Egocentrism, our own disorder

Humans are the most egocentric creatures on the planet. We always strive for being special, different, and most certainly better than all other living things. We also like to think that everything that we associate with is also better, this next post will explain more.

From the dawn of history, humans believed the earth to be the centre of the universe. With careful observations of the night sky, it was seen that the movement of the stars did not reflect our beliefs. More strongly believed was the notion that the sun revolved around the earth. The earth is important (since we live on it) that everything must revolve around it, people thought. Astronomers like Copernicus, knew that observations did not match with the hypothesis, but the Church persisted that this is the way the universe was set up. Anyone who dared to challenge the Church, was jailed and in some cases punished. In fact when Galileo challenged the Chruch “the princes of the Church threatened the aged astronomer with torture.”

After confirmation that the earth revolved around the sun, we (humans) started to believe that our solar system was at the centre of the galaxy, and that our galaxy is all that there is. Once again, science being harsh and straight forward, told us that our solar system exists merely on one of the arms of the galaxy, not even on the biggest “arm”, and not even in the centre of the arm. Furthermore, our sun isn’t the largest one, has no special features, and like all other stars will die eventually. It also turned out that our galaxy is one of millions randomly scattered galaxies throughout the universe.

A more recent discovery was that the universe is expanding. In other words, every single galaxy is moving away from the other. Again, since we (humans) are so special, we jumped to the thought “hey, we must be at the centre of the expansion” but as usual, we were wrong. There’s no centre of expansion, and once again we’re not special. In the world of universes all are created equal.

For now we can stick to the belief that we’re the only planet with life, since up to this point in time, we have not discovered life beyond earth. In Pale Blue Dot, Sagan raises the question: with our record of disappointments should we so strongly believe that earth is the only planet which harbours life?

Why do we think we’re so special? Is this a psychological problem in all human beings? If there was life on other planets, would they think they are so special as well? When we discover that other life exists in other places, will we think we are more special than “them”?
I will admit, I would have liked it if Earth was at the centre of universe, to me, that would have been an undeniable indication of an underlying specialty behind us. But the truth is we’re nothing but inhabitants of a mind boggling universe. In the large scheme of things, we amount to nothing but a spec of dust floating away aimlessly in an ocean of matter

:(

Sources: Some of the ideas and quotes came from Pale Blue Dot
Photo above: a galaxy cluster, just to give perspective




This is a simple diagram of the milky way and where the sun lies

My Soccer Days

Like every Arab kid, growing up I spent most of my free time playing soccer with my friends. Once I came to Canada I heard that you can sign up to play for teams in an organized league, often referred to as "house league." For house league there are no tryouts, but rather anyone who pays the fee can play. As a result of that, the teams for most part have a great variety of players, ranging from the fat and slow, to the graceful and skilled.

I played house league for two seasons and a half. During the third season we had our yearly tournament, in which I played harder than ever in my life. We ended up winning the tournament, and at the end of the medal “ceremony,” the coach of the city’s soccer team (who was scouting for players) came up to talk to me.

The coach complimented my hard work and skill, and then he asked me how I felt about playing for the city team. My immediate answer was YES. I had always wanted to play for the city team, which unlike house league, offers much harder competition, and promises more challenging tournaments.

I played two years for the city team, traveling to tournaments all over Ontario, competing on the best fields of the city, playing and practicing with the best soccer balls, and of course running my ass off. During my first season we won the league, going undefeated for the whole season.

Sadly though, our coach left us, and the replacement was a lazy coach who cared more about smoking and drinking coffee than coaching. The result was me and 2 other players quitting the team, which eventually led to other players calling it quits. That was the end of competitive soccer for me; all I have left are the memories, some pictures and the trophies pictured above. Nowadays, I play soccer with friends whenever time and weather permit, and I also play for a recreational team during my university study terms.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while now, you would have noticed that I mentioned soccer quite a bit, hopefully this post explains why.

P.S I'll scan my team pic sometime, and post it here

Street Lingo 101

Lingo Lesson 1

Well I gave an accent lesson earlier on my blog, and I thought it’s about time for a lingo lesson. This is my attempt at teaching the masses (all 30 regular visitors) the meaning of common street language that is used in everyday life around here. I use the language my self, although not all the examples I will mention.

1. Phrases including “shit”:
“Man, this is the shit!” this really means “this is marvelous”

“I’m not shitting you” really means “I’m telling you the whole truth and nothing but the truth”

“Don’t talk shit” really means “Do not talk about me behind my back”

“You’re full of shit” really means “all you say are lies”

“that’s some sweet shit” means “that’s cool”

“shizzel” means shit but in Snoop Dogg’s language.

Please note that shit can be used in many other contexts, especially if it preceeds the word up. For example “do that shit up”, “let’s hook the shit up” etc..

2. Commonly used:
“guy, that’s pure jokes” means “that’s really funny”
“yo, that’s mad funny” means “that’s really funny”
“man, that’s mad jokes, guy” means “that’s really funny”

Please notice the plural of joke, it’s essential to say jokes and not joke, even if you only say one joke.

“let’s hit it up” means “let’s go to the place you have just mentioned”

“that’s some crazy action” I made this one up my self and it means “that’s some sweet shit…action” as you can see I began to use a combination of street lingo. Please feel free to circulate “crazy action,” you never know, someday a rapper will think it’s cool and the phrase will take off.

“Sweet” means “cool” I’ve been using sweet for 9 years now, and it never got sour (what a bad joke)

“that’s gold man….gold” means “that’s cool/amazing/brilliant” there are a few notes about this one.

a) you must use gold twice with a short pause in between each gold
b) use this when solving a tough equation, seeing a nice car, or supporting someone’s idea

3. Money
Money on the street has many different names, when confronted with cool guys, high school kids, or a rapper please remember the following:

“I got the dough” means “I got money”

“spend that cheese guy” means “spend the money”

Furthermore, a rapper went as far as identifying what cheese money really is, I believe it was Don Carlito who said so poetically

“Common ma help me spend this cheddah”
Which means:
“Common babe help me spend this cheddar”
Which really means:
“I’m so rich, just spend my money”

As you have noticed it’s quite a mental exercise to go through understanding a rap song.

This post is getting long and I don’t want to lose the attention of my students, I shall have more for you in the near future.

I hope you thought this post was the shit, if you have any cheddar donations please send that shit up to my bank account. Peace.

True Story

It was about 1:30 AM two summers ago, I was in the basement surfing the net when the phone started flashing (all phone ringers were off). I picked up the phone to hear the crying voice of a close family friend telling “itassalt bjozee bi shoghol wa 2aloli inno in2ata3 isba3o” (my husband’s finger was cutoff at work) My heart started beating faster, I told her to stay put, and in a matter of minutes me and the family would be there. She insisted that I wouldn’t bother them with the issue, I insisted back, and 15 minutes later we were at her house. My dad took off to the hospital, and I stayed behind with my mom trying to calm the lady down.

Half an hour later my dad calls and tells us that the husband is fine, and he’s getting stitches. That is, his finger wasn’t cut off. So why did she think his finger was cut off?

Well, it was a classic case of direct (literal) translation from English to Arabic. When she called his work to inquire about him being late, she was told “You’re husband cut his finger, and he’s in the hospital now.” If you were to translate that directly into Arabic you would understand “You’re husband’s finger was cut off, and he’s in the hospital now.” In Arabic the word ‘cut’ would not be used in the context of this story. Arabic has two distinct words, one for cut, and one for “causing a small wound”. Hopefully you can see where the confusion took place.

I wanted to share this story with you to point out what direct translation could cause, and hopefully to encourage people to be ware of such mistakes.

Hope you found it somewhat interesting.

Sexy BM, will you be mine?

holy crap, look at that thing..... I think I'm in love :)

Music Critique numero Uno

Here’s my latest critique about music currently on the radio.. To understand the critique you have to watch MTV for at least a week.

1. Remixes

Why does the singer, or his buddy always have to remind us DURING THE SONG, that “this is the remix”

I was listening to this one song and the one dude was saying “YO! This is the remix” every other second. In another song you hear “Reeeeeeemiiiix” at least ten times in the duration of the song.
We know it’s a damn remix, we can hear the difference between the original, and this crappy song. Please don’t remind me that it’s a remix

2. 50 cent, aka Fitty cent (pictured above)
Ok, so if I had any respect for rappers, it’s gone now. The dude raps slower than me talking at 5 am. Does he even have a talent? Here’s an example of 50’s slow rhymes

“Rotate that thang, I wanna touch that thang
Can you make it go round and round
I step up in the club, I'm like who you with
G-Unit in the house, yeah that’s my clique” <---what the hell is he talking about

That doesn’t even rhyme… So Fitty officially has no talent. But he’s a tough guy, he took nine bullets in his body and he’s still doing fine.........or maybe not.

3. Black Eyed Peas (Peace?), very good band, good music, but sometimes I’m just like “why?”
They’re latest song is called “Don’t Funk with My Heart”
So as you probably could tell, funk sounds a lot like ... especially when said quickly in a song. What’s cool about swearing in a song? I guess nothing, since the BEP tricked us all by saying Funk. . . ohhhh got me on that one BEP, keep up the good work.

And as a little note to Ciara who had the big hit “My goodies”
Ciera, no one wants your goodies, or even see you or hear you talk about them. In fact first time I even heard My Goodies, the goodies in my stomach decided to migrate to the living room floor...

More critiques will pop onto the blog randomly in the future..


BEP

Ciara (remeber this photo has been touched and retouched in Photoshop)

Friday the 13th and Other Superstitions

Yesterday was Friday the 13th, which according to superstition is a very bad, especially if you see a black cat. There’s an actual phobia associated with the 13th, people even call in sick to avoid anything bad from happening to them, even in apartment buildings here, there’s no 13th floor mentioned on the elevator, instead they jump from 12 to 14. The origin of the superstition is believed to come from the day that Jesus was crucified, it is said that on Friday the 13th Jesus was put on the cross. What’s my stand point on this? I think it’s a bunch of crap, Friday the 13th is just like any other day, and there’s no point to be scared. In fact all superstitions are nonsense, to me there’s no supporting evidence to any of them, and therefore they should not be taken too seriously. Don’t get me wrong though, I enjoy learning about other cultures’ superstitions. I think superstitions are an interesting part of culture just like proverbs and even art, but my appreciation for superstitions stops there.

We (Arabs) have our share of superstitions, one of the ones that automatically pops into my head is “Kharaze Zar2a.” For readers not familiar with it, it’s a little blue bead usually place within an eye (made of gold), or on a gold broche which is worn by babies. It is believed that the blue colour repels “El Hisde” (envy). Furthermore, It is believed that if someone envies you about a particular detail in your life, your fate will turn 180 degrees. For example if you’re rich and someone envies you, you’ll most likely become poor.

Envy is directly related to the eye, since to observe something, you need to see it. So it’s very common to hear of 3in (eye), and hence why the blue bead is placed within the eye (mentioned earlier).

Last time I went to Syria, every time I would hold a baby, go into someone’s new house, I would say “oh look at those cheeks”, or “I love fat babies” or “very roomy house” and then I would smile and stop. Meanwhile one of my aunts, cousins, or whoever is around at the time comes in to the rescue and mentions the two words that will protect the babies/house owner from envy. They would say Mashalla (one word in English, two in Arabic). Being so isolated from Arabic culture, I didn’t realize the power of Mashalla, and how often I should use it to shield people from my envy. I guess the eye is treated like an AK47 machine gun, always on a rampage shooting those who are rich, successful, good looking, etc….

By the end of my trip I was starting to force my self to say Mashalla, just so people wouldn’t think I’m envying them. I was saying “Mashalla, mayyet isham ma fi atiab minna” (Mashalla Damascus’ water is so good) or “Mashalla, el jaou kteer 7ilo barra,” (Mashalla the weather outside is great) I was even afraid nature would be under the attack of my envy.

Maybe I exaggerated a bit, very few Arabs actually believe that something bad will happen if you don’t say Mashalla. But through the years “Mashalla” has made it’s way to every day language. I think at one point, many believed in superstition, and that’s understandable. But please, if I ever talk to you in person, don’t expect me to say Mashalla too much. And when you talk to me I don’t expect you to say anything me.

PS While I was searching for an appropriate image, I learned that numerous other cultures believe in the “Evil Eye.” So it turns out we’re not the only ones :)



An example of the little ornaments used to repel envy

I listen to z103.5 everyday, they have an amazing morning show, and they play very good music. Every hour they have a two minute news update, which in my opinion should be canceled, unless they start doing a better job at it. After all if someone wants to hear the news there are plenty of all-news stations.
Today, the radio announcer had the following to say during the news update "Ontario drivers may disagree, but a new study shows that there are less trucks on the road today compared with last year.” He then continued with the facts “last year there were 27 cars for every truck, now there are 25 cars per truck.” I paused for a second, since the sentence did not make sense to me, and maybe I’m wrong, but these numbers tell me the exact opposite. The announcer made a huge mistake in analyzing the data.
One needs grade 4 math to realize that 27:1 means that there are 27 times the amount of cars as there are trucks (last year) and now there are 25 cars for every truck. So the ratio of cars to trucks decreased, and hence the ratio of trucks to cars has increased. Therefore, Ontario drivers should disagree; there are more trucks on the road. Just thought I’d share that with you.

By the way, you can listen to the station online at
www.z1035.com
Picture above: the morning show crew with Avril Lavene

Adventures on the 401

As my regular readers know, I now take the highway to work everyday. I spend the majority of the time traveling along the famous 401 (pronounced four oh one). Here are some facts about it (the story comes after the facts)
According to Wikipedia.com "Ontario provincial highway 401, which is normally referred to simply as Highway 401, is a freeway that extends across Southern Ontario, Canada. Known officially as the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway, it is (by far) the longest 400-Series Highway in Ontario and one of the busiest highways in the world. Together with Quebec Autoroute 20, it is the road transportation backbone of the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor, containing over half of Canada's population. The 400 and 401 interchange is also believed to be the busiest interchange in North America, with 26 lanes of combined traffic; my story begins a few miles from the 401/400 interchange.

As I was going through my daily commute I noticed traffic building in a place that is usually busy, but not that busy on a normal day, especially at 6:30 am!
So I came to a complete stop, moving mere inches in a span of 10 minutes, meanwhile police cars, ambulances, and fire engines were flying by on the emergency lane. I realized then, that the build up was not due to volume but rather an accident. I turned the radio on, to learn that there’s an accident only about 1 km from where I was. I also realized that I was lucky to miss it, especially being so close to the accident. So here’s what happened:

Some lunatic driver somehow made an 18 wheeler (big truck) flip on its side, literally blocking three lanes. The truck was carrying nothing else but beer. In fact it was reported that 2400 cases of beer spilled on the road “making the 401 smell like a local tavern” according to CBC radio. I got a glimpse of the mess when I diverted my route to a bridge which goes above the accident. The scene was bazaar, cans and bottle of beer everywhere, a tiny stream of beer making it’s way down the slope, firemen cleaning the debris and one police man licking his lips (at least I thought I saw him doing it). So I ended up being half an hour late for work. Apparently though, that wasn’t the end of it. Some guys at work were talking about another accident right after the beer one, this one though was tragic, since a helicopter was needed to air lift the injured. Meanwhile, 401 West drivers (the opposite side of the highway) were observing the accident while driving, which caused another accident. All in all, the situation was messy; I would estimate at least 50,000 were late for work this morning. So if you’re thinking oh my god this highway is dangerous, I assure you that today’s incidents don’t happen all the time. In fact the beer accident was caused by the careless driver, who’s now in the hospital suffering from “non life threatening injuries” and charged with careless driving.
Just thought I would share my highway adventures with you, hopefully this is the worst I’ll ever see :)

Giant Hands

"One thing I love about hotels is their miniature soap. I pretend it's normal size soap and I'm just a giant"

Ooh Perimeter Institute, where shall I start? Well when I heard of it for the first time, it was like a dream come true. A building that houses the most influential figures in physics and mathematics from all over the world, all paid to just think and ponder the workings of nature, all within a few kilometers from here. The researchers at Perimeter are deeply looking into the workings of the universe with the ultimate goal of being able to describe how every particle in the universe behaves under every circumstance. What does that mean? Well, when we have such knowledge, we will be able to decipher all of the secrets behind the creation, evolution, and perhaps destruction of the universe. Furthermore, the researchers are also working in affiliation with the University of Waterloo on developing quantum computers. Quantum computers are the computers of the future; in fact these computers are so bazaar that they will be able to compute information faster than all the computers on earth today, combined.

The beauty of the institute is their public lectures. Every month, an eminent researcher comes down to Waterloo and gives a lecture on a certain topic. Those lectures are free to attend and contain no crazy math, but rather a simplification that the layman could understand. They also visit high schools, where they answer any question you have about the universe. When they came to my highschool I remember such question as:
Can we teleport? Is the universe going to die? Is there a multiverse (multiple universes) ?

On the opening day of the institute, Sir Roger Penrose, came down from England to give a lecture; I was lucky enough to attend. If you haven’t heard of Penrose, then I suggest you go to amazon.com and just read some book reviews. I can go on forever about this place, but I’ll leave you with some pictures of the building where the researchers reside. The building recently won an architectural award, and I can see why. The building is very odd looking and random, someone told me that the intention of the architect was to confuse observers of the building. What do you think? Is the institute worth 100 million? Should we spend money on understanding how the universe works? Do you want a similar research facility near you?


Here's a front view of the building

Another view.

Research in Motion, BlackBerry, Theoretical Physics <-- one stupid title

Shown above is the infamous BlackBerry, perhaps one of most important communication tools for business men worldwide. You certainly don't have to be a business man to use the BlackBerry since it is used by every NBA player, and even some friends of mine. According to RIM's website (BalckBerry's developer) "BlackBerry is a leading wireless connectivity solution, providing access to a wide range of applications on a variety of wireless devices around the world. It combines award winning devices, software and services to keep mobile professionals in touch with the people, data and resources that drive their day"

By now you're thinking, ok this guy owns one and he's just bragging. No, I actually don't have one, but I do want one. So what's the point? Well the guy who founded RIM(research in motion) is a Waterloo grad, his name is Mike Lazaridis. Mike gives money generously to the university. So I thought I would thank him in my personal way… oh yeah he also hires many students, Mike if you're reading this HIRE ME :). The other reason for this post, is that it gives you some background information for my next post.

One of Mike's biggest contributions is 100 million dollars given for the creation of Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (which will be the topic of the next post). The institute will put Waterloo on the map, and hopefully in history as well. In the opening ceremony for the institute, the announcer mentioned that Mike’s contribution was a way for him to give back to theoretical physics, since without theoretical physics RIM would not exist.

Kudos to Mike, and to RIM
......HIRE ME

Solution...

I told some guys at work my problems, and one of them said that you simply cannot cancel the rent contract without paying first, and last (roughly $700). So that got me even more frustrated. I'm sure that I don't want to stay at the place, and I'm also sure the landlord will get nothing from me except what she deserves. So I talked to her, and my human relations lessons paid off. I conveyed the problem to her and she seemed pretty concerned with the situation. So we worked out a deal, where everyone gets what they deserve.

What now?

Well, I looked around and found a few places, but now I'm very critical of my next dwelling. Most of the places didn't offer much in terms of what I wanted. I have a friend who lives about 70 km away, where I'm guaranteed a good place, a good time, and more importantly a good friend. But I figured if I'm willing to drive 70 km, then 110 km wouldn't make that much of a difference. So I decided to move back home. I now get up at 5 am, I make it to work by 6:30, and I'm home by around 7 pm. Believe or not, this is a lot more comfortable than before. It’s very common around here for people to commute 100 km to work daily. In fact over a million cars enter Toronto every morning.

On a more positive note, work is going well. It sounds like it will challenge me, and that’s good. The company is world class in what they do, the company has numerous patents, and works on almost every type of car produced in North America. We (the students) were split up randomly among the various “teams” in the company. I was lucky enough to be in the Honda/Nissan group. First because those are decent cars (unlike the Fords and GM’s), and I get to learn two different (and very powerful) software programs, which means that my experience will be very valuable. In fact, it will be so valuable that I might get a job close to home next time ;-)

I wish I could take some pictures of the company, especially since they have a bunch of race cars/boats/snowmobiles being worked on at all times. But since the automotive business is very competitive, secrets are guarded closely, and therefore we cannot bring cameras into the facility. In fact, I had to sign a paper that ensured that I don’t tell anyone about the technology being developed at the company.

Thanks everybody for reading the past events of last week, and I especially appreciate the people who commented and gave me advice :)
Next post will be more of what you have been used to.. ie. less about me and more about my surroundings.

Damn Lunatics!

This was written on Tuesday May 3rd

I have gotten a total of 10 hours sleep the past 48 hours, first night was becasue I was still new and didn't feel too good, last night though was a different story.
After I ate, brushed my teeth, and ironed my shirt, I decided to call it a night at 11:30 and get some sweet and much needed sleep. After half an hour of putting my head on the pillow, I heard two loud girls speaking and laughing loudly, it seemed to be coming from below, so I thought they were just some rude friends of one roomie. So I was patient, and then they're annoying voices stopped only to be replaced by Asian guys yelling laughing and making weird noises, as if they were lunatics. I was starting to get angry, it was already 12:30 and I can't sleep. So I opened my door and went downstairs and found no one, so the voices were coming from the rooms above (which I don't have access to).
I saw a light on downstairs so I decided to go down and tell the guy (Kevin) about the noises. He said that when he had a room upstairs he always heard the noises, so at that moment I knew I wasn’t dealing with some random party (on a Monday night!) but rather a repeating occurrence. So, dressed in my pajamas I went outside, up the stairs and rang the bell.
Some dude opened the door, almost surprised to see me, I told him to lower the noise level since I need to work.. blah blah.. and he said ok, went in and shut the door. I went back to my room frustrated, put my head down, only to hear the same yelling and laughing. Again, I decide to be more patient and wait it out, but at 1:30 I have had enough. I went downstairs to borrow Kevin’s cell, and called the police. 20 minutes later the police arrived, asked if I had called and why. They then went upstairs and started telling the bastards to shut up. So once again I put my head down, and as soon as the police left, it started again!
Now I’m pissed. What am I going to do? Who am I going to call? How am I going to sleep? So I go downstairs once more to talk to Kevin, and watch TV with him. It’s now 2:15 am. Then I start hearing more random yells, and some dude screaming words in Chinese. Kevin starts laughing and says that the noise this time is coming from the guy next door to him. So now I’m thinking, these guys are lunatics, and they need major lessons in human interactions. So I knock on the guys door, he comes out looking like a rat. I tell him “listen buddy, I need to sleep here, and I don’t want to hear any noise coming from here” I don’t think he understood me, but I think he could tell what I told him by my facial expressions and body language. This time I go upstairs, and I hear talking upstairs, so I’m thinking well at least they’re not yelling. I passed out on my bed at around 3 am, only to be awaken at 6:20 by my noisy alarm.

I went to work half dead, thinking this sucks, I was stuck living with the weirdest bunch of people ever. I’m now looking for a new place, and seriously considering an alternate solution…. To be continued

Moved in, and bored

As promised, I'm posting this on Sunday night from my new home, or should I say room. I guess everything went smoothly but I learned a few things today:
1. Guys driving SUV's think they're better than you (especially on the highway)
2. I live in a Chinese area
3. I live with Asians.. all 5 of them
4. The kitchen will smell like fried rice for the next four months
5. My room mates cannot speak English
6. Living without a TV sucks
7. MSN is a great way to communicate for free (the house doesn't have a phone)
8. I need to invest in a cell phone

Things are boring so far, I attempted to talk to my roomies by introducing my self, here's what happened:

Knock knock
No one turns their heads (3 ppl in the room). I start to believe that there’s a special way to knock a door in Chinese.

I go in the room extending my hand saying “Hello, I’m Omar”
Silence
“So, what are your names?”
Confusion on their faces
One guy says “Funga” I smile and say “nice to meet you”. Meanwhile the other two are playing computer games. I extend my hand to the other and he says his name “lkajdfklasue,” me being totally confused I say “: ) nice.”
Total silence again, and I’m starting to feel weird now.
“So you guys go to school around here, or work?”
One guy was able to decipher what I said and says “sgoo” at that point I know there’s no chance speaking English with these guys, so I pull back saying “well, just wanted to say hi…….. bye” and they understood that saying “bye” back.

I then start thinking of ways to waste my time, and get some human interaction with someone, so I end up talking to some friends online. I couldn’t call any of my friends in this Area, since I don’t have a phone, which means I will now have to find a better means of communication.

My room is alright, I’ll take some pics when I get the camera up here. I have gayish blue/cyan see through curtains, which screams girls’ room. But I figured who cares, it’s better than nothing.

Earlier today I went to the city where my company is located, and on the way I noticed Alibaba Middle Eastern Cuisine, so that was a bonus. I have a feeling lots of falafel and shawarma will enter my system in the next few months. I have to be at work by 8 tomorrow, which means I need to get up by 6:30 to get through the traffic and leaving some buffer time. I have two alarms set to wake me up, so if both fail I’m in big trouble, especially since I’m not used to getting up that early.

Other than that, there are no major stories to tell, but I’m sure more are on the way