiny, and didnt taste anything special. Nothing on the burger except a small piece of lettuce. No sauce, nothing. My bro ordered a hotdog and because they were 'out of chilli' there was nothing on it. Food was crap too. Now I know DQ is all about ice creams and what not, but still, you expect a certain level of quality, really. Shameful.

You know what else sucks. The service at the electronics counters at Carrefour. I had to go shopping last week for some groceries, and I wanted to check out the webcams. I swear, it probably took me longer just to get my hands on the webcam i wanted than to do all of the other groceries combined. I dont get why they have to have the webcams behind some glass counter which only one person in the entire store has the key to. And that one person is nowhere to be found. Seriously, whats the point?? And this one person doesnt even know the difference between the different webcams.

"So, why is this one more expensive?"
"This one is Creative, this one is Samsung."
"Ok...so its just the brand?"
"Yes."
"But why does this one say it has a microphone and this one doesnt?"
"This one has microphone and this one doesnt."
"Ok...thats what I...nevermind. So thats why this one is more expensive?"
"Yes."
"But the cheaper one has a microphone, the more expensive one doesnt."
"Yes, this is Creative, this is Samsung."
"*sigh* ok, I'll take the one with the microphone."

Like that. Really, seriously, I mean. Oh, it reminds me of FIFAs new policy for hiring referees for the World Cup 2006. Apparently some equal opportunities bull means that they have to hire retarded and blind people to be referees. Which is why the refereeing has been so atrocious. I seriously seriously wouldnt be surprised if this is true. I could never be a professional footballer - nevermind I dont have the skills, if I did, I'd never be able to hold my temper. Id be constantly attacking referees.

*sigh*

I've decided I dont want children. Ive realised that they're fun in short bursts. Say, an hour, two tops. After that, they can go back to their parents for cleaning, feeding, butt-wiping, whatever they need. I dont think I could live with children for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, until the day I die. No way, no chance. Never. Although I think its different when the kids are yours. I wouldnt know, but I figure if the kids are yours, you tolerate them, even though they make your life hell. Like a bad relationship I guess - you suffer day and night, but you never let go. Ahh, kids are like a bad relationship. What a rosy future I paint for myself.

2nd Round: Games 5-8

2006-06-27T14:02:00.000-07:00

I dont really want to talk about yesterdays games, and Ill talk about todays briefly. Ghana played really well against Brazil I think, but just didnt know how to finish, it was unfortunate. Brazil didnt look like Brazil much, apart from rare moments, and towards the end. Well, Ghana didnt deserve to win, but 3-0 is a little harsh. France and Spain...great game, France really looked a lot better than before, and Spain looked great too. But I was upset that Henry, my favourite player, had to resort to a dive to secure the 2nd goal. Oh well. Ribery was great though.

The Week

2006-06-26T02:48:00.000-07:00

I Picked up The Week today (june 21st issue), and as usual its filled with delightful insights into Oman's quirkiness. Theres a bunch of things worth mention.

Its always interesting seeing people you know in the Week, or their fathers, brothers, sisters, etc. I was looking at the pictures of the MPS graduation, and was surprised. Did I look young when it was ME? I couldnt have. I know all of those kids, I cant believe theyre graduating. Theyre still babies in my eyes. That guy in the middle still looks like his sister. The boy next to him still looks nothing like his brother. They still look much younger than we did.

It makes me feel old. Maybe I DID look that young, maybe its just when I look in the mirror now, I dont realise how much I've changed. Has uni scarred me so? Has it crafted these lines on my face, the coldness I see in my eyes? *sigh* Being poetic can be fun...

Secondly, the madness of the cinema. The Devil's Rejects? Its not exactly a new movie for it to be on the main screen in Bahja and Ruwi. But thats fine - a few years back we were used to waiting 6 months to get movies. Thats not the point - THE DEVILS REJECTS? I know 'A Woman In Black' has seen this movie, and well you may have enjoyed it AWIB, but you cant disagree with me here - theres little point in showing this movie in the cinemas here. Half of it would be censored. And whats not censored, well, its gruesome. Not only that, its...ugh. See, silly teenage kids would go about saying how cool this movie is, because its 'cool' to be disturbed or disturbing. And okay, I can appreciate it as an indie movie. But I just think its madness to show it on the main screen in the cinemas in OMAN. Remember, this is OMAN. Its just...not cool. Retards.

2nd Round: Games 3 and 4

2006-06-25T14:11:00.000-07:00

England 1 - 0 Ecuador

Boring game really. Depressing. Being an England fan is the most effective way of giving you blood pressure. No matter who they play, they screw up again and again and again, and are only rescued by some miracle late in the game. Same thing here: a beautiful Beckham spotkick. After that England picked up, but England are something, gotta say. I dont know how they can be so good and bad - at the same time. But they scraped through, again unconvincingly. Im losing hope.

Portugal 1 - 0 Holland

This game. I hated this game. Ive never seen a worse game in my LIFE. 4 red cards, a despicable portugese team, liars, fucking worst game ever. I hate portugal. I hate Christiano Ronaldo, fkcing crybaby. I hate Figo, fkcing diver. I hate Maniche, cause he was right - he WOULD be the difference. I hate that constinha guy cause hes a reckless diver. I hate everything about portugal. That wasnt a game, it was a travesty. As usual the ref is the man of the match. Im very, very, very angry right now. Ive spend the last 20 or 30 minutes non-stop complaining about the game to a couple of friends, and im not calming down, im getting angrier. Now england will have to play them. And knowing England, they will SUCK. They'll do long balls with no tall attacker in the box. They will play with a 10 man defence, but no counter-attack strategy. They will mess up passes. IF they score, it will be some miraculous free-kick, or some mistake of the defence. And portugal will win.

Today was a very bad day for football.

2nd Round: Games 1 and 2

2006-06-24T14:56:00.000-07:00

"i watch it in macdonalds cuz all cafes full!"

Thats my friend, talking about the Mexico V Argentina game. It seems World Cup Fever has gone ahead, despite ART's best efforts at monopolising it. You will NEVER crush our spirit! :D

Man, the games today. What can I say. One was amazing, one was very, very maddening. Lets start with Sweden V Germany.

Germany 2 - 0 Sweden

Someone from the BBC Sport message board had this to say:

"Germany were the better team - but this abysmal refereeing has to stop. It's ruining the World Cup "

I agree entirely. Sure, Germany played well, but the refereeing was terrible. And its not the first time. The Swede who was sent off deserved none of those cards. It was a frustrating game, and I was tempted to just turn it off when Larsson missed that penalty. I dont get how PROFESSIONALS miss penalties. HOW CAN YOU MISS THE FREAKING GOAL !!! Man, I hated that game.

Argentina 2 - 1 Mexico

This was a classic. Amazing game, as promised. I predicted 2-0 or 3-0 to Argentina, but Mexico came out guns blazing. They surprised us all with that first goal, but all credit to Argentina, they came back guns blazing. It was awesome, but Argentina seemed to run out of steam first, and Mexico looked the stronger team for much of the game. Argentina seemed to run out of creativity, and Riquelme looked tired towards the end. But they still threatened often. The Maxi Rodriguez goal in injury time was UNBELIEVABLE, and Mexico seemed to run out steam and determination after that. A classic.

An Update

2006-06-19T01:22:00.000-07:00

So I've been in Oman for a few days, and its been good. Incredibly I feel thinner (I guess, since Im leading a less active lifestyle, Im eating less), more lethargic (unsurprisingly), and less interested in being online. But I havent gotten completely lethargic: yes I watch 2 or 3 matches of football a day, but I've been keeping myself busy with other stuff as well. All in all haven't had too much free time on my hands, and thats a good thing.

People keep asking me how I find the weather. Hello people, I've lived in this country for 18 years before leaving! :p Just because I've been gone 6 months doesnt mean I've forgotten! I dont think you can ever forget anyway. But to answer that question, I like it. Its humid, not as hot as I remember, but its a nice change. I dont mind being outside - as long as you're ready to sweat, its cool.

Mmm. Haven't seen any of my friends, save one. Not too interested. Might see a couple more in a few days though - u9ool and all. But nah, its not just that, I do want to see them. I dont miss them as such, but theyre fun people I guess. And they've changed from being abroad, as have I. It would be good to see just how much, and for the better or worse. Its funny; maybe its just because I've changed, but those who've been abroad Im interested in seeing, while those who stayed here, well, I'm sort of not bothered with. We've grown distant, they havent tried to keep in contact, and well, I guess that does it. Its better this way. I dont have too much time on my hands right now, and I'd like to spend most of it with family, as I tend to neglect them I guess.

World Cup Fever is hittin' hard. Up until the Czech Ghana game, there were no surprises, but that game (an AWESOME game), followed by the Italy USA game proved that there is still some surprises left. African football is reaching maturity I think. Ghana and the Ivory Coast were an absolute pleasure to watch. While the Ivory Coast were unlucky enough to be put in the group of death, Ghana has proven themselves with that amazing win over the Czech Republic. They outclassed them in every way, pure and simple. They were faster, more creative, better passing, tighter at the back, and more lethal. But Petr Cech, the Czech keeper, was like a demon guarding the gates of hell. He was the only reason that Czech didnt lose by a more embarassing margin of 5 or 6 to zero. Wallahi embarassing, but a lovely match.

Ivory Coast's matches so far were pure pleasure to watch too. They were unfortunate to go down 2-0 in the beginning of the match against Holland, but they fought back well. Van Persie played good for the Dutch, while Robben (star of the last Dutch match) did almost nothing. So it was a good match for the Dutch too.

Personally, I'm supporting England. I wasnt sure who I was supporting after that, but there were a bunch of teams I was loosely supporting to win: Holland, Czech, Argentina mostly. But I wasnt supporting them strongly. But after watching them play, I've been most impressed by Argentina: I think they might be my 2nd team. I dont know why I never chose them to start with: usually I choose teams because of reasons beyond football, and Argentina has been one of my biggest passions of the last 4 or 5 months. Ive read all about their economy, politics, history, culture, etc. They got screwed by so many people over the last 20 or 30 years, and my hearts really gone out to them. They have real fighting spirit, the people of that country, and Latin America in general. But I've never been too big a fan of their football team - I guess because they dont tend to make big waves. But Im going to cheer them on this time.

But if it comes to England VS Argentina...well...I'm going to go for Gerrard and Co. :D Its gotta be done. Sorry my Argentinian brothers, its gotta be done.

McDonalds

2006-06-15T13:38:00.000-07:00

I found this useful thing which gave all this info about what exactly you get when u eat something from McDonalds. I typed up the calories and fat content on MS Excel, but dont have anywhere to host it, so I took a screenshot. Its...interesting.

Trip Home

2006-06-13T14:18:00.000-07:00

LAST DAY THOUGHTS

Im no longer connected to the internet, so Im going to compile this entry piece by piece, according to the times when I wrote it. You'll be reading it because I'll have posted it in its entirely once I'm connected again.

Monday, 2:55pm

Well, this is it. Ive begun my journey out of the city and towards Heathrow Airport, so that I can get my flight heading to Seeb International. Said goodbye to my friends and housemates - friends by SMS (I was more interested in watching the World Cup than spending time with them), housemates when my taxi came (I was more interested in watching Prison Break on my laptop). Right now I'm on the bus to Heathrow.

Can't say Im feeling anything much about leaving. I always feel something when Im travelling, usually a tinge of sadness, as I dont like moving...and packing is the worst of all. But for the past 3 months I couldnt wait to go back to Oman. So I should be feeling happiness, right? But Im not, not really. I wont be staying in Oman for too long, and, unlike the last 2 or so summers, my closest friends will not be in Oman. So it will be relaxing, but uneventful.

Its been an interesting year. I say interesting, and not good, because yes its been interesting, but not it hasnt been quite what I'd call good (wow, what a revelation that was). A lot of stuff happened. Two weeks ago feels like last semester. The beginning of the year...the bunfight...freshers week...feels like an eternity ago. And last year? Last year never happened. Usually time moves fast, but this year - especially the latter half - time's moved excruciatingly slow. I think part of that is due to the fact that I spent four weeks over easter here while everyone was gone home. I spent a lot of it in the library and a lot of it doing nothing. THat felt long.

Another reason its felt long is that its just been so unbelievably busy. One of my friends in the US hates me because he says here in the UK we do so little work. 3 year degree, 4 month summer holiday, 4 week easter, 3 week christmas. Whereas he does a 4 year degree, including summer 1 and summer 2. Maybe people in the US do work harder. I mean, I was looking at some of my friends' module options, and boy, theres a lot of super interesting stuff Id LOVE to do that I dont have the option of doing. So maybe they do work harder. But I think here its just a pressure cooker - you're ALWAYS working, ALWAYS busy. And it wears you out. At the end of the day, you're too tired to do anything (thats if you're actually studious and aiming for a top mark - if not, well.). And they are thinking of introducing 2 year degrees in the UK soon. Too much pressure. Is it a surprise everyone is out drinking their sorrows away? Theres so much pressure, they need to unwind, and getting absolutely pissed is the quick and easy way to do it, at least till the next morning.

Monday, 7:17pm

I cant say this has been the worst airport experience ever, but its probably up there in the top 3. Or top 5. Top 5. If I didnt get chance to watch at least some of the USA V Czech game, or if the USA had scored, then it would probably be top 3 (if the USA had one, it would have been the worst ever).

So they said I could pick up my ticket from the airport. But apparently (as I ought to expect), the Airline Office in Oman hadnt sent the info over. And the paper they gave me to give to them...was for a different passenger! Remarkable. I spent ages just waiting, calling home, waiting, watching the football, waiting. It was hot, so many loud people speaking languages I dont understand, and I was hungry. In the end I got through, sitting here in the departure lounge thingy (not the first class lounge, I wish it was that), typing this up. Its a pretty lounge, very spacious big windows, smells nice. I smell nice. On way through the duty free I sampled Armani Code. I already know what it smells like, but I wanted a little bit on me. I smell nice. Some lady just called me over and asked if I could stand security at her position. Lady, I said, Im a passenger. You're a passenger? Yes. Oh, right. Walks off. So much for hospitality. And speaking of that, I find it funny that the Asian people who work at this particular airline's ticket office are especially nice to white people, but wave off Asians. One woman anyway.

OOh, the air hostesses have just walked into this lounge thingy. Im surprised. Theres at least 2 arab airhostesses. Usually theres none.

Pretty airhostesses.

I'm tired. Mmm, I smell nice.

Monday 11:15pm

Been flying about 2 hours or less. Its ok, comfortable plane. I have four seats for myself, which is awesome. I can stretch out and sleep, if I want to. No good movies though. I just watched this English one called 'The Other Half', about this mad football fan and his American wife. He takes her to Portugal for their honeymoon, but she doesnt know that theres a football tournament going on. Its...cute. Boring, but cute. Dragged a little though - and there was no football! You make a movie about football, you want some football in it. But it made me want to go to Portugal. Portugal seems lovely.

Speaking of football, why cant they show the World Cup games live on the plane? I missed Italy V Ghana, and if it was showing on the plane I could have seen it. Bleh. Maybe next World Cup.

The world is football crazy...and thats how it should be. Women dont get it. A minority of men dont get it. But its simple really - football is The Beautiful Game. It brings people together. It makes people brothers. I remember when I watched the Champions League final, and Arsenal scored after having their goalkeeper sent off against the mighty Barcelona, all the Arsenal fans in the place erupted. It was mad. Random people were hugging each other. It was awesome. Football is awesome.

Oh yeah, flight was delayed about half an hour. That annoyed me. As if all that wasnt enough. No, no good movies on the flight either. But I have a few episodes of Prison Break left, and Ive got a good book called Jarhead, for when my laptop batteries die. And like I mentioned before space to lie down, except for some reason an English kid's come and sat in the fourth seat. Dunno why, the seat next to him where he was sitting before was empty as well. Maybe the TV wasnt working. Oh well. Hes not a kid really, he looks my age. Oh well. Gonna watch some Prison Break - its getting interesting again.

Tuesday 2:15am (5:15am Oman Time)

Flying over some mountain range called the Zagros Mountains, somewhere on the Iran-Iraq border. Its just occured to me that this would be a very, very bad place to crash land.

I have so much leg room.

=================

Got to Oman 7am this morning Oman time. Tiring journey overall, but the flight was surprisingly comfortable. Its good to be back, the weather isnt as bad as I was led to believe, I actually spent half an hour today kicking a football around on the roof. Prob best get to sleep though, ive had about 5 hours sleep in the last 36. Nighty!

God Bless...

2006-06-10T00:51:00.000-07:00

God bless pissed-off pensioners!

God bless junk food!

...the world's still here?

2006-06-07T06:49:00.000-07:00

Now Blastin': Tupac - Hit Em Up

I've been in a stupor for the past 4 weeks and I've only just woken up. The world was supposed to end yesterday - but I'm still here. Why? Was I left behind? Did armageddon forget about me? ... thats kinda cool.

The world's still here. Somehow I'm still here too. Those last four weeks were hell, thats exam time for you. Its supposed to get easier...when you get better at the whole study thang, but apparently not. I've never worked harder - even though they said last semester would be harder than this one...news flash: you were wrong, people!

Yesterday was the sixth of the sixth, two oh oh six. Had my last exam yesterday, and boy, what a day to finish. Sun shining, everyone out on the grass chillin out, ice cream truck goin around. People walking out of the pub with ice chilled beer pitchers (Im not a beer person, but its just a sign of the summer in this part of the world - you cant really hate it, not when you've just stepped out of your last exam and know that for the next four months, you have no master).

I stayed up till about 4:30am last night staring at the walls, and it was heaven. 4:30 probably isnt that last for a lot of you, but for me, I sleep at about 1:30am when I have no studies or anything. Exam time, I sleep around 10:30-11:00pm. Which is funny - I got to the point where I liked exam days, because it meant I could sleep in. Yup! Most people have to wake up early for exams. But on non-exam days in the last 4 weeks I would be waking up at 6:55am, to be in the library at 8:30am. Exam day, I can wake up at 7:30 for a 9:30am exam. Thats an extra 35 minutes!

I was very irritable too during exam time. I think I'm okay with stress, and by that I mean that I dont usually freeze up in the face of exams and that. I wont sit in the corner and hold myself, crying. I think because I can be a very angry person, I prefer to to hit them exams back. So yeah, I get the work done. But I let out the stress of the people around me :p Had a lot of problems with my housemates. When you're under stress and someone annoys you, you hate everything about them. You hate their face, you hate their voice, you hate their smell, you hate their food, you hate the mess they leave behind them...you even hate the sound of their footsteps. And if you live with them, it leads to problems. But yeah, we've all finished now, so no problems...for now anyway.

Todays the 7th. Wore my new shirt, my new watch (its like eid! :p), went to town. Awesome day, a day for shades...so I wore my shades :p. On the bus bumped into a Malaysian acquaintance whose name I dont know. Had a chat with him, found out hes getting married this summer. Hes getting married to a girl whos studying medicine here! And I know my ex-flatmate (Malaysian dude from last year) is getting married sometime soon as well. Malaysian people are awesome, they get married young - and the thing is, they look even younger than they are! This guy is 22, he looks about 18. When he said he was getting married, my jaw hit the floor. I was so happy for him, and I dont even know him (all I know is that hes a great guitarist, we jammed once).

Everyone here has gone super patriotic, its kinda cute. This is why the world cup is awesome, it brings people together. Everyone is wearing England shirts, even the Chinese students here, its so cool. The only problems arise when you get drunken hooligans getting violent. But thats the minority. Football really is the beautiful game, and this should be a great World Cup.

Another year's gone by, and what a year its been...no no no. Not this blog post. I'll do this blog post a little while before I go back home for the summer...I'm not really looking forward to it, but hey its gotta be done right?

"Hes a Good Person"

2006-06-03T14:20:00.000-07:00

NP - Funkadelic - You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks

I was walking to campus this morning, and I started thinking about stuff, and this line popped into my head "yeah, but hes still a good person". And then I got thinking, what makes someone a good person; is it because they do 'good' things? Like donate to charity, help old ladies cross the road...pet dogs, I dunno, whatever good people do. Or is it because they dont do bad things? Mug old women, throw stones at cats, murder, etc.?

Is there a grey area? Can you be a 'not good, not bad' person? Or are you one or the other? If you're not good, you're bad, and vice versa? It got me thinking, cause we just assume most people are 'good people'. But why are most people good people? Well, because most of them arent baaaad people as such. They're good at heart.

Screw that. Just because you're not bad, doesn't make you good. It makes you normal. If you're not bad, and you're not good, you're grey space.

Think about it. Unless you're guided by 'good' or 'bad', everything you do is just subsistance. You do it because you think it'll bring you pleasure from one minute to the next. You have a notion of right and wrong, but it doesnt concern you too much. As long as you dont do wrong, theres no explicit need to do right.

Actually that last paragraph is nonsense. I dont know what Im writing anymore.

*pkhhhhh*

Unhealthy Obsession

2006-05-29T14:23:00.000-07:00

Last night I went home at 10:30pm and I actually couldnt wait to come back to the library. I came back in at 9am, stayed till 5, until I had to go home cause I was too tired - didnt sleep too well the night before. But I tried to take a nap when I got home, couldnt. I was supposed to meet a group at 8 to discuss a question we're all having a problem with, but I decided to go in early - I missed the place I guess. Its 10:30pm now and I would stay longer (got some stuff to do), but if I do it means ill come in late tomorrow - and there'll be nowhere to sit. So its with great reluctance I leave tonight.

Its scary. Its become an unhealthy obsession. The library has extended its opening hours from 10pm (pitifully early) to 2am (still early for some). Im not a 2am person - I leave by 10 usually so I can get a good nights sleep and come back for 8:30am. Others drift in these days at 9pm, stay till 2am, and talk about how hardcore they are. Screw that shit. Hardcore is when you're actually addicted to the library. And no, its not like I enjoy it, its like any addiction, you do it because your body wants to. Ive never worked this hard in my life, its insane, and Im still taking great risks in my preparation - hoping a certain question will come, etc.

I think as this habit goes on, you get to spend more time here, but your productivity decreases. Like, 2 weeks back Id be coming in at 11am and leaving at 5pm. Getting an ok amount done. Last 2 days Im coming in at 8:30am leaving at 10:30pm - but the amount Im getting done per hour or whatever is less. Im tiring, and I think thats why I wouldnt be able to keep this up forever. As for motivation, well it differs from person to person. For me, I kid you not my biggest motivation isnt to get good grades (although thats up there definitely) or to learn or to get into a good uni in future or to make lots of money. No, right now the motivation purely and simply is numbers. Thats it, numbers. So at the end of the day, I can say I spent x amount of time studying. Its lame, but it works better than all the other forms of motivation people talk about. I mean, who cares what my earning potential is in 10 years? It doesnt motivate me here and now. Theres no link. But with the numbers, your motivation is refreshed every night. You dont think about why the numbers are important, you just know they are.

Here's to obsession.

Academic Post

2006-05-27T23:43:00.000-07:00

Not many of you will be interested, but for one of my classes I had to submit a report, 2500 word approx, on a subject of my choice.

Below I share mine, and two of my friends' ones. Mine is on the IMF and the World Bank, one of my friend's ones is about TRIPS (intellectual property rights), and the third is about the development project and post-development. Might be worth a read...

Mine: http://www.soton.ac.uk/~tac104/politics/imfwbfx.pdf

The Pasha: http://www.soton.ac.uk/~tac104/politics/devpasha.pdf

Sheikh Ali: http://www.soton.ac.uk/~tac104/politics/tripslongting.pdf

Last Day

2006-05-26T05:47:00.000-07:00

Today is the last day of the last week of the last semester of the year (alas, its not my last) ... even though I didnt have any lectures this week (well, one), I still feel a blog post is in order. I would make it one of those nauseatingly nostalgic posts we all love to read, but theres two things stopping me:

1) Im in the library; I barely have time to blog at home because Im barely at home these days
2) I dont feel particularly nostalgic

Yep, this year, as the last, hasn't warranted special mention if my book of good times. Its been... interesting, I suppose. Not fun though, not one of those years where you go, wow, Ill remember this the rest of my life.

I did math today. I havent done math in a year, and today I find out I need to be able to do a certain amount of math if I want to pass one of my exams...so maths it is! And I'm loving it. Theres something about math, I can just turn off and let some curiously hungry part of my brain do all the work. My hand doesnt stop moving for hours as Im just scrawling equations and numbers and diagrams across page. Its almost a waste to think that all that hard work is going to go in the bin as soon as my hand stops moving.

But its fun, maths is. I had forgotten why I enjoyed it so much. I purposely picked my modules so that I'd have to do as little math as possible, but Im glad this modicum of arithmetic has crept in.

Sometimes I wonder how sad I really am...it all comes out in exam times. I mean here I am, blogging about my secret love affair with mathematics. *sigh* Run, dear reader, before I infect you too.

Countdown to Doomsday

2006-05-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

NP - Andy Timmons - All Is Forgiven

I have 7 days.

Today was interesting. I dont know if it was the oranges I ate in the morning or what, but I actually managed to be pretty productive today. I was in the library from 9am till 8pm - save 2 hours of lectures (yes, its the last week of term and we still have lectures), half an hour for lunch, and 1.5 hours at the gym. Thats pretty good by my standards. And it was a weird day too - I felt...different. Confident, happy. So strange. I hate exam periods, they miss with your mind. Im like a pregnant woman or something right now...scary thought.

I have faith in my immune system. My and my ol' buddy have been through some pretty testing times. But through careful training, I have built him up into a formidable ally (careful training = an unhealthy childhood obsession with shawerma - hey if you can digest one of those you can digest pretty much anything). So I was confident enough to do something today I probably shouldnt have done. Yesterday while at the supermarche I bought this microwave fish with cheese thingy - it was cheap. About to reach its eat by date. So I bought it. I didnt cook it that day though, I cooked it today. When I pulled it out of the microwave, it was bubbling - and the cheese looked weird. All patchy and that...like milk gone off. I smelled it, but it smelled fine. I was like OK I shouldnt eat this...but its been a tiring day and I need PROTEIN. But wont it fudge with my stomach?

Its okay dude, your immune system is a beast - nothing can mess with it. Those stomach acids will attack and kill any hostile food substance. So I ate it.

I'll need to wait till tomorrow to see if I was right. But if I'm not back in the next few days...well. Blame the cheese.

Post-Winter, Post-Haste.

2006-05-20T16:33:00.000-07:00

NP - Sigur Ros - Untitled 3

How fast time flies. Its a saturday night, more of a sunday morning really. I went out tonight, first time I go out on a saturday night in about 6 months, more or less. Probably more. It was a spur of the moment thing - I was at the gym with O after the library closed (close at 5pm on Saturday, for God knows what reason - probably to keep social rejects like me out). Just as we were leaving, he said he couldnt bear to go home to his family tonight, and wanted an escape. He suggested we go watch The Da Vinci Code, even though the reviews were shite. So we said yeah, okay. So we went - me, O, R1 and R2. Basically we just went back to my place, picked up R1, then went immediately to pick up R2, and went.

We didn't reserve tickets. Da Vinci Code - sold out. MI3? God forbid I pay money to see Mr. Scientology, but we were already out - a night out's a night out - and there was no turning back. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?) MI3 was also sold out. There was one more option...

...THE KING.

A word of advice...dont watch The King.. Just dont. I dont care if it got decent reviews, its the worst trash Ive seen in...well...six months. Long story short - kid comes, meets his father, impregnates his half sister, kills his half brother, kills his half sister. There, I've saved you about 2 hours of your life, with which you can do something useful with.

How sad I've become. The other day I was talking to a friend about their weekend plans, and they're like "library? hah, Im not THAT sad! I dont study on weekends." And I'm just at a loss of works. Im thinking: you dont study on weekends? But...how? What else is there to do? HOW DO YOU PASS THE TIME?? That was a few days ago, and I only realised the absolute, pityful tragedy of that a few hours back (in the movie, ironically enough). But this year I just dont have time. I know people say, hey you're still undergrad, dont work so hard - but you gotta. I gotta. So I do.

Last year at this time I was reading some quality stuff - 100 Years of Solitude, Shadow of the Wind. Good books, amazing books. But for the past few weeks I've been trudging through the inexorably boring The Historian. This book got good reviews, had a pretty interesting plot (in theory), and had a nice cover. I expected it to be something dark and fascinating - when the subject matter is Dracula, it damn well better be. Instead I find this book about *WARNING: SPOILERS:* some girl plodding along, digging up her fathers old letters, the story moving painfully slowly in all directions but the right one. I would say, purely because of the subject matter, that it has the potential to impress yet, but unfortunately I gave up hope about a hundred pages back. Even the plot twists I dont much care for. Theres 2 reasons I havent given up yet:

1) Its about Dracula - something good has GOT to happen soon.
2) I gave up my last book half way too (autobio of MLK).

Im very disappointed, because I was hoping for something literary. This book tries to be literary and doesnt do a very good job of it, instead coming across as trying to be The Da Vinci code, but without the pace or esotericism. Its sad really - I had high hopes for this.

Bedtime - need to be up by 7:30am tomorrow so I can get to the library early...Sunday morning. I live a wonderfully exciting life. Well, at least theres the hope of football - assuming that this dreadful weather we've been having these last few days lets up, and the sun shines once more. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

ARGH

2006-05-17T10:16:00.000-07:00

NP - RHCP - Hard to Concentrate

Oh, how true. How hard it is to concentrate. I havent fallen into my study groove yet, and with less than 2 weeks left till my exams start, its just a wee bit worrying. But I can be excused today...tis Champions League Final Day!

Arsenal V Barcelona. North London V Catalonia (or whatever its called). The tension here is electric - even though the final is in Paris. This is the best final in years, everyone knows its going to be something special. Both sets of supporters are out in force...and I cant study!

Im going to the Uni Bar early, to get a good place. Its going to be packed. Problem is, its going to be all Barcelona fans...but I suppose that'll make it all the sweeter when we win :D

2006-05-17T02:55:00.000-07:00

Klimt 1918 - Fever

Today promises to be a crap day. Last night was crap, I couldnt sleep for 3 hours. The only thing that calmed me down enough to sleep was Omar Khairat (music). I dont usually sleep with music, but I had to...and it worked. But I woke up still angry - was supposed to wake up at 6am, woke up at 10, so my plans for the day were basically ruined. So now I have to just do what I can.

Theres only one thing that can save this day: Arsenal winning the Champions League. I dont have too much hope...I know we CAN do it, but it will take luck - Barcelona need to be having an average day. If they play their best, we're screwed. Still, Im predicting 2-1, with Arsenal lifting the trophy at the end of the day.

MSN Makes You Retarded

2006-05-15T05:54:00.000-07:00

O says:
alrite latorz
O says:
leme know when ur gyming
Z says:
yash
Z says:
will do
Z says:
atert

Ho hum.

Thoughts for this Morning

2006-05-14T04:31:00.000-07:00

NP - Royksopp - Poor Leno

1) Once again,we see power being forcibly pulled from the hands of the people and into the hands of technocrats and big business. Latest example:

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,,1774399,00.html?gusrc=rss

"In a move which brought immediate criticism from human rights' experts, the Prime Minister wants the government to have the power to override court rulings. The move comes only days after Blair criticised a senior judge for preventing the deportation of nine Afghan refugees who hijacked a plane to Britain. Downing Street said he was determined to find a way around such 'barmy' court rulings."

Barmy indeed.

2) Prince sure is lucky that Michael Jackson exists. Jeez, I could barely watch the video for 'Black Sweat'.

3) They said organising your notes and stuff will make you feel better, because you'll see how much of the study you've already done. All I see is how much much I thought I'd done, but I hadnt. Worry time.

My Islamic Society

2006-05-05T15:40:00.000-07:00

NP - Chagos Project - Danza De Los Perros

A joke. Apart from all the stories which I wont share here, the latest story out of the ISOC here is the elections, due to be held on Monday. Yesterday on my way home, I go to the prayer room, and see a poster on the front door. Its a picture of Uncle Sam, with some type of hat on his head (you know the type, almost like a skullcap), and a caption saying YOUR ISOC NEEDS YOU. This made me laugh, but also made me kinda despair about how sad they've become. Theres so many things wrong with that poster.

Firstly, Uncle Sam? You couldnt find anything better than UNCLE SAM to promote ISOC? Not that I'm anti-American, but Uncle Sam represents a very specific image of America, that of patriotism and the Army. These things arent 'unislamic', but they arent exactly the most appropriate themes to incorporate into this whole affair. Secondly, the absolutely amateurish photoshopping made me want to tear. It was atrociously done, didnt even look realistic. Looked like it was MEANT to be a joke. God, I hope it was. Thirdly, the presence of that skullcap thingy itself. WHY GOD WHY! Is it supposed to be a MUSLIM thing?? I take great offense to that! Nay, its a cultural thing, its a piece of clothing that some people from the Subcontinent, Pakistand and Bangladesh choose to wear. That they incorporate it with Islam, not only is it silly, its plain wrong! Coming from the ISOC - its downright shameful.

As I walked in there was a slip of paper on the noticeboard which was basically asking people to nominate themselves or their friends for positions for next year. Well, I figured, since ISOC seems to have spontaneously developed a sense of humour, why dont I join in the fun? So I put my name down, and for my position, i wrote SATANIC OVERLORD.

I came back today. Curiously, my name had disappeared. Someone had gone through the trouble of printing out a new sign-up sheet and replacing the old one, just to get rid of my name. Im ticked :D Oh, but more interestingly than that, it seems that I wasn't the only one who found the pictures of Uncle Sam someone offensive. Someone else had disagreed with them, for reasons which just made me want to cry about the absolute hopelessness of it all. Someone had gone to everyone one of those Uncle Sam posters, and cut out his face. After all, drawing faces is haram in Islam.

Kill me now.

Post-Relationship Rhetoric

2006-05-01T14:40:00.000-07:00

NP - Nevermore - Enemies of Reality

Sometimes I talk to people about old relationships, and almost invariably they say something like "I never loved him/her to start with. It was just a false emotion." If theyre in a current relationship, then this one is REALLY love - the real deal...until they break up, in which case it was false love again.

I dont know, Im not comfortable with that talk.

If you KNEW it was love at the time, how can it not be love in hindsight? Its not like anythings changed, except your perception of the person. You cant change the past - only in your mind. If you dont love them now, it doesnt mean that you never did. It just means things have changed.

Ok, suppose you accept that you did in fact love them in the past. I dont think it means you need to love them now - theres no rule that says love is forever. I think love is born, and can die. Doesnt have to die, but often does. I guess its to be expected. It doesnt take anything away from that last relationship, but you need to be able to put it behind you...and by that I dont just mean 'getting over them', I mean acknowledging that you had something great, and now you dont, and not letting that affect you. Most people tend to either dwell on what they had, or deny that they ever had something at all. Why not just say, yeah we had something great, but its over, and now I'm moving on?

Erm...Happy 200 to me...

2006-04-30T16:48:00.000-07:00

Yes, this is post #200. We've come along way. To celebrate Im going to post pictures of...trees. But not just any trees. I want to show that trees come in all shapes and sizes - and colours. So, coloured trees (click to get the full sized versions):

RED:

WHITE:

BLUE:

PINK:

YELLOW:

[i took the next one myself]:

PURPLE:

And check this out, its insane:

Neat, right? Well, look a little closer:

Insane!

Oh, for the record, Im not a TREE HUGGER as some seem to think, I just love the beauty that is in nature.

Another Minor Miracle

2006-04-30T10:10:00.000-07:00

I believe my life is full of minor miracles. Little things that happen to all of us I reckon. Most of us put it down to...well, life, but I like to thing its the interference of a higher power in my life :p. Its more interesting that way.

I usually leave my gym clothes in the prayer room - it saves me having to haul them to campus every day. They went missing one day. Anyway, I was in the library today studying, and was gettin ready to leave. I was checking the score of a football game, where I wanted a particular team to lose (Tottenham - I hate em). On my way home, I decided you know what, its prayer time, ill pray in the prayer room instead of at home. I was pretty tired, but I went anyway. I had just missed prayer, but there was still a congregation, and some guy talking to them. I finished praying and figured I'd leave, but decided not to, I'd listen for a bit. Only respectful after all, even though Im not the kind of guy who really appreciates khutbas.

So I sat and I listened, and it was quite cool. The guy told this story about a group of girls from my uni who heard about this island that nobody is allowed to live on, because its a nature reserve, just off the coast of the UK somewhere. These girls decided they wanted to be the first to go to this island and do the athaan there (whether they were or not I cant say). So they went and they prayed 2 rukaas, and while they were praying loads and loads of peacocks appeared and surrounded them and watched them. He said he has a picture, and it was very beautiful.

Surely thats one of those small things, but its quite a nice thought. He concluded by talking about how Islam spread to the Malaysia and Indonesia and parts of Africa not through the sword, but by muslims going and spreading Islam peacefully. And that we should follow that example. It was good stuff.

Then he said that they were clearing out the prayer room (lots of junk) and that if the brothers could stay and help that would be good. I remembered my bag with my gym stuff, and went to ask about it. I looked around, and I found it XD muahahaaa, it was awesome. My spirits were lifted, and I helped out with moving the stuff (even though I intially didnt want to). I just find it interesting that, had I not gone to pray, and had I not decided to stay to listen, I would have lost my gym stuff forever. I was planning on going home now, but now that I have my stuff and Im in good spirits, im going to the gym. Good stuff eh.

PS - Unfortunately, Allah was not so generous as to grant me the final thing that I wanted. Tottenham won 1-0 *grumbles*

The Future?

2006-04-29T13:00:00.000-07:00

NP - Novembre - Aquamarine

My housemate comes to me today and asks me how I see the world in the year 3000 (a friend of his has to write an essay about this, and his friend asked him for ideas, and he came to me...). We decided the year 3000 is far too far ahead to think about, so we said ok, how about 100 years in the future.

So at first we came up with the usual stuff - robots, technology, cyborgs, all matrix-esque. Then hes like hmm, what about global warming, what effect would that have? And we started thinking and I said okay, well all the oceans would rise and there would only be a few islands left, so civilization would only survive on those pockets that are above water. But wait, my friend said, I think the pollution would be so bad. The way I see it, the air would be too polluted to survive. We would live in little cities under the water, in bubbles of air - real sci-fi stuff. Sounds interesting.

Then I remembered something rather chilling that my International Relations professor told us - its been predicted that sometime between now and the year 2010, the dwindling supply of oil will not be able to meet the booming demand. So Im like this will lead to loads of wars, nuclear holocaust, the elimination of civilisation...you know, back to the middle ages.

We started to talk about forms of government and stuff. I said that, while many writers predicted totalitarian regimes that rule their people by force (ala 1984, Equilibrium), government will be virtually eliminated. Democracy would be eliminated. Instead, EVERYTHING will be privatised. Elections would be eliminated. So you wouldn't have some general elections every 4 years or so. Instead...you would have shares. The ministry of education would be privatised. The ministry of health would be privatised. So you would be able to buy shares in those ministries, as well as other ministries, the armed forces, the courts...everything would be privatised, and controlled as corporations are controlled. It wouldnt be a democracy, it would be "corporatocracy" (a word I borrowed from David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas). A government run by corporations.

How scary is that. Another thought we had was about babies. He started saying that babies would be genetically engineered, so that if you have some cancer gene, it could be eliminated. My other friend (who was there, I forgot to mention), said "nah man, we wouldnt have babies anymore, so we wouldnt need that. It would all be babies grown in labs". So the other guy is like no, people will always be having sex, and thus always be having kids. Its natural. Then ones like but they wont have time, life is getting more and more hectic, who has time to raise kids? Im like, even with children the rules of the market would rule. Its like a bag of chips - if you want chips, you dont make them. Someone else makes them, and you go buy them. It'll be the same with babies - there'll be other people who 'make' babies, of all different sorts (depending on your specifications), and couples would go and 'buy' them, should they want them.

Any ideas?

Comrade!

2006-04-23T15:59:00.001-07:00

NP - Novembre - The Promise

To my Kuwaiti friend who may or may not be checking this...

Hello Panama!

2006-04-20T09:48:00.000-07:00

NP - James LaBrie - Alone

I have a visitor from Panama! Had, more correctly, and they clearly weren't interested in my blog, because it seems they never came back. Anyway, I have a minor fascination with Panama! Ever since I read "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" by John Perkins and the role Gen. Omar Torrijos had with the whole Panama Canal affair. I found it extremely interesting how Panama was actually created because of US business interests in the region (Panama was originally part of Colombia).
Right now I'm reading Graham Greene's "Getting to Know the General: The Story of an Involvement", which is essentially a memoir of this author's time with Omar Torrijos. Im a little let down thus far with this book - most of the book talks about his travels in Panama, which is great, but thus far he's done little talking with the General. The character of Omar Torrijos is not being developed really. Im more than halfway through, so I hope it picks up soon.

But yeah, Panama! A history (perhaps a bland, unexciting, "official" history) is available at Wikipedia, for anyone interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama

MMMM

2006-04-19T16:56:00.000-07:00

I ordered turkish kebab today. No big deal, I order about once a week, more or less. But this time, the food smelled...well, anyone know Istanboli in Al-Khuwair? The food smelled JUST like that! I have some excellent memories of that place, so it was a very welcome smell. The food didn't taste any different, just the smell...mmmm...I love it.

PS We won today. Yes, WE. ;)
Arsenal 1 - 0 Villareal. Wooo!

Burlesconi Politik

2006-04-16T05:13:00.000-07:00

NP - Protest The Hero - Turn Soonest to the Sea

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article357991.ece

By John Phillips in Rome

Published: 16 April 2006

Silvio Berlusconi refused again yesterday to concede defeat to Romano Prodi's centre-left coalition in the Italian election, demanding the formation of a broad coalition in a letter that commentators said amounted to a request by the media mogul for immunity from prosecution.

"On the basis of the popular vote, there's no winner and no loser," Mr Berlusconi claimed in the letter to the Corriere della Sera. Hours earlier, the premier had said he still hoped he would be declared the winner, as long as the count of contested ballots continued. He renewed an appeal to create a coalition government, "limited in time and aimed at dealing with the country's institutional, economic and international commitments".

Mr Prodi's Union coalition has slender majorities in both houses of parliament after the roller-coaster election divided Italy almost in two a week ago. But this is not just a case of Mr Berlusconi being a bad loser, say pundits. During his five years in office he spent much of his time passing laws to avoid going to jail. Many commentators believe Italy's richest man wants to gain an informal pledge of immunity from judicial proceedings from Mr Prodi's government, in return for a guarantee that his Forza Italia party will not make political life unbearable for a fragile administration.

Mr Berlusconi's proposal in the Corriere was a plea for "a grand coalition to save himself", said Valentino Parlato, the veteran editor of the maverick left-wing Il Manifesto newspaper. Mr Parlato urged leftist voters to exercise "democratic vigilance" against the skulduggery he believes the centre-right may employ to try to snatch back victory.

President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi might decide to give Mr Prodi a mandate to form a new government early next month, so as to end the uncertainty caused by Mr Berlusconi's antics, political sources said. The tycoon does not have to resign formally as Prime Minister until 29 April and in theory could remain in office as a mischievous caretaker until early June.

Mr Berlusconi has alleged irregularities in the vote of Italians abroad, which proved key in swinging the Senate. "Threatening to invalidate the elections and a grand coalition to save himself are two equally dangerous and subversive scenarios," Mr Parlato said. "It could equally be an opportunity for a national emergency, a nasty terrorist attack, an opportunity or necessity for everyone to stick together to safeguard the fatherland."
===================================

How sad is that. I really do hope we don't see some grand coalition of the phony in Italy, with Burlesconi saving his vertically challenged ass.

2006-04-13T05:37:00.000-07:00

NP - Immortal Technique - Peruvian Cocaine

I found this passage from The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. to be very beautiful,
and I thought it was worth sharing.

On february 22, Mrs. King and I journeyed down to a city in India called Trivandrum. Then we went from Trivandrum to a point known as Cape Comorin. This is where the mass of India ends and the vast rolling waters of the ocean have their beginning. It is one of the most
beautiful parts of the world. Three great bodies of water meet together in all of their majestic splendor: the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.

I remember how we went out there and looked at the big old rocks, a sight that was truly incredible, out into the waters, out into the ocean. seated on a huge rock that slightly protruded into the ocean, we were enthralled by the vastness of the ocean and its terrifying immensities. We looked at the waves of those great bodies of water as they unfolded in almost rhythmic suspension. As the waves crashed against the base of the rock on which we were seated, an oceanic music brought sweetness to the ear. To the west we saw the magnificent sun a red cosmic ball of fire, appear to sink into the very ocean itself. Just as it was almost lost from sight, Coretta touched me and said, "Look, Martin, isn't that beautiful!" I looked around and saw the moon, another ball of scintillating beauty. As the sun appeared to be sinking into the ocean, the moon appeared to be rising from the ocean. When the sun finally passed completely beyond sight, darkness engulfed the earth, but in th east the radiant light of the rising moon shone supreme. This was, as I said, one of the most beautiful parts in all the world, and that happened to be one of those days when the moon was full. This is one of the few points in all the world where you can see the setting of the sun and the rising of the moon simultaneously.

I looked at that and someting came to my mind and I had to share it with Coretta, Dr. Reddick, and other people who were accompanying us around at that point. God has te light that an shrine through all the darkness. We have experiences when the light of day vanishes, leaving us in some dark and desolate midnight - moments when our highest hopes are turned into shambles of despair or when we are victims of some tragic injustice and some terrible exploitation. During such moments our spirits are almost overcome by gloom and despair, and we feel that there is no light anywhere. But ever and again, we look toward the east and discover that there is another light which shines even in the darkness, and the "spear of frustration"is transformed "into a shaft of light."

RE: Efficiency and Deadweight Loss

2006-04-12T13:25:00.000-07:00

NP - Rabih Abou-Khalil - Sweet Rain

I blogged a while back about the meaning of efficiency and deadweight loss - the answer I more or less came up with (although the definition Im still not exactly sure of) basically is to do with how much money can be made from doing an action as opposed to how much is actually made (in extremely crude terms).

I find this question to be of increasing importance as I study the aim of Structural Adjustment loans made by the IMF and the World Bank, and their effects on the economies of third world countries. The question of efficiency VS equity is no more important than it is here: who benefits from these so-called efficiency raising measures (the fact that they so rarely actually do raise efficiency is relevant as well, but beside the point for now)?

I think the exact definition of efficiency, and what this concept of deadweight loss actually refers to needs to be examined more closely. I will keep this in mind as I continue my reading on the neoliberal policies of the IMF and WB, and their stated goals of greater efficiency via market allocation of resources.

What Makes a Luxury?

2006-04-12T10:09:00.000-07:00

NP - Novembre - Nothijngrad

I was lying in bed last night, remembering this movie I watched earlier in the day, V for Vendetta. An awesome movie, I recommend that everyone goes and sees it. But there was one part of the movie that was troubling me. It wasn't expanded upon, it was just taken for granted after being mentioned at one point in the movie. I suppose it was to fit in with the whole world that the movie was based in (futuristic London). But anyway, butter was not available to the general public, rather a substitute was used. But butter was available to the Prime Minister (or whatever the title of his position was).

Butter. Butter is something which is like, well, nothing. We dont think anything of butter. How is it suddenly a luxury? This line of thought led me onwards to thinking about the nature of luxuries, and boy, this scared the hell out of me.

One of the definitions of 'luxury' is 'something expensive or hard to obtain'. I find this accurate enough, but with the word 'luxury' comes the notion of some sort of quality associated with it - what differentiates one type of car from another, for example, is the notion of some sort of engineered quality. It may not even be quality, it may be simply a status symbol. Clothes from FCUK may not be of higher quality than Next, but they are much pricier.

However, these aspects are secondary. Whats primary here is the notion of scarcity, which is whats mentioned in the definition. What makes something precious is its scarcity. They talk of water one day being a luxury - precisely because of predictions of it becoming increasingly hard to obtain in the future.

Back to the present day. We have luxuries, and they are luxuries precisely because they are scarce - not everyone has them. As we would have it, most of these luxuries have some sort of quality which is higher than alternatives. This higher quality often associates higher costs, perhaps to the extent that the cost of engineering quality to create a luxury is greater than the benefits of that greater quality. This is central to my point.

So heres the question: why spend more on ingraining quality into a product in order to make it a luxury? Why not instead deny people access to that product? Restricting the access of the common man to a commodity, by definition makes that commodity a luxury. And that, is a very, very scary thought.

Because it means we can create luxuries not by going through the advanced efforts of engineering quality and working towards excellence, but rather by controlling access to that product. If nobody in the world had butter and I had butter, butter would be a luxury.

A long winded explanation to get to a very simple pointed, but I wanted to make sure it was understood. Its a scary thought isn't it, one that, if followed, serves to retard human progress in whatever field you can think of.

My Day

2006-04-10T12:31:00.000-07:00

Np - Novembre - The Promise

Despite all indicatons that today would be a particularly bad day, it was both enjoyable and productive. Strange, that. Or not so strange, who can say...

Islamic Science Foundation

2006-04-06T09:15:00.000-07:00

NP - Novembre - Materia

While going through the UN Human Development Report for 1990 (I think it was 1990, not sure), I came across an interesting article for the proposal for a Muslim Science Foundation by a prominent Muslim scientist, Abdus Salam, winner of the 1979 Nobel Prize for Physics. I thought it was a good proposition, and deserves some support. Its quite out-dated obviously, and I'd be curious to know if anything of the sort was actually set up at all. Anyway, I've uploaded the article, and it would be good if you guys could read it. The image is quite large (about 700kb), so might take a few minutes for those on slower connections. Still, I recommend reading it.

click here

New Morality for War?

2006-04-03T16:48:00.000-07:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4873856.stm

NP - Dream Theater - Beyond This Life

Read the link, its about how the UK Defense Secretary is suggesting that the current rules of war and the Geneva convention are out of date. It starts with that. But its worrying. He hasn't explicity said anything, but its easily possible this could be a prelude to a changing of internationally accepted morality when it comes to war and that. Right now we have standards (in theory), and protections guaranteeing human rights. Like I said, nothing is said in the above link, but I feel it might be the start of the Western powers pushing for more legitimacy for the kind of "justice" thats seen in Guantanamo Bay and the like - more secrecy, more holdings without trials, more extraordinary rendition, etc. The stuff that happens, but under a veil of secrecy, may well be legitimised and legalised in the coming years.

2006-04-02T16:59:00.000-07:00

NP - Klimt 1918 - Cry a Little

By the way, the songs I'm listening to while typing these posts, if you click on them (like the one above ^^^) it takes you to that band's myspace.com page, where theres often samples of them you can hear.

Someone wanted to interview for their dissertation project, and I havent gotten around to answering the questions they asked. But I might get around to it. In the meantime here they are, it would be great if you guys could give your own answers, I'd be interested to read them, and you might influence my own views when I get around to answering them. Post em in the comments, or in your own blogs, but link me so I can read them!

The questions are:
'what is your view on how Islam is presented by extremists?'

'Do you think that there are explicit contradictions between the teachings of your faith and the views of extremists?'

'do you think there has been a breakdown in traditional values of Islam or do you think they are just as prominent in light of modernity and globalisation?'

Another thing I wanted to blog about was the use of language in...well...everything. Its all about language and how we use it. It completely manipulates us and how we think about things, and how we act. A good example is how the US classifies people in Guantanamo Bay as 'enemy combatants' not 'prisoners of war', and thus does not have to provide them with the rights they are guaranteed in the Geneva Convention. Theres other examples too. One of my favourites is the word 'good', used in business for a product. The word 'good' automatically implies that something is, well, good! And thus, desirable. Milk is a good. Flu tablets are a good. Cigarettes are a good...wait a minute...
Another good one is the word 'interest', i.e. what you get if you keep money in the bank - and what the bank takes from you when you borrow money. Interest. What a lovely word, full of...good things. Interest...but why not taxation? It could be considered a form of taxation after all - in return for using this service, a small tax is levied. But tax is an ugly word. How about 'fee' then? Charge? Usury? All ugly words. Lets go with interest. Interest is good. Its in your interest to get interest...right?
The power of language...gotta love it.

Condoleezza

2006-04-01T07:23:00.000-08:00

NP - Yyrkoon - Unhealthy Opera

So whats the deal with Condoleezza Rice? I'm not really sure why, but people seem to describe her as a 'highly intelligent women' - as an example of women who are smart and educated and blah.

Now, reading about her background and that, she does seem to have achieved quite a lot academically. She has a PhD, used to lecture at Stanford, and knows about four or five languages. Impressive credentials indeed.

Whats the deal, then, with all thats going on with the Bush administration? I know its not right to equate education with morality (I don't think theres a correlation), but surely if shes so 'smart', and a professor of politcal science, she'd be able to see that the policies of the Bush admin are directly contribution to the problems it apparently is fighting? Unless theres more going on here than what we're told, you'd expect some forward thinking from someone who's supposedly so bright.

Arty Farty Lemon Tarty

2006-03-30T14:34:00.000-08:00

I'm not an artist. I readily admit it. Okay, I enjoy art, and I do appreciate a lot of art. I like stuff by Klimt, Dali, Picasso, Escher, and so on.

Theres even some modern art I like - but theres only so much modern art I can take before I lose patience. Which sucks, because some modern art is absolutely amazing. The problem is, a lot of it isn't. A lot of it is pretentious bollocks drawn up by what seems like five year-olds high on cannabis, acid, and a little bit of absynthe to boot. All the socio-political commentary that comes with some of it is just...argh!

I was in the Tate Modern Art Museum today (London is fantastic like that: so much to see). For the first hour, hour and a half, I had a good time. I tried to appreciate a lot of the art I saw, even the strange stuff. Half the enjoyment was watching the people who were there - arty types are cool. But after about that hour and a half, I started to lose my patience. A lot of the stuff there was...well...insulting to me, in the sense that...well, I just didnt see the connection between the picture and the description. Like I said before, I appreciate art, and anyone who knows me knows I'm not thick. But explain this to me. A picture of blue...just blue. And in the top theres a small streak of yellow. And the yellow somehow, somehow represents 'the struggle against socio-political dictatorships and authoritarianism of the human creativity' (paraphrased, its bollocks). Im standing there for ten minutes staring at this blue monstrosity thinking "what? eh? hmph? .... quonk? *sigh*"

And this goes on, and this gets worse. Really, wtf :s

2006-03-26T15:07:00.000-08:00

NP - Farmakon - Loosely of Amoebas

This is going to be a rare rant about my crappy, crappy day. I try not to rant about stuff like 'my day', but I feel like it this time.

So yesterday, Saturday, was the first day of my Easter break. I didn't sleep much that night (had some uni worries on my mind, which is stupid because its supposed to be a break from uni..but whatever). Slept at about 12:30, but woke up at 3 or 3:30am, cause I was thirsty. Remembered I had some clothes in the washing machine, so I put them in the dryer. Then I see one of my housemates come down the stairs with a big stick in his hand...he thought someone had broken into the house :p. Anyway after that I couldnt sleep for till about 4am-ish...and woke up again around 6:45am. Didnt sleep after that. I wasn't doing anything useful or productive, so I went swimming at around 9am. Cycled back home in the rain, and then started packing for my trip to London, at 2:45pm - it would have been 8am if I could (my housemate was going to Heathrow at 8am, it would have been to go with him), but all the buses were fully booked. Everyone was going home.

So 2:45. Taxi arrives at 2:15pm - should be enough time to get the bus station, right? 45 minutes? The journey usually takes 15 minutes, and today shouldn't be any different. Think again. I wasn't counting on it being the day before mother's day, and everyone out and about, doing mother's day shopping (yeah, every 'day' is an occasion to go shopping...what a consumer society). As a result, all the roads were blocked. To top it off, I didnt have much money on me, about 8 pounds. The taxi driver tells me at one point that it would be quicker for me to get out and walk the rest of the way, as he doesnt think he'd be able to get me there in time, and its probably quicker if I walk (its about 10 minutes away - I might make it). Its raining like mad outside, and I dont have my umbrella, but I say okay - partly because I know I wouldnt be able to afford the taxi if I stayed in it much longer. So I get out, and walk in the pouring rain to the bus station.

Dripping, exhausted, and mentally drained, I was almost grateful that I missed the bus. BUT, I couldnt afford a cab back, and the university bus only drops me halfway to my house - which means more walking in the rain. No cash machine nearby, and I'm not in the mood to go look for one. So I take the uni bus, and walk the rest of the way home (still raining).

That all would have been, well, tolerable, if I had something to look forward to upon coming home. On friday my housemates were all 'lets watch a movie, lets invite people over!' when I was busy and couldn't. Today, I had nothing, and they were just '...meh'. I spent the whole rest of the day slipping in and out of a number of exhausting naps. My housemates watched Jurassic Park 1,2,3, The 13th Warrior, and some Indian movie, all in the space of 24 hours...I wasn't in the mood to watch any of them. Oh yeah, we also binged on pizza and kebab. I must've had pizza 3 times in 24 hours, and this kebab thing twice. The first time made me feel ill - you'd think I'd have learnt not to eat it again. I knew I was going to feel crap afterwards, but I wasn't in much mood to care. Such is life :p.

I slept around 1am - or what should have been 1am. When I looked at my computer clock, it said 2am...just my luck, today was the day that they change the clocks! I'd been cheated out of an hour of sleep, or the day I most needed it =s. Luckily I was talking to someone online, otherwise I would've slept earlier and missed the bus - again - because of the clock thing. I dont know what I would've done then, probably shot myself. In fact, the bus was supposed to be fully booked, but 12 people actually missed it because of the changing of the time. 12 out of about 40...thats about 30%. A lot of people!

I guess its good I missed the first bus. Yesterday I was in the worst mood ever and didn't really want to go to London - wasn't feeling it. Feeling a lot better today, rested, both physically and mentally, ready to roll. I have a four week break in which to chill out, destress, and catch up with uni work. Oh, and I've also borrowed my friend's guitar effects board and wah pedal while he's in the UAE (I'm 'taking care of them' for him :p). So yeah, got some stuff to do this break.I'm gonna try to make the most of it.

Ranting is fun.

Todays Thoughts

2006-03-22T12:44:00.000-08:00

NP - Katatonia - Deliberation

I was reading this book called "10 Reasons to Abolish the IMF and World Bank" (excellent book, very thing and readable for anyone), by Kevin Danaher. There was this passage I thought was great, about how we measure 'economic growth':

Think about how we measure economic growth - by the annual percentage increase in the Gross National Product (GNP). GNP tallies the dollar value of all domestic production without regards for the effect of the transaction on society. At the end of the day, the bigger the number the better.
For example, lets say I go to a bar and drink ten beers. All the money I spend on that beer is a positive contribution to GNP. Now I'm drunk. I drive away in my car, and crash into a family in their car. They're all maimed, and require intensive medical care for the rest of their lives. The cost of the tow truck, emergency crews, the courts, any jail time I get sentenced to, and the lifetime of medical care for the victims, all count towards the GNP. Under this ridiculous system of economic measurement, oil spills, divorces and plane crashes are positive events because they are occasions to spend money and boost GNP.

Interesting, isnt it. I think its well articulated, and highlights whats wrong with such a system very well.

Oh, and the BBC...

2006-03-21T10:25:00.000-08:00

NP - Katatonia - Soil Song

On the BBC, and other news organisations I guess, I'm absolutely shocked that the marches of last Saturday against the Iraq War made barely a ripple in the news. Barely a ripple. In London, at least 50 000 (police say 15 000, organisers say 100 000, so 50 000 is a sort of conservative estimate) marched. Over 200 demonstrations took place worldwide, from London to the US to Turkey to Australia to ... wherever. But when I looked for the news on the 19th, I couldn't even find a mention of it on the front page. I went specifically to the UK page, still no mention. I had to dig it up on the BBC website (link).

Seriously, whats that all about? Marches in 200 locations, and not a word? How many of you actually heard about these marches? Not many, I'd guess, and not because you don't watch TV. Because these marches were not reported. Shocking.

You gotta be kiddin' me.

2006-03-21T10:04:00.000-08:00

NP - Katatonia - Leaders

link

Bush raises possibility of years-long Iraq presence

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush held out the possibility on Tuesday of a U.S. troop presence in Iraq for many years, saying a full withdrawal would depend on decisions by future U.S. presidents and Iraqi governments.

======================================

I'm sorry, but do the media networks think we're stupid? They break this like its big news, like it wasn't at all expected. Seriously, did anyone really think the US would pull out, if it were up to them? The US has a military base in every other country on earth, if not more than that. You're telling me that anyone was stupid enough to think, even for a second, that the US would suddenly pull out of a country, leave not a soldier behind, in a country which they themselves invaded? You've gotta be kidding me. It shocks me that they report the news, and we buy it. We eat it right up. Its scary, very scary. The generals in the US army tell us they will withdraw from Iraq, and we...we believe it? Do we? A lot of us do. Then they report the news, and its suddenly a shock that they might not, in fact, withdraw. Oh noes! We weren't expecting this...calamity! But, well, whats to be done? Whats to be done is not buy this bullshit in the first place.

According to Wikipedia, the US occupies 702 military bases in 132 different countries. Theres a PDF here with locations of all their bases, accurate of 1999 (would look different now). Also, theres a link here for a chronology of US military activity from 1890 till today. Looking at all this, how is it possible to believe that the US is going into Iraq to help the Iraqi people? They're going in for their interests. If the 'Iraqi people' benefit from this, lucky sandniggers, but if they dont, well f*ck them too. Pull all the troops out of Iraq? You gotta be kiddin' me.

Some Brokeback Angst

2006-03-17T13:52:00.000-08:00

Just read this article today, check it out:

http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=218583>1=7701

'Brokeback' Author Peeved About Oscar Loss
Mar 14, 6:01 PM EST

The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES -- Annie Proulx, whose 1997 short story inspired the film "Brokeback Mountain," has penned a scattershot blast in a British newspaper unleashing her anger over the film's best-picture Oscar loss.

Proulx criticizes Oscar voters and the Academy Awards ceremony in the 1,094-word rant, which appeared in Saturday's issue of The Guardian, a liberal paper boasting 1.2 million readers daily.

The best-picture Oscar went to "Crash," which focuses on race relations in Los Angeles.

Academy members who vote for the year's best film are "out of touch not only with the shifting larger culture and the yeasty ferment that is America these days, but also out of touch with their own segregated city," Proulx writes.

The 70-year-old Pulitzer-prize winning author points out that "Brokeback," which was nominated for eight Academy Awards, was named best picture at the Independent Spirit Awards one day before the March 5 Oscars.

"If you are looking for smart judging based on merit, skip the Academy Awards next year and pay attention to the Independent Spirit choices," Proulx advises.

She even lashes out at Lionsgate, the distribution company behind "Crash."

"Rumour has it that Lionsgate inundated the academy voters with DVD copies of Trash — excuse me — Crash a few weeks before the ballot deadline," Proulx writes.

She decries the "atmosphere of insufferable self-importance" inside the Kodak Theatre, the Oscars site, and describes the audience as a "somewhat dim LA crowd." The show, she writes, was "reminiscent of a small-town talent-show night."

"Clapping wildly for bad stuff enhances this," Proulx writes. She notes that "Brokeback's" three Oscar wins, for original score, adapted screenplay and direction for Ang Lee put it "on equal footing with King Kong."

When Jack Nicholson announced "Crash" as the best-picture winner, "there was a gasp of shock," Proulx writes.

"It was a safe pick of `controversial film' for the heffalumps," she writes, using the elephant-like "Winnie the Pooh" character to describe academy voters.

"For those who call this little piece a Sour Grapes Rant," Proulx concludes, "play it as it lays."

Calls by the Associated Press to Proulx's Wyoming home and her literary agent, Elizabeth Darhansoff, were not immediately returned Tuesday.

=================================================

Well cry me a river, biatch. Don't be such a sore loser. Take it like a man (I know shes a woman, but theres a joke there).

Strange, That

2006-03-17T11:55:00.000-08:00

NP - Cynic - How Could I

Strange how life works. I met a girl today who, if the laws of mathematics and statistics really held true, theres no way in hell I should ever have met. Its a little complicated, so bear with me.

In Oman, in my final year I had a friend called M. Before M came to Oman, she used to live in Turkey for a number of years. Now, in Turkey, M's best friend was a girl called D. M was still in contact with D, and told me D was going to go a certain uni in the UK to study. M said I should apply to that uni because she thought me and D would really get along. All in good fun of course, as high school seniors always talk when they know they may not see each other again.

I came to the uni I'm in now. In this uni I'm in, I met this girls brother. That was a shocker in itself - I dont even know how the topic came up, but when we met he told me he was Turkish, and I guess I said oh I know a girl from turkey. Turkey's a big country - how we singled out this single girl I have no clue, but it happened. That was a big shock in itself. Then today, his sister comes to visit him, and I meet her! Its these coincidences which shouldnt happen, and yet ALWAYS do, that give life one of its many flavours. =)

Why do bad dreams linger?

2006-03-15T21:51:00.000-08:00

Its about 5:30am here, and I've just gotten up from one of those unpleasant dreams we all get now and then. I'm just wondering, even after we get up, why do these bad dreams hang around? For about 10-15 minutes after waking up I've been left with this awful feeling and I've had to put on some insanely happy music to try to get rid of it (its working). I wish dreams would just end when you woke up. But for some reason the memory of dreams lingers for a while afterwards. Its like the brain wont immediately accept that it was 'just a dream'. I dunno.

Whats in the news today?

2006-03-13T06:53:00.000-08:00

I'm in the library, chilling out. Had a tetanus shot this morning, that was fun (it really was, its only the 2nd time in my life I've had a shot without feeling the needle go in or out...and the first time wasn't as good as this).

I bought The Independent today. 25p (thats about 180bz approx), with 2 free DVD movies, a book and a CD on how to learn Spanish (and lets not forget a super fat newspaper full of stuff I'm not interested in). Sweet deal.

So lets see whats interesting in The Independent today...

British Companies Make £1.1 billion off the War In Iraq

Interesting, but I dont want to get into politics or finance or anything today. Google it if you're interested.

SAS Soldier Quits Over "Illegal" Acts

An SAS soldier refuses to go into combat alongside US forces after calling their tactics illegal He said that they viewed the Iraqis as 'sub-human'. Well Mr. Ben Griffin, 28, I applaud you, even if you're not really telling us anything you don't know. At least you're acting according to your principles and not necessarily your self-interest.

Our Taxes Pay For This Creepy Lecturer

"The Leeds University lecturer Frank Ellis claims he knows - because he is a lecturer and learned - that white people are genetically superior to black people. He quotes discredited studies, and approves of one which concludes that the IQ of Sub-Saharans is "close to or within the range of mental retardation".
Prissy liberals, as ever, have rushed to defend his freedom of speech, the same who roll over when Zionist influence stops any criticism of Israel's illegal policies. Wht if he had said Jewish power controls the world? Or if a muslim lecturer publicly claimed that white girls are naturally more promiscuous than Asian women? They would be gone, thrown to the dogs.
Black and Asian students on his courses must feel demeaned, enraged, misrepresented, hurt, and even afraid. How can they interact with him?
Our taxes pay for this creep. Sack him, I say, and fast. Let him go and find his true vocation - sharpening the teeth of the BNP, which he believes has gone too soft for his liking."

- Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Interesting piece. I'm tempted to agree - how can these students even ensure that their marking would be of the same standard as white people? Perhaps a campaign should be launched to remove this racist scumbag.

Well, what other news, non world-related. I was sitting in the 'Reserve Collection' of the library -its the place where they have the most demanded books for courses, which can only go on loan for 3 hours at a time. Its a very popular place to study, as some books you cant get out of there. Spacing is limited. And yet next to me is this girl whos on her laptop, chatting on MSN, not doing any work. It pissed the hell out of me, cause its pretty hard to find a place in reserve unless you come early (or you're prepared to wait for someone to leave). For god's sake, go chat on MSN somewhere else. Go to the cafe or something. Inconsiderate so-and-so.

Later on I was sitting in the cafe writing up some notes. This was around lunch-time, so it was quite packed, and these two girls (quite pretty, might I add) came and shared my table. They started talking about...well, stuff I really had no business hearing. One goes on and on about her parents' divorce last year, in a good amount of detail. Then they start talking about their plans for the future, marrying their boyfriends, having babies, where they want to live, etc. All nice stuff, but I did feel uncomfortable, sitting across the table from them (not 2 feet away), listening to all this, doing my work pretending I cant hear. I suppose they didnt really care whether I heard or not considering I'm a stranger, but still. Its weird.

Blink?

2006-03-12T16:24:00.000-08:00

It's been a strange weekend. I haven't been productive, but its been very...well, like I said, strange. I've been listening to a lot of mood music, and for those of you who don't do the whole 'mood music' thing, its very enlightening. Its been a while since I've just sat and listened to music, and I've gone through a lot these past two or three days. Sigur Rós, Mogwai, Andy Timmons, Sufjan Stevens, Ulrich Schnauss, Guns N'Roses, and Neil Zaza. Although it all started when a friend sent me a song I haven't listened to in a long time, Lynrd Skynrd - Freebird. That song is just...fantastic. And it got me back to listening to the stuff I listed. Some of that is new to me (like Mogwai), some is very old and dear (like Neil Zaza). Anyone who says music is haram is missing the point. To some of us, music itself is almost a spiritual experience. Try turning off all the nights, and putting on some Sigur Rós while lying down, thinking of nothing. I defy you to NOT get to thinking about God and the universe (Sigur Rós is pure emotion, its fantastic).

People think I'm strange about music, that I just listen to 'devil stuff' or that I have weird taste. I want to throw up everytime I hear someone say 'I'll listen to anything that has a beat, anything I can dance to'. Horsecrap. If you want to outlaw music, outlaw that, because that sure as hell isn't "music". Sure, a beat can be good. I often enjoy a song with a good beat, good rhythm and that. But thats not what music is about, its just one factor in many.

I've also been thinking about movies. A LOT of good, political/socially relevant movies came out in 2005/06 so far. To name a few, Crash, Syriana, The Constant Gardener, Good Night and Good Luck (I think thats the name). I just watched The Weather Man, and that was...interesting. I think it tried to be like American Beauty, but didnt quite reach that level. Still was a good watch though. This whole thing gets me thinking, why do some people think art is haram? Why outlaw beauty? I can understand the argument that anything that takes us away from Allah is haram, but why the implicit assumption that beauty takes us away from Allah? In many if not most cases, it probably brings people closer to Allah. I've heard people describe orgasm as a religious experience, as weird as that sounds. A friend gave me a pretty poetic description of an orgasm, "whats an orgasm but a time when the senses intertwine?" Going on that, I can imagine why it could be considered a religious experience.

Yeah, its been an interesting weekend. I really need to get back in touch with my artistic side. Maybe this'll help. Some works from Gustav Klimt I really loved. They really clicked with me, even though this isnt my usual artistic fare. Enjoy.

^^^ For some reason there such power in this one. I dont know, I just...feel it.

Time for a Paradigm Shift

2006-03-05T11:38:00.000-08:00

If you open any newspaper in the world, chances are you'll read about people, ordinary people, fighting for some cause or another. From the Zapatistas in Mexico, to the feminist movements across the world, people are fighting for something. In a way its good; it represents the determination of people to fight against perceived injustices in society. A society resigned to its fate is a society defeated.

In developed countries we are blessed in that we have laws that guarantee our rights: our right to speak our minds, to take action against what we feel is unfair or unjust (within limits, of course). Many in the Third World are not given this privilege, this right. For some, violent revolution is the only solution they see. The ruling elite is corrupt, leeching from the poorest. Often even the ruling elite are slaves to some more powerful force, with little or no power at all over the fate of their people. Their sovereignty violated, they have no power over the people they are responsible for.

Theres a million issues causes for which one does indeed need to fight. Poverty and inequality is rampant around the world, even in countries we consider developed. Environmentally genocidal business practices, for the pursuit of ever-greater profits, ensure that our future generations will not enjoy this world as we do. Systematic slaughter of minority populations continues under the deafening silence of the major powers.

The problem here is two-pronged: firstly, there is a huge lack of awareness by people about anything outside their immediate communities. If you were to ask your neighbour how many people in the world are forced to live under two dollars a day, its almost certain they wouldnt be able to provide the correct answer: around 3 billion people. Nor would your neighbour know that less than one percent of what the world spends every year on the military would be needed to put every child in every country in school (of course, that hasn't happened). Your neighbour simply wouldnt know: neither would your local shopkeeper, hairdresser or baker.

Secondly, people don't really care. What doesn't affect us directly generally doesn't bother us. When you hear these figures thrown at you, it no doubt makes you pause for a second and ponder the unfairness of it all. You might even start to think about why this is the case. However, you're discomfort quickly passes, as that familiar Desperate Housewives theme starts to play from your television set.

I don't want to suggest that humans are generally apathetic. On the contrary: we're loaded with emotions. We care about lots of things. For instance, we really, really care about whether Joe Bloggs will ask Jane Doe to marry him this episode. We care about Jerry Springer's transsexual midgets. Without delving too deep into the 'anti-establishment' argument, we care about whatever we're fed. When it comes to the 'real world', most of us don't really have particularly strong feelings about much at all. Not to say we don't care about real things, that would be wrong, simply that the things we care about perhaps aren't the most important, most urgent issues there are.

If people really knew about the extent of poverty and inequality, they would care. If each and every person knew, and was directly confronted with the real tragedies of the third world, or even the tragedies of our societies, I believe a great majority would stand up and demand justice. Unfortunately, most of us with the power to orchestrate change, the middle and working classes, are comfortably insulated from the problems of the world. We don't have real contact with those truly suffering, nor are we informed of their plight by the major media outlets. Rather, we believe in the causes we're told to believe in. Homosexual rights, for example, need to be addressed, but are hardly more important than the 30,000 children that die daily due to poverty. And yet the media today gives us the impression this is the most important issue we face today. From gay marriages to Brokeback Mountain, the rights of homosexuals to express themselves is currently the 'in' thing of causes to support.

We need to break out of this manipulated bubble we live in. There are so many ways that even the ordinary person can do to help. Even educating ourselves can be a great help to those people who need us. And there are so many things really worth fighting for. There is inequality in every country in the world; it doesn't have to be the far-off third world country. Up until last week I was ignorant to the fact there is a large number of refugees in the city I live in, here in the UK! Environmental destruction and the depletion of our natural resources means that, with our approval, the rape of the Earth can go ahead. All we need to do is wake ourselves up to whats around us. Once that happens, we'll have real power to do what needs to be done, in whatever cause we choose to fight for.

facts, figures taken from here.

We Get Political

2006-02-28T15:56:00.000-08:00

While many universities are hotbeds of political activity, mine is surprisingly calm. When I first came I expected lots and lots of political activity, as that was how I was led to believe universities were like. But in mine, there was nothing - almost no political activity. In the 'bunfight' - the display of all the societies in the uni - the socialist groups were next to the conservative groups, having a good chat. Labour was next to the Tories. It seemed that none of it was serious.

But this week, we got political. This week, the whole university was talking about politics and elections and manifestos and voting. This week is...Students Union Elections. Yippee doo.

To be honest, they are a bit of a joke. Nothing changes from year to year (except events at the university nightclub), the campaigns have no substance (VOTE BIG CHRIS - BECAUSE SIZE REALLY DOES MATTER), and the whole affair is extremely undemocratic - we dont know who the candidates are, what they stand for etc. Its just a mad rush of campaigning in a week, based on faces and slogans.

It is kinda fun though. The whole Students Union buildings and concourse are awash with campaign people, shouting in megaphones, doing silly students, breakdancing, releasing balloons, etc. Its a lot of activity you generally dont see, and if you don't take it too seriously, its good fun, and you meet a lot of new people. Yeah, it hasnt been bad. But I havent had a chance to study!

EDIT: One of my friends was running for a position, and I was helping him, which is why I was involved.

Moderation and Self-Criticism : The Problem Faced By Islamic Society

2006-02-24T14:53:00.000-08:00

I'm not really sure where I'm going to end up with this blog post, so please bear with me.

Increasingly these days, the issue of 'Islamization' arises, of moderates and extremists in Islam, and of whether Islam is 'compatible' with Western society (journalist Robert Fisk made an interesting point that Islam is not contrasted with Christianity, but the West, but Christianity no longer has a political identity that can be compared with Islam). Muslims, so-called Moderates, cry foul, claiming that only a very small minority of Muslims are extreme, and that that minority are the most vocal.

A few things come to my mind when that claim is made. First, why are they the most vocal? Surely, if we non-extremists are the majority, we should drown out these people? Secondly, the recent protests againt Denmark by Muslims has led many people to wonder whether we really are the minority. Oh, and then we get websites like the apologist http://www.sorrynorwaydenmark.com/, the authors of which feel that muslims should apologise to Norway and Denmark for the whole issue.

Let me try to interpret all this in my own way. Well, undoubtedly we Moderates are the majority. Sure, we all have our differences even within the moderates. Some people pray with their hands folded, some pray with their hands by their sides. Some believe that smoking is haram, some believe its just makrooh, some believe its nothing. But when it comes to fundamental issues, almost all muslims will agree. Killing innocents is wrong. Killing itself is almost always wrong (except in self-defense, etc.). Freedom and the right to a quality life are undeniable. We all agree on such things. We are the majority.

But we aren't vocal. We've been scared into a state of absolute fear by that minority who are not afraid to kill, not afraid to do things we deem immoral and evil to us should we take a stand against them, and this fear has paralysed the muslim community. Muslims talk of the great Ummah, of Deen and brotherhood and that. But, and many wont like this, I feel that the Ummah is dead. The Ummah has been dead for quite a while. While we, the moderates are the majority, our internal differences do not let us come together and stand strong against common enemies.

We're afraid, as I said, of that minority, and of the internal differences that separate us. Where does that leave us? As individuals, perhaps strong and guided by our morals, but as a community, scared and delusional. We have a victim mentality: we feel that we've been wronged by the world, and that we don't get what we deserve. It may be true, in fact, its likely to be true that we were decimated in decades past: colonisation by the European Empires, subjugation and internal corruption destroyed us. Yet the victim mentality gets us nowhere. We are so consumed (as a society) by self-pity and hate, hate and anger against those that have hurt us, that instead of learning from what was done to us to try to make things right, we stay backwards, angry and bitter.

Anyone who tries to criticise the ills of our society is labelled as a self-hater, or a traitor. If we criticise things like blind hatred of jews, we are called collaborators and 'westernised', meant in the most poisonous sense. This is wrong. Yes, our Palestinian brothers and sisters suffered terribly at the hands of the nationalist Zionist movement in the mid-20th century, when over 750 000 Palestinians were forced off their land in order to create a Jewish majority in a land called Palestine. Yes, the Zionist movement was not even a religious movement, but rather a movement controlled by Agnostics, with the 'Promised Land' the excuse to mobilise the Jewish people. But, when trying to achieve our goals, we have to work towards solutions without hate, and without anger. I do not say that we should forget what happened: no, we musn't. We must remember what we've been through and use the memory to strengthen our cause. But we must differentiate between who is an enemy and who is not.

The enemy is the anti-Palestinian forces of Israeli apartheid in that case, not the Israeli people. Its the indoctrinating educational system, the subservient Israeli media, the bootlicking Israeli academics. The simple fact of life is that there are probably more Israelis criticising the practices of the Israeli government than there are Arabs criticising mispractices of the Arab governments.

The Palestinian situation is the example I'm using here because, one, its something thats close to the heart of all Arabs and two, today we had a talk in my university by prominent Israeli Histsorian Ilan Pappe. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilan_Pappe and http://www.logosjournal.com/pappe.htm are useful links). He talked about Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in 1948, and the need for Israel to admit its bloody past, before any peace can become thinkable. He told us about the numerous problems he and other critics of the state of Israel are facing within Israel. But people like him are heros: they are the ones who will ultimately bring about a Peace with the Arabs. We have to recognise that there are good people amongst the Israelis, indeed amongst all races, religions and creeds.

But the first step before we can present a united face is to settle our differences with ourselves. We must root out the extremist elements in our society. We must say NO to Hate, to Racism. We have to get over our pain and our anger, and use them to make us better as a people, and not to let them hold us back, to stop us from progressing. Islam is the 2nd largest religion in the world, and the fastest growing. Most of us live in poverty, struggling to survive day by day. The few of us that have the things we need to survive, indeed to excel, are too busy squabbling amongst ourselves. And us Arabs, shameful as I am to admit it, are not progressing at all, because we are stuck in the past, and refuse to emerge. We need to become a responsible people, able to criticise ourselves openly with the goal of improving. We need to be able to stand proud and represent Islam properly, because most Muslims actually do see Arabs as the ambassadors of Islam. We need to help our brothers and sisters in poverty to stand on their own two feet. Once we are a strong, developed, democratic and proud society, then we can think of criticising others.

I hope that was clear to anyone reading, because it looks like a mess to me :s

Its Snowing!

2006-02-23T02:24:00.000-08:00

...at least I think it is. Either that or someone ripped open a great big pillow in the sky. Its getting heavier, but I dont think it'll be enough to settle, just enough to blow into my eyes when Im walking home. But it doesnt matter - its SNOW! =D It snows about once a year in my area, and I really thought it wasnt going to snow this year. Its quite late, and the weather was warming up, so I thought the winter was ending. But suddenly this week it got realllly cold, and now...snow!

I hope it snows enough to settle. I wanna throw a few snowballs - they can be surprisingly painful. Snow is fun, and its the only time when its actually okay for the weather to be cold.

Viva La Snow!

EDIT: apparently its raining cats, dogs and rhinos in Oman. What a day today is. All the kids in Oman will be jumping in puddles and, if it snows enough, swimming in construction ditches (yep, they do that, its really dangerous). All the dudes will take their Camaros and Mustangs and Ford Focuses and be doing donuts and skids and stuff at that famous turn in Al-Khuwair - what I like to call the Tiannenen Square of Oman - because every one in a while the kids there like to taunt the police.

I wonder how many accidents there'll be on the roads of Oman today?

PS the snow here is getting heavier. Maybe I'll get to make some snowballs after all.
PPS running around in the snow without a shirt is ALWAYS a bad idea, as I have just discovered. Never accept stupid dares folks.

Hey Bobby, Whats French For Va Va Mania?

2006-02-22T00:28:00.000-08:00

I'd guess that football is the most loved sport in the world - and who can blame us for loving it. Monstrous, overpaid, sweaty playboys running around a carefully manicured pitch kicking around a ball with about as much brains as they have collectively. But nevermind that, its an amazing game, and fun to watch.

Not just fun to watch, fun as hell to watch. I can sit down and watch two teams I've never heard of kick the ball around, and enjoy it, unless they really really suck. When it gets to top class football, well, call me secretary, tell her to cancel all appointments. This is an emergency.

Seriously though, I'm not the only one. See I dont really follow any main football leagues. Sure, I support a few times, casually. I dont know all their players, and I cant match a lot of faces to names to numbers. I usually miss most games (if they are important I try to watch them, if I can). I dont really plan to watch many games. But if a game's on the telly, Im hooked. Theres something about watching football which is just magical. It really is, it gets you hooked, and in my case I get really, really into pretty much any game I watch.

Any year in which the World Cup is being held guarantees to be a blast. Aside from all the Club stuff, you have a crescendo of tension and excitement, leading to the zenith, which is the World Cup itself. You wont catch me missing a World Cup game, regardless of whos playing, unless both my legs are broken. Its THAT important. And theres more too, especially with the WC. They say football causes too many problems, with fans fighting, etc. But I dont know; I like to think it brings us together. When you're all sitting in a cafe together in the middle of the summer, in Oman anyway, and about 30 or 40 strangers are supporting your team with you, its electric. When your team scores, everyone celebrates, and somebody on a normal day you'd ignore, you might even hate, you'll turn and smile at. Its something.

Any football fan would know what I'm talking about! Forza La Footy!

You Are Beautiful

2006-02-21T02:28:00.000-08:00

I go through phases where I either thing people in general are ugly, or people in general are beautiful. Its like, sometimes I just walk around and see all the flaws in people - the bulbous noses, blotchy skin, dry hair, uneven eyes, red ears, hairy cheeks, gangly arms, etc. Other days I'll notice the small things that are nice - shining eyes, lips upturned in a slight smile, messy hair that still looks good, smooth skin, confident stride, etc.

Today I'm somewhere in between I guess. I'm not sure what it depends on, I guess my overall state of mind. Mood, relationships, whether Im arguing with anyone, how much work I have to do, how stressed I am, etc.

Hmm.