Vote for Dad

عبدالمحسن تقي مظّفر
مرشح المنبر الديمقراطي الكويتي عن الدائرة العاشرة

لانتخابات مجلس الأمة 2006

Inspired by Alia

Away from politics

Away from politics 1:
Today is the last day of class, the worst day of the year for me. I hate saying goodbye to students. Every semester I get to know a number of students. Some are old students from my days as a school teacher. Some are interestingly bold and original in their way of thinking. Some are a raging volcano of emotions and thoughts under a quiet facade. Some are still learning to gain a voice. Some are struggling with balancing family and school. Some I enjoy teasing and some take pleasure in teasing me. But all are such a pleasure to teach and an honor to know. To my 475 class and to those who graduated before, I dedicate this post.

Away from politics 2:
The maid I borrow from my sister twice a week to clean the house has to go back home. After finding a suitable candidate, I went to apply for her visa armed with the necessary papers only to be told that they need a recent divorce paper, not more than 6 months old. What's the logic behind this? 6 months? I'd understand, or can pretend to understand, 3 months, as a woman cannot remarry within three months of her divorce. But 6? What would happen in 6 months that can't happen in 3?

Away from politics 3:
I was supposed to join Walk the World with my friend yesterday. She couldn't take the day off so I decided not to go alone. But later on I decided to go to release some stress (not caused by the latest political events but by personal matters). Is it still supporting Child Hunger is my cause was a fresh walk on the beach for exercise and for stress release?

I leave you with pictures of the event:

وهم نبيها خمسة

Kuwait Political Database

Coming to terms with my ignorance regarding the current political situation, getting tired of having to refer to my little sister for information, and being in a state of perpetual confusion as to each MP's position regarding this and other debates, I decided to google Kuwait Politics and came across a very interesting and informative site for those political novices like myself. Check it out.

I just spent the last hour surfing through the various levels of information presented there. I found out that there are 44 registered voters sharing my family's last name, 4 of whom live in Jabber :)

التجمع القادم
وتستمر الإرادة
بمشاركة نواب الأمة .. نلتقي معاً في ساحة الإرادة
أمام مجلس الأمة - شارع الخليج العربي
يوم الجمعة 19 مايو - الساعة الثامنة مساء

pooh fellow bloggers/nabeeha5 fighters/ شباب الياسمين : Seeing your faces at those political gatherings has been part of the pleasure I derive from my meager political activism. I find myself insisting on attending in spite of my busy work schedule (semester nearing its end, exams not yet written) partly in excitement over meeting with you again. Our political struggle will hopefully continue beyond our struggle to approve the 5 constituencies. However, I would love for us to be able to meet on a more social ground. Are you interested? I wasn't able to contact all of you by email so I chose to spread my call here and in some of your blogs. Email me if interested.

هم نبيها 5

Let's not give in now. Sunday at 6. See you all there facing the Parliament.

I'm repeating the call of my fellow bloggers. It's time to make a stand. It's no longer about 5 or 10 or even 25. It's Kuwaitis showing they care about their country, showing they are involved, showing they are politically aware, or at least, politically interested in what's going on around them.

Please please please be there. Don't be passive. Don't say it's pointless. Don't say one person won't make a difference. If you care even a little bit about making this a better place to live in, start now. What harm would come to you? A few hours gathering with a bunch of devoted, interesting, fun, energetic and patriotic group of people (blogville is filled with those, as I have come to find out) can do you more good than harm.

Sunday, 6 pm, Facing the Parliament: See you there.

Let them eat cake!!!

Isn't this similar? I don't write political posts. This isn't politics. I write about food. So here's food for thought:

Isn't approving 10 when you ask for 5 similar to suggesting cake when you ask for bread?

Well, not quite. Offering cake is an indication of ignorance. Offering 10 is one of not giving a damn. Or is it not so?

Sunday: 6-8 PM

Parliament

5 for Kuwait

Rallying for 5, I met the following wonderful bloggers today:
Zaydoun: His was the first orange shirt I saw.
Papillona: Lovely and beautiful but feeling a little hot tonight.
Nunu: I seem to have confused you with noony (Judy Abbot currently I believe). Nice meeting you nevertheless.
iDip: Spotted through a women's plot to find the mysterious iDip.
Ayya: Meeting you made my night. I felt like a teenager meeting her idol.
The Stallion: Who thought we were gathered to celebrate cinqo de mayo :)
Walladah: Another one of my idols. To see that a real person exists behind those poetic visions is always baffling.
Nibaq: Nice meeting you again. Didn't have the chance to chat this time.

Seeing the enthusiam behind this rally tonight made me feel very optimistic. I'm hoping for the best.

Crash

My Lexy got hurt today :(
Here’s a sketch. I’m gray. He’s pink.

1:15: I call 777 to report it
1:18: Faiha Police Station calls to get details. They ask that I drive to Faiha. I ask: “But shouldn’t you come over to sketch the accident”. He answers: “It’s Ok. You come to Faiha PS we’ll figure it out.” I decide a genius works there so I relent. Driver of second car, however, refuses to budge till his boss comes. I call Faiha PS to tell them. They say: “Who was it you hit? An Indian?” I flip and say what the hell does that got to do with it? He says they always crash!!! He says let me talk to him. he does. Then I tell him forget it dude. You come inspect scene of accident. He agrees after I seem to remind him of his job.
1:40 He comes. He sketches. I follow to Faiha PS to leave car there as he said he’d call around 5 when inspector’s there so report can be written.
5:06: He calls. I head there with brother. At Faiha PS he tells us to photocopy license and registration. Naturally they don’t have this service at PS so we head out to nearby copy center. We make copies. We return to PS. He takes copies. Puts together with his sketch. Tells us to head to Kuwait City PS (Now why couldn’t he have done that earlier when we headed to PS to leave car there? It’s a mystery my dear readers. But we are not to question authority)
6:00 (or thereabouts) We arrive at Kuwait City PS. After 30 minutes wait, we meet inspector. After asking the other driver about what happened, inspector asks me: “Is the car in your name?” I say: “Yes”. Inspector/genius has car registration with my name in his hand while asking question. Next question: “What’s your address?” I give address. Then our noble inspector turns to my brother and asks “What’s your phone number?” My brother gives him his number refraining from making an obvious comment here, but couldn’t completely hold himself when inspector asks me to sign and wonders “Shouldn’t I sign since you took my number?”

Home and in bed. But worried about my baby sleeping all alone in an unknown area. Only soothed by the fact that my 2 other, not-so-baby babies are also not home. So I'm home alone. No kids. No car. Just me, myself and my Sony.

You know you're old when ...

... you no longer enjoy your own company.

When I was younger, I loooooved staying in my room all by myself. I mean what's not to love? I had my books. I didn't need to acommodate anyone else. It was time for me and me only. And what better company can there be?

Up till very recently, I loved being alone. Ba3ad shasawee I'm a hermit by nature. Utterly anti-social. I'm the boring one you find sitting quietly in social gatherings. The one who can never start a conversation and when addressed responds briefly. So quiet and withdrawn that people often mistake my inability to mingle as excessive pride "shayfa roo7ha."

But lately, maybe due to the fact that I live in a house with two boys who are rarely home themselves, I get bored staying home alone. It's too quiet. I think I need noise in my life. Maybe staying alone in my room before was doable because the house was always noisy and you don't get this sense of being alone.

Or maybe ...

maybe ...

maybe ...

Dare I say it?

maybe ...



... it's a sign of getting old :)

Birthdays Birthdays Birthdays

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROS

We had a wonderful time last night. Candlelit night, oud music, and amazing company (family only actually, which is really the most amazing and fun company I know)

Thanks A and E for a wonderful night.

المسجد

كتاب اللغة العربية للصف السابع - ص.120

This is part from lesson 20. I'll sum the rest here:

Aside from their religiouos purpose, neighbourhood mosques have a social purpose of caring for members of each neighbourhood. As a hospital cares for the sick body, so the mosque cares for the sick soul. It educates the ignorant, helps the poor, offers advice for distressed families, and much more. Such mosques are a necissity in life, functioning like schools, courts and charity organizations.
Why can't the mosque also be a school for women just like it's a school for men? Why can't each mosque devote lessons to educate women with regards to their religious and social duties, with guidance to how a woman can fill her house with happines and joy? (personal note: of course, what else is a woman good for other than adding joy to her home?)
(this is where the scanned excerpt fits: my humble translation: woman is now deprived of her spiritual and religious nourishment, being away from the mosque, deprived of it for no good readon ... as woman is deprived from her mosque, so will her children be deprived from religious compassion ... and if a woman strays from the right path once and finds no solace in the mosque, she will err again ... she now wanders from home to malha (bar/game/fun/play) with no mosque to balance between the boredom of home and the extremity of having fun)
The piece continues explaining how this is the purpose of mosques, educating both men and women and that lately people have been drawn away from mosques because the preachers can't get to their hearts.

I don't even know where to begin to comment on this piece of crap.
Ok. So all if fine and dandy. So mosques are an institution that assists in the role of schools and court. Fine. I'll shut up about all that.

But why dedicate a whole paragraph to women strayingfrom the path of righteousness? What about men? Don't they ever err too?

**egh anger anger**egh smashing whatever's close at hand**egh hates our stupid educational system**egh hates that her sons have to read this nonesense**f**s**who the hell approves of these books?

**The piece is taken from فيض الخاطر for أحمد أمين

The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" has always been one of my favorite poems. I thought I'd share and see what you think:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

To King Zaydoun with Love

No no no I'm not hitting on you :P

This started as a comment on your blog. But then I realized it's getting long so thought of making use of it to fill my lately-quiet blog.

So...
It's Thursday. Family gathering. We want to go out. Took me forever to find numbers to Totally Fish (fully booked) then Biella (reservation secured)

So suggestion extended to you, King Z, for the following reason:
Whenever I google any restaurant in Kuwait, your blog comes up as first on the list. You seem to have inadvertently covered most restaurants in Kuwait.

So ... why not make that a vocation? Why not devote a blog for restaurant reviews? This way you can give the ignorant among us a guide to refer to. (I suggest you include address and phone number too to make it easier on me :)

Now your not so loyal subject has to return to work to avoid being banished from your Kingdom.

The cutest 'Notice' ever

Don't you just love this? It's posted on the main door to my building. Apparently the maids have been having trouble cleaning the 'big mash' caused by cat and dog in the 'down steared'

Sorry, but the English teacher in me can't leave this undocumented.


How's your week everyone?

Dear God ...

My favorite DEAR GOD's:

Dear God: Did you mean for giraffe to look like that or was it an accident?
Dear God: Instead of letting people die and having to make new ones, why don't you just keep the ones you have now?
Dear God: Thank you for the baby brother but what I prayed for was a puppy.
Dear God: We read that Edison made light, but in Sunday school they said you did it. So I bet he stole your idea.
Dear God: Maybe Cain and Able would not kill each so much if hey had their own rooms. It worked with my brothers.


Sorry if the picture is too small to see. Picasso would've been a better choice but this is faster and I'm getting sleepy.

Crash

Now this is one hell of a movie. But I don't wanna ruin it for you by telling you how great it is. So watch it. You won't regret it. I got it a few days ago and only now got the chance to see it. I think the Oscars might have hastened my decision to watch it now. But it has certainly not affected my judgement of it.

Oh and this scene here. This is when ...

Naaah. I ain't gonna spoil it for you. :)

Enjoy

أسـبـوع الـفلـم الـلبـناني

تحت رعاية المجلس الوطني للثقافة و الفنون و الآداب
نـادي الـكـويـت للـسـينما

يقدم
أسـبـوع الـفلـم الـلبـناني

في الفترة من 5 إلى 8 مارس 2006

الأحد 5 - 3 - 2006
طـيـف الـمديـنـة
إخراج : جان شمعون

الأثنين 6 - 3 - 2006
طـيـاره مـن ورق
إخراج : راندا شهال
أحـلام المـنـفى
إخراج : مي المصري

الثلاثاء 7 - 3 - 2006
لـما حـكيـت مـريـم
إخراج : أسد فولادكار

الأربعاء 8 - 3 - 2006
بـيـروت الـغربـيـة
إخراج : زياد دويري

يبدأ عرض الأفلام في الساعة 7 مساءً , و سيكون إن شاء الله في القاعة السمعية البصرية في مبنى المجلس الوطني للثقافة و الفنون و الآداب في منطقة الشرق , مقابل غرفة الصناعة و التجارة و مقابل وزارة الداخلية

للإستفسار
تلفون - بدالة : 2420848 الداخلي : 124

. . . . . . . . . .

LATEST UPDATE:

الأثنين 6 - 3 - 2006

طـيـاره مـن ورق

إخراج : راندا شهال

الثلاثاء 7 - 3 - 2006

أحـلام المـنـفى

إخراج : مي المصري

الأربعاء 8 - 3 - 2006

لـما حـكيـت مـريـم

إخراج : أسد فولادكار

تم إلغاء بـيـروت الـغربـيـة لعدم ملاءمته للمجتمع الكويتي المحافظ

نشكر الرقابة على حرصهم على أخلاقيات الشعب الكويتي وجزاكم الله ألف خير

ونأمل أن تصدق الإشاعة بشأن منع لما حكيت مريم أيضا

Child Labor

He said he was nine. The denied he was here last Tuesday at 9, a school night. When he realized I'm interrogating rather than buying, he evaded by saying it's turning green. It's gonna be green now. شبت خضرا. Then he ran to the other side of the road.

Child labor in Kuwait. How long before someone puts a stop to it? Are these kids being sent by their parents? Are they copying all the other kids who are doing it and easily winning their parents' approval to do that? How is it even legal? They close the 'baqala' in our neighborhood (and other hoods of course) but this, they endorce ... Go figure!!!

Is there a Charles Dickens in Kuwait?

Analysis of a Blogger's Block

This can't be a writer's block because I can't claim to be a writer. Lately my blogging has diminished. I can find two main reasons for that:
1) There hasn't been anything interesting going around in my life lately.
2) I am becoming really busy.
3) Blogging no longer interest me.

Now to analyze these point:
1) assumes that what I have been rambling about previously was interesting. Searching through my recent blogs I found some on my trip to Albuquerque (that can't be interesting), my KG report (like who cares), the ugliest collage ever of some breakfast item ... you catching my drift? Lack of interesting things to write about has never been the case.

2) busy? but i manage to find time to go out, to watch lost, to teach, to watch desperate housewives, to chat aimlessly with friends ... so again, busy is not an excuse here.

3) I can't analyze three, because if you have been a careful reader you'd notice I said I can find two reasons for that, not three. So reason three does not exist.

Here now (and not 'here boy', my sister's not so loyal old cat) A post is made. Enjoy and good night.

Week One

Week one started last Saturday. My classes seem promising so far. I'm not very crazy about segregated classes, especially of girls only, so that one is already my least favorite. Too soon to judge of course, but my first impression is very promising so far.

Officially week one was last week. But since I was away and missed Saturday and Monday*, my students assumed I won't show up Wednesday as well.


* I spent Monday in London. Arriving at the hotel at 8:30 am, leaving it by 9, I took the Bakerloo line to Piccadilly Circus and walked from there to the fascinating National Gallery where I enjoyed the fastest tour ever inside a gallery, arriving 9:30 and leaving by 12:



After that I walked to Westminster Abbey, stopping for a quick picture of Big Ben:

Another fast tour, this time of the Abbey, lasting less than 2 hours.

By 3 pm I was starving so took the famous London taxi towards Harrods knowing that if I go there hungry, I'd shop for food and thus satisfy my need to buy something at Harrods, and at the same time not burden my budget by buying something from Harrods. So it was Pizza from their Pizzaria. Delicious.

By then I was totally and completely exhausted from lack of sleep ( I took a 5 hour sleep in the airplane getting there, but that was far from enough), so I took the underground again to the hotel for a nap.

Waking up, I took the Bakerloo line again to Piccadillly for some gift-shop hopping before going in for a fascinating night of Mama Mia:

London Baby :)

**Bader Ben Hirsi, director of The English Sheik and the Yemeni Gentleman, just left a comment on my blog of that title. Check it out if interested.

Albuquerque - Day 4

Picture taking was to its minumum today. This is my rendition of the San Felipe de Neri that I had on my February 5th post.

The church is in OldTown. I wasnt impressed with OldTown. Its not very old. Our Mubarakiya has more of an old look to it. Shops repeated same old Native American merchandise.

Later went to watch The White Countess. A bit on the dull side though it has some interesting moments. I don't really recommend it.

In 9 hours I head to the airport, so I better get some sleep now.


Albuquerque, 13 February, 1:05 am

Albuquerque - Day 3

Hippie Town (Madrid) on the way to Santa Fe

Nedra Matteucci Galleries - Santa Fe

Sculpture Garden at Nedra

Lunch at Santa Fe

Loretto Chapel - Santa Fe

And thats all for today :)

Albuquerque, 10 February, 10:12 pm

Albuquerque - Day 2

Touring the city in the morning, my camera captured the following:

Casino in the middle of the desert. This is no Vegas, folks.

Winery: I was tempted to bring in a bottle of chocolate sauce with a hint of Cabernet. Would go perfectly well over some ice-cream or pie, or even as pancake syrup.

Statue at Botanic Gardens and Aquarium

Movie of the day: Brokeback Mountain. Wonderful story. Very much worth watching. Don't think they'd show it in Kuwait but oh well, long live piracy :)

Albuquerque, 9 February, 10:37 pm

Albuquerque - Day 1

After a restless night in bed, I finally woke up and headed to register and collect conference material. Around 12, and after chatting with this and that, my stomache started to protest, reminding me that I have been neglectig her (or is it him?) for the last 21 hours. Happily, I followed my stomache to a cafe where she ordered me soup and sandwich. We were both happy and decided to take a nap after such a satisfying meal to make up for last night's restlessness.

Alas, the nap lasted longer than expected and by the time I was up I could only catch the last session of the day, one against Spivak's Subaltern*. No harm done. I can still enjoy the rest of the night, maybe catch a movie. When lo and behold, here I am acting the role of the speaking subaltern as soon as I open my mouth with the words: 'Kuwait, I teach at Kuwait University.' Question upon question came tumbling on my head: do you wear burga' at home? do you date? do you have alcohol? do you eat meat? do you breathe? do you sleep? do Kuwaitis have 2 ears, 2 eyes like us Westerners? I submitted to these questions, like I usually do, by telling them 'No, No bother at all, ask away'.

When the subaltern in me satisfied herself by speaking, I decided to shut her up by taking her to a good-old American thriller. I mean heck, we Kuwaitis can watch thriller too, can't we?

I wasn't thrilled, neither was my muted subaltern, nor my grumpy stomache. Other than a beautiful house, the movie** had nothing. Why is it that thrillers always come with a beautiful house? Are we not to fear and pity those who live in projects? Such an Aristotelian mentality***!!

On the way back to the hotel, a mere 5 minute walk I spotted this and the blogger in me said: 'hold on here, let me entertain my blogging community with the first picture of Albuquerque downtown' I indulged, here's the result:

Church at 3rd and Tijeras.

And now me, stomache, subaltern, blogger and all are tucked in bed hoping to catch more sessions tomorrow.

*Spivak's "Can the Subaltern Speak" basically argues that no, she/he cannot speak, since speech utilizes the hegemonic colonial discourse which makes them speechless to begin with. So by speaking the language of the west, we become Westerners and thus our words are not those of the subaltern anymore.

**Movie: When A Stranger Calls.

***Aristotle tells us that the best tragedies are those with noble heros.

Albuquerque, 9 February, 1:19 am

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Leaving to Albuquerque, New Mexico this Tuesday. It's gonna be one hell of a trip. 3 flights, a total of 21 hours to get there. I hope Panadol night does the trick and puts me to sleep for at least 6 hours of my 9 hour Frankfurt/Chicago flight. Of course knowing me, the thing that is most likely to keep me up is my getting really really cold in those damned airplanes. Stacking up on layers of clothing won't help either, it'd only make me uncomfortable.

Now enough whining. I plan to spend a full day and night in London on the way back, so should be arriving home totally rejuvenated. I hope :/

San Felipe de Neri, Albuquerque.

Westminster Abbey, London.

My Multicultural Breakfast

picture's ugly but have to rush so don't have time to edit:)

Items on my breakfast table:

French white cheese
Kuwaiti milk
Swiss via Turkish chocolate powder
Danish butter
German Philadelphia cheese
American honey
Australian Kraft cheese

روضة بلقيس

You know you're old when you KG report turns yellow :)

Deciding to finally make some sense out of the mess I call my den, I came across this interesting piece of evidence.


I don't exactly know why I chose to remove the rest of my name. I'm probably still pretending that my blog identity is still a mystery :)

Kuwait's emir has died

Kuwait's emir, Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah, has died at the age of 77, state television reported on Sunday.
The announcement was made in a statement from the royal court carried by the television in the tiny Gulf state, a key U.S. ally and OPEC member.
The emir, who suffered a brain hemorrhage in 2001, was the 13th ruler of a 245-year-old dynasty which has ruled Kuwait since the Anaiza tribe, to which the al-Sabahs belonged, migrated from the Arabian hinterland.
Since the fall of Saddam Hussein in neighboring Iraq in 2003 and U.S. calls for change in the Middle East, the ruling family had come under intense pressure from both Islamists and pro-Western liberals to loosen its grip on the government and share power.
Kuwait, a founder OPEC member, enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living, despite its reliance on oil exports, unpredictable oil income and huge losses from the 1990-1991 Iraq occupation.
The Gulf state sits on one tenth of the world's crude oil reserves, or 95 billion barrels.
Used as the main launchpad for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Kuwait hosts up to 30,000 U.S. troops and some 13,000 U.S. citizens live in the country.
Kuwait, which a population of about 2.2 million, has cracked down on Islamists opposing the U.S. military presence there. Diplomats say radical Islam is taking hold among Kuwaiti youth.
In December, a Kuwaiti court sentenced to death six suspected militants linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda for bloody attacks in the country.
The six were among 37 Islamists on trial as members of the "Peninsula Lions" group believed to be linked to al Qaeda in Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

Yahoo New

The Perfect Dress

Jennifer's wedding day was fast approaching. Nothing could dampen her excitement - not even her parents' nasty divorce. Her mother had found the PERFECT dress to wear and would be the best dressed mother-of-the-bride ever!

A week later, Jennifer was horrified to learn that her father's new young wife had bought the exact same dress! Jennifer asked her to exchange it, but she refused.

"Absolutely not. I look like a million bucks in this dress, and I'm wearing it," she replied.
Jennifer told her mother who graciously said, "Never mind sweetheart. I'll get another dress. After all, it's your special day."

A few days later, they went shopping and did find another gorgeous dress. When they stopped for lunch, Jennifer asked her mother, "Aren't you going to return the other dress? You really don't have another occasion where you could wear it."

Her mother just smiled and replied, "Of course I do, dear. I'm wearing itto the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding!"


just something to keep my avid fans busy while I continue playing with my template.

Thanks to Shuroq's "try Wordpress, they say it has good templates" and Jackie's "need any help with templates I can hook you up with a few websites with nice templates," I am now addicted to the maze they call html :)

Fun with Template

I'll be working on my template for the next few days, trying out new things, so bare with me.

I leave you to rest here in the meantime:

I wanted this as my background. If only I can remove the dog it'd be perfect.

I hate sending such emails :(

I think you plagiarized your paper. I'll give you your two options:
1) Admit plagiarism. Earn an FA for this course. Case closed.
2) Deny plagiarism. We sit together and you convince me that you actually wrote it. Bare in mind that once you deny plagiarism but I actually prove you wrong, an FA is no longer the only result. If we discuss the paper and you fail to prove it to be yours, I report you to the dean and you suffer the consequences, which might entail your failure in the whole term.

Let me know what action you want to take.

Happy New Year

Last day of class today. A visit to Kaifan to collect mail and students’ paper (and apparently to argue with students about their grades not being well-deserved – their argument: they deserve more; my argument: they deserve less :)

I choose a marag 3adas lunch over going out in order to be faithful to my New Year Resolution to watch my expenditures. Ha-ha. I find myself laughing as I write this. Let’s see how long that lasts.

So now, 17 papers to correct, probably in a second or third version (when even really interesting papers lose their spark), and 10 more papers to correct for the first time, which means I have to struggle with sentence structure and language before I can even attempt to understand the thesis.
Wish me luck.

I’m not liking this coming Eid: two best friends are going away, one on vacation, another for a longer period. I’ll miss them tremendously. Two brothers also leaving with their wives so their kid will spend the vacation at their in-laws, making for a really quiet house at my mom’s.

I used to like Kuwait University

After finding this in my mailbox yesterday I came to accept that this is how things are. Whether I like it or not, our esteemed colleagues/administrators seem to think that it is the business of an academic institution to instill religious beliefs into its students. We might as well shut down the faculty of arts and transfer our students to Sharee3a.

Am I to expect a dress code soon? And will that apply to students only or does it also cover teachers?

And on a separate but related note: دعاء الركوب? Am I still at Kuwait University or is it now some religious institution? A colleague of mine was enraged because I asked my colleagues to consider the implications of these ads by leaving a note in their mailboxes. His/her argument was that I was thrusting my beliefs on them. Isn't the university administration thrusting its beliefs on students when it starts circulating religious messages in any form or shape? It's a university for god's sake, a place of learning. Can't we keep it as just that?
I have a big issue with calling our ministry of education وزارة التربية والتعليم, I don't accept strangers to be in charge of my children's 'tarbiya.'

The Fog

DONT WASTE YOUR TIME!
We didn't even have nachos or popcorn to distract us. I should've gone to see Ornina. The 3 hours spent on King Kong were much more worthy.

Saddam's trial is becoming quite a show. Funny in the beginning but getting on my nerves now. Get it done with already.

Our departmental lunch went well last Wednesday. But maybe not for the waiters at Biella. The poor souls, their service is already bad as it is, imagine having to serve a table of 6, no 10, no 24 who first asked for separate checks (you're joking ma'am, right?) then took over an hour to decide what to order. Of course yours truly totally forgot about that lunch and had lunch with her family at 2 only to have a colleague call and remind her of the department lunch at which time she helped herself with more lunch :)

So what's new in the blog world? I haven't been very blog-friendly lately. What did I miss?

Scars ... grudges ... and chicken

How long does it take for the scars of abuse to disappear? Do they ever go away? Whether it is child abuse, spouse abuse, or even strangers’ abuse, being in an abusive relation or witnessing abusive relationships seem to leave a permanent scar even if that scar is only obvious in one’s lack of inner strength, strength that usually enables us to deal with our shortcomings once we know their roots. Someone dear to me once told me I’m an adult now and should stop using childhood trauma (the term might be an exaggeration here) to justify my adult weaknesses. That person must have a deep reservoir of inner strength. I’m glad they do. But I don’t.

I am one to hold grudges. Even when I try not to, I can’t seem to help it. I have a really bad memory but when someone hurts me I can’t seem to forget. Maybe I forgive, but I almost never forget. Could that be why I don’t remember much from my childhood other than the times I was hurt? My only memory of the book fair that is held in Kuwait every year, and that I am sure was a yearly pilgrimage of my family, is of a dirty old man harassing me. I was fourteen back in the days when fourteen year old girls were actually girls. Or maybe I was just too buried in my sleazy romance novels to notice my bodily desires :). Up to this day I do not enjoy a trip to the book fair as much as I would want to. I even remember what I was wearing that day. Me. The one who wouldn’t remember what she ate for lunch yesterday or what she was wearing for work this morning.

People who lose their temper scare me. They actually scare me no matter how big or small they are. They scare me even when I know they have no intention of harming me. They scare me even when I know they can't hurt me. They scare me simply by heading towards me while they're angry. It's an instant irrational flash of fear that is/can not be explained or even contemplated. A very short glipse into darkness that is quickly chased away by my rationality. But chased away or not, it existed. For that blink of an eye it existed. Before my mind could register it my feelings took hold of it.
How chicken am I?

No Comment

I am a [female] university student ...

and my appearance suits my university.

I learn ... I discuss ... I debate
We compete in loving our university

No Comment. Hell. Please Comment. Please help me understand. Please tell me I don't work for this institution.

Both posters are displayed in Kaifan (داخل الحرم الجامعي)

Thank you cameraman N.M.

مهرجان القرين الثقافي

Last night (Thursday night) I went to Mishrif for a night of music with Ssassa, an Oriental Gypsy band. I haven't been going to many cultural events lately and I thought it's time to get back in the game (Going to Movie Week at Kaifan doesn't count). The music was so lively that it was hard to resist the urge to dance at times. A lebanese friend who was in our group was tempted to get up and do her share of dapka on those tunes. It was an extremely festive mixture of Greek, Turkish, Kosovan, and Macedonian tunes.



I don't know how many more of these qurain events I would want to attent though. I didn't check all their schedule yet.


On a separate note, did winter cancel on us this year or what?

The Hour of Demonic Possession

So according to this movie, 3 o'clock is the hour of demonic possession as it is the demons' way of mocking the holy trinity. I wonder what our Muslim hour of demonic possession.

Not a bad movie. I expected court scenes mostly but it turns out to be a jumpy movie at times.



A group of viewers arrived 5 minutes into the movie, talking in their loudest voices, laughing and edging themselves in the seats behind us. Now their loud entrace I might have excused if they didn't also happen to be carrying a bag full of popcorns and chocolates and dragging that bag on our heads as they eased their bulky selves into their seats. OK so the girl wasn't realy fat, just big, but she really needs to learn to check her surroundings when she walks. I wonder what kind of driver she would make. And then half way into the movie (or is it at the end? I don't remember) another member of that loud group got up to probably restock on food and this time it was her bag that whacked our heads as she left.

Going out for lunch now so will cut this short.

Nice Weather Today

Amazing weather today. Took my class out again where we talked about Coleridge and Opium. (I hope no one starts having ideas)

Scattered my second grass on the lawn in Kaifan (yes we have one). One group sat on the floor and I was tempted to spend more time with them than with the other groups. That group of 5(my limit to group work) increased to 7 members, tempted by their picnic style lesson (I told them all we need now is wine and cheese, but then suggested Vimto to preserve our traditional values)

(Another Lawn. Another Place. Far Far Far Away From Kaifan)

There was a stray kitten in front of our department and I was tempted to bring it some milk. It was greatly enjoying the weather while spoiling itself on the welcoming rugs they seem to spread ourside our building whenever we have a certain function. (Could it be their idea of a welcoming red carpet? But it's 3 big 3x5 rugs??)

تلفون خربان

Why do government employees lack the simplest levels of customer service?
Why do they assume that customers have nothing to do other than wait for them while they chat with this and that?
Why do men have a problem looking at you when you talk? And I'm not talking about those so-called religious le7ya dudes. This guy had no trouble blabbing away with his female colleagues.

I went to Surra (phone company? what do you call those places?) to get some things done and the woman servicing me didn't know what to do so she had to ask this man who appeared to be her superior. He was chatting in his loudest voice with other employees so stepped forward to quickly answer her questions then went back to his yapping. When I addressed him with my question he seemed to look right through me. Am I invisible? The woman asked him another question, and again he gave her a quick answer and moved on without waiting to see if she got it (she didn't). Why can't those people be a little more professional?


Lunch today was a three piece meal of dark chocolate shot for appetizer, fondu for the main dish, and dark chocolate truffle for desserts. You think I overdid it?

And Now I sleep.

Marooned in Iraq

Optimistic in its ending, as seen in the continuation of life through Hanareh's daughter, the film is an extremely somber type of dark comedy. The devastation of life that is evident throughout Mirza's journey, though presented lightly, gives a heartbreaking image of the life of Kurds both in Iran and Iraq.

Mirza sets out with his two sons in search of his ex-wife who sent for his help. Moving from one village to another, we become witness, through the eyes of Mirza and sons, to the degrading life suffered by those villagers. As the trio move into Iraqi borders, this poverty is made the more harsh by Saddam's constant bombing of Kurds, intensifying in the end when we hear of Hanareh's exposure to chemical weapons and the effects they had on her face and voice.

The education of children, within these harsh circumstances, is noticable in this movie. In the first 'school' scene, the student are hidden inside what seems to be an upside down crate (thought my eyes might be deceiving me). When next we meet a school of students, their lesson is taken outdoors (much like my morning lesson today though with a totally different kind of scenery). This second group of students are orphans who live in a refuge for Irani and Iraqi Kurd orphans, an orphanage quite dismall.

The movie ends in an affirmation of life and a confirmation of the Kurds' resilient nature. Life goes on in the midst of all this poverty and bombing, and the adoption of Hanareh's daugter by Mirza further symbolizes the Kurds full grasp on life.

One of the most beautiful images in the movie is one in which the students, after learning about the two types of planes, throw their paper plane off a cliff, resulting in a shot of so many white kites gliding across the mountain. Breathtaking.

This is by far my favorite movie in film week.

The English Sheik and the Yemeni Gentleman

Yemen is beautiful, or so the movie makes it look. But Yemen is also ancient, so very very ancient. And even though those old mud houses appear beautiful, I think living in them can be quite a scare. "The site of them becomes all the more attractive the more fearful it is, provided we are in a safe house." (Kant) I like my safe technology-enhanced house, so unless that country moves into the 21st century, I'd like to stay in my less sublime but oh so much more habitable house.

Kant also says "it is rather in its chaos that nature most arouses our ideas of the sublime." Chaos is surely abundant in the film's depiction of Yemen no matter how hard director Bader Ben Hirsi tried to cover it. I do not see beauty in this chaos, nor do I see sublimity.

What registered in the audience's minds, other than the beauty of the country, is the chewing of qat. Comments were initially made on tourism in Yemen, gradually developing to food in Yemen (shock at seeing the Englishman help himself to a plate of goat's head, breaking it open to eat it's tongue and brain), yet qat soon became the center of the post-movie talk.

Curious to know more. I surfed the net for qat. Here's what I found out:
Qat contains cathinone, a natural amphetamine which produces a high after prolonged chewing. In the United States, cathinone is listed as a Schedule I drug, with heroin and cocaine
The effects of qat include alertness, energy and euphoria.
Qat can also result in increased aggression and "fantasies of personal supremacy."
Long-term use may produce impotence.
Stimulation from qat can occur with in first 15 minutes of chewing, though the peak "high" is reached in the third hour. Effects from the chewing can remain up to 24 hours. Following the high, a slight depression, or melancholy, sets in and remains for a few hours.
Read more on http://www.american.edu/projects/mandala/TED/qat.htm

Qat ... is a stimulant producing a feeling of exaltation, a feeling of being liberated from space and time. It may produce extreme loquacity, inane laughing, and eventually semicoma. It may also be an euphorient and used chronically can lead to a form of delirium tremens. ... Upon first chewing khat, the initial effects were unpleasant and included dizziness, lassitude, tachycardia, and sometimes epigastric pain. Gradually more pleasant feelings replaced these inaugural symptoms. The subjects had feelings of bliss, clarity of thought, and became euphoric and overly energetic. Sometimes khat produced depression, sleepiness, and then deep sleep. The chronic user tended to be euphoric continually. In rare cases the subjects became aggressive and overexcited. ... [in a study on 51 khat users] The respiratory rate and pulse rate were accelerated and the blood pressure tended to rise. The subjects also had a decrease in the functional capacity of the cardiovascular system.
Read more on http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Hornet/qat.html

Leila

Responses generated by the audience (paraphrased and condensed):

-- I’m surprised that even though the movie is feminist in its story, we see patriarchy being enforced by a woman rather than a man. It is the mother-in-law who causes the family’s demise.

-- That patriarchy is represented not through the men in the movie, but through the actions of a female, is a clear example of how the oppressed often perpetuate their own oppression.

-- Why is the husband such an angel? He is perfect.

-- It’s a fairy tale. We don’t see such characters in real life.

-- It actually is a very honest picture of middle-eastern and Irani views on marriage.

-- The husband isn’t really an angel. He is a very impotent character here, one who cannot or does not appear as a strong figure, one who does not make a stand against his mother.

-- The men here are mostly submissive: both husband and father-in-law seem unable to be part of the decision making scheme in the two families.

-- The movie is a cry for men and women both to see more in the relation between man and women than the begetting of children. The couple’s life together demonstrated their ability to create, not necessarily children, but rather a happy and productive life.

-- The movie uses color to background the feelings of the characters, moving away from the Hollywood tradition of using music for such effect.

-- The billboard that the wife hid behind in order to see the new wife had a picture of a man’s eyes, enlarged. This reminds me of The Great Gatsby where the billboard was a witness to the husband cheating on his wife.

-- The billboard’s eyes also suggest the idea of the gaze, a very recurrent theme in feminist works.


My connection was acting up so I could't post this last night.

Dreams Without Sleep

Turnout was pretty good. The room, albiet small, was packed. Unfortunately neither director Waleed Al-Awadhi nor manager of the Kuwait Cine Club Imad Al-Nouwairy were able to attend to take questions. Audience comments went from sharing an experience of heading to New York on 9/11, to a comment about the image the movie perpetuates of the Arab as constant outsider in the US, to a retaliation on that remark that clarified some of its misconceptions.

I had a good time, particularly when I ended my night by going to Chocolate Bar with a friend after being ditched by my sister. I think that was the highlight of the evening (Not my sister ditching me, but chocolate itself)

Totally irrelevant: A friend told me she heard an interview with me on Kuwait Radio tonight. I don't recall being interviewed. I'm not the kind of person who gives in to interviews. However, when she repeated what I'd supposedly said on the show it sounded completely like me. She said my name was mentioned so even when I insisted that I haven't been interviewed she insisted that I was. Could I have been hypnotized into an interview? I'm not that much of a celebrity so I doubt that. Could I have totally forgotten that I gave such interview? I doubt that too since that would've been in Arabic and I know for sure that I can't talk shop in Arabic.

Totally totally irrelevant: When a teacher, myself, didn't prepare the presentation for her class tomorrow, what does she do? After wasting time blogging, she decides to give her students a writing exercise on 'what is beautiful?'. So what do I waste time on now? Finding paintings for the 'what is beautiful?' slide-show.

film week

the department of english language & literature presents

film week
featuring films from the gulf

12-16 november 2005, 7 pm
abdullah al-otaibi bldg., basement
kaifan campus, kuwait university

free admission

12 november 2005
dreams without sleep
directed by walid al-awadi
kuwait, 2003, 90 minutes
english

this documentary traces the lives of five new yorkers of diverse backgrounds immediately after the horrific events of 9/11. from his unique perspective as an arab filmmaker, al-awadi reveals how, despite the odds, dreams continue to flourish in the city that never sleeps. this film captures a sense of people's immense fragility and inexorable resilience.

13 november 2005
leila
directed by dariush mehrjui
starring leila hatami, aUmosaffa
iran, 1996, 129 minutes
farsi with english subtitles

recently married, leila and reza are deeply in love. Their happiness is cut short when they learn leila is unable to concieve. while reza insists their love for each other is all that matters, his mother believes otherwise. She convinces her daughter-in-law that reza needs to take a second wife in order to carryon the family line. Mehrjui eloquently explores the devastating effects of tradition and the perversity of love in this moving story.

14 november 2005
the english sheik and the yemeni gentleman
directed by bader ben hirsi
yemen, 2000, 76 minutes
arabic with english subtitles

this autobiographical documentary chronicles the return to yemen of british-born director, bader ben hirsi. the son of exiled yemeni parents living in london, ben hirsi journeys to yemen to explore his lost country, its people, and their way of life. together with the eccentric English expatriate, tim makintosh-smith, who has spent the last sixteen years in sana' a, ben hirsi rediscovers his homeland. this film poetically unravels the profound significance of place and the power of unlikely friendships.

15 november 2005
marooned in iraq
directed &written by bahman ghobadi
starring shahab ebrahimi, alah-morad rashtian,
faegh mohammadi
iran, 2002, 97 minutes
kurdish with english subtitles

mirza, an iranian-kurdish musician, learns that his wife, hanareh, who left him for his best friend many years ago and ran away to sing in iraq, needs his help. with his sons, audeh and barat, mirza makes his way across the border into iraq to find her. what ensues is a madcap adventure that reveals the determined struggle of the kurdish people in the face of annihilation. ghobadi exuberantly presents music, love, education, children, and humor as an antidote to violence and war in this award-winning film.

16 november 2005
selection of shorts from the u.a.e.

signs of the dead
directed by waleed al-shehhi
starring bilal abdullah, nawaf al-janahi
2005, 26 minutes 30 seconds
silent
al-fustan
directed by abdullah hassan ahmed
starring saeed obaid, nora albady
2005, 28 minutes 38 seconds
arabic with english subtitles
al-ghaith
directed &written by fadel saeed al-muhairi
starring eisa al-eisa
2004, 38 minutes
arabic With english subtitles
silk strings
directed &written by amina ataya
starring adel ibrahim, amani, hassan yousif
2005, 35 minutes 15 seconds
arabic With english subtitles

I had to stop reading :)

Here I am here. How I have arrived in this place at this moment on this day with this feeling history future problems life this horrible fucked-up good-for-nothing waste of a life how. Fifteen minutes ago I was holding a lifelong Criminal and cocaine Addict who spent his childhood with his Father’s dick in his mouth as he cried because he was scared to go back into the World. I ate my lunch with some kind of menacing middle-aged movie-star Look-alike and a three-strike Fugitive and a Steel Worker with torn-out hair plugs and a one-hundred-ten-pound Ghost who used to be the Champion of the World. I was given a coloring book and told it would help make me better. I watched some Judge’s stupid fucking video and I was told it would help make me better. I got sick, just like I do every other fucking day, and I am not getting better. I am twenty-three years old and I’ve been an Alcoholic for a decade and a drug Addict and Criminal for almost as long and I’m wanted in three states and I’m in a Hospital in the middle of Minnesota and I want to drink and I want to do some drugs and I can’t control myself. I’m twenty-three.
I breathe and I shake and I can feel it coming and the rage and need and confusion regret horror shame and hatred Fury the Fury and I can’t stop the come. Let it motherfucking come. The Fury has come.
I see a tree and I go after it. Screaming punching kicking clawing tearing ripping dragging pulling wrecking punching screaming punching screaming punching screaming. It is a small tree, a small Pine Tree, small enough that I can destroy it, and I rip the branches from its trunk and I tear them to pieces one by one I rip them and I tear them and I throw them to the ground and I stomp them stomp them and when there are no more branches I hear a voice and I attach the trunk and it’s thin and I break it in half and I hear a voice and I ignore it and I throw the broken trunk on top of the branches and one half of it is still on the ground I hear a voice and I want it out of the fucking ground and I grab it and pull pull pull and it doesn’t budge not an inch I hear a voice and I ignore it and I pull scream pull and it doesn’t budge this fucking tree I want to destroy it and I let go of it and there is a voice I ignore I start kicking kicking kicking and the voice says stop stop stop stop. Stop.


From A Million Little Pieces