Bah humbug. I am not in a festive mood. Time marches on.

I need a good book to read. Tell me the names of some good books or authors and why you like them. Thanks!

Wow! I just played two great scrabble games. In the first one I got four bingos. 4 bingos! I don't remember what they were now, but one of them was UNGLAZED, and what was so cool about it was that I drew UNGAZED as the last 7 letters in the bag, after making my 3rd bingo. And there was an open L! I ended up with 434 points. Then I played Argyrios and we had a combined score of 885. It was 515 to 370, he won. We had 3 bingos each on the board. I had SPINNER, UNDREAMT, and TRAILED. Argyrios had HOISTERS, RETINAE, and LIGHTED. All of this and I had a bag of mint chocolate kisses to munch on. The best morning ever. :)

Hola, como estas! I've been home for the break for more than a week now and I'm getting used to the quietness and the order. I've been so used to disorder and chaos that it feels weird, but good I guess. My aunt suad is here and it has been an adventure. It was a really emotional reunion for her and dad because they haven't seen each other in 21 years and she's never met any of us. In the past week I have learned alot of arabic but it's all the egyptian slang stuff. She doesn't understand me most of the time because in class we learned the classical arabic which is different. On top of it I say alot of the words wrong. I wished her a "good bean morning" on accident and I told her "my door has a lot of friends." She has a good sense of humor though. And she's very stubborn and proud. She can sew anything too. She doesn't have much to do during the day because dad is at work, so she wants to sew. She has sewen me a skirt that goes from my belly button to my toes and a shirt that goes down to my knees! It's a nice shirt but the material is cotton and pink and white so it looks like a lab coat. I wore it last sunday to the mosque for her. I normally wear my pants around my hips, or a little above. But she thinks that a girl should wear her pants around her waist, which is way too high for me.

My mom and me took her to the mall yesterday. When she got tired we sat down in the food court and waited for my mom. She said "shoofie, shoofie!" which means "look, look!" she couldn't believe how many fat people there were! I mean, really fat people. In Egypt, they don't consider anyone truely fat unless they are about 100 pounds overweight. If so, then that person is a "kooba" which means "dome." I think they have a lot healthier view of weight over there. Here, any fat is considered bad and at the same time, we have alot of koobas. It's a huge problem. But she said it's changing in Egypt, mostly because of TV, commercials and movies that show so many pencil-thin people as beautiful. The ideally beautiful woman is becoming less realistic.

In other news we got a new dog. Maybe I'll post a picture later. Thats all for now. :)

moovaboovabooga choo!

This is a very long post about what I did in the last 40 hours

I love life, and that is why I do not sleep! This is the 2nd semester in a row that I have thrown my arms in the air at the end and felt the pure joy of life without worry for about 40 hours, wihtout sleep and just living, doing, having fun. Yeah, in other words partying like no other. Like no other! These 36 hours have been wonderful. Actually, more than 36 hours I think... At the end of my last test on Saturday, it all began... (warning, long post about to begin)

It all began a few hours before my last exam. I took a shower. Oh, I guess it began before the shower. I ate lunch at Miltos with Saray, Leonel and Thomas. It was delicious and wonderful. I walked there through the beautiful day, and I saw 2 green birds in a tree by spiderhouse. I stopped and looked and looked. I think they were paraketes. SO, back to the shower. That was breaking with tradition, because in the past, I have not taken showers during finals week. It is my ode to no-shower-ness. Then I ran into jeff on the way to the libaray, and stopped and talked to him. It was nice to see him again, and I invited him to the party that stephanie decided to have later that night. I invited alot of people to her party. I went up to the library after talking to him and sat down on a computer to review things for my exam and talked to my brother. He said that Aunt Suad is here. He said that when she saw dad at the airport she started crying, and hugged him, and cried some more, and that mom started crying too. I started crying in the library. I'm not sure why I cried, but I felt better afterwords. I talked to adam for a little bit. Then I studied and went and took my test. Then I went to stephanies house. Nida drove me and i brought boggle. Oh - i talked to parents before going to the party and they seemed tired. I was so happy that yaskin and lance showed up at the party, and brought along some other people. David floyd from high school showed up too and said hello. That was neat. We talked about kara marrying george. Then the party moved, more people came, I drank some very powerful drink, but only a little, and that was good. I danced like a crazed nerdligan, finally released from the Chains of Work. So many people! I kissed leonel and saray, and rubin's cheek, and I danced with Liz, Lia, Argy, by myself, leonel, and rubin, and tried to show jeremy how to dance with liz, but that was a doomed project from the start. I sat down and rested, and looked at everyone. Oh but the fun I had dancing. The dancer in me came out this weekend, unrestrained, much to the horror of most people, but it's one of those fascinating horrors. OH well! Its a great feeling. That night ended foggily, but I predicted it. So many people in so small a place, and the police drove up in their police cars, and the word spread, and then the people spread, and I ran out to the street corner and stood there and chatted with a guy named Rob trying very hard to speak coherently. I hate being incoherent. Then I saw nida and her 2 friends and they giggled about my state of mind, which was a silly state of mind. Then stephanie being the wonderful person that she is, drove me home, BUT not before giving me a huge bucket of month old cookies. Now, this was particularly not good because I had the munchies. So I blissfully ate cookies in the car with my eyes closed, thanked stephanie and ran up to the apartment where I flung myself onto the couch and smiled, and ate more cookies. I managed to lock the door, put pajams on and go to sleep.

Interlude 1: Whats colder than cold? Ice cold!

I woke up on sunday at around 12:30 in a slight panic. Nida said "it's 12:30" and i said "oh my god. it's 12:30!" then i laid there with my heart beating hard in my chest thinking that something must be done about 12:30. Then I calmed down, and realized it is done. I am kind of excited about what I learned this semester in chemistry because there are questions i have that I think I can examine over the break and maybe put together my own project. Maybe not. But over the break I plan to find out, and in the process i'll learn.

I went and worked out with Lia at the gym, a place i haven't been in ages. It was good, I guess. Oh, before going to the gym I ate more cookies.

We came back to the apt and I did stuff like lay around, and eat tuna. I did laundry too. Then the night began again! Nights come quickly, it seems. We went to see a Christmas Carol put on by plan II. It was entertaining and made me remember elementary school. After the play we decided to watch LoTR since the third one is coming out on WEDNESDAY! this was a big ordeal. All things involving us getting a movie and collecting people and watching the movie tends to be a big ordeal. They exchanged gifts at Das Bleu Haus. (I think thats how they spell it.) Lia and I watched. Argyrios got by far the best gift, god knows why. They gave him a beautiful box of godiva chocolates, and Argyrios shared with everyone. We pretended that we didn't want it for about 2 seconds, just to give him a chance to retract his generous offering, but ended up digging in. Lane got Incredible Hulk gloves and a blow up punching bag with Homer Simpsons face on it. Lane is an interesting guy. You can't quite put your finger on him, and then you realize "whatever!" Martin, being a cook, got cheese and a cheese grater, and Dave got mice (computer mice) and a hideous inflatable wife. She was really aweful. Argyrios gave Nida, Lia and me "Extra Naughty Peppermint Peckers" you know, for our coffee table. They're horrible.

Then we ran into rubin, called nida, hit each other with incredible hulk punching gloves, talked, played 20 minutes of scrabble, drove around, were confused, relocated to rubin and jeff's to watch the movie, played spades, relocated back to das blue house and then, watched the movie.... FINALLY. Anytime we try to watch movies, it is ridiculous. A movie watching venture usually takes at least 4 hours!

THEN! Nida me and lia said goodbye and came home. Then I said "hey nida! lets go play DDR" and she said "ok!"

Interlude 2: DDR is dance dance revolution. I played it for the first time a week ago. it's really fun, and I think it will help with my lack of coordination and "feeling the beat"

So its about 5am Monday morning. Nida and I met argy on the drag and tried to get into Einstein's arcade. BUT IT WAS CLOSEDDDD! So was the other arcade. We were very sad. So we went to Metro and got cookies and argyrios and i played chess. Then nida went home, and I went back to das blue house with argyrios and watched invader zim with tiff an martin and dave while argyrios packed his tooth brush. Then we took him to the airport, and said our goodbyes. He's a sappy fellow so he kissed all of us on our cheeks and squeezed us tightly and then said "byebye!" in his best Grr voice (go to google and type in "invader zim") We all sighed, got back in the car and began yet another adventure: FIND KRISPY KREMEEEE.

Now, we thought we knew how to get there, because we had Tiff, but we didn't know how to get there. Dave was drunk so he opened the window and yelled at cars "why are you so yellow!" "why are you awake at 8am!" then to himself "oh yeah it's monday!" giggle "you loosers going to work! hahahahah" this went on the whole time we were on mopac, as noted by Martin, who was wearing his chef shirt. We finally got to krispy kreme and danced around in joy as we watched the donuts being fried by a big contraption, and then as they passed under a curtain of creme that looked like pure heavan. We got a dozen, sat down, and in a frenzy ate them all. Then we were content, but more food was needed for martin and dave. So we eventually got back to mcdonalds, where dave tried to order chicken nuggets but they said "nope too early" Dave was sad. Martin thougth it was funny that Martin is in cooking school to be a chef and yet was eating at Mcdonalds. Tiff thougth it was funny too so she took a picture. Martin thought it was funny that across the street from mcdonalds was a "Tiff's Treats" cookie store, so while he was driving he waved at the store and at tiff and laughed his funny martin laugh.

Interlude 3: ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Ok, so that was about 9am. I walked/jogged back to my apartment in the morning light. Up the stairs, into the kitchen, get some water, sit at computer... smile. sleepy... but not realy. And what do you know... nida is still awake! So we decide to try this DDR thing again. But first nida needs breakfast so we walked to kirby lane, and admired the waiter's goatee, and she ate pancakes, and impulsively i ordered coffee. doh. not again. then we walked to Einstein's arcade and watched someone play ddr. we decided to check the union because they have an arcade. It turned out they didn't have ddr though, so instead we said to ourselves "lets play pool!" so we played pool. We were HORRIBLE beyond belief. But it was good times. Then we went back to a different arcade, and lo and behold, the DDR machine was not being used! We played and played and played. At first we were both pretty bad, but got better. It was amazing watching other people. They could move so fast.

We walked slowly back home, because technically we were tired. it was almost noon... Still awake, I think to myself, again. I danced all over the place on the sidewalk on the way home. Dance dance dance, dance dance revolution. Then when we got home lia was still asleep. We tried to take a nap, dozed for a bit, then I ran back to campus at about 2ish because I wanted to try to find grades. Dr. Stanton left his office door open. I don't know why I am so intrigued by him. It was funny that his door was open because he's out of town. I tried to shut it, but it wouldn't lock. Then I went back home where me and nida and lia had a crazy dancing session, mostly to the music Hey Ya by Outkast, which I just fell in love with today. I got tired and delirious with dancing before laying down and resting.

At about 4pm we went to the mall with jocelyn and walked around and tried things on. I got new underwear from Victoria Secret. Nida considers this a "victory" in her feminization-of-s project even though the undies were plain cotton undies, nothing very scandalous. We ate at chic-fil-a for free b/c of some cupons jocelyn had. Then we went to see the Trail of Lights at zilker park. We got to Zilker at around 8pm. It was so beautiful and serene. Spinning and looking up at the top of the giant "christmas tree" of strung lights was a good thing to do. We listened to carolers for a few minutes and then walked the whole trail. Still awake. More dancing in the car on the way home.

Tonight - laundry. Tomorrow, go home. A part of me wants to stay here forever and ever, in the afterglow of this semester. Part of me wants to run back home and never come back. Part of me wants to be brave, and part of me wants only comfort and familiarity.

I don't know why I just wrote all that down, but I think it's because I want to remember all these little details, and I know they'll fade. I'll fall asleep pretty soon, and sleep for a long time to make up for all of this play, and when I wake up again, it will be a new day. Tomorrow I need to clean and throw away old papers, and pack things to go home. Then go home and see my family, and meet my Aunt Suad. Hopefully that arabic class will be useful.

Oh yeah. A good reason to write this down - for the hopefullness and happiness that I felt. Thats all. :)

You fill me with a passion that exceeds bounds,
the way when water boils,
the vapor has pushed away all the air,
and in that instant, when all resistance is gone,
it escapes the surface,
and exceeds bounds!

Wow, the end of the semester is upon us! The weird thing about college, compared to other ways of life, is that you live in these fast little cycles. Time sometimes seems infinite, and sometimes seems to be too small to do anything. You speed up and slow down, and learn a million facts just to forget most of them. It feels like a waste of time. I really think college is overrated. Another thing is that grades are overrated. I know that grades are really imaginary, but it's something that everyone obsesses about, so you start to think that the entire world revolves around markings on a piece of paper. But in the long run, they are very tiny things. You can make As and accomplish nothing. You can make Fs and accomplish everything, but you can also make As and accomplish everything or make Fs and accomplish nothing. Which makes what I said before even truer. Ok I'm going away now. :) Oh, but I do think one of the best things about college is the people. You get to be around really wonderful people, of all different kinds and that is a great opportunity for learning and growing.

Hello! Here's a few things.

1. This is from the Bible.

13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 13:2 And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 13:3 If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have love, I receive no benefit.

2. A whislting language!

3. ok i gotta go. :)

This is a walrus! Look into his eyes. Look deep into his eyes.... it's sort of hard since they're not really in the front of his face, so much as on the sides of his head, but if you have the will there is a way.