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.