Sunday, January 29, 2006

Hoopa e ... Hoppa a - Part II



OK. Now that was the Egypt-Cote D'Ivoir match. We couldn't find any 2nd class seats although we tried to get tickets only one day after the Egypt-Morocco match. So, much to my disappointment, we got third class again. I thought: "Well, i DID survive the 1st time, right? and it simply couldn't get worse than that ... afterall, the vast arabic slang vocabulary can't go any further with curses than the ones i already heard, or does it?" Anyways, i'm glad to say that it turned out MUCH MUCH BETTER than i thought, in the coming lines you'll know why!Well, there we went, no more non-egyptians except for my dutch friend ... just me, her - call her 'I', her husband 'M1', a friend from work 'M2'and her friend 'M3'... Wow, that's too many Ms ... hmm, anyways, We met at 4 pm infront of the gates, we had an egyptian flag, two of those air-blown platic rods that make sound when hit against one another,M2 and M3 were all in red and black, and i took a red ahly scarf from 'M3' and hung it around my neck just to have a 'red' thing on. In short, equiped with all this stuff, we managed to take the decent look of happy, enthusiastic egyptian cheerers.

Hmm, one thing that really annoyed me while entering the stadium: there were guys checking the bags before letting us through, none of us had bags except 'I', when the guy started checking - and he was really enthusiatic with his wrk- i think she said smthg.in english, then another security guy - may be of higher rank - asked one of us "what's her natitionality" and she said "dutch", so he turned to the checking guy and told him to stop and let her through! WUT THE HECK??? hey jerks, just that she has blue eyes and speaks some english doesn't mean she ain't got whatever ur looking for. Ok, to all you guys out there who'd like to blow the heck out of a national stadium with a bunch of millions of egyptians and a bunch of idiots guarding it, here's a good plan: let the whitest among you wear green/blue lenses, teach them a few good english words - security men wouldn't notice even if you were saying super/kali/fragelistic/expialidocious anyways - and fill their bags with all the explosives u can get and send them off into the stadium waving an egyptian flag! I mean, really it's annoying how egyptians are always treated compared to foreigners ... we are treated like 3rd class citizens in our own country!!! And much to my annoyance, i'm aware of wut happens to arabs in western countries ... just wearing a veil or having dark skin is enough to take you aside to be thoroughly searched from top to toe!

Anyways, 3rd class wasn't full yet, in fact it was just half full when we got there, so we could easily find a decent place. By looking at the faces around me ... wow, that was NOTHING compared to last time.Two phenomena i could catch immediately:
First, there was a much much larger percentage of girls around us - last time, we were the only female creatures in the whole 3rd class partitions, even bottles were thrown on the lybians coz they have female arabic name :P
Second, Most of the guys around seemed to be of high or middle class. So, it was comforting to expect no bad words this time. In fact, i only heard the f-word once during the match, and it was even in english, so it had a much much slighter effect - considered my self watching an american movie w khalas. Even when some ppl behind us started cursing, they just used the animal kingdom dictionary ... starting by 'haiawan' and subcategorizing into 'homar' and ending up with even 'kharouf' ... 'I' heard that and she said "WUT? doesn't that mean 'sheep'? They are calling him - hossam hassan btw - sheep? wut kinda curse is that!" ... hehehe.
Another phenomena noticed later was the enormous number of egypian flags covering the stadium all around. It wasn't like that the last match at all. That was like every one there was holding/wearing/painted with the flag!

Anyways, we spent the next 3 hours just moving our eyes between the flag-painted faces and the tri-color wages on the heads and joining some cheers every now and then. I spent some time watching the three girls sitting in the row below us painting each other's faces with the egypian flag. 'I' wanted to get a paint too, but alhamdullelah , the girls wouldn't give us the paint ... i don't even wanna imagine her returning home with a painted face! The least that could happen was getting there with a zaffa!Anyways, we learned some new cheers: "yalla ya masraweya ... sheddo 7elko shwayya" ... and "dee mesh kora ... dee mazzika" ... and at times when the crowds were a bit silent, the goal keeper - 7adari - would wave his hands to wake them up, so we'd go "Or2os .. ya 7adaraiii ... or2os ... ya 7adaraaai" ... last time that was "7adaraaaai 7adaraaaaiii" only ... of course they added one cheer for each player now .. "mido", "heema", "abu traika", "met3eb" ... After each score for egypt, we'd go "w lessa ... w lessa" ... and at the time when there's an egyptian attack ... we'd go "heela hop ... heela hop" ... we also did that when we were making a boat ... wuts that? ok, it's like u just sit there and keep moving forward and backward ... i don't really like it, but i think the whole partition looks good from a distance. hmmm,one funny thing is that ppl kept cheering "7abba 7abba ... tata tata ... cote d'ivoir ... hatsheel talata" ever since we got there (4 pm) and the match INDEED ended with 3 to 1!!!So, after the match, we were saying "7abba 7abba ... tata tata ... cote d'ivoir ... shalet talata"
Oh! and the wAaAaAaAaAaVe ... usually the wave dies after the second round, but this time it was really AMAZING! i could count FOUR COMPLETE ON-GOING ROUNDS around the stadium. 'M2' did a very good job almost tearing up my ear with her very high-pitched whistle! I've always thought wisteling is an advantage given to men with their special throat/air tube stracture, apparently not!

Hmm, My father sms-ed me right after our third score saying "mabrouk l masr" ... i told him "W lessa ... w lessa" ... and right with the final whistle, he called again telling me "a3deen leih mat2omo trawa7o!" ... 'I' says it seems that he recently dicovered that i have interest in football!

Ok, match is over, now we have to figure out how we'd go home among the crowded,celebrating streets. Well, we left 'I' and her husbands to their way, and the three of us went out walking towards wut seemed to be an endless point. On the way, and because of the red clothes, egyptian flag and ahly scarf, we got a few remarks from ppl on the streets, mostly "Mabrouk" and "how was the score" and stuff.By the time we reached Makram Ebaid st. i parted to head home alone while the two 'M's stood at the bus station to get a ride. Just infront of City Center, there was a big crowd of young men cheering and clapping on both sides of the street, and they had fireworkd and fire they'd wave in the air. Not to forget the passing by cars, loaded with ppl, with egyptian flag - and sometimes "humans" - flying out of the windows! It was quite a celebration.

Your reporter from among the happy egyptian crowds, Third Class - becoming nicer- rows, Cairo international stadium. Meet you on Friday Inshaa'Allah with the next match ... Stay Tune ;)

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Hoppa e .. Hoppa a



Hey! just came back from Egypt-Morocco match.I think it's enough to say that i was sitting in the THIRD CLASS seats to know what happened!Well, last week, everbody in the course was talking bout matches and stuff and they really got me interested. Normally i don't like football matches except the ones for world/african Cups, and NEVER been to the stadium before. Anyways, last Friday, it was Egypt-Lebya, and i saw it at work. We watched it on the big Plazma screen there and it was really GOOOOD - the screen not the match - and all ppl came to watch, even our managers ... they even ordered pizza for us on E's expense!Anyways, yesterday, my dutch friend said she was gonna buy tickets for Egypt-Morocco, so i said i'm in of course. However, because this was one day before the match, she couldn't find but third class tickets. I thought it was ok, i mean wut difference would it make for me, i've never been there before aslan ... Well, that was Until they guys from work knew i was going ... they were like "WHAAAAATTTTT???!!! you're going to the third class??? Are you Nuts? We - Boys - don't even dare to go there ... bla bla bla" ... so i was really freaked out, but i was too curious not to go anyways!So, it's 5 pm, i picked up my friend and her husband on the way, another friend of ours was coming too with her husband and friends, so we had to meet her husband to give him the tickets. Anyways, moving on to the entry gates, we were walking through a bundle of flesh in a slow motion queue ... Al hamdllelah, security guys were considerate enough to let women out of the queue, we took a shortcut into the much much less crowded moroccan route then directly into the gates. Hmm, well, after a long long walk, we finally got into the stadium itself, The view was really HUGE! i mean, forget everything u see on TV! i'm talking HUUUUUUGE! anyways, luckily we found enough seats for us and for our yet to come friends too ... it was still the first half of Lebya-Cote d'evoir match, and cheers were going all around for both Egypt - they were'nt even playing, but it seems egyptians go there for one reason ... CHEER and CURSE, so the heck with whomesoever is playing, we just cheer w khalas - and Lebya ... but, Lebya lost ... and i dunno wut happened then, but suddenly all egyptian crowd around us was cursing Lebyans - who were sitting right below us - and of course Lebyans replying back ... Later, i figured out the Lebyans started cursing Egypt and stuff ... and somehow, things get rolling until i found some stuff FLYING here and there ... something came flying between me and the one sitting beside me ... i asked her "what was that" ... she said "A stone" and turned her head to continue watching the game ... OH YEAH?!!! well, looking a little closer into the flying stuff, i could figure out it was broken pieces of the seats, plastic bottles and stones - where the heck do they get stones from?!! - then i realised why they sell Pepsi in light plastic cups ... ! By the time the first half of Egypt-Moroccan match was finished, things got really heated up and national security got engaged with the lebyan crowd below us until they kicked them out of the stadium completely ... Then, the egyptian crowd got back to the game and the cheers. Anyways, let's move to my nice company ... well! There we were, an egyptian - me -, a dutch, her egyptian husband, a moroccan, her egyptian-dutch husband, an australian girl, an american guy and yet another egyptian girl ... all these sitting side by side in a Third Class row, among Football fanatic Egyptians, and all speaking in English! we made quite a scene there, specially with the Moroccan flag which my dutch friend was holding - well, actally she was too enthusiastic to hold it while we were still in the street and we had some teasing remarks on the way - but in a positive way Hamdullelah - but as soon as we entered the stadium, we told her to put it in the bag, and afterwords, i think the sight of all the red-dressed, egypt-flag-painted faces around us really cooled down her enthusiasm ... well, few ppl arond us noticed that we had a moroccan flag, but the good thing is that they were old men, so they took it easily ya3ni and were joking about it!Worst part: CURSES, CURSES and more CURSES. I really never heard such words - and in that fluency - in my life!!!! I was really blushing there ... i told my friend "It's really a bless that you don't understand arabic" ... i guess i really wished i was in a dutch stadium instead ... at least i wouldn't understand anything! And if it was only about curses ... no, they had to strenghtn their words by pointing fingers and stuff! HATED THAT! And wut really drives you crazy is that everyone around was cursing every egyptian player who gets the ball and loses it, and up till the captain who dared to change Medo with Met3eb in the last few minutes. And everyone is acting as if he's soccer geek and all these ppl in the feild are Stupid jerks who know nothing about footbal - at least that's what the 13 years old kid beside me was saying, shouting his throat out, almost getting a heart attack when Ahmad Hassan missed the score!Best parts: Hoppa e, Hoppa a ... inshaa'Allah haneksab (i really which i had a record of my dutch friend saying that, she had the most cute pronounciation saying it!) - Es7a ... fooo2 - applause ... MASR ... applause ... MASR (despite the fact that whenever the crowds cheers with that, the dutch one was saying 'maghreb' in a low voice beside me :P) - 7adarrraaaaaiii ... 7adarrraiiii (the goal keeper) - And the WAVE ... OOOH ... The waves were awesome! All these cheers and waves are really redicilus ... but it's really FUN! The pulse, the rythem of the drum coming from somewhere behind us! The fact that you are a part of some millions of ppl cheering loudly! I mean, where else do you get to raise your voice that loud w/o anyone hearing you? And Really it feels GREAT to cheer! You really have to do it to know what i mean!
Anyways, despite the fact that the match SUX, really maghreb and egypt put up a very bad performance and the match ended 0-0 ... that was pretty disappointing ...BUt ... The experience was really COOL!I think we'll go again to Egypt-Cote d'evoir next Saturday inshaa'Allah... but hopefully in Second Class this time.
Reporting from among egyptian crowds, Third class seats, Cairo international Stadium ... Stay Tune ;)

Monday, January 23, 2006

A Dream

I woke up today really annoyed. I Had the same dream for the second time about the same person. I dreamt that she took off her hijab!! All the dream i was experiencing feelings of astonishment, disbelieve and annoyance in the same time. And when i woke up, the fact that this was a repetition of the same dream i had several weeks ago made me really disturbed!Well, i called a friend of mine who studied psychology ... her own interpretation was that this indicactes a drawback in faith/religion ... if it was me who took off the hijab, it'd probably mean that my religious curve is going down and i need to straighten it back! Well! if that was the case then it's not smthg. new i'm afraid :(But, well, since this is about someone else, it might be either this, or just that i have formed some negative impressions about her in my sub-concious or that i'm concerned about her faith!!! which is really not much better nor releiving for me than the first explanation coz i really hate to see anything bad about that person :(Well! Since the first fear for human kind since the down of humanity till the day of judgment is the "UNKNOWN" ... and since i tend to ignore my fears rather than thinking about them, so ... i'd say that this dream is only CRAP! and i'm moving on now ... salam!
P.s: of course if anyone who reads this have any other interpretation other than "don't eat heavy meals before sleeping", you're most welcomed to add it in the comments ;P

Sunday, January 22, 2006

عربى أنا


عربى أنا .. إرثينى.. شقى لى قبرا.. و اخفينى

ملت من جبنى ..أوردتى..غصت بالخوف شرايينى

ماعدت كما أمسى أسدا.. بل فأرا مكسور العين

أسلمت قيادى كخروف.. أفزعه نصل السكين

و رضيت بأن أبقى صفرا .. أو تحت الصفر بعشرين

العالم من حولى حر.. من أقصى بيرو الى الصين

شارون يدنس معتقدى.. و يمرغ فى الوحل جبينى

و أمريكا تدعمه جهرا... و تمد النار ببنزين

و أرانا مثل نعامات .. دفنت اعينها فى الطين

و شهيد يتلوه شهيد.. من يافا لأطراف جنين

و بيوت تهدم فى صلف ... و الصمت المطبق يكوينى

يا عرب الخسة دلونى.. لزعيم يأخذ بيمينى

فيحرر مسجدنا الأقصى .. و يعيد الفرحة لسنينى

من شعر أحمد مطر

Shame On Me :(

Copied from Islamonline News section:

VIENNA, January 18, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – Austrian Muslims have brought a smile to dozens of Chechen faces who sought refuge in the European country with the distribution of much-needed Russian translations of the meanings of the Noble Qur’an.
“We aim to closely knit Chechen families to their faith and to educate them about Shari`ah and teach them Arabic to protect them from a ferocious proselytizing campaign in the country,” Fareed Soliman, who supervises the distribution of the copies, told IslamOnline.net Tuesday, January 17.
Soliman, a physician, said 100 copies have been handed to 20 Chechen families in a refugee camp outside the capital city of Vienna.
A Chechen woman refugee, who requested anonymity, said that her peers are vulnerable to Christian proselytizers.
“Church representatives are visiting us on a weekly basis, but we give them a rowdy reception because we know their real intentions,” she told IOL, adding that they were trying their best to protect young generations.
Each mosque in Vienna also has now a copy to meet the needs of Chechen worshippers.
“I was approached by a Chechen the other day and at first glance I though he was seeking shelter or cash, but I found out that he needed a Qur’an, which moved me greatly,” said Mohsen Ali, an engineer based in Vienna.
Sheikh Othman, a Chechen researcher in Shari`ah, said an Al-Azhar institute in Vienna will assign Chechen tutors to teach children Arabic and help them memorize the Noble Qur’an thanks to Austrian Muslims.
Muslims are estimated at 400,000 in Austria of the country's eight million population. Islam, which was officially recognized in Austria in 1912 during the reign of Czar Franz Joseph, is considered the second religion in the country after Catholicism.
Chechen Mosque
An Austrian Muslim volunteer distributes copies of Qur’an in a Chechen refugee camp.
But the most pressing demand by Chechens is to have a mosque in which sermons and lectures are delivered in Russian, the mother tongue of the vast majority of Chechen refugees.
Austrian Muslims had already raised funds for the mosque, but still need much more to get basic amenities like electricity and heating systems.
There are between 18 and 20 thousand Chechen refugees in Austria’s nine states. Vienna alone is home to six thousands.
“Only three Chechens have been granted Austrian citizenship so far,” Sheikh Othman noted.
Refugees are grateful to the Austrian government for the kind treatment. The Refugees Authority provides Chechens with halal food and alcohol-free drinks.
The government body already pays each refugee in the country, whether Chechen or not, a monthly sum of 40 euros in addition to a makeshift shelter and daily hot meals.
The small mountainous republic of Chechnya has been ravaged by conflict since 1994, with just three years of relative peace after the first Russian invasion of the region ended in August 1996 and the second began in October 1999.
At least 100,000 Chechen civilians and 10,000 Russian troops are estimated to have been killed in both invasions, but human rights groups have said the real numbers could be much higher.
The wars have forced up to half a million Chechens to flee the country to neighboring and European countries. Women, who lost their husbands to the wars, make up most of the refugees.

Shame on Me,
Who have more than five copies of the quraan, and seldom reads ...
Shame on Me,
Who speaks arabic, and is never grateful enough for it ...

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

نعم و24 نعم

بعد انتهاء هوجة الانتخابت الرئاسية تتبعها البرلمانية ... وبعد ان انتهت الأولى بنتيجة توقعها أغلبية الشعب المصرى - شاء أم أبى ... نظرت الى أربعة وعشرين سنة مضت ... رغم ان عمرى كله تلاتة وعشرين ... أى اننى وبلا فخر من نسبة ال 48% من الشعب المصرى اللذين لم يعاصروا رئيس غير مبارك ... والتى ستبلغ 50% عند انتهاء فترته الرئاسية القادمة 2011 وعليكم خير ... وقلت فى عقل بالى ... هوه الناس دى عبيطة وللا هبلة وللا شكلها كده؟
ريسنا بقاله فى الحكم أربعة وعشرين سنة ... باختيااااااارررر شعبه ... كل ست سنوات من الأربعة وعشرين سنة بتقولّه نعم
بعد أربعة وعشرين سنة انهيار اقتصادى وديون متلتلة وشحاتة ومعونة من اللى يسوى واللى ميسواش بنقولّه نعم
بعد أربعة وعشرين سنة بطالة وشباب بيضيع كل يوم بنقولّه نعم
بعد أربعة وعشرين سنة فساد وزارى ورشاوى وفضايح بنقولّه نعم
بعد أربعة وعشرين سنة انهيار أخلاقى وثقافى ومكتبة أسرة وفضائيات وفيديو كليبات بنقولّه نعم
بعد أربعة وعشرين سنة أزمة إسكان وعشوائيات بنقولّه نعم
بعد أربعة وعشرين سنة تعليم فاسد وتاريخ مزور ومناهج مهترئة بنقولّه نعم
بعد أربعة وعشرين سنة صناعة مضروبة وزراعة مجروفة وتجارة كاسدة وتصدير يدنو من الصفر بنقولّه نعم
بعد أربعة وعشرين سنة برلمان نصه غايب ونصه نايم بنقولّه نعم
بعد أربعة وعشرين سنة تهرب ضريبى وقروض مشبوهة وتهريب أموال للخارج بنقولّه نعم
بعد أربعة وعشرين سنة واسطة ومحسوبية وتفتيح مخ بنقولّه نعم
بعد أربعة وعشرين سنة وعود وهمية وجعجعات هوائية وأحلام وردية بنقولّه نعم
ودلوقتى قولولى ... احنا شعب عبيط ولا أهبل وللا شكله كده؟

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

شباب عاوز الحرق بقلم د/ أحمد خالد توفيق

ثمة إجماع في وسائل الإعلام والأعمدة الصحفية على أننا رزقنا – من دون الأمم – بألعن جيل من الشباب الرقيع المنحل الشهواني التافه.. (شباب عاوز الحرق) باختصار شديد.. نحن وكل جيلي سلبنا الشباب أحلامه، واحتللنا المناصب التي يمكن أن يطمح إليها، وحرمناه أبسط الحقوق التي يمارسها أي قط في زقاق: الملجأ والزواج، وأعطيناه سفينة غارقة نخرة امتلأت بالثقوب نُهب كل لوح خشب وكل مسمار فيها، وقلنا له إن عليه أن يتولى الإبحار بها بعدنا .. وينظر الشاب إلى البحر الذي يعج بالأساطيل وحاملات الطائرات التي صنعها الآخرون، فيتساءل: ماذا كنتم تفعلون طيلة هذا الوقت حينما كانت السفينة لكم ؟.. فنقول له: أنت شاب شهواني قليل الأدب .. وربما سافل كذلك .. مشكلتك هي أنك كسول تريد كل شيء بلا تعب ..
نعم .. وسائل الإعلام تنظر بريبة واضحة إلى هؤلاء الأوغاد بشواربهم نصف النامية والحبوب في وجوههم وأصواتهم الخشنة .. وهي تتظاهر بحبهم وتقدم لهم الكثير من (نانسي عجرم) و(أليسا)، لأنهم ما زالوا الوسط الاستهلاكي الأفضل، لكنها تعتقد في قرارة نفسها إنهم خطر أمني داهم، وأنهم يدارون ذيولهم في سراويلهم ..
المشكلة فعلاً أن الشباب لم يعد على ما يرام .. هذه الطاقة الكاسحة المعطلة التي حرمت الأمل والمشروع القومي المشترك تزداد خطرًا يومًا بعد يوم، والفراغ يهدد كل شيء وكل بيت .. لاحظ انتشار الكافتيريات وملاعب البلياردو ومقاهي السايبر.. باختصار: ثقافة البطالة. لاحظ نمو التطرف الديني الذي تزامن مع غياب المشروع القومي والأمل في الغد. ولغة (الروشنة) التي يستعملها الشباب تحوي في 90% من كلماتها معاني الاستهتار والتحدي .. دعك من الوقاحة التي يشكو منها كل مدرس .. يحكي الدكتور (جلال أمين) – العالم الوقور عظيم الشأن - عن شاب من هؤلاء دنا من سيارته وهو جالس فيها ينتظر زوجته، فاستند على النافذة بجواره، وراح يثني مرآة سيارته ويفتحها بلا توقف وبلا هدف واضح وعلى سبيل التحدي فقط، بينما ظل الأستاذ الكبير جالسًا في السيارة صامتًا يرقب هذا السلوك غير المفهوم..
لكننا نحن المسئولون بالكامل عن خلق هذا الوحش .. وكما يقول الشاعر العربي:
إنا بأيدينا جرحنا قلبنا .. وبنا إلينا جاءت الآلام
قرأت لأحد الصحفيين الكبار (الفلاسفة) – ولن أذكر أسماء لأن بلاط السجن سيكون باردًا جدًا في هذه الفترة من السنة - أنه كان في رحلة مع مجموعة من الشباب حينما سمعهم يغنون: الأقصر بلدنا بلد سواح .. فيها الأجانب تتسوح .. وكل عام وقت المرواح بتبقى مشتاقة تروح .. وتسيب بلدنا !
يتساءل الأستاذ العبقري: أين ذهب الانتماء لدى جيل الشباب ؟... ذهب يا سيدي الفاضل بسببك وسبب أمثالك، الذين أيدتم كل نظام حكم وكل سياسة، وعملتم جاهدين من أجل الوصول إلى الثراء والنفوذ صاعدين سلمًا من أجساد الشباب المطحون .. في عصر كانت الصحف المصرية ترسم فيه الزعماء العرب جالسين على (قصرية) أطفال، وفي عصر كان يعلن فيه في الصحف عن زيادة الأسعار فتكتب مقالاً كاملاً تؤيد فيه هذه الخطوة المباركة التي تأخرت كثيرًا، وحينما يضع السادات كل قوى مصر السياسية في السجن تكتب مباركًا (ثورة سبتمبر) هذه ..
يؤمن الشباب بعبد الناصر فيخرج ألف كتاب يلعن عبد الناصر .. يحن الشباب إلى سعد زغلول فتمزقون سعد زغلول ..كل إنجازات يوليو تحولونها إلى كوارث يوليو .. تهللون للاشتراكية في عهد عبد الناصر ثم تلعنون أباها في عهد السادات .. وتلعنون أمريكا في عهد عبد الناصر وتكتشفون أنها الشريك الكامل الأمين في عهد السادات. ولولا بعض الحياء والخشية من النظام الحالي الذي يستمد شرعيته من أكتوبر لشككتم في حرب أكتوبر ذاتها : "المصريون لم يعبروا القناة في أكتوبر .. القناة هي التي تحركت إلى الغرب بضعة كيلومترات".
في إحدى فترات الخلاف العابرة مع أمريكا قرأت مؤخرًا لصحفي كبير جدًا يقول: "علينا أن نشفى من خرافة أن 99% من أوراق الحل في يد أمريكا!". والحقيقة أنك يا سيدي كتبت هذه الخرافة مرارًا من قبل خاصة في عهد السادات ..من حسن حظ الشباب أنه لم يقرأ مقالاتك القديمة تلك وإلا لجن بالتأكيد..
تخرج وسائل الإعلام للقاء الشباب ومعها المذيعة التي سكبت زجاجة أكسجين كاملة على شعرها ووضعت طنًا من المساحيق كأنها إحدى بطلات مسرح الكابوكي الياباني.. تسأل الشاب عن اسم وزير (التوابع المضادة) أو وزير (التعاون الإعلامي التخطيطي) فلا يمن الله عليه بكلمة .. من ثم تخرج الصحف صارخة: الشباب تافه شهواني رقيع .. ليت الشباب يهتم بعقله كما يهتم بالدهان الذي يسكبه على شعره ..
الحقيقة أن الإجابة عن هذا تكمن في كلمات (أورويل) في روايته الرائعة 1984 عندما دبت مشادة بين البطل وحبيبته حول (هل كان الحزب في حرب مع أيستاسيا أولاً أم كان في حرب مع إيوراسيا ؟)... يقول (أورويل) إن الفتاة لم تكترث بهذا على الإطلاق لأنها لا ترى فارقًا بين هراء وهراء آخر ..
الشاب لم يختر وزير (التعاون الإعلامي التخطيطي) ولم يسمع عنه من قبل، ويوم يرحل هذا الوزير فلن يعرف أحد السبب .. إذن ما جدوى معرفة اسمه ؟.. لا فارق بين (هراء وهراء آخر).. اسمحوا للشاب أن يختار وزير (التعاون الإعلامي التخطيطي) ثم طالبوه بأن يعرف اسمه، وانصبوا له المشانق لو لم يعرفه ..
نفس الشيء ينطبق على الأسئلة من طراز (متى مات بيلاطس البنطي ؟).. (ما طول نهر المسيسبي ؟).. (من مؤلف كتاب تثقيف الشعوب في تقنية الحاسوب ؟).. السيدة المذيعة لو انتزعوا منها البطاقة الأنيقة لن تعرف الإجابة، والسيد المعد لا يعرف الإجابة وأنا لا أعرف الإجابة، وليس مما يفيد الإنسان المعاصر أن يعرف طول نهر المسيسبي ما دامت هذه المعلومات موجودة في أية دائرة معارف .. إنها ثقافة (الكلمات المتقاطعة) التي يصرون على أنها هي الثقافة ولا شيء سواها، بينما الثقافة هي أن تستخدم ما تعرف في تكوين مفهوم متكامل للعالم من حولك وكيفية التفاعل معه ..
لكن وسائل الإعلام لا ترضى بهذا .. هي لا تريد إلا أن ترى الدماء تسيل وتلطخ كل شيء .. لهذا تطالب برأس الشاب التافه.. بينما اسم آخر أغنية لراغب علامة أو عيد ميلاد روبي هي بالفعل معلومات تبدو مهمة للشاب .. على الأقل هو لا يُرغم على معرفتها، وتمس حياته – ورغباته – بشكل واضح .. ولا تتعالى عليه أو تعده بما لا يمكن تحقيقه .. ولا تهدم ما آمن به من قبل بلا مبرر.. والأهم أنها لا تسد عليه طريق الترقي والنمو في الحياة .. باختصار: (روبي) تبدو هي الشيء الوحيد الحقيقي وسط كل هذه الأوهام وكل هذا الكذب ..
الشباب ليس مجموعة من الملائكة، لكنهم ليسوا شياطين ..سوف يصيرون كذلك لو لم نفق من غيبوبتنا، ونحن لسنا ملائكة ولا شياطين .. نحن ملاحون خائبون غرقت سفينتهم أو كادت .. وعلينا أن نترك قطعة خشب واحدة طافية ليتمسك بها من يأتون بعدنا.

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Dat Het Paradijs voor mij zal zijn

This is the title of a dutch documentary about the life of three Muslimahs in Holland. It is traslated as: "That Paradise will be mine".
I choose this title because i've just woke up and all i had in mind was thinking about paradise. How do you think it would be?
I've always thought that .. ok .. i usually do the right/good deed because i THINK it's good or because i WANT TO do good or even for as noble a reason as just PLEASING ALLAH but i keep hearing how companians (pbuh) always worked for the sake of jannah ... this was an entire generation that saw nothing in their minds but jannah ... i remmeber once i heard that one of the companions used to say that before he'd start performing his prayer, he'd imagine that the Ka'ba is infront of him, hellfire on his left, paradise on his right and the angel of death at his back ... and i've always thought of this as a shortage in my faith ... when Muhammad (pbuh) was given the message, he promised his followers NOTHING but jannah ... and so did all the prophets and messengers before him ... and now, jannah is the last thing i think of??!!!
But then, a few days ago, i was watching Amr Khaled in his live broadcast from Hajj ... Here's what i could summarize of it:
There was a man called Al Hareth Ben Asad Al Mohasabi ... he was a scholar. He founded a school called "Madraset Al Tawah'hum" ... Al Tawah'hum means "imagination" ... He'd sit with his students and tell them: "Imagine ..." .... "Imagine that you're standing between the hands of Allah ... Imagine that you are in Jannah" ... and the result was that a whole generation was formed of ppl who are so connected and immersed in the love of Jannah.
So, Amr Khaled said: "Now, Let's try to imagine what will happen in the day of judgement ... Close your eyes and imagine now that you are passing over Al Serat .. you are given your book with your right hand ... Al So7of tatatayar ... ur hasanat are more than your saye2at ... you've crossed all the way along the serat and far away you can see the door of the Jannah ... when you reach there and stand by the door ... you can see ppl around you .. ppl with whom you worked for the sake of Allah, you loved for the sake of Allah, someone who was with you in Hajj ... etc. ... and you see the companions ... can you imagine that you might be standing next to Omar? or Abu Bakr? or Ali? ... and you see the prophets ... Sayedna Ibrahim standing by the door of Jannah ... but he cannot open it ... No one can open it ... but then, there comes a man, cutting his was through the crowed, saying "ana laha (i'm for it) .. ana laha (i'm for it)" ... do you recognize him?
yes, it's the prophet (pbuh) ... can u feel him approaching your way ... may be he'll shake hands with you ... put his hands on your shoulders ... pass it over your heart like he did with his companions ... may be he'll reach out his hand and holds the hand of someone and take this person to enter with him Jannah ... will that person be you? ... then the prophet (pbuh) is knocking on the door of Jannah .. and the angel is asking him "who is it?" .. and the prophet says his name .. the angel opens the door saying "Allah has commanded me that i open the door for no one but you" ... And the door of Jannah is now OPEN ... can you smell the scent ? ya tara is it the same scent that the martyers of Badr smelled on that day? ... The door of Jannah is now Open and you enter with the crowd ... but how are you entering it??? "And those who feared their Lord will be led to the Garden in crowds: until behold, they arrive there; its gates will be opened; and its keepers will say: "Peace be upon you! well have ye done! enter ye here, to dwell therein." [39.73] ... brother and sisters for Allah .. who lived and worked together for Allah ... every group of them will enter hand in hand ...
Actually, there are many different doors for jannah ... which door do you think you'll enter from? The door of those who perform prayers, door of those who fast, who pay sadaka? ...
And the moment you enter ... You let out a sigh of relief ... Imam Ibn Hanbal was asked once "when does the servant - of Allah - find relief?" and he answered: "with the first foot he sets in Jannah" ...
And you start strolling in Jannah ... Do you find it familiar?? Allah says in surat Muhammad "And cause them to enter the garden which He has made known to them." [47.6] ... yes, inshaa Allah we'll find Jannah as familiar to us as our neighbourhood .. here's the palace of Omar .. . This is nahr al Kawthar ... this is so and so ... - explanation by Amr Khaled: Isn't Jannah the original home of Adam? and we are sons of Adam ... then Jannah IS our HOME ... it's NOT Cairo nor Egypt nor even Planet Earth ... we are here on a temporary mission only ... if you go away from your home, don't you feel home-sick? Jannah IS YOUR HOME ... are you home-sick for Jannah?? And while you were living, are you working for it?
Ibn Al qayem said:

فحى على جنات عدن فانها *** منازلنا الاولى وفيها المخيمُ

ولكننا سبى العدو *** فهل ترانا نرد الى أوطاننا ونسلمُ ؟ .

"So saluts upon the garden of Eden, it is our original residance and there is our camp
but we r captives of the enemy, do you think we'll return back to our home and be safe?"

And what do you see in Jannah ... "there are things that no EYES have seen, no EARS have heard, things far beyond humans' imagination or comprehention ..." as the prophet (pbuh) said - Amr khaled comments on the 'order' of the three phrases saying that it goes from the small range to the larger ... what did you see in your life? Egypt, Lebanon, America ... in Jannah you'll "see" much much more ... what did you "hear" about in your life? ... I heard about Mars and Venus and all the Galaxy ... i didn't see them, but i heard about them ... in Jannah there is much much more ... And wut did you "imagine" in your life? I imagined a golden palace on a green mountain with a water stream running down the mountain? ... In jannah there is much much more ...
And where is your place in Jannah? A palace? And who are your neighbours? Today you recieved an invitation from the prophet (pbuh) to have lunch at his place ... tomorrow you are going to invite al 3ashara al mobasharoon bel jannah for dinner :) ... Anything you wish ... your dreams become instantly true ... "lahom feeha ma yasha2oon wa ladayna mazeed!"
The prophet (pbuh) says: "The smallest distance from Paradise is better than all the land over which the sun rises and sets". so how about having a palace in jannah!! and it shows that really, if u just have an area that'd barely fit u standing is enough! Actually, Mujahed says:
‏وقال مجاهد إن أدنى أهل الجنة منزلة لمن يسير فى ملكه ألف سنة يرى أقصاه كما يرى أدناه وأرفعهم الذى ينظر إلى ربه بالغداة والعشى
That is: the lowest rank of the people in paradise, is one who walks in his own land a thousand years ..
and the highest rank in paradise, is one who looks at his lord day and night" ... This is the best reward in Jannah ... the reward of looking at Allah ... can you feel the light that fills you when you look at the face of Allah? - May be that's why those who make qiam are the most light-faced ppl ... because they spend the night between the hands of Allah, so how about looking at Allah!
And can you hear the voice of Allah saying "Salamon 3alaykom O habitants of paradise" ... and you reply with the rest of the habitants of Jannah "Allahuma Anta Al salam .. wa menka Al salam ... wa elaika ya3odo Al Salam " ... - O Allah, you are the peace, and peace comes from you and to you it returns - yes, the same words you say after each prayer w/o really feeling them .. can you feel them now? can you feel what dignity and honor and happiness and pureness it is to be talking to ALLAH?

After i watched that episode, i instantly typed this summary, hoping it'll always be there as a reminder for me ... and yesterday, i was chatting online with a friend of mine, and she was upset about something, and i dunno where my words came from, but i said "hey! cheer up! life is short, and afterwords inshaa'Allah will be Jannah :-D " ... i was really surprised at myself, because i never thought like that before ... but i think "how foolish! ... What good is it to walk along a path when you don't believe in the end of it ?" ... so, i was just walking and walking towards no goal ... i have to FIRST set the goal and then walk towards it.

وَسَارِعُواْ اِلَی مَغْفِرَةٍ مِّن رَّبِّکُمْ وَجَنَّةٍ عَرْضُهَا السَّمَاوَاتُ وَالاَرْضُ اُعِدَّتْ لِلْمُتَّقِینَ ﴿133﴾ الَّذِینَ یُنفِقُونَ فِی السَّرَّاء وَالضَّرَّاء وَالْکَاظِمِینَ الْغَیْظَ وَالْعَافِینَ عَنِ النَّاسِ وَاللّهُ یُحِبُّ الْمُحْسِنِینَ ﴿134﴾ وَالَّذِینَ اِذَا فَعَلُواْ فَاحِشَةً اَوْ ظَلَمُواْ اَنْفُسَهُمْ ذَکَرُواْ اللّهَ فَاسْتَغْفَرُواْ لِذُنُوبِهِمْ وَمَن یَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ اِلاَّ اللّهُ وَلَمْ یُصِرُّواْ عَلَی مَا فَعَلُواْ وَهُمْ یَعْلَمُونَ ﴿135﴾ اُوْلَئِکَ جَزَآوُهُم مَّغْفِرَةٌ مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ وَجَنَّاتٌ تَجْرِی مِن تَحْتِهَا الاَنْهَارُ خَالِدِینَ فِیهَا وَنِعْمَ اَجْرُ الْعَامِلِینَ ﴿136﴾

Be quick in the race for forgiveness from your Lord, and for a Garden whose width is that (of the whole) of the heavens and of the earth, prepared for the righteous(133)Those who spend (freely), whether in prosperity, or in adversity; who restrain anger, and pardon (all) men;- for Allah loves those who do good(134) And those who, having done something to be ashamed of, or wronged their own souls, earnestly bring Allah to mind, and ask for forgiveness for their sins,- and who can forgive sins except Allah?- and are never obstinate in persisting knowingly in (the wrong) they have done. (135)For such the reward is forgiveness from their Lord, and Gardens with rivers flowing underneath,- an eternal dwelling: How excellent a recompense for those who work (and strive)! (136) [Al Emran]


اِنَّ فِی خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالاَرْضِ وَاخْتِلاَفِ اللَّیْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ لآیَاتٍ لِّاُوْلِی الالْبَابِ ﴿190﴾ الَّذِینَ یَذْکُرُونَ اللّهَ قِیَامًا وَقُعُودًا وَعَلَیَ جُنُوبِهِمْ وَیَتَفَکَّرُونَ فِی خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالاَرْضِ رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقْتَ هَذا بَاطِلاً سُبْحَانَکَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ ﴿191﴾ رَبَّنَا اِنَّکَ مَن تُدْخِلِ النَّارَ فَقَدْ اَخْزَیْتَهُ وَمَا لِلظَّالِمِینَ مِنْ اَنصَارٍ ﴿192﴾ رَّبَّنَا اِنَّنَا سَمِعْنَا مُنَادِیًا یُنَادِی لِلاِیمَانِ اَنْ آمِنُواْ بِرَبِّکُمْ فَآمَنَّا رَبَّنَا فَاغْفِرْ لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَا وَکَفِّرْ عَنَّا سَیِّئَاتِنَا وَتَوَفَّنَا مَعَ الابْرَارِ ﴿193﴾ رَبَّنَا وَآتِنَا مَا وَعَدتَّنَا عَلَی رُسُلِکَ وَلاَ تُخْزِنَا یَوْمَ الْقِیَامَةِ اِنَّکَ لاَ تُخْلِفُ الْمِیعَادَ ﴿194﴾ فَاسْتَجَابَ لَهُمْ رَبُّهُمْ اَنِّی لاَ اُضِیعُ عَمَلَ عَامِلٍ مِّنکُم مِّن ذَکَرٍ اَوْ اُنثَی بَعْضُکُم مِّن بَعْضٍ فَالَّذِینَ هَاجَرُواْ وَاُخْرِجُواْ مِن دِیَارِهِمْ وَاُوذُواْ فِی سَبِیلِی وَقَاتَلُواْ وَقُتِلُواْ لاُکَفِّرَنَّ عَنْهُمْ سَیِّئَاتِهِمْ وَلاُدْخِلَنَّهُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِی مِن تَحْتِهَا الاَنْهَارُ ثَوَابًا مِّن عِندِ اللّهِ وَاللّهُ عِندَهُ حُسْنُ الثَّوَابِ ﴿195﴾ لاَ یَغُرَّنَّکَ تَقَلُّبُ الَّذِینَ کَفَرُواْ فِی الْبِلاَدِ ﴿196﴾ مَتَاعٌ قَلِیلٌ ثُمَّ مَاْوَاهُمْ جَهَنَّمُ وَبِئْسَ الْمِهَادُ ﴿197﴾ لَکِنِ الَّذِینَ اتَّقَوْاْ رَبَّهُمْ لَهُمْ جَنَّاتٌ تَجْرِی مِن تَحْتِهَا الاَنْهَارُ خَالِدِینَ فِیهَا نُزُلاً مِّنْ عِندِ اللّهِ وَمَا عِندَ اللّهِ خَیْرٌ لِّلاَبْرَارِ ﴿198﴾

Behold! in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day,- there are indeed Signs for men of understanding (190) Men who celebrate the praises of Allah, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth, (With the thought): "Our Lord! not for naught Hast Thou created (all) this! Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the penalty of the Fire. (191)
"Our Lord! any whom Thou dost admit to the Fire, Truly Thou coverest with shame, and never will wrong-doers Find any helpers! (192) "Our Lord! we have heard the call of one calling (Us) to Faith, 'Believe ye in the Lord,' and we have believed. Our Lord! Forgive us our sins, blot out from us our iniquities, and take to Thyself our souls in the company of the righteous.
(193) "Our Lord! Grant us what Thou didst promise unto us through Thine messengers, and save us from shame on the Day of Judgment: For Thou never breakest Thy promise." (194) And their Lord hath accepted of them, and answered them: "Never will I suffer to be lost the work of any of you, be he male or female: Ye are members, one of another: Those who have left their homes, or been driven out therefrom, or suffered harm in My Cause, or fought or been slain,- verily, I will blot out from them their iniquities, and admit them into Gardens with rivers flowing beneath;- A reward from the presence of Allah, and from His presence is the best of rewards." (195) Let not the strutting about of the Unbelievers through the land deceive thee (196) Little is it for enjoyment: Their ultimate abode is Hell: what an evil bed (To lie on)! (197) On the other hand, for those who fear their Lord, are Gardens, with rivers flowing beneath; therein are they to dwell (for ever),- a gift from the presence of Allah; and that which is in the presence of Allah is the best (bliss) for the righteous. (198) [Al Emran]

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Hmm, I've been away for some time now ... i don't think i'll be able to write anything in the coming week as weel due to my CCNA course.About my latest news, well ... I'm back to my old place at wrk ... which is good and bad in the same time ... It's good coz i love this place and a lot of my friends are there ... which is to an extent, a bad thing for my performance coz i get intrrupted a lot during my work ... but at least i get some social life !!!
Yesterday i had an email from Taha, she finally decided to create her own blog after days and says trying to convince her :-D
hmm, I really have nothing to write about this moment ... my mind is a bit distracted coz i gotta finish 13 more chapters TODAYYY!! :(((

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Why we crave HORROR MOVIES??!!!

I was Surfing a blog "thestorywriters.blogspot.com" and found this intersting article ...
I here copy the first part of it :

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“I think we are all mentally ill” are the words Stephen King chooses to start his article: Why we Crave Horror Movies. He claims that “we are daring the nightmare” (p.2) by watching these horror movies. He lists three reasons why people exhibit this behavior, the first being to prove our courage, which along with the second reason, in his opinion are too simple to be real reasons. The next is to reassure us of our normality and the final is to just have fun. But what fun is there in watching things so abnormal? He suggests that horror movies act as psychological pacifiers that are rarely available to people. This is needed since people are all somewhat innately insane; our degree of sanity depends on how well we hide this insanity from others. This is achieved through processes of portraying acceptable emotions (such as love, friendship and loyalty) and swallowing negative emotions, both of which are determined by society and not the individual. Thus, horror movies achieve balance of human behavior by dishing out meals for the hidden insanity.
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Well, for me, I consider myself as a big horror movie addict .. and i simply know why!
my mom says i'm sick, my dad says i'm senseless, most of my friends find it just a bad taste .. hehehe .. but i simply find it FUN! Does that mean i have an "evil" side? NOT NECESSARILY! ... there's a less freaky explanation :P ... i'll quote it from the blogger's comment itself:

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People do need breaks from daily life routines and get bored because of them. Movies do a good job at doing just that. They allow people to relax, let their guards down, and just sit and enjoy. Most of the time movies that are available are down-to-earth shows, so they too in a way become routine. This is where the possible need for having horror movies arises. Curiosity, alongside this reason, plays a big role in explaining this phenomenon. People tend to like to push the limits, explore the unknown, appreciate their normality (another of the simple and obvious reasons King dismissed). So if curiosity killed the cat, then it can certainly kill man… and make him crave watching horror movies too.

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It's true ... sometimes i'm sooo stressed at work and i know .. i just KNOW ... that i have to STOP everything and go watch a horror movie RIGHT AWAY ... this will be enough to get me breathing again ... i think it's the suspense that grabs all your senses and directs them towards the silver screen away from anything related to that even more scary creature sitting on the other side of the screen that's called "YOU"!!

Note: This goes with special dedication to the only one who can compete with me in horror movie addiction ;-)

La illaha illa Allah

Two days ago, my dutch friend gave me anasheed tapes she brought from Holland (i think it's originally recorded in France) ... so, i said i'd listen to them on my way to the course this morning ...
Hmm, at the beginning i didn't like it much coz i don't like the uni-rythm of Duffof w/o a separate rythem of the song itslef ... but then, there came one song that catched my ears ...
it went:
la ilaha ella Allah
beha qad nada rusollullah
w satabqa 3abral azman
3aleyatan inshaa'Allah ...
3aleyatan inshaa'Allah ...
The next thing i know was that i couldn't see the car infront me and i had to park on the side of the street breaking out in tears.
This is the song that el hagga loves ... and the last time i heard it was in the celebration of the birth of the prophet (pbuh) last year ... we gathered around her and she lead the singing ... it was sooo emotional ... and everyone was there ... and with my depression (last posting) combined with the memory of our gathering, it just broke me!
Taha also loves this song a lot .. more to my nostalgia :(

May Allah bless el hagga, taha, my dutch friend and you all :)

Saturday, January 07, 2006

A depression Outlet - personal crab ... no need to bother the reader!

I don't know y i'm having sudden feelings of depression in the past 2 weeks ...
May be coz i'm not having any fun at all!I lookat my life and i'm just chasing every second, from work to training to work to the lesson to work again ...!
A friend calls me "workaholic" .. and i guess i am .. i love my work, true, but i think i'm also considering it as a good treatment for loneliness.
I even refused to take one day off for eid when i actually could because i can't see any difference .. eid or not! My family won't go anywhere in eid .. they might not even meet ... and even if they met ... i usually don't enjoy the materialistic speech on the sound of screaming kids that fill in every inch of the place! i just get irritated when i'm in a small place with too many breathing creatures!
My friends? well! this is another story ... i've hardly been with them for months ... except in rare occasions ... and with one gone to the states, one to Kuwait, one gone to emarites and the rest either married, prgnant or to consumed with wrk (like myself) ... it seems everyone has drifted with life in a different direction! Even when we DO meet sometimes, there's always smthg. i'm in a hurry for or my mind is too occupied with smthg other than enjoying the moments! The last time that i remember i had real fun was when we were preparing for the summer party last May n June!
I've always held much value for my friends .. they r all i have ... with the wide gab between me n my parents that gets wider n wider everyday and the added fact that i'm a single child ... ! I think this family-gab status only occurs with teenagers .. may be i'm a teenager still! But the point is, we simply have NOTHING in common ... not the least thing ... so they have their life and i have mine ... ! I like to watch movies, my mom only watches talk shows, my father likes drama ... can you imagine how difficult it is to decide who'll held the remote control? hehehe ... We even have to buy THREE DIFFERENT types of cheese to satisfy our different tastes for Allah's sake!!!! how big can that gab be?
However, someone once told me "u might not wanna get married now coz ur enjoying ur life now .. with friends and outings and fun ... but all that will not last ...you should have someone to share ur life!" ... now i'm giving this a second thought ... lonliness can hit you faster than you know it! :(

Friday, January 06, 2006

Management ... Facilities ... and other stuff (upon Dresia's request)

Yesterday we had visitors from the top management ... There was a meeting oustside the premisis and when we came back, i went to my former place which i haven't visited for some days .. i entered the bathroom and OH LA LA ... new soap dispensers were installed, and toilet-paper holders and they EVEN fixed the door knob that was broken a week ago ... can you believe that???
Why do ppl always need to supervised and monitored to make things better?
i mean, If they DO have the ability to make things better, why do they wait for a visitor to come and suddenly everything is shining bright? It sure looks bareface hypocracy!
It's like when Egypt was preparing for the FIFA report on hosting the world cup - which came with a shamefull ZERO votes of course - ... i was walking in Ramsis square ... one of the most crowded squares ever ... whether with cars or ppl ... and OH MY GOD!! suddenly, i found a whole new place, it's like when you spill scented water on your appartment ceramic-floor ... everything polished, new fences, side-walks ... they also moved the microbus station that was one of the major causes of jams in the area - needless to mention the noise pollution with all these drivers yelling "abasseya ... abasseya" ... u bet .. it WILL drive you to abasseya!! - they moved all these way behind the railway station ... It was AWESOME to see the great change in just a few weeks .... !
And that makes you wonder, if Egypt spent MILLIONS on setting things right for a FIFA inspectors, why is the government winning over our debts? and is it ready to spend MILLIONS on SOCCER and not on Egyptian CITIZENS??
And Hence, Bareface hypocracy makes no discrimination, whether u r a government, a manager or an office boy!

Thursday, January 05, 2006

What the heck is it with Egyptians and BAD APPOINTMENTS???!!

I've just came back from an outing with some of my friends on the occasion of one of them being in vaccation for a month before she goes back to Kuwait ... AAAAND ... I had a dispute with one of them because i went to pick her up and she was about 15 min. late!!
I dunno wut happened to me these days .. before, i had trained myself to tolerate ppl being ALWAYS late. I'm a daughter of a man who'd rather be 30 min. early than be 5 min. late, and that was the way i was raised, until by time and bad experiences with ALWAYS late ppl, i became a "rather be 30 min late than be ON TIME to find NOBODY there" person!!! But then, because i meet a lot of foreigners, the only comment i ALWAYS hear is "EGYPTIANS ... VERY BAD APPOINTMENTS!" .. they say this and i feel like it's a spit on my face ... simply because IT'S TRUE ...
we have no value for time ... u spend half ur day between traffic jams, awaiting transportation, awaiting a meeting to start, awaiting the elevator AND awaiting PEOPLE! And now, i just can't
tolerate this, because when someone gives me an appointment and they come late, i instantly recall wut foreigners say and i get irritated ... i'm proud to be an egyptian .. but in this ... It's simply shamefull! why can't we simply keep one damn appointment?!!!
you know, in all time management courses they tell you this: try to spend one week writing every single thing you do during every second of your day .. and at the end of the week, take a look at your notes and judge for urself how much time is wasted ... i challenge you, most of
the time wasted is wasted in WAITING!
Btw, this reminds me that the last time management course i attended, the lecturer came TWO AND A HALF HOURS LATE! What an irony! I couldn't just stand listening to HIM telling us HOW TO MANAGE OUR TIME!
And how come that we Muslims do that? I mean, we should be the most organized ppl ... our day is divided into specific intervals indicated by the five prayers ... you can manage ur whole life just by defining wut you should do in between the five intervals .. how easier could it be?
Besides, to give an appointment is a kind of giving your word for being in a certain place at a certain time ... it's a promise ... doesn't Allah say in the quraan "... and fulfill every engagement, for every engaement will be inquired into (on the day of judgement)" [Al Israa 17-34] ...and didn't the prophet (pbuh) say that there are three signs for a hipocrate: that if he speaks he lies, and if he promise he breaks his promise and if he's trusted he breaks his trust? And doesn't Allah say in surat As-saff [61-3]: " Grievously hateful is it in the sight of Allah that ye say that which u do not do" ... why can't ppl look at it from this side? it's breaking an appointment is breaking a promise ... how disliked is that for Allah and his messenger?
Once, Amr khaled was saying in one of his lectures that at the day of judgement, your life will be like huge locker, containing smaller and smaller lockers ... and so on ... each locker stands for a moment or a second in ur life ... and every locker/moment will be opened to see wut you did with it ... how can we be standing there and see all our lockers full of such crab .. waiting, waiting, waiting and waiting ...!And Imam Hassan Al basry says: "Every sun that rises would say: Oh son of Adam, I'm a new day, and a witness on your deeds, so take advantage of me because you'll not see me again until judgement day!"
In summary, whether ur the one who's late or your the one who's waiting, u r both losing!

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

My Career Type

Your Career Type: Social
You are helpful, friendly, and trustworthy.Your talents lie in teaching, nursing, giving information, and solving social problems.
You would make an excellent:
Counselor - Dental Hygienist - LibrarianNurse - Parole Officer - Personal TrainerPhysical Therapist - Social Worker - Teacher
The worst career options for your are realistic careers, like truck driver or farmer.
Hmm, MY CAREER! i can go on hours bout that.First, lets state the facts.Do you know the difference between a job and a career?A career, is something you take for a life time .. when you say "my career is programming" then you are/intend to be working in this field all/most of your life ... that's wut you study for.But, a job is smthg. temporary, my job is a solution delivery coordinator, may be a year later i'll have another job (i.e other tasks/responsibilities) within the same career/field.I'm a computer science graduate .. loved my studies, can say "excelled"
well too ... and when i graduated, i wanted to be an instructor .. well, not because i hate "programming", i just felt i'd find myself more in instruction. so was it, i spent the whole summer of my graduation year applying in different private sector academies/unis
until i finally got accepted in one of them ... well, my life during that time is a whole other story, in short, all my idiolistic theories about the importance and value of delivering knoweldge broke down on the rock of "reality" ...
in short again, private sector education in egypt is no better than a movie theatre, theaters don't care what morale the movie provides, the care about boxoffice ratings!So, a student wants a certificate, ok, give it to him ... he's a loser and doesn't even know how to write his name ... so wut? he's paying right? which means he's paying your salary, right? so SHUT UP and make
him pass the exam by any means!
Anyways, of course i had o quit ... stayed one n a half month at home ... then suddenly had an interview in a mltinational company ... i didn't know wut the heck i was hired for, wut am i gonna do ... i just made esteskhara and i joined the crew!Well, now, and after 7 month. there, i can summarize my job in a few words ... i'm a junior project manager ... i manage orders of
customers, from the ordering stage up to the installation/delivery stage (i.e i'm the one who looks after the order, making sure everyone is doing his job to get this service delivered to the customer) ... sounds boring? well .. to tell ya the truth, if you'd told me 7 month
ago that i'd be doing this, i'd hv certainly turned down the offer ... but practicing it is smthg. else ... i'm the type of a person who simply CANNOT STAND ROUTINE ... and if there's anything i can say bout this job .. it's definitly NOT routine! everyday, we have new problems to solve, new ppl to contact, new faces to meet, new countries to explore, new cultures to discover ... to me, this pays off for everything!So here i am, had a total career shift less than one year after my graduation and up till now, i can honestly say that i'm happy, no regrets Al Hamdullelah :)
Meanwhile, i'm still looking forward to continuing my former career at some point of my life inshaa Allah ... may be in parallel with my current job ... may be that's why i'm still holding to my computer science master preparation ... who knows!
More about the values added to me by my job, Instruction experiences, education ... etc ... coming posts inshaa'Allah ;)

My Summer Ride

Your Summer Ride is a Beetle Convertible

YUPPPPPIIIIEEE

Fun, funky, and a little bit euro.You love your summers to be full of style and sun!

Well, as u know, i've a 67 dark red Beetle which i adore ... unfortunately i have very small time to take care of it ... usually it's in severe need of a shower :( .. but i still adore it :)
Also one of my wildest dreams is to get a new Beetle convertable ... so imagine how true this quiz turned to be :P
Well, y a Beetle?
First of all .. it seems to run in my genes, my father owned over 15 beetles during his life, he'd just sell one to get another ... everytging, from model 1950 to 1973, Brazilians and Germans.
Second, a Beetle has a unique shape ... if it's true that a car represents ur personality, then i'd say that all drivers of cubic/cuboid/regular shaped cars are regular/too ordinary ppl!! but a Beetle is so unique in its shape, it's not regular (very great advantage coz it turns off any 200 pound guy who enjoys ruining any parking car by sitting on top of it ... a beetle is so uncomfortable to sit on - "neither to sit IN" , my friends who had the unfortnate pleasure to sit in the back will cunningly say, but for me, i'm sitting on a sofa there .. who cares bout other passengers :P ... I've known ppl who said a Beetle looks sooo funny that they feel so imbarressed to ride it ... well, that's their openion, if they like to be regular ordinary ppl driving regular ordinary cars, that's their problem!
I was thinking the other day, your car and your driving style could really tell a lot about your personality ... take this:-
1. A Pushy driver
One who usually cuts others badly, doesn't leave an inch between his car front and the front car's back (of course in Egypt, this rule is there only to be BROKEN ... coz ppl wrk with the wut we call "el booz base" ... booz in arabic means the front of anything ... so, the booz base indicates the following: the one whose booz is the more advanced, gets to pass ... of course your BOZE can be in any direction you like ... you can insert it horizontally in the 2 inches separating 2 vertical cars and NO ONE dares to object ... know wut i mean?).
2. A Show Off
One who like to brag bout the power n beauty of his car (notice the "his" not "her" because women here never do that )How? well, you have loootz of symptoms, starting from the 8000 GHZ speakers, the goofy stickers all over d cars trying to make it look like a mobile circus tent - SCHMUCKS - up to the MEGA tailpipes at the back of the car which makes one think a Monster Truck is gonna crash and squash your little Beetle, but you look in your rear mirror to find a littly filthy SEAT passing lazily beside you - JERKS!
3. A Selfish driver
One who keeps SCREAMING his car horn angrily (i heard that there are special horning sequences that mean very bad words ... 3alam ray2a!) because you DARED to stop befaore a walking sign to let an old man cross the street safely - assuming that any SANE person should just scare the hell out of d old man by a loud horn .. or even better ... run the old chap ... ur serving ur country with dropping one out of the 66 million citizens!
Or, one who pops out of nowhere just when your adjusting ur car to park in the 2ms away parking lot, taking over the place and looking at you from top down like "fee 7aga ya handasa?"!
4. Maniacs, potential killers, junkies, Alcaholics, reckless Dandies
You can place here all the following:
- Microbus drivers
- Bus drivers
- Truck drivers
- Peaugot Taxis ( since they tend to think that a peaugot is the biggest and strongest car around and hence, they got the final word in this territory)
5. Lazy drivers
I dunno wuts the connection between the capabilities of a car and those of the drivers' brain. Most small/old car drivers (i.e Seat, Fiat, Lada, Polonize .. etc) tend to drive like turtles ... slow reactions, slow motion ... slow everything .. i bet if u crash into one of those it'll take him centuries to realize that it was a car that hit him and not that he didn't just accedentaly pull his breaks!
6. Cart drivers
Now, i don't just mean "karro" drivers - these still think that earth is flat - but there are ppl who actually drive their car in the same manner they'd drive their donkey. A donkey walks slowly, doesn't care what's happening around, doesn't care if it's walking in the middle of the street or on the side. Hmm, hold on, was i referring to the car driver or the donkey? ... ;)
7. Sleep-Walkers
These are ppl who drive their feet (i.e ppl walking in the street). Well, these can be further divided into two categories according to wut dreams they have during their "sleep-walk":-
(i) The suicidals ... know the famous "I'm falling" dream ... these ppl tend to run fast across ur car, pop up suddenlly infront of you from behind a parking car or practically "throw" themselves on your car to make the reckless driver - you - stop and let them pass.
(ii) Zoompies ... who walk like they r hepnotized, whether u horn, yell, scream, use flash light, they'll cross the street means they'll cross it NOW and dare you do anything other than STOP or run me over -in this case, i'm the victim and u r the reckless driver no matter wut u think!
Well, you might ask me "which category do you fit in?" ... hmm, lemme tell ya smthg ... for me, a drive is a distance between 2 points, and since i get sooo tense when i'm driving, i tend to cut this distance as quickly as possible in order to end my torture. Thus i'm too hasty and most of the time reckless .. so i guess i fit - unfortunately- into group 4 ... Though honestly, my driving attitude has greatly improved in the past two years but some things you can never change ( check the above list, imagine how many of these you meet everyday and try to tell me to cool down while driving!)
Now, which type of driver are you? ;)

What Age Do I Act! ;)

I am 18 Years Old

13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. (YUP! Everyone who knows me will DEFINITLY CONFIRM! hehehe)

My Blogging Type

Your Blogging Type Is Thoughtful and Considerate
You're a well liked, though underrated, blogger.You have a heart of gold, and are likely to blog for a cause.You're a peaceful blogger - no drama for you!A good listener and friend, you tend to leave thoughtful comments for others.