Well… I must confess that I used to be paranoid when it came to data loss… so I used to – hysterically – back everything up to several different places, copies of everything on CDs, portable HD, different places on the same HD… etc…

However, a few years ago something really… I don’t know… funny I guess happened resulting in a self-caused data loss… I was working on my graduation project documentation, and after a long tiring night I mistakenly copied the backup over the original, rather than the original over the backup, and when I opened the file the following day none of my changes were there!

At that time, having a few days left for the discussion day, that was the worst nightmare that could ever happen to me! But, thanks GOD, I was lucky enough that day that I was actually applying some changes that our supervisor requested that were noted on a hard copy, so it wasn’t that much of a creative job, but was basically about concentrating on those notes and elaborating on their correspondent points in the document. And when the discussion day arrived, everything went just fine, with a distinguished grade kaman…

Nonetheless, there had always been that feeling at the back of my mind that what I’ve done that second round wasn’t as good as the first one, because I’ve rushed in doing it since I was already running out of time for printing their hard copies. But, when I started thinking about what would have happened if I had lost something really creative that could never be retrieved and had to be done from scratch, I just stopped and thought that may be it was for the better… I mean, sometimes when doing things for the second time, you just add a new taste to it keda! (I actually remembered this same incidence during our book discussion with Makawy Saeed, who said that he lost all what he wrote in his first written version of the novel when the guy who was editing it had to format the HD without taking a copy, and lost the handwritten copy. Makawy said he had to write it all over again, yet he is so glad he did because he added parts that he wasn’t intending to write about, and it eventually proved to be of a great amendment!)

The thing I’m sure of is that this particular incidence made me lose me backup hysteria… to the extent that years later, I nearly lost all my data when my desktop’s processor crashed, and I didn’t get the opportunity to move stuff that were collected in years from the old hard disk to my laptop…

And in fact, I’m glad I didn’t, because sometimes, some things have to be left behind… and one has to move on…

Wala eih?

Yalla, Lovely Afternoon,

Rou…

With a huge incident such as the Shoura Council blaze that occurred last week, it was so much expected from my side that this would be “7adeeth elmadeena” for some time… But, to my own surprise, it was not, as if it is normal ya3ny to have the parliament on fire…

However, what was even more disappointing for me was people’s reactions towards this tragic scene… I have heard many comments starting from: “ya reithoam kano gowah we kan walla3 feehom we khelesna” and ending with “yalla, fe 60 dahya, 3o2bal magles elsha3b wala 2asr masr el gedeeda”… to the end of a shocking list of comments that reflects the amount of hatred and indifference people had reached…

The sad thing about this actually is the fact that those comments were not only said by ignorant people or poor ones… but were rather uttered by very well educated and cultured people…

Talking with a good friend of mine yesterday and explaining how disappointed I am from people’s reactions, he told me that may be I am the one who’s living in utopia… because such reaction was expected, since the place that got burned, merely represented the ugly face of the system and did not represent Egypt… I disagreed gedan on this way of thinking… because even if this place had been for so long – and will remain still for only GOD knows how long – representing Egypt as a “system” and not as a “country”, but still, supposedly, it should be representing Egypt’s face, and by such burn, this same face had been subject to a very harsh slap, and there’s nothing to be happy about in this… and even though I perfectly understand people’s anger from the whole surroundings which eventually lead to their gloating on anything that may bother this same “system”… but I do not accept it…

I understand yes… but I do not accept…

Anyways, such reactions, along with my conversation with my friend last night, reminded me of a question that was triggered between me and another 2 close friends of mine less than 2 weeks ago… the question was… what if a war happened tomorrow? Would people actually care to fight for their country and die for it?

I was arguing that day that it goes without saying that Egyptians would fight for their homeland, and do anything possible and reach beyond the impossible to retain its dignity… My friends however were a bit not sure about this anymore, and were somehow going for the idea that unfortunately people do not consider Egypt to be “their country” anymore… thus will not fight for it with the amount of faith and devotion I was talking about…

I remember I argued a lot that day to prove my point of view…

But, after what I saw of people’s reaction towards the Shoura Council blaze… I started to doubt my own way of thinking… and this whole happenings left me wondering if my belief of Egyptians love to their country (no matter how bad the surroundings are or how down and frustrated they feel) is still valid…

I really don’t know…

Rabena yostor!

Rehab

Today at 11 am, my sister in law and nephew were supposed to be leaving on Egypt Air’s plane heading to Dubai to meet my elder brother…

At 10:15 am I called her to say a last goodbye not expecting what I heard…

Arrab ba2a wesma3 this news…

Egypt Air is turning into a microbus… the plane is full, and more than 20 people who have tickets in their hands (not on waiting lists) had no place on it!!!!!

Don’t you feel we are talking about a “soo2″ here bardo?

Asl I felt so while she was telling me what’s going on… Elnass betetkhane2 to find a place…and no one gives an explanation to the situation… I fell under the impression that she’s talking about maw2af abd el men3em reyad masalan not Cairo International Airport!

Nobody understand what happened… whether they sold tickets more than the airplane’s capacity… wala wasayet masalan fa they let people on waiting list enter badal nass… wala eih bezabt!!!

Finally, they said they will “try” to let those 20 people take tonight’s trip at 10 pm…

“Try” for God’s sake!

I really don’t know what to say! Ma7na law we are being treated as human beings, kan etrafa3 3aleihom adeya!! Bass what can I say… fe balad failed to put down a fire in one of the most important buildings of its government!

3amar ya Masr!

Keda keteer!

Rehab

A shocking scene it was to watch on TV fire eating away the old building of Shoura Council and turning it into almost ruins, with some fire engines spraying water, while the military helicopters hovered over the Nile, filling up water into containers they carried, and flying back to the parliament buildings to unload the water over the destructive blaze in desperate trials to put down the flames…

Seriously Rabena satar that the fire took place at this particular time during the two parliaments’ summer break, or else, it would have been a real catastrophe…

I cannot believe the level of irresponsibility this country has reached… the disaster is not only because they failed to put down the fire for more than 6 hours… nor for the fact that the Shoura Council building is one of the most beautiful old buildings in downtown… the real tragedy is the fact that this happened in the first place… I mean… when the highest two legislative authority premises in Egypt lack reliable fire fighting systems… omal bass beyoot elghalaba ye7sal feeha eih!

Where are we heading to bass…?

I really wonder heya el nass dee 7atfoo2 emta!

Rabena Yostor!

Rehab

Note:

The interesting thing is that I was sitting in Alian le Notre Merghany street in Heliopolis a few hours ago, and right infront of me the metro caught fire!!

21 years old… 3rd year in college…

With so many things on mind and so many expectations from life…

A young soul full of dreams and hopes…

That was me… on my first day with PTP…

Why am I mentioning this… well… let’s say am just trying to illustrate what impact PTP had on my life…

You see, for me PTP had always been more than a cultural community… PTP is part of me… part of my character… I’ve grown old with it… I’ve learned a lot with it… I’ve cried with it and I’ve laughed with it… I shared all my precious moments with it… and revealed all my disappointments and frustrations with it…

But the thing is that… I couldn’t have made all this with PTP… if it wasn’t for him…

In fact, as the little babe – that is no longer a baby – steps today into its 6th year… I had this thought on mind, that there wouldn’t have been a “Pen” or a “Temple” or even “Pilots”… if it wasn’t for him…

So, here is my tribute to the one who plowed the temple deep inside the heart of each one of us… the one who made me believe in a better tomorrow and a much brighter future… To Camel, my dearest friend, whom I cannot recall how many times gave me inspirations and had been there for me… the one who taught me to view things with a different perspective… and never seize to surprise me with his unconditional passion…

My friend, for all what you are and what you have done, I thank you for being there through the past years and for touching the so many lives that you left footprints on their hearts and minds… and I wish you find peace, comfort, love, and serenity in your new place to be…

Goodbye my dear friend (I always wonder; what’s the good in goodbyes!), and hope to see you again… someday…