Waking up from a coma

It must be my blog was in coma. It's been a long long time since I've published my last posting here. Loads of excuses I can say such as being busy, lacking motivation or not having something significant to write about. But that's not important now. I'm here and thanks to Cecile who suggested me to go re-blogging again.

My blog has been reshaped the way you see it now. I've added some new gadgets and updated some stuff.

I like it. I hope you like it as well.

I've visited the Iraq Blog Count blog to see which blogs are still active and which are not. I wasn't really surprised to find out many blogs have been "dead" for years. Even the blog count is inactive itself. Funny to know that their last post published in 2006 is titled "This blog is still alive..". I think loads of Iraqi bloggers shared my lack of enthusiasm. I know some of them are posting somewhere else (i.e facebook, twitter, google+). Anyway I hope the rest are all safe and ok.

So you wanna hear from me a bit? I'm alive. I still live in Iraq. In Baghdad. The situation here in Iraq these days is at the tipping point after the recent bomb attacks in Baghdad and other Iraqi governorates.

Every Thursday night, I go out with friends to some social club where we can enjoy having drinks, playing a game of bingo and having chit chats. However, last Thursday, we didn't have our usual booze night because all the social clubs that serve alcohol and the liquor stores were closed until further notice. The closure of liquor stores and pubs came as a precautious step after gunmen opened fire on a line of liquor stores in the Zayona area of Baghdad, killing 12 people who were all Yezidis. With alcohol being forbidden in Islam, liquor stores run by members of religious minorities in Iraq are a source of target for Islamic extremist groups. Now, I heard that few alcohol vendors started to re-open their stores again but still wary.

The spike of violence in Iraq is rising after more than 130 people have been killed in bombings targeted both Shiite and Sunni populated areas and my worst fears that this could lead to a new sectarian fight.

Last Friday, twin bombings near a public café in Al Dora, the neighborhood I'm living in, killed 4 people and wounded 12. Both bombs exploded consecutively within short interval of time around 8 o'clock in the evening. I live about 2 kilometers away from the bombing scene but I heard the two blasts and I could hear the siren of ambulance and police cars afterwards.

Other bombing attacks killed 70 civilians and injured dozens in Sunni-majority areas like Al Amiriyah, Madain, Baquba and Fallujah. Those attacks were considered as "Revenge attacks" after a string of bombings that hit seven different areas of the capital, many of them Shiite-majority, killed nearly 35 people.

Now we have attacks on both Sunni and Shiite highly populated areas. Whoever is doing that has a purpose to ignite a new sectarian fight similar to the one of 2006-2007 that brought the country to the edge of civil war. This time things may get even worse. This time no American troops in Iraq to stop it.

I fear the worst is yet to come.

Peace out.

Blog Update : May 21 2013
This evening there was another bombing attack in our neighborhood. The bomb was placed inside a youth social center. Casualties are not known yet. That's the info I got so far. I'll keep you updated.

Long absence and loads of problems!

Hi everyone! It's been nearly a year since I've published my last posting here. However, I'm having problems with my blog and I'm trying to overcome them. I'm expecting to get back here soonish. Wait for me, guys! The annoying Iraqi is back! :P

Happy New 2011

New Year count down is about to begin. Here's sending my choicest blessing of cheers and joys galore and wishing you a wonderful year 2011.
New Year promises fresh start and fill every heart with hopes and aspirations. Here's sending my wishes of love and laughter this day and forever.
New Year's eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights. As the new year takes the flying start, may it brings peace of heaven to your house and fills your heart with grace and glory. Wishing you 365 days of unstop laughter and good cheers.

p.s I'll try to edit this post later (or add a new post) with my highlights of 2010.

Happy new year again, fellas!

Stressed at work

It's 2:00 pm and I'm here at work behind my desk in the office. My head is feeling numb and dizzy. The job is stressful and it is not that rewarding. I'm working as a network engineer in some ISP (Internet Service Provider) company. However, the company I am working for sucks major ass. Two annoying bosses, low-budget expenditures, one day weekend, a lousy salary, and our net service is a joke. I'm waiting till it is 3:00 pm so that I can leave for home. Home! I am not talking with my father for more than a week. Meh... I'm really feeling stressed out.

Eid in Baghdad

Happy eid, everyone! Today is Eid al-Fitir! It marks the end of Ramadan, muslim's fasting month. Early in the morning on the day of Eid, muslims wake up to the sound of Allah Akbar – “God is the greatest” — from the minarets of nearby mosques. They go to the mosques for the Eid prayer which is followed by short speech "khutba" by the imam. After that, people meet, greet, and wish each other the best.
Since it is Eid and the end of Ramadan, breakfast is really important on that day. People go to buy kahi wa gaimer— a very delicious kind of pastry that Iraqis eat on special occasions. The pastry shop where you get kahi gets really crowded on Eid. You can wait for a while until you finally get your order — but is really worth it! Traditionally, parents give their children eideya — that’s a gift of money. Now comes the family gathering time. People throw on their new outfits. Relatives visit with one another — they talk, get nostalgic, laugh, discuss life, and listen eid songs. They drink tea and eat klecha — that’s a type of cookie baked especially for Eid.
Kids run around with their new Eid clothes — complete with shiny shoes — and they laugh and play. Usually thier parents take them to parks and restaurants. Al-Zawra'a Park & Zoo in Al-Mansour Area and almost in a central location of Baghdad is the destination of hundreds of baghdadi families during the days of eid. It’s located in Damascus Street. You can find lots of amusements here: children games, a zoo, exhibitions, a tourist’s map, am open-air theater, fountains, sculptures, lakes, coffee-shops, restaurants, sandwich kiosks, the Zawra Olympic Pool, the Zawra Tower ( a 54-meter tower with an Islamic dome with a round veranda under the dome that serves as an observation platform and yields a magnificent view of Baghdad).

On the top of the tower there is a level with a cafeteria and a level with a restaurant; the tower has an elevator. Zawra Park, a sprawling, 250-acre public park in central Baghdad, is one of the few open spaces left in the capital. It's seeing a resurgence of visitors, thanks to improved security in central Baghdad. In eid, where families still gather for picnics, teenage boys kick around soccer balls, young couples canoodle furtively under trees and children bury their faces in cotton candy.
Slowly, Zawra is coming back to life. Here are some pics of Eid Al fitir I wanna share them with you.

Happy eid, everyone!

50 meters

Fifty meters was the distance between me and inevitable death.
I was trying to get a bus to go back home after a short day of work. I was walking in Mamoon street (Yarmouk neighborhood in western Baghdad) heading to Al Nissour Sq. in order to get a bus from there and go back home. It takes me 10 minutes by foot to get to that square. I pass by a state-run bank which is called The Trade Bank of Iraq, and also beside it, there is an office of Iraq's interior ministry where Iraqis apply for their national ID cards. It was about 11:00 am local time and usually this area at that hour as it was today is so crowded with people visiting both the bank and the office to get their stuff done. I kept walking and trying to lessen the terrible heat of our burning sun with a bottle of water and a wet handkerchief. Then, I felt like my ears were about explode and my lungs were jumping out of my chest. I then realized it was a heavy blast. I looked behind and I saw nothing but fire smoke and dust. Immediately, a rain of shattered stones and metal pieces were falling over. I stood amazed there for a minute but I was awakened by some bullets were fired by the Iraqi police and quickly I started to escape the bloody scene to a safer place. Another loud explosion occurred, leaving a huge giant of fire and a rain of flying pieces of iron falling from the sky. I raised my head above and I saw a large piece of a car's wheel flying in the air on the other side of the street. Then I sped up again and went to take shelter behind a few trees just to catch a breath. I couldn't believe what just happened. If I was 50 meters back or 2 minutes late, I could be dead. People were running in all directions. And ambulances and fire trucks invaded the scene. I looked back to check on the bloody scene but the smoke was killing my visibility. Anyway, I guessed that the explosions were targeting the Trade bank and the office of Iraq's interior ministry. Later, I heard on tv that each car was loaded with 80 kilogrammes (180 pounds ) of ammonium nitrate. A recent update mentioned that 33 people were killed and 52 others were injured. Five guards of the bank were among the dead and six others were wounded. While many of the victims from that blast targeting the interior ministry office were women, according to the Iraqi army. That truly is painful. Till this moment I do not forget how a man burst into tears as he was running towards the explosions. I'm sure many families have lost their beloved ones today and my family could have been one of those. I ask what is the guilt perpetrated by the poor families to face a horrible fate like that? What those innocent women and children did? Won't the violence and bloodshed stop in Iraq? Should ordinary Iraqis pay the political struggle in Baghdad? Can't those poor Iraqi families live in peace? Is there any light at the end of this long dark bloody tunnel?

The Hurt Locker vs Avatar

Avatar and The Hurt Locker are going to go head to head next month for the Best Picture and the Best Director in what looks to be one of the most interesting Oscar battles. In one corner we have the box office dominating, big budget Avatar and in the other the gritty and critically acclaimed The Hurt Locker. The Hurt Locker is nominated for 9 Oscars, won Best Director and
Best Picture LAFCA Award and Critics Choice Award while Avatar is nominated for 9 Oscars,
won 6 Critics Choice Awards and 2 Golden Globe Awards. And let's not forget that filmmakers James Cameron, the director of Avatar, and Kathryn Bigelow, the director of The Hurt Locker, were once married, which makes it even more interesting!

I think this is my first time that I post something about movies and cinematic works here in my blog and as far as I am concerned I have seen the two films recently and, to be honest, I liked The Hurt Locker more because it is more related to me and my world than that Sci-fi movie. Despite liking Avatar my feet are firmly in the The Hurt Locker camp as it was the best movie of 2009 in my opinion. The Hurt Locker the best American feature film yet made about the war in Iraq. Finally some genuine Iraqi actors as Iraqis instead of Indians and Egyptians. Kathryn Bigelow met some Iraqi refugees when shooting the film in Amman and she casted refugees who had theatrical backgrounds "SPOILER ALERT" such as Suhail Aldabbach, who plays the role of a forced suicide bomber at the end of the film. And because the movie was shot in Jordan within miles of Iraqi borders, the scenery is more alike to that in Iraq.

Avatar is deserving of all the praise that it has gotten but I'm of the opinion that, while it deserves to be nominated for Best Picture, it doesnt deserve to win due to the formulaic nature of its story and bizzare characters. They were very one-dimensional. The men in The Hurt Locker have a lot more depth to them, in my opinion which elevates the movie to a higher
place than Avatar. Avatar, once stripped of its visual splendors, is only several steps above a film like transformers 2 in the cinematic food chain. If The Hurt Locker wins, then it will definitely make the Oscars much more exciting. In the past few years, the award has gone to smaller indie films (i.e. Slumdog Millionaire, Crash, No Country for Old Men) so I think The Hurt Locker has a pretty good chance of winning. However, the only way that will happen is if Avatar wins everything else (technical awards, director, etc.) and then they might give The Hurt Locker the big prize. Anyway, the winners will be announced 7th March so let's wait and see who will win the best picture award this year.