Davey Wavey walks naked in NY

Just recently, I came across this guy's youtube channel. He's a funny guy, very open about his homosexuality, which is nice, given the shit they go through. One particular video that I loved was of himself in New York. He had a sign that asked, "What do you fear?"

And he'd just let anyone write it on any part of his body, until he had to take off whatever he was wearing. This video is great because he shows how strong he is in doing what he believes in, especially when he's trying to prove something. How many of us would walk naked just so we tell strangers that their fears can be simply washed away?

Check out.

Davey Wavey,

 

A brief on my past travel adventures ... and more to come

On a bus trip to El-Gouna and Hurghada, Egypt

Before 2009, I only ever visited Philippines and Emirates, with my family of course. August 2009 marked an important time in my life because it was my first time traveling and living alone ... in Egypt. You see, I finished now and no longer reside there. It was the most fruitful period of my existence so far, and I hope my future sees more exciting moments, seeing as I now feel like I'm stuck in an hour glass. I don't intend to hint at pessimism but rather a longing to travel again, and this is one thing that I don't see as impossible.

I know I'll enjoy writing these, as I've always been meaning to start a journal - the best thing anyone can do.

Scholarships and Student life

You know what's amazing? Scholarships.

Many of my friends have tons of debt weighing on them by the time they graduate. Is education really worth chaining yourself to a bank? Well, you have your own answers.

Why not look for a scholarship? What's a little working until you find the right program? Or what's studying in an affordable university you despise, and earning yourself a scholarship for maybe a second undergraduate degree or maybe straight to masters?

You don't "waste" your life away by looking for the right program, you gain experience if you're working.

Scholarships are everywhere and available. Especially for master's. You need to look and you need to "dedicate" your time to .. you know, fill application forms? Yes, people say oh they can't find what they're looking for when in fact they haven't tried. Oh and don't tell me,  "I tried like three of them and I never got accepted."

NO! You look again, and again and again. I just got a rejection letter from a scholarship program after I flew my ass back in jumpseat over a nine hour flight, just to submit my application. Life never looked so possible, I decided to work and later find the right programs. (Or I was just lazy to do it again)

Fun fact, scholarships are not only. Bachelor's. Period. Master's. Period. PhD. Period.

There are short term programs for those who want to be entrepreneurs, seekers of community service or internships abroad, or just plain 'ol meditation programs to upkeep peace through special herbs or something ..

Anyway, you need to row, row, row your boat, gently down the, what? I mean look, look and look.

Embassies in your country have programs scholarships for the country's citizens, educational institutions offer a wide range of activities, maybe your school knows something, your employers might be able to offer you educational benefits. Or simply look at any school you want, and check out their website. Some of their scholarships specifically target regions, or languages, or ethnicity, or discipline, or grades, or anything!

Or if you want to put some work into it, then try graduate assistantships or similar programs, where part or full tuition is covered for your work contribution to the school. They differ from school to school, some even provide allowances or even housing.

Great site I found, which is like a scholarship hit list: http://www.scholars4dev.com/

And good luck.

The easiest thing in the world, is to be a student.

Jackass driving

Hey you! Did you hear? The new trend is jackass driving! It's the only way to look cool. You should try it bro, wallah it's cool.

This may not be applicable to some of you but many of us are always caught in this hype that we need to get somewhere in the most minimal time. I was, I confess, one of those. I use to think, "Eh, why drive 100 when you can go 120!"

No. Never again. It wasn't a result of some personal freak accident that changed my life forever .. ever .. ever *echo*, I guess time just caught up with me. I've had friends who've told me of some of the things they did, like run a red light, take a U-turn when you're not supposed to or just brag about the speed they've reached. What if the cars just speed when it's their turn and ram into your car, or someone's crossing the road and you don't have enough space for your car to stop all the way?

What is so important that you need to rush somewhere? Hospitals, fine. Emergencies, fine. But a weekend out with the guys? A hang out at your favorite gahwa? A bonfire gathering in Skhere? Haven't people heard of arriving fashionably late?

Orrr ... Leave early! *sudden realization*

We need to set our priorities straight. Whether the law marks the limits at 100 or 140, it doesn't mean those are the safest speeds to drive. A police offers once said something so obvious (that an immature prick would probably laugh off with their friends), and yet enlightening: "Be careful, this is steel."

Just today, I had a big (and expensive) car just speed out of a hidden turn! It ALMOST hit the passenger side where my younger siblings were sitting. And after I passed, the driver simply proceeded to move at the same speed. Looking both ways before crossing the street does not only apply to pedestrians, you know.

And don't remind me about seat belts! My cousin in the passenger seat once took off her seat belt. Why? Oh, she wanted to take a selfie. I stopped the car (in a safe area of course) and wouldn't move until she wore it back. And she did. 'coz ya know, gat ta go places!

I have a relative (who I don't know, having thousands of them) who I heard was held at a station because he hit another car late at night. One of the girls in the other car was in critical condition. They wouldn't let my relative out until they make sure she's better. My relative I hear, lives with his family and is an undergraduate student. The girl died. And he's in prison.

I now understand why my dad reacted in shock when years ago he asked me what speed I drive, and I replied 90 (thinking it' a good reply). Maybe he was kidding, I don't know.

Not the perfect driver over here! I can stir a few honks from my fellow drivers from time to time, but I do try to keep .. safe? I guess this began when I realized how expensive it is to fix dents, change parts and especially when it's not your car. Whether it's your dad who's willing to pay for the damage, he's spending money on something he did not do. Oh, and getting a new car, too much! (at least for the working class, what's a working class, btw?)

Oh and look out for those Saudi cars. Not generalizing, but I have noticed quite a lot of them driving over two lanes, don't really know what's going on in there ..

The point is, stay safe.
My friend: "We have a lot of surgeons in Bahrain."

**Speeds are in KM!    Duhh, coz the whole world uses that!

Ahh, back in the days when taking pictures with a nokia phone was .. picture taking.

First encounters in Egypt: Exploring Imbaba & Downtown Cairo

Nice Egyptian fella poses for us in one of the cafes at Imbaba

I decided to post parts of my essays from my time as an undergraduate. This is specifically from my Rhetoric class (RHET 102), which I took during my first semester, because they seem to be interesting. Reading it now, I realize how different I was then and how different everything in life was to me. I loved my professor and she was the perfect professor to start with when traveling to a country for the first time. Dr. Wafaa Wali, oh how many have complained of her but there were others like me who just loved her method of teaching. In my semester, Dr. Wali decided the theme to be based on Egyptian Identity, and one of our tasks was to explore Imbaba, a small and maybe poor area. She assigned each team with different assignments. Our group of four (which I led) were to explore cafes and small stores, in turn recording some of the commodity prices. After Imbaba, we were to walk to downtown Cairo.

And regarding dates, we had to do this I think in November of 2009. Been quite a while.

Imbaba

In our first assignment we had to take pictures of interiors of eight coffee shops and five plots of empty land. We had to see how they decorate their shops and ask neighbors what happened to the plots of land. We also had to sit in one of the coffee shops, order something and check out the prices; buy certain foodstuff and list the fruits in the local market.

We went to six coffee shops : (unknown), Taj il Dewal, 3alaa il Deen, Tony, ma2ha al a9diqa2 and (unknown).

All the interiors looked pretty much the same. Usually brown tiled with shisha as the display behind the counter. Most of the coffee shops had religious sayings like 'Inshallah' hung over the entrance or just as display. They were very friendly, and some actually posed for the pictures! Some shops looked neat, some looked dirty. Many of them constituted mostly of men.

We sat in 3alaa il Deen. The man was very friendly to us. He got us chairs; he switched on the fan and TV. He cleaned our table and was nice. We ordered tea, water and coca cola. We asked for the prices which were:
- Tea : 1.00 pounds
- Soft Drinks : 1.75 pounds
- Shisha Coal : 0.50 pounds
- Coffee : 1.25 pounds
- Sa7leb : 2.00 pounds

We got pictures of three plots of land:
- House that collapsed years ago; no one did anything about it and it is being used for rubbish.
- House that collapsed and another house is built in the middle of it; people are living in it.
- Old storage place that got burnt down.

Foodstuff:
- Macaroni : 1/4 kilo for 2.00 pounds
- Greens: 2-4 types for 1.00 pound
- Black plastic bag for 0.25 pound
- Fruits available : Guava, Orange, Grapes, Pears, Apples, Pomegranate

Our professor still thought we got ripped off ..

Downtown

Our second assignment was pretty simple. After exploring Talaat Harb Mall, we moved on to our task. We had to walk down Kasr El Eini Street, find Vienna Coffee Shop and have a cup of tea. We also had to check the price which I happen to forget to record.  *tehe*

We actually did walk all the way instead of taking a cab. It was pretty simple but just a bit long. You just have to ask around until you finally reach. It was a very small coffee shop right inside a corner infront of a cinema. It was pretty much the same as any coffee shop at Imbaba. What I distinctively remember was that the tea was only 0.90 pound, which was 0.10 pound less than the one at Imbaba. Our order was a glass of water, tea and coca cola which all together cost 3.00 pounds.

And that was our assignment.

Look out for IGN Convention on Oct 18 & 19

During my time abroad, I came across maybe two posts of these conventions held in Bahrain, and I was always sad that I couldn't attend, well because .. I was abroad. And now it's here again. I thought these types of events were not very popular in the Middle East but here it is. I'm not a die hard fan of anime or video games but I've always wanted to attend these types of events. I'm pretty sure I'll like them though I won't share many interests with the visitors. I hear anime like Naruto and Bleach are too main stream and that's pretty much what I watch, along with FMA, One Piece, Death Note and others.

The event will be held on October 18th and 19th (just a few weeks away) at the Bahrain Exhibition Centre from 10 AM to 10 PM. Pretty convenient for those leading the working life as it falls in the weekends. There will be cosplay competitions (excited to see that), video game tournaments and discussions. The IGN website mentioned the appearance of four special guests: Kevin Nash, Keiji Inafune, Omar Hussain, and Baraa Abdallah.

So if you're into this, tickets are already out at 5 dinars (my kinda ticket) and VIP tickets at 50 dinars. The IGN Convention Bahrain has a Facebook event page and a main website.

Will break my piggy bank this weekend and hope I find what I need. *sigh*

Mad Men writers converse at Riwaq gallery!

Maria and André Jacquemetton who are screenwriters and executive producers of Mad Men showed up at the Riwaq gallery in Adliya on September 25. It was around two hours in the evening and we were *ashamed face* an hour late. However! When we did get there, the audience were watching an episode from a previous season (the episode where Betty starts riding horses at some club and a newly or soon to be married guy tries to hit on her), which we've already watched so we didn't miss anything yet. By the time the episode finished, the Jacquemettons were ready for questions. Most people asked about their relationship with existing ad firms that were mentioned in the series, and about the writing process in general. They gave us an interesting peek into the writing process behind "series" as well as how writers, producers, casts and the filmmakers go about or interact (as in, who does what in brief, do the actors improv or strictly follow a script etc).

I was easily distracted by one of the audiences because of her body language, but what I could gather from the talk were a few of the following:

• Writing scripts for TV series and movies differ
• In movies, the director is in control whereas in TV series, the writers are in control
• One of the ad firms mentioned in the series have a mutual relationship where each helps one another (the firm advertises the fact that they are in a popular TV show and that in turns helps the TV show with more publicity)
• No improv on Mad Men, as most TV series
• It's a long process to write the script, have it approved, filmed etc.
• The writers basically just gather around and talk about what they should do when writing a story, they usually have an idea of how the complete season with go when they're still at the first episodes

Receiving a rating of 8.6, IMDB describes it as, "A drama about one of New York's most prestigious ad agencies at the beginning of the 1960s, focusing on one of the firm's most mysterious but extremely talented ad executives, Donald Draper."

The seventh and final season is split into into 2014 and 2015, and the writers promise an ending that will make us want for more.

I found out about this event just a day before and wasn't sure if it was real because I was a huge Mad Men fan, and just couldn't believe they were coming to .. Bahrain?! Anyway, Mad Men - great series, great filming, great acting and scandalous stories! Check it out if you still haven't!

André and Maria Jacquemetton converse at Al Riwaq Gallery in Adliya, Bahrain. Courtesy of a friend NN.