I want to go to there
09 June 2009
from here
Labels: 3ajeebalicious, Kuwait
posted by G @ Tuesday, June 09, 2009,
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So, what do you think?
Labels: meanwhile on the other side, si-a$$-ah
posted by G @ Thursday, June 04, 2009,
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I can't sleep.
My brain's moving so fast that I feel like I'd like to escape my body for a day just to get a little rest.
I guess I slept for less than 2 hours but I woke up feeling like I want to hit the treadmill just to mellow out. Quite literally, run away from myself. But it'll wake the whole house.
Funny thing is, nothing's really bothering me.
This restlessness has been pretty much a constant in my life.
The only way to describe it is feeling like your home is being burned down and you're calmly standing outside watching as it goes up in flames. My brain's reaction to everything is run! do something! try to salvage your life! pictures! parents! passports! now! now! now!
Imagine that feeling when you're trying to watch television or even worse trying to go to sleep. Nothing requires immediate attention, all tasks have been taken care of, but my body won't recognize that.
I feel like I'm jumping out of my skin. Fortunately, I get a miraculous sunrise view from my window.
Labels: a day in the life
posted by G @ Tuesday, June 02, 2009,
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Things I learned over the past four years...
27 May 2009
graduation cap cupcake originally uploaded by clevercupcakes
It hit me last night that I've been out of college for four years this May. I decided to channel all my freak out emotions into an advice piece for recent grads:
1) Being a lifeless drone is a choice most people around you will make. You don't have to do it.
2) Your friend's lives will diverge, some will get very demanding jobs, others will have families, others will leave to go to grad school. Friendships will require more energy and time if you want to keep them.
3) Networking with men (for women) is much more difficult but necessary. Do too much of it and you're easy and too eager, do too little and you limit your access to opportunities. Find yourself a comfortable balance.
4) Most people don't know what they're doing, you're not the only one. Make it up as you go along, be confident in your ability to learn.
5) If you don't get married, it's okay. People are going to treat you like your dying but you're really not.
6) Be happy for other people's successes, life isn't a race, you're heading to different destinations anyway.
7) Find something you'd like to get involved in, (especially if you have a soul-sucking job) do something for other people.
8) Ask for what you want (I'm still working on this one) if you don't know what you want ask for what you think you want. If it turns out you don't want it, thank people for their help and move on.
9) Don't put yourself/undermine yourself especially not in front of people. They will believe what you say about yourself. (Don't be cocky either, no one likes that.)
10) Take a deep breath, it'll all be okay. (I think.)
Labels: a day in the life, quarter-life crises
posted by G @ Wednesday, May 27, 2009,
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إهداء إلى سمو رئيس مجلس الوزراء الشيخ ناصر المحمد الصباح
20 May 2009
posted by G @ Wednesday, May 20, 2009,
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Annnnd we're in
17 May 2009
Four Kuwaiti women won last night's parliamentary elections. Aseel Al-Awadhi, Rola Dashti, Ma'asouma Mubarak and Salwa Al-Jassar. Congratulations Kuwait, we can almost hear the wheel of cultural change turning slowly.
Even Thikra Al-Rashidi, a woman MP candidate running in conservative tribal district, had extremely good results and was in at 15th place. That is progress.
For that and more, I am ecstatic.
posted by G @ Sunday, May 17, 2009,
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الثالثة ثابتة
16 May 2009
6:30 a.m. : Alarm goes off; first time I wake up this early in easily 9 years.
7:30 a.m.: Leave house, head to a school in Kaifan to monitor elections as a KTS volunteer.
7:45 a.m.: Get kicked out of first classroom by unaccommodating judge.
7:46 a.m.: Get kicked out of second classroom. Decide to stop asking about checking polling stations, walk around to check signage around school.
8:05 a.m.: All five polling stations are open, old ladies begin filing in.
9:30 a.m.: Leave polling center to get food. Drive to Starbuck's in Adailiya where apparently everyone who's working for any candidate in District III is there.
10:00 a.m.: Back to school, asking judges for permission to monitor from inside the classroom.
11:ish a.m.: Notice traffic slowing at polling station. People are sitting around waiting for voters to show up.
12:00 p.m.: Head to my own polling center to vote.
12:ish: Parking far to avoid being double parked. As I'm walking into the building, I try to choose four from the six candidates I had in mind.
12-ishish: I'm getting dizzy from the sun, walk into the empty polling station (good timing on my part) check four names. Fold paper. Hand ballot over to the judge. Watch as he puts it in the clear box.
1-ish: Drive to KTS. Watch Dr. Salah Al-Ghazalli's interview on Alrai. Realize that most volunteers were rudely kicked out at the school's gates.
1-ishish: Meet friend at McDonald's (we're a classy bunch); where I find my thirteen year old sister who's helping a friend's uncle's campaign. Tell sister to stay off the streets. (Which I think is great advice at any age.)
2:00 p.m.: Still dizzy. Probably dehydrated.
5:30 p.m.: Drive back home. Too dizzy and tired to do anything anymore. Call KTS supervisor, tell her I can't show up at poll closing.
How'd your day go?
Labels: Kuwait, si-a$$-ah, things to do
posted by G @ Saturday, May 16, 2009,
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Hibernating
14 May 2009
Passengers originally uploaded by naughton321
“You live like this, sheltered, in a delicate world, & you believe you are living. Then you read a book, or you take a trip, & you discover that you are not living, that you are hibernating. The symptoms of hibernating are easily detectable: first, restlessness. The second symptom (when hibernating becomes dangerous & might degenerate into death): absence of pleasure. That is all. It appears like an innocuous illness. Monotony, boredom, death. Millions live like this (or die like this) without knowing it. They work in offices. They drive a car. They picnic with their families. They raise children. & then some shock treatment takes place, a person, a book, a song, & it awakens them & saves them from death.”
-Anais Nin
Labels: quotes
posted by G @ Thursday, May 14, 2009,
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Who wants to be a millionaire?
10 May 2009
At a young entrepreneur meeting earlier today, several men talked about wanting to be millionaires; one of the attendees even mentioned wanting to have 6 billion dinars (1 Kuwaiti dinar = 3.4 US dollars).
It threw me off, I've never thought of wanting money. Financial freedom, absolutely, and I've learned to quantify it too. Enough to travel, buy gifts for loved ones and afford the best health-care if anyone around me ever needs it.
Money's nice don't get me wrong, you'll never hear me complaining of "excess money", but to want to work towards a number is a foreign concept.
So, who wants to be a millionaire?
Labels: conscious consumption, Kuwait
posted by G @ Sunday, May 10, 2009,
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And now we know your caliber
06 May 2009
It's true, Dr. Aseel is suing whoever did the video of her recording. Although she's completely within her right to do so, it just reeks of hypocrisy.
Politics isn't always good clean fun, there's always mudslinging involved. I had hoped Dr. Aseel's freedom of expression ideals could have stood the test of this campaign. I guess it's all lip service.
Dr. Aseel, former MP Ahmad Al-Saadoun's had worse things said about him. Personal attacks against him and his family > Recording of something he said in a public forum taken out of context. Al-Saadoun has never filed a complaint against anyone during the span of his political career.
But I guess it's unfair to compare you to a real politician.
Thanks Dr. Aseel now we know.
via Dr. Aseel's website:د. أسيل تطلب التحقيق في الإشاعات المفبركة
تقدمت د. أسيل العوضي بشكوى إلى النائب العام تطلب التحقيق في موضوع الإشاعات المفبركة والتعدي على الخصوصية ومحاسبة المتسبب حسب قانون الجزاء، نافية ما تردد عن دعوتها لحجب مواقع إلكترونية لأنه لا يتماشى مع مبادئ الحرية الديمقراطية التي تؤمن بها، مشيرة إلى أنها تؤيد حرية الرأي والتعبير في إطار القانون الذي ارتضيناه جميعاً، ومن حق الشعب الكويتي أن يعرف من وراء هذه الحملة، ومن يحاول اختطاف العرس الديمقراطي لأمور جانبية بدلاً من التركيز على القضايا التي تهم المواطنين.
ونفت د. أسيل العوضي إستهدافها أي من المدونات الكويتية، وأكدت أنها تولي المدونات الكويتية كل إعجاب واحترام على دورها الفاعل والوطني في مراقبة السلطات والتعبير عن هموم الشارع الكويتي، لا سيما وقد كانت لها بصمات لا ينازعهم عليها أحد في قضايا الديمقراطية كحق المرأة السياسي وتعديل الدوائر الإنتخابية.
ونبهت د. أسيل العوضي الشعب الكويتي إلى الحذر من الإشاعات، ودعت كل مواطن حريص على تقصي الحقيقة ودقة المعلومة إلى استقصائها من موقعها الرسمي الإلكتروني
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posted by G @ Wednesday, May 06, 2009,
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