Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone.

Syrian airlines...

Came across this today and found it funny. Hope you like it.

zis is your captain Jasim welcoming both seated and standing bassengers
on board of Syrian Air

We abologize for z four days delay in taking off, it was due to bad
weazer and some overtime I had to but in at z bakery baking Kaak.

zis is flight 717 to Damascus Airbort. Landing zer is not guaranteed,
but we will end up somewhere in Syria. And, if luck is in our favor, we
may even be landing on your village !

Syrian Air has an excellent safety-record. In fact, our safety standards
are so high, zat even terrorists are afraid to fly wiz us!

It is wiz bleasure; I announce zat, starting zis year, over 30% of our
bassengers have reached zeir destination.

If our engines are too noisy for you, on bassenger request, we can
arrange to turn zem off in order to make sure you are feeling
comfortable!

We regret to inform you, zat today's in-flight movie will not be shown
as we forgot to record it from z television. However, for our movie
buffs, we will be flying right next to Somalia Airlines, where zeir
movie will be visible from z right side of z cabin window.

zere is no smoking allowed in zis airblane. Any smoke you see in
z cabin is only z early warning system on z engines telling us to slow
down!
In order to catch important landmarks, we try to fly as close as
bossible for z best view. If however, we go a little too close, do let
us know.

Our enthusiastic co-bilot sometimes flies right through z landmark!

Kindly be seated, keep your seat in an ubright bosition for take-off and
fasten your seat-belt. For zose of you who can't find a seat-belt,
kindly fasten your own belt to z arm of your seat . And, for zose of you
who can't find a seat, do not hesitate to get in touch wiz a stewardess
who will exblain how to fasten yourself to your suitcase.

sanking you all for choosing Syrian Air to fly for z first and last
time,

I Wish you a nice trib,

Regards from ..

Captain Jasim

New Years Resolutions

I know everyone makes New Years Resolutions that they dont keep but heres my resolutions that I do hope to keep.
1. Pass Algebra 2
2. Graduate from High School on time this year.
3. Return to the U.S. this summer
4. Visit Mexico again (but more than just Nogales) and visit Canada.
5. Move away from Arizona (I'm thinking Summer of 2010 after I finish my Freshman year of college)
6. Get a job while in college.

These are my goals for New Years Resolutions. Number 5 I dont think I'll be able to accomplish in 2009 because I'm going to give EAC in Thatcher a try but Summer of 2010 sounds like a good time to move. Want to come with me Kelly or are you going to College out of State already?

When I empty the trashcan in my room...

I usually need a garbage bag to take out all the trash. I'm one of those people who empties their trashcan say every 3 months or so. So stuff piles up and by the time I empty my wastebasket I need a garbage bag to take it all out. Lol.

I cant think of the name of the song right now but part of it goes along the lines of "I can escape this tonight, I'm stuck in this nightmare, somebody save me" I'll need to pull it off of youtube when I get flash to work on my laptop.

Looking back my parents have changed a lot from when I first entered High School. After 7th grade they transferred me from Benjamin Franklin Charter School to Heritage Academy which wasnt bad at first. Then in my first semester there I got stabbed in the back by people who I thought were my friends and I started noticing what a farce that school was. They would brainwash the students into believing that they were attending the best school in Arizona, The U.N. is evil, you were better prepared for life at college after you graduated, Bush's politics were for the better good, Obama is evil, ect... In 9th grade I had a critical thinking teacher who made the class interesting and I ended up with a high A in the class. So the next year I took yearbook. At the end of the semester she asked me to drop out of the class and told me I would get a high B or a low A since I was good about getting my assignments in on time but I was rather quiet and if I didnt like something I kept my mouth shut. When report cards came out at the end of the 1st semester I had a C- in that class barely passing by that schools "standards". She also taught 11th and 12th grade english so I had her again next year. I did all the work well and thought I would do well in the class. However I had started to suspect that she had her favorites and it became rather obvious at the end of the semester when several students who she treated better got higher grades even when they didnt even do a lot of the work or reading assignments. I got a C in that class and they got high B's and A's. Thankfully halfway through the second semester I moved so I finally got out of that school. If I could prove what she did there would probably be quite a few people who would not have graduated. But I cant do anything except rant about it since its too late to do anything about it. I noticed something about that school though. You get someone who is liked by everyone and if they dont like you the school will treat you like you do not exist until graduation even if that person leaves the school.

When I moved I didnt know what to expect after our Airline Fiasco caused by U.S. Airways. Then when I got to my new school and sat through my first English 11 class at AIS-R things started to look up. I was in a new open environment where I could express my opinions on a discussed topic without being looked down on. While my younger sibling go on and on about how they do not like AIS-R I openly admit that I like my new school. However most of my younger siblings have never been in a public school for more than 2 years or around the grades of Kindergarten, 1st grade, or 2nd grade. On the other hand I was in public elementary schools till 5th grade and I've taken classes at online school because I suck at math and I went to Evit for a summer course in Cullinary Arts because I was bored and had nothing to do and it looked fun. It was a blast and I got to meet all sorts of people and try all sorts of new things in cooking. Lifes looking up for me. :)

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas to all who read my blog. I got a laptop for Christmas and although I like it, its very confusing since its operating system is Linux Fedora. Now my Dad who is a computer programmer absolutely raves about Linux since apparently you can do quite a lot on it and its free to download from the company who makes it but my problem is that I dont know how to do things on it. I'm familiar with many Mac operating systems and Windows as well but I've never used Linux before. So this is going to take some getting used to. But the battery life so far has been wonderful so thats a plus. Eventually when I get the money I am probably also going to install Windows XP or Vista on here but that will be a while off when I actually have money plus I have more important needs in mind for when I do get money so I'll set that thought on the back burner.

Anyways I got back from Bahrain yesterday which was wonderful and if you ever get a chance to visit Bahrain guys I highly recommend you go. One of these days I'll post pictures from there on here but it could be a while. They have very friendly people and theres a lot to do there. Helped set up our Christmas tree that we got from there went to bed that night and this morning when I got up "Santa" had been here and left me some presents including this laptop. Thank you Santa now I dont need to worry about buying a computer for college. My Christmas hasnt been bad although I wish I had friends (Kelly, Melissa, Ryan...) and other family members (Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Grandparents...) here to enjoy it with.

So I thought I'd tell you a bit about my vacation in Bahrain. We rented a car here in Saudi Arabia and we left on the 21st. Now from Riyadh to Dammam/Dharan area (where you need to go to get to the causeway bridge) its a 3-4 or more hour drive depending on traffic, how fast you drive, ect... It took us about 4 hours and I got to drive for part of the journey though for safety reasons not in the citys. For rental cars you have to get a police report and a letter from the company that sponsors you to live in Saudi that states that you are going to be taking a car across the border for use on your vacation. Once you get to the causeway you have to take the police report to the police station there before customs and immigration to get the paper stamped and they give you a customs form which you give to the people at customs. Then after passing through Saudi Customs and Immigration where Saudi stamps in your passport that you have exited the country (you do need to have an exit visa to leave the country so they check for this) and then you pass through Bahranian Customs and Immigration which is a bit faster than Saudis since they are a more free country in a way. Whats funny is occasionally you will see right after Saudi Customs and Immigration is Cars stopping and men and women getting out, women taking off their abayas (the long "coat" they have to wear in Saudi) and the women getting into the drivers seat (women are not allowed to drive in Saudi) and the men getting into the passenger seat and then speeding off towards Bahrin. Anyways after you pass through Bahrainian customs and immigration you get on a highway which will take you into Manama the Capitol City. So we found out that you could rent apartments at a much cheaper rate per day than hotels so we ended up renting a 2 bedroom apartment which was within walking distance of a lot of restaurants and whatnot. We saw the movie "Bolt" while there which was not bad, went around the city, saw a really cool Pirate show at the City Center Mall, and had a lot of fun. Then we left on the 24th and got back to Riyadh in a few hours and now I'm writing about this the next day.

Tommorrow will be the 5th day...

To go till Christmas. Hopefully that will be a good day. Anyways tomorrow I am going to Bahrain and I wont be back until the 24th. Kelly I'll send you some pictures. Anyways onto another thought of mine. The U.S. isnt what it used to be so isnt it about time for us to move to Canada or Europe. Our ancestors moved to the U.S. when it was actually worth something. Now with the declining Dollar and the Current Economic Situation I think its about time to leave because I dont want to be in the mess known as the U.S. when it REALLY gets screwed over. Europe or Canada here I come in a few years.

7 days to go till...

Christmas! And I am now I am leaning towards Buddism instead of Atheism (I am currently an Atheist). So one of these days I want to go visit a Buddist temple and see what they look like. I like Buddism because its really just a school of thought not a religion. You can accept what you want to believe in and not believe in what you dont want to believe in and you wont be looked down upon by fellow Buddists. In fact they wouldnt even care.

What has my life become?

What has my life become?
I sleep during the day and rise at night.
During my waking hours I live on the computer and internet.
Could it be because my friends are out of the country and I have nothing to do?

This reminds me of summer here.
Bored I turned to the internet and emailed often.
I remained stuck in Riyadh while everyone else left.
True I did not receive replies as often as I emailed but I did hear someone now and then.

I'm bored in life.
My family bores me I have no job and no money.
In school math depresses me and thus I do not do well in math.
English by far is my most favorite subject because of my English teacher.

These stanzas remind me of a staircase.
Arranged as a set of stair going downward to somewhere.
These days I dont know what to talk about so I write whatever comes to mind.

Sometimes its good and sometimes its bad.
Either way I'm not sad. Just depressed that I resort to this.
For something to do I spend way too much time online.
Then again its the only thing here to do since I cant work.

Bleh

Another Dentist Appointment tommorrow. Joy.

It's...

12:30 in the morning and I dont feel like sleeping again. Anyways I went to the Dentist today and had a cavity filled. Although my Dentist is good and she knows what she is doing I still dont like going to the Dentist because I hate the smell of bone burning when they use those drills to drill the hole to fill. It really stinks and it tastes bad too since you taste it in the air while they are filling the cavity. And since my teeth are prone to cavities even though I do brush my teeth everyday I have to go back three more times to get cavities filled. However I think she messed up a bit today with the anesthetic because instead of just numbing the part of my mouth she needed to work on the anesthetic spread to part of my nose. So part of my nose was numb for a couple of hours.

Anyways I just watched a movie called St Trinians. I like to watch that occasionally. Anyways for those of you who havent heard of it, its a British movie that I do recommend you go and watch it.

My sleeping patterns have changed majorly since I got out for winter break. I sleep much longer than I usually would and go to bed at random times. For instance the other day I went to bed at 5 in the morning and didnt wake up till after 1 in the afternoon. Its going to be difficult to switch back to a normal pattern when school resumes in January. I wonder if life will be like this next year when I'm in college.

Not sure how to describe this feeling

Lately I havent been feeling "normal" per say. I'm not sure how exactly I can describe it but its like a combination of depression, sarcasm, reality, ect... I could call it teenagerism but we go through so many mood swings that that would just be a generic label. So how many of us have heard the song "Perfect World" by Simple Plan. *Raises Hand* Now I know most of us arent Simple Plan fans but that song seems to describe our lives in High School along with "High School Never Ends" by Bowling for Soup. Though if you havent seen the music video for that song go look it up and enjoy a few minutes of truth.

A while back when I was living in the U.S. I was itching to get off the North American Continent. Now I have managed to do that and now I am itching to do the same here. Its probably because I'm still in Riyadh with nothing to do on winter break while most of my friends here have already left the country on Holidays and Vacations and whatnots. Ok now that I think about it I just want to get out of the country for a few days. Dad hurry up and make those reservations for Bahrain. Even though I've already been to Bahrain it would be nice to spend a few days there.

Or maybe its because the mini market store on my compound has been out of Mountain Dew for several weeks and I've had to rely solely on coke. Now I do like coke but I also like Mountain Dew and I like a bit of a tradeoff inbetween the two. So they had better get a shipment of Mountain Dew in soon or I will probably go ballistic. Now this store only stocks the regular Mountain Dew as does the whole Kingdom (so no Code Red or Baha Blast) and although thats not my favorite flavor of Mountain Dew I still like it. And they only stock louy root beer. If I could get ahold of some IBC or Mug Root Beer extract I'd make my own. But on the plus side most sodas here only cost 1 riyal which is equivalent to 27 cents u.s. (and even less in eurocents)

Life used to seem so simple....

When I first entered High School my life plan seemed so simple. Eventually I would graduate from that Hell Hole known as Heritage Academy and I would simply leave Arizona and move back East to Maryland with the money I had saved from working part time when I was old enough to get a part time job.

Things changed when I turned 15. I first applied for a job at Wal Mart pretty soon after I turned 15 and Wal Mart was pretty close by so I applied for a job there. I went through the first interview before finding out that due to a paperwork mistake on their part they thought I was 16 which was the reason they were interested in hiring me. After I told them I was actually 15 they explained that their company policy was that they could only hire someone who was 16 or older. So that was understandable that they had made an honest mistake and I moved on.

It turned out that a lot of places did not hire 15 year olds. However that Summer I managed to get a job at Sunsplash Water Park in Mesa. It was a bit of a drive but my Mother was willing to drive me since she was also working there but in a different department. She was working in Catering and I was working in Food Service at the Snackbar. That job had its good points and its bad points. My Manager was awesome and one of my Supervisors was awesome. My other Supervisor though (the one who was on duty when most of my shifts were) was a horrible hag. She often would disappear and then we would find her in the supply closet with some of the Lifeguards and Lifeguard Supervisors. She hated me and I hated her and she went out of her way in a attempt to make my life miserable from sending me home early claiming that I could only work a certain amount of hours during the week since I was 15 (I had just recently looked up Arizonas underage persons labor laws. There are no restrictions on 15 years old on how many hours you can work if school is not in session). Although my Manager was good she had a lot of other things to do with the Higher Up Powers that be and was often at meetings with other managers. So after that summer I quit a few weeks after school started. I have no intention of ever working there again.

So then I tried applying for jobs at other places. I managed to get an interview at a Harkins a couple of miles from my house (I was getting my license at this time so it would only be a few minutes drive to there) and the on the first interview the Manager liked me and she told me that I was hired but I would have to go through a second interview to get paperwork filled out. However I was hung out to dry by the second manager who promised to call me and never did. I had a friend working at the same theatre who managed to get me a number to call and I found out that the second manager had transferred to another theatre and that I had not been hired. I continued to apply for jobs at other places and had an interview at a place called Hot Dog On a Stick but no luck.

Then I moved to Saudi Arabia because my Dads permanent residency visa for his job had finally come through and we went to join him. So I managed to get out of Heritage and I transferred to my current school "The American International School in Riyadh" a.k.a. AIS-R which I am liking so much better than my previous school. Now I should hopefully be graduating this June. Things were looking up at the end of my Junior Year here. I was looking forward to returning back to the U.S. and living on the East Coast again. However with the current world economic status I will be starting college in Arizona since I have Arizona residency and I'm not sure if I would be able to get a job if I moved back East at this point. I am also unlikely to get scholarships or grants since Heritage screwed me over. I am considering writing a unsigned letter with no return address to my previous High Schools Principle to explain exactly how he is ruining the lives of many students who he forced to drop out of High School because he made them feel like complete faliures. I know of several people who dropped out of High School because of that school and now several years later their lives are just barely starting to look up. Although he didnt cause me to drop out I saw him ruin the lives of many. So now here I am a Senior in High School with no job (cant get one here), barely any money saved up, and unsure of what the future holds for me.

Just a crazy idea but

Wouldnt it be interesting to go get your drivers license or id card picture taken while you were wearing some unusual contacts such as a purple color or cat eye'd ones?

2 down 3 to go

Well getting accepted to UVU makes the second acceptance to college out of the 5 I applied to. So now I'm accepted to EAC and UVU and I have yet to hear from Dixie State, NAU and SUU. I honestly think that I want to go to UVU but my Dads making me wait till I hear from the other three schools I applied to before I make a decision. Which is fair. I am honestly just ready to get out of High School and with the first Semester of my Senior year coming to a close soon I am really getting Senioritis.

So this week I have a four day weekend because of parent teacher conferences so on Monday I had a half day while the Elementary Schooler's didn't have school that day. So now I am getting into the habit of not sleeping at good times which is going to be a killer next week when I go back to school on Saturday.

I paid 200 riyals ($40-50 u.s.) for my Senior Sweater and it should hopefully be here soon. Its going to be nice to be able to wear it this December when I am in the States on Vacation. Our Senior Class Rep already showed us what it will look like with the exception being that we get our names on the sweaters. Now this week I'm going to be out 25 riyal ($5-6 u.s) for a t-shirt for Spirit week. Apparently all the Seniors are going to be wearing them but I have no idea what they will look like. So basically I am broke now after I pay for the T-Shirt.

Kelly I should be in Arizona between Christmas and New Years so could we hang out sometime? Melissa already wants to hang out with me then so maybe we could all hang out.

Despite my laptops battery life being crappy its still nice to not have to sit in one place and be able to go sit somewhere besides on my bed (I plug it in by my bed). Though I hope to be able to get a laptop soon that I can actually keep instead of having to leave it here when I move out because it is not mine (well technically it is but thats a whole different story) so I should find out more about that next semester.

Speaking of next semester during Spring Break I should be going to Lebanon or Egypt depending on what the Arabic Club Sponsor says and if I can raise the money. It was originally going to be Jordan but then the other club members voted for Lebanon or Egypt. Personally I want to go to Lebanon but well see what happens. I'm the only non-arab in arabic club so it gets interesting at meetings.

Well thats all for now.

While thinking about what my Dad said...

Well the other day my Dad said that my family tends to me more nomadic than most people. Thinking about it just now I know thats true. My Family tends to move around every few years and not stay in one place for very long. I've got an Uncle who because of his job move to a new country every few years. I've got another Aunt who She and Her Husband and their children just moved back to the States from Germany. Most of my family lives in different states.

Anyways enough about that. So whats going on in my life. Well I did my college applications and applied to UVU, SUU, Dixie State College, NAU, and EAC. I've already been accepted to EAC since its an open admissions school. I took the SAT 2 weeks ago and now I have to wait till November 1st to find out how I did. Though I think I'm giving up on NAU because of how much arguing I've had to do with them over residency issues. I have an Arizona drivers license and my parents still own their house there. Yet they claim since I dont live in the U.S. in the moment I do not have residency of Arizona. Grr... So I'm really just focusing on UVU, SUU, and Dixie State College in Utah since out of state tuition is quite reasonable and once I become a resident tuition drops down to about $1800 a semester. Plus I have an Aunt who lives near UVU who I could live with if I went to UVU. Well UVU's a commuter campus so I wouldnt be living on Campus anyways. If I went to Dixie State College or SUU I would probably go part time until I became a resident so I could work more to be able to pay the tuition costs without having to get students loans which I dont like and I dont trust and I dont want to spend the rest of my life in debt.

So right now I'm listening to I hate Everything About you by Three Days Grace to try to understand what you are saying Kelly. So far its an interesting song. Have you heard of So Cold by Breaking Benjamin? You might like it or Darkwave Surfer by Aural Vampire.

So I have a three day weekend because Saturdays an Inservice Day for the Teachers at my school. And Halloweens this Friday but I dont know what I'll be doing for that. I will probably be taking my little brother trick or treating and bringing an extra bag (for the big brother wink wink. lol.) for when his bag gets full and he still wants to keep going.

I just got back from a store called Euromarche. Its basically a British supermarket that caters too all the British Expats here who miss familiar brands. Personally I found it interesting even though I am American.