Smile! You're in a 3rd world country!

First of all, I really don't mean the title, or the post for that matter, to sound condescending (if you don't know what condescending means, we have nothing to worry about). If there's one thing I've learnt, it's that there rarely is genetically or categorically "bad" people. The system (or lack thereof) produces the people and their defining traits (as a people).

If you've been outside this (or any other) country for an extended period of time (anything more than six months will do), things get pretty interesting when you go back. You start seeing things as if they were completely new to you (unless you have extraordinary memory). You don't otherwise get a chance to see things in your city anew because you grow up in it.

One of the very first things I've noticed the first time I walked on the streets in Cairo is the people, more specifically the faces of the people.
No one is smiling! Absolutely no one!
I've wondered since then what makes people on the streets smile in Seattle when they cross paths with a stranger, after all, it should be lack of this thing, whatever it is, that makes people frowny on the streets of Cairo.
And I found out the hard way.

Yesterday, I went to take my car to run a few errands, only to find it with a flat rear left tire. It was obvious someone had done it, because the tire had not been leaking and both cars in front of and behind mine had the same rear left tire deflated.
While changing the tire, a passerby tipped me off.

I'd parked it by the school wall (there is a school across from my place) and apparently, the school bus drivers don't like it when someone does that (parks on the street around the school). So they deflate the tires to "teach them a lesson"...
That's not the sad part, the sad part is that there is nothing you can do about it...

Why would you smile walking around in a country where you have no rights, be it property, human, or otherwise?

At least I found my/an answer.

El Toktok

I went to visit my uncle and aunt today, one of my cousins was there too so I get to check a significant percentage of family visits that I have to do off the list (can you tell how small my family is?).
My aunt asks me if there is anything that I saw in my visit that was new to me (I'd been away for about 2 years) and the first thing that comes to mind is "El Toktok!".
If you're wondering what el toktok is, wonder no more, this is what we're talking about, in all its three wheeled flippable glory.

Apparently, Cairo currently has way more cars than it was designed for. Actually that's a misstatement, Cairo was not designed. The best way I can think of as to how its streets came to be is that people built their homes wherever they pleased and the remaining space (or lack thereof) was deemed streets.
Anyway, back on topic, for lack of space (and money), el toktok sprung as an alternative way of transportation (sometimes to the "afterlife").
But this being Egypt, there had to be an interesting twist.

Reportedly, the guy importing toktoks is well connected (he had to be) and made a lot of money on importing and selling them, which is fine. A lot of the "offline" (read not connected) poor folks saw it as a worthwhile investment and started saving up and taking loans to buy and operate toktoks and make a living.
Looks like a win-win so far.
But there is no such thing around here, not that I've seen.
Now the powers that be are disccussing banning el toktok, rumour has it. If/when the toktok is banned, hundreds and maybe thousands of people will have tin boxes for their life investments that they can neither use to make a living nor even sell to recoup their losses.

But life will go on fe om el donya...

Re-blogging

It may be ironic that the factors responsible for my restarting blogging are the symmetric opposite of the reasons I started the blog in the first place. I started the blog mostly because I was relocating from Egypt to the US(which I did) and thought I'd have fun maintaining it (which I did not). I came back to Cairo two days ago (for a visit) and here I am restarting the blogging.
Evidently, change in one's geographical location is a big deal.

A lot of people (like three of them) have asked why I stopped blogging, my answer was (and still is) that I don't know exactly why I started blogging in the first place. But right now I feel like I have words to blurt so I will. This should not be taken as any sort of promise of continued e-blurting --blogging, as it came to be known in recent times.

So I'm back in Cairo, for about a month. I've been away for 27 months (2.25 years for the mathematically challenged) and I seriously couldn't have anticipated the shock. Ironically (I love irony), I was not in culture shock moving to the US, but I am now that I'm visiting Cairo.

Don't get me wrong, I am really excited about meeting all the people again. I love my family and friends and it's the one thing you miss when you leave a 3rd world country, but (you knew this one was coming, didn't you?) you definitely do not miss much else. The list (of things you don't miss when you leave Egypt) is so long I don't know where to start.
And it's very well that I don't too, because I'd probably be like that snobby, "westernized" relative of yours who left the country for a couple years only to come back with a fake accent and attitude complaining about everything he sees and some things he doesn't. Let's just say the complaints are mostly warranted, even though the fake accent is not.

As always, I managed to write more than I had intended, and thus I'll end it here.
To be continued...

(I just entered the letters in the word verification thing wrong twice three times, I feel like Nagia)

May 0th

I just got this random thought.
5:00pm means 5 o'clock. The first minute in a given hour is 00 and the last is 59, that's called zero based indexing in CS world.
But the first day of a given month is, well, the 1st. So beginning of May is 05/01 not 05/00.

Why are we using zero based indexing for minutes, seconds, and hours (in the 24hr format) while using one based indexing for days and months?

Way to go, Egypt!

For some reason I keep on stumbling upon these, another addition to our hall of shame.

Read and weep:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_rendition

Does time really fly?

It's 1 am.
I've had dinner, watched some late night comedy shows, and brushed my teeth in preparation to going to bed.
I looked at the 3 stacked books on the bedside table but I didn't feel like reading any of them. At the bottom there is an economics book that I almost finished but not quite, a stock market book on top of that that I almost finished but not quite, and on the top there is a humurous book about one author's first hand experience with extremists, a book that I almost finished but...you've guessed it.
But I felt like reading something a little light hearted, so I turned to the stacked book shelf, and grabbed a copy of TopGear the magazine that I got a few weeks ago after looking for it all over the US. I learned that Barnes & Noble seems to be the only bookstore that carries European car magazines around here.

It's "Car of the Year" issue, gotta be interesting. But wait a minute, it says 2005 cars of the year. This can't be right. I double checked and it does say 2005. I looked for the tiny date on the top right corner, it said January 2006.
I got this issue 13 months ago, not a few weeks ago.
And this is probably the first time I really realize that it's 2007, that I've been in the US for 17 months now, and that pretty soon in what will seem like a few days I'll be 26 years old.
I have no idea what to make out of all that.
And this is when I grabbed the laptop and started writing this post, mostly because I had a mental hang and thought that writing may unblock it.

I changed a lot in a year and a bit, although I can't be entirely sure since nobody who knew me from "the previous lifetime" has seen me since I came here to attest to that change.
I still, however, can not say that I'm in a substantially different place in my life than I was a year ago. I'm not sure if I was standing still the whole time or running around in small circles.
Do I have to be in a different place (figuratively speaking) every year? Or does running around in circles still count?

I'd decided to take a break for a bit when I came here, I need one after running for 25 minutes so it seemed appropriate after racing life for 25 years. "I'll just take it all in, catch my breath, and then lock on another target and go for it", I thought to myself.
But getting back in the ring after a break is harder than I thought it would be.
And somehow I don't feel that much more refreshed than before I took the break.
And I need a mark before I start shooting.

Does time really fly? Or have I fallen asleep on my break?
It's 1:20 am.

Conversations

I find it fairly interesting that the level of any conversation I'm in depends heavily on the participant.
I find myself talking fairly trivial stuff with some people, and highly abstract and/or philosophical subjects with others.
Everyone else is probably like that, it's not like a special ability of mine.

So this lame excuse for a post is a snippet of a conversation held with one of my dear and highly respected friends a few days ago. C is my humble self.


C: The recurring "so what really is the point?" question strikes every now and then
D: Oh, that question :D
C: Any significant amount of happiness is followed by a similar in quantity opposite in direction amount of unhappiness.
D: Yeah i know all about it.
C: You can't win.
C: and you know a million others would kill for what you have
C: but you know better, because one day _you_ would've killed for what you currently have
C: and now you'd kill for what somebody else has
C: and they would kill for what somebody else has
C: and on top of the pyramid there are thsoe who would kill for what nobody else has
D: :D
D: well am going through a similar phase myself and it's hard I know
D: and harder i guess when you are away
C: is that what they call growing up or something?
D: exactly
D: that line from queen "no one ever told the truth to me about growing up and what a struggle it can be" has never been so relevant
C: and i dunno why life has this annoying habit
C: of giving me a taste of what i want, and then just when I start thinking about how great it is and how I would happily give up other stuff to keep it
C: takes it away
C: i swear i could see somebody sticking their tongue out every time this happens
C: because somebody out there apparently thinks that having everything one wants is too much

Ribs and Hearts

A wise funny man once said "In order to pretend doing something I actually do it, this way I'm only pretending to be pretending".

It's winter and snow is abound, Guy number 1 likes the snow and thinks snow sports would be fun to try. He'll learn something new, have an interesting story to tell, and who knows, maybe he'll find a new favorite sport that he could spend the rest of his life enjoying and perfecting, the guy (affectionately called G1 from now on) thinks.
G1 still remembers his rollerblading incident, when he fell on his back and fractured his tail bone. He was in pain for more than a few weeks because of it. He nevertheless decides to go ahead and snowboard, it'd be silly to let that incident scare him off.
He goes up and down the slopes quite a few times, 2 weeks and numerous small falls later he's getting better, or he thinks he is. He takes on a steeper slope, and decides to jump off a ramp while he's at it. "How hard can it be to jump a few inches and land on the board?", G1 thinks to himself.
He starts the descent, kinda scared at first, but as his speed increases so does his confidence. He's on a good trajectory to make it, he lines up his board perfectly with the narrow wooden ramp and right before he catches air he thinks the hard part is over.
He'd underestimated the landing it seems because just as his board is about to touch the snow again he feels something is wrong. His heavy head is determined on beating his feet to the snow, he extends his arms to try and brace for the fall. He lands on both his hands and feet, but he's not slowing down. The slope is so steep that gravity is overpowering the friction. He tries to slow down the fall but it's not working, a second or two that seem like a lifetime later his torso collides with the ground.
He can't breathe in for a minute from the impact, the pain is agonizing. Judging by the pain, he realizes he almost broke a rib and dislocated a shoulder. Almost but not quite.
It'll take him some time to recover from this one, but he survives.

In slightly different four dimensional coordinates, G2 meets a nice gal. "I should ask her out", G2 thinks to himself. He'll get to know a person, have interesting memories, and who knows, maybe he'll find the girl of his dreams in her and spend the rest of his life cherishing and sharing his moments with her.
G2 still remembers his breakup incident, when his heart was broken by a girl he loved. He was in pain for more than a few months because of it. But it'd be silly to let that scare him off.
They go out for quite a few times, 2 months and numerous small issues later things are getting better. Or he thinks they are. He thinks he's falling in love and he confesses it. "I love you too", she said ", but it's going to be hard". "How hard could it be for two people in love?" he thinks to himself.
He starts the journey, scared at first, but as their love grows so does his confidence they can make it. They're on a good trajectory to make it. They've been over a few hurdles and he thinks the hard part is over.
He'd underestimated circumstances out of his control it seems because just as he was happily adapting to the changes a serious relationship brings to one's life he feels something is wrong. Other people are determined on spoiling his happiness. He fights for what he thinks is his right to be with someone that makes him happy. But the web of ignorance, love for control, and general nonsense is so complicated that it's overpowering all his efforts.
A week or two that seem like a lifetime later, they're broken up.
He feels like he can't breathe in from the pain. He got his heart broken again.
It'll take him some time to recover from this one, but he survives.

I can only pretend to be G1 and G2.

Keep a blog, spend 9 years in prison

I don't recall the last time I've been so enraged.

The gist: An Egyptian blogger criticizes the Egyptian government and El Azhar. He's arrested and is "on trial" and could be looking at 9 years in prison.
The joke, I mean, trial is still going on, please take a look and think of something you can do to help. Anything... Sign the petition if nothing else.

http://www.freekareem.org/

Everyday it's becoming more shameful to be an Egyptian. I would've said this is a new low for Egypt, except that it's not exactly new.

Law lam akon masreyan, I really would have pointed and laughed.

It's a beautiful life

I've always liked Ace of Base, I'm not sure why. I thought they were dead (musically) but a look at their wikipedia page suggested they have an album in the works.

A couple weeks ago I was at my new favorite breakfast cafe. They have friendly baristas, play good music, serve good coffee and an excellent tuna sandwich, and they have free wifi. It doesn't really get any better than that. So they're my Seattle Cilantro substitute (dang it, took me a few seconds to remember the name Cilantro, this can't be a good sign).
So I'm sipping on my coffee and browsing the internets, and a bum comes in. He's black and looks over 50 or so with a plastic cup in one hand and a few quarters in it. He asks me if I have a couple of minutes so naturally I presume he'll be asking for money. I turn around and he starts talking.
"You see, I'm a musician".
'Yeah, right' I thought to myself.
He seemed to have trouble saying complete sentences, he was just blurting words and it was my job to collect them and guess what he meant.
"Can you.... check my name... amazon... music... joe bayana... b a y a n a", he said.
I fired up google and looked for Joe Bayana, the search turned up results and the first is to a page on amazon. This is weird.
I go to the amazon web page and lo and behold. It's an album with a familiar face on it. I look at the man's face, and the picture in front of me, and they match. I take another look because I can't believe it, but there is no denying it.
'Hey, that's you, this _is_ your album, that's great, man', I said. He cracks up a short giggle like someone who hasn't laughed for a long long time.
"music... people buy... money... can you check?"
I don't quite get it so I ask him to clarify.
"check for me... orchard.... last name.... password..."
So I figure he wants me to check if his album is selling and if he has any money to claim out of it. But I don't know how to do that. I ask him to clarify.
"orchard", the man said.
So I try orchard.com and there is nothing there. I rescan the search results and check any promising link with his name in there, but it doesn't get me anywhere.
A couple minutes later I raise my arms up in defeat. 'Sorry man, I don't know where to check for your money'
"That's ok, God bless you", he said. He slowly walked away and out of the coffee place thanking the baristas for letting him in. Never asking for money...

I sit there thinking for a couple minutes. I don't get it. That guy _is_ a musician, at least used to be. He has a published album that's being sold on amazon. He's now homeless. Life is weird.

I go through the amazon page again, and I notice in the album details that the publisher is called The Orchard. Oh, that's got to be what he meant when he kept saying orchard. Another quick search and www.theorchard.com turns up. I go to the page and there is a login link for artists to check their accounts. Darn, that's what he meant. He wanted me to log on to his account and see if there are any new sales that would have credited his account. I look out the window but I don't see him anymore. I run out to see if I can find him, but he'd vanished.

When that man walked in, I presumed he'll be asking for money. But he didn't.
When he told me he's a musician I presumed he's lying. But he wasn't.
When he saw me sitting at a computer he presumed I can help him. But I couldn't.
And however unlikely it is, anyone stumbling on his page on amazon will probably presume he's a well-off recording artist. But he isn't.
Presumptions are cruel.
Or maybe life is.

That man must have been jumping with joy with the recording and publishing of his album. He must have thought it's his breakthrough. Ironically the album has got 3 5-star reviews, so he might have been justified. But life had something else in store for him.
Is it really a beautiful life?

Been some time

It's been more than 2 months since I posted anything, probably my longest blogging abstinence period since the 24 years I spent on the planet before I started the blog.

I can't really say why I haven't been blogging, because I don't know. It's not like nothing was happening or that life was monotonous. On the contrary, we had 2 snowstorms and a windstorm, the latter had us without power for 2 days. Seattle smashed its own record for its wettest month ever in November. I started Salsa dancing classes, and stopped. I went snowboarding twice and am slowly starting to get the hang of it. There was Christmas, and New Year's, and I took my first US road trip down to Reno 750 miles each way.
I also got a lot better at going sideways in the snow thanks to above mentioned weather and summer tires. There is a pretty boring video where you can see the slides improving after the first minute.

Still no clue why I never blogged any of that.
Maybe that's a wrong question to ask, one probably needs a reason to blog any of that, not lack thereof to not blog.

Anyway, I'll probably be back blogging more often for at least the near future.