Feels like a war zone..

This is getting ridiculous. Tonight is concert night, Haifa Wahbi and Fadel Shaker are to perform on stage. There's been a HUGE opposition to this party, firstly by our SuperIslamic parliament, and secondly by some of our sheep-citizens, who have been influenced to believe that having Haifa in our country is nothing less than the work of the devil himself.

If you don't already know her, Haifa Wahbi is an Arab musician, and a pretty sensual one at that. We had a huge fuss last time Nancy Ajram was about to perform, both by riots in our parliament halls, as well violent demonstrations on the streets by our people.

I'm driving around Adliya right now, close to where the concert is meant to start a few hours from now. The scene is like a war zone, in preparation for any sort of riots or demonstrations; riot police everywhere, ready with their batons and guns in hand. The sound of helicopters flying overhead resonates, as a mysterious smog appears up ahead.. The sky is grey and cloudy, and it feels like something pretty bad is about to go down..

Hope tonight goes by with no major disturbance; i'll post a few photos later on

Well, thank you 'anon' (in the comments), but I think it turns out most of this war-zone stuff is because the ruler of Dubai is here. Blah.

I still think the whole war-zone over Haifa Wahbi would have made a cooler story though.

He drove on...

He drove on as the afternoon sun shined with a beautiful orange hue, and he put down his car windows as he went. Sure, everyone else sat in their air conditioned cocoons in the vehicles around, but he wanted to immerse himself the warm, slightly dusty atmosphere of the desert around him.

He drove on as the hot breeze snuck into the car, blowing in faster as he sped up. The radio played an old track he used to listen to during his school days, and all of a sudden he was there; back outside the gates at the end of a school day, all his friends around, happy to have gotten through the day. The sun above them scorched the sky, as a breeze of hot air swept through. This didn't matter though; they were overjoyed with getting through this school week, and it was now time to enjoy a well deserved weekend.

He drove on as he reached the highway, the hot breeze and the rays of the sun gently burning his skin. He remembered the days that passed, how carefree they all were, how little responsibility they held, and how little stress they felt. Those days were so far away now, but somehow the air around him, the burning sun, the music playing all brought it all back.

Where was he now? A place full of stress, full of responsibility, full of worries. The friends had all somehow separated, each going their separate way, and even when they managed to catch up with each other, the smiles that used to adorn their faces back then were few and far between.

Still, for these few minutes behind the wheel, he felt peace, he felt joy. He felt young, and he lost himself in the moment as he drove on...

I'm Back

Sleeping. Relaxing. Finishing off all those small tasks that I haven't had time to do over the past 6 months. Relaxing some more. Etc..

Yup, i've finally got a chance to get some much needed R&R, hence my disappearance from the site for a while. Rumors have surfaced that I died in a plane crash. Other rumors surfaced that I had decided to take the fundamentalist path and fly to Afghanistan to join the mujahideen. Other rumors included everything from me being recruited by the CIA to find those mujahedeen, to me winning the lottery. Nope, nothing of the sort. I'm still here living a pretty mundane existence.

Or maybe this post is a cover up for my new secret identity? Who know? Hmmmm.....

Jokes we played on Bin Laden

People Are Stupid

I have this bad habit of believing most people are generally stupid.

It's quite a shame when you try to let go of such habits, giving people the trust and faith to do a simple job right, to which they end up proving they were even more stupid than originally thought.

Sigh..

MP's; Our job too demanding.

(The following conversation ensued between Member of Parliament 1 and Member of Parliament 2 two nights ago)

MP1's phone: RING RING!

MP2: Hello?

MP1: Hey man, how you doin'?

MP2: I'm okay, how's everything? Are you going to the session today?

MP1: Nah, I don't think so. I'm flying out to Dubai for a long weekend, need to release some steam from all this stressful work we've been doing. Lie down on the beach and sunbathe maybe.

MP2: True, these arguments are getting to my head and really wearing me out. I really need to take a break too; we never get enough time off this job.

MP1: It's demanding being a PM! Having to go to a session once every week and talk about things? It just drains me out. And we never get enough time off! I mean, a few months off in the summer? Is that it?

MP2: You're right, I think i'm going to take a long weekend too. I'm checking Gulfair.com for good deals on the free laptop we got for being MP's. Oh wait, I forgot I don't know how to use a kombeyootar. Maybe i'll just call my travel agent.

MP1: Aha, so you won't go to the session either? There's a very long list of issues that need to be discussed dude! The people need us! Why don't you fill in for me?

MP2: No, no. We don't need to go. We'll discuss them in the next session. We're not paid enough to go for extra sessions; did you know they're not paying us any overtime?

MP1: No way~! Then screw it, you shouldn't bother going then. No respect either, they totally overlooked your suggestion for banning women from working last time.

MP2: Yeah! And they totally overlooked your making computers illegal suggestion! All that porn is out there, astaghfurullah.

MP1: Never mind, anyway, I have to go! Gotta be at the airport in about an hour, see you next week at the session if you feel like going!

MP2: You too, enjoy those hot beach babes in Dubai!!




Ahem......

Parliament session hit by no-shows
17 April 2008

MANAMA: An extraordinary parliamentary session called to help clear a huge backlog was cancelled yesterday because too few MPs turned up. Twenty-one out of 40 MPs were absent, including chairman Khalifa Al Dhahrani, who called in saying he was busy with other works.

First vice-chairman Ghanim Al Buainain, who took over for Mr Al Dhahrani, waited an hour, in the hope of two more MPs appearing, to make up the required quorum.

But they did not show up in time so he had to cancel the session and send away the 19 MPs who did turn up.

Two more MPs arrived shortly after Mr Al Buainain cancelled the session.

The session was scheduled by Mr Al Dhahrani to try to clear a backlog of more than 100 items caused by repeated disruptions by MPs.

Parliament resumed its normal weekly sessions last week, after six sessions were halted and one cancelled in seven weeks, as a result of the escalating row between MPs on the questioning of Cabinet Affairs Minister Shaikh Ahmed bin Ateyatala Al Khalifa.

Parliament public utilities and environment affairs committee chairman Jawad Fairooz said the absence of so many MPs was inexcusable.

"It is true that some are sick, but the others are either on personal trips or are attending to private business, while their job is to show up in parliament," he said.

"Mr Al Dhahrani should set an example, by showing up, even if he was busy. He could have attended for a while and then left.