Freshies

This morning, my mom insisted on riding along with me in a cab today to see me off for university. She patted my skirt and kissed my cheek and told me to be a good girl, and reminded me of that one day in junior kindergarten when my school called her and told her that I refused to take off my snowpants.

My first day of four years was a bit confusing... I felt so tiny! Even the skinny girls seemed bigger than me. Needless to say, I hid in the deepest corner of Starbucks with Tolstoy and pomegranate juice for 2 hours. I then scavenged courage cells from my innermost organs and went to Math 103, where I was delighted to discover that the professor was Canadian! It felt like a friendly wave from the universe because contrary to popular belief, there really aren't that many Canadians (and hardly any indigenous). The population of California is greater than that of America's hat. So you can only imagine the thrill we Candians get upon meeting a fellow hoser. :)

Lately I've been thinking of bringing popular Canadian restaurants and cafes to Kuwait, such as Bubble Tease and Tim Horton's, two things I've found it hard to live without. On a similar note, I'm passing around a petition to bring snow to Kuwait. Names would be helpful. :)

Kureiji country.

My Inspiration Isn't Money

My good friend Luqman Duale sent me a short movie (starring himself and a friend) about how his inspiration is something deeper than money. He's the guy who presents the money. I'm proud of you, Duale! ;)

You can view the short movie here, and don't forget to leave a comment! :)

Minimal

You know you're country's population is extremely small when this is a headline.

Kureiji stuff.

Gender Fender Bender

I don't get why all the women in movies have to be thin and attractive. Does a woman really have to look like this to destroy the world/save the day?

Do you have any idea how uncomfortable this looks? Wouldn't she be much more comfortable in sweatpants, for example? Or perhaps a looser shirt that would enable her to breathe? You know, it's okay for a woman to not be smoking hot in order to do some good/evil for society. Even if she wasn't smoking hot, she would be doing herself and her reputation a favour by dressing modestly. Would you honestly take Sonja Sotomayor seriosuly if she showed up for the first day on the job with her cleavage pouring out? Nuh-uh.

Now this. For God's sake, women, decide: you either fully cover your hair or not. There's no, 'oh but my bangs look really good today,' or, 'I just got these epic earrings..'. *sigh* Women bother me sometimes. Fake hijabis always aggravate me and make me say loud, snarky comments as they pass by me. I'm pretty mean sometimes xD

It's trivial being a female. I respect men because they're not over-the-top wild and obsessive when it comes to fashions and trends. Also, there's nothing easier than picking out a blouse and dress pants, not having to style hair in the mornings, not applying make-up, and not having to polish every single surface on one's body every single day. There's also nothing more attractve than a man in a suit. Just being honest...

Sushi is going out of fashion, apparently, and Lebanese is coming in. I couldn't care less, because I don't follow food trends. Does Hollywood have to dictate what we eat too? How about how we poop, how we should treat our parents, and the daily time alotted for nose-picking and such rudimentary needs?

Isn't that Kureiji?

PS: this post was inspired by Samia's Tacky and Cheap over at AboutQ8.com :)

Generic is Cool!

To all my readers: have a wonderful Eid filled with family, money, new clothes, hugs, kisses, knafeh, kharoof, and our mothers yelling at us to go to Eid prayers at 5 am.

Have a good one, guys!

Love,

Charah :)

ps: fasting's not over yet my little pretties. We still have 6 ayam el beed. Esteflo.

Yes, Let's Feed the Hermits

Meet the Intelligent Toilet, your one-stop hospital in a bathroom. This baby not only devours urine and feces, but it also analyzes urine, measures blood pressure, measures body temperature, measures visitor weights, and much more. Once it gathers up all this information, it sends it to your laptop or PC, whereupon it is emailed to your physician. It's a shame it doesn't also provide the user with medications and such. (You know, for health reasons ;) )

The inventor with too much time on his hands came up with the idea for the Intelligent Toilet when he saw the numerous amounts of people waiting for health check ups at hospitals. He wondered why people coudn't get their tests done at home (while they're pooping). He chose the toilet for a valid reason, though. Imagine your coffee maker or TV blaring out your weight and urine concentration every time you turned them on. It's a bit unnerving.

So now that you can get everything done at home, why leave it? You can order groceries over the phone, you can shop online or on TV, you can take online courses, and you can get a check up on the can. This is encouraging obesity and hermitism (I don't mean the Hellenistic Egyptian religion). But on the plus side, you won't have to leave your home and wait for hours for a doctor to stick needles in you to tell you that you're okay. All the Intelligent Toilet needs is a TV, a magazine rack, an Easy Bake oven, and we're in business.

Oh, did I mention that the Intelligent Toilet is Japanese?

How Kureiji are they?

Ayayayayaya

To be sure, I'm not an extremist Muslim. I'm just getting that out of the way before I become an...

EXTREME MUSLIM!

A few days back, my cousins and me went to the Grand Mosque in Kuwait to pray night prayers, as it is extremely rewarding to do so in the last 10 days of the Holy Month of Ramadan (wow, can I get any more biased?). I'm not going to lie, I usually get bored within the first hour of night prayers, but this time, I wanted it to last forever.

Imagine standing shoulder to shoulder with different men and women of different social statues and nationalities, all clothed in the same garb and all congregating for one reason: Islam. Imagine listening to the beautiful words of the Quran recited by the renowned Sheikh Mishary Rashid Al Afasy pentrate your soul. Imagine praying to your merciful, loving Lord and Creator outdoors with a playful cool breeze dancing about you as you lift your misty eyes to the limitless skies to thank Him, to beg his forgiviness, to ask for admittance into Heaven, peace, stregnth, success, health, love, happiness, and laughter. Imagine all the 150 000 people around all asking for the same things, and that's just in one small area. People all over the world are joined together by the mystical power of Islam laughing, loving, praying, hoping, and giving. It makes one feel part of something big and powerful.

That night, I prayed for non-belivers to feel just a quarter of what I felt. How could anyone accuse Muslims of being horrendous terrorists who want everything that doesn't have a 2 yard beard dead? How can they honestly delude themselves and their people into thinking that the noble Quran preaches murder, intolerance, and terrorism? Their ignorance blinds them and instead of looking into Islam and pondering its five pillars, Quran, and hadeeth, they would much rather fear that which they don't understand.

And that, my dear readers, is downright Kureiji.

ps: on a totally unrelated note, check out some other bloggers in the extended family: my uncle's wife JouJou Bean, and (get ready for this) my mother's mother's sister's daughter's husband's mother's brother's son, Yousef and co.!

Chuga Chuga

As frilly and feminine as I am, I have to admit to something: I sometimes wish I was a boy. Life is so much easier as a boy, and they are granted more privileges and freedoms than us girls. I've come to terms with that a long time ago, though, convincing myself that my parents simply loved me more than my brother and therefore gave him free reign whereas I was watched over and protected at all times. I belived myself more valuable than my brother. I was such a fool.... last year. :)

Ramadan 2010 is coming to a close. This is the first year that I prayed all my prayers on time and managed to finish a few chapters of the Holy Quran. Yet I can't help but feel that something is amiss. It's a hollowing, consuming feeling that is the source of most of my frustration (the other sources are redundancy in the media and writers' block). I am fairly disappointed with my lack of spirituality this year, but on the whole, isn't that what being a Muslim is about? Always wanting to reach further?

My laptop is still dead. I can't really afford to get it repaired right now, because it costs half of my monthly allowance (which will not be disclosed so stop fishing). My parents can't really keep a secret that well, because they keep telling me to borrow laptops and computers when I find myself desperate for one in the meantime, because I never know what might happen around my birthday. Thank you, King and Queen Obvious. And Prince Obvious while we're at it, because my brother keeps telling me to not buy a new laptop (for the record, I came out as HRH Princess Sarcasm). Oh well, I'll just go into hiding until a new laptop arives as a bundle of joy on my doorstep.... in December. On the 21st. I hope. I SWEAR.

This is going to be the fourth time I use a completely fictional, weird sickness as an excuse to not go to the salon with my cousins. 'Oh there's this weird fungal thing on my knee that hurts when I get my hair cut..'

Isn't that Kureiji? :)

Another Day

I live in Kuwait now. I love it! I love every second of it! I love the non-stop outings, the adventures, the thrill of walking down the street and counting how many times we get hit on, and how many cars follow us. The thing about Kuwait is that no matter how many times I wash my hair, the omnipresent smell of cigarettes and shisha is.... omnipresent. It gets me in trouble because people are forced to believe that I'm a smoker. Me. Me? Me! HA!

I'm starting university soon, and I have mixed feelings welling inside of me. I'm anxious, of course, and worried, but at the same time I'm excited and confident. See? Mixed feelings. My first class is math 103 at 1:00-1:50 PM. And that's it for the day. My courses include English 103 and 108, Political Science 101, Drama 102, Math 103, and Education 101. I'm also hoping to find a job because I much prefer to spend my own money so that the guilt of driving my father to the poorhouse is not on my shoulders. I won't be able to push it off onto my brother, either, because he works at McDonalds. HA! But no, a job is a job is a job. I want a fun one, though. It's okay to enjoy a job, right? Of course. And it's okay to make bundles of money for doing something you enjoy, right? Of course. What I'm getting at is.... I want a teaching job! It doesn't have to be something professional (I'm 16, I don't expect anything glamorous), but I don't want to be a bathroom janitor at Marina Mall, for example. A waitress at Maki is...acceptable.

Speaking of Maki, my cousin Dina expects me to meet her there by sunset to break our brooding fast and get rid of this almost electrical smell of our mouths.

Last night, not only were Dina and I playing Blackjack in Ramadan (sans gambling, of course), but we were cheating at Blackjack in Ramadan. Isn't that Kureiji?