Procrastination Station

The 10 Best Christmas Movies of all Time

2006-11-27T22:27:00.000-06:00

Alright, so with 28 days 'till Christmas and a little cheer still left over from Thanksgiving and no work to do, I’ve decided to compose a list. Not just any old list, but rather, THE list of the year. And so I present to you, THE TEN BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES OF ALL TIME.

10. Southpark S.3 Ep.15 – Mr. Hankey’s Christmas Classics – I’m biased. This isn’t even a movie, but its on my list purely because its one of my favorite shows, and because the “Dreidel” song is still sung today.

9. How The Grinch Stole Christmas – Again, not a movie, but who doesn’t love Dr. Seuss?

8. Batman Returns – This is one Christmas movie that has everything – Christopher Walken in probably the only Christmas movie you’ll ever see him in, Michelle Pfeiffer in tight leather, and best of all, Batman kicking ass!

7. The Nightmare Before Christmas – If nothing else, the songs in this movie alone would have put this movie on my list. Finally, a Christmas movie Goths can enjoy too!

6. Elf – I’m usually not big on the “newer” Christmas movies, but this one was just too funny not to include. Plus, Will Ferrell’s the f*ckin shyte!

5. Die Hard – Every Christmas Eve, most people are thankful for friends, family, and good health. I’m just thankful I’m not John McClane, stuck in a building with a bunch of (European) terrorists. Bruce Willis walking on broken glass pushes this movie to #5.

4. The Muppet Christmas Carol – I always wanted to see this movie as a kid, but since they don’t sell Christmas movies in SAUDI ARABIA, I only saw it from the first time last year. I guess the anticipation just made it better ;-)

3. A Charlie Brown Christmas – Another non-movie, but who the hell doesn’t love that scene with the whole Peanuts gang singing “Hark The Herald Angels Sing” around that crummy old tree?

2. Home Alone – Overlooking the fact that Macaulay Culkin is all washed up now, this movie defined Christmas for anybody who grew up in the 90’s.

1. It’s A Wonderful Life – Once you go black (and white) you don't go back! Do I even need to explain? This isn’t just my favorite Christmas movie; it’s one of my favorite movies of all time. If you haven’t seen it yet, get off facebook and go. now.

Whether it's Christmas, Kwanza, Eid, or Hanukkah, Happy Holidays!

Upchuck reflex

2006-07-16T22:54:00.000-05:00

I know I said I would write a long post about the horrors of last semester, but I won't now. After having some time to think about it, I realize that I was just really pissed off. And although I still am, my former roommate and his.... issues are his own business, and it's not my job to go around telling everybody. Oh well, if you know me I'm sure you've already heard the story like 3408329053583 times. And writing about it would probably just attract thousands more gay porn hits.

Anyways, rest assured that this blog is not dead. In fact, I think I'll do a little ranting right now...

The Middle East sure is a friggin mess right now. People getting kidnapped and blown up all over the place. If we're not careful in handling the situation, it could turn into World War III, and nobody wants that. It's not even about religion anymre. Whenever I hear someone from back home talk about how much they hate "Jews", it has nothing to do with Yaweh or the Torah at all. They just happen to be the people who are in Israel now, and according to them, have no right to be there.

Its a really unfortunate situation... hundreds of people are dying because of the overreactions of a few people. On the one hand, you have the Palestinians, without a country to call home and fighting to reagain it. Although they're obviously outnumbered, many of them are too proud to accept defeat and lay down their arms, even at the cost of civilian lives. On the other hand, you have the Israelis, who when attacked, as a people cannot sit by and do nothing. They have a leader in Olmert, long accused of not being as tough as his predecessor Sharon, who is eager to show that he is not afraid to use force. Both sides overreact whenever one side is attacked by the other, and because of this, tensions between the two countries has been continually rising.

Then you have arseholes like Hezbollah, in a separate country altogether, who have their own land to call home and have not really been being provoked by Israel, who have to go and kidnap two Israeli soldiers. When Hezbollah stepped in, they effectively dragged three countries into the conflict: Lebanon, Syria, and Iran. One of which was just beginning to rebuild its tourist industry after war, and the other two on the shitlist of Israel's biggest ally, the USA. Honestly, what were they thinking? By involving themselves in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, Hezbollah did exactly what every single terrorist hates most about the US: they stuck their noses in somebody elses business. And what did they think Israel would do? Bend over??? Fucking assholes.

Everyone's at fault here, but if I had to choose a side to place most of the blame on, if I had to crown a king super-asshole to rule all lesser mortal assholes, it would have to be Israel. Whenever one Israeli dies, they launch new offensives deeper and deeper into the crap land that they gave to the Palestinians in the first place and kill ten! When one of their soldiers gets kidnapped, they arrest 40 cabinet members of the democracy they worked so hard to put there in the first place??? Of every "nation" that is involved in the Middle East conflict, the side which has killed the most civilians is Israel. Yet they claim to want peace. Now how can you run a country like that?

For now, there's nothing anybody can really do. Unless the US, they only person Israel will really listen to, tells them to ease up, or both Hezbollah and the Palestinians miraculously realize that there will never be any end to violence, there is nothing anybody can do except pray that Israel doesn't attack Syria, thus pulling in Iran which would in turn pull in the US, causing World War III. Knock on wood.

what the hell

2006-02-24T16:26:00.000-06:00

I always talk about how messed up the world is, and today takes that to an extreme. Yesterday, there was an attempted coup of the government in my home country, the Philippines, right after a landslide kills thousands. And today, two cars laden with explosives tried to blow up ARAMCO, the company my dad works for. Crap like this just doesn't happen all at once. I'm in too much shock to comment on either of these, so i'll just leave it for later.

click here for the ARAMCO story
click here for the Philippines coup story

barf

2006-02-23T01:39:00.000-06:00

I've been in kind of a funk as of late. I'm normally not one to write about my feelings and all that junk on here, but I think this is something most people go through so I might as well write about it. I'll try to keep this as un-diluted with emo crap as possible.

Lately I've come to realize that I'm a completely different person that I was a year ago. Last year, I think I was a pretty angry kid. I was so pissed off by everyone at SMU that I didn't really look for the good. Coming to UT has actually made my life a lot more complicated, with me already being a semester behind, and classes that are so hard that I find myself antagonizing every teacher, TA, and pimple faced kid who's smarter than me in the ENS (Engineering Science Building for you liberal arts majors out there). Last year I was so pissed off by my jackass roommate and everybody else at SMU that I became hypermotivated to work my ass of and transfer out of there. Now that I'm at UT, there's no motivation to do anything... at all. Sure, I'm making decent grades and all that junk, but I can't help but feel like I'm just drifting through what are supposed to be the best years of my life - my last chance to enjoy irresponsibility, where mistakes are not only accepted, but expected. Too many times I find myself missing the simpleness of childhood, where all I had to worry about was who's house we'd play playstation at after school as opposed to now having to worry about writing a program in C++ using abstract data types to create a number capable of representing integers greater that 10^50, due at 11:59:59 PM. Or even high school, whose structure at least allowed me to drift through life within the boundaries of establishment. Not that I don't care about playstation anymore, though, because I do. I still am really glad to be at UT instead of anywhere else, and I love the school and all my friends here and all, but man, I really need to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life.

I never thought I'd say this, but I think Austin is too liberal. Austin is great and all, but I think its actually driven me to be more conservative. I was probably so excited to get out of ultra right-winged SMU/Highland Park that I associated myself with every tree hugger in Austin. I think the only reason I considered myself a liberal in the first place was because of my blind hatred for W. I don't think I believe in political sides anymore. I'm getting kind of sick of people calling each other un-democratic or un-republican just because they don't agree on every single issue that comes up. Take me for example, I HATE our current foreign policy, and hate the way we treat other countries, yet I still support our troops. I'm pro choice, yet still believe in traditional and cultural values like how women shouldn't walk around half naked. I hate both rednecks AND hippies. So what am I? Hell if I know. I guess thats what comes out of living in the most conservative land on Earth, yet going to school in the most liberal city in the state.

And its 2:39 AM right now, so I'd probably be getting to bed. So much for me getting up for my 8 o'clock class tomorrow.

Oh yeah, and my blog turns one tomorrow, so for the next week or so I'll be posting some of my favorite posts that I've written, "prepschool classics" if you will :)

Huh?

2006-02-05T02:12:00.000-06:00

Do I dress preppy? I certainly didn't think so, at least until today, when I was at the mall with some friends when someone at GAP asked me if I worked there. Thinking it was a fluke, I politely informed her that no, I did not. My friends then dared me to walk in to Abercrombie, and pretend to be an employee there, asking them if they needed help and such. So I did, thinking that there was no way it would work, and that I would just end up making a fool of myself..... but it worked. Everyone I apporached thought I worked there responed to my "do you need help with anything?" It sucked. I am not a preppy bastard damn it!

Oh, The Horror

2006-02-02T22:00:00.000-06:00

With all the crap going on in the world today, I won't be surprised if sometime in the future, history books label this decade as some kind of period of chaos. Countries fighting wars from halfway across the world, bombs killing innocent civilians, countries developing nuclear weapons, countries spying on their own citizens, Brad and Jennifer getting divorced.... Yup, I'd say the world is in a sad state right now.

With so many lives in the hands of so few people, I think it'd do a whole lot of people good if the leaders of the world to grow the hell up. If Ahmadinejad wants to enrich nuclear materials to generate electricity, fine, that's their right. If George Bush wants to be suspicious of a country that's traditionally been more outspoken and belligerent than passive, fine, that's his right. But as far as I'm concerned, both leaders have serious leadership flaws... George Bush rides the short bus and Ahmadinejad is just plain old crazy. What does NOT do any good is when certain SOMEONES throw around accusations of nuclear weapons ambitions and other SOMEONES threaten to make even more uranium if they're not left alone. I think the US pretty much lost its right to throw around accusations like that after Iraq. Btw, why are we there again?If everyone would just grow up, sprout some pubic hair, and really listened to what the other one had to say, maybe some progress would be made.

Viola! Problem solved. Hmmmm now if there was only there was someone to mediate between the two. Oh wait there's the UN! Too bad the US only respects the UN when it wants something done but doesn't want to do it itself.

There used to be a time when I thought going a week without updating this thing was excessive. Now I'm lucky if I can find time to write every two weeks. I need to change that.

It Starts...

2006-01-18T19:51:00.000-06:00

If there's one thing wrong with having the most absolutely kickass break ever, its that you miss it too much once you're back at school.

I hadn't been back to the Philippines for over four years when I left last December. Although the thing I was looking forward most was seeing my grandma again, and that didn't happen, I still had a great time in the Philippines. It always used to be awkward going back mainly because I don't speak tagalog, but also partly because I barely ever see my cousins anymore, and since we're not five years old anymore, where all it took was a nintendo for us to have fun together, its usually pretty awkward between us.

But this time, everything was different. It might be because I'm old enough to appreciate travel or whatever, but who knows. I had a good time visiting all the family I have there, and got to see a lot of what the Philippines had to offer. When I was a kid, I never wanted to travel anywhere except the United States. I always thought the the Middle East and the Philippines were run down, dirty places compared to the rich, glitzy life of America. But since coming here, my appreciation for American life, especially the government, has gone down considerably. Life abroad just seems so much more simple and laid back than in the United States. I guess countries that get shit on so much don't have much of a reputation to worry about, so they chill out about most things.

I'm only gonna post one picture here because I made an album on thefacebook, so you can see them on there. Also, I have tons more if you want to see them.

me, my bro, and one of my cousins about to go out

And I'm Off!

2005-12-17T12:19:00.000-06:00

I'll be heading to the Philippines for Christmas break on Sunday morning, and since I live on a farm there, I probably won't have regular internet access, which means I probably won't update this thing for a good while.

I've seen a lot of change this semester. I've switched schools, met new people, and made a whole bunch of new friends. At SMU, as much of an academic joke as that school was, I still found myself unhappy, and by this time last year, my transfer application to UT was complete, and I was ready to go home for Christmas and never come back. As hard as it has been at UT, and its been really hard, I've found time and again driven back to my friends to keep me sane. In short, its been a great semester thanks to you guys and I'm looking forward to another :) I'll be sure to take maaad pictures over break.

So if you're one of my friends and I didn't get to see you this weekend, Merry Christmas! If you're some random dude who I've never spoken to before, but you read my blog anyway Merry Christmas! Ah heck, even if you're one of the bums looking for gay omani porn on my blog, a very Merry Christmas to you too! Now get off my site.

2005-12-11T11:55:00.000-06:00

I saw a girl who had braces in Jester today. And I felt sorry for her because, well, she was in college and she still had braces. But then when I got closer I noticed that it wasn't braces that she had, but a FULL ON DIAMOND GRILL

PCL: NOT FOR THE WEAK OF LOINS

2005-12-04T23:30:00.000-06:00

You know what really chaps my ass?

1. When I'm in the PCL and some couple starts getting jiggy in the cubicle next to mine.

2. When my TA loses two of my programs, and my test, and says he's too "busy" to look for them, so I get zeroes on them until I find them.

3. When some girl sporting dreadlocks takes an hour to make your sheesha.

4. When you take the wrong bus to the mall and you end up in the ghetto of all ghettos for two hours.

5. When you're at the mall and you get checked out nonstop by damn fourteen year old teeniboppers.

...and that's been my week so far!

Every since writing my "gay omani man" post, traffic on my site has doubled... except about one third of my visitors are still of the man-porn persuasion... anyways

I'm such a Christmas junkie. Sure, all of my Christmases have been spent in the desert, they've all been fun. For the last few years, Thanksgiving for me has meant two things: time to shop like a BAMF, and time for me to bust out the Christmas music. Since I'm not going home this Christmas, I seriously think I'm gonna decorate my room for Christmas. And no I'm not gay.

In Loving Memory

2005-11-22T16:15:00.000-06:00

My Grandma died yesterday evening around 1 AM. Since I won’t be able to give a speech at her funeral, I figure I would give one on here.

I’ve only really dealt with death once before, at the passing of my Grandpa, God Rest his soul. You died on November 21st, 2005, one day before it would have been exactly ten years after he did.

When I was a kid, we used to visit the Philippines all the time, and I know seeing us made her happy. Marrying into a family, I know my Grandma did not always receive the respect she deserved from her adopted siblings. She cared for them as if they were her own, yet the only one who truly loved her was my mom, her only child. And through my mom, she came to love us, Oliver, Chris, Angelica, and Michael, her only grandchildren. Although we lived so far away, she loved us with all her heart, knowing we were destined to succeed in life. She was sick, but she lived vicariously through us and us alone, living solely for the day she could see us for the last time, all grown up and strong, so that she could be laid to rest in eternal peace, knowing that we were all well on our way towards growing into the individuals she believed we could each be. But it was not meant to happen.

You died on a Monday, you felt God calling to you and you did not fight it. You lay on the couch, and told Auntie Reggie that you wished my mom would call at that exact moment, and you wished you would have gotten to see us for the last time when we came to visit this Christmas. The last time I saw you was five years ago, and for that I am sorry. There are so many things which could have been said, so many things which should have been done, but I took you for granted, and they can never be done again. I could go into all sorts of stories, remembering how you were the sweetest old lady I ever knew, memories of how happy you made me and all of those around you, but I believe stories like these are best kept where they started: both in your heart and mine alone.

So from the depths of cyberspace comes this one prayer, a prayer that you are in a better place and are happy, with Grandpa and those you love. A prayer, that you knew how much we loved you and how much you will be missed. A prayer, that through me, you will continue to live on vicariously forever. A prayer for me, that I can be strong, and continue to make you proud.

Burnout

2005-11-13T20:49:00.000-06:00

The last few weeks have been pure academic hell. Tests, programs, quizzes, presentations, enough to make even the most addictive of workaholics piss his pants.

After an experience like this, I have come to only one conclusion about UT. That it does not give a crap about its students. Being here, you feel like the school treats your more like a number than a young, growing mind, and that they only care about two things: taking your money, and improving their reputation. I mean, the EE department is the only department which doesn't have faculty advisors for each student, and they seem to be proud of the fact!

Then again, maybe its different for each department. The philosophy of the EE department seems to be to admit tons of aspiring EE students and later "weeding them out" (aka crushing their dreams, and therefore turning them from plain old nerds to nerds with suicidal tendencies)with insane workloads and fast paced, unnecessarily difficult classes. A friend of mine who's part of the brand new, sparkling biomedical engineering department speaks of lush lands filled with TAs who aren't worthless, real faculty advisors, and most importantly, ESTROGEN!

Anyways, I guess I'm just getting what I paid for. At SMU, for $20000 more, I actually felt like I was a student, being guided towards a career path. But the people more than made up for that. Here, its the exact opposite, but through the effing bureaucracy of it all, I still freaking love this place.

SIDE NOTE: I was too busy to write anything recently, but belated EID MUBARAK to everyone out there!

snap snap mmm girl i know you did not just touch my hair

2005-10-24T17:46:00.000-05:00

5 things you wouldn't know if you met me

1.) I am obsessed with the Dallas Mavericks

2.) I'm probably the only person in the world who's 19 and still ties their shoes using the "bunny ears".

3.) I'm a mad fiend on the dance floor.

4.) One time in high school, I dressed up as Zorro, and serenaded Dan with "Your Body Is Wonderland".

5.) Yes, I am an African tribal porn star.

In other news...

The top 5 keywords searched which have lead to my blog are:

1.) Omani gay man
2.) callgirls in oman
3.) hot SMU girls
4.) African American AND prepschools
5.) gays in Oman
6.) Why do fobs smell?

HmmMMMmmMMmMm…… does anybody else see anything wrong here?!?!? And I don’t just mean the fact that I listed 6 instead of five (it was just too amusing to leave out). Yeah so four of the top six keywords used to find my blog are used by what I can only imagine as old, horny, and apparently gay males in search of sweet Omani man-porn, making my blog just another stop on the good ole’ gay-porn cyber superhighway. Sweeeeet job Chris! Ah, hell, as tramatic as this is for me, if you’re reading this right now, you’re probably one of the bastardous beings I just mentioned. And if you are, sorry, but THERE’S NOTHING FOR YOU HERE... YOU’LL JUST HAVE TO GET YOUR JOLLIES ELSEWHERE.

Ode to unhygenic fobby electrical engineers

2005-10-06T23:31:00.000-05:00

Engineers are some of the smartest people on the face of this planet. We design and build all of the machines which make life as easy as it is today. With our advanced skills in math and physical sciences, we can build a devices which allow us to provide light when the sun has long set, communicate over different continents, or even traverse entire nations within the span of a few hours... but apparently for some reason we can't learn to TAKE A FREAKING SHOWER. Does anybody else find it ironic that the majority of engineers, the very people responsible for the advancement of the human race from ooga booga cavemen to the tricked out pimps that we are today, have yet to master the primal urge to practice basic hygiene and not smell like a friggin dingleberry.

And people wonder why there are so few chicks in engineering..... Now, granted, there are exceptions, such as myself, but that's not really something to be proud of! So if you're one of the stinky scientists I mentioned before, meaning if you are an engineer, and the number of times you shower in one week can be expressed in two or fewer binary digits, take a shower! You're giving us a bad name.

2005-09-14T14:10:00.000-05:00

Where am I from today? Walk down around Jester Hall on any given day, and you'll see groups of different organizations, a lot of them ethnicity oriented, advertising different events they have planned by handing out fliers to people who seem to hail from the same ethnic group. Asians advertise to mostly asians, desis to desis, crackwhores to crackwhores, etc. So every time I walk through, I like to think of it as a test to see if people can figure out where I'm from. I know its weird, but for my whole life, for some reason people can never seem to be sure of what background I've decended from, and I find it amusing that some people seem to think that i'm some hybrid combination of either mexican, white, or asian. Heck, i've even got Indian a few times..... (to be clear, i'm Asian/Filipino by ethnicity) Anyways, I find it both a little funny and sad that I've never been apporached by ANY of the asian organizations, while every time I walk in there, I'm mobbed by hispanic fraternities and service organizations. So I find myself an outcast, rejected by the group that I call my own :'( ...Nah, just kidding. It's not that big of a deal. And it really shouldn't be anyways.

P.S. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes!

2005-09-05T23:03:00.000-05:00

New Orleans, birthplace of Jazz, home of the Hornets, and land of Mardi Gras. With estimates upwards of 10000 people dead or missing, this is the worst natural disaster I can remember in my entire lifetime. This IS, our tsunami. I noticed something on the news the other day, which I thought rediculous. Some news network (I don't want to point fingers, so we'll just call it FOX NEWS for now) showed a slide of what it described as one of the many incidents of looting which have been reported across the city. The picture was of a black African American man, obviously left with nothing, walking out of a broken-into convenience store, with food and toiletries. Directly after, the network showed a slide of a white man in a similair situation, with one tiny difference. Instead of describing the scene as "looting", the caption under the picture read "left with nothing, man survives on abandoned goods."

Come on people! It's not "looting" or "borrowing" or even "stealing". It's survival. I bet that NOBODY, black, white, whatever, could tell me that if they had own their shit washed away in a hurricaine, they wouldn't be doing the exact same thing. Why everyone is so concerned about crap that, even if it WAS untouced, would probably never be seen again anyways, escapes me. Especially if some of this "crap" could be used to save lives. The government response was slow, and it was obvious aid wasn't on the way, so these people face a choice. Lay down and die, or bust into an already busted store, and have a glimmer of hope for survival. Hmmmmmm, now there's a friggin hard choice, and unless hurricane-ravaged house and/or drowned housepet is on your list of favorite things to eat, I'm pretty sure you'd break into the store too.

So how 'bout everybody take a chill pill, take a step back, and look at the bigger picture here. New Orleans is a mess. And a lot of the stuff not destroyed by the hurricane will probably end up being collateral damage by those not fortunate enough to have gotten out of the city in time. As unfortunate as it is, saving lives is just more important right now.

up my butt and around the corner

2005-08-27T11:36:00.000-05:00

Since I've been out of touch with so many people for so long, I guess I owe you all one of those "my life" posts...

So a LOT has happened in the last few weeks. I got my driver's license, making me a fully mobile member of society! Whenever I get a car, its definately gonna help with the massive distances I'll have to traverse to get across this huge-ass campus. Speaking of UT, there are some striking comparisons that need to be made between SMU and UT. Now, i'm not going to lie. UT is maaaad ghetto. The dorms are nowhere near the quality of the ones at SMU, and they're pretty run down, but I guess that's to be expected at a public school. The advisors here are ghetto too. They offer little help at all, only suggesting classes they think you should take, and offering little advice on career tracks or what you should take to do well in school. I guess I should be happy with more freedom, but when I was at SMU, I was kinda comforted by the fact that someone was there to guide me along. Also, with such a large school, it's really easy to get swept up and lost in the beaurocracy of it all. I can't tell you how many times I've been screwed over here because I was new, and the bottom of the ladder. Anyways, as bad as I've made UT sound, I really like it here, and that's really what counts right?

UT is filled with tons of nice people, which is what I like. A lot. Unlike SMU, when you go out on the street, you're not overwhelmed by bitches with handbags and french manicures on cellphones. And unlike SMU, people here actually acknowledge your existence with a smile or whatever, regardless of whether they know you or not. Another thing I like about this place is that it's basically the liberal capital of Texas, the only blue blip on the map! I'm sorry, but SMU was just too freaking conservative for me. I guess this shouldn't have affected me as much, being a "moderate" and all, but trust me, it makes a big difference.

In other news, I met my roommate for the first time the other day. NAKED. Well, not fully naked, but almost. It was 11 PM, and he hadn't moved in yet, so I figured he wouldn't come until at least tomorrow. So I decided to take a shower and get to bed. Well, I was naked, when I heard a key turing in the door. I rush to my closet and put my bathroom on, and just as I do, my roommate, AND his family come into the room. Yeah, it was just a lil bit awkward.... but funny, I'll admit. Anyways, I'm still on summer break, and school starts on the 31st, so I still have some time to enjoy my freedom.

2005-08-25T23:38:00.000-05:00

im at UT, and so much is happening right now that I haven't had time for an update, but rest assured, one's been bubbling for a while now. Until then here's a little taste.... my roommate and his family saw me almost naked!!!

I <3 work!

2005-08-09T03:45:00.000-05:00

This summer, I have experienced the joys of intense manual labor at my old junior high school. So what exactly has come out of my work? A few new friends, a buttload of memories, and about 700 bucks in taxless income, that's what haha! But also, I've gained a newfound respect for the workers of ARAMCO and Saudi Arabia. The whole time i've been working (especially as a painter), i've been working beside all of the Indian, Bangladeshi, and Sri Lankan workers imported from their homecountries to serve as the "working class" of Saudi Arabia and ARAMCO. An enormous amount of respect has got to be paid to these guys, who have left their home, friends, and family purely to ensure a better life for their loved ones. I say "purely" because there is no other reason for why any man would voluntarily leave their home and subject themselves to such a low quality life here.

Each and every one of the workers here is underpaid and unappreciated for the amount of effort they put into their work. These guys actually work harder and longer than any of our educated, specialized parents. They wake up before 6AM, at the crack of dawn, and they are on the job until late in the evening (i've seen busses of workers heading home past 11 PM), all for something like 40 riyals (11 bucks) a day or something rediculous like that. Although it may seem like big money for them back home, it definately does not do justice to all the CRAP they have to take while earning it. With my sparkling salary of 6 dollars an hour, I find it sad that me, an eighteen year old student, was getting paid more solely because I was an expat, or because my dad worked for the company.

When I first started on the job, there was a good deal of tension between us student workers and the imported staff. I think it was rightfully so, because the majority of westernized kids these guys come across scoff whenever they see them, or pay no attention to them at all. But eventually, things began to lighten up, and, even though they didn't speak much English, by the time I quit, we were all greeting each other in the halls, and complimenting each others' painting jobs. It's something I will definately remember for the rest of my life.

So, this post goes out for my boys, the underappreciated, underrated working class of Saudi Arabia. Although they will probably never read this, I thought it was something worth sharing.

blah

The Death of a King

2005-08-04T18:13:00.000-05:00

On August 1st, The King of Saudi Arabia, or as everyone here called him, King Fahd, died. Not much was known about him until after he died, when every news channel began broadcasting his life’s story, but he really did do some important things for the KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, for future reference). In the most conservative and strict Islamic country in the world, he stood out as a liberal voice among harsh hardline critics, embracing America’s involvement in the world, incorporating what he could with traditional beliefs. Although it did not seem like he was acting in the best interest of his people, the KSA would most definitely not be where it is today without his leadership. Anyways, if you want to learn more about King Fahd, just watch the news, haha.

Immediately after the announcement of the King’s death was made, radio and television stations all across the Middle East immediately cut to prayers, and broadcasted nothing but for days in order to pay respect to the dead. I think its cool how this was done, even by countries with less than sparkling relations with Saudi Arabia, as it shows a certain amount of mutual respect each nation has for each other. Leaders from foreign countries immediately stopped what they were doing, and flew to Saudi Arabia to pay homage to the recently departed King and congratulate the ascending ruler. For a moment, it seemed as if all the trouble plaguing the world and the Middle East were put on hold, so that respect could be paid to one deserving great leader. It was great. The last time a King died, every working man in Saudi Arabia received a bonus month’s pay, so that’d be tight if it happened again, because at $62 per barrel, I’m sure it wouldn’t really be a problem. But then again, the new King had technically been ruling for a while already, so he doesn’t really need to please people to win their loyalty.

King Fahd had been incapacitated for about a decade or so, with his appointed successor and brother the now King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz bin Saud (81 yrs old) ruling de facto. A lot of people might ask why he would appoint someone so old as the next King, the reason for which I think would be to avoid any competition or jockeying for power among his sons. But I think herein there lies a potential problem for the future. The new King has chosen his brother as successor as well, and as he is 77 yrs old, this could provide for an interesting next few years. Each of the original brothers, all sons of the original founder of Saudi Arabia, Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud, is getting older, which means each member of the royal family will begin jockeying for power, setting up members of the younger generation to eventually take over. But as long as shit doesn’t go down while I’m still here, I’m happy :-)

What is wrong with the world?

2005-07-23T17:58:00.000-05:00

With all the crap going on in the world over the last few weeks, it feels like the whole world is in pandemonium. Suicide bombs have been being detonated in London twice, and, most recently in Egypt. Although few people have died, the fear being instilled within the hearts of people everywhere brings to mind scenes eerily familiar of that movie The Siege with Denzel Washington. That movie, which was made before 9-11, involved Arab terrorists carry out several attacks on New York city within the span of a few weeks. The government, lead by Bruce Willis, then seeks to prevent further attacks from occurring by declaring martial law and putting all men within the ages of 15 through 35 in internment camps to try and weed out the remaining terrorists. Now, I promise that all this has a point and I’m not just pulling an “Ebert and Roper” here.

My point is, that as horrible as the recent attacks in London and Egypt have been people cannot lose their composure and begin making harmful assumptions, like those I mentioned before in my previous summary of The Siege... no matter how cool Bruce Willis is. Jumping to harmful conclusions only creates pandemonium and disrupts the flow of society, which is exactly what the terrorists are trying to accomplish. Sadly, it seems as if this is exactly what is happening right now. After the attacks, because Scotland Yard had credible “evidence” that the bombers were of Pakistani descent, the Pakistani government, not wanting to be accused of allowing the attacks to happen, launched a huge crackdown on anyone and everyone who they believed could have played a part in the bombings. Madrassas, conservative Islamic schools were raided, and some 300 “suspects” were arrested. Even more recently, a man was shot dead in the London subway purely because he appeared “suspicious and of Pakistani or Indian decent” (the man turned out to be Brazillian and had no connection to the bombings at all). Do you think that the police would have busted five caps in his head if he were a white man? I seriously doubt that. Right now, I believe that there are a lot of people need to ask themselves whether or not they believe that everyone they’re cracking down on are really crazy militants, or if maybe they might just be searching for someone to blame and take revenge on for the attacks committed on their nation. I absolutely think that a crackdown on suspected militants is absolutely necessary, and those responsible the attacks need to be brought to justice, but making rash decisions without more definite evidence only angers more people and will ultimately only work against your cause.

Also… a little food for thought: Suicide bombs against civilians occur multiple times a day in Iraq, but it seemed like nobody thought it was really a big deal until they actually witnessed it firsthand. I just find it just completely crazy how terrorists think they're such holy martyrs when they're being such bastardous heartless pricks, because speaking as someone who's lived almost their entire life in the Islamic capital of the world, I can tell you straight up that this is not what Islam is about.

P.S. There’s another terror warning for the people here in Saudi Arabia so everyone pray for us all to be safe! :-)

Biology at it's best!

2005-07-11T05:59:00.000-05:00

Its an undeniable fact of life. Its something SMU is famous for. SMU girls are hot. Really hot.

Looks like i'm gonna go for the double post today... Writing about SMU in my preivious post has made me remember quite a few things about the past year, and one thing which is impossible to forget about SMU is the seemingly unreal hotness of the girls there. Now, I myself have never been a fan of associating myself with the ultra-busty, ultra-bitchy variety of woman, but I would be just plain lying if I told you that when I leave SMU, I will also be leaving oodles of super shallow, but for some reason, HOT ass girls. So in this episode, we seek to answer some of the questions involving these seductive sirens, more specifically, the question which has plagued the mind of the male SMU students for eons: by what incredible fluke of nature did the girls of SMU get to be so freaking hot!?!

What the girls of SMU lack in personality, they compensate for in areas of well placed body fat and toned muscle. I assure you, the answers to the question posed above can be answered in one simple but important principle of biology: survival of the fittest. I have devised a theory to this below, which I like to call The Trophy Wife Theory (c).

So you have these guys, smart and hardworking, who go to school, graduate, and use the skills they have learned to become successful through business, entrepreneurship, whatever... nature knows no specific profession. When these guys are successful and wealthy, they effectively outcompete their competition in accumulating the resources needed to create and provide for a family, and live a life superior to those he has outcompeted. From a primitive evolutionary standpoint, women find this attractive in the man, regardless of his age (either that, or they just want a piece of that phat bank account, but whatever). The male, being the superior rich bastard that he is, has his pick of the female mating pool. The male, also acting from primal instincts, chooses the mate which he feels would be able to bear him the most offspring and would be most suited to spread his seed around the world (aka the guy is a horndog). This mate, being beautiful, is also stratiegically chosen by the male to show off his dominance to those other males around him. The chosen women then becomes what biologists refer as a trophy wife, the very same from which the name of this theory is derived. The couple then produces offspring, which, because of the good looks of the mother, has a high chance of inheriting the good looks of the mother, while still retaining the "resources" provided by the father. This girl then grows up and is sent to SMU, where she is forever doomed to be bitchy and materialistic. But still hot.

DISCLAIMER:
The above post was made purely in good fun, and, if you read it and somehow took offense, I do apologize. T'was just a joke! Although there ARE plenty of the girls I mentioned before, there are also TONS of girls at SMU who are great and pretty cool too :-)

The down low on SMU!

2005-07-11T04:41:00.000-05:00

Some of my friends from SMU ask me how I could possibly consider leaving SMU for UT Austin, a huge behemoth of a school notorious for having students get lost in the system. Well I've thought about it, and as close as I can figure, there are a few key reasons why I decided to transfer. Sure, having old freinds there and a better academic program helped me make my choice, but in the end I don't really think they're what pushed me towards transferring in the first place.

At SMU, I guess you could say I just felt too sheltered. While I was there, I just felt like there was more to college life than SMU had to offer. The people I met there had a lot to do with me feeling this way. Although there are plenty of exceptions, I did see a lot of the stereotypical southern millionaire walking around campus. SMU is often referred to as the Harvard of Texas. A school where the wealthy send their kids to spend four years of their lives recieving a high quality private school education, while being groomed to eventually take take over the family business. Now, I don't quite agree with a label like this because quite frankly, it isn't true.... not entirely anyways. Although SMU was definately NOT just one homogeneous mixture of rich, white people, there really are a good amount that decide to enroll there. For some reason, they just made up a larger proportion of the student body than they do at most other schools. And they really did own the school. It seemed like it was always the rich, overprivelidged people who would always end up being known by everybody. With parties almost every night, elitist social cliques, and all the money floating around in the form of credit cards, Louis Vuitton handbags, and ugg boots, I just felt like I was living an episode of the OC.

So if my parents were spending an assload of money to go to college and learn to succeed in the real world, I figured why not transfer to a school where I could at least feel like I wasn't living in a bubble, isolated from the rest of the world. And so the end result is me going to UT. Hook 'em horns!

work

2005-07-04T04:01:00.000-05:00

This summer, besides sitting on my ass, being lazy, and playing golf, I've been working at my old middle school (Dhaharan Junior High woo!) Anyways, since I've been back there, my jobs have ranged from helping teachers grade final exams to textbook inventory to lifting boxes across campus. Sadly, my 7 hour days are usually filled with a LOT more lifting than grading, but I guess it isn't all bad, cause I'm getting exercise (for $6 an hour too!)

Anyways, seeing all the enormous amounts of excess crap my school has lying around in storage boxes, i've come to realize something. I've never come across a school that has TOO much stuff. Too many computers, too many books, too many desks... more than enough to supply two schools with materials enough to last at least a full school year. At $61 a barrel, ARAMCO just isn't that concerned about recycling or conserving its school supplies. Although they do donate a good portion of their "old" or unused supplies, from what I've seen, they could afford to give just a lil bit more.

2005-07-02T08:08:00.000-05:00

So sometimes people ask me... why is my blog "shallow" and why don't I write about all my emotions?

Truthfully, I just don't see the relevance of writing about all my emotions, or, as what seems to be a recurring theme in a lot of blogs, how depressed I am. In fact, really dislike overly emo people. Like seriously... It seems that almost every day I run into some sap who "can't go on anymore" because their "heart is throbbing with heartbreak" or some crap like that. Why do these people feel the need to go out and broadcast this to the world over AIM or however else? Sometimes, it's like they just want attention or people to pity them, which is sad in itself.

First of all, for most people, being all emo because you feel like "the world is closing in on you" or something is not even true in the first place. A lot of people feel like crap because they can't see most of the good things in their life, only choosing to focus on the bad things which happen to them... If you do this, of course you're going to feel like shit... so just don't do it!

Secondly, if for some inexplicable reason, the problems of someone's life really do cause the world to come crashing down, then what is the point of broadcasting your problems/emoness to people over the internet? I really believe that writing about your innermost feelings is something that should remain private for all people. This is why I disliked blogs before I actually got one. In all seriousness, if someone's problems are bugging them so much, then they should go out and do something to solve them, rather than hoping that someone will come and sympathize with you, which, although may help at the time, won't solve anything at all.

Now, I admit that we all have our moments where we feel like crap... I get depressed all the time, but that's just life. I seriously doubt that any one person is being singled out by the cosmic forces of the universe, and is doomed to spend the rest of his or her life in utter misery.

And now i'm off to play some golf! Toodles!