STORIES, STORIES

No matter what outward appearances might suggest, MTG is not an obsession of mine. The game was introduced to me by Ghaida'a about a year ago. At the time, it was one of those things we would do after gym, when trying to beat each other at squash wasn't nearly enough so we had to engage in another competitive activity. I inherited her 2011 core set when she moved to the US, and eventually, I met other MTG players at GeekFest Jeddah , played it with Ghaidaa over a Google hangout (with physical cards! *facepalm*), and then got the iPad version of the game. A natural progression, if I'm asked. Naturally, too, I got sucked in to the lore. This was inevitable; there exists so much about the MTG multiverse that may not be ignored. Last month, I got my first physical books from Squeek , because Squeek is nothing if not an enabler of geeky pursuits. And because I am nothing if not a challenge accepter and a constant prover of myself, I dove right in. It was daunting,...

I first met the internet in 1997. I was introduced to it by my friend Faheema in her father's study. It must have been Eid at the time, because we were in our jallabiyas and thobes . I also remember right before getting on the computer, our other friend Yasmin was showing us the piercing on her left pinky fingernail. Here, this is called Yahoo, Faheema said. You can write letters and send it to people without having to go through the post office, she said. Here, I'll show you this chain letter I got from my friend in another country, she said. Of course I didn't fully understand it. Just like how time travel and physics fly right past my head. I just nodded and went with it. Up until then, the only things I did on our own computers at home (we had two: one in my dad's study, and another in my mom's room, and neither had internet) was to learn how to type 70 words per minute on those typing games, write short stories, and play Solitaire and Minesweeper (which...

You guys remember this? I'm pretty sure at some point in any person's life, they've discussed this song with a bunch of their friends. It's one of those unexplained rites of passage that our generation adapted. Yesterday, this happened: Me: "So what exactly is it that Meat Loaf wouldn't do for love?" Am: "Yeah, especially when he would do ANYTHING for love. It's a big statement." So: "And it's Meat Loaf. What WOULDN'T Meat Loaf do?" Ah: "It must be something really terrible." So: "Like what? Chew his arm off, for example?" Me: "No, I'm pretty sure he'd do that." Se: "Fuck a dude. He won't do that." [Pause] Everyone: "No, pretty sure he'd do that, too." Sh: "Math." [Pause] Sh: "I would do anything for love, but I won't do Math. That's what he means." [Pause] Everyone: "So Meat Loaf is standing...

So my dad's been wanting a tablet since the beginning of the year. Background: let's just say his forays into technology haven't exactly been successful. He's still not comfortable around smart phones, and he's one of those dads who insist on turning off any motion sensor in any device for fear of some kind of disease-inducing radiation. We tried getting him a tablet earlier this year, and it ended up in my possession. Now that I have the Samsung Note 10.1, though, he says he's ready to try again. Here are the top 5 reasons why I JUST might not give him the Note: 5) It can make phone calls . It took me a moment to pick up the pieces of my blown mind after I discovered this feature. I'm almost pretty sure I missed some pieces of said mind, because when I was testing it, I couldn't at first figure out how to answer the phone call. I kept clicking the green phone icon and ignoring the arrows that indicated a swiping motion should do the trick. Se...

What a moment.  Yes, I'm sure the internet's surface is covered in all kinds of #livejump flotsam, but WHAT A MOMENT.  I did get sentimental, because I get super sentimental when I'm stupid and ignorant, just as I was stupid and ignorant while watching Science in Action. OH, THE THINGS ABOUT SCIENCE I DO NOT KNOW.  I wanted to hold someone's hand, just to remind myself that my existence has value, because this is one of those moments that overwhelmingly remind me of how tiny, how minute I am. It's humbling.  Yes, sure, I was a little bit meh against Red Bull for, in Khayra 's words, taking something magical and making it this commercial, but you know what, if this is what commercial has become, WHY FUCKING NOT. I think best of all, the fact that I watched the live jump with a group of people for whom this is just as - if not more - important is what made the moment all the more sentimental to me. Here's Omair's take, posted ...

How many of your goals have you not achieved? How many of them involves excellence - becoming excellent at something? All of mine does. And none of them I've achieved. Yet. (Maybe.) If I want to be an effective writer, I'd have to practice - and do a lot of - writing. If I want to be fit, I'd have to work on my form. So why am I not either of these? Fear of Hard Work This is the simplest answer. Laziness. We enable our laziness every day by saying that we just "don't want to complicate things", or by taking shortcuts. The whole "Life is too short!" mantra. Hard work takes lots of time, lots of effort. Both of which you could spend on other, easier things, like watching TV shows and eating cheese curls. Fear of Not Achieving Excellence Every time I speak to someone who is deciding on what to study in university, I hit this wall. Maybe I've just become an old bat, but I always end up giving this piece of (unsolicited) advice: Just pick...

You're a geek. Or you just started becoming one. Or maybe you want to meet smart people.  And you happen to be in Jeddah. Luck be a GeekFest event named Gamma, happening in just 2 weeks. I've blogged about GeekFest before ( HERE ), but here's the Geekifesto (written by the guy who started GeekFest) to better understand what we're on about. To give you a summary, here's what we have on our Facebook Fan Page : So what's a GeekFest?   Jeddah's own community of geeks get together for:   GeekTalks  Presentations or discussions on relevant topics.   GameFest  An area to geek out with gamers and get sucked into the power of the gaming world.  TechnoCases  Showcases by technology companies to share their products with the geeks in a fun and interactive way.  ArtStuff  Creative geeks can display their work and collaborate with others to create new things.  Alongside it is much technology and chit chatting (and no...