STORIES, STORIES

Michael Dudikoff Apart from our last names and our parents, the one thing that ties me to my siblings is Michael Dudikoff, American action star. He is one of the longest-running memes and gags in our family. I don't remember exactly how it started, but I do remember that we used to always have Michael Dudikoff films in our house growing up. It wasn't because my dad liked to watch them either. My parents weren't much into watching movies. But it was a big part of entertaining guests. When we had guests over, we had movie nights, too. And for some reason, Dudikoff movies were the only ones we had that could be played that everyone can enjoy. We ourselves only enjoyed making fun of the movies. We would predict everything that would happen, and we would always be right. You know, the whole action movie formula that never gets old (and never will). Sometimes, we would use the Dudikoff to break tension with arguments, too. "Oh yeah? Well what would Michael Dudikoff do?"...

I'm addicted to starting over. Every other month, I'm like, "you know what? I'm starting over", and then I start a new journal, or a new blog, or open a new email account, or get new friends. I had a long post planned on this subject that I imagined to be so funny that people will keep coming back to my blog, re-reading everything I've posted since I started. You know, people aside from me. Then Natalie of communitychannel beat me to it. And because she's just hilarious, I'll let her have this one. Click here to watch Nat's video . And here's an example of some of the things I started and then abandoned. For no apparent reason. Click here to read my Tumblr account . Tsk. I'm such an attention whore.

Conversation is not fun when it's all civilized and shit. You should try these conversation tactics to spice things up. In the process, you will also win ALL arguments. Click HERE to read the whole article . P.S. Don't forget to claim how right and exponentially superior you are throughout the conversation, just as a reminder (not that they don't already know). Otherwise, it's all moot. So, what conversation tactics do YOU know that you can share?

You know how sometimes, you're having a conversation with someone, and then they say something that you didn't hear, and you're either too embarrassed to ask them to repeat themselves, or maybe it was a joke that will lose its funny if it was repeated, so you just chortle in acknowledgment and pretend that you got it? I have one such chortle.

You know how you know it's summertime in Jeddah? A) Your ACs get busted. One by one. Even the new ones. Sometimes. B) It gets so hot that you forget what "normal weather" is like in Jeddah, even though "normal" really means SUPER FRIGGIN HOT.

Let's first ignore the fact that I take John Mayer's tweets seriously. I sometimes like to think that had I not been me, I would have been him. A douchebag, someone who has as many haters as he has fans, painfully mainstream but undeniably talented, leads a boring and yet exciting life. Okay, maybe I wouldn't have been him. Had I not been me, I would have been a 3-Riyal book in the bargain sales bin of a huge franchise bookstore. Anyhoo, back to his tweet. While I agree with JM that my life (and everyone else's!) would be much easier and smoother if everyone just agreed with and listened to me constantly, I don't think that's key. None of my friends agree with me on anything. I'm constantly slammed by my "circle of trust" for my taste in music and movies (famously the Backstreet Boys and the spoof "Meet The Spartans", for instance), and hanging out with my friends usually means hours of debate on seriously EVERYTHING. Now, if I took JM...