Going Upstate

This week I'm driving up to Lawrence/Kansas City to meet up with my sister and her friend along with taking care of business.

Hopefully, I will be able to see Looking For Comedy in a Muslim World, because they are opening for only a week in KC. If not, I won't be that dissapointed because the movie looks a bit flat anyway from the previews. But I'll give it a try.

Big Brother's Watching

Or not. You can decide for yourself.

Several days ago my mother looked out our window to find the trashman looking through our garbage. He reportedly had taken a booklet from our trashcan and was leafing through the pages, and then failing to find anything of interest, tossed it back into the truck and drove on.

oookay.

So maybe he does some light reading to keep himself entertained. It's not the most pleasant job in the world, you know.

Two days ago Ami (my mom) picked me up from class. We pulled into our driveway while I was finishing up some story about that day's events, when she stopped the car and turned to me somberly and said, "Neda, the FBI took our trash can."

Huh?

"Abu (my dad) called the company and asked about the missing trashcan today and they said they don't know anything about it. Do you know what that means? That means the FBI is involved."

I gave her one of my usual, "Please, not again" looks and said, "Come on Ami, if the NSA has allowed these people to wiretap our suspicious words, I would be in jail right now with the number of times I've explained to my friends over the phone what 'Jihad', 'Al-Queda', and 'Osama bin Laden' were all about."

Of course, mom was still doubtful and kept to her suspicions.

Then, the similar event of one of my cousin whose trashcan was switched around with her neihbor's on two different occasions sealed the deal on my parent's idea that we are a target of an FBI investigation. This is not the only time my parents have claimed suspicious activity around our home, but really, it can't be certain.

(By the way, just to make it clear, we have nothing to hide. Not even our garbage. If anybody would like to search for themselves, be my guest.)

As If You Didn't Have Enough...

...Here is some MC Vikram and LudaKrishna for you:

Curry-N-Rice Girl

It is their only music video at the present time.

Want more? A good place to start is here. Or visit their website and listen to more songs (after you pledge your fobbiness of course).

Just To Make You Smile

If I were forced to be a groupie of the one band whose song I like with no plausible explanation, I would pick O-Zone. Their song Dragostea Din Tei gets stuck in my head with no complaints except for the fact that singing the lyrics become a great challenge to sing due to the fact that it's NOT in English, but rather Romanian. But I try.

You won't be disappointed if you watch their music video because, I assure you, they are entertaining. And pretty cute in a geeky sort of way.

And after you have finished watching the original music video, I invite you to try the parody...

I still can't tell which one I like more.

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Update**

Ok, due to the fact that my sister needs to retain credit for introducing me to this band, her name Maria Ahmad is seen here. (Are you happy now?)

And while I'm at it, let me introduce to you the (Maria) Ahmad Theory of this three-membered boy band. According to her, O-Zone can be labeled under "typical boy band" due to the fact that there are three stereotypes represented in this song: the ambitious one, the sensitive one, and your typical "bad boy" stereotype.

In fact, you can pretty much pick your type from the versions portrayed in the video...let's start with the one in the obviously plastic glasses. He'd be the popular guy in high school...ambitious, the lead singer, the one who is always center stage and all the women, uh, die for.

Then there is the, for lack of a better word, vulnerable and sensitive member of the band in the yellow shirt. When the song cuts to him singing, his voice is much lighter and higher in pitch. Perhaps to woo the ones who like nice guys.

And don't you just love the fact that the "bad boy" doesn't really sing at all, but just acts like the role that is given to him? It seems that way as he sways in the background acting like the big bad bouncer that he is.

Although it sounds true, I just think it's better not to think too much into it. You'd probably find me perfecting the lyrics as the guy at home in the parody video had done instead *wink, wink*

Fickle Explanation

I'm sorry if I'm driving anyone nuts with my ever-changing blog template, titles, descriptions, and whatnot but what's driving me crazy is the fact that I keep seeing my sidebar (where my profile is located) pushed all the way to the bottom. Is this just my computer?

I'm going to find out about this. I really did like the other template, but apparently it occurs with every single template I pick. Although, now that I have this new one, it's not so bad really...

**Update

Never mind, this blog template is A-ok. I like it, and I'll stick with it (until I change my mind again :)

Eid Mubarak!

...To all those who celebrate and to those who don't!

Wegetables? Vhere?

I have been on break from everything in my life right now, so I thought I might just check in and see how this blog is going.

Obviously, it's not going.

Let me just help it a bit.

To date, I am having a fairly good Winter Break, aside from the fact that I am losing my English speaking skills. It is one thing to lose it because you speak another language, but an entirely different matter if it's because you hang around a lot of people who speak English incorrectly. Just last night I told my sister, "Mari, it looks like I'm getting a lot of grey hairs already!"

Hairs?

Since when did I use a term usually reserved for mocking my parents? Since when is it okay that I add on S's to words that don't require them? I can't even write an essay past the 5th grade level anymore.

In fact, I'm too embarrassed right now to explain the title to this post. I'll just say this: I can't help the fact that I pronounce my V's and W's to this day incorrectly. And if you listen carefully, you'll catch it (if you know me and talk to me in the unforeseen future). But it can turn into a very ugly, very embarrassing situation. Maybe I'll post about it later.

And yes, sadly, I have been pulling out trace amounts of grey hair. And it bothers me. A lot. Go away.