Toronto's Miracle of Runway 24L

It has been over 2 weeks since the incident of the Air France Flight 447 that departed from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. I am sure that many of us are either following the case or at least aware that it happened.

whenever I travel, I tend to mute those 10 minutes where the flight attendant wastes her breath in describing to us about the safety procedures in case of accidents. I find it pointless to listen because if the planes gets into an accident, my chances of survival are minimal. As it was the case with the in most of Air Flight Accidents, like the recent Flight 447 incident , all of the passengers end up dead.

I said "most" coz there are few exceptions.

I still remember how 4 years ago we were sitting in our home and discussing with my dad on what date should we book our flight to Canada. I wanted to relocate 1 month prior my postgraduate school so that I can manage to settle in Canada and get used to it. My family were thinking that they might as well spend part of their vacation there as well since the weather in August tends to be amazingly interesting.

Our flight was initially booked on 2nd of August 2005. I can't recall the events that happened but for some reason, my dad decided to change the booking by one day and make it on 1st of August.

We departed early morning from jeddah. After spending a transit period of 4 hours in paris, we took the Air France flight and arrived to mississauga 1st of August afternoon Toronto time. For many of us, it was the first time that we experience a long 16 hour flight. So it would be normal that all of us would be suffering from the jetlag. I remember briefly walking around the town before I realized that all shops were closed. Apparently, it was the Civic Holiday. With nothing else to do, I went home and slept.

I remember waking up around dawn and seeing dad sitting on the tv and watching the live news of the incident of Flight 358 (ironically Air France as well). Briefly, the plane crashed at Pearson Airport the next day as it was landing under severe weather conditions. As it was landing on the runaway, it didn't reach a complete stop and evenutally hit a small ravine. A post fire started later that destroyed the plane. Luckily no one was killed. the thanks goes to the alert flight attendants that managed to get more than 309 passengers within 90 seconds only. What's more interesting is the emergency responses arrived to the crash site in less than 52 seconds.

you can always click on the link above to know more about what happened. What this incident shows is 2 things:

1- the myth behind surviving an air crash does not only exist in fictional tv series like "LOST".

2-If Air France was one of the options available to me, I'd definitely take it. At least they have a track record of one successful evacuation while the others have either none or were lucky not to experience such an accident.

in an attempt to teach me a lesson about destiny and life, my superstituous father says:

"see, i7med rabbak. We were supposed to be on this flight. Imagine what we could have gone through. But Allah protected us from this and inspired me to change the booking"

I said: "Hell no. I'd take my chances of being there. I'd experience the thrill and action of it. I'd have a cool story to tell my friends and I get to be a millionaire when I sue Air France, Airbus, and Pearson Airport for the so claimed psychological damage they would have caused me."

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Brain Implosion

My life is about moving from one obsession to another.

I am becoming recently obsessed about the preparation for CFA exam Level 1 that's coming up in exactly 6 days. I have planned well for it. I started studying since December last year. Considering that I have to read through 6 books where each book averages around 450 pages, you can understand why the CFA Institute recommends at least 250 hours of study.

The problem that you face with such exams is that as soon as you finish reading the material in book 6, you find yourself that you forgot what was in book 1 and book 2 and you tend to go back and forth. With the financial background that I have built over time, my main problem is not with complexity as much as it is with the gigantic volume that you have to absorb.

What strains my brain more is the fact that I am studying while having a full time job. So you can imagine my schedule these days as I come back from work at 5 p.m. Eat and rest till 6 p.m. and then I study for another 4 hours before I head to bed. That was my routine for the last 2 months.

consequences...? well, I am setting a new standard for nerdiness and suffering from the aftermath of "overstudying". As I am practicing more questions from the QBank available Schweser study material (over 4266 questions that I feel I am obliged to finish..lol), my performance is sloping downwards (wow, I am using mathmatical terms now) as I am overthinking questions and arriving to wrong answers where the right answer is simple and just in front of my eyes.

Despite all of that, I am trying not to let this shake my self-confidence. So far I've did well and managed to celebrate my birthday that was few days ago CFA-free. A brazilian lunch featuring grilled meat served on swords, and having a 'facial' (LOL) were few of the things I did to make it a bit special.

Few weeks ago, I received the following from the CFA institute. It was a considerate move from them that left a smile on my face. I tend to consider this the best birthday gift I got. I will leave them for you to see and enjoy

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Bewildering interruptions on the beach

I have given up. I wish I can find a peaceful place where I can enjoy reading my book. I can't read at home unless I am going to bed. We don't have many bookstores here (actually, we have only one) and if you read there, then you'd most probably be kicked out during prayers time. 

Coffee shops are full of people who either smoke or talk loudly, watch a soccer game or stare at you like you are some kind of an alien.

So, I decided to go to the beach. I'd dive, swim a bit and get a chance to read my book. 

We came a bit late, We couldn't find a shaded area to sit under. I picked a spot against the wall where there is a little bit of shadow. I open up my book. Let's see what's up with williams in "Pillars of Earth"...

"WELCOME TO HOOOOOTELL CALIFORNIAAAAA..." one of the 3 British guys next to me decided to explore his vocal talents with his horrendous voice. He sang on 3 unrecognizable songs while he was lying on the floor and tanning. 

so I changed my location and sat next to someone's umbrella under whatever shade I can have. I kept on reading. Oh man, this Alfred is such a jerk...

"yee, sheftee hayda keef 7almat bazazo wa2feh..hahahaha.." 

what the...? the voice was coming from my left..3 lebanese women are sunbathing and checking the guy who just passed by them...7elmat bzazo wa2feh...I didn't even know that girls even check this out...DAMN

Time to move somewhere else. I managed to find another spot that was empty after it has been evacuated. Ok, no lebanese women or british guys next to me.  only a jordanian family were sitting next to me. It can't get bad.

So back to the world of my novel. Poor Tom, I hope he will better luck when he goes to the castle and...

"ta3al ya 7amoudeh, ilbes" the jordanian woman calls her fully nude 3 year old son who was running around in joy after being freed by the limitations of garments.

"khalee il walad yetshamas ya mara, a7san mayfoot leilet il dakhleh mlawan..HAHAHAHHA" said the husband 

I was :|...that's it, this is the last time I'd attempt reading at a beach. I put my book down and spent the rest of the day swimming. What's different this time is that I kept checking my nipples more often.

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A moment where I wished I had Moses Staff

Few days ago, I was asked what was the most embarassing situation I was ever in. I drove on my memory lane where I passed by many (and they are alot, trust me) incidents that left me red-faced in embarassment. But nothing is comparable to what happened to me on the dawn of my 5th semester at university.

my phone rings: 

"so hamza, any plans for dinner?"

"hmm...actually not"

"ok, fine, I'll pass by you later to pick you up and your friend and we'll go out. You'll get to meet my sister for the first time too"

Yeaaa. She was the first among our group that got a car and since that day, we no longer took the University bus that took light eons to drop us at the city centre. With the car, we can even listen to the music we want and...Oh Memories.

So that night, the 4 of us decided to dine at the "Automatic" Restaurant in Sharjah near the corniche. I don't know what was so automatic about it since the dinner takes ages for it to be served. We even have doubts about the quality of oil its being used. We believe that they cook the food with "automobile" oil, thus the word "automatic". Well, I don't wanna know.

so here we were, seated. me & my friend next to each other. Her and her sister right opposite to us. Her sister has recently joined the university and as wise 3rd year students, we try to share our wisdom about the "do's" and "don'ts" and random things here and there. When I found the conversation was getting serious, I attempted breaking the ice and changing the topic:

"oh, so what's that on your necklace? is it your horoscope..I see a scorpion"

It was the trend back in the days for ppl to wear their astrological sign. It didn't occur to me that the fuming face and the grin look would outburst at me when she said: 

"HOW DARE YOU. this is JESUS CHRIST".

Time froze. 

the Earth rambled

The Heaven shattered.

I saw mateors crashing on me.

I imagined Odin being summoned and running after me to decapitate my head.

I have entered into a mental coma that triggered my tongue to activate the auto pilot program titled "endless apology". I have muttered apologetic words and phrases that I cannot recall till this day. No matter how much I justify that I never intended to offend her, I still felt bad whenever I rethink of it as it sounded so degrading. Scorpion. Damn, what was I seeing?

her older sister (and my friend) helped in justifying my position as it must have been an honest mistake coz I've never offended christians before. The drama was over after a couple of awkward minutes of silence, till my smart friend who was sitting next to me decided to question something interesting:

"the real question is...why were you looking at her chest in the first place?"

OH Earth, devour me.

Time Froze.

The Earth rumbled.

The Heaven shattered....

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As I lie...

As I lie in my bed and myself I tug
I cuddle In the cold and the pillow I hug
an ephemeral sleep induces my eyes to wither
like the flowers that hide from the chill of the winter
Soon I fly on the sea  of dreams
that reflect on its surface  our hopes in light beams
Those threads of gold  awaken  me
I rise and whisper:  “will he”?
But the dazzling wind brings me the answer
to all my doubts and I no longer wonder

I never write poems. Yet this poem is different. It was co-written with a special person back in 2006. We have worked on 2 more pieces together and yet it remains to be seen what the future hides for both of us.

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The alternate dimension of Wikipedia.

haven't you always wondered how people have the time to go and actually update wikipedia? Now wikipedia grew to be among the top and most reliable sources of information.

Well, you've seen nothing.

Go and Give Uncyclopedia a spin. It is organised by a bunch of people who have the energy the wikipedia organisers have with only one difference; absurdity.

Check out Uncyclopedia. They have some amazing articles. I loved what they wrote on : , "Lara Croft", "Caffiene", "Facebook", "Psychology", "Religion". But my favourite article is what they wrote about "Wikipedia" itself. LOL

P.S: YES...I did it..I wrote a short blog post. :D

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Slavery at its prime

I can never forget this day.

It was the first time I rent a car in Canada. I was running low on gas. I pass by the Gas Station. I waited there for half a minute before I realized "oh damn..here I have to fill gas on my own".

See, that's the problem when you live in the middle East and in the gulf for too long. You have people that are employed with the silliest job description ever. I walked to one of the restrooms in a 5 star hotel the other day and there was this guy who all he does is just hand you a dry towel to dry your hands after you are done. What amazed me is there was this local guy who shouted at him "the towels are not warm enough".

How about the guy at the gym? He sits by the stairs and monitors the people who use the treadmills. As soon as one of the runners is done, he runs with his cleaning tools to wipe out all traces of sweat and germ on treadmills. As much as I appreciate the high level standards of hygiene that the gyms abides by, it amazes me the silliness to hire a guy just for this.

So overall, how do you handle such a situation? I believed that as long as they are content with what they do and I don't abuse them, then we'd be ok.

I don't think so. Wait till you hear about my tea boy.

When I first joined the new department (around 7 months ago), the teaboy approached me and asked me if he could serve me anything. I told him that I'll make his life easy since I don't drink tea or coffee. I only drink water. On the 2^nd day, he served me my water. Along with the service came an envelope saying "monthly contribution". Ok, fine. That's weird. It is like asking for tip in advance. I don't mind tipping as long as it is from my heart not being forced upon me. Anyway, I chipped in. In the following day, he served me water at room temperature which I don't like. I prefer cold water instead. So he said, he doesn't have cold water. That pissed me off, but I let it slide. Few days later, I asked for water at 3 p.m. and he shrugged his shoulders saying :"sorry, sir. I already did the dishes". What the? So if you do the dishes, you never serve others. Ok fine. Nevertheless, I kept tipping him although I don't feel he was doing his basic duties. Few months later, I went for 3 week training outside the office. During that month, I only went to the office for just 2 days. On the 2^nd day, he gave me the "tipping envelope". I was furious that I wanted to piss him off. I just put one riyal in the envelope just to anticipate his reaction. As I expected, he came back to me complaining that I might have mistaken by tipping only one riyal. I couldn't help it. I lost my temper and exploded at him. Since that day, we no longer communicate and whenever I need water, I go to his kitchen and fill my own bottle without his help.

The other day I went to the cafeteria for lunch. I saw the teaboy having lunch with one of the senior managers. I was impressed that he actually bought him lunch. Later I realized that he makes the tea boy carry his bag all the way to the office. I can't believe how some people can convince themselves of abusing poor people like that.

On the other side of the spectrum, my sister came to me one day expressing her frustration:

"Hamza, I am very annoyed with the way you treat our maid."

"huh?"

"she keeps complaining that you never acknowledge her presence. You always arrange your bed. You always prepare your own food. You never let her do anything"

":S :S :S"

"like today. You came from work. You stayed in your room for 45 minutes. When she went to her room, you went and prepared your food. Why not just ask her..?

"but…I wasn't avoiding her. I was just in my room trying different knots with my ties. I am bored of the "Windsor" Knot. I was practicing the "St Andrew", "Victoria" and "Cavendish" knots.

"huh?"

"nevermind"

Next day, I went to her and actually requested something for the first time in 7 months. "Could you iron this shirt for me?" She said "sure" with a big smile on her face.

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