sony ericsson k810i

i'm loving my new phone. the camera in particular is really great.

also, my graduation party was yesterday. it was nice seeing my college friends again, and ofcourse celebrating graduation is something i can never get tired from.



special note to Deee:
i can't seem to post a comment on ur latest entry. i'm so sorry for ur loss. rabbena yer7amo we yeskeno fasee7 gannato insha2Allah.

Heya Fawda

Great movie.  The movie was amazing on all levels: directing, acting, writing, and even the poster was extraordinary (unfortunately i couldn't find a copy of it on the internet).

Khaled Saleh is going to have a hard time topping this performance.

stupid errands

i can sense if it's gonna be a bad day the minute i wake up in the morning.

today i woke up all grumpy. i was supposed to do some errands before i go to work. i hate going to work late, the manager keeps giving me these looks like i'm not a hard worker and stuff..and i guess he has every right to do that, but i'm only late for work to do some work-related errands like finish my military papers, or like today : finish my insurance papers.

apparently they need something at work called "ka3b 3amal", which i think could be translated to "work slip" if it makes any sense. supposedly, i should first go get my insurance identification number from the insurance facility then i should give that number to the people at the human resources facility. simple. everyone i know tells me they did the whole procedure in 3o minutes max.

ofcourse with me, everything has to go wrong....

on my way there in the morning i was driving too fast again, which caused my license to be taken. after i've arrived to the insurance facility i spent 20 minutes waiting for my turn...then the lady sitting on the computer (which by the way is reaaaaally old) asks for my ID. After examining it she tells me that i should go to the other insurance facility in maadi since that's the one my address follows.

so i spent almost an hour trying to find the damn place. after i finally found it i spent another hour waiting inside because the computer wasn't working and i had to wait for it to get fixed. ofcourse if i knew the wait was gonna be an hour long in the beginning i would've went to work and returned to them in the morning, but they kept telling me that it's only gonna take 10 minutes.

finally the computer's fixed, so i asked the lady for my insurance number and she started searching on the computer's database for my name. she didn't find it and she told me to give her a photocopy of my birth certificate and my ID card and come back to see her tomorrow.

so i went back to work at around 1:00 pm after having a very hard time finding a parking space.

word of advice: if you ever think of going to Garden City during work hours TAKE A TAXI to save yourself the torture i go through nearly every day.

i hope i get this over with tomorrow.

Tagged

....by Deeee again:)

ok, here goes:

blog name: a greyscale perspective

reason:well grey is my favourite color obviously, but i've never aliased my self as greyscale before in my life. i just chose the name the moment i created the blog, without too much thinking.

blog photo: none. but if i did have one it probably would've been a sketch for one of the projects i designed during college.

Talal

Talal is the name of a barber shop in Saudi Arabia. My dad and i where going to the mall one night when i was around 4 years old. He parked the car in a dark street and he told me to remember the name of the nearest shop so we could find the car easily when we return. Talal's Barber. On our way back to the car i proudly anounced that i remember the shop's name and my dad acted like if i hadn't remembered it we would've never found the car. He kept telling me that night that i've got an amazing memory and that i was special. For years later, i would remind him every once in a while that i still remember the shop's name, and he would always act like it was a big deal. It's amazing how the smallest action from the parent can influence a child. This incident has affected me till today actually, it gave me confidence that i was a smart guy throughout my childhood.

why am i blogging this? no particular reason. just a random thought that crossed my mind recently.


what i've been up to in the past few weeks:

* i switched to a new job as a junior architect in an italian/egyptian architecture firm. the work is very exhausting, but the people here are very friendly...they made me feel at home from the first day there. overall, i'm loving it here.

* had an accident with my car, took around 2 weeks to repair it...then had another accident just 2 days ago. no injuries whatsoever, thank God... i think i need to take driving lessons again.

*got exempted from the military service...which is the best news i've heard since graduation:)

Happy Eid

Happy Eid to all you bloggers out there :)

ramadan kareem

*as you might have noticed, i've got very little time to blog in ramadan. it's just that most of the time there's always something more useful to do.

i'm not comfortable in my new job. too much routine. i actually expected that it would be like this before i started but since it was the leading architectural firm in egypt i was willing to give it a shot. i figured i was lucky enough to get this opportunity so before i throw it away i should at least try. however, i'll probably wait until ramadan's over so that i'll have completed one full month...enough time to make the decision.

also, today i excused myself from work to go have an interview in another company. i prefer companies over private firms, they seem to have a more professional environment and a better administrative system. i did quite good in the interview, the guy seemed to be impressed...i hope i get the job.


*my cousin, who i spend most of my free time with is leaving to the States soon. he'll be staying there for 6 months doing a course. 6 months is a long time. the afternoon shisha with him has been an almost daily tradition for at least 7 years now. oh well.

* did anyone notice the new trick some beggars use to manipulate you into giving them money? many people i know, and myself, have seen beggars crying on the sidewalk with a smashed up carton of eggs lying next to them on the street. one of my friends gave the beggar 5LE, the guy kept crying and pleading for 16LE which is the cost of the egg carton. after feeling sorry for him, my friend gave him the money he asked for...an hour later my friend returned to the same road and he found the beggar still there. he got out of the car and went to ask him why he's still sitting there after he got the money back...at that moment, he was surprised to see another beggar come up to him from behind with a knife, telling him to get out of there. fortunately my friend did what's safe and got back into his car.

my first day at work

i'm now working in a leading architecture firm in mohandeseen. today was my first day. i arrived at 8:45 and i spent 5 full hours doing absolutely nothing because there weren't any free computers. they assured me that this problem is only temporary.

anyways, they finally gave me something to do at around 3:00pm but there was no time i was going to be able to finish it by 6:00pm. i ended up staying until 9:30 and now i'm exhausted.

long day

yesterday was a looong day...my whole family is in "sa7el" at the moment, so i try to spend the least time possible at home because it gets too boring...i was outdoors from 8:00 am till 4:30 am.

my day was pretty much normal until around 9:00pm - doing some errands in the morning, hanging out with friends in the afternoon.

i got a phone call from my dad at 9:00pm asking me to go home and look for some important papers.. i was in nasr city at the time.

the 6th of october bridge was jam packed. it usually isn't so crowded on wednesday nights but i guess there was an accident or something. my car's engine started to heat up, which usually happens in high traffic, but within the "normal" range.

only later did it exceed this level and i started to get worried.. i was about to stop the car before the temperature reaches the red zone, but i was too late... something exploded...steam was bursting out of the engine...alot of steam...i couldn't see through the windshield.

i got out of the car and i saw looks of sympathy on the people's faces. no less than 7 people in 4 different cars have stopped their cars, got out, came up to me and offered their help. i was amazed, no where else in the world would you find this helping attitude. unfortunately, there was little they could do.. the car's cooling system had burst...all the water in the car had either been spilled on the floor or evaporated...and i can't add more water obviously because it would all just leak instantly. they offered to give me a ride to my destination but i declined claiming that i can't just leave my car like that in the middle of the bridge. i thanked them anyways, telling them that their kind gesture meant alot to me.

so now i was left standing in the middle of a crowded bridge, not knowing what to do.
the car won't start because the engine is too hot, i can't call anyone to help because they won't be able to reach me in such crowded traffic, and i can't just leave the car and go home with a taxi (although i did consider that option seriously at one point.)

i finally decided to wait for 10 minutes until the car cools down a bit, take it off the bridge, then see what my options are.

as i was waiting, this police guy came up to me and told me to move my car since it was obstructing traffic...i flipped out and i started shouting my head off telling him to get the hell out of my face. after realizing how pissed off i was, he apologized and tried to cool me down..he then offered to push the car for me, which i declined..we were too far away from any exit... it would be too exhausting.


after 10 minutes of waiting i tried the ignition and it worked...so the car is now moving without any water in it, which is really dangerous since it's going to heat up much faster than before...especially in this awful traffic. as i was driving towards the nearest exit i found the temperature approaching the red zone again..luckily i found an emergency parking space ahead of me so i decided to park my car their until the traffic eases up. i considered leaving my car there until the next morning but i was afraid of it being towed by the police and i would have a really hard time finding it after that.

i waited for over 3 hours. the car had cooled down and the bridge now looked much better. i drove the car for over 15 minutes before it died on me again. .i was now 20 minutes away from home (remember i live in the 6th of Octboer city), so i had to stop the car and wait again...i waited for another hour this time... i repeated this process once more before i reached home feeling exhausted.


now that the situation is over, i think i learned something new about myself: i'm not comfortable asking for help.

i should have called any friend to come tow the car with me after the 6th of October bridge had cleared up, but instead i kept convincing myself that i could handle the situation on my own, without disturbing anyone.





P.S. i'm gonna be out of town starting saturday for around 12 days. probably won't have internet access.

my brilliant idea

as i was checking out my new website : greyscale.youaremighty.com i suddenly felt inspired...i found the most amazing idea for a business. Following the trend of private beaches in the north coast, you find La Plage, yashmak, and Oxygen among others... but no one had thought before of my million dollar idea:

A PRIVATE BEACH FOR MEN ONLY

you can only wear speedo swim suits inside and there would be tons of fun activities like wrestling tournaments and stuff..loads of fun!!


the Sunni's and gays will make an excellent combination.

discipline

i went to visit my newly-wed brother today along with our neighbors. they're a young couple with a 4 year old kid who is the most energetic creature i've seen in a long time... the kid spent the whole night running around the house.

i noticed, however, that the father had the hardest time controlling his son. whenever he'd ask the kid to keep his shoes off the couch the kid would punch him in the face.

- " we won't take you to the zoo with us if you don't behave"
- "i don't care, i already went to the zoo"

i was laughing my head off the whole time, which i think encouraged the kid even more...but i couldn't help it.

his parents were trying everything to make him behave...shouting, threatening to go home, threatening to leave him with his grandfather all alone in the dark, no cinema, no cartoons, etc....nothing worked.

i know MY dad would've beat me as a last resort, but the kid's father apparently was against that. i'm not sure i agree with him though, spanking ur kid or beating him is a very useful way in making him behave himself. ofcourse too much beating will give the kid some issues regarding his character and lack of confidence. but u can't just leave the kid not knowing his limits.


towards the end i got fed up. he stained my brother's new couch with juice and he was running around pulling the veil off his mom's head. i told him to play hide and seek with me, he should hide and i would count to 50. it worked, i spent the rest of the evening counting as slow as i could..until it was time for them to leave.

my sister(apparently solving a crossword puzzle or something): hey, i bet you can't name an animal that starts with "U".

me: you.

things that happened in the past few weeks

- went to sa7el with friends...had a great time
- grades came out - i have now officially graduated ahl :) i could write ALOT about how i feel right now, but i'll save you the headache. "happy and proud" should do for now.
- had an interview with a leading architecture firm...i impressed them and they were willing to hire me, but i wasn't happy with the conditions...they improved the offer and i declined again. my family and friends think i made a mistake.
- my sister got married, beautiful outdoor wedding. now spending her honeymoon in Paris and Venice.
- trying to learn Interior Designing on my own through books and internet while searching for available courses in cairo.

finally.

i'm done. after 7 years of torture i finally finished college.

how much time do u think is appropriate before i start looking for a job? keep in mind that i apply for the military service next january. so during these 5 months any job i take will not be with a contract.

treat urself with some stand up comedy

found these guys on youtube, apparently they're a bunch of arab guys trying to improve our image in the states through stand up comedy. really funny stuff.