Category: Personal

This is really annoying. Its the third time its happened to me, even posted about it last time. I scratched my cornea and it sucks.

My brother is online now from Turkey. He left Lebanon yesterday with the Canadian Embassy on a crappy ferry boat and today, 20 hours later he arrived to Turkey. They had to sleep on the floor on the ferry and it was a fucked trip. He is now at a highschool stadium where surprisingly they have WIFI. This is what he had to say about the evacuation so far:

20 hours on a fucking ferry boat
it fucking sucks
seriously
it’s so bad
i will show you pictures when i get to kuwait
you will think i was on an african refugee boat
they’re so unorganized
those who aren’t going to canada, have to wait for the rest of the people to go to the airport to pick up luggage
then we have to find our way to Istanbul
i hate canada

update: my brother was very tired and exhausted when he wrote that.

Yesterday I was invited for another test drive by Alghanim Automotive. I was hoping they would give me some small crappy car so I could give it a bad review and show everyone that if the car sucked I would say it sucked. Sadly, that didn’t happen. Yesterday I took the new Cadillac BLS for a drive and it was far from being crappy.

I picked up a gorgeous silver top of the line BLS from the dealer and drove down to the Gulf Road. The BLS is the smallest car Cadillac makes and the one I drove came with a V6 2.8L Turbo engine pumping out 250HP so it was fast. As soon as I hit the Gulf Road I got a call from a friend who had spotted me. He asked me if I was turning into Jermey Clarkson and he then asked what car I was driving since it looked really cool. Now this came from someone who drives an M3 so you can imagine how good the car must look. Pictures actually don’t do justice to the hard edged geometrically cut car so you need to see it in person to really appreciate its beauty.

I closed the phone with my friend and blasted down the Gulf Road. The Cadillac BLS I was driving came with a 6-speed automatic and paddle shift. I am used to the F1 style paddle shift where you use your fingers to change gear but the Cadillac BLS is the one where you use your thumbs instead. It felt awkward at first but I quickly got the hang of it. The interior seems to follow the styling cues of the new Cadillac Escalade which is a really good thing since it means its very un-American. Everything felt very plush and sophisticated and I just love that in a car.

After a long drive I parked the car and took some shots of the exterior and interior. When I was done I drove back to the dealership and handed them the keys. Cadillac really have come a long way when it comes to aesthetics. There is no other car in the market that looks like a Cadillac, its got a style all on its own. The only downside I could think of with the BLS is the engine sound. I would have preferred a louder grunt from a 250HP engine but I guess many people would rather have a quiet engine than a loud one.

The price of the fully loaded Cadillac BLS is KD11,995 which makes its more affordable than a similarly specced BMW or Mercedes. Its a pretty cool car for a sedan.

I found this really cool pouch which I use to put my my ipod cable, usb cable and USB bluetooth adapter in. Problem is both Nat and Rampurple think its girlish. I think its cool.

Why is it nearly impossible for an expat to get the Kuwaiti citizenship? I am saying nearly impossible because I know of some Lebanese who were given the Kuwaiti nationality which means its not totally impossible.

I wasn’t born in Kuwait (my brother and sister were) but I did grow up here and my parents have been in Kuwait since the early 70s. So why is it I can’t become a Kuwaiti citizen? If I was living anywhere else for this long I would have already been a citizen of that country by now. Here on the other hand I still need a visa and a sponsor so I could just stay in Kuwait.

If today was July 24, 1990 and a week from now Iraq was going to invade I would stand ground and try to fight off the Iraqis alongside the Kuwaitis. I like Kuwait, I like NBK, I like KDD, I like oil, I like Entertainment City and I like Mama Aneesa, so why can’t I become a Kuwaiti? [Link]

update: There is now a further discussion taking place in the [Forum]

So after work today I went and met with KTM magazine who are located near my office. I wasn’t nervous or anything just really curious to what was in store for me. I met with 2 guys and we sat down and spoke a bit about their magazine. We also spoke about the digital versus print thing and I told them how I don’t find magazine interesting anymore. After that debate we spoke about me and how I would contribute to their magazine. They recently re-branded and with the re-branding they are also restructuring and they are getting new writers and they want me to write for them.

We spoke about what kind of writing I would do and we brainstormed some subjects I could write about and the result turned out to be very interesting. I can’t say what kind of writing I will do or what the subject is but I can say its like nothing I have written before and I am really excited in doing it. I took a risky direction but its more fun this way (for me and you) and its something completely new to me so don’t expect any food reviews or anything predictable like that.

Finally we spoke about the financial end of the deal which is always an awkward and uncomfortable subject for me. We spoke about what Bazaar had previously offered me and then they asked me how much I wanted and I told them. They agreed and my first article is now due August 15th.

Thats it basically, it should be fun.

I got a call earlier from KTM Magazine, I was pretty shocked at first since they called me up at my office. Its really freaky, I mean I know I don’t try to be anonymous but I also don’t make it that easy for people to find out who I am. Anyway turns out the guy found out where I worked because he recognized my office from a picture I once posted. He called the office, asked for me and I answered the phone.

So I spoke to him for a few minutes and he wants to meet me to discuss having me write for them. Their office is like right next door so I am going to pass by them tomorrow. I know KTM when it was called Kuwait This Month and it was a pretty crappy magazine back then but since they rebranded to just KTM I haven’t picked up an issue yet. I might pass by a magazine stand tonight and pick one up just to see if it has gotten any better. Oh a funny thing is, the guy was like I know Bazaar approached you before and you rejected their offer but we appreciate our writers and we will make you a better one. I was like that sounds cool. Will see what happens tomorrow.

I really like the Kuwait Airport but the lack of seating keeps pissing me off. The food court although containing a nice bunch of fast food places has enough seating for a handful of people. I have mentioned this before and I have to mention it again, why the lack of seating!? People are forced to sit in the food court because there is no where else. These people usually just order a coke and sit and wait while the people that are hungry (like me) and want to eat can’t eat because there is no place to sit.

Well, I am going to share with you a secret. If you are at the airport and need to sit down and kill some time the only place you will find seating is in the arcade downstairs. Their are three seats there that are always empty. They are also pretty comfortable and if you get really bored you can always play Daytona.

My younger brother who is in Lebanon at the moment is going to be evacuated by the Canadian embassy in the next few days. According to him they will be evacuated by ship to Larnaca (Cyprus) and from there he will take a flight back to Kuwait. He is very excited about getting on the ship..

So yesterday was my day off. I didn’t go in to work or do any posting, instead I decided to stay home with Nat who was still exhausted from her evacuation. Thanks to everyone who left comments welcoming her, she will most probably post about her experience today. One thing I realized is that leaving Lebanon isn’t a problem, its the Syrian airport that is.

According to a Kuwaiti lady Nat spoke to at the Damascus airport, it seems some Kuwaitis are really pissed off at the Kuwait embassy. According to that lady, the Kuwaiti embassy dropped them off at the airport with the promise they would be able to find a plane back to Kuwait but she had been in the airport for 2 day and she still is on the waiting list. There are also no representatives from the Kuwaiti embassy at the airport either, they were just dropped off and left alone. Hopefully the lady is back in Kuwait now and that there are no more people stuck like that at the airport.

update: just spoke to a friend who arrived yesterday from Damascus. She told me that she was able to get on an earlier Jazeera flight because they has 16 seats free so I guess there shouldn’t be any more Kuwaitis stuck waiting for a vacant seat.

I was watching a movie at home killing time since Nats plane was going to arrive at 11:15PM when I decide to take a break and check my email. I also decide to see if there was any change in Nats flight so I checked Kuwait-Airport.com.kw and to my surprise it said Nats plane was arriving 40 minutes early and at 10:35, it was 10:25!

So I quickly put my jeans on, I stayed in my PJ tshirt, quickly ran down with Geo to walk him and then took the BMW to the airport cuz I knew I had to get there FAST. After driving like a mother fucking maniac I arrived at the airport at 10:45. I quickly ran up to the arrival board and it turns out Nats flight was delayed 15 minutes and was going to arrive at 11:30PM. I was like WTF!? Anyway Nibaq was there paying his MTC bill so now I am with him. I am writing this email from the Kinkos Internet Cafe since I left my laptop at home. Its 11:45PM now and Nats flight should have arrived so I need to go check it. The airport is packed.

Update: Its 1AM and we just got back home. We would have been back sooner but for some unknown reason the cops decided to setup a check point on the 4th ring road tonight. It took us 30 minutes to cross a distance of 50 meters.

As I mentioned earlier today Nat arrived at the Damascus airport around 1:40PM. Her flight takes off at 9PM so she wasn’t able to check in until after 7PM. I spoke to her on the phone and she told me the airport is a disaster. Its understaffed, overcrowded and it seems like there is no AC even. She told me a lot of Gulf nationals were panicking and having nervous breakdowns and that the situation at the airport is unbearable.

She called me up at around 1AM telling me one of the cab drivers she was talking to earlier in the day called her and told her that drivers found a diversion around one of the roads they bombed yesterday. He told her if she wants he could take her to Syria for $500. I told her it was her decission to make and that I was half asleep and wanted to go back to sleep. She told me she was going to do it and the driver was going to come pick her up at 11AM, he is coming from Syria to pick her up.

So a few minutes ago I message her asking her what she is doing and if she is packed yet since it was nearly 10AM and I know she leaves things till the last minute. She messages me telling me she is at the Syrian border which pissed me off. I called her up and told her this is no time to joke around but she tells me she IS at the Syrian border. Turns out the driver picked her up at 8AM and when I called her up she had just crossed the Lebanese border and about to enter Syria.

Her cellphone signal was weak so I couldn’t talk to her much but I will post updates when I get them.

update: she crossed the Syrian border

update 2: Nat messaged me at 1:40PM telling me she was at the airport and to call her. I call her up and she sounded a bit freaked. She told me the airport is over crowded and she can barely move. She told me she couldn’t even find a trolley to put her bag on. She was also feeling dizzy since she had been in the car since 8AM and there was no AC so her head was spinning everytime she stood up. Her flight is at 9PM and she can’t find a magazine stand or anything nearby. She is resting now before she goes looking for the Jazeera Airways stand.

So Nats got a flight on Jazeera Airways tomorrow that leaves from Damascus. Since morning she has been trying to find a cab that will take her to Syria and she finally called me 15 minutes ago telling me she got one and tomorrow 5AM she will leave her house. Seemed like a good plan until 5 minutes ago Israel bombed her escape route. Now she is trying to find out if there is another route she can take.

If you don’t come back, Nibaq gets your MacBook, I get your Nano.