March 31, 2007
After a hectic period of preparation, we finally made it to the Tunis-Carthage airport yesterday all three of us, to catch our flight to Amman, Jordan. The flight was even later than usual, an hour and a half late actually, but this time to be honest it wasn't Royal Jordanian's fault, it was because of a group of old people who were going to Saudi Arabia for an Omra and were transiting through Amman, and who chose to hang around until the last minute to check-in. Once on-board, we found absolute chaos; never in my life have I seen such...
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March 27, 2007
Isn't it weird that whenever we need to talk to someone about something, we can't simply just dive into the subject and start asking whatever we have to ask or saying whatever we have to say, we always have to start off with some small talk, a set of meaningless questions and answers that are just for the sake of making a little pre-conversation. Is it because we think it's rude to just jump into a certain subject? Or is it because we want to set the mood before we launch a discussion? Or is it because we don't actually...
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March 26, 2007
I just came across a list of 16 things it takes most of us 50 years to learn; the ones I liked the most are the following: - There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is: age 11. - There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness." - People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them. - If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has...
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Posted on March 26, 2007 10:46 AM under:
Books
This weekend I finished reading "A Long Way Down" by Nick Hornby. As with the other Nick Hornby books I read, this one was a delight as well, a light read, humorous and full of pop culture references. High Fidelity is still my favourite book by him, and also my favourite movie based on one of his books, but this one isn't far behind. The story goes as follows: On New Year's Eve, four people decide to commit suicide by jumping off the roof of a London tower block. By coincidence, they end up all four on the roof of...
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March 21, 2007
I miss, oh do I miss: - The 5 millime biscuits we used to eat so much of. - The Stil yogurts we used to shake, bite a hole in and drink. - The cheap granite (lemon & strawberry) ice cream. - The collectable cards (tsawer) and marbles (bees) we used to play with and collect. - The small bunny-bunny firecrackers. - The soccer matches in the middle of the neighbourhood. - The hours of watching kaaboul, baseet, sasuki and the other cartoons. - The trees we used to climb up. - The times we were almost caught for doing...
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March 20, 2007
It is not only what we have inherited from our fathers and mothers that exists again in us, but all sorts of old dead ideas and all kinds of old dead beliefs and things of that kind. They are not actually alive in us; but there they are dormant, all the same, and we can never be rid of them. Whenever I take up a newspaper and read it, I fancy I see ghosts creeping between the lines. There must be ghosts all over the world. They must be as countless as the grains of the sands, it seems to...
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March 19, 2007
Posted on March 19, 2007 06:19 PM under:
Cinema
Well, every once in a while I'm in the mood for a little game of guessing or what if, ...etc; This time I thought why not put it on the blog. The following are a number of quotes from a really cool movie that has achieved cult film status, and which is among my personal faves of all time. See if you can guess the movie from the quotes; should be quite easy for any movie fan. - What the cops never figured out, and what I know now, was that these men would never break, never lie down, never...
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March 15, 2007
Qatar Airways plans to become the first airline in the world to fuel its aircraft with natural gas, the company’s chief executive said in an interview. Akbar al-Baker said the airline was talking to oil giant Royal Dutch Shell and engine manufacturers about using a form of diesel made from natural gas, known as GTL, or Gas-to-Liquids fuel, in its planes; and as soon as the engine manufacturers certify their engines to be used with GTL, Qatar Airways will be the first airline to fuel its airplanes with GTL. Qatar has the world’s third-largest gas reserves and is keen to...
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March 14, 2007
Posted on March 14, 2007 12:19 PM under:
Music
It might not be information that a lot of people know about me, or that a lot of people would be openly proud of, but I was actually a fan of Take That back in the 90's, in my teenage years; although when you come to think of it, I was more a fan of Gary Barlow than the whole band, because it was the songs he wrote and sang that I liked the most. Anyway, ten years after their split, Take That re-united last year and launched a number of reunion concerts in the UK that were very successful,...
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March 12, 2007
I became 28 years old yesterday... It was my first birthday with my son Adam around... So that definitely made it special... It was celebrated at our place with my wife, son, parents and sister... So how do I feel now that I'm one year older? Well, exactly the same... I'll quote myself on my 26th birthday: "To me, it's just the same as 25, 24, 23, ...etc. It's just a number really. How much we obsess about it is what makes the difference," and well I don't really care about stuff like that. Maybe in 2 years time, when...
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March 09, 2007
Posted on March 9, 2007 10:53 AM under:
Tunisia
A round-up of some of the interesting news coming out of Tunisia these days... The 2007 Davos World Economic Forum Report ranks Tunisia first in Africa, second in the Arab World after Dubai, and 34th in the world in terms of tourist and travel competitiveness. The report is based on three main criteria: business environment, human and natural resources and the quality of political reforms undertaken. According to figures released February 23rd by the National Office for the Family and Population, the percentage of Tunisians over the age of 60 reached 9% last year, and it is expected to reach...
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March 07, 2007
Throughout the history of mankind, one of the main objectives of the human race, if not the core one behind every other objective, has been to attain happiness. In fact, Aristotle stated that happiness is the only thing that humans desire for its own sake. He observed that men sought riches not for the sake of being rich, but to be happy. Those who sought fame desired it not to be famous, but because they believed fame would bring them happiness. But what is happiness? The dictionary says happiness is: 1. joy, the emotion of being happy. 2. Good luck;...
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March 05, 2007
I believe in God... I believe in science... I believe in logic... I believe in freedom... I believe in equality... I believe in peace... I believe in love... I believe in kindness... I believe in creativity... I believe in believing......
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March 02, 2007
A friend came to me the other day for some career advice regarding moving to a new job, and I found myself repeating a piece of advice I've given some other friends and colleagues before. I thought I'd share this piece of advice here, maybe it'll come in handy for someone someday. The idea is as follows, whenever you're considering moving to a new job, don't think about that next job, think about the job after it: consider what the different options you have for your next job will do to enable you to get to the job after it,...
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