STORIES, STORIES

I got into this whole fitness thing the same way I get into everything else: all out. Just ask my friends - they're the ones who have to put up with my nonstop blabbering about it. I took up running late last year. Granted, Jeddah isn't the best place to start running, me being female and all (in fact, anything easy to do in other parts of the world is almost always pretty tough in the kingdom), but that's the thing about running. Once you've made up your mind to do it, you just do it, whatever the obstacles.  I know that's the kind of vague, inspirational crap that those annoyingly fit freaks always spit out, but I understand that now, and maybe I'm toe-ing the line. I started out last year I couldn't run for 30 seconds straight without feeling like I would die. I've gone up 30 minutes now, at 7mph, and I still can't believe I can do it.  The thing I've learned about fitness is that once you get so into it, it's no longer about...

Remember how I promised to get back on the podcast and deliver ?  Well, I did. Here's our first episode for 2012 . The podcast is one of the more difficult projects I've worked on. I've had to wrestle with a lot of demons, both imagined and real, to keep it going. I question its existence most of the time, even though I enjoy it and the whole process - from the guest-hunting, the scheduling, the content-producing, the sound editing, the recording itself, the constant explaining I have to do, down to the publishing of it.  Under normal circumstances, I shouldn't even have to think about these things. Having a podcast is probably the lowest-maintenance side-project anyone can have. IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD.  Here in Jeddah, I walk on eggshells. There are any number of knives and all kinds of sharp objects hanging right above my head; I want to reach a lot of people, but I don't want to be popular. I want to talk about REAL things, but I don't...

Before you continue reading this post, I strongly suggest you familiarize yourself with Allie Brosh of Hyperbole and a Half , only one of the best people on the internet in terms of LOLs and, well, all the things, really. Done? YOU'RE WELCOME.  Now here are some snippets of my conversations with friends.  Me: "Willy-nilly" sounds like a nasty word. In any context. "He just typed code willy-nilly" Sounds like he pulled out his pipi while coding.   MS: lol "she ran around all willy-nilly."  Me: Haha she sounds like a hoe  MS: actually, gender bias makes her sound like a hoe anyway. "she ran around." how dare she run around  Me: Hahaha females are willy-nilly by default  MS: lool willy nilly. because they don't gots any willies  Me: Willy-nilly is a synonym for sans-willy. What is this troll conversation. Makes me miss ghaidaa alot. -- And my chat with Suhail: SC: Ur exam. How did it go  Me: Very ...

There are about 7 stuffed animals in my room. I keep them on the top shelf of my bookcase. They serve a purpose: I'm not often in the house (because I am a social superstar, very popular, always out and about, lots of friends and totally not foreveralone, I PROMISE YOU THIS, ASK EVERYONE *sob*), and I've got little cousins who love to come into my room and mess my shit up.  They're pretty good at putting things back, though, so sometimes, you can't even tell that the little boogers were in my room. EXCEPT FOR THE STUFFED ANIMALS. Man, they are suckers for those. It's the only way I can tell they've been in my room. All the animals are in the wrong spot.  I call it leverage.

I've been a lazy ass about the podcast lately, having all kinds of valid excuses for not devoting any time to the Production, Recording, and general Doing of it. Last week, I said to myself, I says: "If I get a sign from the universe, then I will get off my butt and record an episode WITH SO MUCH HASTE that the world's ears would ring." And then this happened. YOU GUYS!! He @nessreen -ed me!! CHRIS HARDWICK!!1! Here's why this was a sign.  1 - The Nerdist podcast is one of my favoritest bestest lovest podcasts in the world. I love comedy, and I love podcasts, and I love funny people, but most of all, I love this show. Their episodes are hilarious, fun, and introspective, and every single time I listen to their episodes, I am reminded of why I started the podcast, and how much fun we have when we record episodes.  2 - It's a reminder of how the internet has made it so much easier for me to do the things I like to do (like dir...

Friend of this blog Diya Azzony and Al Farabi will be coming out with an album soon. What's even more fascinating than listening to music is watching the creation of it. Every time I watch someone make music, I am rendered completely speechless (and that's saying a lot, considering how I'm not exactly the kind of person who ever shuts up).  One of the biggest debates that I've had with friends concerns music - specifically my taste in it. This whole business of whether or not I listen to "garbage" like pop music, how (and why?!) people think listening to indie music immediately saves them a spot in the Cool People section of life (PLEASE. NOT ALL INDIE MUSIC IS GOOD!), and how we all tend to judge and categorize the people we meet according to the kind of music they listen to. Of course, the topic of music is only a debate because, well, it's really all relative.  It doesn't matter what kind of music you listen to. Music is fascinat...

Tom Cruise is 50-something years old.  I can't stand that concrete smile on his face, the permanent lines on the sides of his mouth that keeps that grin perpetually pasted on, the one you just want to slap off. Here: He looks like he could be the godfather of all investment banker douchebags. He's a beautiful man, sure, always good-looking. Always the good guy even when he's the bad guy.  I hate him. But people in his industry talk about him with such respect for his dedication and excellence at his craft, really, HOW CAN I?  There have been (and continue to be) so many jokes about him, and save for my sister who grew up worshipping him in Top Gun (AGH, SO MANY JOKES HERE), I don't know anyone who would say that they like him. Everyone I know hates him just as much as I do.  People who work in the same field as him make fun of him, always, but only in the beginning. They always end with comments of awe and respect for this ...

I love playing Words with Friends . I wipe the floor back and forth with everyone and anyone I've ever played with, probably because I am foreveralone, but mostly because I grew up on competitive Scrabble. I've played maybe hundreds of games on this app, and  I SHIT YOU NOT AN OUNCE, I have yet to lose.  I've also made friends with some of the random people I play with, and by friends, I mean we participate in friendly banter. But by far the best conversation I've ever had on Words with Friends chat went like this: Opponent plays a super high-scoring word, worth maybe 65 points, but is still 150 points less than mine.    Me ( trying to be friendly and motivating ): Hey! Great move! That was awesome!  Opponent: Fuck you.