Monday, October 31, 2005

!!! !! ?!?!

Why the sidebar in my blog is going down the page!!?!

Monday, October 24, 2005

The Eldest And The Youngest Cousins in The Family!


I have a new cousin !! A very cute and little boy. He's the first son of my uncle's, and the first cousin I have from an uncle ( the mother's side ). Everyone went to see him in my grandparents' home this evening. And since I'm being crazy with taking photos these days, I took my digital camera and vedio camera with me to take pics for him. He's the youngest cousin in the family, and I'm the eldest one! Wow! I'm 21 years older than that little pink creature.

My other cousins were there, we all gathered around him taking pics as if he was a VIP!! Then my grandma saw my camera and asked me if I'm collecting photos for the family to take them with me to the U.S., and I said yes. Then I told her that the eldest granddaughter is going, but a new grandson is coming instead ! I remeber when Mom called her to tell her about my scholarship grant, she cried over the phone and said that she might die without seeing me again! And I kept telling her that she would see me again and with the M.A. degree.

My uncle doesn't want to go to his work tomorrow cuz he wants to stay with his son! and he kept saying " How will I go tomorrow! I want to keep looking at him".

All the cousins I talked about now are from my Mom's side. My other cousins who are from Dad's side live in another city far away from Baghdad, and I get to see them very little that I almost don't know what to write about them. I don't know about the personalities and their perspectives of life and view points, so I don't know how to mention them. They are so far away.



Good Night

Saturday, October 22, 2005

Tagged to an Assignment

I saw some Iraqi bloggers doing this assignment. Then Hassan sent me an email telling
me to do so as everybody is doing it. Seems fun indeed. So I thought of giving it a try and see what happens.

So here it goes...

Seven Things I plan to Do:
1. Go to the U.S.A. and study for my M.A. degree.
2. Apply for another study program for my Ph.D. while I'm in the U.S.A.
3. Read the 26 books I received from the United States lately. I started with the first book in fact.
4. Lose some weight. I'm not fat, but I want to lose weight.
5. Go shopping for my travel.
6. Start packing, after shopping.
7. Be someone that my parents can be proud of. They are already proud of me, but I wanna do things that make them be prouder.


Seven Things I Can Do:
1. Get online from 10 P.M. till 6 in the morning continuously.
2. Blog daily.
3. Watch F.R.I.E.N.D.S. over and over again.
4. Stay alone at home or anywhere else for a long time.
5. Stay sane in an insane environment.
6. make everyone feels hopeful and O.K.
7. Listen to music all time.


Seven Things I can't do:
1. Be good at politics.
2. Stop making friends.
3. Drink the necessary amount of water, cuz I forget !
4. Stop forgetting to do things.
5. Stop blogging.
6. Wake up early every morning.
7. Remembering new people's faces!


Seven things I say most often:
1. Is this the generator or the national electricity?
2. Who's online. ( I always as my sister this question whenever she's online).
3. Ahooo! When I get diaconnected from the internet.
4. I'm going to U.S.! (I say this alot these days.)
5. I forgot! .. I often forget.
6. Beeha al kheir. ( to end a conversation)
7. Cha shinsawee! (I make everyone angry with this!)


Seven bloggers I want to pass this tag to:
1. Micho La Jolie Fille
2. Attawie
3. Little Snippet
4. Anarki13
5. The_Kid Himself
6. AC Blue Eagle
7. Children's Voice From Iraq


Let's see more of those assignments.

Monday, October 17, 2005

Yes or No!


Well, I've been thinking of the referendum and the voting issue since yesterday. I could email any of my friends and talk about it, but I finally decided to write it here. I don't want to make anyone dizzy with what's in my mind. I was wondering why some people are with the constitution and why some others are against it. For me, I'm not with and not against! I don't know how, but I feel indifferent about it.. as it is the same for me about politics.

I admit that I didn't read the draft as many Iraqis didn't read it. And if you want the truth, I have no clue about its contents. Maybe it's because I lost hope in this government..... NO, NO, NO, I didn't have any glimpse of hope in it since the begining, I didn't even vote for it during the elections in January, I chose another list in that time.

We, people in Iraq, heard many stories saying that this constitution is already determined whether we voted for or against it.... And many stories like these! I asked this question "Why yes, and why no?" Here are some answers: Yes cuz we want to settle down. Yes cuz we don't want to re-live the passed year with it's bad circumstances. Yes cuz we don't want to the American troops to stay for another year. Yes cuz it's already pre-determined, so there is no use of saying no. No cuz the sinna didn't participate in it. No cuz it is made under the occupation. No cuz it is not a good constitution. No cuz of the federalism part in it and other points which are not good. Yes yes yes, and No no no... and many other reasons. I collected those reasons from different people, family and friends.

I had an arguement with blueman about the whole issue today. We talked about politics. Being from different sects, we didn't agree on each other's points of view. He said " I want this constitution to fail cuz I want to laugh at the government for its great faliure and false promises". I had my daily tour in the Iraqi blogs and the non-Iraqi blogs which talk about Iraq. All of those blogs are talking about the constitution. And I noticed that most of the Iraqi bloggers voted "No". I liked Zeyad's post about it, only three words! " I voted against".

As a matter of fact, the news were kinda astonishing today; knowing that so many people voted against the constitution. This wasn't expected at all, at least in my mind. I thought that many people would vote for it after all the hard work of advertising for it! You can clearly see the advertisements of futureiraq.org filling the streets of Baghdad and the other Iraqi cities, all saying yes for the constitution. We still don't know the final results yet though.

I don't know what else I should say, but I know that I still didn't get it out of my mind. So in your opinion, why is it yes? and why is it no?
Another question! Supposing that this constitution failed, and now there are other processes to make a new referendum. What makes us think that this other constitution will be better than the first one although it is established under the same circumstances?! I don't believe that things will be any better next year.


I hope I didn't make you dizzy with the ramblings of my mind. Thank you for reading, and hope to read your comments.



Good Night

Saturday, October 15, 2005

Two Photos With Different Stories







This first picture is of three baby porcupines in the size of hand. I like this kind of pics, actually I got it from Pebblepie and she told me that it is O.K. to post it in my blog. Thank you!





Now the other picture is what I wanted to talk about. Sure all Iraqis know who is Qasim Abu Al-Qas ! Now the second picture if for this famous resturant in Aadamyia district in north of Baghdad. I live near this area, and I spent most of my childhood there. But Ironically, I went to this resturant only once in my whole passed life! That day was the one of the happiest days in my college life. It was November 2002 when my friends and I suddenly decided to go pay a quick visit to Qasim Abu Al-Qas and buy Schawarma Sandwitches ( I hope the spelling is correct!). In that day, we were celebrating the birthday of F. ( I mean by "we" a group of six girls. We were together all the time). It was winter and very cold in that day, we almost had no lectures and we didn't know what to do to spend time. It was almost 1 o'clock afternoon, and there was still one hour and a half to go back home. Attawie suddenly popped up with an idea to go to Qasim Abu Al-Qas to buy fast food and go back to have it at college. It was O.K. with everyone of us except for Shabnem who refused the thought completely! I remember that she used to refuse to go out for lunch everytime during the first two years of college. But later it became ok with her to go out with us, she even came with me and my family on that picnic to the North of Iraq.

So went out of college at that day arguing! The first thing we used to argue about everytime we went out is that who should sit in the front chair!! No one us accepted to sit there, as if the taxi driver would bite us!! So everytime we were fighting on that issue making some funny excuses! One of those excuses were.. " You are fat, if you sit in the back chair with us there will be no enough space for the six of us!" Another excuse was.. " I can't sit in the fron chair, my skirt is kinda short and the driver might keep looking at me!!" or.. " No way! The taxi driver smells so bad !!" ... I laugh when I remeber this.

So in that day, the six of us were stuck in that " Brazili " taxi ! All of us wearing thick and long coats! Some were fighting and some were laughing, and F. ordering us not to laugh or talk in front of the taxi driver... ( 3eb baba don't laugh). Anyway, so we got to the resturant, stood there and ordered our take-away meal, then came back to college with our food. On our way back. When we came back to college, we saw Muhammad Sabir, a Plestenian student in my class, and he said that a professor was looking for us cuz we skipped her lecture!
All this, and Shabnem kept frowning at us all day long that day!


This post is a reminder for me to keep remembering college days.

Monday, October 10, 2005

Me and the U.S.A. !!

Hi all,

Maybe you are wondering about the post's title now. What is between me and the U.S. ! In fact, an anonyomus commenter had earged me to write this post indirectly. This commenter has been asking me a couple of times why do I want to study at the U.S.A. if I hate the American poeple and the American government ! Now I want to make somethings correct, so this post is dedicated to you, dear anonymous, and to all my friends and blog visitors who had mistaken me on this issue before.

First of all, this post is not a political one, I'm just correcting some ideas that some people have about me in this matter. So here it goes:

I never said that I hate the American people, and I don't hate them at all. I just don't know how you got this thought about me. Maybe now you will say that America invaded my country so do I still like its people! I will tell you, I have many American friends, some of them are American soldiers working in bases in Iraq and inside the Green Zone. I met many Americans via the internet and I made good friendships with those people. Some of them helped me by sending me books and stuff I need. (Do I hate the people who help me?!)... Above all, America is making my dream come true by studying abroad... and who knows, I might be able to live there for the rest of my life!

I know that you say the American people are the American government and if I hate one of them then I should hate the other one. I would like to say something here.. Am I obliged to like all the the presidents and governments of the countries in the world?! I DON'T LIKE MY GOVERNMENT EITHER !! You will ask why do I hate my government.. I will simply answer by saying that it gave me nothing at all, and it didn't make any good thing for my country since it has been elected and till now! ... ( Excuse me, this is my own opinion only, other people might see that I'm wrong about it.. But this is up to me only!) After all, everyone is free with what he/she thinks of.

Back to the anonymous commenter, I hope that you are reading this, You think that I would be unhappy if I study in the U.S.A. cuz I will be with people I don't like! I say no, on the contrary! I have friends there and I like them, and I know pretty sure that the American people are very kind and friendly people ( I say this on several experiences I had with them). And being in a Muslim or Christian community makes no difference for me as long as we are all human beings and share the same charecteristics; humanness, and the will to live in a peaceful and safe atmoshpere. We are all human beings and there is no importance if we share the same political views or not. We can all live peacefully together and we can love each other apart from our governments. This is my point of view at least !

I know that the American government is a good one and it does lots of good things for the American people. I know that many people voted for Bush to be the presidents for a second term, and that there are other people who didn't vote for him and didn't want him to become the presidents again... And yet they still communicate with each other.. If I hate or let us say "don't like" the American government, this doesn't mean that I can't live with the American people and can't study there either! I won't ask all the American people I meet if they hate or love their governments! This is a personal opinion and no one can interfere in it no matter what. I am not an American citizen, and I just see that my opinion and feeling about the American government is of no importance. And for me, I don't mix between the government and the people of a country.

This is my personal point of view about the whole matter, I know that other people might have opposite views. My opinion is up to me, and your opnion is up to you and I fully respect it.

Dear anonymous, I wish if you are reading this now so you could tell me your opinion after I made myself clear to you and to other friends :)


Peace for All ...

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Photos From Iraq

Hey all,

I started a new blog today. It's Photos From Iraq, and it will contain only photos from different places of Iraq with comments on them. I would like to know if anyone of you likes to join and become a member of the blog to share any photos you have about ANYTHING in Iraq.

Email me to send you an invitation.


Thanks and peace for all

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

The Blue-Beard Man

Once upon a time, and a good time it was. There lived a weird man who had a blue rectangular-shaped beard. No one in the small village knew anything about him. Not even his name. He lived in a huge mansion all alone.

One day, as he was taking a tour in his carriage around the village as usual, he noticed a very beautiful girl walking on the roadside and carrying a bunch of white lilies in her hands. He decided to follow that girl at once to know her place of living! Finally he knew her home, and after nights of dreaming of her he decided to go and ask for her hands for marriage.

That beautiful girl, named Christine, was the most beautiful and the smartest girl in the village. The blue-beard man was way too old for her but she accepted to marry him cuz he's a lonely man and he needed people to be around him to love him and care for him. And so she was that one for him.

After they got married, they moved to his mansion which was located near the mountain. The house stood in that place all alone among the giant old trees. There was no sight for houses of even people in that place at all.

One day, the man gave Christine the mansion's keys and said "Here are the mansion's keys, now you are incharge of everything except for that black room in the basement!". Christine wondered what could be hidden in that room and why her dear husband would hide it from her! But she got no answer. Days passed and she couldn't stop thinking of that mysterious room. She was left alone at home by her husband for long hours everyday and there was no one around to talk with. Eventually, she decided to go down the basement and open the room's door to reveal her husband's secret.

She had the keys, and all what she could do is to wait for her husband to go out in the morning so that she's alone to go into the room. That minute came when she headed to her aim. Her hands were shaking as she put the key in the keys hole, but she was determined to know what was behind that door. The room was completely dark and there were no windows, but she could see everything.

The scene was horrified to the degree thst she fell down on the floor immediately, and the keys were lost from her on the ground. She saw dead bodies hanged from the ceiling!!! Those were the ex-wives of her husband. All died in the same terrible way and hanged side by side in that black room!!! Stains of blood were filling the room's floor, and the smell can make anyone faint.

She sat there crying her heart out looking at those poor women. She wondered what they did that made them deserve such this tragic death, and again, she found no answer! She started to think that her end might be the same. She looked for the keys in the blooded floor and rushed out of the room to call for her two brothers to come and rescue her from that devil.

Suddenly, her husband came back early and felt that there was something wrong going on. But she said that there was nothing except that she fell on the ground and hurt herself.

- "Did you get into that room?!" He said suspectedly.
- "Ah!... What room are you talking about, darling?!" She answered with a sound full of fear.
- "The room in the basement !" He shouted.
- "No, I didn't".

He suddenly became so angry and threw the keys in her face.

-"Then why the keys are full of blood?! ANSWER ME"

He didn't wait to hear her answer. He dragged her cruelly from her hair and took her down the stairs to where the room was. She started to sob and begged him not to kill her like the other women...... But all was in vain!

As he was preparing to kill her in that room, he told her that he killed them all because they didn't listen to him and opened the room's door behind his back, and that now she had to face the same destiny cuz she did exactly what they did before.

- "Women are all the same!"

She prayed that her brothers would be there in time and asked him to let her pray before he killed her. And he said O.K. She prayed and cried on that room's floor, and he was there right behind her heading his gun to the back of her head getting ready to pull the trigger whenever she was done.


And yet her brothers didn't show up!!

He shouted at her saying that was enough but she begged him for more ten minute.



Time elapsed quickly and her brothers were nowhere to be seen. She became very desperate and lost hope n everything. She started to think of her past life and her family... And her tragic horrible end. She doubted that anyone would know anything about the way she died, and that maybe other wives would come and die the same way!!

He couldn't wait for more time, and anger controlled him from head to toe, he shouted angrily as he pulled the trigger at last. She could hear it in her head. A gun shot was out, and she fell on the floor.. Covered with blood. He fell beside her too. He was killed, not her! her brothers were standing at the room's door. They could rescue her in the last moment.


She was saved by the bell !




Tell me your opinion.

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

My Blog is Back!!

Ramadan Kareem for all of you Bloggers, visitors, anonymous commenters... and to the whole Islamic world. I pray in this month to God to save us all and to protect us and our country from the harm. Inshalla next Ramamdan we'll be free of occupasion.



My blog is back at last !

I was having a problem to view my blog since two days. I don't know what happened to it. So I had to change the template, and now it's back again. But all my links and stuff on the sidebar are gone now!


Now I have to redo the hard works again to bring 'em all back.


I will post the first story by night maybe.

Monday, October 03, 2005

Blog Problem!

Hey all,

I'm having a problem with veiwing my blog! It happened since last time I published my last post "My Online Copybook". I don't know if any of you can veiw it. Nothing works with me except the "New Post" page. Even the settings and templates pages are not working!

All what I see is the upper toolbar. Please, email me if you can see this and know what to do to solve the problem!!


Peace for all.

Sunday, October 02, 2005

My Online Copybook

Micho reminded me of an old copybook I made by myself when I was in the elementary school. I used to write the cartoons' stories in my simple way, and I used to draw pictures of the characters as well. I remember that I wrote many stories that we used to watch on TV like that old cartoon "7kayat 3alamia" . I don't know where is that copybook now. Probably Mom threw it with other old stuff! Don't know.

So I saw that it might be a good idea if I rewrite those old tales now. But this time I will do it in English language and I will add more details. I don't remember the Cartoons I watched in details, so I might also change somethings in them.

The first tale will be titled "The Man With The Blue Beard" from "7kayat 3alamia". I wonder if you, Iraqi readers, remember this story! I am working on it in the background now, and I will try to draw some pictures as I used to do before. But this time it will be an Online Copybook!

And by the way, Micho started her own blog, and Attawie is back to the Bloggers world! Check them out.



Good Night!