On hope, dreams and aspiration

Been thinking about this post since oblivia first posted it, over and over and over again. Specially the part where she talked about how hope makes us do the same thing over and over again though the outcome is always the same and compared it to foolishness.

Pls spare a couple of minutes to read it.

Ipods

This is one of the greatest gadgets I ever found in Radio Shack, it serves as a docking cradle for the ipod, charger and amplified speakers and to sweeten things even more it has an am/fm radio receiver and an alarm clock to wake you up on the sound of your favorite play list or radio station. And it came at a rather affordable price compared to other speakers.

Speaking of ipods, I have this ipod my friend is keeping with me for safekeeping, been with me for over 2 months, will wait for another month before putting it on auction, as u can see it is water proof ( cant imagine what was running in his head when he got this cover) u can go diving with it.

Essentials of Investments

I had my “ essential of investments” exam, a truly and remarkably a catastrophe of its own unique magnitude. Not only I didn’t study, nor take benefit of the day I took of to study nor even had the common sense to be attentive in lectures.


I started round 6 oclock Friday evening and the exam was Saturday 11 oclock. Just couldn’t get my self to it khales. Over and over and over again and just nothing.

I watched 007, updated my self with “I am a pc, I am a mac” commercials, browsed face book and no studying, finally it was too late and decided to have my beauty sleep.

The exam was ok, I didn’t answer 2 questions, forgot to answer another two and somehow managed to go through the rest.

قل اسباني و لا تقل ازباني

I really need to have a little chat with the train lady announcer, she has a severe problem when it comes to Ss she pronounce them Zs.

Statistics

Ok, think I am deifying the rules of statistics, it cant be, all the times I travel, booking randomly, different commuting methods and still, never got to sit beside a chic. What happened to all the probability stuff, random samples and population?

Ironically I got to sit this time beside a person I sat beside almost a month ago, 2eshme3na ba2a.

Dream :-(

I had a dream, I literally mean it, and I remember it Kaman, I hardly remember my dreams, but I remember this on vividly.

It was night, all dark around me and I was walking to wordth a well lighted place with few people scattered in it, it was El Roda. I was happy and walking fast, then a beautiful blond woman with white complexion in a red dress, with sleeves but were open she was really beautiful and tempting. But I hated her awi, felt she was filthy couldn’t stand the sight of her, was trying to avoid her and walk around her, but she kept showing in front of me and I kept avoiding her, then she held my wrist in an attempt to stop me and I felt so dirty and needed to go back to atwada and when I returned back to the light place, it was very crowded and couldn’t find a place of my own.

I woke up.

yayyyyyyy

I am really proud of my blogger friends, think I have 6 books in my library now for bloggers who I have been following for quite sometime. And the latest addition is nerro's book ( well, not quite hers, but her story was the sweetest)

This book is really great, somehow I felt connected to it, every story had a little piece of me in it whether of my reality or my dreams.

And what I even like more, independent films started to show up and prove

Cairo maps

I paid good money for this book, and wasn’t quite what I hopped for, I need a BIG map of Cairo with bridges and street directions highlighted, where I can mark my favorite places and know my way to and from them. I need a GPS I hate the authorities for not allowing it in yet.

Economic concerns

If we stop trading with villains we will run out of people to trade with

On another somehow related, trade will show a significant decrease, 2009 will be a year filled with challenges on many levels. Main income generating activities will be affected ( tourism, Suez canal, FDIs and all our export sector)

And people are becoming more interest rate cautious, preferring interest rate as the main benchmark compared to other factors.

A friend told me Egypt never had political risk; it is the social risk we are worried about now
Egypt is so fragile now and egyptians aren’t helping out.

"you are my best friend"

You are my best friend, but don’t feel myself as yours. This was the catching phrase for the month of September. Though it isn’t over yet.

My true best friends are scattered all over the world now, no one is left in Egypt and communication is getting thinner as time pass. I lost the ability to reach out and make new friends not to mention best friends.

I remember Marwa Rakha article about horizontal and vertical relations, I was never into horizontal relationship, always vertical till a certain depth. People who try to make horizontal relationships with me usually hit a granite surface and they just wash off.

I miss the feeling of being able to talk to someone and let it all out, without being judged or taken for granted. Miss the occasion call of how r u doing, lets meet, lets talk it out over a cup of hot chocolate.

I am growing old, feel like a dinosaur and miss the feeling of joy.

Humming in the back of my head the tigger song, lonliest me

Compume

Ok, Compume, is on my list of orgnizations who used to be customer centric and now just lost their focus. The new staff isn’t as passionate about computers as the old ones, or as helpful as they used to. Also they used to have 5 or so rules which in my last visit were all broken. Alas compume. ur losing the "me"

Memories

An hour early in Ramsis, an hour early would have been more than enough to give her a ring, take the tube to Tahrir, have a quick glimpse of her and be back again to Ramsis, actually I would do this with 35 minutes to spare.
Now I just spend it in the cafeteria, waiting for 3esha prayer, eat a couple of sandwiches and browse the net.

Egyptian Ipod - Data Plans

I hate vodafone, and mobinil. Why on earth are they offering the Iphone for 3.8k!!!!??????? cant believe the price. Personally, I thought 2.5k would be the sweet spot given heavy usage. But unfortunately they are selling just the device, as if this isn’t enough, but a strapped from GPS and Arabic support, not to mention other Iphone drawbacks.

Bas Vodafone is trying to compensate the high price with a special discount for selected price packages, which mobinil didn’t say a word.

For me, for now bye bye iphone, will wait for the nokia E71 ( messenger of steel) or even better nokia E75

Update

I hate Vodafone big time now, my data bill for this month is sky high (GggggRRrrrrrr) I hold you fellow bloggers the responsibility for this. ( kidding) I really hold youtube and facebook responcible. For this month bye bye youtube, and facebook will chk via mobile.
Etisalat egyot seems to have the best data price plan now.
Ta3atfak lewa7do mesh kefaya.

Some blog to remember, some blog to forget.

I am thankful for blogger, and thankful for lots of people who helped me become a blogger. Blogging had helped me through some really tough times, ease my loneliness when I had no one to talk to and a venting place to let it all out.

I met some really interesting people and got attached to. Some of them disappeared with out a trace, others have changed. I look to the counter I have and I wonder, how come I have so many hits, did all those people come here and spared the time to read a piece of my mind and others shared a piece of their mind along.

I lost count of the number of posts, number of comments or for how long I have been blogging, but I am thankful for this invention.

I hardly comment back on comments on my posts, this doesn’t mean I don’t care, on the contrary, I feel really happy when I get comments I read them over and over and over again.

For all my visitors, thank you. For all the people who put me on this track thank you, and for the ones I miss reading, pls come back.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’99
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be
it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by
scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable
than my own meandering
experience…I will dispense this advice now. Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not
understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded.
But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and
recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before
you and how fabulous you really looked….You’re not as fat as you
imagine. Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as
effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing
bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that
never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm
on some idle Tuesday. Do one thing everyday that scares you Sing Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with
people who are reckless with yours. Floss Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes
you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with
yourself. Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you
succeed in doing this, tell me how. Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements. Stretch Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your
life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they
wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year
olds I know still don’t. Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone. Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe
you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky
chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t
congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your
choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s. Enjoy your body,
use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people
think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever
own.. Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room. Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them. Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly. Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for
good. Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the
people most likely to stick with you in the future. Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you
should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and
lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you
knew when you were young. Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live
in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel. Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will
philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize
that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were
noble and children respected their elders. Respect your elders. Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund,
maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one
might run out. Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will
look 85. Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who
supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of
fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the
ugly parts and recycling it for more than
it’s worth. But trust me on the sunscreen…

فكم من فتي امسي واصبح ضاحكا وقد نسجت اكفانه وهو لا يدري

I had this as a facebook status for almost a week, some found it to be a reminder other just thought it is me being me and one threatened to kill me if I don’t change it.

A young man, studying abroad, from a wealthy family, engaged and on the right track to lead a happy life. Sudden death, sleeps and never wakes up. Less than a month ago

A young police officer, dies in the line of duty, single, young and as called by a fellow blogger only a child ( this jus in today)

A young lady, mid twenties, losses her fight with cancer and dies, less than a week ago

This is a reminder, who knows,

Conversation

A:You need to get out of the circle, u need to move along, u need to meet new people and have some fun into your life.

Me: I am fine, (lying) just need to finish my EMBA, thesis, pending cases and start new ones.

A: you need to get out more often, have new people into your life. U need to تلاغي , تصاحب , ترافق
Me: is there difference between those three?

A astonished: off course,

تلاغي is having someone u can casually talk to, txt, mail, chat dine with a couple of time

تصاحب is all the above but involves more going out, spending more time together the talk is more mature and involve some sort of commitment, you should be their when the other party needs you.

ترافق involves all the above and getting physical as well, but no threads attached.

Me: how come a higher level of commitment and yet no threads attached?

A: this is advanced for you, you wont be able to understand it.

Me: ahsan bardo

A: change ur face book status, it is really depressing,

Me: it is a reminder. Who knows.

A: ka2eeb moot.

Flyers Flyers

All those flyers I got were pinned to my gas receipt, an excellent and cost effective method to get the message across, don’t know why the waseet doesn’t use it.

The flyers ranges from charity, food, maintenance service, gym and our good old fashioned Egyptian circus.

One of the flyers was “arzak el kawthar” been wanting to try it since I first came to maadi, but hardly any time and once I parked my car I am too lazy to take it out again, hopefully will give their short number a try next week and see if they can deliver.

Speeeed

I really need to get a grip on myself regarding the speed thing, I am not as peed maniac, just want to get home and rest, usually the mounib is the seen of my insanity, a 140 km/hour is pure madness, I always say once u hit a 100 km/hour the chances of avoiding and accident is next to zero. I don’t want to end up hurting anyone. :-((((

Vodafone

Vodafone saved my life again, this new little invention of USB modem is really a great thing, though it is over publicized in terms of speed and conveniency,
the speed is equivalent for a DSL land line of 256K, u wont get over 30kb/sec download and they have something with torrent downloads don’t know why. This is if you are connected via a 3g network, if via gprs, don’t bother, just like the old phone lines

It is most effective when it is stationary, it sucks when I am in the train, can hardly sustain a connection, nevertheless, it is keeping me connected without having to be under the mercy of a land line.
Btw, I swapped my points for the device, a couple of free months we keda. Fa practically I paid nothing

Shopping spree.

a friend advised me to go for a shopping spree to get out of the mood, though I hate shopping, and really my wardrobe needed lots of items.

Went out, spent a couple of hours in Carrefour, was a nice morning, and spent a small fortune. But as I was preparing to leave, I didn’t feel better, just precious savings eroded.

Speaking of my wardrobe, all my shirts are white, all my shoes are black all my suites are dark blue or dark grey. Underwear are white and socks are of dark black hate to change style, I may ( usually ) buy the same piece of cloth 2 or 3 times if I like it and feel comfortable in.

I miss the feeling of joy

Digi Cam

Always liked photography, it literally catches the moment in a special way. Black and whites are magical, somehow touches the soul.

For some unknown reason I got this monstrous gadget, that incorporates lots of setting and buttons that I don’t know yet how to use it, the thing that really caught my attention was the optical zoom, I have a week spot for optical zoom. I don’t fall for mega pixels or the sensor sensitivity, just old fashioned optical zoom.

Hopefully will learn to use it and post some more professional photos instead of the mobile camera photos that fill the blog. Thing is most probably will have to get another one for sis, a simpler smaller point and shoot cam.

Current state

No one could express it like Soma, decades apart, but the lyrics and music are eternal, the song just press the right buttons in the right time to couple the right mood.

Just the other day was sharing thoughts about dreams and reality, how far apart are they and the song just started playing in the random shuffle mode of the ipod.

Would like to share 2 parts of the song

تفيد يإيه يا ندم وتعمل إيه يا عتاب ؟طالت ليالي الألم واتفرقوا الأحباب

وعايزنا نرجع زي زمان !..قول للزمان ارجع يا زمان وهات لي قلب لا داب ولا حب ولا انجرح ولا شاف حرمان