It's Like A Quarter Bottle Of Grant's

Yeah I'm going all alcoholic again. I need myself a Ramadhan. Found new pleasure in buying 2 dollar quarter bottles of Grant's while driving around. It ain't bad at for that price. Embarrassed myself a tid bit at uni the other day at uni. But heck I don't care.

Mum might be visiting in a few days. I'm quite looking forward to that. . I miss her. If I had the chance I would've tried convincing her not to come. No good ever comes from visiting Baghdad.

I feel really messed up of late. I'm getting nothing done. I did buy that dictionary but didn't find a newspaper. So I spent an hour looking up words that I didn't understand in my risk management handout.

Od's trying to get us some hash for New Year's that I'll be paying for. heck I think it's worth it and no I don't think it's going to mess me up. But it doesn't seem to be happening. Too bad. New Year's is probably going to be one of those nights that I try to go to sleep early. Kid's at uni, knowing that I live alone, want to come over. But I'm not ready to have such a pathetic time.

I miss a few things. I miss the feeling of something new. I miss that feeling that life is happening this very moment. I miss these things, and I wonder if I'll ever life a life filled with such things again.

Got Guiness

I'm sounding like an alcoholic again hehe. But yeah I got me some Guiness, pretty good Christmas surprise from the alky store if you ask me.

I did get the dictionary, I didn't get the newspaper. I just finished figuring out the introduction and directions of the dictionary though. Tomorrow, I'll try using the dictionary with the material I have to study for an upcoming test at college.

I hope I'll find my notes and stuff at uni tomorrow.

Damn You Liminal

I'm still posting from the internet cafe. Can't be bothered to fix my PC. Thinking of just getting a laptop instead. I've got an urge to spend money these days, that's just a tad out of control. The good thing about not having a PC is that I'm spending more time downstairs and without the need of a generator. Nothing ever good on TV. So I sit and play Final Fantasy Tactics on the DS which is a demented game for real, but it kills timely so sweetly.

So Liminal spent maybe an hour or less, persuading me to learn Arabic a couple of nights ago. Had I done what I agreed to do, I would've started already. But I'm going to today. After I'm done here I'm going to go off to buy an Arabic-English dictionary, a newspaper, a pen and a hardcover notebook. I'm going to underline the words I don't know and learn them. I'll admit my confidence is withering already.

Got to go to my uncle's funeral thingie today. Sit down say some stuff as I sit down, close my eyes and pretend to perform a prayer, drink some coffee. Shit I got to be ready to spend a long time there.

It's the season to send Christmas e-mails. Got 2 sent so far. Ah 4 now. 4 is a good number. That's good enough.

Expired Beer

It's no so often that I find the title to a post so easily. Well I still need to go the internet cafe because my PC is still playing dead. Home is so boring without it. That's why I've come here to the internet cafe. I found a new hobby of downloading mp3s of unheard of bands, hell they're free and legal. I bought a little Creative mp3 player. Now I'm thinking it's too small. 256 MB turned out not to be enough. An IPod seems to be the way to go. But damn those things are expensive. I'm seeing ads of an overgrown bean Sony looking thing. Maybe that's the way to go.

The thing I hate about these internet cafes, are the keyboards. They've all got sticky keys.

So on my way back from uni, inspired by the guys in the car infront of me in the petrol queue yesterday, I got myself some bottles of beer. Finished my first one and began to look for the expiry date. It expired May of this year, typical! It still gives a buzz. They're expired because they're cheaper and nobody is going to give them even a slap on the wrist for selling it. What really gets on my nerves is the abundance of beer produced in Turkey some of which is labelled Carlsberg or Tuborg. Given the choice I'd go for expired beer of the stuff made in Turkey. Not that I have anything against Turkey. Just their beer is pretty lousy if you ask me. And no I wouldn't be able to know the difference in a blind test.

I spent over an hour, maybe two hours yesterday in a petrol queue of a closed petrol station. The price of petrol has gone up. It used to cost 20/50 I.D. a litrefor normal/premium fuel, it now costs 150/250 I.D. a litre. Well yeah it's quite a big diffence, I just hope that it means that queue will be a bit shorter next time I go to the fuel station. Yeah I'm going to the premium station. Because it's not like a station sells both. Some stations sell normal and a few sell premium. And when we're talking premium, it's not the high-octane stuff. It's just a little bit better than the plain stuff, which is really bad. And there's no unleaded fuel in case you were wondering.

My PC Is Dead Yet Again

I'm at the internet cafe right now. Damn PC gave up on me again last night. I'm so tempted to try and weasel my dad into buying me a new computer. And I can't be bothered to go fix it, especially when I've got no clue of what's wrong with it. At first it would turn on and stop just before starting to do the RAM check. Now it turns on, but the monitor just stays on stand-by. I changed the video card, that didn't do anything. I'm guessing it's more than likely that it's my power supply that's fucked up again, possibly my motherboard. I'd dread having to replace my motherboard. I've got such an old one. Well it means that my home entertainement has been heavily reduced. No more internet or Need For Speed.

Traffic And The Lack There Of

Today I got out of the house. I was hoping to go to India's to finish the Butterfly Effect but his sis and her husband were over to watch movies. Od was busy studying, so I called up Zaif, and rode over to his house. There was a bit of confusion whether if we could drive our cars out of our neighbourhood and I wanted to refuel my car. So I decided to see if the petrol station was open, it wasn't and the cops weren't allowing people to drive out of my neighbourhood. Had lunch at his place and then Naf took us for a ride to Od's. The cops stopped us on the way, but they let us pass. On the way back, we avoided the cops who were standing at the main intersections.

Zaif gave me the link to a the traffic police's website where you can check if there any fines on your car. Oh the actual page where you can do that is this. All you need to do is put in your license plate number, the type of plate, and assigned region; and you'll get an instant result. It's especially useful if you want to check if you got caught breaking the odd's and even's driving rule (Alternatingly daily only odd or even license plated cars can drive the roads). Well anyway, I'm good, I never broke that law and nor do I have any outstanding fines.

It drizzled rain for a few moments today. That was cool. It's really nice seeing the streets without cars. All the kids have taken over a strip of the main street to play football. And it's oh so quiet and peaceful. Tomorrow it's all going to end, at 6 AM tomorrow all the hussle and bussle will start all over again.

My Arm's Feeling A Little Better

I'm so bored and lazy today. I think I must be gaining weight again. I should tuck back into bed and hibernate. Had I woken up earlier I could've gone to India's to finish the Butterfly Effect. These random chatters that show up on my ICQ are so damn boring and becoming a nuisance. Looking at my white board my spending looks a little better these past couple of days.

I'm not bothered to go and vote. Oh yes, apathy has prevailed. And if this country goes beyond hell, I can now blame only myself.

So what else is up. Did I mention that Suzy and I exchanged phone number for the sake of getting on-line together. But I keep having such trouble of getting on-line during the early evening. It never works out. I should call her today. I don't think I will, I'm feeling too lazy and enjoying it.

A week ago I went to a relative's house with my dad, he'd been suggesting that I marry one of the daughters. I was very reluctant to the idea. While I was there I sat with her to smoke some cigarettes away from my father. Suzy gave me a missed call. And I said: "Oh, I've got to call my girlfriend". After telling the daughter about Suzy, she starts telling me to leave her. She goes on to say that I should call her instead of Suzy. I did get the impression that this girl was coming on to me the last time I saw her 3 years ago. But this was outrageous. On the way back I told my dad about the incident in the cab. Hopefully that should put that girl out of his mind.

I was telling Hans about my requirements of an arranged wife. She'd need to satisfy 2 out of 3 qualities: Beauty, Wealth and Career. Yeah I'm sticking the bar really high, but one might as well if there's no romance in the deal.

False Alarm

It's about 3 am now and the rumour has crossed just nearly the whole city. Even the mosques have been warning people through their loud speakers mounted on the minarets. I heard a local radio station asking people to call in for more information about the rumours.

But just now there's been a tellie broadcast saying that the government has performed tests and say the rumours are not true.

Ow! My Arm and By The Way The Tap Water Is Poisoned

My arm still hurts from yesterday's bike fall. It just burns. But I must admit that it's been getting slightly better over the past few hours. I've realised that the area is swollen. I rode my bike to India's place watched half of the Butterfly Effect. Couldn't watch the other half because the electricity was lacking and I wanted to get back before dark. Some punk in a humvee made me stay put until he moved out. I was so far away it took the piss. I was on a different street for crying out loud. And damn their hand signaling is so damn confusing, especially when they're asking you to do something so unexpected.

20 minutes ago I got an SMS from Dina saying that the tap water is poisoned, and one of my classmates just called saying the same thing too. I asked that maybe it's just some kind of rumour that's gone out of control, he says that a cop relative of his gave him the news and that there have been cases brought to the hospitals. I just called India, and his cousin has told him that the tap water is poisoned too. India also heard from his cousin that it's official, but India didn't get what was the source of this official statement. It's 2 in the morning! And there's absolutely nothing on the tellie about it.

Well ain't this a great way to start up the elections. Yeah I'm still not sure who or if I'm going to vote tomorrow. I might not be registered at all. One suggestion is to vote for some punks that are bound to lose. I'm not sure, I'm thinking that or choosing another leading party that's opposed to one I dislike. Try guessing which is the one I dislike the most.

The Power Cuts And The Words Will Be Forever Gone

Maybe 7 minutes left. Maybe less, maybe more. If only I had bought a UPS. I drunk on some Piat D'Or, a label from my childhood memories. My brother tells me that is was popular in the 80s. Tonight it's popular again.

I rode my bike to Od's place today. On the way back I fell off it while trying to jump onto a curb. Scraped the underside of my upper forearm. Couldn't go to sleep because of a mad burning sensation from the same area. So I popped an aspirin, a lezopram (I think it was), and that bottle of red wine.

The pain has subdued somewhat and I think I can fall asleep now. Zed's done a good job of convincing me to come to Bulgaria this coming summer. If I can I will. I've got a couple of grand stashed aside. Well when the time comes I'll make my call.

I'm still wondering what we'll be 'friends' means to Suzy. We did swap phone numbers. And keep trying to get 0n-line at the same time, but luck doesn't seem to be on my side. It's getting really hard to get an internet connection.

Dad left a couple of days ago. He's back in Bath now. Yeah I miss Bath. Should be heading up there next summer. Smoke some of that smelly skunk perhaps. Make a little spending money and do a little trip to someplace.

Until then I'll have to keep myself occupied with VH1 and playing video games. These days I'm playing NFS Most Wanted. It feels awfully easy. Haven't played Mario since dad arrived.

Right now we've got some sort of vacation on account of the elections. Not just a vacation but we're also forbidden to drive on the roads. But I'm a bit confused about that last bit. I'm hearing that it might be permitted to drive durin certain hours. Well I've got my bike anyway.

India's got himself a new second-hand Sony widescreen tv, so I'm planning to mosey on down to his tomorrow and watch a movie. Today I did read the risk management material that I failed in last week's test. I got a 2/5. Well bugger, can't win them all huh.

During the past couple of weeks I've had some serious trouble getting myself to study. I just couldn't be bothered. I might be just trying to gauge how bad I'll do if I give the least effort I could give.

New Narguila Stylee

I don't know how long these kind of Narguilas (Hookas) have been around. But it was the first time I saw such a kind. It uses a pomegranate instead of the a ceramic or clay thingie to hold the molasses (the flavoured tobacco). Funky Stuff. The difference was good. But I'm not a connaisseur. 

One Paragraph

Woke up on time today, got dressed. Didn't shave, didn't bother tucking in my shirt. Got to college in one piece. Spent some time with Suzy before classes started, then left her to study with the other kids for today's marketing test. I didn't end up doing so bad on the test. The two questions were piss easy. Went off to Sana'a St. to find myself a laptop bag to carry my shit for my bicycle ride to college. I bought a bike yesterday. I'm going to try and ride my bike to uni. It's quite a ridiculous idea. But I won't know if I can do it until I try. Everybody would bet that I can't. I did buy a little mp3 player though, which I could use for the bike ride, if not then I'll plug it in the car audio. I might finally be able to receive FM above 99 Mhz in the car. Met up with my classmates for lunch at some really awful yet popular restaurant called 'Blue Sky'. It's December but it's still so bleeding warm here. It seemed like the weather was cooling off about a month ago. It was so hot today that we couldn't sit outside the restaurant. I didn't give a care, but the others were whining so we ended up getting seats inside. We then went off to the funeral service, of one of our classmates brother. Some dude walked up to him and shot him in the face. So far none of us no why. I got pissy because the whole service took longer than I expected and it was really far from my home. And I was worried I was going to have some real trouble catching a cab out of there. Fortunately I got a good deal without waiting too much. Dad came back from the farm today. He's now supposed to go back to the UK on Sunday. I finally beat him at dominoes. I'm not going to play another game till I see him again, to make sure I rub it in. Oh yeah and there's a bottle of whiskey waiting for me in the kitchen...

Lost My Phone

I was writing such a long post early this morning and lost it when the generator ran out of fuel.

Actually it was this morning. On my way back from uni yesterday I purchased myself another bottle of white wine, ended up sleeping at around 6 in the evening and waking up at around 4 this morning.

Yesterday was a pretty crap day. Nahida woke me up around 2 AM to get me in my sheets yelling that I'll get diarrhea, that really ticked me off and even more so when she flung the blanket over me along with my precious digital camera that hit the wall.

My mobile phone fell out of my pocket in the cab I was riding on the way to uni. I called it a little later and it rang but no one answered, I called again an hour later and again, the phone was switched off. Everybody at uni felt sorry for me until they found out what kind of phone I had... the Nokia 1100 priced at 65$ probably the cheapest mobile phone on the market.

I got a good mark on my quality admin test (4/5), which was a good surprise. I've got Risk Management on Sunday, haven't started studying and I'm not too confident. One class that I'm really crapping myself about is commerical law. The teach just dictates, and I can't understand anything of what she's saying.

And what about Suzy... After my marketing test on Wednesday I found her sitting in the adjacent classroom with her friend. I sat down with her and we discussed my test, her friend wandered off on queue. And as instructed by Lilly I told Suzy "I love you lovingly". In Arabic the word "love" and "like" are the same, and that's why I think it's necessary to say it like that. She responded by saying we're to be 'friends' which I'm not sure but it could either mean 'friends' like when you're being dumped or if it means 'boyfriend/girlfriend'.

Another funny twist is that by saying 'friends' she might be implying as a cautionary note that we've got no future in a marriage sense. Lilly's cautioned me several times that marriage is impossible since her parents would not allow her to marry a Muslim. And that's really fine with me, I'm sure it wouldn't be with the vast majority of guys but it is with me. The only thing that's somewhat stressing me out is that she introduced me to her brother and yesterday he was really chummy with me, I hope he just sees me as an extension of his network of friends.

Well on the whole the relationship is really really luke warm so far. Which I think is good. I haven't even touched the girl yet. I don't have her phone number either, for that I'm glad because I rely alot on non-verbal communication to make myself understood.

I'm really curious to see where this is all going to go. Because I've got no idea.