Sunday, July 31, 2005

In the Key of X

I got some new jeans the other day. They are really different then the regular jeans I buy. I usually get regular baggy straight cut jeans, non of that crappy worn look cut up stuff. But, the other day I was at Debenhams I found some cool Billabong jeans, the problem was they weren't too baggy and they had this worn look on them, both things I dislike. So I was like I will just try it but definitely won't get it. I tried them and loved them, and got them. Now I have been wearing them the past two days and I feel more trendy for some reason. This is a shot of the label that on the jeans. It was made of jeans material and painted in white with a big red x.

Saturday, July 30, 2005

Loser

I had a business meeting at Starbucks opposite Fanar tonight. I don't know why I keep going back to Starbucks. I used to think they were over priced, and then they increased their prices and I'm still go back.

Friday, July 29, 2005

No.5

Today I went and shot a picture I had taken previously with my old Nikon FE film camera. I wanted to see how much a difference there was between digital and film. The result? Not that much really, but just enough to make me prefer the film shot more. The film camera because of its age creates this effect where the corners of the picture darkens up. This creates a more moody picture compared to the perfect digital shot which results in a better picture.
Click here to see the film version of this picture.

Thursday, July 28, 2005

My Pictures

Today I went and developed my pictures which I took with the old Nikon FE camera. When I first got the pictures back the guy had only developed 13 of the pictures. When I asked why he was like because most of the pictures were blurry or of objects like a light switch or a neon light. I was like yeah duh, I meant for those pictures. So I told him to redevelop the pictures but this time ALL of them. Overall the pictures came out pretty cool, the old camera gives this color effect that you just can't get with digital cameras. The biggest downside is it cost me KD4.500 to develop the pictures, plus KD1 for the film.. now I know why people are moving to digital..

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Crash the movie

Went had dinner at McDonalds in Salmiya, over Johnny Rockets. I started going there when I was still in high school. It had just opened and it was one of the very few places where we could go to and just buy a drink and hang out for a long time without any waiter giving us the "you got to leave look". I had a Big Mac combo and read the paper, very relaxing. When I got home I watched the movie Crash (not the Cronenberg one). It was a really good fucking movie, this one is definitely my favorite movie of the year, even better then Sin City.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

30

Tonight we were invited to Fadibou's birthday party. Me and Nat stayed there for 1 hour and 20 minutes, the longest we have ever stayed at a party in Kuwait. I think all the Halo2 and PSP talk made things interesting.

Monday, July 25, 2005

Who's that girl?

Anyone know who the girl in the cap is? Photographers were like swarming around her. I think she arrived on a flight from Dubai.

Sunday, July 24, 2005

Orange is Missing

It seems the construction in Salmiya will never end. I just hope they repave the roads once they are done.

Saturday, July 23, 2005

Hell and Back

Picked up my Nikon FE from the Nikon dealer today. I was getting it serviced, its actually my parents camera. They got it back in the early 80's, then my sister used it during university and now its in my possession. I am going to use it for a new project I am starting with Nataly. Its a really heavy cam, full metal body and I could imagine it would survive the worst. I think it already survived a lot, the Lebanese civil war, Gulf War 1 and my sister.

Friday, July 22, 2005

From A to Zinc

So I am trying to get healthy and fit. I am not going to cut down on junk food, that will never happen, but I am finally using my home gym and I will try to drink a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice every morning. On top of that I also started taking some multi vitamin pills to help balance out any vitamin I am lacking. Even if they don't do anything, psychologically I would feel better.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Vitamin A B C D E F U C K

Bought a orange juice maker from Sultan Center. Figured my body could use some Vitamin C.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Beware of Nukes

All it took was one wrong turn while looking for a chinese restaurant.

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Fantasy Land

Interested in getting some fish with an aquarium? Or maybe some water turtles or hamsters? There is a huge place in Muthana Complex called Fantasy Land that have the largest variety of fish and aquariums in Kuwait. They even have an eel with leopard skin thats over a meter long and costs KD200. If you are interested you can contact them on 2465925. They are located on Mezzanine 1 adjacent to the Wind Riders shop.

Monday, July 18, 2005

Light Rays

I love microwave food and thats why recently I have been buying a lot of different microwavable meals and reviewing them on 2:48AM. If you check the Reviews section you should see a couple. This abstract shot today is actually the light inside the microwave. I was cooking a microwavable meal which I am gonna review tomorrow and decided this shot might be interesting. Its also too fucking humid today, I am so glad I don't life in Dubai, can't imagine this kind of weather every fucking day of my life.

Sunday, July 17, 2005

NKOTB

What I like about Kuwait is that there are many shops here who still have merchandise from the 90's. Thats how I was able to find a brand new NeoGeo AES system although they stopped making them years ago and this is why this store still sells New Kids on the Block poster. I love the 90's.

Saturday, July 16, 2005

The Way Out

This picture summarizes my feelings towards this blog at the moment... I want out! Only 120 more days left though so we are getting there. There are 2 other local blogs who are attempting a similar picture per day project which you should check out. Fadibou is one and q8Sultana is another. Both have interesting pictures. I am going to go watch Seinfeld now...

Friday, July 15, 2005

Jolly Time

I hate the popcorn at the movie theaters in Kuwait. They aren't very appetizing and they usually are burnt or not done right. They also don't up butter flavored popcorn! How can they not have butter flavored popcorn? The only two options you have are either regular or caramel.. and I don't like caramel. There is one cool thing though and thats the Jolly Time popcorn brand you can find at Sultan Center. They are microwavable popcorn and they are fucking amazing. Nataly likes the Crispy 'n White Light popcorn while I prefer the greasy and juicy Blast O Butter. You put the bag in the microwave and 2 minutes later you have popcorn that tastes a lot better then the movie theaters version. Imagine that, you can make better popcorn at home, only in Kuwait.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Fraggggeeedddd

Nibaq came over today for the second round in the Halo Frag Fest tournament. Last week I played with Fadibou against another team and we lost, today I played with Nibaq and we lost.. badly. It was pretty cool though. Next week it will Edjamacated Guy on my team.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

PowerMac

Tonight I spent it all fixing my mac. Nothing was wrong with it just cleaned up the inside and reorganized the hard drive cables and stuff. I love my mac, its not the latest mac or anything, but its been with me for a few years now and its my first mac... actually my ibook was the first mac but that died a few years ago also. Now I am considering either upgrading my powermac from a G4 733mhz to a G4 1.7ghz, or wait till the new iBooks come out and buy one. I guess I will have to wait and see how good the new iBooks will be..

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Porn

I was on my way to Sultan Center when I noticed the car next to me there was a guy in the passenger seat watching movies on his laptop. At first he was watching some car related movies, then the guy started watching porn! If I was a cop I would have busted his ass, porn in public is not good. So I passed by Sultan Center tonight to get some microwavable food. I am gonna try and review all the microwavable dishes Sultan carries. The last meal I reviewed turned out to be cool so I am hoping more meals turn out as good as well. So keep checking my blog 2:48AM for the reviews.

Monday, July 11, 2005

XBMC

I couldn't shoot anything outside the house today since I had a major headache today and had to come home early from work. I took 2 panadols and took a nap since I hate being awake when I have a headache. When I woke up it was evening already and I was feeling much better so I decided to install the Xbox Media Center (XBMC) on my xbox, I had heard a lot about it but didn't know how cool it was till today. Other then the fact that I can now stream music, videos and pictures off my mac, I can also listen to online radio and even watch videos off the web. I have a whole bunch of channels including Comedy Central where I was able to watch a couple of Dave Chappelle shows the funniest being the one called "What if Bush was Black". Really funny stuff. One channel even had 12 episodes of the new show Joey for me to watch, very cool, this media center is going to start competing with my Tivo it seems. Today is Day 240 of the project, only 125 days to go.

Sunday, July 10, 2005

Memorial Museum

Tonight me and Nat past by the Memorial Museum. It turned out to be really cool place. At first I thought it was going to have just displays of pictures and items from the Gulf War but it turned out to be much more then that. Firstly there is a KD1 entrance which you pay at the entrance. Once you go inside you get a personal guide, ours was a female volunteer who was very nice and shy. The museum is divided into various sections, the first section talks about Kuwaits origins and how they discovered oil and how Kuwait gained its independence from Iraq. Then they show you images from the last meeting on August 1st 1990 in Jedah with Saddam Hussain who says that everything is cool and they won't invade Kuwait, then you move to the next section. The second section is where they talk about the invasion of Kuwait, all done using models and special effects. They have a huge model of Kuwait City and the streets are littered with model tanks, other vehicles and soldiers. This section is a long dark corridor with displays on both sides of the room all in the dark. Then as the story is being narrated through speakers in the room, the different sets light up to show the story. These sets with the models have strategically located lights and smoke machines, very cool stuff plus there was a lot of sound effects of machine gun fire, people shouting and things exploding. Anyway I am not gonna say more since its better if you go check it out. They open in the morning and in the evenings. WIth the KD1 entrance you get a guided tour, 2 movies you watch about the war, and souvenirs which involve posters, a cool brochure with nice pictures, and another brochure on the museum. To find out where they are located and when they are open you can call them on 4845335 or 4846336.

Saturday, July 09, 2005

Canada Dry

Had to take my car to the mechanic today. I think I figured out how they charge you. Stage 1, when you first ask them how much it will cost to fix the car, they will give you a rough estimate. Stage 2, they will then tell you that there is a possibility that its gonna cost more then he had first predicted to fix the car. Stage 3, you start to worry that the price to fix the car is going to be too high. You start wishing that your car isn't too fucked and that hopefully you will end up paying the original low price the mechanic estimated. Stage 4, after making you think you would pay more then he had predicted, the mechanic will hit back telling you that you were lucky and it actually ended up costing just as he had originally predicted. Stage 5, you pay the guy what he asked for without negotiating because you are glad it didn't turn out to be the more expensive price he made you think you might have to pay. Thats how mechanics charge you.

Friday, July 08, 2005

Red Balls of Fire

We were at Sultan Center tonight when I realized I still hadn't shot the picture of the day yet. Since the tripod was in the trunk of the car I decided I would do some long exposure photography. I took this picture from the sidewalk near Johnny Carino's on the Gulf Road. The camera's aperture was set at f22 and the shutter speed I believe was 15 seconds. One thing I realized today is that I have less then 100 days to go to get this project over with. Although I started this project all excited and energetic, currently its become a hassle, a pain in the ass and I really just want to quit it. But, I never expected it would be easy and now that I have less then 100 days left its given me a bit of a positive boost. Once I am done with this project I need to figure out what to do with it all. I have all the original pictures which I posted here plus the ones I rejected all in their full hi-res glory. In total they add up to over 8.8GB. In the beginning I was planning to put them all in a book which I would end up giving to my friends and people I meet. Now I am not sure about that since it would be a pretty fucking big book and I doubt I would be able to afford printing it. Let me get this project over with and then I'll see what I will do.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

The Preparations

I spent most of my evening setting up the local network in my house. Tomorrow is Day 1 of the "Halo 2 Summer Frag Fest" and I was setting up my brothers and my xbox onto the local network so tomorrow we could play 2 on 2 using our 2 xbox's. I don't know what I did wrong but half the network accidently went down and I had to set everything up from zero. Finally when I was done, we tested the xbox system link by playing some Doom 3. Everything worked perfectly and now I am looking forward to tomorrow night. For more information on the "Halo 2 Summer Frag Fest" click here.

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Desert Fubuki™

Another dust storm another day. Dust storms are very normal in Kuwait. I remember in Lebanon one time a few years ago there was a dust storm, it freaked people out. No one knew what the fuck was going on or what the hell was happening. We don't get dust storms in Lebanon, they are extremely rare so it shocked people. Here in Kuwait a dust storm is just a dust storm, its expected and its hated. For me, any time the sun doesn't show then its a good day.

What is Desert Fubuki™

Monday, July 04, 2005

Up Close

I had some extra time to kill during lunch so I decided to go to Salhiya Complex. When I was younger (late 80s early 90s) I used to visit Salhiya a lot. I don't remember much from it, I remember a music shop called The White House, I remember this computer shop that had the latest tech and the latest game systems, I remember a Korean restaurant and finally I remember the graveyard. Salhiya overlooks a huge and very old graveyard. When I used to visit Salhiya it was mostly in the evenings and I used to walk in the alleyway behind the shops and just stare out in the dark at the graveyard. It was very quiet and spooky. I decided to go to the alleyways behind the shops today and check out the graveyard during the daytime. I don't recall ever doing that. So I went today but it seems Salhiya have redesigned and expanded most of the shops into the back alleyway. The alleyway no longer exists like it did before, now its much much smaller. Even so, I still managed to go to the backside and checkout the graveyard. For the first time I realized how close the graveyard was. I could actually make out the writings on some of the tombstones. I hung around there for like 10 minutes just staring out into the graveyard and then I went back to the office. It was very calming.

Sunday, July 03, 2005

Lego Guy

Can someone steal this for me? If you visit Fantasy World at Souk Sharq and check out the Lego section you will see this supersized lego guy on the shelf. I asked them if they would sell me it but they refused. I think it would look fucking cool in my living room. I would try to find one like it online but I don't know what to search for. If someone can get me it they will be handsomely rewarded with 1 can, no, make that 2 cans of Shani drink.

Saturday, July 02, 2005

Behind Closed Doors

Just got back from the airport awhile ago. Surprisingly it was empty, I guess most people leave Kuwait in the summer and not the other way around. I saw the white Hummer H2 limo outside the airport, it must be the most popular limo in Kuwait, I think I see it on average once a week.

Friday, July 01, 2005

A Night Out in Jabriya

I was cleaning up my room today when I noticed the sky was very colorful. I don't know why, maybe its like this everyday and I probably don't notice it but today I did. I didn't go anywhere today, no "discover kuwait" no nothing. I realized since I only have 1 day off through out the week I want to be as lazy as possible when that day comes. It's Day 230 of the project.