5 Scents I like

Tagged by 7aki Fadi

1. The smell of gasoline. – If I ever get into drugs, then most probably you'll find me in some gas station with my nose attached to the gas pipe that fills the cars.
   
   
   
2. The smell of burnt rubber from the tires----yea that smell that you get when you screech the tires of cars...wooohoo. I loooooooooooooove it.
   
   
   
3. Cigarettes after a heavy meal – ppl who lived with me knows that they were banned from smoking in my room or in my house. I so much hate cigarettes and their smell..except under rare occasions when you'd be invited to one of those big lunches where you'd be having heavy meals like Mansaf, Mandi or anything that's mixed with rice and big chunks of meat. Sometimes the smell of a cigarette is soothing in making you capable of digesting the food
   
   
4. Smell of Electricity – of course they have a smell. Its that smell of burnt wires you get whenever a fuse is blown, a short-circuit occurs or any electrical malfunction happens. Its such an alien and indescribable smell that exhausts your nostrils and keep you wanting more.
   
   
5. Smell of mom's baked cake. – this is mom's secret weapon whenever she wants to freeze me and suspend all my activities no matter what they are. From watching tvs, playing videogames, reading books or even going out (except toileting which is very hard to...ANYWAY). I'd just freeze and go on auto-pilot to the irresistible scent radiating from the kitchen and I'd wait till the cake is fully baked and ready to be served.
   
   

I tag Kinan, ms loala, and nora Cassandra

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Monthly Digest August

VideoWorld

This one is dedicated for mac. ;)

NewsSpot

Top RPG Player tortured and kidnapped for password

Never underestimate the danger of being a top RPG Gamers. This guy is the biggest example.


Hot Beats

Queen- the show must go on

an old but yet a classic. I love this song. It has one problem only. Its not safe. especially when you turn on the volume to the extent that you can't hear the other cars' horns.

Legends Unraveled

Blogosphere World:

I have to admit that there were many interesting posts that I loved. But there is one special post that mesmerized me and its from a blog that I've only visited once. Check out this extraoridnary post by AbuFares called a tartoussi in aleppo

Hamzatizing Moments

I never learn. I am whiter than snowhite and yet I still challenge the Sun in taking a tan. On Thursday, I went to the beach and decided to drop my usual SPF 40 sunblock for a "Hawaiian Tropic Professional Tanning oil" that smelled really nice. After all, its coconut oil. and what do I get? the weirdest sun burn ever. my face, shoulders, arms and back are lightly pinkish burned but my legs and my belly are painfully red. sleeping on my belly is almost impossible as any contact of the skin with my clothing fabric sets my belly on fire. Only idiots like me end up paying a huge amount of money (entrance fee to private beaches and the expensive tanning oil) to be in pain and be burned in the legs and the belly area.

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Emotionally Disoriented

Don't ask me "how are you?" coz I'll tell you I don't know.

I really don't know.
I am extremely frustrated and extremely happy.
A frustrating morning. It started when I got Mechatrinus (my car) his first scratch. its very small. So far, I don't have a parking space and i have to wait for a period of 2 to 3 months till a free spot opens. So, I've been parking the car in a one-laned road close to the wall. The fact that I've been parking far away from the wall gave few difficulties for ppl who are trying to pass through the road especially since people park on both sides. So me being considerate of others, I tried to park very close to the wall. Apparently, I got too close as I haven't mastered the knowledge of my car's . :(

I was very frustrated...fortunately, only for half an hour.

I know a friend who got a job as a TA in the IT field in his university in the US and he has been granted unlimited access to IEEE papers. After 3 years of comprehensive search, he fulfilled my birthday wish that I've made exactly 2 months ago. I FINALLY managed to find the a soft copy of the paper published in IEEE conference in 2005 that was based on my Bachelor's degree for the final project of me and my partner.

The paper can be found here.

The memories it brings of the long hours we've spent, the beauty of the animated screenshots, the struggle with debugging our code, the great knowledge of the books we've read were the ingredients of this special masterpiece that I shall treasure forever.

oh, how I long for the Academia life. :(

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Between you and me

 

"So that day has finally arrived

The day of you and me

It is time that we start this mutual relationship together

A relationship that will last for many years

We shall ride on the path of our life together.

We will take it slowly.

Learn to trust me and I shall take care of you.

Time may wear our symbiotic bond, but we must endure life's challenges.

Be patient and you shall triumph

You will grow stronger each day

Your mighty shall be witnessed to the whole World

and the day will come

when you reach your true potential

and embrace your destiny

So let the journey begin"

 

The Earth rumbled, and the Heavens growled as Hamza finished enchanting Mechatrinus with its first sparkling moments. Little did he know what the future hid for Mechatrinus, the God of Automobiles.

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Tales of Tahlia Street

King Fahd fountain might be Jeddah's famous landmark; yet residents of the city would usually nominate Tahlia Street to be by far the best place to hang out because of its unique incidents that you witness each time you take that road.

Whereas Paris's Champs Elysees is being recognized as one of the most prestigious avenues, Jeddah's Tahlia street can be nominated as one of the famous streets in Middle East for its unique incidents that you witness each time you take that road.

One of the wealthiest streets in Jeddah, filled with many shopping malls & upscale department shops that give it its fashionable flavour, dozens of coffee shops and restaurants that range from being classy, oriental, casual, sporty or even futuristic designs that makes it a focal point for hanging out and chilling.

What's even more significant is the district itself. The sight of the exotic cars like carreras, lamborghinis, MT evolution, camaros, M3s and many others leaves you jaw-dropping. It is one of the few ( if not the only one) that has a timed traffic light; displaying the number of seconds remaining to go from red to green. Thus boosting the number of in-town short races.

Cruising in Tahlia Street requires 130% of you attention because of all those show-off lunatics who want to squirm you by any means possible. Anybody can cut you and switch to your lane anywhere anytime with no consideration whether you are head to bump with the car in front of you or not. It is foreseen as an extra challenge that's worth achieving with its only reward is fulfilling self-satisfaction.

Minutes later, you stop at the next traffic light. You car is vibrating vigorously by a strong bass from an unknown source. You know deep inside that it is not from the tape you are playing. After all, I doubt that Fadl Shaker's voice is strong enough to shake the side mirrors of a car. But the approximately 20 000 Watt system equipped at the H3 hummer at your 3 o'clock gaze is capable of earthquaking the world around it. It is still a mystery how the H3 still manages not to break apart from the deafening resonance of its monstrous sound system.

From time to time, you might be lucky enough to be side by side with a luxurious car with the rear window half open to reveal a gorgeous unveiled girl that lets the wind caress her hair like some Head & shoulders ad. If you admire her beauty and hesitate for few seconds, then you have literally risked your life as a speeding car is willing to take your place and take the necessary action that you didn't dare to do; i.e. to position half your body out the window to projectile a small piece of paper to her laps and praying that she'll call soon. This is one of the many alternatives that desperate guys get involved themselves in. The whole activity is known as Targeem. You can read further on it here.

Saving the best for last, I will let the pictures describe the next guy we have:

Yep. That's an argeeleh seated at the Passenger side. An argeeleh + melhem barakat...this guy lives in his own "Lala land".

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Abu Ballout

With every passing year, the gap keeps getting wider between me and the older generation of people who are still attached to their traditional cultural values and can't think beyond them.

By now, I am sure that you are aware of my hatred towards the conventional concepts and ideas that people, such as my annoying relatives, attach to our heritage.

Whereas some still have a grudge against me since my mansaf tragedy, I never failed to sprout further controversy by my latest ideas.

The other day I was invited for lunch at my cousin's house. The peaceful delicious feast has been instantly clouded by an intensively harsh atmosphere with one question that they asked me:
"So Hamza, what do you wanna be called? Abu what?"

And what a delicate cord they struck.

I've always been an antagonist to the concept of associating people with "abu X" rather than calling them by their real name.

First of all, it is very sexist and discriminatory. Not only are the male children entitled to fill the X spot, but only the oldest gets the honor to override his father's name forever.

Let's say that bateekha married shammameh and they have 4 children. They gave birth to 3 daughters; toffaha, injasa and romaneh and one son (the youngest) called ballout. It is just absurd that bateekha and shammameh will be always associated as "abu ballout" or "um ballout".

Although the "abu" association helps in distinct the married ones from the single ones, people tend to exploit it and try to show-off with their eldest son. The eldest son might receive special attention relative to his siblings. Although highly unlikely, but it might go to the extreme of building unhealthy competition among the younger children who would try and improve themselves to their parents.

On the other hand, I know a family whose eldest son has deceased in an accident. Although his memory will never be forgotten the magnitude of the sorrow the parents experience every time they call them "abu …" or "um …" is unbearable.

Personally, I prefer calling people by their real names rather than the abu nickname, unless I don't know their real names. For some unknown reason, it is taboo or shameful for some people to call their women by her real name rather than "um X" and this has given me its own share of problems.

Other than moving to the west and severing all your contacts with arabs, or genetically choosing female children, I wonder what else could we do abolish such silly ideologies that disgrace our culture.

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