Red!

Dody's first painting, she did it last night!

BUSTED!!

WOOOOHOOOOO, I THINK I SOLVED THE MYSTERY!!

I just came across this picture on IraqSlogger.com, and the comment goes like this:

BAGHDAD, IRAQ - MAY 24: An Iraqi boy climbs boards a boat to cross the Tigris River on May 24, 2007 in Baghdad, Iraq. A number of Iraqis have turned to use boats to cross the banks of the Tigris River after the bombing of at least four bridges in Baghdad.



Remember how we all after this series of bombing bridges and building walls, we all started throwing accusations of them being sectarian acts by some one with interest in separating Baghdad into Sunni and Shiite areas restricted for each other!! I remember I myself started making fun of how stupid I think it is, how obvious the way things are going.... And of course as Arabs we all invented the usual conspiracy theory involving Israel and the Mossad etc. etc., you know, the way we always do....

Now watching these pictures were like a shock to me, I suddenly realised that we were all wrong!!

The thing happening behind the scenes which I am about to revile now is going to be a surprise to all of you, so please hold on tight to your seats, sit down if you are reading while you are standing, prepare for the shock:


IT'S THE BOAT DRIVERS"or whatever you want to call them"!!

picture this with me, a group of those boat owners gather in a meeting to search their current situation.... The business is really bad these days, you know people are more worried about their asses than taking a trip in the Tigris, beside, they'd rather spend their money on buying fuel than taking a boat with their chicks!!

What is the solution?! what can we do?! we can't earn our living like this specially when we can't go fishing because you know how it is with 30 years of throwing deadly chemicals and wastes into the river, by now all the fish are probably looking like TMNT "teenage mutant ninja turtles" so fishing them is not an option!

P.S from the writer ..... I know it sounds dump, a fisherman knowing about TMNT but bare with me here, you got the point, that's the important thing!!


Now back to our fishermen, a long silent pause domains until a voice comes from among them..... I have an idea!!!

*What idea? tell us please!!
*It's kindda cranky, I am not sure if you would agree to it...
*just tell us anything, we are desperate here, can't you see?! We would go for anything, just talk!
*......... Blow up the bridges.
*huh?!
*You heard me, lets blow up the bridges, people won't find a way to cross the river and they will have to come back to us!! We would be the only way for them to get to their jobs and houses...
Everyone will be crawling to get in the line for a ride!!
*mmmm.....!
*C'mon, think about it. It's a really good idea, no one will ever suspect the poor guys who spent their lives sailing in the river!!
*..........
*..........
*..........
*..........
*It sounds like a good idea to me!
*yeah, me too!
*But guys....
* Oh shut up, no buts, we need to feed the family " said in a dangerous mob way", and I will do anything to prove my loyalty to the family.
*...........
*So are you with us or not?!
*........... I am sorry, but this is against my morals, I can't help but think of all the people who would get killed in such a massacre!
*Okay soft boy, I am afraid we can't leave any witnesses behind.... KILL HIM!!!

"sound of a fight and someone getting slayed eventually"



I will leave the rest for your imagination, I think you know how it must have gone, just some explosives, easy to attach them to the bases of the bridges using their boats, no one will suspect why they were roaming around the area, after all, it's their job!!

Now, I bet if you get some of those CSI people with their weird devices, they will find traces of saliva, sorry chemical stuff used for making home made explosives on their hands, urine and hair maybe even disect one of them and search for it in his lungs!!

you can find some more pictures that support my accusations here!
Notice the devilish looks in their eyes, you know what they say, once a murderer, forever a murderer.

I guess they underestimated how genius I am or just never thought I'd see those pictures!!








P.S I was simply joking above but I am happy that at least one party got benefit from these massacres!

I wish I could have one more time to tell you how much I miss you!

Stethoscopes heaven!

That is my little beauty, my cousin dody, she is 2, and the only person who can make me smile when everything feels like shit!

She was very sick for the past couple of days, fever and so, we had to give her 3 shots of antibiotic :( but she is not much better.

Anyway, she always loves to play with my stethoscope" I am a med student", so to cheer her up, we bought her this set of doctor toys, I am sure you all know them...... She was really happy with them, though you can still see how sick she looks in the pic.


That's another picture of her when she is feeling better!

I love ME!!

More than 32 people have been killed and 90 others wounded in two separate explosions in Baghdad while eight more US soldiers have been reported killed.

Police said at least 10 people were killed and 35 wounded on Tuesday when a car bomb exploded in a busy market in the southwest of the Iraqi capital.

Police sources said the bomb targeted civilians in the mainly Shiite district of Amil.

Earlier in the day, at least 22 people were killed and 55 wounded when a parked minibus exploded in central Baghdad.

The bomb went off in a busy commercial area where many day labourers, mostly Shiite, often wait for work.

Meanwhile, Al Mahdi Army was accused of setting a Sunni mosque and 50 houses on fire.


Hallelujah, thumbs up everyone, you gave us one nice bloody day!!
Is it just me or does it really keep getting better and better??!!!


P.S won't even talk about the the 3 lecturers who were abducted with their English bodyguards, that was a nice one!






Okay, to keep things updated, this month "May" was considered the worst month for American troops in 2 years, a sum of 122 soldiers were announced dead!

On the other hand, for Iraqis, we have 2000 dead, of course you can add another 2000 to get the real picture as more than half of the injured usually die out of incredibly lousy medical care and they are not counted!

YOU FAILED!!

Are we self-destructive creatures?! Is it true that we prefer to sink deep in our fear, hatred, lust and agony?!


I was once accused that I think of all the bad things that could possibly happen, even invent some just to justify the bad feelings I have, to explain to myself why I am miserable!


Mostly true, I know I always think of the worst, maybe because I saw and lived some of the worst of life so when I am happy, I try to always remind myself that the best is NOT yet to come, it is most of the time the WORST is yet to come.... This way I won't get too disappointed when everything turns into a mess..... Pessimistic, I know, but give me one reason that would make me not one!



Sometimes you feel like you just hit the bottom, went down a steep slide without even noticing to find yourself down on the ground, alone with cruel eyes looking at you from above and pointing with their fingers and laughing,"look at that stupid idiot, he didn't notice we were going to push him soon".

You look up and you can't believe that someone you trusted could do this to you, you remember the words of the wise men who told you eldonya mafeehash aman "there is no safety in this world"... you remember that you were once in a situation advising someone else not to trust a human being, even yourself because people change and everyone is looking for their own profit"what's in it for meeeeee??!!"


You are down there covered with your shame and misery thinking how stupid you were and how if you got to get out of this, you will never put yourself under the mercy of anyone!


Now the more stupid thing is that you find one of those who pushed you reaching out for you.... half heartidly, but at least reaching.....
You think for a while.... should I go for it?! I mean how am I to know it is not a trick?! But again, the stupid self centered you ignores all rational thoughts and reaches out for the hand, try to grab it, it's not that easy, you need some more effort.....

gather some of the people who were down there with you, who were thrown by the same people who threw you or by someone else, doesn't really matter.... pile them on top of each other and use them as your "stairway to heaven".... What do you say?! They are your friends??! So what??! Can't you remember a word of what I said?! "What's in it for meeeee??????!!!! me and only me", focus on getting up there dummy!!

So you finally got hold of the hand, it is slippy and not very willing to help you, but in what position are you to start complaining now??!

You are there now after a lot of struggle but you made it, congratulations,
YOU FAILED YOUR FIRST TEST!!


Now see that smile on your saviours face, look harder,memorize it, engrave it in your brain cells, what do you see in it??! Just think and tell me later. Enjoy the warm welcome and the hugs, try to get hold of as much love as you can!


.....................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................!!



Ummmm, he is handing you a shovel?! you are scared??! why are you saying so?! remember, he is our saviour, he could have left us there to rot, but he didn't..... Stop being ungrateful, stop whining, just take the damned shovel and do what he is asking you....

He asked you to dig a grave?!! ummm, it's okay, maybe he got something to bury... a pet or a box or even a time capsule..... keep digging, it's just a hole in the ground, he is your saviour, you have to pay your debt, help him to whatever he wants without wondering or asking.

He is not convinced with how deep it got?! He wants it deeper??! Well, what is the difference, a hole is a hole, doesn't matter how deep it is, dig deeper!!!

He is asking you to go down there??!! .........That's weird............. But hey, there has to be a reasonable explanation for it.... Oh oh, he must want to hand you whatever he wants to bury while you are in there, it must be heavy!!


See, you are down there now and nothing bad happened... You have a HUGE trust issue, you should really have some more faith in the human nature!

................................................................................................................................................................... ...........................................................................................................................................................!!

WHAT??! what is this dirt falling over our face?! What's happening?! Why is it getting darker?! Why are we this cold?!!

OH SHUT IT YOU DUMB ASS!! IT'S MY TURN TO TALK!!! I WAS FOLLOWING THE DECISIONS YOU MADE FOR ME ALL ALONG THE ROAD!! IT WAS ALL SUPPOSED TO BE ALRIGHT, WHAT HAPPENED NOW?! WE GOT DUMPED IN A COLD LONELY PLACE YOU JACK ASS MOTHER FUCKER!! I SHOULDN'T HAVE LISTENED TO YOU FIRST PLACE YOU STUPID PIG!!

So the other part of you says with its last breaths,"at least we got to see him smile for us once!"

choose!

Sitting on my desk studying, I got this phone call from a friend, nothing serious, just the normal chit -chat, I had a pencil in my hand and some paper in front of me, I started painting this meaningless drawing... I am done with the phone, I found that I have a nice outline, maybe I should finish it..... My mother comes in a while to find me working on it, she asks,"what is that?!"
I said I don't know, it's nothing I guess, so she says your nothing looks good, finish it..... So you find me working on it for a while till I realized that I need to go on studying, I leave it and decide to get back to it later......

Later that night, my parents came out from outside, we sat to have dinner"actually I had dinner alone since they already ate", anyway, I finished dinner and thought I can finish my drawing.Went to my room, got the pencil and the paper and started again...

Now this is not why I am writing now... you see, we got into this discussion about educational system in Egypt!!

I have been to many schools, about 5 plus college, they were all dramatically different in so many ways but the comparison we made was between specific two, the last two actually. I spent 3 years in the first one and 4 in the other...

Now, the first one was very much concerned with external activities and I mean by that sports and art work mainly, it had a large library and play grounds and so on... I can say that I spent the most full years of my life there, I can't remember how many art exhibitions I had, the poetry competitions, the sports tournaments etc.

I was an active child, I have to admit, not every one was like that but my point here is that I actually had the space to be one, I had teachers to guide me and I want to acknowledge that I had one hell of a librarian "Ms Shadia", she was in charge of most of the art activities but she was more of my friend who taught me a lot of things....

So far all seems great, so what is the problem?! The educational level!!
I had a range of 96-97% when it came to my total marks! This was not acceptable for my parents, they wanted THE BEST!

I was going to hi-school by then, and hi-school determines what college you end up in and consequently what future you have!! I was set to be a doctor since I can remember, this meant I had to raise my marks to be able to get to the exact college, actually the exact university they wanted!

To sum all, I was moved to another school...

This one had the perfect record of marks and college applicators, superb teachers and most of all, not anyone can get in there, only the top of the top!!

I got in , and it was almost the complete opposite of the first school, very concerned with stuffing information in your head, very ignorant to the artistic creative part of the child's mind!!

4 years I spent there, always studying, always the top of my class, full marks and very well known among all teachers for being the perfect student "there is no bragging here :P, just stating facts".

4 years I barely had any activity other than studying, barely playing any sports or drawing inside my school.... I had to keep all my activities for the summer, and that means almost not reading a couple of books in 9 months!

I qualified for the college I wanted, I am studying there now!



Now the discussion was: is it acceptable that a child is mind set on a particular aspect of his educational life and neglecting all the others??! Do we put our children in a school that we entrust to develop their minds to find that after 11 years of education, I got a copying machine?!
Does qualifying for a decent college mean that a person has a healthy well developed mind??!
If you got to choose between having one of the previously mentioned schools, what would your choice be??!

In Egypt, most of the parents will go for school number 2, a lot of reasons, I am considerate for some of them, I know it is a tough life we are living, if you don't get to be a doctor or an engineer, you won't get a job "as if doctors an engineers do find jobs that easily", there is nothing like a proud parent watching his kid graduate from a nice college and so on!

But are we really willing to let something like that be inflicted on the brain functions of our children?! A kid is a kid, do you want to deprive him from the sweet and innocent joys of life because you are worried about his graduation??!

I say let'em play, let'em live, don't spoil them or leave them without good education but please stop creating generations of copying machines!! We already have loads of young people who were raised this way and end up depressed because they don't have the creative touch in their lives!

I don't say let us all be Mozart or Chopin, but at least let this child when he grows up be able to look back at his childhood days at school and say I had fun while I was learning, not look back and all he would be able to remember is some frowning faces and piles of books stuffed with information no one cares about!

A friend of mine told me that I should ask if anyone sees other options, so I am open to any comments!