I made it!

Aayan in London
Originally uploaded by aayansiddiqui

Will she make it?!

Here's the plan:

1) interview at 8:30 a.m.
2) mad dash to the airport to make my 10:00 a.m. flight.


I wonder if I'll make it!

Id3ooli.

Aseel: the anti-Haleema

Although, I'm wasn't in a position to vote for Aseel Al-Awadhi, third constituency candidate, nor do I agree with her ideology completely, I think she's great for Kuwait.

From Nouriya Al-Sadani to Rola Dashti*, never before have we had a young(-ish) feminine soft-spoken candidate running for elections. Kuwaiti women seeking powerful positions, whether real or fictitious (as in TV soaps), are always older, more androgynous and generally deemed "undesirable". (Sweeping generalizations, shame on me).


Aseel in a way, is the anti-Haleema Boland.


This elections' lesson: You don't have to be a ditz to make it; politics isn't for butch girls.

*Jenan Boushihri is an exception. Also, apparently Aseel and Rola are both around the same age. (who knew?!)

How low will you go?

I knew Al-Kharafi was going to win, but the way he chose to run his campaign and his campaigner's actions killed the last shred of respect I have for the man.

During the election campaign, we were being flooded with phone-calls from people who clearly did not speak with a Kuwaiti dialect, sometimes asking, sometimes telling us to vote for Al-Kharafi.

They visited our home, two very fair young women with an older lady, who didn't look or speak like anyone I knew. (They looked like they crossed the border two days ago.) Telling us that they're crossing our names off the list, that I need to keep my word. I told her, I was still thinking about it and cannot promise anything.

I knew all these people were hired. There's nothing wrong with that.

But at the school, it was a whole different ballgame.

Children and young women screaming his name and grabbing on to me as I walked past them. "Al-Kharafi #1!"

It really reminded me of this:


They were acting very '
cheap', 14 year old girls running around the streets close to the school. WHERE ARE THEIR PARENTS?!

Needless to say, Al-Kharafi's whole campaign made me very uncomfortable because it was obvious he had bought these people.

Congratulations, Mohammad Jassem Al-Kharafi, you set a new record for yourself. How low will you go next?

---

Sadly, when I say Kharafi, I also mean Marzoug Al-Ghanim because they ran the same campaign. Disgusting. Shame on you Marzoug, we had hope for you.

Can you hear me now? "Kuwaitis are materialistic"

Upon leaving a friend's fancy baby reception (istiqbal) at a hospital; my friend, M, makes a comment about how the Kuwaiti society has become materialistic and "shinsawi? ba3ad...".

She said, there's really nothing to do about it and you have to play along.

Although that sentiment is not new, I find that the people who make such statements are often justifying their excessive behavior*.

Putting a stop to the "let's top that" attitude takes some effort and gumption.

A long conversation followed about society, materialism, and our role in it but these are my thoughts:

We create our own realities, live our own lives.

"We" are not "chithee". You are.

(1) We choose our social circles.
Although we don't choose our family, we do have some say in our social circles. If it bothers you so much, or you're trying to get out of it, don't be around people who are self-obsessed and materialistic. (I'm not saying its easy...I'm saying its possible.)

(2) We choose to care.
Very few people actually deeply care about what we do, wear, etc. They need a topic to discuss. People won't care that you didn't have a fancy baby reception at a hospital, they don't want to worry about inconveniencing their selves by having to visit you at home. Some might talk because they have nothing better to do.

The problem is that regardless of how strong or mild the social pressure is, we don't want to have to deal with it. We don't want to stand up for what we believe for a single second.


Isn't that why we end up with a crazy hospital bill (that has little to do with the medical care we received)? To have other people come in dressed to the nines only hours after having a life-altering experience, choosing to spend that precious time away from our babies and partners?

Isn't that why we buy cars that take up a big chunk of our monthly income? To prove that we have money to other people. God forbid we actually live within or below our means. That would mean we're middle class .

And I truly apologize for this statement but if your parents are rich and you have a crazy expensive car that you can't buy on your own, then you're a mooch.

Today's lesson: Quit complaining. This is a mess of our own making. Let's work on fixing it.

---

*She recently bought a car worth around KD 25,000. She makes around KD 600 per month. Her car note's around KD 250. And complains about being penniless before the end of the month.

Kids make booboos better

When in a foul mood, I watch kid videos on youtube. Instant mood-lift.(All of these are really old.)

"Blood: It's not funny"



Dangit Family Guy! Now all British kids remind me of Stewie.





I love the last part in this one, where she realizes that "ask" is a bad word. "Ooooooh!"




The next one has foul language:

Faisal Al-Hajji: BITE ME!

This is NOT okay.

Al-Qabas (May 6,2009)
«
المسيلة» ضاحية سالم الصباح
قال وزير الدولة لشؤون مجلس الوزراء فيصل الحجي ان سمو أمير البلاد، تقديراً للدور المهم والجهود المخلصة التي قام بها المغفور له الشيخ سالم الصباح في مختلف المجالات والميادين في خدمة الوطن والمواطنين من مختلف المواقع التي تقلدها طيلة فترة عمله، أمر بتسمية منطقة «المسيلة» باسم ضاحية سالم الصباح.

(Almessila to be renamed "Salem Al-Sabah" Area)

One more area renamed after a Shaikh. I have no problems with our Shyookh, but renaming areas seems like something invaders do and YOU ARE NOT INVADING US.

It's hostile, it's eradicating and rewriting history. Sure, our areas have some pretty crazy names (Mahboola?!)...but this is our history (somehow) and we want to keep it!

I barely recognize the names in my country anymore!


There's going to be more roads, areas, highways, schools, hospitals built in the next five years (atleast we hope!). Why can't you wait till something actually needs a name to name it?!

Guess what! you can lead a horse to water....
I'm still calling Om AlHaiman, Om AlHaiman and '3arb (West) Mishref is always gonna be West Mishref to me.

And when someone tells me to go to Sabah Al-Nasser or Jaber Al-Ali I say...where the !@#$ is that..??!!!

WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? IT'S NOT ABOUT HONORING THE PEOPLE...(I'm soo flipping pissed I could bite Faisal Al-Hajji)


I'm sick of not recognizing my country anymore. I'm sick of this crap you're pulling...


I'm outraged.

Thrilling postsecrets!

Happy PostSecret's from this week (for a change):



One of my all time favorites:

Wouldn't it be great if we were all secretly thrilled with ourselves?!

Bored. Sick. Tired.

bored: who knew the run-up to the election would be so boring? Oh and haven't had anything interesting to say in a while.

sick: not feeling very well. plumbing issues, TMI, I know.

tired: working too much for too little. Freelancing is too socially isolating for me. Must start a full-time job search again. How?!