Last Thursday we were going out with Mai & Sherif (a.k.a Duchess and Duke) for movies and/or dinner... So, Kareem was telling me online that Heba is telling him to come to dinner(Heba is our friend from uni, our here refer to M & S & myself).. first he says eno heba says Croconile is cute then says about the dinner.. (for those who dont know, Croconile is the embelm for the African Cup thats going on these days).. so we go to Chilis and heba doesnt come.. while we're there, the TV shows that funny Crocodile and i go like "hey hey Kareem its your friend" and he draws the blankest expression. And again i say "Kareem its the one you and heba like", again no response.. so i go like "ok whatever may be he doesnt want to talk oddam mai and sherif about it, but why? Is it embarrassing to like the logo?" (altho i personally hate it.. it looks childish!)
Anyway, so last night am on the fone with him and i bring up this issue.. and guess what.... he goes like "aaahh CrocoNile!!! She was talking about Chilis so when she said CrocNile i thought it was a place like Nile City keda.. and we were in Chilis i had no idea why you kept telling me here is your crocodile friend" i laugh so hard that it hurts and i claim this thought as MY bloggable thought (to his discontent tab3an!) So, here goes!
I am an Inherently Happy Person.. meaning, i have my ups and downs, and many many times am in the blackest of moods, but even in these times, i am able to enjoy life and to savor it.. i try to sieze oppurtunities and to make them a reason of happiness and contentment... So last night (in the same call) i tell Kareem that he is sooooooooo not like that and i decide that he probably has a book with dark thoughts to remind him of dark thoughts whenever he is happy so that he doesnt forget himself in this happiness... He says yes on his bedside table i have this "Advanced Darkness" book and then he comes back at me by saying that on MY bedside table i probably have the "The Road to Lala Land for Dummies", who in his opinion dont need it since Dummies are already in their lala land.... another bloggable thought inspired by him... and by the way, i luv Lala land :D
Books... I finished TP's "Last Hero" yday.. it was VERY cool.. esp that it was illustrated as well... Last night i started and finished "The Wolves in the Wall" for Neil Gaiman.. i got a group of books that Karim (not Kareem) wanted to deliver to his family, and i decided (after his permission ;)) to read the ones i like first before delivering them... I will start with "The Solitaire Mystery" by Jostein Gaarder (same author of Sophie's World), it seems like a *very* interesting book.. we will see :) been sometime since i last read something that "moved" me....
One last note, last Friday, i am on the phone with Kareem and we're having a discussion.. 10 minutes later he calls me back, tells me to come down in 5 mins coz he's on the way... anyway, turns out he got me a hot apple pie that his mom just made (because i had once -jokingly- asked him for one)... a whole warm apple pie dish... a delicious one... sank you kareem and isA you will try mine one day ;) (he already tried my lemon meringue pie once :D)
Zat's it for the day...
Bisous,
N.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Me and my Frog Prince
Did I ever tell you about my Frog Prince? I think i did once when i mentioned my 3 beliefs.. (no i wont search back and put a link here for that post! Go and search if you want! :)
I have a stuffed frog prince holding a rose that my sister got to me, it resides on my desk at work (well, actually it currently resides on Ayssel's desk these days to bring her some sunshine)
Anyway, i thought i'd salute all the frog princes and princesses out there ;)
Had a long post in mind but am too lazy now...
Cheers,
N.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
* Saint Catherine
In Nerro's arabic blog, she talks about her trip to Saint Catherine.. i took a similar hike up 3, no 4, years ago... unfortunately we didnt manage to make it up in time for sunrise, but it was a glorious experience all the same.... I remember i was actually going to give up 10 stairs away from the top.. i just sat down and was like "you go on without me, i'll wait for you here!" (it wasnt the distance at all.. it was the cold.. i couldnt believe i can ever get that cold in Egypt..)
Anyway, so during the hike up, i was with a couple of girl friends (we were a big group but other ppl were either ahead or behind)... i like to take few breaks because i have a short breath so i prefer to walk and walk as much as i can take it because if i rest, it will take me long to regain my breathing.. so i move ahead of them while they rest until i reach a point where i have to rest... since i walk faster than average, i had like 45 minutes to kill until they catch up... during these 45 minutes a _lot_ of thinking went in my mind... and i mean a lot... i remember thinking so hard about stuff that tears started streaming down my face (a very stupid thing because they freeze on the spot :)) I just thought about many decisions that i made or was making at the time.. weirdly enough, back then i didnt have much to ponder about as much as i do now.. i could use a looooooong hike up in times like these :)
* What am reading
Finally finally finally i finished TP's discworld novel, Night Watch.... Duke, i'll return it to you soon... it was nice and all but still, may i never get that stuck in a book again... i think i will start Neil Gaiman's book of dreams that karembu got me (i can start with the Chris TP book, but too much TP is going to kill me! altho on 2nd thought, the book looks very inviting ;))....
* Song of the week....
Tired of Being Sorry by Ringside.. i didnt know the band or the song by i heard it on FM radio and loved it...
I don't know why
You want to follow me tonight
When the rest of the world
With whom I've crossed and I've quarreled
Let's me down so
For a thousand reasons that I know
To share forever the unrest
With all the demons I possess
Beneath the silver moon
Maybe you were right
But baby I was lonely
I don't want to fight
I'm tired of being sorry
* 2005: a Year in Review....
i started preparing for this post.. got (or borrowed ;)) the idea from Duke el sara7a :D
* My newest item
A colored scarf that Kareem got me last week :D i luv scarves, and this one is just soooooooooo cool.. it has all colors keda vertifcally, so the coolest thing is that it matches almost anything i can possibly think of wearing (not that i mind that my colors match anyway as long as i like them :D) we spent weeks aslan looking for one like this when we just ran into it in a shop's window by pure luck.. i luv it.. can i have another one?
In Nerro's arabic blog, she talks about her trip to Saint Catherine.. i took a similar hike up 3, no 4, years ago... unfortunately we didnt manage to make it up in time for sunrise, but it was a glorious experience all the same.... I remember i was actually going to give up 10 stairs away from the top.. i just sat down and was like "you go on without me, i'll wait for you here!" (it wasnt the distance at all.. it was the cold.. i couldnt believe i can ever get that cold in Egypt..)
Anyway, so during the hike up, i was with a couple of girl friends (we were a big group but other ppl were either ahead or behind)... i like to take few breaks because i have a short breath so i prefer to walk and walk as much as i can take it because if i rest, it will take me long to regain my breathing.. so i move ahead of them while they rest until i reach a point where i have to rest... since i walk faster than average, i had like 45 minutes to kill until they catch up... during these 45 minutes a _lot_ of thinking went in my mind... and i mean a lot... i remember thinking so hard about stuff that tears started streaming down my face (a very stupid thing because they freeze on the spot :)) I just thought about many decisions that i made or was making at the time.. weirdly enough, back then i didnt have much to ponder about as much as i do now.. i could use a looooooong hike up in times like these :)
* What am reading
Finally finally finally i finished TP's discworld novel, Night Watch.... Duke, i'll return it to you soon... it was nice and all but still, may i never get that stuck in a book again... i think i will start Neil Gaiman's book of dreams that karembu got me (i can start with the Chris TP book, but too much TP is going to kill me! altho on 2nd thought, the book looks very inviting ;))....
* Song of the week....
Tired of Being Sorry by Ringside.. i didnt know the band or the song by i heard it on FM radio and loved it...
I don't know why
You want to follow me tonight
When the rest of the world
With whom I've crossed and I've quarreled
Let's me down so
For a thousand reasons that I know
To share forever the unrest
With all the demons I possess
Beneath the silver moon
Maybe you were right
But baby I was lonely
I don't want to fight
I'm tired of being sorry
* 2005: a Year in Review....
i started preparing for this post.. got (or borrowed ;)) the idea from Duke el sara7a :D
* My newest item
A colored scarf that Kareem got me last week :D i luv scarves, and this one is just soooooooooo cool.. it has all colors keda vertifcally, so the coolest thing is that it matches almost anything i can possibly think of wearing (not that i mind that my colors match anyway as long as i like them :D) we spent weeks aslan looking for one like this when we just ran into it in a shop's window by pure luck.. i luv it.. can i have another one?
Friday, December 30, 2005
The time has come.....
"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."
~Lewis Carroll, The Walrus and the Carpenter (a very cool thing to read)
So, the time has come i think, to talk about everything.. basically talk with myself about everything in my life... it's the end of the year, time for employee performance appraisals :) so i thought what the hell, i might as well have an appraisal session for myself... contrary to what some might think, i am actually a harsh judge on myself.. I might not appear to you, the reader, as someone who has a clear view of where her life is going and a clear plan on how to get there.... but i do... yes, i may take the longer route, but come on, at least i enjoy the scenery :) and when am old and wrinkled, it's memories of the scenery that remain.. but i always keep my ultimate plans to myself... why? i dont know, i just like it better this way.. you dont get to discuss your plans with people and maybe need to defend them.. and you dont let ppl down when u make a change of plans.. plus, i dont like talk talk talk and no action.. i tell people about dreams, aspirations, sometimes.. but not about plans, unless it involves them.. but i do have some clear destinations in this cloudy head of mine :)
* What I'm reading
These days am still reading Terry Pratchett's Night Watch that i borrowed from Duke (btw, Duke and Da Wife and Ta77an and another friend are in Turkey now for new year's :)) ... i've been very slow on reading the past few weeks, thats why i didnt finish this book till now... When i finish it, my next read is ready: when Karim came he got me The Book of Dreams edited by Neil Gaiman.. its a collection of short stories by different writers about The Sandman and other Endless siblings (who were originally created by NG)
* A-HA, Travis, Oasis, Queen, and the rest..
These are all bands i learned to like from Du my friend... i just remembered because i listened to one song lately that reminded me.. Velvet for A-HA ("her skin is like velvet") a very very sweet song.. try it..
* Song of the post ;)
many many..... the one thats going thru my mind since i heard on the radio yday is Hunter for Dido... i luv her lyrics in general, and this one in particular is sooo cool...
I want to be a hunter again
I want to see the world alone again
To take a chance on life again
So let me go
Let me leave
(am pasting it so that it plays thru your head too :))
* ITWorx is now a CMMI Level 3 certified organization! :)
We just got certified today (well, technically yday since its 1 am).. for anyone who is interested, the CMMI-L3 model consists of 17 process areas.. Organizational Training is one of them, and it was my thing... apparently the indian appraisal guy was really impressed by the efforts of the training function (a.k.a ME!) and by how the measurements are collected effectively and used innovatively for improving the quality of training.. blablabla...
* Smells I like
Fresh rain
freshly brewed good coffee in open air
Good fresh bakery
libraries -more than bookstores- (there is this distinct smell to books...)
Baby powder
the "smell" of the air in a clean place (mountain/sea)
* I now noticed that my blog space is one year old.. From my last days in IBM :D
So much has happened since then, its like i'm going back in history when i read this..
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."
~Lewis Carroll, The Walrus and the Carpenter (a very cool thing to read)
So, the time has come i think, to talk about everything.. basically talk with myself about everything in my life... it's the end of the year, time for employee performance appraisals :) so i thought what the hell, i might as well have an appraisal session for myself... contrary to what some might think, i am actually a harsh judge on myself.. I might not appear to you, the reader, as someone who has a clear view of where her life is going and a clear plan on how to get there.... but i do... yes, i may take the longer route, but come on, at least i enjoy the scenery :) and when am old and wrinkled, it's memories of the scenery that remain.. but i always keep my ultimate plans to myself... why? i dont know, i just like it better this way.. you dont get to discuss your plans with people and maybe need to defend them.. and you dont let ppl down when u make a change of plans.. plus, i dont like talk talk talk and no action.. i tell people about dreams, aspirations, sometimes.. but not about plans, unless it involves them.. but i do have some clear destinations in this cloudy head of mine :)
* What I'm reading
These days am still reading Terry Pratchett's Night Watch that i borrowed from Duke (btw, Duke and Da Wife and Ta77an and another friend are in Turkey now for new year's :)) ... i've been very slow on reading the past few weeks, thats why i didnt finish this book till now... When i finish it, my next read is ready: when Karim came he got me The Book of Dreams edited by Neil Gaiman.. its a collection of short stories by different writers about The Sandman and other Endless siblings (who were originally created by NG)
* A-HA, Travis, Oasis, Queen, and the rest..
These are all bands i learned to like from Du my friend... i just remembered because i listened to one song lately that reminded me.. Velvet for A-HA ("her skin is like velvet") a very very sweet song.. try it..
* Song of the post ;)
many many..... the one thats going thru my mind since i heard on the radio yday is Hunter for Dido... i luv her lyrics in general, and this one in particular is sooo cool...
I want to be a hunter again
I want to see the world alone again
To take a chance on life again
So let me go
Let me leave
(am pasting it so that it plays thru your head too :))
* ITWorx is now a CMMI Level 3 certified organization! :)
We just got certified today (well, technically yday since its 1 am).. for anyone who is interested, the CMMI-L3 model consists of 17 process areas.. Organizational Training is one of them, and it was my thing... apparently the indian appraisal guy was really impressed by the efforts of the training function (a.k.a ME!) and by how the measurements are collected effectively and used innovatively for improving the quality of training.. blablabla...
* Smells I like
Fresh rain
freshly brewed good coffee in open air
Good fresh bakery
libraries -more than bookstores- (there is this distinct smell to books...)
Baby powder
the "smell" of the air in a clean place (mountain/sea)
* I now noticed that my blog space is one year old.. From my last days in IBM :D
So much has happened since then, its like i'm going back in history when i read this..
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Sliding Doors
I've always thought
that I would love to live by the sea
To travel the world alone
and live my life more simply
I have no idea what's happened to that dream
Cos there's really nothing left here to stop me
~ Dido, "Life for Rent"
So, it all starts at "I have no idea what's happened to that dream".. and i keep thinking what happened to a lot of dreams i had... i always wanted to travel abroad (to Europe) for work or study for a year or two.. i wanted to take up the academic career path (still not late for that).. hmmmm i wanted to maintain a healthy lifestyle (sleep early, wake up early, walk a lot, eat healthy, see a lot of fresh air.. i do all these but the eat healthy one, its not that i dont like healthy food but its that i eat healthy _and_ unhealthy :))
so, the title of this post refers to this.. to aaaaallllll the what if's in our lives.. all the other options and how our lives would've been similar/different...
Anyway, more about that later.. about broken dreams and unfulfilled promises...
* Bounce
a Bon Jovi song.. i wont paste the lyrics here, u can check them out yourselves (way to go Nag!).. Duke reminded me of that song yday because he said it suits my mood, or actually that my mood calls for it to lift me up :) It's all about "bouncing back again".. listen to it, it actually makes me smile instantly.....
* New Year's Resolutions (again!)
New Year is coming.. must add this year's unfulfilled resolutions and add new ones.. i decided to put a lot of small acheivable goals so that i feel some sense of accomplishment...
* Things I confuse :)
by this i mean stuff that get confused by me :) hmmmmm, i confuse the elevators of our Falaki bldg in university where our labs used to be in our last year.. they have the "double click on the button to cancel floor selection" option so i always pressed and cancelled many floors until the elevator (which is also equipped with voice message for special needs people) used to just open the doors and say some message like "please make up your mind" or something keda :)
I also confuse mobile phones and calculators by just doing many things at once...
And, i like to confuse my computer and overload it :D Right now i have 14 Outlook windows, 7 IEs, 2 folders, 2 Excel sheets, 3 Word docs, calculator and 1 MSN window... AND its still not 9:30 in the morning yet!! :)
* Favorite things
Caramel cappuccino @ Harris Cafe (they put this indulgent cream and caramel on top that makes it heavenly)
fresh orange juice (it has to be a bit sour)
lemon juice/ice cream.. in fact, lemon anything :)
cats
curly haired babies.. i just adore the gypsy bohemian look in a kid.. unlike my appearance now, i was a _very_ groomed kid, but i wont do that to my children.. clean doesnt have to mean groomed :)
salsa dancing.. i also like flamingo..
Cartoons
witty children books (and Diwan's children section)
that I would love to live by the sea
To travel the world alone
and live my life more simply
I have no idea what's happened to that dream
Cos there's really nothing left here to stop me
~ Dido, "Life for Rent"
So, it all starts at "I have no idea what's happened to that dream".. and i keep thinking what happened to a lot of dreams i had... i always wanted to travel abroad (to Europe) for work or study for a year or two.. i wanted to take up the academic career path (still not late for that).. hmmmm i wanted to maintain a healthy lifestyle (sleep early, wake up early, walk a lot, eat healthy, see a lot of fresh air.. i do all these but the eat healthy one, its not that i dont like healthy food but its that i eat healthy _and_ unhealthy :))
so, the title of this post refers to this.. to aaaaallllll the what if's in our lives.. all the other options and how our lives would've been similar/different...
Anyway, more about that later.. about broken dreams and unfulfilled promises...
* Bounce
a Bon Jovi song.. i wont paste the lyrics here, u can check them out yourselves (way to go Nag!).. Duke reminded me of that song yday because he said it suits my mood, or actually that my mood calls for it to lift me up :) It's all about "bouncing back again".. listen to it, it actually makes me smile instantly.....
* New Year's Resolutions (again!)
New Year is coming.. must add this year's unfulfilled resolutions and add new ones.. i decided to put a lot of small acheivable goals so that i feel some sense of accomplishment...
* Things I confuse :)
by this i mean stuff that get confused by me :) hmmmmm, i confuse the elevators of our Falaki bldg in university where our labs used to be in our last year.. they have the "double click on the button to cancel floor selection" option so i always pressed and cancelled many floors until the elevator (which is also equipped with voice message for special needs people) used to just open the doors and say some message like "please make up your mind" or something keda :)
I also confuse mobile phones and calculators by just doing many things at once...
And, i like to confuse my computer and overload it :D Right now i have 14 Outlook windows, 7 IEs, 2 folders, 2 Excel sheets, 3 Word docs, calculator and 1 MSN window... AND its still not 9:30 in the morning yet!! :)
* Favorite things
Caramel cappuccino @ Harris Cafe (they put this indulgent cream and caramel on top that makes it heavenly)
fresh orange juice (it has to be a bit sour)
lemon juice/ice cream.. in fact, lemon anything :)
cats
curly haired babies.. i just adore the gypsy bohemian look in a kid.. unlike my appearance now, i was a _very_ groomed kid, but i wont do that to my children.. clean doesnt have to mean groomed :)
salsa dancing.. i also like flamingo..
Cartoons
witty children books (and Diwan's children section)
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Addendum to the prev post :)
yes i know, 2 "written" posts in one day.. but this one is REALLY worth blogging because an event that should be noted has happened:
Nag switched off her phone! :) Seriously.. a once in a lifetime occurence that took a _lot_ of will.... well, actually it was done in a split second so that i dont change my mind :) :)
cheers,
N.
Nag switched off her phone! :) Seriously.. a once in a lifetime occurence that took a _lot_ of will.... well, actually it was done in a split second so that i dont change my mind :) :)
cheers,
N.
knicks and knacks
* Coldplay
I'm re-discovering Coldplay these days.. the start was the song called "Warning Sign" or something of the sort that goes like "and the truth is that i miss you".. and i found out i like many of their stuff...... I also discovered www.pandora.com which is a cool Gnome music project that introduces you to music similar to the one you like.. blablabla... try it out..
* Taola
I taught Kareem how to play taola and now we try to play whenever we get the chance... aaaaaand, i always beat him :) He always claims otherwise, but i do, i really do..
* Work
nah.... dont feel like talking about it... the weather seems amazimg and am stuck in a cage-like room :'(
* Say nighty-night and kiss me
Just hold me tight and tell me you’ll miss me
While I’m alone and blue as can be
Dream a little dream of me
i like this song.... :) and i was recently thinking of the certain phenomenon of having to have someone to say good night to.. this someone could be a parent, a sister, a friend, a partner, whatever.. and i was thinking of how you sometimes pick someone just to fill that "someone to say goodnight to" syndrome.. hence, mismatched relations and friendships.. anyway am babbling :)
* Karim-bo
Karim is coming tonight... right now he is Amsterdam waiting for his flight.. he is online and bored... when karim comes there will be a lot of going out, movies, cooking :) and everything.. we will arrange something at Duke's place and will rebuild our past glories :)
* Am boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooored.... do something about it!
I'm re-discovering Coldplay these days.. the start was the song called "Warning Sign" or something of the sort that goes like "and the truth is that i miss you".. and i found out i like many of their stuff...... I also discovered www.pandora.com which is a cool Gnome music project that introduces you to music similar to the one you like.. blablabla... try it out..
* Taola
I taught Kareem how to play taola and now we try to play whenever we get the chance... aaaaaand, i always beat him :) He always claims otherwise, but i do, i really do..
* Work
nah.... dont feel like talking about it... the weather seems amazimg and am stuck in a cage-like room :'(
* Say nighty-night and kiss me
Just hold me tight and tell me you’ll miss me
While I’m alone and blue as can be
Dream a little dream of me
i like this song.... :) and i was recently thinking of the certain phenomenon of having to have someone to say good night to.. this someone could be a parent, a sister, a friend, a partner, whatever.. and i was thinking of how you sometimes pick someone just to fill that "someone to say goodnight to" syndrome.. hence, mismatched relations and friendships.. anyway am babbling :)
* Karim-bo
Karim is coming tonight... right now he is Amsterdam waiting for his flight.. he is online and bored... when karim comes there will be a lot of going out, movies, cooking :) and everything.. we will arrange something at Duke's place and will rebuild our past glories :)
* Am boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooored.... do something about it!
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Snip-it ;) (not Snippet)
(Been in my drafts for a while now.. time to see the light :))
* The Merchant of Venice
(I watched the Al Pacino movie with Mai and Sherif a while ago.. it is highly recommended.. this a piece of Shylock monologue in the trial when asked why he wants Antonio's flesh.. Read it deeply and think.. Aren't we all the same (wo)man after all?)
To bait fish withal: if it feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million, laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies; and what's his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge! If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge! The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.
* Sister
My sister now knows the way to my blog.. It is scary :) Weirdly enough tho, it made her know a lot about me, stuff that never came up.. what i like and dont like blablabla...
* Pre-appraisal
it went fine... one time i will tell you all about it :):) now we're preparing for the formal appraisal in 2 weeks time.. wish us (and me) luck..
* Nermeena..
http://nermeena.blogspot.com This girl is a sweetheart really... very very sweet... thumbs up to her.. only met her like a couple of times but we talk a lot.. she is one good girl :D
i was planning to talk a lot but i dont feel like it :D
* The Merchant of Venice
(I watched the Al Pacino movie with Mai and Sherif a while ago.. it is highly recommended.. this a piece of Shylock monologue in the trial when asked why he wants Antonio's flesh.. Read it deeply and think.. Aren't we all the same (wo)man after all?)
To bait fish withal: if it feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million, laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies; and what's his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge! If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge! The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.
* Sister
My sister now knows the way to my blog.. It is scary :) Weirdly enough tho, it made her know a lot about me, stuff that never came up.. what i like and dont like blablabla...
* Pre-appraisal
it went fine... one time i will tell you all about it :):) now we're preparing for the formal appraisal in 2 weeks time.. wish us (and me) luck..
* Nermeena..
http://nermeena.blogspot.com This girl is a sweetheart really... very very sweet... thumbs up to her.. only met her like a couple of times but we talk a lot.. she is one good girl :D
i was planning to talk a lot but i dont feel like it :D
Sunday, November 20, 2005
I like it when its cold.. when am walking in the cold.. I came in a while ago..
Weird thing is, i was in a totally totally black mood.. Here's a thing about me, i really let myself down when am depressed.. the thing is, i am almost always cheerful, so its like i think of myself as the glue that keeps it all together.. if i collapse, what/who will keep this together... Dont get me wrong, its not like i carry the weight of the world on my shoulders.. but i just take it as my responsibility to feel good.. anyway, by seem weird act of fate, i ended up strolling the streets alone and all of a sudden Queen's "Love of my life" start playing in my head and i start thinking this will really be perfect if it starts to rain.. Somehow when i am in a gloomy mood and it starts raining, it instantly picks me up.. maybe the fact that the sky is crying as well makes me feel a little better :)
Anyway, i had a lot to say but somehow i cant say it now...
A real post is in store... in fact, i didnt mean to blog this post, i wanted to continue the other and post it... bass never mind....
Weird thing is, i was in a totally totally black mood.. Here's a thing about me, i really let myself down when am depressed.. the thing is, i am almost always cheerful, so its like i think of myself as the glue that keeps it all together.. if i collapse, what/who will keep this together... Dont get me wrong, its not like i carry the weight of the world on my shoulders.. but i just take it as my responsibility to feel good.. anyway, by seem weird act of fate, i ended up strolling the streets alone and all of a sudden Queen's "Love of my life" start playing in my head and i start thinking this will really be perfect if it starts to rain.. Somehow when i am in a gloomy mood and it starts raining, it instantly picks me up.. maybe the fact that the sky is crying as well makes me feel a little better :)
Anyway, i had a lot to say but somehow i cant say it now...
A real post is in store... in fact, i didnt mean to blog this post, i wanted to continue the other and post it... bass never mind....
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish
(I've always liked this guy.... i cant claim i know a lot about him, but i read enough about him to admire him.. try to read the whole thing thru.. go here for a commentary on the speech)
This is the text of the Commencement address delivered to the graduating class in Stanford University by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, on June 12, 2005.
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.
The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.
My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
Thank you all very much.
This is the text of the Commencement address delivered to the graduating class in Stanford University by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, on June 12, 2005.
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.
The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.
My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
Thank you all very much.
Monday, November 14, 2005
Blogging it out..
(Scenes from my life during the past period)
* Give me the smiley
the msn emoticon that goes like a normal smiley ":)" It just bugs me... it makes me feel like "i have nothing to say so i gave you a semi-smile" (for a person like me who's faintest smile is a grin, a smile without showing teeth is a "whatever" smiley).. so i came up with Kareem with this thing of calling it "dont give me the smiley" or "you gave me the smiley"
* What am reading
Terry Pratchett's "A Hat full of Sky"... a nice read.. not as good as Mort.. but its nice enough to read a bit everyday.. i dont know why i rarely read anything that "moves" me recently..
* Unnamed/Untamed feelings
Sometimes, i feel the slightest hints of the weirdest feelings.. you know.. like when something can just make you gloomy.. or you can feel your heart contract for a split second from the weirdest of events.. I thought i grew out of this phase.. apparently not.. I am very stressed out because of work.. i feel like my world is foggy.... but that shouldnt be it... i dont know.. maybe i shouldnt have written that down when am in this state.. i'd rather blog some lyrics that say it all... (but i wont :))
* A quote
"We're women. We have a double standard to live up to. " ~ Ally McBeal
* I'm feeling blocked again..
* Give me the smiley
the msn emoticon that goes like a normal smiley ":)" It just bugs me... it makes me feel like "i have nothing to say so i gave you a semi-smile" (for a person like me who's faintest smile is a grin, a smile without showing teeth is a "whatever" smiley).. so i came up with Kareem with this thing of calling it "dont give me the smiley" or "you gave me the smiley"
* What am reading
Terry Pratchett's "A Hat full of Sky"... a nice read.. not as good as Mort.. but its nice enough to read a bit everyday.. i dont know why i rarely read anything that "moves" me recently..
* Unnamed/Untamed feelings
Sometimes, i feel the slightest hints of the weirdest feelings.. you know.. like when something can just make you gloomy.. or you can feel your heart contract for a split second from the weirdest of events.. I thought i grew out of this phase.. apparently not.. I am very stressed out because of work.. i feel like my world is foggy.... but that shouldnt be it... i dont know.. maybe i shouldnt have written that down when am in this state.. i'd rather blog some lyrics that say it all... (but i wont :))
* A quote
"We're women. We have a double standard to live up to. " ~ Ally McBeal
* I'm feeling blocked again..
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
.... I have spoken
* int
the other day i was telling Kareem eno i used to work in Java and i like Java and miss it blablabla (i am into Java as core programming not web programming).. fa he was like "ah so u claim you know java? whats the value of int?" so, without thinking i said "65536".. anyway, he said he never heard this number before and anyway he wasnt serious in his question, he was picking on me because he didnt know i would know it aslan... anyway, i looked it up, short int is the one i said.. Actually its the unsigned java short.. 0 to 65535.. (2^16).. the regular int is 2^32.. Anyway, am more of a nerd than one would think bardo :)
* An Iftar to Remember
I had the most beautiful iftar the other day... (its a day other than the "other day" thats in the previous point).. It was purely spontaneous and it was purely great... As a spur of the moment plan, I went with Kareem to Zamalek.. on the way there, we called Pizza Hut to prepare our order... We went to Zamalek, Kareem went in PH to get our pizzas and i went to Metro to get cokes and wet wipes aaaaaaand we went to a quiet area of Abul Fida Corniche to eat.... It was sooooooooo cool... the weather was simply amazing.. there were almost no people except for very few of those who decided to do the same, and they were scattered.. we had our pizzas then we sat on a "ahwa baladi" in 26th July Street for some tea with mint (and sheesha for Kareem).. then we went to the ultimate Diwan (got a Terry Pratchett book :)) and then we went to Cilantro and took hot chocolate with whipped cream... It was the best :) A great idea! :)
* Sinusitis
i woke up this morning with a severe case of runny/blocked nose.. its giving me a headache because i cannot breathe.. hope it gets better after a little sleep and soup.. (probably Maggi's asparagus soup)
* Babel Fish (no, not the altavista translator)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babel_fish
"I refuse to prove that I exist," says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing."
"But," says Man, "the Babel fish is a dead giveaway isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves that you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. Q.E.D."
"Oh dear," says God, "I hadn't thought of that," and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.
"Oh, that was easy," says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing.
~Douglas Adams, H2G2 (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)
* Have a nice vacation everyone :)
Cheers,
N.
p.s. I just noticed that 2 entries are about Kareem... hmmmm i will make it up to everyone else around here :)
the other day i was telling Kareem eno i used to work in Java and i like Java and miss it blablabla (i am into Java as core programming not web programming).. fa he was like "ah so u claim you know java? whats the value of int?" so, without thinking i said "65536".. anyway, he said he never heard this number before and anyway he wasnt serious in his question, he was picking on me because he didnt know i would know it aslan... anyway, i looked it up, short int is the one i said.. Actually its the unsigned java short.. 0 to 65535.. (2^16).. the regular int is 2^32.. Anyway, am more of a nerd than one would think bardo :)
* An Iftar to Remember
I had the most beautiful iftar the other day... (its a day other than the "other day" thats in the previous point).. It was purely spontaneous and it was purely great... As a spur of the moment plan, I went with Kareem to Zamalek.. on the way there, we called Pizza Hut to prepare our order... We went to Zamalek, Kareem went in PH to get our pizzas and i went to Metro to get cokes and wet wipes aaaaaaand we went to a quiet area of Abul Fida Corniche to eat.... It was sooooooooo cool... the weather was simply amazing.. there were almost no people except for very few of those who decided to do the same, and they were scattered.. we had our pizzas then we sat on a "ahwa baladi" in 26th July Street for some tea with mint (and sheesha for Kareem).. then we went to the ultimate Diwan (got a Terry Pratchett book :)) and then we went to Cilantro and took hot chocolate with whipped cream... It was the best :) A great idea! :)
* Sinusitis
i woke up this morning with a severe case of runny/blocked nose.. its giving me a headache because i cannot breathe.. hope it gets better after a little sleep and soup.. (probably Maggi's asparagus soup)
* Babel Fish (no, not the altavista translator)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babel_fish
"I refuse to prove that I exist," says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing."
"But," says Man, "the Babel fish is a dead giveaway isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves that you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. Q.E.D."
"Oh dear," says God, "I hadn't thought of that," and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.
"Oh, that was easy," says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing.
~Douglas Adams, H2G2 (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)
* Have a nice vacation everyone :)
Cheers,
N.
p.s. I just noticed that 2 entries are about Kareem... hmmmm i will make it up to everyone else around here :)
Saturday, October 29, 2005
These are a few of my favorite things...
(a real post yaaaaaaaaaay!)
So, as it happens, am in a bloggy mood today :) In case you havent noticed (and you probably havent, i mean most of you have but some havent).. I've blogged lyrics yesterday... Today, the real thing :) I remembered now a Friends episode where Chandler goes like "This is the Real Thing. Capital R, Capital T" :)
Anyhow, on with the post...
* Charm Bracelets
i luv them... i just do.. you know this tradition when you get a charm bracelet and every occassion (every anniversary, every birthday, whatever), you add one small toy that means something or refers to something? I always wanted to do that :) And maybe one day i'll do that.. but i'll have to buy a new charm every month or something, to make up for the lost time :)
this seems to be something like i have in mind.. (esp that the purple stone is Amethyst, my birthstone)
* What am reading
hmmmm... I finished "The Rule of Four" almost a week or more ago.. I liked it.. not LIKED it, just liked it.. i dont regret reading it, but it didnt knock me of my feet at all.. not reading anything else at the moment.. just some women magazines.. waiting for the Diwan trip..
* R.E.M. (pronounced "rem" by me :))
I discovered i actually like REM.. dont know many of their songs honestly, but I luv Imitation of Life.. And i luv Losing My Religion (its one of the few songs that i actually like when someone sings it on his guitar).. Been singing (no.. humming :)) it for a couple of days now....
you can download it from here (that was so cool to find it! illegal but cool :))
The tune is so catchy but its mainly the words that i like so much :)
Life is bigger
It’s bigger than you
And you are not me
The lengths that I will go to
The distance in your eyes
Oh no, I’ve said too much
I set it up
(chorus)
That’s me in the corner
That’s me in the spotlight
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don’t know if I can do it
Oh no, I’ve said too much
I haven’t said enough
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try
Every whisper
Of every waking hour i’m
Choosing my confessions
Trying to keep an eye on you
Like a hurt lost and blinded fool, fool
Oh no, I’ve said too much
I set it up
Consider this
Consider this
The hint of the century
Consider this
The slip that brought me
To my knees failed
What if all these fantasies
Come flailing around
Now I’ve said too much
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try
But that was just a dream
That was just a dream
So, as it happens, am in a bloggy mood today :) In case you havent noticed (and you probably havent, i mean most of you have but some havent).. I've blogged lyrics yesterday... Today, the real thing :) I remembered now a Friends episode where Chandler goes like "This is the Real Thing. Capital R, Capital T" :)
Anyhow, on with the post...
* Charm Bracelets
i luv them... i just do.. you know this tradition when you get a charm bracelet and every occassion (every anniversary, every birthday, whatever), you add one small toy that means something or refers to something? I always wanted to do that :) And maybe one day i'll do that.. but i'll have to buy a new charm every month or something, to make up for the lost time :)
this seems to be something like i have in mind.. (esp that the purple stone is Amethyst, my birthstone)
* What am reading
hmmmm... I finished "The Rule of Four" almost a week or more ago.. I liked it.. not LIKED it, just liked it.. i dont regret reading it, but it didnt knock me of my feet at all.. not reading anything else at the moment.. just some women magazines.. waiting for the Diwan trip..
* R.E.M. (pronounced "rem" by me :))
I discovered i actually like REM.. dont know many of their songs honestly, but I luv Imitation of Life.. And i luv Losing My Religion (its one of the few songs that i actually like when someone sings it on his guitar).. Been singing (no.. humming :)) it for a couple of days now....
you can download it from here (that was so cool to find it! illegal but cool :))
The tune is so catchy but its mainly the words that i like so much :)
Life is bigger
It’s bigger than you
And you are not me
The lengths that I will go to
The distance in your eyes
Oh no, I’ve said too much
I set it up
(chorus)
That’s me in the corner
That’s me in the spotlight
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don’t know if I can do it
Oh no, I’ve said too much
I haven’t said enough
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try
Every whisper
Of every waking hour i’m
Choosing my confessions
Trying to keep an eye on you
Like a hurt lost and blinded fool, fool
Oh no, I’ve said too much
I set it up
Consider this
Consider this
The hint of the century
Consider this
The slip that brought me
To my knees failed
What if all these fantasies
Come flailing around
Now I’ve said too much
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try
But that was just a dream
That was just a dream
Friday, October 28, 2005
Casablanca
a beautiful classic movie i hope one day to watch............... It has some of the most memorable quotes like "We'll always have Paris"
Also Humphrey Bogart's famous phrase to Ingrid Bergman "Here's looking at you, kid."
and what Bogart says to the pianist "You played it for her, you can play it for me! . . . If she can stand it, I can! Play it!"
anyway, i just wanted to blog this song, "As Time Goes By"
You must remember this
A kiss is still a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by
And when two lovers woo
They still say, "I love you"
On that you can rely
No matter what the future brings
As time goes by
Moonlight and love songs
Never out of date
Hearts full of passion
Jealousy and hate
Woman needs man
And man must have his mate
That no one can deny
it's still the same old story
A fight for love and glory
A case of do or die
The world will always welcome lovers
As time goes by
(i know i shouldnt blog lyrics but i love this song :) )
Also Humphrey Bogart's famous phrase to Ingrid Bergman "Here's looking at you, kid."
and what Bogart says to the pianist "You played it for her, you can play it for me! . . . If she can stand it, I can! Play it!"
anyway, i just wanted to blog this song, "As Time Goes By"
You must remember this
A kiss is still a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by
And when two lovers woo
They still say, "I love you"
On that you can rely
No matter what the future brings
As time goes by
Moonlight and love songs
Never out of date
Hearts full of passion
Jealousy and hate
Woman needs man
And man must have his mate
That no one can deny
it's still the same old story
A fight for love and glory
A case of do or die
The world will always welcome lovers
As time goes by
(i know i shouldnt blog lyrics but i love this song :) )
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Dear Murphy
(not necessarily in response to Duke's old post about Murphy's law)
Dear Murphy-
With all due respect, you are wrong. Things can (and do) work out sometimes for people.. Sometimes things are going off cliff when miraculously, they actually do work out. You need to understand and believe in it, or it never will come your way.. Of course sometimes things tend to have a mind of their own and just screw themselves up, but you never know when they're going to get better!
Murphy, you need to do your work keeping in mind that things can go terribly wrong, yet believe that they can work out.......
Dear Murphy, give me a call sometime and i'll either bring sunshine into your dark side or give you a heart-attack... Both ways, you'll deserve it..
Cheers,
N.
Dear Murphy-
With all due respect, you are wrong. Things can (and do) work out sometimes for people.. Sometimes things are going off cliff when miraculously, they actually do work out. You need to understand and believe in it, or it never will come your way.. Of course sometimes things tend to have a mind of their own and just screw themselves up, but you never know when they're going to get better!
Murphy, you need to do your work keeping in mind that things can go terribly wrong, yet believe that they can work out.......
Dear Murphy, give me a call sometime and i'll either bring sunshine into your dark side or give you a heart-attack... Both ways, you'll deserve it..
Cheers,
N.
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Cross your fingers..
Kareem (not Karim, but you probably know the difference by now *yawn*) is starting a new job today...
Everyone, keep your fingers crossed for him and wish him luck!
Say a little prayer for him.. If everyone who reads this said a little prayer in their own language and faith, chances are, something is going to get him :)
There is this Swatch ad, where everyone in all parts of the world jumps in the same moment in slow motion, then when they touch the ground a Japanese old man sweeping leaves find that all leaves on a tree are falling for no reason. So its a bit like that...
Real blog later isA :)
Cheers,
N.
Everyone, keep your fingers crossed for him and wish him luck!
Say a little prayer for him.. If everyone who reads this said a little prayer in their own language and faith, chances are, something is going to get him :)
There is this Swatch ad, where everyone in all parts of the world jumps in the same moment in slow motion, then when they touch the ground a Japanese old man sweeping leaves find that all leaves on a tree are falling for no reason. So its a bit like that...
Real blog later isA :)
Cheers,
N.
Friday, October 14, 2005
Pretty Baby
(Lyrics but forgive me for that... luv this song, its for Vanessa Carlton and its so sweet.... read it thru and try to listen to it)
You light me up and then I fall for you
You lay me down and then I call for you
Stumbling on reasons that are far and few
I'd let it all come down and then some for you
Pretty baby don't you leave me
I have been saving smiles for you
Pretty baby why can't you see
You're the one that I belong to
I'll be the embrace that keeps you warm
For you're the sun that breaks the storm
I'll be alright and I'll sleep sound
As long as you keep comin' around, oh pretty baby
And I know things can't last forever
But there are lessons that you'll never learn
Oh just the scent of you it makes me hurt
So how's it you that makes me better
[Chorus]
Why can't you hold me and never let go
When you touch me it is me that you own
Pretty baby oh the place that you hold in my heart
Would you break it apart again... oh pretty baby
[Chorus]
Pretty baby, why can't you see
Pretty baby, don't you leave me
Pretty baby, why can't you see
Pretty baby, don't you leave me,
Pretty Baby
My Pretty Baby
My Pretty Baby
Don't you leave me
You lay me down and then I call for you
Stumbling on reasons that are far and few
I'd let it all come down and then some for you
Pretty baby don't you leave me
I have been saving smiles for you
Pretty baby why can't you see
You're the one that I belong to
I'll be the embrace that keeps you warm
For you're the sun that breaks the storm
I'll be alright and I'll sleep sound
As long as you keep comin' around, oh pretty baby
And I know things can't last forever
But there are lessons that you'll never learn
Oh just the scent of you it makes me hurt
So how's it you that makes me better
[Chorus]
Why can't you hold me and never let go
When you touch me it is me that you own
Pretty baby oh the place that you hold in my heart
Would you break it apart again... oh pretty baby
[Chorus]
Pretty baby, why can't you see
Pretty baby, don't you leave me
Pretty baby, why can't you see
Pretty baby, don't you leave me,
Pretty Baby
My Pretty Baby
My Pretty Baby
Don't you leave me
Thursday, October 13, 2005
a "blog"
(as opposed to lyrics or quotes or whatever :))
As i started to do recently, i've been writing over the span of 2 weeks in the sort of points (some of which i forgot what they refer to :))
*Missing what i dont have
I dont know.. i just promised to start my blog with this.... missing what i dont have refers to a different nostalgia.. a nostalgia for something that could've happened.. i dont want my words to be interpreted in a thousand meanings.. am not referring to something in particular.... its just that i believe that the possibilities are always so immense :) enough on this point, but i fulfilled my promise..
* Winter
I luv winter... i simply adore it.. i like chilly weather... i luv rain, i luv walking in the rain.. i like walking in fog (but not riding in cars).. am looking forward to winter because it just cheers me up... the morning chill i feel when i go down to work is an instant pick-me-up
* Lithuanian Elephant
when Chris was in Lithuania, he got me this tiny smiling elephant that is made from clay (we have an elephant thing, i picked it from karembu and apparently its an ITWorx thing as well)... it looks so nice and u can clearly see fingerprints on it, so its lovely.. i have it on my desk.. generally i dont like decorating my desk or workplace because it would make me like the place and thus feel torn if i had to move.. (a trait i have like cats, getting attached to a place more than to the people in the place )
* 90 pages away (Or what am reading these days)
hmmmm.... i wrote that right before last weekend when i was 90 pages away from finishing American Gods.. i loooooooooooooooooooooved it... (Thanks, Duke!) i finished it by Thursday then Friday i started AND finished The 5 people you meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom.. a lovely easy read that is full of sentiments.. Now i started The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason.. a book quoted to be "the Da Vinci Code for people with brains".. I'm a little more than 1/3 way thru, and i like it.. i dont have enough time or energy to read these days tho..
* "Ignorance is a bliss" Vs. "The truth shall set you free"
hmmm... this referred to an old argument.. I am from the believers of the 2nd phrase... i.e. acknowledge it, admit it, lock it up, and move on.. as opposed to the "what you dont know wont hurt you" attitude....
*Losing my Religion (or in this case inspiration)
Suffering from a severe case of demotivation.. i dont wanna talk about it.. i just feel like i'm slowly losing my lustre and becoming dull and "lukewarm" if you know what i mean.. thats all about that.. even in my blogging, i feel its boring.. in my work, i feel am not productive altho i work my head off sometimes... am not the me that i thought for myself..
*Delirium "coats"
"She was no longer Delight, and the blossoms had already begun to fall in her domain, becoming smudged and formless colours, and she had no one to talk to..."
Delight becomes Delirium, in SANDMAN #42: "Brief Lives:2"
This is one of my favorites ever:
"What's the name of the word for the precise moment when you realize that you've actually forgotten how it felt to make love to somebody you really liked a long time ago." "There isn't one." "Oh. I thought maybe there was."
Delirium and Dream, in SANDMAN #43: "Brief Lives:3"
Kareem (not Karim) got me the whole sandman comics collection on a CD :) I am still to read it tho (dont like e-books..) but it also has this software that makes you browse it blablabla
*Eleven Minutes
"In love, no one can harm anyone else; we are each of us responsible for our own feelings and cannot blame someone else for what we feel.
It hurt when I lost each of the various men I fell in love with. Now, though, I am convinced that no one loses anyone, because no one owns anyone.
That is the true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world without owning it."
"Life is too short, or too long, for me to allow myself the luxury of living it so badly."
(i read the book when it was still new and it really touched me in parts.. I would recommend it to anyone who will be able to overlook its directness and read between the lines)
As i started to do recently, i've been writing over the span of 2 weeks in the sort of points (some of which i forgot what they refer to :))
*Missing what i dont have
I dont know.. i just promised to start my blog with this.... missing what i dont have refers to a different nostalgia.. a nostalgia for something that could've happened.. i dont want my words to be interpreted in a thousand meanings.. am not referring to something in particular.... its just that i believe that the possibilities are always so immense :) enough on this point, but i fulfilled my promise..
* Winter
I luv winter... i simply adore it.. i like chilly weather... i luv rain, i luv walking in the rain.. i like walking in fog (but not riding in cars).. am looking forward to winter because it just cheers me up... the morning chill i feel when i go down to work is an instant pick-me-up
* Lithuanian Elephant
when Chris was in Lithuania, he got me this tiny smiling elephant that is made from clay (we have an elephant thing, i picked it from karembu and apparently its an ITWorx thing as well)... it looks so nice and u can clearly see fingerprints on it, so its lovely.. i have it on my desk.. generally i dont like decorating my desk or workplace because it would make me like the place and thus feel torn if i had to move.. (a trait i have like cats, getting attached to a place more than to the people in the place )
* 90 pages away (Or what am reading these days)
hmmmm.... i wrote that right before last weekend when i was 90 pages away from finishing American Gods.. i loooooooooooooooooooooved it... (Thanks, Duke!) i finished it by Thursday then Friday i started AND finished The 5 people you meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom.. a lovely easy read that is full of sentiments.. Now i started The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason.. a book quoted to be "the Da Vinci Code for people with brains".. I'm a little more than 1/3 way thru, and i like it.. i dont have enough time or energy to read these days tho..
* "Ignorance is a bliss" Vs. "The truth shall set you free"
hmmm... this referred to an old argument.. I am from the believers of the 2nd phrase... i.e. acknowledge it, admit it, lock it up, and move on.. as opposed to the "what you dont know wont hurt you" attitude....
*Losing my Religion (or in this case inspiration)
Suffering from a severe case of demotivation.. i dont wanna talk about it.. i just feel like i'm slowly losing my lustre and becoming dull and "lukewarm" if you know what i mean.. thats all about that.. even in my blogging, i feel its boring.. in my work, i feel am not productive altho i work my head off sometimes... am not the me that i thought for myself..
*Delirium "coats"
"She was no longer Delight, and the blossoms had already begun to fall in her domain, becoming smudged and formless colours, and she had no one to talk to..."
Delight becomes Delirium, in SANDMAN #42: "Brief Lives:2"
This is one of my favorites ever:
"What's the name of the word for the precise moment when you realize that you've actually forgotten how it felt to make love to somebody you really liked a long time ago." "There isn't one." "Oh. I thought maybe there was."
Delirium and Dream, in SANDMAN #43: "Brief Lives:3"
Kareem (not Karim) got me the whole sandman comics collection on a CD :) I am still to read it tho (dont like e-books..) but it also has this software that makes you browse it blablabla
*Eleven Minutes
"In love, no one can harm anyone else; we are each of us responsible for our own feelings and cannot blame someone else for what we feel.
It hurt when I lost each of the various men I fell in love with. Now, though, I am convinced that no one loses anyone, because no one owns anyone.
That is the true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world without owning it."
"Life is too short, or too long, for me to allow myself the luxury of living it so badly."
(i read the book when it was still new and it really touched me in parts.. I would recommend it to anyone who will be able to overlook its directness and read between the lines)
Monday, October 10, 2005
a quote..
"When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it." ~Winnie the Pooh
(very true :))
(very true :))
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