Wednesday, January 17, 2007

I'm Fine

I wasn't going to make a post but Zed chat messaged me and then another kind reader e-mailed me to check if I was okay. So to keep anyone else from holding their breath, I'm posting to say I'm fine. It wasn't my college that got blown up, it was Miz's. Miz is fine though because he left before it happened. He tells me that it was the evening class students that got hit. I didn't even hear about what happened till I chatted with my mum a few hours ago and she told me about it and then another friend in Dubai told me about it and the number of people that died and injured which was when I remember to call Miz to see if he's okay. Then India came on-line from Sweden. I assured him that Miz was fine. I'll get back to India in my next post since I also forgot to mention him in my last post. What struck me about today's bombing was that there was that flyer being e-mailed around about a month ago that warned people not to go to college because they'll be attacked, well they took their fucking time to carry out the attack didn't they, so much time that myself and I imagine everyone else thought that the warning had expired. Well I'm exhausted now, I was planning to study hours ago for tomorrow's test but people kept showing up on-line one after the other and I was compelled to chat with them. I just spent the last hour and a half with Zed with him explaining to me what VPN is and all sorts, we even had a go at some program called Hamachi which worked but then not really since I've got such a pathetic internet connection. Oh no I can't believe it there's a random Skype contact that just added me now.

7 comments:

snafoo said...

Partially as a reply to your last comment to your previous post:
I'm sure you know the Boiling Frog analogy.

You know, it's difficult to judge how the situation is in Iraq and particularly Baghdad from the outside. I guess if somebody said I should just shut up and wouldn't know what I'd be talking about, there wouldn't be much I could say against it.
It could also be said that not everybody can leave, and that instead of giving up people should stay to rebuild. But the situation doesn't seem to be one where people can rebuild. It doesn't seem to be getting better, to the contrary.

But to get back to the metaphorical frog, if you had been living in the UK or elsewhere until now, and somebody there would tell you he'd move to Baghdad tomorrow to study, wouldn't you consider that person to be crazy?

Anyway, glad you're OK. Whatever you decide, be careful.
Oh, and study. :)

Sang J. Moon said...

Glad that you're fine. The news says Mustansiriya University was hit which is a Sunni based law and literature college in northeastern Baghdad. A car bomb and a suicide bomber was used in succession. Being a Sunni university, you would think the perpetrator would be a Shiite militia, but the method used smacks of Al Quaida or one of its extremist Sunni allies. I believe that university staff has been a past target of both groups as well as the site of an errant US bomb. Maybe Baghdad University should take a giant step ahead in the use of technology and make as much of their course work online as possible.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you're okay, Shaggy. And, Miz, too.

Jaysis.

-- Tilli (Mojave Desert)

Shaggy said...

Sang: The university is not Sunni.

Snafoo: I didn't know about the boiling frog analogy, but it sure was interesting to read.

Not a day goes by without someone telling me that I should leave after they find out that I've got a British passport.

The answer I usually give is that I simply can't afford to move abroad. Which is true.

fjb said...

Glad your okay, Shaggy. You take care, and if you can, smoke a fatty, satisfy the resulting munchies, and dream of better days.

Peace,
Fiona

Sang J. Moon said...

If Mustansiriya University isn't Sunni, somebody knowledgeable needs to update the wikipedia entry at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustansiriya_University

Shaggy said...

Sang do I really have to bother?

When I meant the university was not Sunni, I was making reference to what's described in the following link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6888922

And Wikipedia is right in saying that Mustansiriya University of old is Sunni, because it was established by Sunnis (at least that's what I'm assuming).

I'm not familiar enough so as to speak about the university and its history. But it'd help you to understand better if you pictured the historical Mustansiriya University (established in 1233) and the one that is here today as two separate institutions.