I think Egyptians should start doing the following:
1- Acknowledging bikes as reliable means for transportation. Also carpooling would not be bad.
2- Listening to the weather news, specially at turbulent times like fall, winter and spring :)
3- Reading other stuff than the newspaper.
4- Reading other sections in the newspaper other than sports.
5- Taking daily shower, specially if using public transportation
6- Giving a damn.
7- Gardening.
I think also they should stop doing the following now we are at it:
1- Littering
2- Smoking
3- Watching Noor
4- Complaining
Saturday, August 16, 2008
A suggested list for the fellow Egyptians
Friday, August 15, 2008
A Reference for Status Messages on Facebook
Borrowed from 7akifadi
I am: content yet angry at myself.
I think: too much sometimes.
I know: I can do better than that.
I have: to stop worrying.
I wish: I could go live in the suburbs, go to work on a bike, live in a friendly neighborhood..keda ya3ny :). I also wish I lived in some other (earlier) time.
I hate: my conscious apathy, my laziness and my time management habits.
I miss: Babaya and Grandpa.
I fear: both the future and death.
I hear: A distant shee7' from Eza3et el Quraan El Kareem
I smell: the smell of mango :)
I crave: for Carvel Ice-cream (mennek lelalh ya Dee)
I search: using Google of course!
I wonder: if I will ever change, to better or to worse. I have been feeling that I am ma7allak serr for a long time now.
I regret: some minor stuff.
I love: my family, and the fact that I am a Muslim. El7amdolellah!
I ache: from my brain cells.
I am not: stupid.
I believe: I can flyyyy!!
I sing: terribly.
I cry: on daily basis.
I fight: a losing battle.
I win: people easily.
I lose: my stuff too often.
I never: search for love.
I always: pray for good stuff to happen.
I confuse: reality with cartoons sometimes.
I listen: to Sayed a lot. But ignore his advices too soon.
I can usually be found: Online.
I am scared: of losing someone I love.
I need: Babaya.
I am happy about: moving out!
I imagine: heaven.
I enjoyed writing this post. It is not a tag, but I encourage you to write one.(An implicit tag.)
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Too late
I opened firefox in frustration in order to rant in the blog about some stuff that are bothering me. By the time I opened the New Post page, I cooled off and I am actually content. Are my mood swings too fast? Is Firefox too slow to keep up?
P.S: I am enjoying that everybody is fel sa7el. Seriously, the country is amazingly quiet, the traffic is perfect, and I am having good practice on my driving el7amdolellah. Actually el balad fadya le daraget enny 7assa enn mesh heya deh Cairo elly ana 3arfaha, and I sometimes feel as if I AM fe masyaf.
P.S: I am enjoying that everybody is fel sa7el. Seriously, the country is amazingly quiet, the traffic is perfect, and I am having good practice on my driving el7amdolellah. Actually el balad fadya le daraget enny 7assa enn mesh heya deh Cairo elly ana 3arfaha, and I sometimes feel as if I AM fe masyaf.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Mutual Friend: Deee
I'll have a conversation similar to the one below with anyone I know through Dee:
New Friend: Enty ba2a gjoe :) i never knew your real name
Me: gihan.. :)
New Friend: tashafrana ya sett gihan..
New Friend: bass 3'areeb awy gjoe dah, gihan is a gigi
Me: aywa, bass ana bakrah gigi dah, w kaman i have too many nicknames instead..my family members call me oojy..
New Friend: hehe/lol/haha :D
Me: Dee is the one who came up with the "g-joe" spelling, zaman kan geegoo
New Friend: Dee deh gameela awy/gamda awy/shtra geddan/me3adaya
Me: Yeah! I know :)
New Friend: 3ala fekra heya bet7ebbek awy.. dayman toshkorly feeky, she thinks very highly of you and she thinks that you are hilarious!
Me: :$ I love her too, She is such an amazing friend, w law ana hilarious ommal heya eh!!
A couple of chatting later..
New Friend: enty sa7ee7 3ala el facebook?
Me: Yeah.. Hatla2eeny 3and Dee..
New Friend (After adding me and seeing a couple of pics): yeaaah! enty w dina ezzay shakloh zay ba3d, mesh shaklan..bass 7assah enek you look like a friend-of-Dee kinda person.
Me: yeah, we had this friends beybhatoh 3ala ba3d convo before :)
People who
There is a couple of stuff that total strangers do that totally get on my nerves for sometimes no justifiable reason. Here is a few:
1- People who are lazy to walk up/down the escalators. I don't know why people like to stand in the escalators instead of moving. I mean it is made to make things faster, not people lazier. w ba3deen if you are too lazy to move, please take a side so that others can pass.
2- Close-talkers:Buzz off will ya?.. begad i NEED my personal space.
3- Za7ma-creators: This includes roughly 80% + of Egyptians. But in general it includes taxi drivers who slow down in "the middle of the road" to pick up people,; People who go 3aks el etgah be dahrhom 3ashan they missed an exit, and even the annoying fact that we simply and genetically can not form a decent line to wait for our turn.
4- People who drag their feet while walking and make a "shhhhht-shhhht" sound with their sandals/shebsheb/shoes.
5-Pedestrians that walk in a narrow street with total disregard of the cars. They can actually see/hear a car coming from behind or infront of them and don't care to stop or move aside la7ad lamma el 3arabya te3addy.Tana7a keda w la mobalaah.
6- W aktar 7aga betnarfezny (w tewadeeny keda w tegbny) people who play songs on thier mobiles w homma mashyeen. Most of the time these are teenage girls w beyb2a ma3ahom mobile nokia w 3'aleban beysh3'alloh tamer 7osny or shereen. No one asked you to entertain the streets thank you very much. Kindly try headphones, and definitely you DON'T ever ever sing a long fel sahre3.
I am starting to believe that I am living in the wrong country.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
An Oh Yeah Post!
I never saw that comming, bass Thanks To Inso, I am now fixated on Fairouz/Sayed Darwish
All day long, it is either Zoroony or Aho dah elly saar!!
Many thanks to you insomniac!!
Listening to (Duh!): زوروني كل سنة مرة
Saturday, August 09, 2008
أخيرا
أخيراً كل مشاكلنا اختفت!
أخيراً كل الأسعار إتثبتت
و كل المدارس والجامعات إتزبطت
و كل السجون إتشمعت
و كل البلاد إتحررت
و كل الاحلام إلي كان نفسي فيها إتحققت
أي حد ياكل, يجوز أو يشتغل..
خلاص كل الأمور إتيسرت!
رجعتلنا الكرامة والقوة والمكانة
صحي الضمير ملنوم
و رجعت والأمانة
مفضلناش غير مشكلة
إن فلان ساب علانة
أخيراً كل الأسعار إتثبتت
و كل المدارس والجامعات إتزبطت
و كل السجون إتشمعت
و كل البلاد إتحررت
و كل الاحلام إلي كان نفسي فيها إتحققت
أي حد ياكل, يجوز أو يشتغل..
خلاص كل الأمور إتيسرت!
رجعتلنا الكرامة والقوة والمكانة
صحي الضمير ملنوم
و رجعت والأمانة
مفضلناش غير مشكلة
إن فلان ساب علانة
--
gjoe.
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Tonight you are all going to be part of a *social experiment*.
The "social experiment" that Joker played in the Dark Knight movie reminded me of some game I played about 4 months ago.
My favorite proffesor finished giving his pre-masters lecture material earlier than usual. Then he started by sayin:"Now I have some bonus marks to give any of you. The only condition for taking the bonus is that you agree that others take bonus as well. Otherwise, you will not get it." Sure enough the whole class roared "We all want the bonus. Give it to us". He smiled wickedly. He continued "Now here is the thing. I will divide you into 2 groups. Group A and Group B.Everyone from Group A will take a paper out, write a number from 1 to 10 along with his/her name. This number is the amount of bonus that you want.Now after that I will collect all the papers from group A, then randomly i'll give it to people from group B.Each one from group B will open the paper and see the number. The amount of bonus that he or she gets is the remaining quantity from subtracting 10 from the bonus jotted on the paper. This means that if someone from group A wrote 6, then the member from Group B who will get this paper would get a 4 marks bonus. That is of course if he agreed.But, If he thought that it was not fair and did not agree, then neither him nor the person from group A whose name is written on the paper will get any bonus. " People started laughing. I told him"Then every one will write down a 5. It is fair to both sides." He told me "Oh, you really think so? Someone who would get a paper with an 8 might think a 2 bonus marks is better than nothing.". Someone asked "Are these bonus marks for real?". The doctor answered "Why wouldn't they be?". Silence prevailed the class. People were looking suspiciously to one another as the doctor was dividing us into groups.
I was on group A. I got greedy to tell you the truth. And I knew for a fact that almost anyone from Group B would peacfully agree with whatever they get. They will not compare my bonus to thiers. They would compare thier bonus to a zero bonus. So I wrote an 8.5 on the paper, folded it and gave it to the doctor. Then he distributed the papers among people from Group B. He started collecting the numbers written on the papers and writing them on board. Most of the people wrote a 5, or a 6. There was one 9, two 8.5s, four 8s three 7s and one 2!!
He started getting answers from people of whether or not they would agree to the bonus they and the other person from Group A would get. There were a few jokes and laughs, but there were only 2 people who did not agree to what they would get.The one who got the paper with the 9 and another with an 8.
The doctor started asking questions. He told me for example why did you write an 8.5? Why werent you fair to the other guy as you suggested? I told him, I was willing to take the risk of the other guy agreeing with what they got. After all, a 1.5 is better than a zero. He asked the people from group B who agreed on the 3s and the 2s they got how did they make thier choice when it was seemingly not just to them. They jokingly answered "Howa e7na hantbbatar 3ala el bonus kaman.7add la2y!". He asked those who didn't agree and they normally answered "3allaya w 3ala a3da2y.It was not his right to make the decision in the first place, and I don't care about the bonus as much as i care about being fair."
The doctor then began by saying "I don't understand how people give themselves the right of taking more than they should, and other people who have the right to punish them, let them get away with it!" Ouch. That didn't feel good at all. I kinda knew where he was going from there. And I knew right away that I made an awfully wrong choice and what's worse was the justification I gave for myself and what's even worse was that I was predicted right. I got away with it.I got away with being greedy and not being fair.
He then explained "This is a social exercise by which they test and measure certain cultural paradigms. Instead of bonus marks it is played with money.The more rejections for the un-fair distribution of money, implies a more democratic a society ,and implies that people in that country exercise more freedom and own the right to punish and prosecute the greedy. They have the choice the right of disagreeing. Even if that came with a cost. Even if that meant a loss for them too. This is because preserving justice system more important than who will get what now. Naturally, countries like ours,Rejections tend to be low. Only 2 out of 10 rejected unfairness of what they would get. Also having 10 out of about 30 thinking they can get what they want depending on the others consent indicates major problems in our societies. I think that those who agree with the unfairness happening to them are more guilty that those who practice it. Or at least they are both equally guilty."
Needless to say, People started debating but mostly people were shocked at the implications of the game and everyone was reflective on thier decisions.
It was definitely enlightening.
My favorite proffesor finished giving his pre-masters lecture material earlier than usual. Then he started by sayin:"Now I have some bonus marks to give any of you. The only condition for taking the bonus is that you agree that others take bonus as well. Otherwise, you will not get it." Sure enough the whole class roared "We all want the bonus. Give it to us". He smiled wickedly. He continued "Now here is the thing. I will divide you into 2 groups. Group A and Group B.Everyone from Group A will take a paper out, write a number from 1 to 10 along with his/her name. This number is the amount of bonus that you want.Now after that I will collect all the papers from group A, then randomly i'll give it to people from group B.Each one from group B will open the paper and see the number. The amount of bonus that he or she gets is the remaining quantity from subtracting 10 from the bonus jotted on the paper. This means that if someone from group A wrote 6, then the member from Group B who will get this paper would get a 4 marks bonus. That is of course if he agreed.But, If he thought that it was not fair and did not agree, then neither him nor the person from group A whose name is written on the paper will get any bonus. " People started laughing. I told him"Then every one will write down a 5. It is fair to both sides." He told me "Oh, you really think so? Someone who would get a paper with an 8 might think a 2 bonus marks is better than nothing.". Someone asked "Are these bonus marks for real?". The doctor answered "Why wouldn't they be?". Silence prevailed the class. People were looking suspiciously to one another as the doctor was dividing us into groups.
I was on group A. I got greedy to tell you the truth. And I knew for a fact that almost anyone from Group B would peacfully agree with whatever they get. They will not compare my bonus to thiers. They would compare thier bonus to a zero bonus. So I wrote an 8.5 on the paper, folded it and gave it to the doctor. Then he distributed the papers among people from Group B. He started collecting the numbers written on the papers and writing them on board. Most of the people wrote a 5, or a 6. There was one 9, two 8.5s, four 8s three 7s and one 2!!
He started getting answers from people of whether or not they would agree to the bonus they and the other person from Group A would get. There were a few jokes and laughs, but there were only 2 people who did not agree to what they would get.The one who got the paper with the 9 and another with an 8.
The doctor started asking questions. He told me for example why did you write an 8.5? Why werent you fair to the other guy as you suggested? I told him, I was willing to take the risk of the other guy agreeing with what they got. After all, a 1.5 is better than a zero. He asked the people from group B who agreed on the 3s and the 2s they got how did they make thier choice when it was seemingly not just to them. They jokingly answered "Howa e7na hantbbatar 3ala el bonus kaman.7add la2y!". He asked those who didn't agree and they normally answered "3allaya w 3ala a3da2y.It was not his right to make the decision in the first place, and I don't care about the bonus as much as i care about being fair."
The doctor then began by saying "I don't understand how people give themselves the right of taking more than they should, and other people who have the right to punish them, let them get away with it!" Ouch. That didn't feel good at all. I kinda knew where he was going from there. And I knew right away that I made an awfully wrong choice and what's worse was the justification I gave for myself and what's even worse was that I was predicted right. I got away with it.I got away with being greedy and not being fair.
He then explained "This is a social exercise by which they test and measure certain cultural paradigms. Instead of bonus marks it is played with money.The more rejections for the un-fair distribution of money, implies a more democratic a society ,and implies that people in that country exercise more freedom and own the right to punish and prosecute the greedy. They have the choice the right of disagreeing. Even if that came with a cost. Even if that meant a loss for them too. This is because preserving justice system more important than who will get what now. Naturally, countries like ours,Rejections tend to be low. Only 2 out of 10 rejected unfairness of what they would get. Also having 10 out of about 30 thinking they can get what they want depending on the others consent indicates major problems in our societies. I think that those who agree with the unfairness happening to them are more guilty that those who practice it. Or at least they are both equally guilty."
Needless to say, People started debating but mostly people were shocked at the implications of the game and everyone was reflective on thier decisions.
It was definitely enlightening.
Saturday, August 02, 2008
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