Negative Nancy

I suspect that many of you have been seeing the “This Account Has Exceeded Its CPU Quota” message all the time lately. Well, I don’t know what the hell that is and I am currently working on it. Frustrating.

I’ve been bitter the past week. As if you hadn’t noticed from my recent blog posts. All I’ve been doing is rant and complain. Boo. Most of my post for the past few months have been about issues with my everyday life. I don’t like that actually. I started this blog as a suggestion from a friend to show a couple of my cartoons about the Women’s Voting Rights issue in Kuwait a couple of years ago. After that calmed down in two weeks or so I told myself I should continue writing informative posts so that I could become a better writer and to exercise my journalist skills.

Well today will be my last personal post (for a while at least). So instead of being ranty, I’ll leave it on a good note.

As we all know, today is October 31st: Holloween. My campus is certainly not a quiet one and the students here are pretty active and diverse. That’s a really great thing.

Anyway, as I was walking to classes today I noticed a couple of people decided to have fun and go to their classes in costumes. One particular costume got the people around me and my attention. A guy was dressed up as a penis with a condom on! I don’t know if he bought it or if he made it himself. I just know that it was hilarious. He must have been afraid of getting arrested for indecency because he added an education element to it by taping a sign on his backpack that said “Please practice safe sex.”

What A Shame

I never knew how much Disney movies of today sucked until I went back and watched some the original movies we all grew up watching. I don’t appreciate the whole Disney/Pixar relationship at all. I think Pixar should branch out on their own and just focus on making the sweet little theatrical shorts that they show in cinemas before their main feature.

These days, the “cartoon” movies are always computer generated crap. And all the studios are so busy trying to make theirs more and more realistic looking! Soundtracks are just really pathetic, all covers of regular songs sung by lame people. Also, what the hell is with all the cultural references of today?! “It’s not only enjoyable for children, but for adults too! Yay!” WTF! Forget about watching a nice fairytale some time soon. Everything needs to funny now. Everything needs to funny AND American.

I want to see incredible hand-drawn art that took ages to draw frame by frame. I want to listen to beautiful music and songs composed by great musicians with the help of giant studio orchestras. I want a good story without any interruptions or sidetracking in the plot line. I want dramatic tear-jerking moments, damn it!

I always have hope that things would go back the way it used to be because Mulan was great in 1998. But I always remind myself that Toy Story had even greater success in 1995, and then came the rest of the computer animated films. Each more successful than the other.

Honestly, the only modern film I really liked was Finding Nemo, because Ellen Degeneres was as great as Robin Williams was in Aladdin (even though 99% of his performance was made up of cultural references of that time).

I finally know why they won’t make movies like they used to before. I looked at all the voice actors, producers, writers, directors, and animation teams of many of the movies. Most have one thing in common: they’re dead.

And on that sad note, I’ll leave you with a beautiful song that was specifically written for Lady and the Tramp (1955). The first half is sung by the character “Tony.”

Bella Notte by Peggy Lee & Sonny Burke. [3.6 MB]

Acid Reflux.. My Kind

With the slightest triggering of any emotion (usually negative), you suddenly feel acids seeping through the lining of you stomach causing obvious discomfort and definite irritability. You can’t stand whatever it is you can’t stand.

I meet new people. Some seem perfectly fine in the beginning. We have a nice first meeting, have a great conversation and might even like the same things. Over time as I get to hang out with them and get to know them better, my feelings start to change.

The precise moment could be at anytime. I start noticing things that really get my attention. The way they talk, the way they eat, they way they deal with situations, etc. Basically things that are part of their identity. I start to realize that I don’t want to be around them. I dread even chatting to them online. But once in a while I do say hello just to erase any suspicions.

I don’t want to do that anymore. I really don’t care to be around them anymore so what am I afraid of ruining? Nothing. Thankfully, with bloggers it is pretty easy to cut them off. I don’t get the urge to rip out their throats.

This isn’t cruelty, I just don’t want ulcers.

Wings Wings Wings

The Beatles
Blackbird
Paul McCartney
“Wings”
Gustavo Santaolalla
The Wings

The Wings by Gustavo Santaolalla. [4.4 MB]

inspired by..

Blackbird by The Beatles. [5.3 MB]

What Is I Gon’ Do?

Well remember the post a few days ago? Everyone seemed to agree about shipping a huge container with all my stuff. I searched online for a container in the first place. All I found were giant sized ones that could fit a small car or really tiny ones for shipping fragile things. Then I found the PERFECT thing. The size was just right and it was heavy duty. It was a Zarges 40876 Aluminum Shipping Case. But it costs around $1,000! I didn’t expect that all! I thought maximum it would be $500. And it’s $200 just to ship it to me.

So that idea is pretty much shot. I think I’ll just need to go through my stuff again and see what I really want to bring back. Painful.

I’ll bring three suitcases with me when I go home for Christmas. And maybe another when I go to Egypt for Spring Break. It’ll work itself out. I just don’t want to deal with any of it in May. But my TV is going home, God damn it. It’s my pride and joy.

Another solution is if both my parents come visit me mid-April with only carry-on luggage and/or empty suitcases. Then I would have four pieces already on the way back home! Including my box of DVDs! My dad would deal with customs much better than I can.

(Unlikely..)

Good Morning

I’m so glad I woke up this morning. I was randomly switching channels heard Regis (Live with Regis and Kelly) say “Jake Gyllenhaal.” And then out came Jake.

STUNNING.

Don’t need coffee today.

To see what he is saying about his new important movie coming up and what he currently looks like (my fave, short hair and beard), check out the latest videos of him in interviews uploaded on YouTube.

What Is Your Name?

I was thinking about names the other day like many of us do occasionally. What am I going to name my kids? Maybe this or maybe that.. no, no, definitely that. I’m sure.

But I decided I shouldn’t decide! Names are important. It is a huge part of our identity that we cannot change: it is with us even while lying underneath our tombstones. [Unless you had horrible parents who named you 6ag3a (fart), Gafsha (spoon), Zbala (garbage), Goo6i (box), etc.]

I want my kids to be named the name that comes to them, not the name I chose before they even existed! Take my cousin for example. She was going through some rough times in her life around the time she got pregnant. But when the baby finally came, she felt as if all those things didn’t matter. They were very trivial compared to this new life she helped make. That was Salwa, and she was her solace.

My name is Hoda. Although I don’t think the meaning of the name was much of a factor in my naming process, I think my naming story is the funniest I’ve heard. When I was born, my parents had decided on naming me Dalal. However, no one informed my grandmother in Egypt of this so when a phone call confirming my arrival was made, she declared that I would be named after her. Neither of my parents wanted to be the one to tell her that I already had a name so I was renamed to Hoda. That’s a great story and I love telling it.

Notice how my name is spelled in English with an Egyptian pronunciation (letter O). Before I had to do my official government papers and got my high school diploma, I thought about having my name spelled with a U to make it sound Kuwaiti when read in English. But I decided not to. Although it annoyed me a lot at school (and now still) when the teachers would call me ‘HO-DA’ even after telling them it’s actually ‘HOO-DA’ or ‘HU-DA.’ My mom probably spelled it out that way in the hospital and I’m proud my name has a rich flavor of Egyptian essence thanks to the story and the pronunciation in English.

My kids will have a story to their name. I know it.