Idle Hands

I've been typing during the past 2 hours and the crap electricity went out. And I didn't save throughout it all. It makes me feel that whatever I had typed was meaningless.

Summary of what I had typed and lost:

The Incredibles: Great
Ocean's Twelve: Beh
The Whole Ten Yards: Beh
Soul Plane: Good, but the movie kept pausing every 10 minutes because the bloody disc was scratched.
Bite Me!: Why did they bother making this one? I fast forwarded through the movie. It had alot of tits, but didn't qualify as porn.

My internet connection hadn't been working for the past 2 days because of some problem with the servers Satlink. I've got a stupid wifi setup according to my Bulgarian friend. I think I pay too much for my internet service (45$ a month - 92 kilobits/second) and maybe should switch provider.

Without the internet, my life changed somewhat. I spent alot of the past 2 days watching TV. Spending 2 days searching on the internet for software to crack my satellite receiver to open scrambled channels for free paid off when I watched a movie on Multivison and if the internet hadn't worked today I would've ended up watching a French movie called Double-Zero.

I dug out some of the weeds (the unwanted kind) in the lawn. Which led me to plant 5 of the 10 cannabis seeds I bought the day before I left Bath. On tuesday I planted one in the garden, one in a pot that I left outside, and one in a glass of water which I think is already dead. Today, I planted one in an ashtray filled with wet cotton wool that I put in an unplugged fridge; and I made a pot out of styrofoam Nissin Cup Noodle container, filled it with dirt and water and planted one in it and put it by the window. It's the first time I ever try to grow a plant. I hope one makes it.

By the way, Iraq is not all desert. It does have a very hot and dry climate but it also has 2 big rivers running through it. Which I think makes it ideal for growing cannabis (the best weed I've smoked was grown in Iraq). Oh and it snows up in the northern parts of Iraq (Kurdistanland).

During Saddam's rule, conventional drugs such as (cannabis, heroin and cocaine) were practically impossible to get hold of. The average cop wouldn't recognize the smell of burning cannabis.

And so, Iraqi drug abusers relied on pharmaceutical drugs instead. Besides painkillers, one famous drug was called 'Artin' (also called Benzexhol I think), this would cause visual hallucinations that would creep up on you (i.e. you wouldn't realize that you were tripping), it also left you shaking and an incomplete memory of what happened during the experience.

Street urchins are known for consuming something called 'Cycotin' (I think it's a solvent) in a plastic bag that they would breathe in and out of. These kids end up throwing alot of bricks in different directions, at a shop window or a windshield for example.

Skunk isn't to be found here. However, I do hear of hash made availabe these days, but mostly for the consumption of foreigners, especially considering the prices at which it's sold are still too high compared to Iraqi salaries. Also I expect the dealers aren't willing to deal to Iraqis for fear of getting caught.

Earlier today, Od came by; while he was here the internet started working. Od nearly drove into a convoy of humvees earlier, his friend sitting beside him was telling him to watch out. Od thought his friend was referring to the barriers on the road and hadn't noticed the convoy crossing infront of him. It became pretty close when he finally noticed them and slammed the breaks. Something similar has happened to me before. I attribute it to the camouflaging colour of the humvees. After waiting for Baldie to come for a couple of hours, we called him at home and then went in Od's car to pick him up.

We went to Lami's a small supermarket/takeaway in Jadriya. Nahida wanted me to do some shopping for her so she gave me some money to treat the guys with some food so that we go there. Od had a meat shawerma sandwich and Baldie and I had egg-basterma sandwiches that took forever to prepare. Basterma is one of those old recipes to preserve meat, I think it's of Armenian origin. Anyway it's really filling, and I can still feel it's weight in my stomach.

We then went to the closest gas station, but it had 'normal' petrol, so Od drove through it and we went to another, one that had 'improved' petrol. There wasn't much of a queue, and soon enough we were entering the gas station. But then a cop carrying an AK signaled us to stop and reverse. He place a barrier ahead of us and began to walk away. We were confused as to whether the gas station was closing or whether we had to wait our turn to get in. Baldie got out of the car and figured that it was closed.

I've wondered what it would feel like to be the next guy in line that's then denied entry when the gas station closes. Od didn't mind much he had half a tank left which was enough to last him till after tomorrow (petrol stations permit cars according to their license plates; one day evens, one day odds).

Oh the electricity is back. 2 hours do go by quick.