STORIES, STORIES

Anyone who, like me, learned how to swim as an adult would probably agree with me on the profundity of the whole experience. Or fine, anyone who, like me, is dramatic. I only learned how to swim about 3 or 4 years ago. My teachers - Helmy, Sharifa and Summer - had to engage me in long, dragged-out, profound discussions before I could be convinced to venture into that dark abyss also known as The Deep End of The Pool. It wasn't even that deep, if I'm honest. But my fear was. I could think of a few people to blame for this fear of water that I had forever nursed, foremost being my incompetent high school Physics teacher, who couldn't take 5 minutes to explain such important things as HOW THE HELL IS IT POSSIBLE FOR A HUMAN BEING TO TREAD WATER? (I'm not being fair to her, though, because after all, thanks to her classes, I was well-armed in college to understand the speed and velocity of projectile vomit after a night of heavy drinking, as well as how to win money ...

Let us collectively get our heads out of Apple's ass for one second. (I'm going to ignore the fanboys and girls of other OSs, because they're not as vocal about their alleged superiority, kk?) Nokia was kind enough to not only support us at GeekFest Jeddah Beta , but also to give me a phone for practically nothing. In exchange for this, I'm going to write a review, n00b-like. I got this phone: The Nokia Asha 200 It comes in white and black; I would've liked the white one, but pink works. Pink makes it less likely to get jacked by my brothers. I'm a big fan of the qwerty keypad, that's a plus. It's also very light, not bulky at all, and it feels sturdy. Just like most everyone else (so shut up already), I started my cellphone-owning path with a Nokia - I've owned at least 9 of them since 2000. I'm not very careful about handling my cellphones, and my Nokia phones have always survived my rough-housing. I don't see the Asha 200 ...

I'm that person who only starts doing something long after it was cool. That makes me either a Reverse Hipster, or an Early Adopter Hipster. Amirite? I got to the Instagram party late, but pretty timely, too, because for my first few photos, I got GeekFest Jeddah Beta stuff. My very first photo from my new phone was of our UNorganizers game-changer meeting. Khayra, Omair , and Squeek are the people who made this event happen. Haphazardly, yes, BUT HAPPEN IT DID. Last-minute IKEA shopping with Geekling Sara Grace for the event. Night before GeekFest Jeddah Beta, we had a little touch-base meeting with the Geeklings and UNorganizers. It was mostly an argument about gaming between the boys. Clockwise from 12:00 is Tareq, Hassan , Hakeem , Khayra , Omair, my seat, and Faisal.  GeekFest Jeddah Beta officially started 5pm at Tashkeil. Souma , the event's official photographer, took this photo of me. Testing the Twit...

I hate this All-or-Nothing attitude. I especially hate it when it comes from people who can do fuck-all for themselves. For instance, according to our esteemed armchair political experts who have such strong comments on all social networks regarding any popular cause, there is no point in supporting a cause (take for instance the ongoing problems in Syria, or the Earth Hour), if you don't put all your time, money and effort on it. You are sipping coffee in your comfortable room? HOW DARE YOU. There are people dying. You want to turn off your lights for one hour to spread awareness? YOU ARE STUPID. If you want to save earth, get off your laptop, quit your job, cut all relationships with everyone around you, and, like, SAVE EARTH. Here's a personal favorite: You want to get fit? What's the point in working out every day and cutting out meat from your diet when you smoke? ALL OR NOTHING. Whatever happened to "do what you can"? You know? //** END RA...

A Glossary: The Essentials Geeks People who go well above and beyond the normal way of pursuing and seeking all information about the things they are interested in. Not to be confused with someone who merely likes or shows interest in something. How to tell the difference? Read on. Geeksperts Geeks don't just "like" something. You can ask them anything about their interests, and they'd be able to answer you. Like unsung experts. GeekFest An event where geeky people, who probably already know each other online, can meet up with each other IRL, talk shop, find out about new technology and gadgets from Technocases, play videogames, and create things. Dubai, Beirut and Amman have already started doing this. GeekFest Jeddah And now, so has Jeddah. For the first time ever, EVER, GeekFest is in Saudi Arabia. Here's why this is awesome - this is a chance for a very specific group of people to meet like-minded individuals who understand the way their minds wor...

1) Why are people so proud about being sarcastic? Why do people say they are sarcastic when they're just unfunny? Am I missing something? I mean, like, is it a new level of sarcasm? New-age sarcasm? 2) Why is it so important to BE THE FIRST PERSON WHO LIKED SOMETHING BEFORE IT BECAME POPULAR? Do First People win cash? Coz I totally loved the internet way before everyone I know did. I can haz cash? 3) What's the point of hating something ONLY because everyone likes it? For no other reason but that. Why? "Oh, I hate The Hunger Games." "Why? Did you not like the story?" "I just hate that everyone's so into it as if it's WOW." "So you didn't like the story?" "No, it's not that. The story is fine. I just hate that everyone is all over it." "AH, YES. THAT MAKES PERFECT SENSE." (This is an example of a conversation that has never happened.) 4) Why do "peace-lovers" (people who say t...

So you didn't peg me for a comic book reader. That's alright, I didn't, either, and in fact, I never was. Sure, my brothers and I grew up on Calvin & Hobbes and Asterix, which I enjoyed, and Archie & Friends and Garfield, which I thought were both kind of meh, to be honest. But a serious comic book reader, no.  That might change, though.  After watching - and completely loving - the first 2 seasons of AMC's The Walking Dead , I quickly fell into the information-gathering-rabbithole of the internet, in search of Things About My New Favorite Show. And stumbled upon the comic books. They are INCREDIMAZEBALLS. 10 times better than the show. It's like this: take ALL the great things about the show (the writing, the graphics, the gritty stuff, the action, the characters), and then make them exponentially greater, and you have the comic books. I mean, this is the kind of shit I'd GLADLY pay for. My favorite part of the books, aside f...