Foo Hoo

I'm nearly bored enough to pick up that book I got to read. Maybe I should study something. I've done nothing productive since I've woken up 2 hours ago. I'm not sure if I've got classes tomorrow. Kind of hope that we don't.

I'm spending too much time on this laptop. I really need to get off of it. But it's so easy to just mindlessly click on stuff.

Last night I finished watching Basilisk, a 24 episode Japanese cartoon about two feuding ninja villages that have been under a peace treaty with unsubsiding hate towards each other that now by order of some shogun they must kill the other. However, the two protagonists in the story, the leaders of both villages were about to be wed and love each other but can't help prevent the killings from taking place so strong was the hatred between the two villages. It was such a sad story.

What shall I have for lunch? Remy gave me a recipe that uses those Dried Shitake Mushrooms that I had bought a short while ago: fry it up with bits of chicken, broccoli, olive oil and soy sauce. Note to self: get broccoli. Now I still need that recipe for minced pies.

Kiki and his friend in Malaysia has just moved into a new appartement with a couple of chinese girls and a brother of one of them. He's now paying 50 bucks a month and is getting greenish-yellow tap water because of the rusty pipes.

I'm going to see what's happening in regards to my lunch.

Someone Owes Me For This

grumpth frunk rarkh pich... (Damn it! I lost again)... If you're happy and you know it clap your hands, if you're happy and you know it and you really want to show it clap your hands. If you're angry and you know it click right here, if you're angry and you know it and you really want to show it click right here... We now return to our regular programming... ghakhiki shhesghsh

One More Minute

And the power should go out just about now... uhh any second now...

Still not gone.

It's 4 AM. It's been a while since I've been awake this late. Doing this from time to time is pretty funky. Sitting at home, with the lights off, everybody's asleep, feeling a little drowsy but with no will to surrender to sleep.

And then someone from out of the blue appears on-line on msn messenger. I paused at that name earlier today while going through all the names on the list. This one in particular is one of those that I haven't spoken to in years. First time since that I've seen them on-line. I wonder in what time zone she lives in. Oh she's gone off-line, that was quick.

I'm spending way too much time on the internet. I might get piles again.

8 minutes past 4, and the power is still not gone.

I just finished watching Lord of War. Certainly an entertaining movie. Damn I'm hungry and ready to sleep. But armed with cigarettes to last through the night I fight. I remember hearing that sleep is the brother of death. Oh she's back on-line. No I'm not going to initiate a conversation. My batteries are too low.

In 5 hours I've got a bleeding pathetic test that I haven't studied for yet. I could probably get a just barely failing mark without studying, and make up for it with ease. The stupid things I study. I really hate my major.

I really need to find some food. I've got some Hob-Nobs stashed away, but I'm saving those for a farm trip. When I took a peak at the cupboard I also saw some Robinson's Minced Meat. Hey I wonder if they still put a picture of a scallywag... Nope no scallywag. Did have a picture of Willy Wonka as depicted by the artist, forgot his name, that illustrated the books. It had something to with some Roal Dahl promotion. Did you know that Roal Dahl has been to Iraq? As an RAF pilot. In his autobiography there's a pic of these amazing arches that I got to see a few years ago, when Kiko and his mate came from Lebanon for a visit.

It's a good thing that the mince meat won't expire for another 2 years. Cause I haven't got the foggiest clue of how to cook that stuff.

The things I miss to eat in the UK... Scotch Eggs, Cornish Pasties, Minced Pies, Jam filled donuts covered in sugar and a Full English Breakfast from a greasy spoon cafe. Oh and burgers from Schwartz! But the Scotch Eggs are my favourite.

I'm starting to get worried about that blood test result. I still haven't gone to the hospital to check it out further.

4 more hours till the test. I wonder when I should start studying.

And the power's gone. So did my internet connection, but it's back now. Nahida just had a go at me for being awake.

I'm thinking tea now... Just made myself a mug of peppermint tea, too lazy to add honey. I just walked past the window I opened earlier and now I'm cold.

Peppermint tea is good, and since I recycled the mug there's still a taste of honey.

I might run out of smokes soon. What would I do then? Probably fall asleep. I don't think I've much of a choice, cause I'm ready to go. Damn with only 3 and a half hours to go for the test. Let's see half an hour to shower, shave and get dressed and another half hour for breakfast, an hour to get to uni. That means I should start getting ready in just over an hour.

I can hear the morning birds chirping.

I can barely type anymore. Will I sleep or not? I don't know.

I've Been Losing All Day

There's this game, it goes like this it's very simple: If you remember it, you lose and you have to say:"I lost". That's it. Well I've learnt this game over 5 years ago, and I think this morning I laughed at myself for remembering about it. The problem now is that I can't stop remembering it. Plagued by the game, I began teaching it to other kids at college. Some got it, some didn't. But it didn't help me get it out of my mind.

I resorted to sending an e-mail to the guy that taught me the game. The evil Kasofa. By the time he reads it he would've have lost too and that will be my final consolation. Oh and there's also all of you've who have read this post are now also infected. mwahahaMWWWWAHAHAHAHAHA

I still feel aggravated.

Late For Bed

A very uneventful week-end. There was no anticipated traffic ban on Friday, which meant that I could've gone to the farm. But I didn't and gladly so, because the day before I had slept over at Fal's with India and Wath. That sleep over screwed up my sleeping schedule which is no surprise at all, happens every time.

Lilly's been really bugging me on yahoo messenger with her buzzes, 'I'm bored' and 'I like you alot' messages. This girl is dumb beyond beyond belief. The recurrence of the 'I like you alot' worries me. Well I hope it's something she tells all the guys and not an infatuation, it's hard to tell with such an airhead. Just now I started to give her advice to see a shrink in regards to her 'I'm bored' messages. Unfortunately she didn't buy it.

I think I'm... I forgot what I was going to say. Got interrupted by some Iraqi chick on yahoo messenger she just showed up on the hi5 website a few months ago. Weird girl, she's Iraqi and lives in Holland or Germany and pretends to be stubborn much like Iraqi girls do here thinking it's cool. I don't really know what drives a chick to chat to me, I don't really understand why someone would want to chat to another person that they don't know in person and even don't share some kind of activity or interest in life. Guess she's hitting on me maybe finding herself a husband from Iraq that her parents might approve of, or more than likely just wanting to chat to some dickless dude from Iraq.

I have some kind of prejudice against Iraqi expatriots. They usually have a tendancy to talk with authority about everything to do with Iraq. Sure enough I do find a brotherly bond towards any Iraqi I meet abroad. And I respect those that I see who are struggling and in whose eyes I can see a true Iraqi that's gone through all the shit there is to have gone through. But then there are those who seem to have had it so easy, and they're the loud ones that have the luxury to talk, getting all patriotic on my ass, it's dispicable. From another point of view I might see them as deserters.

I'm already past my bed time, it's going to be so hard to wake up for college tomorrow.

Day At Medicine City

Od called and woke me up at 6:30 in the morning today. Told me I had 15 minutes to get ready. He came and picked me up. We went to his uni. I sat with him and a couple of classmates who were getting ready for their test. I read some notes about obstectrics.

Around about 9 I went off to get a panoramic x-ray for my wisdom teeth. At the entrance to the building they took my mobile phone from me, which is quite normal. It took me 2 hours to get it. The x-ray lady was at a meeting I think. And then when I took the x-ray she gave me my old x-ray from 8 months ago and lost the one I just took. So I had to take it again.

After that I went to donate blood where at the entrance they took my pack of smokes instead of my mobile phone, that was a first for me. First I had to give my information name, address and phone numbers, then I had to take a blood test which I had to take to a doctor to check. The doctor told me that I had too much blood. So I said that's bad for me but good for you quizzingly. And again he told me I had too much blood and that I had to go to Ibn Al Nafeess hospital. After a little confusion I understood from him that I the test result showed that my PCV level was 52% and should be 45% and that he won't accept it. It would've saved time had I asked him to explain in English. Doctors study in English here, and can express themselves in medical terms quite well. That doesn't mean you can always have a real conversation.

I then met up with Dina at the hospital building where she worked nearby. I haven't seen her in ages. I had called her yesterday to tell her that I was coming. And oh my she looked good. She keeps telling on the phone how she doesn't like her job, but she really does seem competent and enjoying it or maybe was it that I caught her at the end of her shift. She explained to me that I have too many red blood cells and that it's because of smoking. And that these red blood cells could clog up my blood vessels. And I guess that explains why instead of taking my mobile phone at the door, they took my pack of smokes.

After spending half an hour with Dina we met up with Od, and I then walked her half way to her cab. Caught up with Od and left. As we were driving out of the car park, Od pointed out an Iraqi Police Technical (a pick up truck with a machine gun on the back) carrying a dead bloated body blindfolded with a head cloth and hands tied behind his back. Od pointed out that the man had been tortured and thrown in the water (Od's been studying his forensics).

We decided to go get some lunch instead of going home. We called Zaif to have him have lunch with us near his uni. Zaif and I had some chicken shawerma, Od ordered a basterma and egg burger which is really tasty but takes ages to cook. Zaif and I had finished our food by the time his burger was ready.

Now I'm home and waiting for my 'good morning' coffee that I missed in the morning.

And I hope my blog page opens up now, cause it hasn't been working eversince the last time I posted. Damn I forgot to find out what my blood type is.

Home Just Before Sunset

Checking out the prices for a DSL connection at home at the Uruklink website. Uruklink is part of the State Company For Internet Services (I think that's what the SCIS acronym stands for). I think the DSL service is new. Alot of things are cheap, very cheap even in Iraq from petrol at 17 cents a litre to a manual labourer for 60 cents an hour, but an internet subscription is so bleeding expensive. Check it! 100 bucks a month for 64kb/sec connection and 270 bucks a month for a 256kb/sec connection.

Heard loads of booms at college around mid-day at college today. Pretty funky. While we were sitting in our last class of the day we could hear the voices of the guys in central plaza of the campus roaring mockingly in unison each time a boom was heard. There's a recurring message from all our teachers that goes along the lines that despite all the crap that's going on around us, we have to get on with what we've got to do, otherwise we won't get anywhere.

Od called just now suggesting that I come to his to sleep over, so that I may come with him to his uni for fun tomorrow. I didn't want to go to his in my car because then my car would get stuck at his place because tomorrow's a odd-day, and the day after I need to go to uni. Od tried to get to my house but there was too much traffic. So I'm just going to try and wake up really early tomorrow so that he comes and picks me up on his way to uni. It's a medical uni, so I'm planning to try to donate blood and finally find out what blood type I've got. I also want to get a panoramic x-ray of my teeth to check out where my wisdom teeth are now cause they've been kind of stuck for the past few years.

I Got a Notebook

Wahay, I've got a new toy. I finally have my own laptop. It's the first time that I own a laptop. uhm, I mean notebook. Still stuck on calling them laptops for some reason. It's a Toshiba Satellite. It's got a widescreen and a DVD writer. And it's very warm. I wonder if that's okay.

I woke up early today and made it on time for class. And now I'm awfully sleepy. Must stay awake. I think it's this laptop that's making me sleepy.

My brother in the UK gave me a missed call on my mobile phone. I called him back told him I got a new computer and not to tell dad. He then passes me my dad, and my dad starts talking about how when all the farm accounts are done that he'll buy me a computer. A few minutes later I called my bro to make sure he didn't tell my dad. Sure enough he was about to, but didn't but I would be sleeping easier had I not told my bro that I did got a new computer.

Well I'm going to be able to make alot more posts now that I don't have to go to the internet cafe anymore yippee.

Friday Afternoon

Spent the past couple of hours tweaking my iPod. I'm now downloading some vintage cartoon and making my pictures viewable on the iPod.

A few days ago I went over to the dermatoligist to get a skin rash on my chest checked out. He said I got it because I've got such a hairy chest. He prescribed me some ointement and some pills to take. A couple evenings later I reached into the pack of pills and found that it was some some kind of head pill. That I didn't really like. And I've become really pissy during the evenings. I don't know if it's the pills or something else like my bad mark in marketing or Nahida's looming presence when I get back home.

The other night I was asking myself if I was dead. If somehow I was born again. Portions of my life seem so disconnected. There's very little left to connect one portion. The friends I had are no longer in my life except on the odd occasion that we chat on-line or call each other.

It's nice having the internet cafe to oneself. I wasn't aware that today there was ban on car traffic. But the internet cafe is awfully close to my home and I don't need to pass through any checkpoints. I think the curfew just ended now that it's 4 O'Clock.

Was supposed to go to the farm today. But I couldn't be bothered, and didn't have to put much of a fight since I was in such a bad mood yesterday. Nice one.

India is being such a dick for not lending me his iPod charger, and I'm going to hold that against him. He says that he doesn't want to lend it to me out of fear that I break and won't be able to replace it. But I can within a few months.

College should restart on Sunday, unless another curfew is imposed. We might've had over a month of vacation since our mid-year exams ended.

Enjoying Day Time Curfews

I really love day time curfews. It makes the whole city feel like an oversized park. The weather these past few days has been gorgeous too. Kids are playing football in the middle of the roads, I saw a couple with kites too. I wish I had repaired my bike. It really sucks that I'm somewhat stuck at home. Even the internet cafe where I'm at is going to close as soon as the electricity cuts off which is pretty soon.

Kiko called me today. That was a pleasant surprise. He's a crazy guy, the only dude from Lebanon to have visited me in Iraq. I also chatted to Jen a couple of days ago. It's been ages since I've chatted to her too. She's just moved, and seems a bit out of place or something.

I'm so worried about pulling off a decent summer. I need to get out of here for the summer cause it's going to be way too hot with no electricity to bear. I'm hoping I can make it to the UK and that my bro will hook me up with a job for a month or so. Save some dough. And then pick some place to go.

I'm still shocked that I got a 3/25 on my mid-year marketing exam. Damn, if I fail that could ruin my summer plans, probably not completely but it might make me spend the second half of it in Baghdad to take summer classes and do the retest. And that will hurt. I'm still not sure of the implications of failing a subject. But I'm pretty confident that with a reasonable amount of effort I could pass the stupid subject.

Cousin Visiting

Had a really long day yesterday. After I made my last post I drove over to go pick up my cousin and her mum. I parked infront of their friend's house and called up Suzy. We spoke for a while, she said she'll show up at college on Wednesday. About time too.

Things between Suzy and I haven't grown into any kind of romantic relationship. India did point out to me that there is some level of intimacy. And that in itself was something. It's all fine with me, just wish I could hook myself with some chick eventually as unlikey as that seems. I do fancy her best-friend Sandy though. That chick has a petite but oh so fine body. And she's really perky too.

I was hoping to take my cousin and her mum to a restaurant after I picked them up from their friend's house but it was 9 PM and the whole neighbourhood was closed down. When we got home, Nahida hooked us up with some pasta. And oh my god does my cousin have an appetite.

We played scrabble and this time I won. After that her mum went to sleep. And my cousin and I spent the night chatting about how our dads are so messed up. She then went to sleep.

And even though I was really exhausted, I decided to call up Remy who had sent me his phone number. It's only when I speak to a guy like that do I realize how much I miss the bugger.

Clumsy And Exhausted

Clumsy and exhausted is how I feel.

They joined together the two sections of our class today. I think it's pretty fun. Everyone else is mockingly making antagnostic remarks at the other section. It's pretty funny.

Unfortunately we got our old schedule, which is a shame cause the their section had a better schedule that starts later.

I haven't seen Suzy since the vacation began. I finally got through to her on the phone a short while ago. I'll try to call her later.

I've seriously got a case of the clumsies this past week. Don't know, but as much as I hate it, it's refreshing for some reason. I nearly had a car accident while I was mucking about with my iPod hadn't Zaif pushed the steering wheel. It would've been my first serious accident.

But I was in tune with my iPod today. That I guess is an exception to my clumsiness.

There are things that I think about while I'm driving in my car that I want to express on my blog, but I keep forgetting them. I guess they weren't that important. That or I've really got to fix my mind-set when I get to the internet cafe.

I spend so much time in traffic, that some great ideas have to emerge.

Time's up. Got to go pick up my cousin and her mum, see if I can take them out for dinner.

Cafe Closing Soon

Got back from spending a night at the farm yesterday. My cousin and her mum slept over at mine. Her mum beat me at Scrabble. I was so glad to finally have someone to play scrabble with. It's been months since I got it.

Went to uni today. As usual no bleeding classes. There's talk that the two sections in my year are going to be sticked together which is pissing off all the kids. I don't really care. But sure that does bring the quality of education which is awful as it is already even lower.

Spent the day with my cousin, I think it's the first time we actually have a good time together. We had lunch and picked some gift for her dad's birthday. Turns out that both of my uncle's are born on the same day. One was actually born past midnight but in those days that didn't mean that he was born in the new day. Something to do with the lunar calender my uncle tells me.

My favourite internet cafe's generator has been repaired since the last time I came here. What a relief but it's late now and they're going to close soon.

It Ain't Ramadhan But It's Similar

The rumbling of an electric generator is a pain. When the electricity comes back and all the generators turn off, I'm often tempted to not turn the tellie on just so I could enjoy the silence.

Getting up this morning for college was really hard. Took me ages to get ready. Half way there the road was blocked so I got out of the cab and got on foot. Took me ages to get there. Didn't attend any classes because half the class wasn't there. Had some lunch with guys from college and went to the computer market to look for a laptop.

India's so lucky to have found such a cheap laptop with such high-specs. I couldn't find any laptops with a hundred gigabyte hard disk. Well it's not big deal yet, since I don't have the cash to buy one. Hopefully by the time I do have some cash some US forces convoy full of laptops would get hi-jacked.

I got a book today. Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, I've now got the chance to live that French childhood that I missed out on all my life. It's a good book so far. Once I'm done with it, I'm really not sure what else I could read. I'm just going to have to go through the kid's book section and hope there's something just as good. French books look awfully dense.

Got back home exhausted, read some of the book and then fell asleep. Woke up and had some chicken with rice for dinner. Feeling a bit queasy right now. Think I need some tea or something. I think I fancy some coffee when I get home.

Not being able to buy booze is something I'm trying not to think about. The liquor shops are closed this lunar month of Muharram. I think we're about half way through it now. It's a Shiite thing, it's the first time they pull this off, and it's not cool. Not really sure what the deal is about Muharram. But as usual there are rules. As far as I know you can't party, marry, or move into a new home.

The liquor guy warned me and I did buy 6 bottles of wine. But I'm seriously regretting not getting any vodka. It's true that I was becoming alcoholic a while ago, and from that perspective I'm glad that I can't buy any booze. Now if only they had a month you can't buy cigarettes.

And It Starts Again

Bugger, starting to feel a bit lazy. Uni re-starts on Sunday. Everybody else has just started their vacation. Most of the kids plan not to attend class this week.

I didn't get round to moving my stuff downstairs. I did make a to do list though. And that's a big step. It usually helps alot if I write what I want to get done first.

Got some new DS games from Bab Al-Shargi today. We also went to Sana'a street to check out some laptops. We being India, and 3 other guys.

Lots of women on the streets today. Not sure what's up with that.

I'm not really bored. But I really feel dis-interested. Somebody I met on-line told me they think that the reason I don't have a girl-friend is that I'm rude. I want to ask some chicks if they agree. Got to find out what the best translation of rude is in Arabic. But I will admit that I'm awfully rude when I'm chatting on-line.

I'm hungry. I want to go home and get some food. Play a little Mario. And I should go to bed early because I have to go to college tomorrow. Yay!

Day with Dick

Spent the day with Dick yesterday, I just got rid of him and his girlfriend who had both slept over at my place. Scorched my allowance, drank my booze and made me pay for the worst booze that I ever drank. His girlfriend was supposed to bring me his sister so that I get some action too. But she had a fight with her daddy and so couldn't come. This is the first time I ever have a girl sleep over at my place by the way. Nahida of course wasn't too pleased, but so far she seems quite cool. She did make me say that it would be the last time though.

There are so many issues with having a girl sleep over. I don't like taking risks with people myself, never know what to expect. The first fear being the girl's brother knocking on my door coming up with something like you've had sex with my sister and now you've got to marry her. Or that she's scounting for some place to heist or something. Or maybe she'll turn into some psycho.

Dick gave her a big pack of lies, he's even got a different name when he's with her. But it seems like he goes by two names. Pretty sly if you ask me, and awfully dodgy. Dick is a seriously dodgy guy. He's my classmate, but he's got this story that he's a business man, I'm one of his partners, and that my house was belonged to the company.

So yesterday I had met up with Dick at around 2 PM. We went to Betaween (it's the dodgy neighbourhood near the IZ that I think Fisk is refers to as the place next to the IZ as being unsafe), to get some booze from some hotel. It was a sneaky sneaky deal, because all the booze shops are closed on the occasion of Muharram, and in adherence to the rule of sneaky sneaky deals, we got screwed and paid three times the price for some of the worst whiskey ever.

We then picked up some food and rubbers, and killed time till it was 5 PM to pick up Gladys and her sister. Sure enough I was seriously expecting the girls to not show up. Wasn't too far off. Only Gladys showed up. She was tall, nearly my height. She had big eyes, big cheeks and a big nose. Her skin was fairly dark, and it looked like she was packing some big breasts, or alot of tissues. (note to self: ask Dick about that).

We drove straight home. I had forgotten to buy something to mix the whiskey with. And all I had left was some powdered Lipton Iced Tea that I had bought months ago. They tried drinking the whiskey, it was really bad. Here they would describe it as pure alcohol mixed with flavourings and colourings. Not too inconceivable. So they drank my bottle of white Piat D'Or. All in all it was quite an expensive venture on my behalf, 5 grand for some food that didn't get eaten, 15 grand or more for some of my home-made food, 15 grand for that shit whiskey and another 15 for my wine. That's a total of 50 grand. Damn! (that's over 30 bucks). Oh and another 10 grand for their cab ride home which Dick says he'll pay back. For the books that guy owes me 25 grand, 15 for the wine and 10 for the cab ride, I'll let him off for the rest.

At around midnight, after spending the night watching Arabic music videos, them drinking my wine and me drinking that screwed up whiskey mixed with Iced Tea; I shooed them to bed. At around 1 AM, I turn off the generator and start getting ready to go to bed. Dick shows up telling me to walk into the other bedroom and screw Gladys, a cheesy porno scene begins to run through my mind. I tell him I can't do that, I suggest that if she wants to climb into my bed that's fine. I did do one dick move hehe: I took the big bed and gave that the coffin sized bed mwahaahaha.

Dick came back several times to talk me into screwing the chick. And even though it might of been a ploy to get me out of my own bed so that they could spend the remainder of the night in mine. But it is a 'custom' here that in the case that one guy brings a girl and another guy provides the place to screw, the shelter-provider has the right to screw the chick too. It's pretty damn sick-minded. Well eventually I went over to Gladys and asked her if she wanted to get into my bed 'because my bed was bigger'. She declined, and that put an end to Dick's attempts to pursue 'custom'.

In the morning Gladys woke me up with tickles. I got up acting slightly grumpy. And then drove them off to the main street. Dick was expecting me to drive them home, and that I wasn't going to do. Today's an odd day, my car being evens and not allowed to drive. I could get pulled over and with my Arabic, I can get fucked with i.e. accused of being a foreign terrorist and today being a shiite event only made that worse. So I had to drive back home and give him cab money, because I forgot he was out of cash.

All in all, it was big hassle for nothing. But it's been a while since I've had a day like that, and for that I'm kind of grateful.

I Got A New Phone

Yeah yeah yeah, I got a new phone finally. After one month of bearing that piece of crap Nokia 1100 which had a faulty IC chip that made the phone turn off whenever I spoke through it.

So now I'm the pround owner of the Nokia 1101.

Mum left yesterday, she left the house at around 7 AM to go to the airport. She had to wait about 12 hours for her delayed plane. I've no idea how she bore through those hours and keep her sanity.

So things are back to normal at home.

I'm enjoying the vacation. I spent all afternoon with Nahida's brothers. One of them boozed me up with Arak (Alcohol commonly made from aniseed, but in Iraq it's made from dates). You can make nearly anything out of dates (something the sanctions proved during a period of which Saddam banned manufacturing with the use of sugar).

Dad's been calling alot lately. I don't know what's going on with him. He's usually too frugal to make international phone calls.

Should be going to the farm in a couple of days.

I've Become Boring

I've been very boring the past few months. I no longer stay up all night staring at my PC screen waiting till the floodgates of my mind break open anymore which is a good reason why my posts aren't as cool as they were. Maybe knowing in the back of my mind that some of my friends might be reading my blog also is a factor.

I did get a camera a few months ago and haven't made much use of it. Well here's a picture of a tree I took at my grandma's house. It's so gay. But I know that in a couple of months I'll be missing the sight of clouds.

I've Finished My Mid-Year Exams

Yes, I'm done. I think the mid-years are harder than the finals. So I'm really glad to be over and done with these. On the other hand, I'm kind of bummed out now that the excitement associated with them are gone. I think I did alright all-round. I might have messed up in a couple of the tests, but I should be able to make up for them.

Mum's still here, she'll be leaving in a few days. She'll be leaving some stuff in my house. I got to make sure I don't lose any of it somehow, which is kind of hard when Nahida re-arranges everything all the time.

I was supposed to start moving my stuff upstairs downstairs today. Starting with my PC. Moving my work-out bench is going to be a pain. I think I'll need to dismantle it. It's going to be hard doing all things I plan to do. But I really need to work on creating a boundary between Nahida and myself.

I'm noticing my spoken Arabic is improving alot. I'm alot more confident talking than I was six months ago. I still sound foreign, I don't think I'll ever be able to fix that problem.

Idiot Classmates

I don't know what's worse the bad quality of teaching or the IQ of the students here. What's so hard about figuring out which area is bounded by three linear inequalities. For crying out loud it's high school stuff.

Mid-year exams are a pain. I don't think I'll be doing all too well. One thing that caught me by surprise is how noisy the exam supervisors can be, this while I'm trying to express myself in Arabic drove me nuts. Yesterday one of them began yelling everytime a student began cheating. And cheating is very tolerated here, not a single student got kicked out. How else are they to pass the people say. Yeah never mind learning. Not much point of learning since the teachers themselves don't really teach in the first place. It's a vicious cycle of idiots. Every generation becoming stupider than the one before it.

When they cheat they're not trying that hard to be discreet about it. Just talk with a normal voice and ask someone two rows away what the answer is. Unlike that put the test paper in view of the person behind me style that I'm somewhat more used to. I was never good at cheating. But I do keep my ears open to pick up answers being given. Alot of the time, that's a good enough method to get nearly all the answers.

Oh yeah and I got my pre-mid year marks, all but risk managment. They rock! I got two full marks, and the lowest is a seven out of ten. These mid-year exams are going to bring those marks down though. I can't be bothered to memorize all that accumulated material.

Mum wants to leave in a few days. That really sucks, I really enjoyed having her here. Although her phone calls every few hours do sometimes get on my nerves. I can't believe mummy's going. It's not cool.

I haven't got an e-mail in a while. Maybe I should send one or two. But to whom. Jasso has been sending me crazy junk mail. Recently made a filter to make all his e-mail go to a folder just for him.

Kiki made it to Malaysia a week ago. The nutter. He's planning to do a master's degree over there. Knowing Kiki's study discipline, that's a pipe dream. But he did it make it there, which was a quasi surprise to me, but not to India. But who knows maybe his encounters with she-males for which he has a fascination for will give him the inspiration to study.

I'm Soo Clean

I finally got my haircut today. And then I showered, and shaved too. Wow the feeling. And I popped that nasty zit on my chest.

Not much going. Still playing video games. Got a test tomorrow. Mum has an anti-study aura when she's around me. I find it so hard to study when she's around me. It's not as if she's preventing me from studying. I don't know what it is about her that makes her have this effect on me.

Oh got to go pick her up from my Aunt's now. I hope my Aunt doesn't catch the smell of whiskey on my breath.

Messy Me

I'm hungry. Not really sure what I want to eat. Not very sure of what there is to eat. I think I need to go do some shopping.

I'm a freagin mess today, I think I've been wearing and sleeping in the same clothes for the past 3 days. I really need to get a haircut. I think the last time I got a haircut was back in October. I've got a zit coming out on my chest just below my neck. And damn it hurts when I touch it.

Zaif just called, I found someone to have lunch with yoohoo. I'm bleeding starving.

Didn't Go To The Farm

Bullocks to the farm. It was raining the morning that I was supposed to go, so I said 'oh it's too dangerous'. And then then the next day I said I had to study for my mid-year exams.

Eid was somewhat cool. There was more social activity because my mum is here.

Got some new games for my DS yesterday, Some other tactic game and Mario Kart. Not getting very much studying done.

Nahida's driving me up the walls. I'm thinking of building that wall between us. Move my shit from upstairs to downstairs. Shut that door between us. And not have to see her roam infront of me anymore. Oh the bliss of it.

Off To The Farm Tomorrow

Yippee, off to Shamiya tomorrow. I really don't want to go, but I guess. I have to. Right now I'm at the internet cafe charging up my iPod. This iPod thing is not easy. I'm supposed to be able to view video on it, but so far I haven't been able to make use of it. I really need to fix my PC or get a new one, but I'm too damn lazy to go around looking for a good deal. I use a whiteboard to record all my expenses and then I type it all out on the PC. But I'm in a rut now that there's very little space on the whiteboard left.

I'm thinking of getting a laptop, but I'm not sure if I should go expensive or not. The idea of a laptop is really sweet since it can run for a limited time during power cuts. Electricity is so rare these days. It's off for more hours than I can bother to count. I just overheard some guy saying it's 7 hours off, and 1 on. That's painfully boring. But I've got my Nintendo DS. It did suck when I finished the Urbz though. I'm back to playing Final Fantasy Tactics (GBA) which is a really mind numbing game.

Today's Eid, mum took me to her recently deceased brother's place. His decease is what prompted her to come. Had lunch there. Visited senile Grandma. She's really senile i.e. suffers from dementia. I remember when Grandma was staying with us in the UK. She is a right nut case. She'd sometimes ask me for a cigarette. Once I gave her a joint. But she got suspicious and only pretended to smoke it without inhaling.

I'm gaining weight again, not good. Haven't done any exercise in ages. I'm smoking too much. I've kind of got grips on myself again when it comes to drinking. Last week was damn stressful, I think I'm recovering. Those two tests in Arabic last week really got me worked up. Did well on one of them, got an 8 out of 10. Was really glad about that. I didn't get my grade on the other test though. I was really curious to know my grade to see if I'm doing enough to get a good grade on my mid-year exam.

Well tomorrow, I'll be going to the farm. I might have the oppurtunity to see some animals being slaughtered. Might try to take pics of that with vomiting on myself. Damn I should've bought some booze. Cafe's closing up better post, because these guys have become really cheeky and just cut off the server to get the people out. And so I must now venture home, hoping that celebratory rounds don't land on me.

Great Start

Now I've got to write for 5 days worth of posts. Heck well...

Mum came over on the 1st. I'm really glad she came, I've really missed her especially of late. She got me an iPod just before she left Dubai to come here. So now I have a mum and an iPod yay. Trouble is that my PC doesn't work and the damn thing doesn't come with a charger. India came over yesterday to hook it up to his laptop to charge and to give me some mp3s.

Last Tuesday Suzy was pissed off at me because she had told me that she'll call me moments before midnight New Year's night and I didn't answer because I was asleep. Actually, I was passed out, from lots of booze. Wound up in bed before 11 PM.

After India left my place, I started to make my way to Ennie's place so he could teach me some subject that's all in Arabic that I we had a test on today. As I was driving through Qadissiya by the rail tracks (one of the commonly used routes to get from one side of Baghdad to the other), I was about to make a left turn into a wide alley and some crappy Korean car filled with armed men dressed in civies blocks my path. Nothing strange so far, it's quite normal to see convoys with civilian dressed security, and it's quite normal for them to block paths to let some big honcho from the government to pass. Then I turn my head left to look into the short wide alley and I see a white mini-van filled with armed men. Still okay. Some guy is standing waving a handgun. Still nothing out of the normal. Then there's a guy further left of my view staggering backwards with a distraught face only a meter or so away from the standing man with the gun. Getting a bit weird. Then the guy with the gun pops 5 rounds into the distraught man's stomach. The distraught man collapses backwards onto the ground. Disbelief, hell this ain't normal. I look ahead, the road in front of me is clear and I realise I ought to get out of here. I drive half the car onto the curb and peg it. Some car ahead of me sees some cops moments ahead and tells him that something's going on behind us. The cops just stand there. I don't care to provide any information myself since I don't speak Arabic too well, and that could get me into trouble, so I just continue driving. And for the next 20-30 minutes I'm freaking out and the death metal music coming out of the iPod that India had just filled up for me wasn't helping.

Today it took me ages to get to college (about 3 hours). The whole city is covered with checkpoints. I wouldn't have gone had it not been that I had two tests today. Neither of which I was fully prepared for. After taking one cab which I told to take me back home, I called up the only classmate that lives further from college than me. And he's there! He tells me one of the highways to get to the other side of Baghdad is open. So after sitting bummed on the porch of my house bummed that my bike's pedal is bust and beyond my repair, I decide to take another cab. Later in the day I find out that the reason for all the checkpoints is that the Minister of Interior's sis or daughter got kidnapped. I don't care, he probably deserves it, if he thinks that he's so special so as to screw up everybody's day. People are getting kidnapped in the hundreds everyday.

This year is proving to be quite testing on the nerves.

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.

The Glorious City of Shamiya

 

The Mill

 

Where We Bury Those That Don't Cooperate

 

When Harvesting Takes Place

 

100+ Year Old Eucalyptus Tree

Dad's Here On A Visit

My dad came for a visit about 10 days ago. He got me some clothes and another damn suit. He also brought me a Sony T7 digital still camera, which he, my brother and I shared the cost of. We went to the farm last farm and I took alot of pics while I was there. They've started harvesting and trying to get a deal from the government to mill some rice.

Our mill was offering to mill the rice from the government and to returnn 58% percent of it as whole grain rice. The other mills were complaining as well as the director in our region and wanted us to only offer 54%. We had to concede to their wishes and withdraw our offer of 58%. What's happening is that the other mills can't be profitable at 58% unlike us, and if we're the only mill working at 58% the government official will look bad.

I'm back to smoking two packs a day. Ought to take back control. But my dad's arrival shook up my system. Well that's my excuse anyhow.

University is alot more bareable this time around. My class is very friendly. And there's some girl, Suzy, from a different section of my year that in the first days of classes was the only girl from outside my class to come up to me to talk. Well she's some what cute and I found her friendly. Well ever since, we've been saying hello to each other and might chat about whatever test we have that day.

One of the guys in my class, Dick, because he ditched me twice when he was supposed to help me study for an exam. Not really his fault the first time because there was that serious car bomb in his neighbourhood. Well going back to the subject, he noticed that I liked Suzy, and I casually said yeah sure.

Yesterday, one of the guys of my class came up to me, not really sure of his name probably Ahmed. He comes up to me saying he wants a word with me about a 'positive subject'. He takes me aside and tells me that Suzy was saying that she liked me. We had no more classes, I walked out of the colllege and then turned around thinking that I might as well deal with the situation now better than later. Especially considering that the next day was a day off.

Go back to the cool girl of the class, Lilly to who Suzy was talking to and to who Dick also mentioned that I liked her. She gets up and starts helping me find Suzy. While searching about I get tips and stuff from Lilly on how to approach Suzy. Because I don't know how to do this thing in Arabic. Lilly asks me what my intentions are and if I've got any problems with Suzy being Christian. I didn't know she was Christian, and my intentions?... I told her I was scared of marriage and that I didn't want it to be just a fling (which is all I've ever had so far). I didn't tell her the part in brackets. We searched all over and couldn't find her. Which means tomorrow will be full of suspense.

Play All

So what's new. Not much, dad's arrival has been delaying for a week. He might show up at any moment. I'm drinking red wine tonight. I guess the booze it what it takes for me to bother posting something. Cause otherwise I'd be playing Mario. It rained today. Which is pretty cool. I had to open the sunroof on my way to and from uni. My just did the play all and shuffle my mp3 collection. Something I haven't done in a very very long time. Maybe over a year. It's promising to be an interesting experience. First track I hear, I've never heard before (some alice in chains song). Never could stand arabic music as a matter of fact. Sure the female singers are bodacious. But that leads me to ask why the hell would someone listen to music in English if they don't understand the words. Oh because music is a universal language someone says. Bullshit.

The old habits come back to life

Can't seem to fall asleep. It's 3 am, I've got college tomorrow. I've surrendered to the insomnia, popped open that bottle of wine. My stomach is being very outspoken. My imagination is jogging. Living incredible situations in my mind, an anxious habit. The Mario tune is haunting me. I could hear it so clearly when I turned on the tv a moment ago. A need for some new mp3s is making itself apparent again. But the old tunes have a distinct nostalgia of moments similar to these. I've got a button on my keyboard that calls up the calculator. How cool is that!?

30 minutes ago... I've got to lose my belly before the summer starts again. I'll run in the morning.
15 minutes ago... Crap, I'm already too tired. Might as well open that bottle of wine.

Today is also the second day in a row that I break my 20 cigarette a day rule. I would've stayed within bounds had I fell asleep. One sec, if it's 3 am I could count these smokes from tomorrow's batch. I think there were 21 cigarettes when I went to bed.

I didn't leave the house today. I think that's a first in a long time. The after-effects are terrible. It came down to me not going to out to buy my own cigarettes of course. Smoking is a bad habit, sending people off to get you cigarettes is far worse.

Happy Eid Alcohol Sells Once Again

Hell yes! Ramadhan is finally over! Truth be told it wasn't so bad this year. Smoking in the streets or at uni wasn't a problem. But today, the alcohol was finally open. Yes it was. And your faithful Shaggy woke up, got dressed and walked straight to the alky store to buy himself some booze. Shaggy bought 6 bottles of Miller Genuine Draft, one bottle of Ksara Lebanese red wine (and that's the good stuff) and a bottle of Smirnoff's extra strength Vodka.

Bleeding hell it feels good to be drunk again.

Freshly Baked Brownies And My Tummy

Maybe I shouldn't eat brownies still warm from the oven. My stomach is seriously disagreeing with it. Yesterday I ate a bunch of fried food, and crikey that was messed up. I regurgerating cooking oil for hours. I'm surprised that I'm not really suffering from any heartburn, because I'm really pushing it. I used to suffer from serious spells of heartburn but I think the acupuncture I did last summer put an end to that.

I didn't go to uni today. Nahida told me that today was a national holiday. I didn't confirm it with anyone and it's too late now. I'm trying not to spend anymore money on mobile phone for as long as possible. So far I'm doing pretty well. I spent over a hundred dollars during the last 3 weeks of last month. I think that's as much as I've spent during the rest of the year uptill last month. I should maybe buy a phone card and carry on me till I really need it.

I need to go to the toilet to let go more of those brownies. Nahida's brother's has been staying with us for the past couple of nights. He's really sick. I don't know what's wrong with him. But he's going to get an operation and I think he'll be fine after that. He says it common sense not to eat a cake until it's cooled down. I don't know why but even had he told me before I committed the mistake, I'm convinced that I would've eaten it anyway. And that's me, I have to learn things the hard way, I think I'm pretty good at that. Mice are probably smarter than me in that respect. I'm going to the loo now...

Feeling a little better, but not that much better.

My First Day Back At Uni

Went quite well. Hitched a cab for 3,000 I.D. got me there on time. I think the ride took about 45 minutes. The girls this year aren't as bad as I had expected. There's a strong average of girls with a rate of 5/10 and not many more above or below.

Got to my first class late. Something to do about databases and SQL. But Foxpro had yet to be installed into the PCs. I then switched my section. The first section I was in had a few decent boys and a few not so hot girls. The other section had more chicks, but also included the rough kids that failed last year. These rough ones I know. And they're probably hoping that I help them with their studies. Yeah right! From an academic point of view the previous section sounds to me to be the better choice. But the chicks in the other, they're plentiful and could keep me occupied, during those boring breaks. I'll just try them both out, and make a final decision later if I still can.

I scared a couple of girls in the second section. I was only trying to get to know each other. Now the two girls look away from me and if I come up to them to talk they'll literally run away. I don't what the deal is. But I think it's pretty darn impolite and childish.

In one the classrooms, the lab professor kept me behind in class. He started talking some mumbo jumbo, I told him what he was saying wasn't making any sense to me. Finally he explained that it was rude that I cross my legs in the class room. These people are so touchy huh. But it was all in good humour, I don't have any grudges against that guy.

I took a dare-devil cab driver back home on the way I began reading some of the handouts that I had to purchase. The stuff I'm supposed to be studying looks kind of dense to me. But as usual what kills me is that it's in Arabic. But I managed to read a little, understand a little too.

Got home and fell asleep. Going to uni really kills my legs, especially my knees. I don't know maybe I should try to get that cleared up before it gets worse. That uni should install some more seating arrangements. I'm looking forward to being super duper anti social with my DS and PSP.

Did I mention that I've got a cold. And I do love a good cold. No runny nose too. Just the dull thump in my head. I would really like a beer now.

Thank You For Dial-Up

I just got the dial-up internet connection at my home up hooray.

It's 2:50 AM and today's my birthday. Was supposed to have had Od, Dina, Rosie and I don't know who else over for a little get together yesterday on the occasion of my birthday. But Dina was getting all pissy about it because it's Ramadhan. I got pissy because she was getting pissy. I seem to be getting pissy at Dina alot lately. Not fucking healthy. The thing got cancelled, but we all forgot to inform Rosie who went over to Dina's thinking it was still on with a birthday present for meee.

I'm wondering if the electricity is going to cut off just because I'm writing a post...

I guess it's not going to just yet. Crikey my socks stink. I think I've been avoiding showers lately. I planning to do a work-out tomorrow. Crap I planned to do a bunch of things I'm not going to do. First of all it's my birthday, if there was ever a day in the year that I could procastinate then it should be my birthday.

I'm not really in the mood of doing the usual birthday fest with the lads because K isn't here to do the barbequeing. Oops I already whined about this in my last post.

I'm getting instant spam comments on my posts as soon as I post. That's awful. I was wondering what that article I was reading a few days ago was all about. And I think I saw some option on blogger to deal with this. I guess I'm going to have to find and activate it.

I miss typing on my keyboard. It feels so much more comfortable than those sticky keys at internet cafes. Keyboards are under-rated. The plundering of Baghdad after the fall of Saddam is a testament of keyboards being over-rated. PCs were being stolen and sold on the streets. Now I didn't really see this for myself. But for months people were talking about the idiots selling off the keyboards for higher prices than the cases pointing out that the whole thing is useless without the keyboard. And I'm not the first or the last to ask this, but why do people in the movies bother shooting the monitors?

The electricity has been awfully good the past few days. Obviously it's something to do with the weather. I had to wait all day for the orange juice that was in the freezer to thaw. I hadn't seen that piece of junk freezer freeze anything for months. It's all very incredible. Just to think that ice will be available for the next months to come. Oh my gosh! the possiblities are stupendous.

A Slightly Chilly Evening

I think winter finally started this evening. I walked out of the house around 7 in the evening, and there was a chilly breeze. The internet cafe hadn't yet re-opened from after futoor. So I walked on, walked passed the barber who was sitting down watching the tellie. TV programming during Ramadhan is supposed to be really good. I walked a little further and found a bench to sit on. I was thinking of calling Dina but she was probably still eating futoor.

The chilly breeze felt quite nostalgic of the days when I used to smoke pot. Lately I've been missing that. I don't miss the high as much as the numb escape. I sat on the bench remembering the winter that I arrived in Baghdad nearly 4 years ago. The cooler weather called for some sweets. So I decided to grab the car and go get some konafa. I walked back to my street, and changed my mind and decided to walk to the konafa shop. On the way I called Dina, and continued chatting to her outside the shop until a bunch of guys started walking towards the shop, I obviously had to get priorities right, so I hanged up and ran into the store.

By the time I got home the konafa got a little cold but I dug in anyway. It was rather good. I guess there is something good about Ramadhan.

I was supposed to start the farm accounts today. Didn't get much done at all. I was planning to type in every single journal entry into the computer, but that seemed too daunting a task. I just got the sum of incomes and expenses for the past 6 months and that's it. All I need now is the amount of money piped in and out of the farm to figure how much profit or loss was made. And that'll be taking the easy way out of this whole deal.

Pins and needles owww!

Dad called a short while ago. He's postponed his arrival yay! That gives me more time to do the accounts. But I already outlined that I won't do it the hard way. He seemed to be in a good mood, I hadn't spoken to him in months.

Oh shit! I've got dandruff again. I only just stopped using an anti-dandruff shampoo a couple of weeks ago.

I'm spending too much money talking to Dina on my mobile phone. It was worth it when I had a chance with her. But since that chance has been exhausted there really isn't much of a point on wasting money on the phone calls.

I've got to get a few things done over the next few days. I'm wondering if I should celebrate my birthday party. It doesn't seem like there's going to be much of a point without what's his name who's in the UK now, who's always been in charge of the barbequeing. Seeing the guys try to barbeque last week at Fal's was an awfully pathetic site, wouldn't want to repeat that disaster even though nobody seemed to want to admit it at the time.

India admits to have forgotten that I'm around these days. He's been going out and about without telling me. That honestly is fine with me. But I hope he does give me heads up next time he goes to the market, so I buy a PSP. I did get a Nintendo DS as a gift a short while ago, and oh my goodness gracious me, does that little thing make time fly by while waiting in a 3 hour petrol queue.

I think I need to go back home and smoke a cigarette.

Foiled Again

I told her that I liked her, she gave me the 'I want us to be friends' story.

I'm Trying

Oh this is difficult for me, I think I'm handicapped.

Lately I've been phoning this girl called Dina, she's cute and quite skippy. I remember getting a glance of her in the late 90s and damn her tits looked good in that shirt. I've always liked that girls in shirts. I'm not sure of what kind of shirts but anyway...

So every night I'll call Dina and we'd chat for about an hour. Lately a whole big bunch of our common friends including her best-friend got married or engaged. Anyway, I've been joking about the idea how we should get married together just because everybody else is. She's quite fond of the joke. I really like the girl but I wouldn't go so far as to say I feel a soul-mate type bond towards her, something that I would say that I've felt before with other girls I've known.

I'm quite convinced she likes me alot too. But I think that I've been sending her the wrong message. The message being that I want to marry her. But I do want to get involved with her, as inconvenient and unrewarding as that may be here in Baghdad.

The dilemna for me is that how do I tell her that I really like her but that I don't have the intention of marrying her. I saw Od today and he told me that I should make it clear that I was joking about the marriage and that I really like her.

Cafe is closing down and I've got to pee.

I woke up at 7AM?!

What the fuck is wrong with me? And I'm still awake.

I Fucking Hate Ramadhan

Got back home, over half the electric in the house is bust for some reason. Nahida has been ripping the whole home apart. We've got new tiles in one of the drive ways. The old tiles were only a year old?!

10 P.M. and the internet cafe is closing down. Gots to run to the loo anyway.

I Need To Go The Loo. And Do Number Two.

Stuck in the internet cafe. Obviously I haven't been so bored with a working internet connection for so long which explains why I haven't posted in such a long time.

My internet connection at home is still broken. That's not cool. One would think that being a relative to the guy who owns the internet provider that I'd get some special treatment.

It's that time of year again. God damn I hate it. I hope I can get my hands on some booze. Kiki finally left the country after his electric generator caught fire and burnt down his house. He flew off to Amman and is hoping to go on to Malaysia. Fal's looking healthier i.e. not so bolemic looking.

Dad's coming at the end of the month.

I sent an e-mail to to a girl from my days in Lebanon just now. She's a gorgeous girl and is sexy in more ways than one. I spent many lonely nights fantasizing about her. She's perky and intelligent, doesn't stand bullshit and can keep up a good argument. What's funny is I can't remeber any of her negative qualities. What's scarier is that I haven't seen her in over 3 or 4 years and I still think about her.

I really really need to go the loo.

Other news in the world around me. One of the two Dina's got married. I didn't even know she got engaged. Anyway, that killed my fantasies of marrying the two Dina's simultaneously. The two Dina's are best friends and therefore there's hope in my mind that with the right nudge there could be some lesbian action thing. I had the one that didn't get married on board for the idea of marrying, but the other one wasn't so cool with it, but then again we didn't try convincing her.

My socks stink, nope, it's my shoes that stink. I'm going to buy myself some new shoes next time I get the chance.

Moodiness, Kidnappings, Bolemia and Addiction

I'm in a crap mood. Have been that way for the past 5 days. Could be because of the slightest change in weather. I don't know. It's been over a month since I've posted anything. Well just to bring everything back up to speed. Right now I'm out of cigarettes. Why the hell does everything seem to be an obstacle?

Kiki's brother was returned within 4 days after a 20,000 dollar ransom was paid. That made Kiki's parents very worried about Kiki's safety. For a while he wasn't allowed to go out unescorted. I saw his mom today, she's still worried but not that much. As soon as Kiki's brother was returned there was talk of sending Kiki out of country to do a master's degree. 2 months have passed up till now. Kiki says he'll be leaving on Thursday. K tells me that he's been on the verge of leaving for the past month.

K's been here for the past couple of months. Didn't get to see much of him at all. He's cooped up at CNN offices. He'll be going back to the UK early next month. Saw him today also, he asked me when would I see him again, I replied that I'll see him in the UK.

A couple of nights ago I saw Fal whom I hadn't seen for 2 months. I've known that he's kind of bolemic something that he doesn't try to hide for that matter. He must've raised the pace because for the first time he does actually look bolemic. He's become very skinny and has bags beneath his eyes. India tells me that Fal isn't aware of how serious bolemia is. Which is not his fault, there are no awareness campaigns such as one might find elsewhere. India is putting alot of effort into making Fal aware that he's hurting himself.

India's still waiting for some response in regards to his application for a time extension on his master's degree that he still hasn't got down to doing.

I've got to go find myself some cigarettes. I'm hating this negative mood swing. It better be over soon.

Frail

I'm a bit surprised to find myself posting again. I never thought I'd ever get enough time on the internet. Well i've only got half an hour left at the most, by then the electricity will cut off and whoever I'm stealing my connection from will turn off his PC. Got to love unsecured wifi spots.

Kiki's parrot died a week or so ago. His parrot was called Kiki. At the time Kiki was in Amman. While Kiki's Dad had left the parrot outside in the garage as he's done so many times before. Kiki* usually just stays on top of his cage and may sometimes just stroll around. Kiki* was a depressed parrot. This time however, he flew all the way to the street and got hit by a passing car.

Kiki's brother got kidnapped a few days ago, just a day after Kiki got back from Amman. They called asking for ransom of half a million dollars. I visited him yesterday, his mum was in an awful state. I called him today, the kidnappers have reduced the ransom to a hundred thousand dollars. Kiki's dad made it clear that he's only been able to gather twenty-thousand.

It's scary. It's easy to hear of some person that you don't know being kidnapped. But when it happens to someone you've known for years it becomes alot more real.

At home we've been expecting Nahida's brother to come back from US custody. Him and his brother got taken because some guy pointed a finger at them earlier this year while I was in the UK. The other brother was released a month ago. It was painful to hear what he had went through. I went to jail for a week during the Saddam years but it's hard to compare my experience with theirs.

Went driving to the farm the other day. I'm starting to get the hang of driving long-distance. But I noticed that as the drive went on I began increasing my speed no matter how congested the road was. I realized that my car wasn't very fuel efficient at high speeds. I asked a guy about it, because I imagined that after changing gears at around 120 kmph shouldn't it change again by the time I reach 170 kmph. He told me that it didn't and that I should try driving at 130 kmph.

The road is full of pesky check points. None of them gave me a hard time for that I'm grateful. But whenever I opened the trunk and coolbox within they asked what the cans of soda were. They suspected that it was beer I guess, which to my knowledge is legal. Iraqis hate soda water. During the mid-90s, production of anything containing sugar was banned, therefore the Pepsi factory only made soda water. I guess people got really sick of it and swore that as long as there was Pepsi they'll never drink soda water again.

Stifled

Damn my internet connection!

A Night of Tummy Aches

Been a while since I've spent the night awake. I was very tired late in the afternoon yesterday. Ate a big load of Lasagna and fell asleep. Woke up around 11 in the evening. Woke up with a tummy ache, that's only just begun to subside after several mugs of echinacea and raspberry tea. Damn Lasagna.

The upstairs generator is bust again. I'm smoking too much. 2 days ago I found out that I ran out of asthma inhalers. I wonder how long it's been since I bought one. Must've been years.

Teeth

Met up with India today to go see his dentist. We had time to spare and India wanted to check his e-mail inbox but the internet cafe wasn't working. I was hungry so I ate a felafel sandwich with houmous and amba sauce (pickled mango sauce I think it is). That stuff leaves you so thirsty.

We then went on to the waiting room at the dentist's. The dentist was busy with some woman and her child was going through the magazines in the waiting room. While India and I were chatting he said that we were talking English, India was quick to reply that we were talking Arabic. Before the kid left he said to India that his mouth was so big, India replied: "so that I may eat you with it", and the kid said to India: "Your nose is so big". To which India replied: "So that I may smell you". Finally the kid said that India's eyes were big to which India replied: "So that I may see you".

His dentist took a look at my teeth at made the same remark as the dentist before last made. My wisedom teeth have only half-sprouted and are pushing the rest of my teeth. I need an x-ray and then will have to have them removed. As far as needing 17 fillings, he said that was that my teeth were okay but a couple may need some work done on them eventually.

[...]

Half a bottle of red Lebanese wine later, I'm too tired to finish typing this post.

Blue Blue Sky

My back aches, I don't know if it's because of the bed that I'm sleeping on downstairs or if it's because I'm swallowing too many Lorazepam pills. Nahida told my dad to have a word about it with me. He told me to go see a surgeon, and then I made some remark to point out that he doesn't really care. My dad is supposed to be really sick these days. The insulin he's been fed is hurting his kidneys.

I can't find a single lighter that works. Everything around me is such a mess. I should start reformatting the first 3 months of the farm's accounts, but I can't be bothered to.

41,544,815 Iraqi Dinars

For the past few months my dad's primary objective for me was to figure out how much money was made from the farm last year. Not only for accounting purposes, but also so that I get a feel of the value of the farm which I so sorely dislike. That's about 27k dollars or14k euros.

The ride back was a pain in the ass. Some joint in the front-right wheel broke and we get a quick fix in Hilla. Within half an hour I went over a checkpoint speed bump and it broke again. The breaking of the joint meant that I had to tug the steering wheel to the right the rest of the way. So far we were in good spirits.

Until a couple humvees ahead blocked the highway. We waited for over 2 hours in the heat for them to detonate an IED on the road. And wait another hour till they cleared the road for us to continue.

First thing I did when I got home. Took a piss and a shower. Drank a litre of Vimto. Just now I took a look at the ashtray and saw what resembled lipstick on the butt of a cigarette. A woman was here? How strange. But then I took a look at the cigarette that I was smoking at the moment and it dawned on me that the Vimto stained my lips red.

I haven't eaten anything yet. I woke up at around 10AM it's now 6:45. The whole trip which should of taken no more than 3 hours lasted 7. During my stay at the farm everyday I'd eat a bit of bread and a tin of Saupiquet's Tuna Salads. Just about the only time I eat fish. But my god! they're packed with long-lasting energy.

I'm a-going to the farm I'm a-going

Well I'm still sitting on my desk. But soon enough my stuff will be packed and I'll be on my way to the farm. With tinned tuna-salads for food, and club soda for drink, and a couple of little bottles of beer. Nicotine patches that fall off when I sweat and nicotine gum for that before I go to bed cravings. Sheets of 1mg Lorazepam to take me to sleep. I should be fine. The only question now is will the car make it there.

I've got my calculator with me too, so maybe I'll get some figures for last year, although I rather have my PC. I should get a laptop. But I'm not intent on making any large purchases until I know how much profilt I'm making.

Got to go.

Losing My Touch

The PC seems to work on it's own again. I can no point the fan at myself. The weather today isn't so hot however. Today is a little windy. There's a bit of dust in the air, which has a cooling effect. A couple of nights ago, I went to an old relative of mine with Fozzy to give her measly share of the sale of last year's rice harvest and a couple of sacks of our fine 'Amba' rice. My relative and her husband hosted us in their front garden. They remarked that the climate in Baghdad used to be alot cooler 30 years ago. Baghdad was probably half the size it is now, and the remainder was farm land.

I had a go at my dad over the phone last night because he won't help me settle in the UK. I don't know if there's any point yapping at him.

I woke up at 11 AM today. I've been sleeping late the past few days and haven't been taking care of things. Dropped off the car with Nahida at the mechanic to have some kind of joints between the wheels and the chassis repaired. The risk of not repairing them involves the wheel breaking off while speeding. Very scary! I'm not sure when I'm supposed to go back to pick it up. Well that's another few hundred bucks out the window.

5 days have passed since we picked up the application form for the Hunter's Club, it's still not filled and ready. I got to get in gear again. I also need a hair cut.

My PC Needs The Fan More Than Me

Not really a sign of how hot the weather is here, but more of a sign of how messed up is my 3 year-old PC after I tried running Half-Life 2 on it. My worn-out video card seems to want to give up on me again. The wretched PC hasn't been able to finish the starting up process for the past couple of days till I positioned the fan to blow air into it's open case.

Edging (this post was edited)

Blimey, I'm so bored and I'm tired. I'm feeling really tired. My brain is wasted. My back is tense. I feel burnt out. I'm tired of bitching oabout the electricity. I could say that the sum of all the inconveniences in my life is wearing me out, but that wouldn't be right. I've been wearing myself out for a long time. 17 cavities, I must take better care of myself.

I think I'm more aware of how lonely I am here. All my family being in the UK now. I yelled at my mum for half an hour over the phone the day before last, because she was giving me a patronizing rant about how I should be taking charge of myself and to know what I want.

I really want a break from my life, but I can't find a reason for why would deserve a break. I still haven't figured how much profit the farm off last year's rice harvest. I'm thinking if I could at least get that out of the way and the accounts up to date then I'd deserve a decent vacation.

I've been calling my dad everyday for the past few days. I'm trying to keep some channel of communication open with him. In the hope that maybe if I wait on the line long enough I might hear something from him.

Yesterday he told me how he had one-year marriage contract (in Arabic called a Zawaj Mumta'a) for a year with that Iranian woman in Canada. He justified it by saying he's lonely and that it was okay because she wasn't a virgin because she was a divorcee like him.

I think this sort of marriage is looked down upon within Iraq, I've never heard of anyone doing it here in Iraq. Maybe Saddam banned it. Or maybe society doesn't approve of it here. But I gather some Iranian's are okay with it and do it. When I first heard about of it being done in Iran, it literally sounded like clerics pimping women granting marriage contracts for a time period of a week or less. I would like to add that I'm not a knowledgable person on the matter so as to be able to debate the virtues or lack of virtues of such an arrangement. I personally don't think there's anything wrong with what my dad did especially since he's so old and can't get an erection, but I can imagine how such a thing can be abused, and that if I myself were to do a Zawag Mumta'a it would be no different from getting a prostitute.

I told him I was lonely too, and that I wanted a one-year marriage contract too. He replied saying I can't do that and told me that when he comes later in the year to Baghdad, he'll introduce me to girls from good families and hopefully find one with whom I'm compatible but that I should have a proper marriage. It was 6 months ago that he came to the conclusion that it would be very difficult for me to find a wife suitable for me in Iraq, but his opinion has obviously changed now. His inconsistencies drive me nuts.

Now I'm waiting for the electricity to come back. When that happens I'll swallow a couple more sleeping pills and knock myself out. And tomorrow I'll start my day, I'll go get fuel for the car, drive Fozzy to the bank to deposite that cheque we got from the state silo today. The cheque is a refund on a deposit that we gave so that they give us rice to mill, but which they didn't because the rice in their silos got mixed with bad rice let in by bribed officials.

Oh! the electricity is back :)

17 Fillings Needed

Just popped by a new dentist to get my cigarette stained teeth polished clean. He told me that I had 17 cavities that need work done on. How the hell does someone get 17 cavities within one year. My teeth don't even hurt. From time to time a tooth or another might ache for a day or two, but it's not excruciatingly painful.

Earlier Fozzy and I went to the 'Hunter's Club', it's a social club that to my knowledge has nothing to do with hunting. It's got swimming pools and tennis courts. We got the application form and we've got to fill it in and hand it back before the 15th.

Last night I sneezed a few times, I didn't think much of it until an hour later I began to smell dust. A while later the smell got on my nerves, and I took a look outside. A dust storm was blowing in the air. Had to run around the house and close all the windows. But the dust had settled within the house already. Breathing became difficult for Nahida, and I began hiccuping madly. Nahida got the impression that I was on something again. I popped maybe a few more sleeping pills than I should've and went to sleep. When I woke up, all the dust was cleaned up.

A Moment To Gloat

I got a praising e-mail from Salam Pax, the big-daddy of Iraqi blogs, woohoo! First of all I would like to thank the tens of fans that read my blog regularly who have kept me motivated to post. And then I'd like to thank my family who brought me into this world and who gave me the distorted view of the world that I possess. And last but not least I would like to say a few words about my plant that died back in April. I loved that plant, such was the case that too much love kills. I wish I had treated it better and that it was with me today.

I don't like this place

I've been in such a bad mood for the past week. So much of a bad mood that I got some hash yesterday and did my best to enjoy it. But the come-down was harder than I expected, harder because Nahida caught me high. I drank some left-over vodka afterwards. Nahida made me some fericous meal that made me feel crap all day today.

Iraq's the cradle of civilization. Civilization no longer sounds like so much of a good thing. Iraqis love boasting about Iraq being the country of civilizations. Where's your civilization now and where has it been all these years is what I keep wanting to ask.

I'm starting to think that civilization is simply a by-product of something. Something being the evil of man. Nature before civilization had it's laws, and they were fair enough. But then the evil of mankind pushed in and 'civilization' perpetuated this evil.

Od just called and informed that Maz got burgled at 2 in the morning a couple of nights ago. The burglars went off with cash, jewellery and whatever lights stuff they could carry. The burglars beat up the Maz's old man, and electrocuted Maz and his mother. Od gave me Maz's new phone number and I called him. Maz sounds alright, he's doing his finals but doesn't know what decisions his family will make in the near future.

I'm sooo fucking bored

Everyday is becoming unbearably boring.