Well, during the 4 performances we did with BAIA for the “Railway Children” people started getting sick one by one… one actor actually had to be replaced in the last performance… Everyone, and I say everyone got sick except me… well, not 4 days after the last show… here’s how it went…
Tuesday I started coughing a lot. Wednesday I got fever and the coughing got worse and I got headaches and hallucinations ( hallucinations section is explained at the end of this post : – D ) Hussain offered to get me to the doctor then he got busy with work, so Talal took me instead. The doctor told me I’m 39 and that I have to get an injection to lower it, as for the asthma, yes asthma, I got kammam (the oxygen mask/inhaling machine, whatever it’s called) and the doctor sent me home with some antibiotics, yeah I also had a sour throat… I never got an asthma attack since maybe 8 years or more… anyway I go back home, do what I’m told… went to sleep, woke up the next morning (Thursday) and felt like I was burning! it was 11, no one was at home, so I call my mom… she comes rushing from work and takes me to the local clinic… The doctor tells me I reached 39.5, and that I wasn’t suppose to take the injection and the kammam together yesterday… they don’t get together well, apparently… so he orders me to go to the nurse and get an IV drip with some medicine he wrote and wait for 30 mnts… I was barely moving, keep in my mind, they attach the IV drip and 15 mnts later hell broke loose! it was so bad my mom thought I was dying… my skin blew up, my body froze and my tongue got very heavy… I couldn’t move… couldn’t talk… couldn’t nothing and was just able to move my feet… I can’t remember how long that took… the place was soooo cold and I started hitting the bed with my feet… They called the doctor and he ordered that they move me to Mubarak hospital… I can’t remember anything between that and finding myself in the ambulance on the way to Mubarak… it was freezing… and my mom was holding my hands all the time…
They take me in, my dad and brother were there, they took some x-rays, did some blood test and got another IV drip… they suspected swine flu, but it wasn’t… my temp stayed 39.5 and I was there for maybe 4 hours… it was so bad I couldn’t cough because every time I did it hurts :/
I tell you people… it was just bad… from a wheel chair to bed to wheel chair to bed… at the end of the day I got to 38 and they sent me home… 2 days of staying in bed and medication…
Then it was 2 days of fever, coughing AND hallucinations… I’m fine now… and able to type with more than one finger! just slight coughing here and there… but ashwa way way better…
Thank god my mom was there next to me or I would’ve gone crazy or something… I hallucinated a lot… my mom told me I had those since I was little… for example on Friday I woke up scared because I thought someone might steal my body parts and sell them… I couldn’t sleep for 5 hours! maybe my dreams got mixed up with my hallucinations or something… On Thursday night I couldn’t move because I was only in charge of my torso… my other body, like Voltron, was controlled by other pilots… and they refused to take me to drink water… I can’t remember on which day I tried sleeping without my head touching the pillow because I had to be careful not to squish the italian tomatoes that were being picked under my head and I had to move my head slowly… like really slowly… yeah… 5arabee6, mo? : – )
This is something really weird that happened to me… a very strange coincidence, if I may call it.
3 years ago, and after graduating from KU I went to the Shuwaikh campus to get my certificate. A few days before that I got Paul Simon’s latest CD titled “Surprise” from Virgin Megastore. I was very excited to get the CD because I’ve been waiting for it to be released here, I didn’t think it was worth it to order it from Amazon.com. Anyway, I played the CD a few times… so I wasn’t into it much yet… But, and I remember this very clear, as I went inside to the campus and was looking for a parking spot track 10 played, and I wasn’t familiar with the song’s name yet, and here’s what I heard Paul Simon sing:
Well I’ll just skip the boring parts chapters one, two, three and get to the place where you can read my face and my biography.
Here I am, I’m eleven months old, dangling from my daddy’s knee. There I go, it’s my graduation, I’m picking up a bogus degree.
It’s my graduation! I’m picking up a bogus degree! Really?
I couldn’t believe I was hearing this. It was what exactly what I was thinking! The song title was “That’s Me.”
I was thinking what to do with this BA? Everyone was telling me to either go into teaching, or work for a bank. I was thinking what did I learn during these 5 years at KU? mind you I spent 2 of them studying computer science, then switched my major to my minor back then which was English Literature. You know I didn’t finish reading any novel at KU? the only novel I read was The Dead Zone by Stephen King, and it wasn’t for any of the classes. I did read the short stories, the plays and all the poetry… but back then reading a novel was too much for me. I depended, alongside a lot of guys, on sparknotes.com and such websites. I never had to read any novel in class… which somehow I’m regretting now… maybe not regret, for it is a strong word!
That’s why after graduation, I started reading as much as I can. Before getting a job, I spent the 3 months after graduation living in Starbucks Mishref reading. And oh boy what a pleasure it was… and still is, I always carry in my backpack at least 2 books, ranging from short fiction, to novels to non-fiction books. Reading became a part of my life… and that’s not why I’m growing my beard! ok? : – p
I was overwhelmed by reading books such as The Complete Short Stories by Franz Kafka, The Complete Prose by Woody Allen and 1984 by George Orwell which started my obsession with dystopia, which I guess began with watching one of my favorite cartoons “3adnan wa Leena”, known outside as Future Boy Conan. There were other books and short stories collections that I didn’t like, not hate, just didn’t like. Well, let’s not offend any fans of Paulo Coelho or Judi Picoult out there.
These years I spent in college were the years that shaped the way I think today. How I see things. How I talk? How I I I I I I I I? It’s very interesting what college does to you. I cannot stop talking about these years and what happened and how? Though I’m not sure how, because some things just slipped into my subconscious and stayed there…
Another chunk from that Paul Simon song that I liked went like this
Well I never cared much for the money, and money never cared for me. I was more like a land-locked sailor, searching for the emerald sea. Just searching for the emerald sea, boys, searching for the sea.
Oh my God. First love opens like a flower. A black bear running through the forest light holds me in her sight and her power. But tricky skies, your eyes are true, the future is beauty and sorrow. Still, I wish that we could run away and live the life we used to. If just for tonight and tomorrow.
I’m sure I did change a lot through these years, but hey! I know what I know, I’ll sing what I said, we come and we go. That’s a thing that I keep in the back of my head ; – )
Speaking of bathrooms! I think that public toilets’ doors should open to the out instead of to the inside, you don’t wanna be stuck between the door and the toilet when getting in and out of it, right? isn’t it just annoying that I already spend some time cleaning the top of the toilet before sitting? and washing my hands a thousand times when done? do I have to get my trousers to touch the toilet? No! they should open to the outside! I mean there’s enough space to open it to the outside. This goes to almost all the malls in Kuwait, there’s not enough space between the toilet and the door… if there was, I wouldn’t mind opening the door to the inside!
Do you have favorite public bathrooms? I like the ones in Starbucks Mishref, Caribou Coffee in free trade zone, some of the ones bel avenues… can’t remember any others at the moment… and there are places where I don’t dare go to the toilets there… like Marina Mall or Souq Sharq…. I mean seriously??
Anyway …
Life in the basement has been really great! except one thing. When I need to go to bathroom I have to go upstairs, and for showers too…
I finished reading “عزازيل” a few days ago… one of the greatest books I ever read in my life… well, of course I read in my life. Who’s life is it?? ME! It’s not your life, I can’t read a book in your life… actually I can, if it was read after you were born and before you die, right? cuz that’s your life… so if your life is shorter there’ll be a great book that I read in your life but another great book that I read in my life and they can be 2 different books, unless you are me of course, but that’s just impossible… unless it’s an M. Night Shyamalan movie, because only then I can be you and reading different books that are both great in my life and yours!
My parents decided to redecorate the whole floor, and what a better timing than Ramadan, right? for 20 days if not more.
So I had to move my stuff downstairs, and it took me a LOT of time to do that… the books, the dvds, the clothes and my dignity! I’ll be sharing a room with my 3 brothers, well… I guess it’s time to catch up with their sleeping habits… and patterns…
So now I’m not sure how I want my “new” room to be like… I seriously have no idea… wallpaper or paint? and what colour? what to put in my room? I sure want my 3 bookshelves, a new desk and a mattress… yup yup! no bed for Mr. Moos ; – )
I’m thinking blue paint, or maybe purple, since it’s the colour of balance in life and all that other stuff… or maybe blue and yellow… hmmm, a friend suggested green, but I’m not keen on green… Mr. Bean…
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I like this year’s Ramadan, it feels a bit different to me… I really hated last year’s, but this year everything is going fine, except for the weather maybe…
I haven’t been following any tv shows this year, except Bu Qutada w Bu Nabeel of course! *wink wink* but I saw some scenes here n there, and I really like the cinematography… it really got better and better… specially Dawood Hussain’s “D-Tube”… I love how it was shot… for those who are interested, it was shot with 2 RED ONE cameras…
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I was gonna write a whole post on the Jahra incident, but decided against it… I don’t think the early days of Ramadan are the best time to discuss such things… but I really felt bad for a whole week… how horrible is such a thing, and how horrifying the details are… My deepest condolences to their families… May God bless their souls and may they rest in peace…
I went to Galleria 2000 in Salmiya tonight, and just after parking my car this Indian guy came towards me and stopped next to the car. I opened the door then he said “Alsalamo alaikom”
I said “wa alaikom el salam”
He said, with a broken english, “Do you speak English?”
I said “yeah, I do”
He shook my hand and said “Hi my brother”
I said “Hi”, by that time I was completely out of the car. He asked me where is Mahboula. I was surprised, I told him “It’s really far from here” and I pointed the direction… like that would help!
He told me that he just came to Kuwait and he works in the hospital in Salmiya and doesn’t know his way to his place Mahboula. He was breathing heavily and sweating. I told him he should get a bus or a taxi and they’ll take him there. He told me that he went on the bus and it dropped him here, and now he just has 100 fils. I was like omg, not one of them beggars again, I had it with them. Then he said “the bus told me he’s not going to Mahboula at this time, and I don’t have enough money for the bus or the taxi, could you help me?”
Now here, I remembered all those stories about those people who do this for a living, just asking people for money… so I didn’t wanna look like an asshole, so I said “I don’t have cash on me” though I did, but I just didn’t want to be “fooled”… but then the guy just burst into tears… I can’t tell you how in a second my heart was broken… I mean seriously, to see a man like that cry, I swear to God I almost hugged him… I got my wallet out and gave him what I think is enough to get him a taxi there, and maybe a snack.
Poor guy… I don’t care if he was acting or whatever, even if he was, he deserves it for the performance… but he really broke my heart… I went into Galleria still thinking about him, I even went to the cafe and almost sat next to a stranger whom I thought was my friend just because their laptop’s color matches… felt like an idiot of course, but oh boy that cappuccino was 3 quarters foam!
Incident 1:
I went with Miq to Peacock, the Chinese restaurant, in SAS hotel to have lunch. So here’s what I ordered: Hot and Sour Soup, Chicken Noodles and Chicken with Black Pepper Sauce (which was number 62 on the menu). Ok, now after the food arrived we start eating. Me and Miq admire the good taste of the black pepper chicken, and how original it tastes. It was so black but a bit chewy. Anyway, so we finish eating, and btw they had some really good green tea, ask Miq. So I ask for the check. I get the check. There was something wrong, the black pepper chicken was 4.something KD not 6.something KD.
Guess what people? We were eating meat! now talk about being “fooled” … me and Miq both said at the same time “oh, and I was wondering why it was so dark and chewy!” … but yeah, I admit it, it tasted really good… before I leave, I checked the menu again only to find that the Black Pepper Meat was number 95… ma 3alaina… the tea was good though… did I say that?
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Incident 2.7
I was driving back from Salmiya, but I had my sister’s car… mine has no AC at the moment. Queen’s Innuendo played on the CD… so I hit that gas real hard baby, and felt like a bad boy… the good kind of bad boys of course!
Ok maybe not a bad boy, something cathartic maybe…
You know when you go shopping, and you find like 4 t-shirts that you like then you can’t decide which one to get? then you tell one of those t-shirts that I really like you, and make it feel special? and then when this t-shirt wants to be worn by you, you say “I can’t… and maybe someday I’ll buy you… I’m wearing another t-shirt now and have enough t-shirts” and then you stop calling that t-shirt, and rarely send sms messages… well! I don’t think you should treat people like that! because first of all, we are not t-shirts! ok? second of all, why go around shopping for t-shirts if you don’t want to buy any at the moment? huh? huh?
…and that’s how I feel about life!
Ok, maybe I’m a bit exaggerating this, or really really exaggerating, but yeah… wha2eva!
About a month ago I found out that this …
… is FRUIT flavoured!!! wth?? why was I, for 26 years, under the impression that it was banana flavoured! and the thing is that I never thought it does taste like bananas… It’s the yellow isn’t it? it never made sense… a banana flavoured gum that doesn’t taste like bananas… well, it’s not that fruity either!! it tastes weird!
wha2eva!
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This is from The Yellow Submarine… I love it, and so should you! ; – )
I’m sitting outside Kinokuniya, on the couches there… using the mall’s free wifi.
I arrived in Dubai this morning… I’m staying at a hotel called Copthrone… It’s an isalmic hotel, where women at the reception wear veils and it has no alcohol or anything… My father chose that one. Why? No idea. It’s probably because of my 2 sisters, he wants to make sure they are safe. But I have nothing against the hotel… It’s just I never thought it existed…
Ok. the guy that sat next to me when I started writing this just moved to another couch, I think he was reading what I was writing… he sat normally and when I started writing he leaned back… like really back, and I felt that his breath became nearer… anyways, the hotel is ok I mean… who am I to complain, right? I’m staying here for 4 days for free…
I think I spent 1 hour and a half in Kinokuniya… I got 3 books… 2 for me, 1 for a friend… I wanted to get more but I left my money at the hotel’s room… because I knew I was gonna go berserk here… which I am tomorrow or the day after…
My sisters went to something called “The Dragon Mall”? where they sell cheap chinese slaves… Not! they have all kind of cheap stuff… like really cheap… like beyond cheapness… anyways…
I’m meeting a facebook friend in an hour or so… chat over coffee… we never met before… and she’s paying for it! that was my condition because I’m here for free right? but I’m gonna pay for my coffee and her’s… I don’t pretend to be a gentleman because I am one!
My other Emarati friends are all busy today and I’ll probably meet some of them on Saturday… Tomorrow I’m taking my sister’s to the ice-thingy-thingy in The Mall of Emirates and then have lunch and not go for shopping with them!
My iPod shuffled to “The Christmas Wish” John Denver and The Muppets… nice song…
What I like about being in Dubai, and I probably said that before is that I lose my identity here… people don’t have an idea where am I from… for them I’m just someone who can speak english and that’s it… In Kuwait whenever you go somewhere you are treated as a Kuwaiti… not that’s a good or a bad thing… They just know you are from Kuwait and treat you with a certain judgment in mind, again it could be positive or negative… I haven’t traveled a lot really so it might be a normal feeling whenever I go anywhere… cuz I think I look international baybay!!
Yesterday was the last day of shooting the tv ad… I finally slept 13 hours… after sleeping a total of 6 hours in 4 days… it was hectic but I’m glad it went really good… I already miss it… got used to seeing everyone 14 hours a day for 10 days… hopefully you’ll see the commercial in Ramadhan… I’ll post it here if it gets on youtube or something…
Anyone wants anything from here? other than those who already asked for things? : – )
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My little sister got 97.1% at school and got me locked in a 3 minutes hug… I’m gonna get her something really nice from here…
I was watching the last episode of “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” a few weeks ago… I teared towards the end… Do you think that’s too much dedication to comedy? hmmm……
I’m growing my beard again, did I say that before?
When I go back to Kuwait, I’m gonna lose 10 Kgs. … not on the same day! but gonna work on it…
A long long time ago, in a hospital far far away… I was born…
It’s my 26th birthday today… yay for me! I made it! *wink wink nudge nudge*
For the first time in my life I’m 26… woow!!
Let’s see what’s on for today… hmmm, I wonder what am I doing from 2:30 A.M. till 5 P.M? partying? sleeping? studying? hanging out with my friends? hmmmm, NO!! I’m working! yaaaay! *a very tired wink wink nudge nudge*
Well, what can one do? specially if you happen to be a sex-slave… NOT!
Well anyway, my friends are organizing a small gathering at 7:30… somewhere in K-land… not sure yet… I like to thank them in advanced… I hope they don’t bring any expensive gifts… I don’t like expensive gifts… but I’m not gonna reject them of course… another group of friends are organizing something at around 10:30 … wow, right? I have so many things to attend on my birthday… including my birthday!!
What was I doing when the clock ticked 00:00? I was on the phone *a very cute wink wink nudge nudge*
I don’t have a birthday wish… I have a birthday plan…
Life has been very good to me… more than I could ever dream of… the most accomplished that I’ve ever been, if I may say… looking forward to more of good life… looking forward to more fun… looking forward to more laughs…
I think the funniest thing to say after someone says “happy birthday” is “Thanks, to you too!” … whaevaaa!
