STORIES, STORIES

I've successfully emptied out my wardrobe. By the time I was done, I had a boxful of my fat clothes ready to be chucked out. Another victory for Team Potato Chips! Goodbye, my size 20 sweatpants. May we never meet again.

Sometimes, I take pictures I'm not entirely happy with: settings are wrong, bad exposure, composition and angle sucks, and so on. But every once in a while, one of those bad pictures look good (at least to me) when I look at them long enough. I can't imagine anyone else who would pay for this picture, except for myself. And if you really wanna get all weepy about it, Life itself is like that. You make bad decisions, you do bad things, but sometimes, they turn out alright. You know?

Before Sharifa went to Dubai last week, she and her hubby asked me if I wanted anything in particular from there that they could get for me. I promptly said "a hot Emirati dude", because that's how I was raised. Here he is, finally. Internets, Khalfan. Khalfan, internets.

I'm playing ketchup with my books! W00t! Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre First of all, that's such a kickass author name. I wish I could say the same for the actual book. While it was interestingly written in a voice that is not very common - that of a 15-year-old boy in Texas, I found it was mostly annoying. The story tells of this boy being wrongly accused of a mass murder, and how he refused to give up the one piece of evidence that would prove his innocence because he's a stupid little idiot who would rather be in death row than be embarrassed. I don't usually care much for plot when it comes to novels (and movies) as long as the story is told well, but in this instance, because I was so annoyed by this boy's stupidity, I didn't enjoy it at all. Not to say that I don't give the writer proper credit for his writing style, because I do. This novel actually got the Booker Prize in 2003. I remain unimpressed. My rating: 1 out of 5 I bought th...

I got inspired to do a little photo editing, something I'm not very open to at the moment, mostly because I don't fully understand how it works. Dee, on the other hand, she of the red hair, inspired me to "paint" MY hair red. I got her to pose for me at lunch today. 

I stole shots of The Greatest Dancer behind the scenes of our recording. Never-before-seen emotions on that face. And you first saw it here. Subscribe to The Greatest Dancer's YouTube channel here . Or Twitter . And stay ever-so-tuned for the podcast episode. *karate chop*

Ya gotta love the internet. I do sometimes wish I didn't spend that much time online, but I don't mind when I do. Here's some stuff I found: 1) I'm not much into make-up and beauty, but I follow Huda Kattan over at Huda Beauty; she posts some pretty interesting stuff. Much of my interest in make-up has to do with photography, although sometimes I do get days when I feel like primping myself up and stuff. Anyway, Huda posted this video of a guy trying to put make-up on his girl. It's cute. I bet if he was a photographer, he would have done better. <3 2) I can NOT wait to get to NYC. When I do, I'm gonna go see this Brooklyn "store"  where everything is free! People come in and take what they want, but they are also encouraged to donate whatever they're not using. Books, clothes, and all kinds of shit. I've been thinking of starting something similar to it over here in Jeddah, but I don't know if it would ever work. What you guys ...

 I had lunch with Summer. Like, literally.

I can't wait for our girls to grow up, so I can tell them all the silly things they did when they were little. Of course that also means that I would be about 50 years old then. In which case, I take that back. I CAN wait. Mikayla wouldn't let go of this tar7a , and she was all, "I'm a princess!! Look at me!!" (Yes, I left my ISO to its own devices. Again.) And Lia followed me around because at this age, she understands that when I'm carrying my camera, I am putty in her hands. Baby girls. <3 Here's more of their silliness on Sharifa's blog . And now, to clear out all that baby fever, check THIS OUT. THIS, my fat and not-fat friends, is WHAT A CUPCAKE SHOULD BE. A Cadbury egg inside a cupcake. You will notice the frosting, and remember my obsession with it . I got this image HERE . And here's how my conversation with Menelik went: Me: Omg, Menelik, u HAVE to check this out. THIS RIGHT HERE IS THE SHIT. Him: ROFLMAO! This is...

Probably one of the best birthday presents I've received (so far) was on my birthday about 3 years ago, when I got a box of books from Hattan, all the way from California. I get books all the time (and all year-round) from my friends and family, but this one was pretty special because he had gone through a lot of trouble, which I thought was supersweet, and also because I have yet to read one of those books that didn't become an instant favorite.  I've only read about 2 of them so far since, and Book 8 of this year's (FML) Reading Challenge  is the 3rd one. It makes me want to put off reading the rest of the books (I've got about 4 or 5, or 6, or maybe even 8 more left, I don't even remember now). I give this one a straight 5 out of 5. The story is about a soldier in the future, Johnnie Rico, his journey from boy to Mobile Infantry man, and the inter-planetary war that he is involved in. It touches topics such as morality in war, capital punishment, and polit...

Today, I successfully pulled myself together and away from the bag of chips I was raping while trolling the intertubes. In the process, I halted my own mutation into one huge potato chip. I therefore feel I have earned the right to brag about my best month yet (in terms of working out) - March. As you can see in this here graph, I worked my butt off, and got nothing in return. No bets won, no real weight loss, and no obvious change in my appearance. My only real reward is Bragging Rights. HUZZAH! Oh, hai! Look who's training for Squash! Wenyhoo, I don't get to take pictures of people outdoors much, so when I have the chance, I grab that shit. I'd asked Turki, who's home from the UK for spring break, to drop me off at the gym. But not before I shot him in the middle of the street. We had quite an audience, too. And then, when I got to the gym, Klaudia the trainer asks me: "Oh, you painted your hair red!" And I said, after a pause, "Yes. Yes, act...

WHO'S A GOOD GIRL?! (Besides me, that is. *flips hair*) BOOBI'S A GOOD GIRL!! Sharifa  took her cat to the vet, and I tagged along so I could be that insensitive human-aunt who took pictures of her while she was terrified. She was very well-behaved, however, that if she were human, I would've taken her shopping as a reward.   I wish I could say the same for my camera. Or myself, for that matter.

If there's one thing about Sara, it's that she's always smiling. As if she needed any help, when she came over, she had to take this picture with this stuffed pillow my cousin sent me. The resemblance is uncanny. :) Also, it makes me think of this: So, Senator! So, Janitor! So long for a while You know you're never fully dressed WITHOUT A SMILE! Haha, good times. <3

Thanks to my environmentally-friendly friends who joined me for an episode over at That Jeddah Podcast , I had a craving for some nice, yummy pizza that is not Pizza Hut.  Pizza Fusion it is. Good Shit I Ate. Also, don't forget to listen to the podcast, subscribe, and tell your friends! 

Close on the heels of my last-read book comes this ginormous piece of Fluff. I give it a 1/2 out of 5. Such is the excitement that is My Life.  Just like the last one, I got this book from Matt a couple years ago. What happened was that he had a box full of books that he wanted to get rid of, and because I am of Tiger Blood and a perpetual Winner, I volunteered to get rid of them for him. As a result, I just added about 40 or 50 books on to my already overpacked bookshelves of un-read stuff. So yes, I will be reading a lot of Matt's books. This one is about a man and his wife, both of whom deal guns and lead a generally criminal life. They unwittingly stumble upon a shipment of Geiger counters to be used in some obscure plot to set off a series of explosions in key places across the USA that would eventually blah blah blah blah I'm telling you, it's full of shit. Shit and horrible one-liners, the kind you find in Michael Dudikoff B-grade action movies. It took m...

This birthday-filled weekend. Was nuts. We had Sally's birthday lunch over at Chez Siran  where food was yummeh. I took my 50mm out to play after I found it hidden in the deep, dark recesses of my bookshelves (haha I thought I had lost them), and it was a nice change of lens. So, here. I start with a Shit We Ate  photo. Or more appropriately, Shit I Was About To Eat. (And Then Ate.) And a happy birthday to Sally ! I thought it was just me and my stupid girly hormones, but it turned out we were ALL feeling a bit nail-polishy that day. I have more pictures of this day, but I interrupt this regular program to plug the new episode of THAT JEDDAH PODCAST . Also, here's the fan page for your Liking needs. Like us, please. *whimper*

Happy birthday Aymin and Dully! I feel so old, coz I can remember these two being little boys.

I am behind in my 2011 reading challenge by at least 2 books. I blame science fiction. It takes me triple the time to read sci-fi books than regular ones, because my brain is not naturally predisposed to science. But  Iain M. Banks' "Excession"  was an awesome read. It's funny IN SPACE. I give it a 3 out of 5. It's heavy with sci-fi space shit, so if you're into that, I suggest you read this one. Started March 5, 2011 Finished April 12, 2011 (that's well over a month!) And yes, all my books look like this, regardless of the mint condition I originally acquired them in. I got this book from Matt about 2 years ago. Other books I've read so far this year HERE .

Horrid day. Thank god for the boys.  Remember, kids, when you're having a bad day, or month, or year, don't forget to remember the good. For instance, the fact that you may still take pictures. Had to rush my dad to the ER because of a temporary glitch in his system. All systems clear now. Alhamdulillah.

None of the guys could make it to tonight's hangout with Friend of This Blog:  Hning , which was weird because I'm used to having the guys around. But also, it was a nice change. No roughhousing, not much mess, and lots of girly talk. Souma even made Proper Tea. I knooowww I'm gonna have to change lenses (and cameras!) soon if I want to learn more and move on up, but for some reason, I like the limitations of my entry-level and my super slow zoom lens. It pushes me to be more creative (and more frustrated GRR). Or maybe I'm just a sissy and I'm scared of moving on to bigger, better things. Whatevs.

I love my gym. Yes, yes, because it's helping me become healthier and all that shit, but mostly because when I'm waiting for my ride, I can do so upstairs at the lounge where I can.. .. have a smoke and a nice cup of coffee. Kids, don't try this at home. Not cool.

Little girls grow up so fast. And so do their grown-up counterparts. Happy 100th post to me and Sharifa , with whom I started this 365 project! AND WE THOUGHT WE COULDN'T DO IT, but we did. Here's to 265 more days. XD

I'm not particularly fond of flowers, but I enjoy receiving little presents. Especially ones that look and smell pretty. These are flowers from someplace in Taif, I forget. They're really fragrant.

In one of my earlier posts , I talked about how my brothers and I mulled over The Cupcake Dilemma, wherein  icing is never proportionate to cupcake. This is ridiculous. There should be cupcakes that have more icing than actual cupcake; so much more icing in fact, that it should be called the Icing Cake with just a smidge of cupcake. The cupcake should DROWN IN ICING. The actual cupcake should be so little that when you bite into it, you're all "Hmm.. I detect a bit of.. cupcake. Is there cupcake in this icing?" I've been discussing this dilemma with Menelik since this morning, and like all things we discuss, it ended with the Fringe Division , and how they would react to our ideas of smothering THEM in frosting. "Agent Dunham, you must dress yourself up in cake frosting." "Agent Francis, CAKE FROSTING ON YOURSELF. FOR MY ENJOYMENT. NAO."  Incidentally, this is Agent Francis' reaction to ANYTHING. What a prude. Anyway, today being Thursday...

Tonight, I am classy. I have replaced the chips I usually stuff my face with while I sit at my computer re-refreshing my feed reader. WITH SUSHI.  There is no end to cool, interesting people one can meet in Jeddah. And funny conversations. And soda. (FMW - Fuck My Writing) For one thing, there's a lot of complaints you can make in Jeddah that fall under the First World Problems hashtag. No? "What is this! There's not enough Evian water on my table!" #firstworldproblem(in3rdworldcountry) I credit Lou .  Also, Isso's bag = <3 I wish I had something funny to say. But I got nothing except leftover tempura. #firstworldwhining

I just posted a new episode over at That Jeddah Podcast (YES, THAT ONE), the one about my friend Suhail's experience in Japan. Check it out HERE . I also did some grocery shopping with Tima. She buys Japanese products, and she said that prices went up. I didn't even know that we had these here. And then I trolled her while she bought produce.  The thing about buying groceries is that you will have to eventually make food out of them. Not my kind of party. So I just skipped the food sections and bought shit for my red hair. RED HAIR. Woot!