The 10 Best Christmas Movies of all Time

Alright, so with 28 days 'till Christmas and a little cheer still left over from Thanksgiving and no work to do, I’ve decided to compose a list. Not just any old list, but rather, THE list of the year. And so I present to you, THE TEN BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES OF ALL TIME.

10. Southpark S.3 Ep.15 – Mr. Hankey’s Christmas Classics – I’m biased. This isn’t even a movie, but its on my list purely because its one of my favorite shows, and because the “Dreidel” song is still sung today.

9. How The Grinch Stole Christmas – Again, not a movie, but who doesn’t love Dr. Seuss?

8. Batman Returns – This is one Christmas movie that has everything – Christopher Walken in probably the only Christmas movie you’ll ever see him in, Michelle Pfeiffer in tight leather, and best of all, Batman kicking ass!

7. The Nightmare Before Christmas – If nothing else, the songs in this movie alone would have put this movie on my list. Finally, a Christmas movie Goths can enjoy too!

6. Elf – I’m usually not big on the “newer” Christmas movies, but this one was just too funny not to include. Plus, Will Ferrell’s the f*ckin shyte!

5. Die Hard – Every Christmas Eve, most people are thankful for friends, family, and good health. I’m just thankful I’m not John McClane, stuck in a building with a bunch of (European) terrorists. Bruce Willis walking on broken glass pushes this movie to #5.

4. The Muppet Christmas Carol – I always wanted to see this movie as a kid, but since they don’t sell Christmas movies in SAUDI ARABIA, I only saw it from the first time last year. I guess the anticipation just made it better ;-)

3. A Charlie Brown Christmas – Another non-movie, but who the hell doesn’t love that scene with the whole Peanuts gang singing “Hark The Herald Angels Sing” around that crummy old tree?

2. Home Alone – Overlooking the fact that Macaulay Culkin is all washed up now, this movie defined Christmas for anybody who grew up in the 90’s.

1. It’s A Wonderful Life – Once you go black (and white) you don't go back! Do I even need to explain? This isn’t just my favorite Christmas movie; it’s one of my favorite movies of all time. If you haven’t seen it yet, get off facebook and go. now.




Whether it's Christmas, Kwanza, Eid, or Hanukkah, Happy Holidays!

Upchuck reflex

I know I said I would write a long post about the horrors of last semester, but I won't now. After having some time to think about it, I realize that I was just really pissed off. And although I still am, my former roommate and his.... issues are his own business, and it's not my job to go around telling everybody. Oh well, if you know me I'm sure you've already heard the story like 3408329053583 times. And writing about it would probably just attract thousands more gay porn hits.

Anyways, rest assured that this blog is not dead. In fact, I think I'll do a little ranting right now...


The Middle East sure is a friggin mess right now. People getting kidnapped and blown up all over the place. If we're not careful in handling the situation, it could turn into World War III, and nobody wants that. It's not even about religion anymre. Whenever I hear someone from back home talk about how much they hate "Jews", it has nothing to do with Yaweh or the Torah at all. They just happen to be the people who are in Israel now, and according to them, have no right to be there.

Its a really unfortunate situation... hundreds of people are dying because of the overreactions of a few people. On the one hand, you have the Palestinians, without a country to call home and fighting to reagain it. Although they're obviously outnumbered, many of them are too proud to accept defeat and lay down their arms, even at the cost of civilian lives. On the other hand, you have the Israelis, who when attacked, as a people cannot sit by and do nothing. They have a leader in Olmert, long accused of not being as tough as his predecessor Sharon, who is eager to show that he is not afraid to use force. Both sides overreact whenever one side is attacked by the other, and because of this, tensions between the two countries has been continually rising.

Then you have arseholes like Hezbollah, in a separate country altogether, who have their own land to call home and have not really been being provoked by Israel, who have to go and kidnap two Israeli soldiers. When Hezbollah stepped in, they effectively dragged three countries into the conflict: Lebanon, Syria, and Iran. One of which was just beginning to rebuild its tourist industry after war, and the other two on the shitlist of Israel's biggest ally, the USA. Honestly, what were they thinking? By involving themselves in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, Hezbollah did exactly what every single terrorist hates most about the US: they stuck their noses in somebody elses business. And what did they think Israel would do? Bend over??? Fucking assholes.

Everyone's at fault here, but if I had to choose a side to place most of the blame on, if I had to crown a king super-asshole to rule all lesser mortal assholes, it would have to be Israel. Whenever one Israeli dies, they launch new offensives deeper and deeper into the crap land that they gave to the Palestinians in the first place and kill ten! When one of their soldiers gets kidnapped, they arrest 40 cabinet members of the democracy they worked so hard to put there in the first place??? Of every "nation" that is involved in the Middle East conflict, the side which has killed the most civilians is Israel. Yet they claim to want peace. Now how can you run a country like that?

For now, there's nothing anybody can really do. Unless the US, they only person Israel will really listen to, tells them to ease up, or both Hezbollah and the Palestinians miraculously realize that there will never be any end to violence, there is nothing anybody can do except pray that Israel doesn't attack Syria, thus pulling in Iran which would in turn pull in the US, causing World War III. Knock on wood.

what the hell

I always talk about how messed up the world is, and today takes that to an extreme. Yesterday, there was an attempted coup of the government in my home country, the Philippines, right after a landslide kills thousands. And today, two cars laden with explosives tried to blow up ARAMCO, the company my dad works for. Crap like this just doesn't happen all at once. I'm in too much shock to comment on either of these, so i'll just leave it for later.


click here for the ARAMCO story
click here for the Philippines coup story

barf

I've been in kind of a funk as of late. I'm normally not one to write about my feelings and all that junk on here, but I think this is something most people go through so I might as well write about it. I'll try to keep this as un-diluted with emo crap as possible.

Lately I've come to realize that I'm a completely different person that I was a year ago. Last year, I think I was a pretty angry kid. I was so pissed off by everyone at SMU that I didn't really look for the good. Coming to UT has actually made my life a lot more complicated, with me already being a semester behind, and classes that are so hard that I find myself antagonizing every teacher, TA, and pimple faced kid who's smarter than me in the ENS (Engineering Science Building for you liberal arts majors out there). Last year I was so pissed off by my jackass roommate and everybody else at SMU that I became hypermotivated to work my ass of and transfer out of there. Now that I'm at UT, there's no motivation to do anything... at all. Sure, I'm making decent grades and all that junk, but I can't help but feel like I'm just drifting through what are supposed to be the best years of my life - my last chance to enjoy irresponsibility, where mistakes are not only accepted, but expected. Too many times I find myself missing the simpleness of childhood, where all I had to worry about was who's house we'd play playstation at after school as opposed to now having to worry about writing a program in C++ using abstract data types to create a number capable of representing integers greater that 10^50, due at 11:59:59 PM. Or even high school, whose structure at least allowed me to drift through life within the boundaries of establishment. Not that I don't care about playstation anymore, though, because I do. I still am really glad to be at UT instead of anywhere else, and I love the school and all my friends here and all, but man, I really need to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life.

I never thought I'd say this, but I think Austin is too liberal. Austin is great and all, but I think its actually driven me to be more conservative. I was probably so excited to get out of ultra right-winged SMU/Highland Park that I associated myself with every tree hugger in Austin. I think the only reason I considered myself a liberal in the first place was because of my blind hatred for W. I don't think I believe in political sides anymore. I'm getting kind of sick of people calling each other un-democratic or un-republican just because they don't agree on every single issue that comes up. Take me for example, I HATE our current foreign policy, and hate the way we treat other countries, yet I still support our troops. I'm pro choice, yet still believe in traditional and cultural values like how women shouldn't walk around half naked. I hate both rednecks AND hippies. So what am I? Hell if I know. I guess thats what comes out of living in the most conservative land on Earth, yet going to school in the most liberal city in the state.


And its 2:39 AM right now, so I'd probably be getting to bed. So much for me getting up for my 8 o'clock class tomorrow.

Oh yeah, and my blog turns one tomorrow, so for the next week or so I'll be posting some of my favorite posts that I've written, "prepschool classics" if you will :)

Huh?

Do I dress preppy? I certainly didn't think so, at least until today, when I was at the mall with some friends when someone at GAP asked me if I worked there. Thinking it was a fluke, I politely informed her that no, I did not. My friends then dared me to walk in to Abercrombie, and pretend to be an employee there, asking them if they needed help and such. So I did, thinking that there was no way it would work, and that I would just end up making a fool of myself..... but it worked. Everyone I apporached thought I worked there responed to my "do you need help with anything?" It sucked. I am not a preppy bastard damn it!

Oh, The Horror

With all the crap going on in the world today, I won't be surprised if sometime in the future, history books label this decade as some kind of period of chaos. Countries fighting wars from halfway across the world, bombs killing innocent civilians, countries developing nuclear weapons, countries spying on their own citizens, Brad and Jennifer getting divorced.... Yup, I'd say the world is in a sad state right now.

With so many lives in the hands of so few people, I think it'd do a whole lot of people good if the leaders of the world to grow the hell up. If Ahmadinejad wants to enrich nuclear materials to generate electricity, fine, that's their right. If George Bush wants to be suspicious of a country that's traditionally been more outspoken and belligerent than passive, fine, that's his right. But as far as I'm concerned, both leaders have serious leadership flaws... George Bush rides the short bus and Ahmadinejad is just plain old crazy. What does NOT do any good is when certain SOMEONES throw around accusations of nuclear weapons ambitions and other SOMEONES threaten to make even more uranium if they're not left alone. I think the US pretty much lost its right to throw around accusations like that after Iraq. Btw, why are we there again?If everyone would just grow up, sprout some pubic hair, and really listened to what the other one had to say, maybe some progress would be made.

Viola! Problem solved. Hmmmm now if there was only there was someone to mediate between the two. Oh wait there's the UN! Too bad the US only respects the UN when it wants something done but doesn't want to do it itself.



There used to be a time when I thought going a week without updating this thing was excessive. Now I'm lucky if I can find time to write every two weeks. I need to change that.

It Starts...

If there's one thing wrong with having the most absolutely kickass break ever, its that you miss it too much once you're back at school.

I hadn't been back to the Philippines for over four years when I left last December. Although the thing I was looking forward most was seeing my grandma again, and that didn't happen, I still had a great time in the Philippines. It always used to be awkward going back mainly because I don't speak tagalog, but also partly because I barely ever see my cousins anymore, and since we're not five years old anymore, where all it took was a nintendo for us to have fun together, its usually pretty awkward between us.

But this time, everything was different. It might be because I'm old enough to appreciate travel or whatever, but who knows. I had a good time visiting all the family I have there, and got to see a lot of what the Philippines had to offer. When I was a kid, I never wanted to travel anywhere except the United States. I always thought the the Middle East and the Philippines were run down, dirty places compared to the rich, glitzy life of America. But since coming here, my appreciation for American life, especially the government, has gone down considerably. Life abroad just seems so much more simple and laid back than in the United States. I guess countries that get shit on so much don't have much of a reputation to worry about, so they chill out about most things.

I'm only gonna post one picture here because I made an album on thefacebook, so you can see them on there. Also, I have tons more if you want to see them.


me, my bro, and one of my cousins about to go out

And I'm Off!

I'll be heading to the Philippines for Christmas break on Sunday morning, and since I live on a farm there, I probably won't have regular internet access, which means I probably won't update this thing for a good while.

I've seen a lot of change this semester. I've switched schools, met new people, and made a whole bunch of new friends. At SMU, as much of an academic joke as that school was, I still found myself unhappy, and by this time last year, my transfer application to UT was complete, and I was ready to go home for Christmas and never come back. As hard as it has been at UT, and its been really hard, I've found time and again driven back to my friends to keep me sane. In short, its been a great semester thanks to you guys and I'm looking forward to another :) I'll be sure to take maaad pictures over break.

So if you're one of my friends and I didn't get to see you this weekend, Merry Christmas! If you're some random dude who I've never spoken to before, but you read my blog anyway Merry Christmas! Ah heck, even if you're one of the bums looking for gay omani porn on my blog, a very Merry Christmas to you too! Now get off my site.

I saw a girl who had braces in Jester today. And I felt sorry for her because, well, she was in college and she still had braces. But then when I got closer I noticed that it wasn't braces that she had, but a FULL ON DIAMOND GRILL

PCL: NOT FOR THE WEAK OF LOINS

You know what really chaps my ass?

1. When I'm in the PCL and some couple starts getting jiggy in the cubicle next to mine.

2. When my TA loses two of my programs, and my test, and says he's too "busy" to look for them, so I get zeroes on them until I find them.

3. When some girl sporting dreadlocks takes an hour to make your sheesha.

4. When you take the wrong bus to the mall and you end up in the ghetto of all ghettos for two hours.

5. When you're at the mall and you get checked out nonstop by damn fourteen year old teeniboppers.


...and that's been my week so far!


Every since writing my "gay omani man" post, traffic on my site has doubled... except about one third of my visitors are still of the man-porn persuasion... anyways

I'm such a Christmas junkie. Sure, all of my Christmases have been spent in the desert, they've all been fun. For the last few years, Thanksgiving for me has meant two things: time to shop like a BAMF, and time for me to bust out the Christmas music. Since I'm not going home this Christmas, I seriously think I'm gonna decorate my room for Christmas. And no I'm not gay.

In Loving Memory

My Grandma died yesterday evening around 1 AM. Since I won’t be able to give a speech at her funeral, I figure I would give one on here.


I’ve only really dealt with death once before, at the passing of my Grandpa, God Rest his soul. You died on November 21st, 2005, one day before it would have been exactly ten years after he did.

When I was a kid, we used to visit the Philippines all the time, and I know seeing us made her happy. Marrying into a family, I know my Grandma did not always receive the respect she deserved from her adopted siblings. She cared for them as if they were her own, yet the only one who truly loved her was my mom, her only child. And through my mom, she came to love us, Oliver, Chris, Angelica, and Michael, her only grandchildren. Although we lived so far away, she loved us with all her heart, knowing we were destined to succeed in life. She was sick, but she lived vicariously through us and us alone, living solely for the day she could see us for the last time, all grown up and strong, so that she could be laid to rest in eternal peace, knowing that we were all well on our way towards growing into the individuals she believed we could each be. But it was not meant to happen.

You died on a Monday, you felt God calling to you and you did not fight it. You lay on the couch, and told Auntie Reggie that you wished my mom would call at that exact moment, and you wished you would have gotten to see us for the last time when we came to visit this Christmas. The last time I saw you was five years ago, and for that I am sorry. There are so many things which could have been said, so many things which should have been done, but I took you for granted, and they can never be done again. I could go into all sorts of stories, remembering how you were the sweetest old lady I ever knew, memories of how happy you made me and all of those around you, but I believe stories like these are best kept where they started: both in your heart and mine alone.

So from the depths of cyberspace comes this one prayer, a prayer that you are in a better place and are happy, with Grandpa and those you love. A prayer, that you knew how much we loved you and how much you will be missed. A prayer, that through me, you will continue to live on vicariously forever. A prayer for me, that I can be strong, and continue to make you proud.

Burnout

The last few weeks have been pure academic hell. Tests, programs, quizzes, presentations, enough to make even the most addictive of workaholics piss his pants.

After an experience like this, I have come to only one conclusion about UT. That it does not give a crap about its students. Being here, you feel like the school treats your more like a number than a young, growing mind, and that they only care about two things: taking your money, and improving their reputation. I mean, the EE department is the only department which doesn't have faculty advisors for each student, and they seem to be proud of the fact!

Then again, maybe its different for each department. The philosophy of the EE department seems to be to admit tons of aspiring EE students and later "weeding them out" (aka crushing their dreams, and therefore turning them from plain old nerds to nerds with suicidal tendencies)with insane workloads and fast paced, unnecessarily difficult classes. A friend of mine who's part of the brand new, sparkling biomedical engineering department speaks of lush lands filled with TAs who aren't worthless, real faculty advisors, and most importantly, ESTROGEN!

Anyways, I guess I'm just getting what I paid for. At SMU, for $20000 more, I actually felt like I was a student, being guided towards a career path. But the people more than made up for that. Here, its the exact opposite, but through the effing bureaucracy of it all, I still freaking love this place.

SIDE NOTE: I was too busy to write anything recently, but belated EID MUBARAK to everyone out there!

*snap snap* mmm girl i know you did not just touch my hair

5 things you wouldn't know if you met me

1.) I am obsessed with the Dallas Mavericks

2.) I'm probably the only person in the world who's 19 and still ties their shoes using the "bunny ears".

3.) I'm a mad fiend on the dance floor.

4.) One time in high school, I dressed up as Zorro, and serenaded Dan with "Your Body Is Wonderland".

5.) Yes, I am an African tribal porn star.


In other news...

The top 5 keywords searched which have lead to my blog are:

1.) Omani gay man
2.) callgirls in oman
3.) hot SMU girls
4.) African American AND prepschools
5.) gays in Oman
6.) Why do fobs smell?

HmmMMMmmMMmMm…… does anybody else see anything wrong here?!?!? And I don’t just mean the fact that I listed 6 instead of five (it was just too amusing to leave out). Yeah so four of the top six keywords used to find my blog are used by what I can only imagine as old, horny, and apparently gay males in search of sweet Omani man-porn, making my blog just another stop on the good ole’ gay-porn cyber superhighway. Sweeeeet job Chris! Ah, hell, as tramatic as this is for me, if you’re reading this right now, you’re probably one of the bastardous beings I just mentioned. And if you are, sorry, but THERE’S NOTHING FOR YOU HERE... YOU’LL JUST HAVE TO GET YOUR JOLLIES ELSEWHERE.

Ode to unhygenic fobby electrical engineers

Engineers are some of the smartest people on the face of this planet. We design and build all of the machines which make life as easy as it is today. With our advanced skills in math and physical sciences, we can build a devices which allow us to provide light when the sun has long set, communicate over different continents, or even traverse entire nations within the span of a few hours... but apparently for some reason we can't learn to TAKE A FREAKING SHOWER. Does anybody else find it ironic that the majority of engineers, the very people responsible for the advancement of the human race from ooga booga cavemen to the tricked out pimps that we are today, have yet to master the primal urge to practice basic hygiene and not smell like a friggin dingleberry.

And people wonder why there are so few chicks in engineering..... Now, granted, there are exceptions, such as myself, but that's not really something to be proud of! So if you're one of the stinky scientists I mentioned before, meaning if you are an engineer, and the number of times you shower in one week can be expressed in two or fewer binary digits, take a shower! You're giving us a bad name.

Where am I from today? Walk down around Jester Hall on any given day, and you'll see groups of different organizations, a lot of them ethnicity oriented, advertising different events they have planned by handing out fliers to people who seem to hail from the same ethnic group. Asians advertise to mostly asians, desis to desis, crackwhores to crackwhores, etc. So every time I walk through, I like to think of it as a test to see if people can figure out where I'm from. I know its weird, but for my whole life, for some reason people can never seem to be sure of what background I've decended from, and I find it amusing that some people seem to think that i'm some hybrid combination of either mexican, white, or asian. Heck, i've even got Indian a few times..... (to be clear, i'm Asian/Filipino by ethnicity) Anyways, I find it both a little funny and sad that I've never been apporached by ANY of the asian organizations, while every time I walk in there, I'm mobbed by hispanic fraternities and service organizations. So I find myself an outcast, rejected by the group that I call my own :'( ...Nah, just kidding. It's not that big of a deal. And it really shouldn't be anyways.


P.S. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes!

New Orleans, birthplace of Jazz, home of the Hornets, and land of Mardi Gras. With estimates upwards of 10000 people dead or missing, this is the worst natural disaster I can remember in my entire lifetime. This IS, our tsunami. I noticed something on the news the other day, which I thought rediculous. Some news network (I don't want to point fingers, so we'll just call it FOX NEWS for now) showed a slide of what it described as one of the many incidents of looting which have been reported across the city. The picture was of a black African American man, obviously left with nothing, walking out of a broken-into convenience store, with food and toiletries. Directly after, the network showed a slide of a white man in a similair situation, with one tiny difference. Instead of describing the scene as "looting", the caption under the picture read "left with nothing, man survives on abandoned goods."

Come on people! It's not "looting" or "borrowing" or even "stealing". It's survival. I bet that NOBODY, black, white, whatever, could tell me that if they had own their shit washed away in a hurricaine, they wouldn't be doing the exact same thing. Why everyone is so concerned about crap that, even if it WAS untouced, would probably never be seen again anyways, escapes me. Especially if some of this "crap" could be used to save lives. The government response was slow, and it was obvious aid wasn't on the way, so these people face a choice. Lay down and die, or bust into an already busted store, and have a glimmer of hope for survival. Hmmmmmm, now there's a friggin hard choice, and unless hurricane-ravaged house and/or drowned housepet is on your list of favorite things to eat, I'm pretty sure you'd break into the store too.

So how 'bout everybody take a chill pill, take a step back, and look at the bigger picture here. New Orleans is a mess. And a lot of the stuff not destroyed by the hurricane will probably end up being collateral damage by those not fortunate enough to have gotten out of the city in time. As unfortunate as it is, saving lives is just more important right now.

up my butt and around the corner

Since I've been out of touch with so many people for so long, I guess I owe you all one of those "my life" posts...

So a LOT has happened in the last few weeks. I got my driver's license, making me a fully mobile member of society! Whenever I get a car, its definately gonna help with the massive distances I'll have to traverse to get across this huge-ass campus. Speaking of UT, there are some striking comparisons that need to be made between SMU and UT. Now, i'm not going to lie. UT is maaaad ghetto. The dorms are nowhere near the quality of the ones at SMU, and they're pretty run down, but I guess that's to be expected at a public school. The advisors here are ghetto too. They offer little help at all, only suggesting classes they think you should take, and offering little advice on career tracks or what you should take to do well in school. I guess I should be happy with more freedom, but when I was at SMU, I was kinda comforted by the fact that someone was there to guide me along. Also, with such a large school, it's really easy to get swept up and lost in the beaurocracy of it all. I can't tell you how many times I've been screwed over here because I was new, and the bottom of the ladder. Anyways, as bad as I've made UT sound, I really like it here, and that's really what counts right?

UT is filled with tons of nice people, which is what I like. A lot. Unlike SMU, when you go out on the street, you're not overwhelmed by bitches with handbags and french manicures on cellphones. And unlike SMU, people here actually acknowledge your existence with a smile or whatever, regardless of whether they know you or not. Another thing I like about this place is that it's basically the liberal capital of Texas, the only blue blip on the map! I'm sorry, but SMU was just too freaking conservative for me. I guess this shouldn't have affected me as much, being a "moderate" and all, but trust me, it makes a big difference.

In other news, I met my roommate for the first time the other day. NAKED. Well, not fully naked, but almost. It was 11 PM, and he hadn't moved in yet, so I figured he wouldn't come until at least tomorrow. So I decided to take a shower and get to bed. Well, I was naked, when I heard a key turing in the door. I rush to my closet and put my bathroom on, and just as I do, my roommate, AND his family come into the room. Yeah, it was just a lil bit awkward.... but funny, I'll admit. Anyways, I'm still on summer break, and school starts on the 31st, so I still have some time to enjoy my freedom.

im at UT, and so much is happening right now that I haven't had time for an update, but rest assured, one's been bubbling for a while now. Until then here's a little taste.... my roommate and his family saw me almost naked!!!

I <3 work!

This summer, I have experienced the joys of intense manual labor at my old junior high school. So what exactly has come out of my work? A few new friends, a buttload of memories, and about 700 bucks in taxless income, that's what haha! But also, I've gained a newfound respect for the workers of ARAMCO and Saudi Arabia. The whole time i've been working (especially as a painter), i've been working beside all of the Indian, Bangladeshi, and Sri Lankan workers imported from their homecountries to serve as the "working class" of Saudi Arabia and ARAMCO. An enormous amount of respect has got to be paid to these guys, who have left their home, friends, and family purely to ensure a better life for their loved ones. I say "purely" because there is no other reason for why any man would voluntarily leave their home and subject themselves to such a low quality life here.

Each and every one of the workers here is underpaid and unappreciated for the amount of effort they put into their work. These guys actually work harder and longer than any of our educated, specialized parents. They wake up before 6AM, at the crack of dawn, and they are on the job until late in the evening (i've seen busses of workers heading home past 11 PM), all for something like 40 riyals (11 bucks) a day or something rediculous like that. Although it may seem like big money for them back home, it definately does not do justice to all the CRAP they have to take while earning it. With my sparkling salary of 6 dollars an hour, I find it sad that me, an eighteen year old student, was getting paid more solely because I was an expat, or because my dad worked for the company.

When I first started on the job, there was a good deal of tension between us student workers and the imported staff. I think it was rightfully so, because the majority of westernized kids these guys come across scoff whenever they see them, or pay no attention to them at all. But eventually, things began to lighten up, and, even though they didn't speak much English, by the time I quit, we were all greeting each other in the halls, and complimenting each others' painting jobs. It's something I will definately remember for the rest of my life.

So, this post goes out for my boys, the underappreciated, underrated working class of Saudi Arabia. Although they will probably never read this, I thought it was something worth sharing.


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The Death of a King

On August 1st, The King of Saudi Arabia, or as everyone here called him, King Fahd, died. Not much was known about him until after he died, when every news channel began broadcasting his life’s story, but he really did do some important things for the KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, for future reference). In the most conservative and strict Islamic country in the world, he stood out as a liberal voice among harsh hardline critics, embracing America’s involvement in the world, incorporating what he could with traditional beliefs. Although it did not seem like he was acting in the best interest of his people, the KSA would most definitely not be where it is today without his leadership. Anyways, if you want to learn more about King Fahd, just watch the news, haha.

Immediately after the announcement of the King’s death was made, radio and television stations all across the Middle East immediately cut to prayers, and broadcasted nothing but for days in order to pay respect to the dead. I think its cool how this was done, even by countries with less than sparkling relations with Saudi Arabia, as it shows a certain amount of mutual respect each nation has for each other. Leaders from foreign countries immediately stopped what they were doing, and flew to Saudi Arabia to pay homage to the recently departed King and congratulate the ascending ruler. For a moment, it seemed as if all the trouble plaguing the world and the Middle East were put on hold, so that respect could be paid to one deserving great leader. It was great. The last time a King died, every working man in Saudi Arabia received a bonus month’s pay, so that’d be tight if it happened again, because at $62 per barrel, I’m sure it wouldn’t really be a problem. But then again, the new King had technically been ruling for a while already, so he doesn’t really need to please people to win their loyalty.

King Fahd had been incapacitated for about a decade or so, with his appointed successor and brother the now King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz bin Saud (81 yrs old) ruling de facto. A lot of people might ask why he would appoint someone so old as the next King, the reason for which I think would be to avoid any competition or jockeying for power among his sons. But I think herein there lies a potential problem for the future. The new King has chosen his brother as successor as well, and as he is 77 yrs old, this could provide for an interesting next few years. Each of the original brothers, all sons of the original founder of Saudi Arabia, Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud, is getting older, which means each member of the royal family will begin jockeying for power, setting up members of the younger generation to eventually take over. But as long as shit doesn’t go down while I’m still here, I’m happy :-)

What is wrong with the world?

With all the crap going on in the world over the last few weeks, it feels like the whole world is in pandemonium. Suicide bombs have been being detonated in London twice, and, most recently in Egypt. Although few people have died, the fear being instilled within the hearts of people everywhere brings to mind scenes eerily familiar of that movie The Siege with Denzel Washington. That movie, which was made before 9-11, involved Arab terrorists carry out several attacks on New York city within the span of a few weeks. The government, lead by Bruce Willis, then seeks to prevent further attacks from occurring by declaring martial law and putting all men within the ages of 15 through 35 in internment camps to try and weed out the remaining terrorists. Now, I promise that all this has a point and I’m not just pulling an “Ebert and Roper” here.

My point is, that as horrible as the recent attacks in London and Egypt have been people cannot lose their composure and begin making harmful assumptions, like those I mentioned before in my previous summary of The Siege... no matter how cool Bruce Willis is. Jumping to harmful conclusions only creates pandemonium and disrupts the flow of society, which is exactly what the terrorists are trying to accomplish. Sadly, it seems as if this is exactly what is happening right now. After the attacks, because Scotland Yard had credible “evidence” that the bombers were of Pakistani descent, the Pakistani government, not wanting to be accused of allowing the attacks to happen, launched a huge crackdown on anyone and everyone who they believed could have played a part in the bombings. Madrassas, conservative Islamic schools were raided, and some 300 “suspects” were arrested. Even more recently, a man was shot dead in the London subway purely because he appeared “suspicious and of Pakistani or Indian decent” (the man turned out to be Brazillian and had no connection to the bombings at all). Do you think that the police would have busted five caps in his head if he were a white man? I seriously doubt that. Right now, I believe that there are a lot of people need to ask themselves whether or not they believe that everyone they’re cracking down on are really crazy militants, or if maybe they might just be searching for someone to blame and take revenge on for the attacks committed on their nation. I absolutely think that a crackdown on suspected militants is absolutely necessary, and those responsible the attacks need to be brought to justice, but making rash decisions without more definite evidence only angers more people and will ultimately only work against your cause.

Also… a little food for thought: Suicide bombs against civilians occur multiple times a day in Iraq, but it seemed like nobody thought it was really a big deal until they actually witnessed it firsthand. I just find it just completely crazy how terrorists think they're such holy martyrs when they're being such bastardous heartless pricks, because speaking as someone who's lived almost their entire life in the Islamic capital of the world, I can tell you straight up that this is not what Islam is about.

P.S. There’s another terror warning for the people here in Saudi Arabia so everyone pray for us all to be safe! :-)

Biology at it's best!

Its an undeniable fact of life. Its something SMU is famous for. SMU girls are hot. Really hot.

Looks like i'm gonna go for the double post today... Writing about SMU in my preivious post has made me remember quite a few things about the past year, and one thing which is impossible to forget about SMU is the seemingly unreal hotness of the girls there. Now, I myself have never been a fan of associating myself with the ultra-busty, ultra-bitchy variety of woman, but I would be just plain lying if I told you that when I leave SMU, I will also be leaving oodles of super shallow, but for some reason, HOT ass girls. So in this episode, we seek to answer some of the questions involving these seductive sirens, more specifically, the question which has plagued the mind of the male SMU students for eons: by what incredible fluke of nature did the girls of SMU get to be so freaking hot!?!

What the girls of SMU lack in personality, they compensate for in areas of well placed body fat and toned muscle. I assure you, the answers to the question posed above can be answered in one simple but important principle of biology: survival of the fittest. I have devised a theory to this below, which I like to call The Trophy Wife Theory (c).

So you have these guys, smart and hardworking, who go to school, graduate, and use the skills they have learned to become successful through business, entrepreneurship, whatever... nature knows no specific profession. When these guys are successful and wealthy, they effectively outcompete their competition in accumulating the resources needed to create and provide for a family, and live a life superior to those he has outcompeted. From a primitive evolutionary standpoint, women find this attractive in the man, regardless of his age (either that, or they just want a piece of that phat bank account, but whatever). The male, being the superior rich bastard that he is, has his pick of the female mating pool. The male, also acting from primal instincts, chooses the mate which he feels would be able to bear him the most offspring and would be most suited to spread his seed around the world (aka the guy is a horndog). This mate, being beautiful, is also stratiegically chosen by the male to show off his dominance to those other males around him. The chosen women then becomes what biologists refer as a trophy wife, the very same from which the name of this theory is derived. The couple then produces offspring, which, because of the good looks of the mother, has a high chance of inheriting the good looks of the mother, while still retaining the "resources" provided by the father. This girl then grows up and is sent to SMU, where she is forever doomed to be bitchy and materialistic. But still hot.



DISCLAIMER:
The above post was made purely in good fun, and, if you read it and somehow took offense, I do apologize. T'was just a joke! Although there ARE plenty of the girls I mentioned before, there are also TONS of girls at SMU who are great and pretty cool too :-)

The down low on SMU!

Some of my friends from SMU ask me how I could possibly consider leaving SMU for UT Austin, a huge behemoth of a school notorious for having students get lost in the system. Well I've thought about it, and as close as I can figure, there are a few key reasons why I decided to transfer. Sure, having old freinds there and a better academic program helped me make my choice, but in the end I don't really think they're what pushed me towards transferring in the first place.

At SMU, I guess you could say I just felt too sheltered. While I was there, I just felt like there was more to college life than SMU had to offer. The people I met there had a lot to do with me feeling this way. Although there are plenty of exceptions, I did see a lot of the stereotypical southern millionaire walking around campus. SMU is often referred to as the Harvard of Texas. A school where the wealthy send their kids to spend four years of their lives recieving a high quality private school education, while being groomed to eventually take take over the family business. Now, I don't quite agree with a label like this because quite frankly, it isn't true.... not entirely anyways. Although SMU was definately NOT just one homogeneous mixture of rich, white people, there really are a good amount that decide to enroll there. For some reason, they just made up a larger proportion of the student body than they do at most other schools. And they really did own the school. It seemed like it was always the rich, overprivelidged people who would always end up being known by everybody. With parties almost every night, elitist social cliques, and all the money floating around in the form of credit cards, Louis Vuitton handbags, and ugg boots, I just felt like I was living an episode of the OC.

So if my parents were spending an assload of money to go to college and learn to succeed in the real world, I figured why not transfer to a school where I could at least feel like I wasn't living in a bubble, isolated from the rest of the world. And so the end result is me going to UT. Hook 'em horns!

work

This summer, besides sitting on my ass, being lazy, and playing golf, I've been working at my old middle school (Dhaharan Junior High woo!) Anyways, since I've been back there, my jobs have ranged from helping teachers grade final exams to textbook inventory to lifting boxes across campus. Sadly, my 7 hour days are usually filled with a LOT more lifting than grading, but I guess it isn't all bad, cause I'm getting exercise (for $6 an hour too!)

Anyways, seeing all the enormous amounts of excess crap my school has lying around in storage boxes, i've come to realize something. I've never come across a school that has TOO much stuff. Too many computers, too many books, too many desks... more than enough to supply two schools with materials enough to last at least a full school year. At $61 a barrel, ARAMCO just isn't that concerned about recycling or conserving its school supplies. Although they do donate a good portion of their "old" or unused supplies, from what I've seen, they could afford to give just a lil bit more.

So sometimes people ask me... why is my blog "shallow" and why don't I write about all my emotions?


Truthfully, I just don't see the relevance of writing about all my emotions, or, as what seems to be a recurring theme in a lot of blogs, how depressed I am. In fact, really dislike overly emo people. Like seriously... It seems that almost every day I run into some sap who "can't go on anymore" because their "heart is throbbing with heartbreak" or some crap like that. Why do these people feel the need to go out and broadcast this to the world over AIM or however else? Sometimes, it's like they just want attention or people to pity them, which is sad in itself.

First of all, for most people, being all emo because you feel like "the world is closing in on you" or something is not even true in the first place. A lot of people feel like crap because they can't see most of the good things in their life, only choosing to focus on the bad things which happen to them... If you do this, of course you're going to feel like shit... so just don't do it!

Secondly, if for some inexplicable reason, the problems of someone's life really do cause the world to come crashing down, then what is the point of broadcasting your problems/emoness to people over the internet? I really believe that writing about your innermost feelings is something that should remain private for all people. This is why I disliked blogs before I actually got one. In all seriousness, if someone's problems are bugging them so much, then they should go out and do something to solve them, rather than hoping that someone will come and sympathize with you, which, although may help at the time, won't solve anything at all.

Now, I admit that we all have our moments where we feel like crap... I get depressed all the time, but that's just life. I seriously doubt that any one person is being singled out by the cosmic forces of the universe, and is doomed to spend the rest of his or her life in utter misery.


And now i'm off to play some golf! Toodles!

"What is your badge number?"

Daaaaaamn its July! It's been almost two months since I've left Dallas for summer break... I guess time really flies when you're sitting on your ass all day. And i've still got two whole months left till UT starts on August 31st :-) I've come to terms with my decision to go to UT Austin. I really think I made the right decision, and I'm really looking forward to going there. It should be a good time.

Anyways, I had an interesting experience the other day. Tyler, you will appreciate this. A friend and I went atop a hill in the jebels at 2 AM to smoke a little hookah and look up at the stars. Apparently, my truck, alone in the parking lot, appeared sketchy, and the ARAMCO police pulled up to it and started scoping it out. Now, we saw all this from our vantage point on top of the hill, and just laughed it off, since we weren't doing anything wrong. But then the cops got out of their car and started checking the sides of my car and shining flashlights inside... Anybody that knows ARAMCO police knows that this is unusual, especially for them. Usually they're so lazy that all they do is sit around and drink their tea and give you a hard time if they think you're a teenage driving without a license. Anyways, two more cops came, and pretty soon, I counted four cops chilling around my car. By this time, I was starting to get a little nervous, as I had never seen security make this big of a deal out of something before. So Hammad suggested that we go down and talk to them, and hopefully just tell them that we weren't causing trouble.

So we went down to them. As soon as one of the popo saw us, he started walking towards us with his flashlight.. They whole time I was thinking "ohh damn, I'm in trouble." But apparentl not... The reason that all the cops were around was because apparently, one of the cops, in all his infinite wisdom, had tried to drive his Chevy Caprice into the desert, and had gotten himself stuck in the sand. He had just radioed in for his buddies to come help him get out, and the reason they were looking in my car was because they saw how unbelieveably jacked my truck was and were looking for a towing cable in the hopes that I would come back and be able to pull them out. It turned out to be a fun night and all, Hammad and I felt bad that the reason the cop was stuck was probably because he was looking for us, so we stayed and helped until we got him out. All in all, I'd say it was a pretty good time just hanging out with the popo at 2AM, but its still pretty sad that this is one of the most exciting things that I've seen this summer.

the past 2 weeks...

This is my first update in a while... sorry about the delay. I've had a lot of important shit on my mind for the last few weeks, and updating the blog just hasn't been up on my list of priorities.

On June 7th, I woke up in time for work as usual, and, as usual, ate breakfast and checked my email before I left the house. What I would find in my inbox would be the thing which would take up a lot of my time for the next two weeks...

I had been accepted into UT Austin as a transfer student from SMU into their Electrical Engineering Department. I had turned in an application during a completely miserable first semester at SMU. At the time, I really didn't think anything of it, as I had heard that it was near impossible to get in as a transfer student (3.8 GPA, rolling admission etc.). So I turned in application with the intention of "learning the ropes" of the transfer process for sometime during my Sophmore year, when I knew my best shot of being accepted would be.

Anyways, for the Spring semester, I promised myself that I would abandon my dreams of tranfer and focus instead of trying to better my life at SMU while I was still stuck there. To say the least, it worked. A lot. I moved away from my fratboy roommate, started joining more clubs, meeting new people, and found myself a significant other. I had managed (finally) to establish myself at SMU.

So now that I had unexpectedly gottin into UT Austin, I had a huge and potentially life-altering decision to make. When I didn't get into UT The first time I applied, I promised my friends who did get in that I would transfer there as soon as possible. My previous reason of leaving because I was unhappy was now void, as I had a pretty good thing going for me. On the other hand, UT Austin is better academically, and would cost my parents a lot less than what they were paying now. I was sure I could pursue a successful career at either university, regardless of the fact that UT is some 20 spots higher in the rankings.

So, that's basically what i've been doing for the last few weeks. Debating, deciding, and changing my mind. I finally decided that I will be attending UT, my reasons for going being that ever since i've been a kid, I've wanted to attend there, and it would be too big of an opportunity to pass up. Also, my parents are about to put a third kid through college, and I know for a fact that they're really concerned about finances, so I want to help them out too.

So what exactly am I leaving behind? I have great friends there, it was an easier school, and I had an amazing girlfriend. Will I regret my decision sometime later? Maybe... To tell you the truth, I'm pretty durned scared of the whole thing. UT is a pretty intimidating school, and everything I'm leaving behind constantly makes me feel like I'm making a huge mistake... But I guess all I can really do is accept my choice, and try to make the most of the situation. Wish me luck!

Pictures... as promised!

Well here are the pictures from Oman I promised. I took a buttload of pics while I was over there, something like in the 100's or so, so I've limited the ones i'll post to like 15 or 20, and that's STILL a lot! Anyways, if you want to see more, then let me know foos.



Our hotel, the Crowne Plaza, Muscat! AND, it's shaped like a cruise liner!


The view from outside our room... check out the mountains and the beach!


A shot of the mountains and a neighborhood of Muscat.





The fish market, they have these in Saudi too


The huge Sultan Al-Qaboos Grande Mosque in the center of Muscat


Inside the gates of the mosque...




Inside the mosque itself...




(Still inside) They say it's the biggest chandelier in the world...


Some random hott guy just jumped in front of the camera...


What the previous pic should have looked like...


The Twin Forts of Muscat






The Sultan's Palace! We didn't have time to go in :-(


A Middle Eastern Starbucks


An ordinary mosque in Muscat... Can you believe they have one of these every few miles???

That's all for now, but I have tons more... If you want to see them, let me know.

Oman... O MAN!

I just got back from Oman.

Oman is slowly emerging from its hermit shell, revealing a land of friendly people and dramatic landscapes peppered with forts. Although it remains, in many ways, the most traditional country in the region, it's often more outward looking than it's given credit for.

Although Oman is viewed by many as one of the most traditional Arab countries left in the Middle East, it is far more developed than Saudi Arabia. Unlike Saudi, alcohol and pork are allowed in the country, and women are allowed to vote (with 5 already serving as the heads of ministries). Although there is still censorship here, the people seem to be very proud of their government. The Omani government, unlike the Saudi government spends a great deal of its money towards the welfare of the Omani people. Whether it’s starting a business, buying a house, or receiving health care, the government pays a huge portion of the cost. I thought this was pretty phat.

Oman is a beautiful country which has far less than Saudi Arabia in terms of resources and money, but I believe has far more to offer its people. When I first stepped off the plane at the Seeb International Airport in Muscat, I admit I had my misgivings about the whole trip. The airport was run down, and kind of dingy, and we had to take a bus from our airplane to the terminal, which overall, spoke “ghetto” to me. The entire place also did not look all too different from Saudi, with buildings of traditional Islamic architecture, which made me wonder what exactly there would be for me to see here. It WAS 12 midnight however, and dark, and little did I know that any misgivings I had that night would be completely erased the next day.

We stayed at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Muscat. We tried to gain a reservation for the prestigious palace-turned-hotel Al-Bustan Palace, but that place was full. Oman has amazing scenery to offer all who make the journey to its land. It is honestly the only place I have seen where huge mountains, barren desert, lush vegetation, and blue ocean have existed all right next to each other. This is the view I awoke to, and as it turns out, was the typical scenery on an average drive to anywhere in the city. It really was beautiful. The moist, fertile conditions served as an ideal environment for green vegetation, making Muscat appear nothing like the dry, sandy landscape of Saudi Arabia which I was used to seeing.

The biggest difference I saw between the people of Oman and Saudi lay in the personalities of the citizens Strangely, this can be summed up each nation’s cab drivers. In Muscat, many of the cab drivers actually took the time to learn English so that they could converse with any tourists they took around. They were incredibly nice, and sensing that we were tourists, they were always giving us bits of history of Oman, or telling us which landmarks were the best to see and when they were open, what dress code was appropriate. I had always heard from other Arabs that Saudi Arabia was among the most hated by all of the other Arab nations, but until now, I did not believe or understand why. One of our Omani tour guides told us of how he tried to visit Saudi, and the customs officials mishandled his passport, hassled him, and almost threw him in jail. This stuff had happened to me as well (except for the jail part), but I usually thought it was because I was an American teenager and they were profiling or something. Omani people just seemed to be a whole lot more laid back, social, and nicer in general. Now, I’m pretty sure the fact that we were tourists with wads of cash to spend helped them be just a liiiiitle bit nicer, but hey – I’m just going on what I saw.

Culturally, Oman did not seem to offer as much as Saudi Arabia, and this is my only complaint. But then again, it would be hard for ANY Islamic country to compete culturally with Saudi, the Islamic capital. Because we were only in Muscat for four days, we did not get a chance to venture outside of the capital, and I believe this is also a big reason why we didn’t see more culture than we did. There is tons to see in Oman, with large, colurful mosques decorating the city every few miles, the most beautiful being the Grand Mosque. We also saw the official palace of the ruling Sultan, as well as a few old mud forts built by the Portuguese in the 1600's. In all seriousness, the wads of pictures I took cannot even begin to do justice in portraying the coolness of all I saw.

Although tourism is fast becoming one of the major industries of Oman, and, like Dubai, it is starting to feel like much of Muscat has been built specifically to fuel the growth of this industry, I still had a great time. I took tons of photos (which will be posted in the next few days), and even brought one of the funny hats which the locals wear (which, if you're cool enough I'll wear for you). So if you're looking to visit new land with a beautiful landscape, a strong middle eastern flavor, an open minded view of westerners and western ideas, I would mos def recommend Oman at a place to go.

The Lagging of the Jets

Well it's been exactly 12 days since I've been back in Saudi, and I have just gotten over my jet lag. Since i've been back, my sleep cycle has been in some cross between Saudi and Thai time or something, cause I've been getting about 4 hours of sleep in the afternoon, and 4 hours of sleep at night. Though, it's not that it will do me much good to finally get off jetlag, because all of my days involve either venturing into downtown Al-Kobar or Al-Rashid, me going golfing in insanely hot temperatures, or me sitting on my ass munching on the SEMIRAMIS shawermas or the Latif cheesebread.

We're planning on taking a trip to Dubai one weekend before my brother and I head off to St. Louis for classes. Seeing as i've never been outside of the airport in that country, i'm looking forward to hitting up the electronics souk and buying mad electronics and possibly seeing a new movie or two (Starwars?). If anyone knows what else there is to do in Dubai other than shop, let me know, cause I want to see it.

Sorry about the lack of pictures I promised earlier, but rest assured I have been taking them. The only thing is, since pictures are not allowed to be taken here, I 've been sneaking around taking them on my cameraphone, and I can't get these off my phone unless I have cellphone service, which I only have in the US. Maybe i'll risk it and bust out the real camera next time...


Al-Rashed Mall

a survey on steroids... ON STEROIDS!!!!!!

Really Long Survey (over 200)
Created by starsbleed2nite and taken 87189 times on bzoink!
What is your name?	Xtoph
Are you named after anyone?	St. Christopher
What's your screename?	if you know me, ask me
Would you name a child of yours after you?	Nah, "chris" is too generic
If you were born a member of the opposite sex what would your name be?	Christina?
If you could switch names with a friend who would it be?	hmmm
Are there any mispronounciations/typos that ppl do w/ your name constantly?	not really, everybody knows "Chris"
Would you drop your last name if you became famous?	nah
Basics
Your gender:	Male
Straight/Gay/Bi:	Straight/40% Metrosexual
Single?	Nope
If not, do you want to be?	No way!
Birthdate:	9-14-1986
Your age:	18
Age you act:	10 :-(
Age you wish you were:	18
Your height:	5' 8"
Eye color:	Dark Brown
Happy with it?	yup
Hair color:	Jet black
Happy with it?	yup
Lefty/righty/ambidextrous:	Righty
Your living arrangement:	university dorm
Your family:	2 parents, 2 brothers, 1 sister
Have any pets?	turtle!
Whats your job?	professional student
Piercings?	welllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
Tattoos?	nope
Obsessions?	saudi!
Addictions?	shawermas
Do you speak another language?	pig latin!
Have a favorite quote?	yup
Do you have a webpage?	do blogs count?
Deep Thoughts About Life and You in it
Do you live in the moment?	I try to
Do you consider yourself tolerant of others?	for the most part
Do you have any secrets?	yes
Do you hate yourself?	nope
Do you like your handwriting?	not really
Do you have any bad habits?	AHH! PROCRASTINATION
What is the compliment you get from most people?	"OOOO YOUR HAIR IS SO PERFECT"
If a movie was made about your life, what would it be called?	dunno
What's your biggest fear?	inadequacy
Can you sing?	haven't in a while...
Do you ever pretend to be someone else just to look cool?	no?
Are you a loner?	sometimes
What are your #1 priorities in life?	happiness, success
If you were another person, would you be friends with you?	fo sheezy
Are you a daredevil?	depends on how im feeling at the moment
Is there anything you fear or hate about yourself?	sometimes i don't speak up when i know i should
Are you passive or agressive?	a lil of both... prolly more passive though
Do you have a journal?	yes
What is your greatest strength and weakness?	strength: i think im pretty open minded; weakness: im kinda shy
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?	nothing big really
Do you think you are emotionally strong?	when i need to be...
Is there anything you regret doing/not doing in life?	being mean to my parents when i was a kid
Do you think life has been good so far?	sure, could have been a LOT worse
What is the most important lesson you've learned from life?	Be respectful of others
What do you like the most about your body?	my hair!
And least?	my nose
Do you think you are good looking?	mmm so so
Are you confident?	not really :-(
What is the fictional character you are most like?	Aladdin!
Are you perceived wrongly?	sometimes
Do You...
Smoke?	hookah
Do drugs?	no
Read the newspaper?	yep
Pray?	yep
Go to church?	sometimes
Talk to strangers who IM you?	not really anymore
Sleep with stuffed animals?	nope... i just use 2 pillows
Take walks in the rain?	when i dont have an umbrella...
Talk to people even though you hate them?	not really
Drive?	when im in saudi
Like to drive fast?	oh yes
Would or Have You Ever?
Liked your voice?	nope
Hurt yourself?	yeah
Been out of the country?	i live out of the country!
Eaten something that made other people sick?	lol spiders!
Been in love?	dunno
Done drugs?	nope
Gone skinny dipping?	dont think so...
Had a medical emergency?	yes
Had surgery?	yes
Ran away from home?	nope
Played strip poker?	um, no
Gotten beaten up?	sorta
Beaten someone up?	nope
Been picked on?	of course
Been on stage?	yup
Slept outdoors?	mos def
Thought about suicide?	not seriously
Pulled an all nighter?	yes
If yes, what is your record?	just 1, im a wuss
Gone one day without food?	yup
Talked on the phone all night?	nahh
Slept together with the opposite sex w/o actually having sex?	yup
Slept all day?	actually, i dont think i have
Killed someone?	no!
Made out with a stranger?	nah
Had sex with a stranger?	nah
Thought you're going crazy?	sometimes
Kissed the same sex?	it was accidental!
Done anything sexual with the same sex?	no
Been betrayed?	mmm hmm
Had a dream that came true?	yeah
Broken the law?	yes
Met a famous person?	yup
Have you ever killed an animal by accident?	i think so :-(
On purpose?	only bugs...
Told a secret you swore you wouldn't tell?	yes :-( accidentally
Stolen anything?	when i was a kid
Been on radio/tv?	yeah
Been in a mosh-pit?	yup
Had a nervous breakdown?	i dont think so
Bungee jumped?	no, but i want to!
Had a dream that kept coming back?	naw
Beliefs
Belive in life on other planets?	mos def
Miracles?	yeah
Astrology?	nah
Magic?	like fireballs and stuff?? naw
God?	yup
Satan?	not as a single being, more like "temptation" in general
Santa?	duhhh where else would the presents come from???
Ghosts?	i guess
Luck?	yup
Love at first sight?	nope
Yin and yang (that good cant exist w/o bad)?	sure
Witches?	nope
Easter bunny?	nah
Believe its possible to remain faithful forever?	yup
Believe theres a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow?	ummmmmm
Do you wish on stars?	i have before
Deep Theological Questions
Do you believe in the traditional view of Heaven and Hell?	kind of
Do you think God has a gender?	i always imagined him as man... its not really important though
Do you believe in organized religion?	sure
Where do you think we go when we die?	heaven?
Friends
Do you have any gay/lesbian friends?	yeah
Who is your best friend?	i dont have any single best friend
Who's the one person that knows most about you?	hmmmm maybe Tyler, or one of the Bundus
What's the best advice that anyone has ever given to you?	"DUUUCK!"
Your favourite inside joke?	HEY SEXY
Thing you're picked on most about?	the perfect symmetry of my hair
Who's your longest known friend?	hmm probably Muayyed
Newest?	can't remember
Shyest?	Mark
Funniest?	V
Sweetest?	Monica's pretty sweet ;-)
Closest?	I have too many close friends
Weirdest?	hmm its always my friends who think I'M weird
Smartest?	Omair
Ditziest?	Lindsay
Friends you miss being close to the most?	Everyone from Saudi!
Last person you talked to online?	Sexy
Who do you talk to most online?	Probably Sexy
Who are you on the phone with most?	Probably Sexy... or Tyler
Who do you trust most?	myself
Who listens to your problems?	mission problems? Tyler
Who do you fight most with?	hmm i don't get in that many fights with my friends
Who's the nicest?	jamese
Who's the most outgoing?	Hammad
Who's the best singer?	MUAYYED "There's a lady who's sure, all that glitters is gold...."
Who's on your shit-list?	don't got one
Have you ever thought of having sex with a friend?	not for reals
Who's your second family?	My uncle's fam in Gizzarland
Do you always feel understood?	nah
Who's the loudest friend?	probably Tyler
Do you trust others easily?	too easily
Who's house were you last at?	Lufthansa Airbus A300
Name one person who's arms you feel safe in:	my parents'?
Do your friends know you?	I would say so
Friend that lives farthest away:	Most of my friends, whenever I'm in Saudi :-(
Love and All That
Do you consider love a mistake?	no way
What do you find romantic?	expressing your feelings
Turn-on?	cleanliness
Turn-off?	excessive body hair! Ahhhhh!
First kiss?	I dunno, when I was like 5
If someone u had no interest in had interest in dating u how would u feel?	flattered, but thats all
Do you prefer knowing someone before dating them or going	ummmmmmmm yes.
Have u ever wished it was more socially acceptable 4 a girl 2 ask a guy out	HECK YEAH
Have you ever been romantically attracted to someone physically unattractiv	yup
Do you think the opposite sex finds you good looking?	in my nerd glasses, lol
What is best about the opposite sex?	They know what they want... usually
What is the worst thing about the opposite sex?	Girls' emotions can change quickly
What's the last present someone gave you?	can't remember
Are you in love?	i love everybody!
Do you consider your significant other hot?	nunya beezwax
Who Was the Last Person...
That haunted you?	haunted me? what?
You wanted to kill?	kill? im not a psychopath
That you laughed at?	My brother Mikey
That laughed at you?	My brother Mikey
That turned you on?	My brother Mikey ...wait what?
You went shopping with?	Monica, before I left Gizzarland
That broke your heart?	shes not worth mentioning
To disappoint you?	probably me
To ask you out?	lol, Sandra Knight!
To make you cry?	I haven't cried in a while
To brighten up your day?	probably Monica :-)
That you thought about?	Jay Leno, cause hes on TV
You saw a movie with?	myself
You talked to on the phone?	Monica, when I was on the plane
You talked to through IM/ICQ?	Sexy Omair
You saw?	My Moms
You lost?	My Grandpa
Right This Moment...
Are you going out?	naw
Will it be with your significant other?	---
Or some random person?	---
What are you wearing right now?	my PJs
Body part you're touching right now:	my ear
What are you worried about right now?	that I won't get to see the mavs play the suns :-(
What book are you reading?	Non
What's on your mousepad?	Don't got one
Use 5 words to describe how you're feeling:	fat, lazy, happy, worried, relaxed
Are you bored?	not really
Are you tired?	not really
Are you talking to anyone online?	nope
Are you talking to anyone on the phone?	nope
Are you lonely or content?	content off the nizzle
Are you listening to music?	watching a music video...
Create a Survey Search Surveys Go to bzoink!

AHH MOTHERLAND!!

So I'm back in Saudi!

For some reason, schools in Texas seem to get out way earlier than every other school in the civilized world, the final result being me chillin here all alone for about a month while my friends slave away taking final exams. This was actually one of the few school breaks where I haven't been itching to get back home and away from school. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Saudi and everything, but its just not the same without the G-Unit being here.

I think I could have used at least another extra week or two in Gizzarland before coming back here. It's the NBA playoffs, and the Mavs are in the semifinals, and being in Saudi so far away from my Mavericks makes it hard to watch them and celebrate my newfound love of basketball.
Also, I miss a lot of the people from SMU! I kinda miss going to TACO BELL with the guys, making sexy music with Sexy, and I REALLY miss watching movies with a certain sheep!

Ah well, what can I do except sit on my ass and get FAT. The temptation to gorge on shawermas and zatar is great, and I fear for my belly. Maybe I should start getting back in the gym and in the pool maybe? Hmmmm

P.S. I'll be posting mad pics from here on my blog so stay tuned.

Ode to Ducks

Uh oh... bust out the party hats, it's time for Chris to be a whiny biyatch again!!


Ever since moving into my new dorm, I've been pretty happy. They halls are quiet for the most part, I have my privacy, and the people are nice. Yes, it's been sweet. Except for one thing...

I live next to a guy who, when I first met him, seemed pretty cool. He was a fratboy, but the first impression he gave me let me overlook that little fact. Anyways, about two weeks into the semester, I awoke suddenly in the night. Loud, squeaky noises had filled my room. Now at first, me, being unaccostomed to the sounds of human college-student fornication, was confused as to what could be causing such a ruckus. Was there a family of mice living in the walls? Or maybe even someone writing on a chalkboard with new chalk? Nah, it couldn't be... BECAUSE NEITHER CHALKBOARDS NOR MICE MOAN AND GROAN!!! So I struck me that either my neighbors were jumping on their bed, or just plain DOING THE NASTY.

Now, apparently, getting down and dirty is no special occasion for my neighbors, unless that is, they consider every other day to be special. I mean seriously, i'm glad you guys are all for celebrating your love and all, but geez, every think of maybe GOING OUT TO DINNER OR SOMETHING? Last week, I swear, I think I heard porno music in there!

Also, there's lies the interesting fact that his girlfriend is in half of my classes. Every time they do it like they do on the discovery channel, the next day she always comes into class late, tired, and in dressed in her PJ's... so i'm always thinking "hmm I wonder what YOU were doing last night......"

If they don't stop their copious-copulation soon, maybe I should set up a webcam and start a porno site, so at least some good can come from their exSEXive noise and my lack of sleep. Then I can become a porn mogul, and quit school forever!

THIS is badass.

Should Chris Grow a Moustache?

Moustaches are just plain sexy. Should I grow a moustache? I wonder what i'd look like...... just imagine the possibilities!






SOUL POWER!




"YOU... SHALL NOT...PASS!!!"

We're discussing gay marriage in my American Dream Rhetoric class, and once again, I'm the only male who seems to be a hippie liberal. Anyways, here's part of the paper i'm currently writing if you care at all...

Throughout the 18th century, the land that would become known as the United States of America faced fierce oppression from the ruling British government, which had introduced legislation limiting the freedoms of those people residing in the American territory. The unfair practices of the British government eventually lead to the declaration of independence of the Americans from the British, on the grounds that “all men are created equal,” and thus deserve fair and equal treatment (Wikipedia). By basing their own freedom on the principle of equality for all, I believe that hypocrisy lies in the fact that Americans would deny the freedom of matrimony to “men” according to their sexual orientation. The rights provided to any average American should be extended to include all Americans considered “men,” regardless of race, religion, and more specifically, sexual preference. Like the average heterosexual American is capable of love with a woman, homosexuals too can experience love, even if that love happens to reside with a member of the same sex. Because of this, it seems unjust that homosexual couples are forbid the same opportunities to celebrate this love through marriage or civil unions, and enjoy the benefits provided to married same-sex couples as well.

I haven't updated my blog in a while. The truth is, I've tried a couple times to write an update, but I simply couldn't think of anything worth mentioning. And by this, I mean that I couldn't find anything substantial to "whine" about or be pissed at. If you look back at a lot of my posts, you'll see that a large portion of them are about my unsatisfaction with certain aspects of my life. Well, the fact of the matter is, that I haven't been able to update because I'm actually pretty happy right now.

Now, while I do still have my share of problems, and my life is a little hectic right now (parents coming in a week, finalizing summer plans, class registration, etc.), I just haven't seemed to mind all the stupid little details of my life. I'm not exactly sure why I've been in such a good mood lately. The weather's been beautiful, I'll get to see my family for the first time since Christmas soon, and i've been trying harder in school, all of which have me looking forward to every next day, rather than dwelling on how my neighbors breed like "ducks" (I swear, they were playing porno music last time), or how the washing machines suck away all my money. So, if you're planning to rob me at gunpoint, borrow money without the intention of paying me back, or God forbid, mess up my perfectly-gelled symmetric hair, you'd better do it sometime soon, while I'm still in this uncanny state of euphoria and won't mind.

Works cited
Reyes, Christoph. My Life. 13 April 2005.

CONSPIRACY THEORY

Right now, my bedsheets smell like freaking ass, because the stupid dryers in the basement didn't dry them fully. This pisses me off, because it forces me to spend another dollar out of my already-depleted flex-dollar account, meaning that another dollar which I would have happily spent on smoothies, subway, chik-fil-a, or stromboli's pizza will now have to go towards drying my sheets for a second time, because the inept dryers are incapable of doing their jobs right the first time.

In my opinion, this is all part of a massive conspiracy by SMU. I believe that SMU rigs their dryers to not dry fully, so that they can suck every last dollar out of the pockets of the unsuspecting students. SMU then takes this money, and launders it through it's webring of crack/cocaine dealers, who then spread out all over the country selling drugs for a profit and then giving all this money back to SMU in the form of "donations" and then have park benches named after them, leaving no evidence whatsoever. It's brilliant.

Also, there's the fact that in my dorm of over 380 students, SMU only provides 5 washing machines for the entire dorm. While it may seem mundane at first, this is actually key to SMU's conspiracy of world domination. You see, by providing only 5 machines, SMU forces each student to fight every other student over washing machine privelidges. In this Darwinian style of competition, each student is forced to eliminate their competition using superior mental and physical talent. With all of the "weaker" students gone, SMU will contain only the finest and most superior mental and physically honed students, and will thrust them instantly to the top of the upper echelon of Universities worldwide.

With its highly developed superhuman student body, SMU students will be sought by every major company to serve as board members, and every nation around the world will want only SMU-educated students to serve as their leaders and members of parliament. By weaving its alumni into an intricate web over all of the world's most powerful nations and financial corporations, SMU will be posed to completely take over the world, and control every aspect of our lives.

So, every time you try to do laundry, and there are no machines available, or you drag your clothes out of the dryer, and they're only HALF dry, I want you to think about why this is, and who's behind it. If you value your freedom, and all laundry that is clean and good-smelling, then you'll wash your clothes elsewhere!!


VIVA LA RESISTANCE!


tunes: Lights by Journey
feeling: tired again

My life's been sooooo crazy lately. This week, i've had 4 tests, a paper, and two pop quizzes to deal with, and it's taken a toll on my sleep-life. I've been up till at least 3AM almost every night this week studying for my tests, and i've been stressssssed. Also, since my family's overseas, i've had to take care of all the "business" here in Dallas that they can't deal with. Bah, in essence, this IS my hell week. Plus, the Pope is not well, and that's sad too :-(

Anyways, as bad as this week has been, I'm happy. The main reason for this being that I had a GREAT Thursday night.......... I knew it was coming, so it made the hell week well worth it.

Saw a movie today, "Guess Who". It was ok I guess, but in a nut shell, it was just another one of those comedies about how people from different backgrounds can't get along, and the hilarity that ensues, blah blah blah.

We're also doing gay marriage this week in Rhetoric, and I look forward to getting jumped in the parking lot by conservative Texans for being a hippie liberal. But other than that, that's pretty much all that's new in my life.

My Life

This week is sure to suck... Tests in EE, Calc2, Physics, and Computer Science, and a paper on Violence in America for Rhetoric, making this the hardest week i've ever had the pleasure of experiencing at SMU! So sorry if the blog's not updated with anything cool in the next week (if at all). Later haters!

a survey... ON STEROIDS!!

I was really bored, so I filled out this long-ass survey. Oy vey. Anyways, if you care at all about my favorite flavor of ice cream, or every little thing i've done in the last 24 hours, then this is the post for you!

1) What is your name? : Chris
2) Your Age? : 18
3) Star Sign? : VIRGO
4) Parent(s) name(s)? : Oscar and Maria
5) Pet(s) names?: I have a turtle, but he doesn't have a name
6) Road name? : whats a road name?
7) Village / Town? : Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
8) How many siblings do you have and what are their names and ages? : 1 sis, Angelica, and 2 bros, Oliver and Michael
19) Have you always lived in your current house? nope
10) What hospital were you born in? : some place called Medical City in Dallas
11) Who is your best friend? : I don't believe in having exactly one best friend
12) Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend? : not currently

Appearance + stuff:
1) Your hair color? : jet black
2) Your eye color? : brown
3) Height? : 5 feet, 7 inches, and a little bit
4) Weight? : it changes a lot, but between 150 and 155 lbs
5) Shoe size? : 10.5
6) Your best feature: I dunno, you tell me
7) Your worst feature?: I can be shy as a mofo
8) Feature that everybody comments on? The perfect symmetry of my hair
9) Clothes you are most likely to be seen wearing? Jeans...
10) Glasses or contacts? Both, but I wear my contacts more often
11) Piercings? : nope
12) Tattoos? : nope
13) What perfume/aftershave do you wear? Coolwater or Coolwater Deep by Davidoff
14) Which celebrity have you been compared to?: I can't remember any

Love Stuff:
1) Do you believe in love? : most of the time
2) Soul mates? : I believe in compatibility... not really in destined soulmates though
3) Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend/crush? : I've got one crush... maybe its you! :-)
4) If so ?what is their name? : wouldn't you like to know...
5) How many relationships have you been in? 2
6) Have you ever been in love? : im not really sure that I've even experienced love before
7) At what age did you lose your virginity? : an age I haven't reached yet...
8) What do you first notice about the opposite sex? : it's hard to notice someone's personality before anything else... so the way it goes for me is eyes, smile, then personality
10) What do you look for in a boyfriend/girlfriend? : someone who's open minded, and beautiful both on the inside and outside.
13) How old were you when you had your first real kiss? : I dunno like 5 years old
14) What is the best type of kiss? : the type that means something...
15) What turns you on? : ummm I'll get back to you on that one, you perverted survey you
16) Where do you want to get married? : LAS VEGAS! Haha, naw I dunno, I haven't really thought that far ahead.

In the last 24 hours have you...?
1) Eaten? : yes
2) Cried? : via yawning...
3) Met someone new? : yea
4) Bought something? : yup
5) Told someone you loved them? : nope
6) Had a serious talk with someone? : yep
7) Missed someone? : I miss lots of people 24/7
8) Hugged someone? : nope
9) Argued with someone? : I don't think so...
10) Told a lie? Yeah... just a lil one though :-)

Random:
1) What's in your mouth? : Chewing gum
2) In your head? At the moment? Well, remember that crush I have......?
3) What do you wish for?: Not to sound like a supermodel or anything, but I wish for world peace... and for a mini cooper!
3) What's next to you? My guitar
4) Listening to? : Two Points for Honesty by Guster
6) What do you want from life?: Satisfaction... and a mini cooper would be nice
7) Who are you talking to? : a few friends on AIM
8) Who do you miss that you haven't seen in a long time?: my family... and my G Tyler from Saudi!
9) Are you happy with your life? : sometimes... I try though
10) Would you change anything from your past?: nothing worth mentioning

Do you... ?
1) Believe in psychics? : yes
2) Believe in heaven? : yes
3) Believe in God? yes
4) Attend church? : sometimes
5) Have a job? : professional procrastinator and afternoon nap taker!
6) Smoke? : no
7) Drink? : not regularly
8) Take drugs? : NO
9) Have a role model? Not one specific person
10) Regret anything you have done in the past week? : not studying harder for my Computer Science quiz

Favorites:
1) Favorite colors? : Most shades of blue.
2) Favorite place to be?: Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
3) Favorite season? : Spring
4) Favorite animal? : Rabbits
5) Favorite item of clothing? Any of my 4 pairs of jeans
6) Favorite song? That's a really tough question!
7) Favorite film? : The Boondock Saints, or Disney's ALADDIN
8) Favorite food? : Middle Eastern... or TACO BELL!
9) Favorite subject at school? : Right now, my English class
10) Favorite past time? : playing the guitar
11) Favorite object? : my guitar
12) Favorite actor/actress? : Can't think of one in particular
13) Favorite TV show? : I don't watch much TV other than Mavs, games, but SCRUBS is a badass show.
14) Favorite sport? : Squash
15) Favorite flavor ice cream? : Cookie dough

Lasts:
1) What was the last thing you ate?: STALE-ass popcorn
2) The last thing you said out loud (not on MSN)?: "bullshit"
3) Last person you phoned?: Tyler, up in CANADA!
4) Last time you cried? : I can't remember
5) Last time you got drunk?: In the summer
6) Last promise you made?: I don't remember...
7) Last time you said 'I love you?and meant it?: Does it count when it's to your parents?
8) Last time you thought about sex?: please... I'm a guy
9) Last person you kissed?: Probably my mom, when I left from Christmas break... damn that's a long time!
10) Last film you watched?: My Sassy Girl
11) Last thing you bought?: Foooood at La Madeleine
12) Party you went to?: Barties are stubid
13) Person you danced with? : I can't remember

Choices:
1) Hugs or kisses? : hugs, cause they can be used in so many ways
2) Summer or winter? : Summer, for shizzle
3) Day or night? : either/or
4) Early or late? : late
5) Stay in or go out? : I'm down with either
6) Flowers or chocolates? : mmmm chocolate!
7) Christmas or birthday? : Christmas, hands down

More random questions...
1) What is your best talent? : I try to be sensible...
2) What is your worst habit? : AHHH! PROCRASTINATION
3) Best thing about your personality? : I don't know... YOU TELL ME!
4) Worst thing about your personality? : That sometimes I'm not outspoken enough
5) Proudest achievement? : making the honor role at Taft!
6) Embarrassing moment? : One time time in 4th grade I farted during story time... yeah that was pretty embarrasing
7) Five things you wish you were able to do but can't?: play the guitar better, speak Arabic, repay my parents for everything, make all the right decisions, think of a fifth thing to say
8) Describe yourself in one sentence? I try to be open minded, responsible, and optimistic... sometimes a little too hard.
9) Where do you want to be in 5 years time?: Done with grad school and working.
10) Where do you want to be in 10 years time? Married and making money? Ahhhh I don't really think that far ahead.
11) What is the next Cd you hope to buy? BUY??? CDs??? Nonono... STEAL and MP3s!!!
12) What is the next movie you hope to go and see?: The Pacifier hahaha jk, I dunno maybe something foreign for a change?

A Long Post

The entire situation surrounding Terri Schiavo and her feeding tube is rocking the nation and sending us into debate. For those of you who don't know, Terry Schiavo is a brain damaged American woman from Florida, who has suffered severe brain damage since becoming the victim of a severe heart attack. Apparently, for a while now, her husband has been trying to have the tube which keeps her alive removed, allowing her to finally rest in peace, and escape the complications of her life. Much of her family, however, does not want this tube removed, and wants Terri to keep living. On March 18, the tube was removed for the third and most likely final time. Since then, numerous appeals by Terri's family have been denied by the court, and for the time being, it looks like the tube will remain disconnected. It's a pretty sad story.

The whole case of Terri Schiavo brings up all kinds of issues, like euthenasia, legal guardianship, and such, all of which have been debated, but not quite as hotly as they're being debated right now. We talked about euthenasia last year in my Ethics class, that's why i'm writing about this now. Now, i'm not gonna talk about Democrats and Republicans and what each is arguing for and all that crap. Personally, i'm not entirely sure myself whether I believe the tube should be in or out. The issue being debated is, but shouldn't be, about whether the husband or the family has guardianship over Terri. What everybody should be asking themselves is whether they themselves believe she should die.

Obviously, without bringing religion in to the matter, the only person who has the right to decide whether someone lives or dies is that person him or herself. But when you have a situation like this, the issue becomes really complicated. At what point should it be left up to someone else to decide the fate of another person? The big question to answer here is "at what point does "life" end and "being a vegetable" begin? The current popular standard seems to be that life ends at the point at which a human being is no longer an autonomous being, and is uncabale of acting for him or herself and making decisions. There are extremists out there who believe that it is not the mind which defines life, but the body, and that as long as a body is functioning, that body is alive. But for now the standard seems to be fixed upon the state of the mind. There's also the question of even with MRIs and brainscans, can we really be absolutely sure that there's absolutely nothing going on in Terri's head?

Obviously, different people will have many different answers and solutions to this issue, as everyone has different views on religion, life and death, and all that good stuff. Like I said before, it's a touchy issue, and I'm not entirely sure myself about what I think. But I DO think that this is an important issue and something we should all be asking ourselves about, whether we've been in Ethics classes like me or not.



This post was more of an Op/Ed entry and less of a blog, and I apologize for that. If you don't like it, grow a freaking heart and read it again. I'll do a real update later.

Pimp My Ride!

In The American Dream, my Rhetoric II class, we talk about all kinds of aspects in American life, Violence, Gay Marriage, etc... Anyways, right before Spring Break, we were talking about SUVs and how they play such a huge role in modern American life. To end the whole unit, we had to write this paper on SUVs and whether we agreed with the whole proliferation of SUVs and how they are used today. Well to kick off the whole paper, we had a class discussion on the whole topic, and I swear, I was the only guy in my class who was against them! I dunno if its just because we're in Texas, where bigger is better, and we all want to be like Toby Keith and rough it out or whatever, but geez. I can deal with the cowboy boots, I can even deal with the huge hats. But YOU DON'T NEED A HUGE POLLUTION-MOBILE TO BE A COWBOY... especially if you live in the suburbs of Dallas.

Now, my family owns an SUV. I know, I know i'm a hypocrite. My parents brought it cause it was the only car big enough to fit a family of six, and fit in our garage at the same time. But if its any consolation, we barely drive it due to the fact that my family is overseas 11 months of the year. Even though my dad says its mine if I want it, I still don't touch it. It's actually one of the main reasons I'm 18 and still putting off getting my driver's license.

So, to sum up, if you really want to be a cowboy, instead of buying an SUV, go out and buy a mini cooper (a sweet ride). Then take the extra $12,000 you'll save and buy some chaps, a lasso, and a DVD of Walker, Texas Ranger.

YEE HAW!


P.S.: Watch this for a good time: http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/end.php

One Filipino and 4 Pakis in one house.... it's a sitcom waiting to happen!

R.I.P.

My sweet blog layout got deleted, and until I get it up again, this will just have to do... Don't worry though, it won't be long.

P.S. I'm on spring break and I'm having a blast. PEACE!

Call Ended

I swear, the guy above me must own a rabbit farm or SOMETHING, because I hear loud, squeaky noises seriously like every other day....

I'm seriously contemplating turning off my mobile. Every day I walk around campus, and see that over half the people walking around are all talking on their mobile phones, talking about where the frat party is tonight, or how this girl was so drunk last night that she got with that guy. When I walk around, especially on days like today, I try to take in all the sights and sounds of springtime, the sun, the leaves coming back to the trees, etc. (Spring IS the most beautiful season after all). Anyways, I talk a lot of smack about cellphones, and how they are unnecessary and make you too accessible. I usually try to only use my phone to check the news or sports scores, but its starting to seem like my phone is starting to play a bigger and bigger role in my everyday life. This weekend, one of my friends saw me walking with my cellphone and was like "wow, you're always on your phone." At first I thought "no way...." but then I came to realize that it was true, which makes me a bigtime mondo hypocrite. So as of now I am CUTTING BACK. They should make a patch for this kind of thing.... Sooo, if you're one of the people who I talk to incessantly over the airwaves, please try not to call me unless it's REALLY important.... unless you want to talk about the frat party or the person that's hooking up with your barber's sister's boyfriend's car mechanic... then its ok. :-D

Currently Listening To: Sir Duke by Stevie Wonder
Feeling Like: Dazed and Confused

WOWZ LOOK AT ALL THE LADIES!... ER, BOYS.... LADYBOYS @_@ 

Wow that sure is a hott chick!! Except that she's a guy.... hahahaha well what can I say except that that's Thai culture for you. In Thailand they're called "Ladyboys." Just look how big the grin is on my face hahaha!!

more from saudi... ducks in the desert!

I have a feeling that for the next week I will be walking around in kind of a daze

Just get me out of here already

Shizzle

Today was fun... saw a movie then went to Sushiyama, a pretty authentic Japanese restaurant. Met some new people today, including someone who finally knew what a shawarma was. I felt like a fool at the restaurant though, cause everyone knew all this stuff about Japan and Japanese food and I was like this total wannabe. I learned part of "I Believe" by Shin Seung Hoon on my guitar, so that's pretty cool too.

I've been kind of stressed the last few weeks with school and "other matters." The two weeks after spring break are gonna be crazy too, so I guess all I can do is live it up during spring break. Starting next Friday, the Dhahran bundus will be reunited once again, and we're all gonna road trip it to a few random ass places, but I think its gonna be a lot of fun, so I'm really looking forward to it. I'll be sure to post pics from Spring Break and more from Saudi up here later.

The Mavs lost today... I don't really seem to care though. Maybe I'm becoming desensitized... Heh, looks like extends beyond American Airlines center after all.

Feeling Like: Always Tired
Currently Listening To: Aaja Ni Aaja in da mix by DJ DarknDesi

My street in Saudi... not what you really expected huh? 

Mafi Mushkila!!

I love Saudi Arabia. I consider it my home. Although I'm not technically from there, I always tell everyone that I am. Growing up in that particular area of the world, I have had more than my share of confrontations with anti-western Saudis. While the majority of Saudis embrace western and American culture and people, there are definately those hardliners who don't want Americans there; i've even seen little kids who have no idea why they're angry but talk craaazy smack about Americans anyways.

If you walked up to some random person and asked them why Arabs are so angry with America, chances are they wouldn't be able to tell you exactly why, the reasons for this being that there are many of us who fail to view many events from any point of view other than that presented in the news. Arabs in general are not a bunch of crazy jihaders running around causing chaos wherever they go. They are civilized people just like any average person in any other part of the world with families and dreams, and also like you and me, they are able to feel anger. I believe that the reason that some Saudis are so angry lies within the state of their own country. Saudi Arabia is one of the few countries that is still ruled by an absolute monarchy, with a (now defacto) ruler who has the final say in all matters. Saudi Arabia is also one of the wealthiest nations in the world, as it sits on top of one-fourth of all known oil in the world. Unfortunately for the Saudi people, the much of the massive revenues generated by oil income never reach the public. Much of the money is kept by the royal family or members of the government, who enjoy a lavish lifestyles. Of the money that does go into the country, the majority of it is spent on beautifying the country, planting trees and whatnot rather than given to the people, and thus, Saudi Arabia is seen as a "third world" country.

So what exactly does this have to do with America? Well, the government is so intent on maintaining its oil status that it hires well-educated expatriate workers from the U.S. and other countries help do this. By doing so, the government gives away much needed jobs from the Saudi people, keeping them from earning the money they would need to provide decent lifestyles for their families. This rift is only further magnified by a strong US support of the Saudi policy. So, we have seven out of ten workers in Saudi is foreign... 25% of the population is unemployed... NO WONDER THEY'RE PISSED! It is this anger that leads to some of the crazy stuff we see on the news every day. When I see that another confrontation between Westerners and Arabs has taken place, regardless of the location, it makes me sad. Because its not as if the Americans are coming over to Saudi Arabia purely to take the jobs of the Saudi people and keep them oppresssed. And don't they to have the right to pursue careers which would support their families?

Personally I don't believe either side is right or wrong. While Americans do have the right to work wherever and whenever to support their families, this right cannot be denied to Saudis as well. Also, while the Saudis are understandably angry with the Americans, and the Americans are angry with the Saudis for attacking them, I don't believe either side is right by bringing violence into the mix. Not a single human life is worth sacrificing just because you can't find it within yourselves to coexist and compromise with one another, and anyone who believes that is a friggin dumbass. So what is a reasonable solution to this little problem? Honestly, I don't really know. Last month, Saudi Arabia made a big step towards democracy by holding its first municipal elections, where half the members of a future council will be elected by the public. THIS IS HUGE!!! While the monarchy will probably hold some kind of majority rule, this is definately a step in the right direction, and opens the doors to bigger and better reforms.




Listening to: Norah Jones
Feeling Like: A tired mofo

NERD ALERT

I'm "not nerdy, but definately not hip." Haha, what are you??

Mad props to Jackie cause I stole this from her blog.
Or shall I say JACKED from JACKIE. HAHA...............

COMMENTS BACK UP

I re-enabled comments on my blog, cause I'm cool like that.

The Legend of the G-Unit

Once upon a time, there were these two sweet kids who lived in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. One of them was French/Canadian but we won't hold that against him here. Both of them kicked so much ass, but neither one of them was able to DO THE IMPOSSIBLE. They were in the band together, one of them played the trumpet and one played the clarinet. But both had extreme distaste for the flapping wings of the band teacher. These two kids were friends while going to school in saudi, but were not quite the homedawgs they are today. Then they both graduated and went off to boarding school. Little did they both know that the G-Unit would soon be formed, and that it would be the bomb.

While in boarding school, each of these guys went their separate ways. One of them went back to Canada, to mountie school to become French. The other one went to Connecticut, where the leaves turn nice colors in the fall. But even though they went to two very different schools, these two guys had one very painful thing in common. THEY KEPT GETTING THIER SHIZZLE ROCKED HARDCORE. And this is no ordinary rocking. This was all out full contact destruction. To the max. Both of them were so lost without each other's guidance and eternal wisdom.

In the Spring of 2003, an alliance was formed. This alliance would be forever known as the G-UNIT, named appropriately not after the gangstas, but after the sign at the Dhahran Nursery. They also drove a CHEROKEE which was cool too. With the power of the G-UNIT, surely these two kids' childhood dreams would be fulfilled right? But NooOOOOoooo, it was not to be so. The crew struggled throughout highschool and the rocking of the shizzle continued. And it was painful.

After highschool, the G-MEN were becoming discouraged. Morale was low, supplies were becoming limited, and there was a massive defecit. In college, the dudes continued to face resistance from the jacked B-MEN. This sucked too. Maybe in the future, things will be looking up. But for now, this post will have to be cut short because the Mavs game is starting. Layta!


P.S. If you don't have any idea what this is all about, don't worry. You will soon enough when these kids are living it up in Dubai with their hot French/Canadian wives.

Survey Says....

I filled out this survey, cause I got it over the facebook. But then, they disabled mass messaging, so I couldn't send it out :-( But now here it is!

This is what you're supposed to do...and try not to be LAME and spoil the fun! Just give in. Copy (not forward) this entire e-mail and paste it into a new email. Don't forget to delete out all the other email addresses so this doesn't get impossibly long. Change all of the answers so that they apply to you. Then, send this to a whole bunch of people you know *INCLUDING* the person who sent it to you. The theory is that you will learn a lot of little known facts about your friends. It is fun and easy.


1. First Name?
Chris

2. Were you named after anyone?
St. Christopher

3. Do you wish on stars?
you cant even see stars half the time in this town

4. When did you last cry?
im a MAN… we don’t cry…………

5. Do you like your handwriting?
girls tell me its “pretty” but its just scribble

6. What is your favorite lunch meat?
turkey!

7. What is your birth date?
September 14, 1986.

What is your most embarrassing CD?
I don’t have many cds…. I steal most of my music online

9. If you were another person, would YOU be friends with you?
yea, total homies

10. Are you a daredevil?
depends on how I feel at that moment

11. Have you ever told a secret you swore not to tell?
yes, but I try not to

12. Do looks matter?
as for being friendly, definitly not, but some physical attraction is needed for that significant other

13. Do you think members of the other sex find you attractive?
Not particularly, but whatev

41. Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?
Nope… guess Gucci handbag and ugg-boots-with-miniskirts blondes aren’t really my thing – P.S. -->#41?

13. Like a girl?
yeah

14. How do you release anger?
working out, playing my guitar, loud music, venting to friends

14. Where is your second home?
Dallas, Tx

15. Do you trust others easily?
ya, sometimes too much

16. What was your favorite toy as a child?
oldschool Nintendo for sure

17. What class in high school do you think was totally stupid?
physics, but it was more the teacher than the class

18. Do you have a journal?
ya, but for my eyes only

19. Do you use sarcasm a lot?
NooOOOOoooo whats that?

22. What are your nicknames?
Reyes, Little Oliver, Camel

23. Would you bungee jump?
oh yes, but i'd rather skydive

24. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?
nope

25. Do you think that you are strong?
about average I guess

26. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
mmm… chocolate chip cookie dough

28. Shoe Size?
11

29. Red or pink?
red…

30. What is your least favorite thing about yourself?
that im usually really shy

31. Who do you miss most?
my Saudi crew and Taft bros

32. Do you want everyone you send this to, to send it back?
I hope so, its good to know lots about your friends

33. What color pants and shoes are you wearing?
im wearing blue jeans and tan burkenstocks

34. What are you listening to right now?
Graham Colton band and Amr Diab

35. Last thing you ate?
Umphrey Lee sewage!

36. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
bleu

37. What is the weather like right now?
pretty warm for this time of year

38. Last person you talked to on the phone?
my friend Varun

39. The first thing you notice about the opposite sex?
first off, eyes and smile. then personality

40. Do you like the person who sent this to you?
sure… all 3984320588 of them

42. Favorite Drink?
water, and most drinks containing caffeine

43. Favorite Sport?
squash, from back in high school days

44. Hair Color?
jet black

45. Eye Color?
brown

46. contacts?
yep
Hey where's 47.?

48. Favorite Food?
shawarmas or cheesebread from latif

49. Last Movie You Watched?
Office Space… have you seen my stapler?

50. Favorite Day Of The Year?
Christmas Day

51. Scary Movies Or Happy Endings?
Happy Endings mos def, but some scary movies are dec too

52. Summer Or Winter?
summer

53. Hugs OR Kisses?
hugs are always nice

55. What Is Your Favorite Dessert?
CHEESECAKE

56. Who Is Most Likely To Respond?
i bet hardly anyone....prove me wrong

57. Who Is Least Likely To Respond?
the random people on my friends list

58. Living Arrangements?
single on campus, I like it a lot.

59. Life of Pi
mmmm pie!

60. What's On Your Mouse Pad?
don’t have one

62. What Did You Watch Last night on TV?
the Mavericks, giving the GS Warriors an ass whupping

63. Favorite Smells?
whenever I go home, I always take a huge whiff of the way my house smells, it just smells like home

64. Favorite Sounds?
I dunno… but sometimes complete silence is nice

65. Rolling Stones or Beatles?
the Beatles, for shizzle

66. What's the farthest you've been from home?
Hawaii?

67. Do you have a special talent?
I have the super unique ability to put off work until right before its due!

thats all, feel free to add a question

Blah

Attending SMU has been a unique experience for me. It has allowed me that little peek into the lives of upper class suburban America. I don't hate rich people, but being at SMU, i've come to notice that a lot of kids are less individualistic and more inclined to spend more money so that they can fit in with everyone else. Apparently, if you're rich, there are several items which you absolutely must have and are almost standard issue.

1. An Apple iPod - We all want one, but not all of us are fortunate enough to own one. This piece of hardware runs about $250 and while decent mp3 players are out there that will cost you half the price or even less, everyone prefers to buy the iPod - even though nobody in the universe has enough songs to fill one of those bad boys up.

2. Ugg Boots - Ugg boots are what girls are wearing these days. Even though most guys hate them, chicks seem to enjoy wearing these sheep-skin-made shoes with miniskirts. If it's warm enough to wear a miniskirt, then isn't this defeating the purpose of the boot altogether? Plus, they're hella ugly.

3. Popped collars - A lot of guys seem to like popping up their collars. Other guys enjoy wearing 2 or 3 collared shirts at a time. If they're feeling especially prep, some guys even wear 2 or 3 shirts WITH popped collars (ooooooo..). To me, this is weird, cause it just wears out your clothes faster and creates more laundry for you to do. Do people like doing this because it shows that they are have so much extra money that they can afford extra laundry detergent and quarters for laundry....?

4. Gucci/Prada/Louis Vuitton handbags - I dunno about everyone else, but I walk around with my blue Jansport backpack, and that seems to do the job just fine. $25, done. There's sooo much more people could do with the extra money they could save on these handbags.... like buy real FOOD.... or Mavs ticktes, whichever works.

So yeah, if you like own any of the things above, then.... This post was totally a joke or something. And you fell for it! Haha!

Currently Listening To: Let It Be by The Beatles
Feeling Like: Catching up on sleep

I gots me a blog!

So one night I had this mondo load of work, and me being me, I did not feel like doing it until at least 1:00 AM. It hit me that I spend a good deal of my day pushing my work farther and farther into the night, while I sit aimlessly at my computer listening to music or chatting, or watching MAVS games, all of which are enormous wastes of time (Mavs not so much though). So I thought to myself "you should start a blog, so at least something good will come out of all the time you waste. " It seemed like a good idea, and the result is this here blog. Hereby named the "Procrastination Station," it will be updated for the internet's viewing pleasure whenever I have something to share.... unless I start thinking of this as work too. Then you're all screwed.


yay my first post