State of…….!!!

Lots of stuff….

Where would I start?? mmm…Egypt Vs. Morocco Match, sister was kinda frustrated for not finding any tickets to attend the game @ the stadium…fa inorder to make her happy, I promised her that we will have a blast watching it together @ home…thought this was something to cheer her up.
The game was about to start, Mom decided to watch the game with us just to have some fun watching us not the game itself ya3ni :)….we prepared hot drinks “shay belaban to be more specific”…and Peeeeeeeeep “referee whistle”…no wait a sec…before the Peeeeeeeeep, we had kinda an agreement..which is she is to support the Egyptian team…and I do the Morrocan, I liked the idea…thought it is super inventive… I mean…come on…the game won’t be interesting/exciting without two opposing cheerers. It took me a whiiiiiiiiiile…till I convinced her that this is essential for the match ambiance…was she convinced?!! no..but she decided to go with my idea inorder to watch the game in peace….”NOTE”…my sister doesn’t like watching movies, games, or whatever with me”…al eih..she claims eno I talk a lot or ask lots of questions…well, all are invalid claims “men fe2a mondasa” ;-)
Well, conclusion ba2a…we had fun watching the game…it was real good, I forgot the Morocco-Egypt deal…and was kinda yelling at the Moroccan Goal Keeper who was DAMN GO-O-O-D.

Note to sis: Why on earth are we calling you “3azizaty el zogaza”…we should call you “3azizaty el resala” :p , just a little something that I noticed while talking with the girls yesterday “I am teasing you La la la la”.

* Misunderstanding ;-)
While reading this post, sis was so surprised and was telling mom that am talking nonsense about her and dad….till she read further and found out that it is an excerpt…another incident bardo…when I met Wonderer we were talking keda, then she politely asked me about my father’s profession, she thought I mentioned something about fishing or so…fa I told her NO, we may have been to fishing trips….but he is not…he is an ex-millitary guy w keda…fa she laughed…and mentioned that she read the same post that confused my sister….and was so surprised, also she came up with very good questions :-)))…I should have put that “it is an excerpt from the book” in the title blank wala 7aga…not the tail of the post.

* Girls Outing “Maadi-Mohandeseen Adventure” :)
The deal was lunch around 12 fel Maadi…but it turned out late lunch fel Mohandeseen. How?? Came in yesterday and found a comment from Me telling me that she is coming to Cairo tomorrow “which was yesterday”…smsed wonderer to know the details as it was kinda early fa I didn’t want to woke her up. She called later and told me that Doshar & Me will go to the book fair then we all meet later. So, I then knew eno it won’t be lunch awi…fa told my boss that I might need sometime out today…but not sure when ya3ni w keda…fa he played me shwaya…then said it is ok :)

Had a call later around 2 keda from wonderer that the folks are not really willing to come to Maadi as it is quite far for all of them…fa how is Mohandeseen…since I freed myself all day for them…I had no problem…bas la2..there is a problem…I don’t know how to go from Maadi to Mohandeseen, the only thing I can do is that to go all the way back to Heliopolis…and start “men awel el kobry”…fa she said tayeb, go to Zamalek…will meet you there…then u can follow me. Fa cool. I left work…the traffic was grrrrr…unbelievable…then called her and asked if the way from Zamalek to Mohandeseen is quite easy so she can give me directions instead of coming all the way. Fa then I told her eno I am coming through el Giza w keda…fa she gave me directions on the phone till we met each other in front of the Shooting Club….Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay….I made it. woooh “quite an adventure ;-)”

Met the Girls @ Spectra…Doshar and Me were already there…Roura joined later. The whole thing was amazing…Doshar turned out to be a person with a constant smile as I thought, Me..with her pink sweater was easy to figure out “she laughed at my pink wallet..I guess she didn’t expect it :)” …cute and simple as expected bardo. Roura an extremely peaceful and kind person. Wonderer..I bet we were friends in our previous lives..seriously :)

We had so much fun talking and ordering food..tab3an due thanks for Wonderer who turned out to be an excellent marketeer “spectra/food related thing” :)) Bgad…thanks a lot for bearing my ignorance throughout the Egyptian Streets Adventure. At the end we had some photos and left the place..of course Wonderer’s great role continued with me “as I wanted directions tani to reach the 6th Oct bridge”…omal harawa7 betna ezay ya3ni :)…

Surprise….Surprise ;-)

Well, it wasn’t a surprise…we planned for it.
No more suspense….I finally met Wonderer…it was a blast…we talked, talked and talked, I really enjoyed it….not only that but also I talked to Doshar . Gotta tell you it was a blast….details and behind the scenes ;-) tomorrow ba2a isa as am super tired.
________________________________________________________

Beautiful morning…it is a brand new day…with totally new things to happen. Anywayz…back to the Wonderer-Nerro get together. I missed the girls gathering that day, wanted to see them all but had a meeting fa by the time I finished and called them to check how long they are staying, Wonderer told me they about to leave khalas.

Last Saturday or Friday can’t remember exactly, I woke up with the thought that Wonderer is gonna leave in a week or so, and I didn’t meet her yet….fa I called her…trying to figure out ay 7aga…fa she told me that she left a note for me in Dallula’s blog that she is leaving next Saturday. Fa we finally agreed on Monday @ Roastery Zamalek, as I had an event keda to attend @ the Culture Wheel….fa cool.

fa Yesterday I went direclty there after work, she came like 5 minutes after me…the traffic was unbelievable aslan….mmm…well, to tell you the truth..meeting new people isn’t an easy thing for me at all…it is the hardest thing ever….I usually feel tensed keda…bas you won’t believe it. I didn’t feel that it is our first time to see each other. We sat there as if we are old friends and it is just she was away for a while…and we are taking it from there ya3ni. We talked, shared thoughts about blogging and bloggers, memories, persoanl stuff…keda ya3ni. It was kinda warm friendly thing keda..that really made the day…as it didn’t start that well “details…next post”.

Kaman she called Dallula & Doshar…for me to say hi w keda, bas apparently she was busy…fa I talked to Doshar :)) she is the kind of person who you can almost see/feel her smile even in the phone :) Looking forward to see you all begad.

Well, back to wonderer….we continued our talk….I kinda kabart from the event I had to attend at @ the culture wheel…and we spent some more time together….we left around 8:30 wala 7aga…with a word that we will try to have another get together if D, D, and W managed to free themselves next Wednesday, and I will take a couple of hours off from work…yalla ba2a…can’t wait :))))))

A half day review ;-)

3:00
why the hell am I up now, need to get some sleep…I don’t like this….was kinda recalling pretty freaky parts of a report I read Saturday morning by Ezzat El Saadani.

8:54
getting myself ready for the staff meeting…am too sleepy, decided to make a hot cup of coffee, but by the time I had my morning chat with boss, it became a cold cup of coffee, Rasha suggested that I prepare another one and take it to the conference room. I really don’t like doing this, I usually gets me distracted keda, wana mesh na2sa aslan.

09:15
“staff meeting” first time to see D without his sunglasses, he never takes them off, I even thought he might be cross-eyed wala 7aga…but the guy is good!!! Could be the fluorescent lighting?!!! Maybe…

10:30
too many assignments….I should start the internal audit today…but apparently will postpone it till tomorrow or even Tuesday…kinda perplexed… too many fish to fry…gotta do a site visit. Also have another proposal related assignment that I have to finish quickly, don’t know what’s the definition of quickly when it comes to 3 different versions and a basic contract.
That’s too much for one person….Bpuuuuuuuh. One good thing about the internal audit is that I will move to another office space…I can’t stand the current one anymore….my work mates are always on the phone…one of them…who doesn’t have that much work….is either on her cell or the other one ALL DAY, and I mean it…putting into consideration that she always speaks in a loud voice, fa I get to hear her set up attempts, family and daughter related problems….a hot quarrel with the maid 3adi ya3ni…..an ugly call with her daughter over a bad test wala 7aga…I don’t mind her personal talks, as long as the company we work for has no problem with it…it is just too noisy, and can’t concentrate.. Plus M, who is finally convinced that the poor me is getting frozen …he really can’t stand the idea of a just a little bit of heat..3ashan ana ghalbana…but after a really stiff conversation he decided to take off his jacket instead of torturing me.

14:26
C called and asked if I can see him in his office for 3 minutes, fa I said yeah sure….guess what?!!! he showed me how a tube bomb looks like, and he also explained how easy it is to be made…man….it is pretty easy.

So I came back to the office and asked the guys “what’s the Emergency number for Cairo?” fa they were like…mmm…try 123. Of course I should know the number like I know the 911 thing…it is really stupid to find it easy to remember the States Emergency number, and can’t figure out the number here…but forget it, that’s not the issue.
I decided to give it a shot…and try the number. NO ANSWER. Rasha said “try again” I did and they answered after the sixth ring.
Well..ok…let me put it this way, in case of emergency it is not acceptable to get a NO ANSWER. As it is also not acceptable to get an answer after you pass away/out. That won’t do much ya3ni. Still I might be wrong and the number I’ve dialed belongs to any other service sector…. people…it is called SERVICE SECTOR.

Simple and to the Point

“My music is free, so feel free to download, share, and burn” that’s what Maamoun El Meleegy stated in his website…pretty rare. Ha!!

Was first introduced to the guy thru Moutaz’s blog, in an earlier post keda about one of his songs called “fel Shaware3″ winning the best video clip in the Oscar Video Clip Festival 2005. Check the post here.
Out of curiousity “you know I can’t help it…it is a GEMINI thing” I checked out his website…and really liked his own songs and the ones he composed the music for.

He recently recorded a new song called “ne7lam sawa”…check the behind the scenes here :)

Geisha and……

My mother always said she’d married my father because she had too much water in her personality and he had too much wood in his. People who knew my father understood right away what she was talking about. Water flows from place to place quickly and always finds a crack to spill through. Wood, on the other hand, holds fast to the earth.
In my father’s case this was a good thing, for he was a fisherman, and a man with wood in his personality is at ease on the sea. In fact, my father was more at ease on the sea than anywhere else, and never left it far behind him. He smelled like the sea even after he had bathed.
When he wasn’t fishing, he sat on the floor in our dark front room mending a fishing net. And if a fishing net had been a sleeping creature, he wouldn’t even have awakened it, at the speed he worked.
He did everything this slowly. Even when he summoned a look of concentration, you could run outside and drain the bath in the time it took him to rearrange his features. His face was very heavily creased, and into each crease he had tucked some worry or other, so that it wasn’t really his own face any longer, but more like a tree that had nests of birds in all the branches. He had to struggle constantly to manage it and always looked worn out from the effort.
When I was six or seven, I learned something about my father I’d never known. One day I asked him, “Daddy, why are you so old?” He hoisted up his eyebrows at this, so that they formed little sagging umbrellas over his eyes. And he let out a long breath, and shook his head and said, “I don’t know.” When I turned to my mother, she gave me a look meaning she would answer the question for me another time.
The following day without saying a word, she walked me down the hill toward the village and turned at a path into a graveyard in the woods. She led me to three graves in the corner, with three white marker posts much taller than I was. They had stern-looking black characters written top to bottom on them, but I hadn’t attended the school in our little village long enough to know where one ended and the next began. My mother pointed to them and said, “Natsu, wife of Sakamoto Minoru.” Sakamoto Minoru was the name of my father. “Died age twenty-four, in the nineteenth year of Meiji.”
Then she pointed to the next one: “Jinichiro, son of Sakamoto Minoru, died age six, in the nineteenth year of Meiji,” and to the next one, which was identical except for the name, Masao, and the age, which was three. It took me a while to understand that my father had been married before, a long time ago, and that his whole family had died.
I went back to those graves not long afterward and found as I stood there that sadness was a very heavy thing. My body weighed twice what it had only a moment earlier, as if those graves were pulling me down toward them.

“Excerpt from Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden”

An interesting novel to read, looking forward to watch the movie, supposedly will be released soon in Egypt.

Been crazy overhere the past couple of days…visitors from HQ….done with the AWF presentation…it came out real GOOD…am being pampered big time since yesterday for it..nevertheless we are screwed customers wise..man….these people are so spoilt…but will see how the final results will come out ya3ni.

Well, have more things to tell, but can’t get myself to concentrate…visitors are gone, meetings are over with…boss is gone for the rest of the day :)) don’t feel like spending more time on my desk…gotta do something more fun “I deserve it ya3ni ;-)”…think I might update this post sometime later tonight…

Just to boost the mood after a hectic day

Wealth has no permanence: it comes in the morning,
and at night it is scattered to the winds.
Physical beauty too has no importance, for a rosy face is made pale by the scratch of a single thorn.
Noble birth also is of small account, for many become fools of money and horses.
Many a nobleman’s son has disgraced his father by his wicked deeds.
Don’t court a person full of talent either,
even if he seems exquisite in that respect: take warning from the example of Iblis Devil.
Iblis had knowledge, but since his love was not pure,
he saw in Adam nothing but a figure of clay.

Mathnawi VI: 255-260

Live “not exactly” from the Citadel ;-)

Disappointed…yes, BIG TIME, as I wanted to have a proper photo for the Citadel, and the domes…but mesh moshkela…will do it some-other-time…it is just the sky was so clear that day…and was to be a good background ya3ni…

Now…that was REAL something..the yard in front of Mohamed Ali Mosque…still part of the mosque that you have to take your shoes off before getting in…I liked the spacious yard…it is so peaceful keda when you walk around.

A piece of work…. “Sabil” in the middle of the yard…wonder how long did it take them to get done with the “sabil” only!!!!

Inside the mosque itself. How impressive!!! OMG…we were like….look at this!! see this chandelier!!! check out the colorful domes!!

We were not allowed to take photos inside the Guest Palace Museum!! “tab leih??” Emi asked one of the supervisors…and the answer was more puzzling”mesh 3arfa, bas howa mamnoo3″…to be honest it wasn’t like I expected by any means…it is only the ceilings, walls, and the throne. But the furniture and everything around doesn’t look like “ROYAL”….when we get in the bedroom, Emi said it is too humble for the royal taste!!! da even the Bedrooms in the Gayer Anderson house were more luxurious ya3ni. Well now…did you get to know the secret behind the “no photos” thing inside the Museum?? “it is a trick question”.

1983??? and we are now 2006!!! okkieeee..will give it a shot in my next life then.

Inside the Military Museum…..they do provide info, they never leave anything unexplained… try to read either in English or Arabic!! told ya….INFORMATIVE.

One thing we also noticed about the signs in general inside the Citadel…they are kinda indirect; for instance you would find a sign says “Thanks for not sitting in the garden”!! also the “no photos” sign inside the guest palace museum…wasn’t a blunt “no photos”..was quite intriguing…so that we commented and said “ya3ni it is not prohibited ya3ni… but I can’t remember the wording exactly. Nothing wrong with saying a blunt no….especially when it comes to museums and public places…people won’t get offended…but don’t know why it always sounds fishy when it is indirect!!!

Still inside the Military Museum….huge…3 floors…full of interesting stuff including some documets and listings of “el zobat el a7rar” and the leaders in 1973 war. Unlike the Police Museuem…was OK …lots of info about political assasinations, famous criminals and series killers, and photos for them kaman…but obviously the place is totally ripped off, labels refering to unavailable items and such things…which is too bad.

A suicidal attempt or what???

Here is the prison area….it is not opened for public, although I’ve been told eno sometimes they open it!!!!!

That’s the end of it….I loved the view :)

To Emi and Ezabi

Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.

Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being “in love” which any of us can convince ourselves we are.
Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.

“Captain Corelli’s Mandolin “

This quote is dedicated to Emi a.ka. m&m’s “as she is such a sweet friend” and Ezabi….Wishing you guys all the best.

Mamma Mia!!!

Mamma mia, here I go again
My my, how can I resist you?

oh baby…the Abba…ain’t they amazing?!!! what a start for the day. Called my ex-boss and asked her to share the super size ABBA folder with me…fa am feeling so in the mood keda :))

Thought I won’t be that energetic today, as I was in a kinda FAT LAZY CAT mood during the vacation, but it didn’t happen. On the contrary…battery is full, so excited “don’t know why”, all over the place keda, and having so much fun although there isn’t much going on.

No plans for lunch…am full…Gerald brought a nice Chocolate cake after the staff meeting….it was ok…but u know what!!! I like his lemon cake better…the problem is not in the cake itself…it is just the icing…I love the lemon icing…specially ba2a when he adds these tiny things/stuff…that I play with while eating them.

Debating the idea of attending Flamenca’s concert tonight….still not sure, but want to BIG TIME, walahi sounds like a good idea. Finish work, have late lunch, go to Zamalek, pass by Diwan…then concert. Cool ya3ni…the only problem is I might ran into some people am so not ready to see…fa eih??? would disguise mathalan :))

M is out of town…phone is off…immeasurably missing him. Last night I wrote a long e-mail..telling him lots and lots of things. But deleted it this morning. I am doing all my best to butt myself off this whole thing…but it is really hard…still working on it…hope it works. This experience so negatively affected me, am being so rude, distrustful, insanely cynical in regards to any new relation…friendship it is or otherwise!!! I don’t like what am going thru.

What am reading :)) “quoting Nag“:
The Merchant of venice… intending to attend PTP book discussion+movie night Isa.
Terry Pratchett’s Night Watch is the one to follow…bardo been first introduced to Terry Pratchett through Nag’s blog.

Here comes my favourite song :))
Dancing Queen, feel the beat from the tambourine
You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life
See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the Dancing Queen

Girl With a Pearl Earring

Johannes Vermeer Masterpiece….was first introduced to this painting sometime last year in an art appreciation event…I was stunned by the extreme beauty, colors, depth…everything about it…to the extent that I asked the guy who was presenting the event to keep it for a while…honestly speaking, I didn’t have this feeling except with 2 paintings…this one, and Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”. Back to the gorgeous baby…although one of the Baroque Period symbols, yet the events surrounding the creation of the painting remains kind of obscure.

So, when I knew that MBC2 is going to air the movie “Girl with a Pearl Earring”, was so excited to watch it. The movie is an adaptation from Tracy Chevalier’s novel under the same title too, in which the author tried to imagine the circumstances under which the painting came to be created.

The movie is based on the speculation that the girl in the painting is “Greit” a maid who lived in Vermeer’s house along with his family and other servants, she also managed to be his assistant after a while. Vermeer’s sole supporter “Van Ruijven” commissioned him to paint Griet with the intent that he will have her for himself.

Here came Griet’s dilemma…she has to secretly pose for her master’s “financially” crucial painting without the knowledge of his wife, avoid Van Ruijven’s grasp, and protect herself from the cruel gossip of the servants. At the end Vermeer’s wife kicked Griet out after knowing about the whole paint secret. The movie as a whole was very nice and touching… the cast was awesome…specially Scarlett Johansson who played “Griet”…

Yet, it is still a speculation of who would be the girl with a pearl earring, or “The Dutch Mona Lisa”.

Is she Griet the maid, Maria Vermeer, Magdalena Van Ruijven, or someone else??….

قصر الشوق

يباغتني احساس شديد بالبرودة…احاول تجاهله…أعرف تماما من أين يأتي…موقنة تماما انه ليس الا أحساس داخلي…عادة ما تكون الليالي شديدة البرودة ذات وقع جميل…. استمتع بدفئ الداخلي يتصارع مع البرد القارس …تضاد جميل..معركة حميمة تنتهي غالبا بمعاهدة سلام بين الداخل و الخارج…

لكن هذه الليلة تختلف عن مثيلتها…أشعر بمؤامرة ضدي……نزلة برد و أمطار غزيرة في الأسكندرية تمنعني من يوم تصوير خططت له من شهور عديدة… أثور…علي كل شئ…أعرف اني كائن لا يحتمل حين أثور..فعادة أكتم ثورتي داخلي حتي تهدأ تلقائيا…تمنيت ان أنفجر…لم أستطع الا الأنفجار في نفسي….قررت أن أثور علي نزلة البرد التي المت بي منذ يومين و ساهمت في تعطيل مخططاتي…ارتديت ملابسي و أنطلقت خارج المنزل في أقل من خمس دقائق…لم أريد ان أسمع عبارات التحذير و القلق من أمي..أنطلقت لا أعرف الي أين…شوارع القاهرة جميلة و هادئة…علي غير العادة….شعور ضئيل بالراحة بعد الثورة الصغيرة…ادرت كاسيت السيارة فجأني صوت مروان خوري:

صوتك، وجك، عطرك، شعرك
لمسة ايدك عم تندهلي
شايف فيكي ام ولادي
شامم ريحة أرضي و أهلي
عارف خلف البحر الأزرق
لما الشمس تموت بتخلق
عارف انك عمري الجايي
لما الماضي ببحرك يغرق

هدأت الثورة، و خمد البركان.. انتقلت الي عالم أخر…ساحر…شعرت بدفئ بسيط يتسلل الي اطرافي التي كانت قد اوشكت علي التجمد..رأيت نفسي في بيت متواضع من بيوت الريف الأمريكي أو الأوروبي..أو احد البيوت المصرية المتوسطة في فترة ما قبل الثورة…لا أعرف ما سر تعلقي بهذه الفترة…أو ما حتي ما قبلها. سألت نفسي في من رأيت أب لأولادي؟؟ أزعجني السؤال…لا..بل أزعجتني الأجابة أكثر…ربما أحببت شخصا بشدة…لكن لم أري فيه أبا لأولادي. لم أصدق اني لم أفكر في هذا السؤال من قبل!!! كيف و أنا أبحث عن الأستقرار..و العائلة الحقيقية. حقيقة نشأتي بين أبوين مطلقين منذ سن الرابعة..تجعلني أكثر من يدقق في أختيار أب لأولادي. قد لا أكون عانيت كثيرا من انفصال والداي..لأنهما لم يشعراني بتغيير كبير…ابي متواجد بصورة شبه دائمة،حتي ان بعض الأصدقاء لا يعرفون حتي انه لا يبيت في منزلنا…و لكن لا يوجد كثيرون مثل أبي..و لا أنا مثل أمي…أريد عائلة متكاملة حقيقية…

لم أستطيع البقاء في العالم الأخر كثيرا…و لكني لم أفقد الدفء الذي تسرب الي…قررت ان أخضع الي جلسة تدليك..و ادلل نفسي بعض الشئ….أستسلمت الي أخصائية التدليك….لا شئ في رأسي…لا أفكر في شئ…منذ شهور لم انجح في الوصول الي هذه المرحلة….اتنهد بهدوء شديد…موسيقي و كلمات الأغنية مازالت في رأسي

بقول بحبك قلبي بيكبر
وسع الكون و ارجع ازغر
عمر فوق الرمل الدايب
قصر الشوق الل مابيتعمر
بحلم فيك وعم بتأمل
يكبر مرة الحلم و يكمل
عمر بيتي عايديك
بيت زغير يصير الأجمل

أجلس في سيارتي….أشعر بدفءيغمرني…و لو اني تمنيت ان يأتي هذا الشعور تلقائيا دون اللجوء الي مساعدة خارجية…ادير محرك السيارة…يأتيني صوت مروان خوري مرة أخري…و لكن بأحساس مختلف…

شومشتاق لبيت زغير
وانتي تحبيني مش اكتر
و شبابيك الألفة تضوي
وبواب الحيرة تتكسر
دقة قلبك ترسم قلبي
عمرك عمري و دربك دربي
مشتاق لو جك يحميني
يحميني من وجوه الكذبي

It is about Dawn

What can I do, to make you mine
Falling so hard so fast this time
What did I say, what did you do?
How did I fall in love with you?

Don’t know why I just remembered this song by Backstreetboys…remember one night back in September I was coming back home after a very special outing…and I found myself crying over it…now I learned the hard way that I shouldn’t cry over any-phony-one/thing.

Sometimes it gets real cold inside you…don’t know how to explain this…but it is just real cold inside.

Lots and lots…that I want to say…but don’t feel like talking about the past…even if it is quite near…but it is all gone now.

Lucky lucky lady!!!!

So, when I finally hit the Citadel to have some photos….the domes were being fixed!!!

Anywayz, more photos and stories from the citadel later. Happy Eid, and hope you are all having a nice vacation :))

You name it….

It is already an hour and half after midnight, of course am off, so no need to worry about waking up early and all that blablabla…it is a good feeling though to blog now, for nothing but it is not likely to find myself blogging right now, even if am up bas I just don’t log in that late…. I am in a super-hyper mood, been out to a friend’s dinner, came back to rearrange my library…coz it was a real mess, and am done…still mhypara…not in the mood to calm down and read, fa eshta let’s talk… Started to think about the vacation plans, fa I excluded Port-Said from the schedule…afasht 3aleha…bas Alex is there isa, and will probably be the second day of the feast…so what about Cairo?!! Origianl plan was: visit Mohamed Ali palace, Manial palace, and Abdeen palace…plus the Citadel and surroundings…of course not in one day…bas during the week ya3ni..fa cool thought about starting today, but wanted to make sure when do they open and stuff and here what happened. Called 2121 Nerro: Please I need the phone #s for………..”all the palaces above” 2121: Would you like to hang up and I would send it to you via sms Nerro: yes, that would be great, thanks 2121: Blablabla Got the SMS Nerro: Good Morning, Mohamed Ali Palace?? Guy: Yes, it is Nerro: Please I would like to know the operating hours Guy: The palace is not opened for public yet, check again later…good bye Nerro: Good Morning, Abdeen Palace? Guy: Yes it is, but we are off today Nerro: Ok, that’s good to know, but when are you gonna be working? Guy: call back on Sunday and check the operating hours Nerro calling the Manial Palace: ring ring…ring ring…ring ring….ring ring…ring ring That was extremely frustrating…seriously ya3ni….it doesn’t make any sense, such places should be opened during weekends, goes without saying…I was just checking the hours…wasn’t really doubting the possiblitly of the place being opened or not!!! Never read/knew about the the foot binding custom that used to be practiced in China, just knew about it today while watching Oprah….was really tough….the lady who was explaining the process said that back then….binded feet used to turn men on!!!!!!!!!!!! ewwwwww…that’s sick. Remeber Louisa May Alcott’s quote?!! “Women has been called queens for a long time, but the kingdom given to them is not worth ruling”. ;))) It is 7 minutes past 2, and I gotta go to bed. Good night…or morning..whatever…doesn’t matter…as long as it is gonna be good :)