STORIES, STORIES

Living in Jeddah, where everything is just so difficult to do , always meant that, outside of work, you have two choices for activity: 1) Go to underground parties or gatherings or workshops , or 2) Stay at home and watch TV shows or have a relationship with the internet. Of course, if you don't know the right people, you really only have Choice #2. You and the internet probably already have many children. Me, I enjoyed both options in equal amounts. ACCIDENTALLY INSPIRED In 2011, I just got bored of it all, so much that I discovered I bored myself . I suddenly fancied going back to school. I missed the exhilaration of projects, assignments, professors, goals and beer-induced pseudo-intellectual discussions. University life was so enchanting like that, the ultimate period of youth and stupidity cocooned in academia. But more than that, what I really missed was sharpened talent and skill, both of which I severely lacked. It's so easy to be stagnated in Jeddah because of...

There's a ripple going through the fabric of internet space-time continuum as nerds and non-nerds across the web's multiverses scramble to get a piece of the 50th Anniversary Doctor Who special. Mine is sitting on my desktop, just waiting to be stared at and wept for, which I will do in just a few minutes. But first, a tribute to two magnificent otherworldly men - The Doctor and Thor.  Here are the top 10 reasons why I loved Thor: The Dark World . 10. The Train Scene. The troubled demigod needs to get to Greenwich, and the only way he could do it is by catching the train, where some lucky woman standing next to him had to steady herself against his chest when the train lurches. That woman could have been any one of us. This woman, and not Natalie Portman, symbolizes hope for us mere humans. 9. Shirtless Thor.  There is justice in a world where Thor can only contemplate his life and the worlds he wants to save while looking out a vast balcony with nary a pi...

It's Friday, which means catch-up time with friends and family living elsewhere in the world. Our currency: photos, videos and bullet-point updates. Long gone are the days of long-ass emails (remember those?) and in its place, WhatsApp. Internet connection still sucks ass here in Jeddah, and Skype calls or Google Hangouts are more annoying than what they're worth, so I skip that. The lag makes the small talk and the "how are yous" in the beginning of the conversations even more uncomfortable. That's weird, the fact that we still go through the how-are-yous, no matter how close we are to people. Why have we not done away with this already? Chatting and texting cancels this, thankfully, and we can just cut to the chase every time. We're constantly in communication anyway, on Instagram, on Facebook, on Twitter, through blogs, so it's really pointless to ask "how are you" anymore. It really is no longer creepy to start conversations with "I...

Man, I remember when The Nerdist Podcast first started, how excited I was about it. Everything they had talked about on the first few episodes were stuff I could understand, things I had previously discussed with friends, lols I'd already had. Kindred spirits, I thought! I felt the full power of an internet connection as I listened to the podcast on the way home from a long day at work. How is it possible, I'd asked myself, that a bunch of people from thousands of miles away, whose backgrounds are so different from mine, could be on the same wavelength as me? And also, how is it possible THAT THE INTERNET WORKS? Why are we alive? What is the purpose? So much philosophy. It was purely by happy accident that the Nerdist team consisted of Whovians. Or was it?! I like nothing about bowling except for the fact that its existence allowed for the unfolding of the events in this video. You win this round again, internet.

I downloaded my Twitter archives. Here's what I found out: I'm pretty much still the same person on there. In 2008 I had maybe 2 followers. Back then, the ratio of followers to following didn't matter, and people spoke in the third person so that tweets "flowed smoothly." People were still fumbling about, learning about hashtags and RTs and FFs, and there were zero social media gurus and/or companies that tweeted things no one cared about. Kids, in the time-honored internet tradition of self-absorption and over-sharing, walk through Twitter history with me here. I first learned about early-adopterism through Twitter when my name was available and I got my handle without having to add numbers or underscores or Xs and Os and the word "sexy". It was its own reward. Some other Nessreen in another part of the world (or maybe in the same city) would find the handle already taken, and she would slam her first down the table in frustration. But not I. ...