Been a very hectic and stressful past couple of months and I feel like I’ve reached my limit and some time away is extremely necessary if I am to hang on to whatever sanity I have left.  Whether its problems at work, friends, life, obligations, responsibilities, the weather, and so on, its come to a point that I feel I will lose it.  So, I am leaving today to Syria where I will stay for one whole week in our place in the suburbs between Damascus and Homs.  No cars, no traffic, no work, no telephones, no problems… pure isolation.  Its the place anyone of the family goes to get away from it all.  All there is to do is relax, swim, tan, eat fresh fruits and vegetables (which we grow in our own land too), family gatherings.  The weather there now is just perfect, sunny with a cool breeze.  Ofcourse, me being the Tiesto fan that I am, I will be escaping this relaxation for one day and attending the Tiesto concert in Beirut on the 31st, already got the tickets and my friends are waiting for me.  I am leaving today at noon and will be back next Saturday, the 2nd of August.  And when I get back, I am expecting to have relaxed, vented, recharged, and ready for another epic of insanity.  And back to posting as much as I got you used to.  In the meantime, have a great two coming weekends, especially next week being a long weekend.  Cheers everyone!

NOTE: If you haven’t read my previous post, Negligence at Mubarak Hospital, I strongly recommend you do and check out the comments as Delicately Realistic debates the post with very interesting points of view.  I got a lot of positive feedback about the post.

Everyone knows Mubarak Al Kabeer Hospital and I still remember the days when people used to think it was the best in the country where people were actually properly treated by real doctors. Past few weeks, been hearing a lot of stories about this hospital that make you go WTF?!?! The worst hospital in the country is known to be Farwaniya where the tiles in the floors emit radiation! Yet, a lot go there since insurance covers nowhere else. But when a hospital like Mubarak is trashed like this, MOH better shape these hospitals up. Anyway, the two worst stories I heard were about the mother of a friend and the father of another friend.

My friend’s mom has a complicated case where bad blood accumulates in one part of the body causing sort of a bump and the only way to get rid of it is by surgery. This was the third time she did it. Because of previous experience with Mubarak, she tried other hospitals but they were hesitant about accepting her as a patient since her case is repetitive and should stick to the original hospital, which is the dumbest, least professional, most careless, lame excuse I have heard! She gets admitted into Mubarak and gets the operation done. The doctor is happy cos its a success, takes off his gloves and robes leaving the rest in the hands of his trusty experienced nurses. But…….. those “experienced” nurses forget her in the operation room!!! She wakes up from the anesthetic screaming from pain as she is feeling the surgery effects, but there is nobody there listening; she was stuck in one of those portable beds for 1 hour and a half waiting for somebody to come check on her!! She sleeps…… Later the doctor comes in to tell her that he needs to cut her open again cos they didn’t get it all out! WHAT?!?!??! Lol this is a human being you moron! She had no choice but to accept and they did the operation again. In 4 days, she was injected with anesthetic twice, which you need a week to get out of the system, and operated on twice in the same spot! Luckily, this time the dumbass nurses remembered to take her back to her room. Later at night, the doctor had written instructions on her chart which the nurses are expected to follow. And they do… to the word. He comes to check on her at night asking how many injections was she given and she answered “two”; he gets pissed off at my friends mom saying it should be three and calls in the nurse who smacks the chart in his face and it clearly states “TWO”. What an idiot!! Turns out he was some fresh grad who doesn’t know shit simply enjoying the idea of having his signature on a couple of forms.

Then last Thursday, the father of another friend gets into a car accident. Luckily, he was wearing the seat belt and made it out alive. He was pretty hurt though with broken ribs, a lot of bruises, a concussion, major swelling in his head, and worst of all… a shattered ankle. He doesn’t remember how the accident happened or what caused all this; only waking up and finding himself in Mubarak… a nonstop nightmare if you ask me! I didn’t get full details about how he was being treated there but my friend did describe the experience there in one word: “Zebala” (garbage in english). She said the doctors were all kids playing doctor, scribbling stuff on papers that looked like chicken footprints, kids running around the hospital constantly screaming like it were a playground, the same food was being served everyday, and more ….. complete incompetence. His ankle should have been operated on 6 hours after the accident, but its been 6 days since the accident and they haven’t done anything yet. They are making plans to fly him to London for the operation cos this is not an easy case, as the ankle was not only broken, it was shattered. When his family confronted the doctor with this, he actually told them he will do it if they want but it is preferrable the operation is done in London!! Goes to show even the doctors know they are not professional or experienced enough to handle such a case! They are now rushing to complete procedures to fly him out of here asap.

I heard other stories but I think these two are enough to show how useless this hospital has become and that they don’t realize that these are human beings they are tampering with. You don’t send fresh grads to practice on people without the supervision of a senior doctor. Humans are not guinea pigs and patient visits are not “training”.

It’s been two weeks since the last time I posted. I got back from Lebanon last Saturday night, on the 12th, but have not checked my blog since, except for replying to two comments. Otherwise, haven’t been checking it. I did this morning and found that Zack and DLC were wondering where I am plus a few other emails from people asking where I am. Well guys, thanks for asking! I’m still here. Just have not been in the mood of blogging at all, not to mention the amount of work I have had to deal with when I got back. Seriously, they make it a point you regret taking time off by piling so much paperwork on your desk while away!

Don’t wanna talk about my trip to Lebanon, but one thing that will sum it up is: DEPRESSING. I guess that was one of the reasons I didn’t blog; I just didn’t feel like writing a single word, search for interesting topics, check other blogs, absolutely nothing. The most I have done was log on to facebook to talk to friends or surf the net for work. I had friends calling me from everywhere (France, Canada, Lebanon, Dubai, Kuwait, even Russia!) wandering what is going on with me and why the sudden disappearance. Everyone understood. Well, it was a much needed break as I had to empty my head and chill out. Anyway, I’m back and if I seem a little rusty, bare with me. I think I forgot how to blog

Leaving in a few hours to Lebanon to attend the funerals of Tbone and Alec. Will be back Saturday.

Day before yesterday, two old friends of mine whom I have known for 10 years now died in a car accident. They were on their way to the movies in Tbone’s wrangler when one of the tires blew up forcing them into the sidewalk and the car flipping 5 times. They were both gone before they reached the hospital.

Talal (Tbone), born May 23rd 1980, graduated Business Administration from the American University of Beirut in 2001, and later continued with an emphasis in Marketing from the University of Birmingham. He then moved to Dubai working in the marketing field and has been there the past 5 years. Tbone was with me in AUB and was one of those people who could make anyone laugh. I would say he spent his entire life laughing, even when sad and in his sleep. He pulled the funniest pranks on people, made videos and posted them all online. He even set up a website, Zee Aflam, which is Indian movies translated to Arabic; he even did one video himself which was too funny. The guy was one of those who loved enjoying life and living it to the max every single day. He was always out, seeing people, socializing, partying, traveling, had a great love life, and family life. His favorite quote was “shake n bake baby!”. The world is definitely a sadder place without him.

When I think about Alec, I think Superman. This guy was famous back in uni for his superman tops. Of all the people I ever knew, this guy had the kindest and biggest heart. He was a small fellow yet would pick on the biggest guys. I would bump into him almost everywhere I go and he always had this cheesy smile on his face, drops some silly comment, then walks away. He loved outdoor activities and his favorite sport was Rugby, although he was a small guy. He tried gyming it for a while but he remained small. He always made me laugh. He too graduated from AUB with Business Administration, and has been in Dubai ever since.

REST IN PEACE BOYS. YOU WERE LOVED, YOU ARE MISSED, AND YOU WILL FOREVER BE REMEMBERED. CHEERS!

AM COMING TO LEBANON TO SAY GOODBYE.

This may be the smartest or the dumbest question. A few days, I got a few IBM - Lenovo systems with 19″ LCD screens. My dad, being an engineer, looks at them and say “there is no way those are 19 inches wide”. After a short debate, I got a ruler and measured it (including the frame) and they turned out to be a little more than 17 inches. Did the same thing with the 15″ screen and turned out to be a little more that 13″. I asked some friends and they could not answer; they were pretty confused as I was.  Tried to find an answer online, and still nothing.  So what’s that about? Are monitor inches less than real inches? Am I missing something here?

[LONG POST BUT INTERESTING]

Read an article in Al Watan Daily which motivated me to write this post.  There are around 15,000 drug addicts in Kuwait. Even though security is tight and almost everyday we read in the papers about drug dealers being caught, the amount of drugs in the country is rising and their prices falling. When I say drugs, I mean chemicals such as heroin and cocaine, addictive stuff, physically and mentally. Personally, I don’t consider hash and weed as drugs as they are not addictive, but lets not get into that; its a personal opinion and have gotten into many debates about this. This is gonna be quite a long post as I have a lot to say about this and have seen a lot. None of this stuff is from articles, all is from what I have seen in real life.

The problem in Kuwait is heroin. 10 years ago, a gram of heroin cost 100KD, but today it could cost only 10KD, which is very very cheap. Back in Lebanon, we had to take a course in university about drugs which teaches you a lot. In addition, I have seen many drug cases as I worked in the nightlife for 7 years; trust me, you see a lot working nightclubs. And working the nightlife, you are required to know all about this stuff to monitor drug trafficking in clubs so owners would have their employees attend classes and do volunteer work. Of all the drugs out there, I would have to say that heroin is the most messed up drug anyone can be addicted to.

Heroin literally eats up a person’s body starting with the fat, then the muscles and soon he is all skin and bones; for an addict, that could take up to 4 months to happen. It numbs the brain killing any chances of thinking properly; some people say it helps them focus while studying which is why many university students do it. Well I must admit, that I have seen some people who take it to study and it actually works out for them and they ace exams but what they don’t know is that they are slowly getting addicted and soon enough no quantity will be enough to help them “concentrate”. Their purpose in life will simply be how to manage the money to get the next gram. Not to mention how isolated they become losing complete touch with the social life and are soon forgotten. It is a nasty nasty nasty drug; starts out with being fun and “feeling good” and ends up being a home wrecker.

Heroin is taken in three ways. First is sniffing or snorting which is the most common; get a straw and sniff it. Chasing the dragon by which it is placed on an aluminum foil and heated from the bottom with a lighter or something and then inhaled from the mouth with a thick straw. Then you got the needles which addicts can puncture any part of their body into a blood vessel. Disgusting.

Psychologists and doctors say the main reason people turn to drugs is a lack of strong religious and family values. Well, in some cases, yeah it is. But most of the cases I have seen are of students of good families with strong ties. The main reason behind drug abuse, to me, is curiousity. Kids and students want to experience that “rush” feeling, think it will help them study, and they want to “chill”. One other major thing that could influence people to take drugs are their surroundings and who they hang out with; pretty much like the 15 year old kids you see today outside schools smoking cigarettes.

The biggest decision and step any addict can take is quitting, going through rehab, and get his/her life back together. The cleaning process could take up to one month, and it can be the worst life experience anyone can have; could get to points when the patient wishes death. That is the physical addiction. The psychological addiction is even worse; takes much longer that rehab centers do not approve that an addict is cured until at least 6 months have passed. In Kuwait, 400 addicts have been cured so far by rehab centers; but it is not over for these people, it is only the beginning and not until at least one year has passed will they get their lives back.

This site brought back a lot of memories.  They sell pretty much all Lebanese-made products you can think from sweets, chocolates, coffees, nuts, water pipes (argeeleh), artisanat, canned food, music, books, and other stuff.  Any orders will be shipped and delivered to you within 5 days via DHL.  The name is Al Doukan which is a “bakala” in Kuwait.  {Check it out}

So you work your ass off and take measures to control your expenses and all is going great as you see your bank account growing month after month leaving a certain amount in your savings account. Damn, it feels good watching that number grow!! But then, out of nowhere, you face something that must be done like car maintenance, a sudden trip, an old payment that matured, something at home got busted, or anything of the sort that would cost a whole lot to take care of. Its one thing when you save for something and spend the money, which feels amazing, but when its something you don’t expect, then that is a major mood killer! Even though it is necessary, and paying it could only help avoid future problems but the fact that you never predicted it and it was just thrown at you…….. pisses you off!!

What to do about stuff like this? Nothing! I mean there is not much you can do about natural disasters expect take as many precautions as possible, even with that damage is inevitable. Even if you saved more than you plan, taking some extra as a safety margin, that unexpected payment will always be big enough to deplete your savings one way or another. What to do? Become a stingy scrooge? Stop eating out? Travel only when Jazeera has special offers? Assign one outfit for each day of the week and stop shopping? HELL NO!!! I guess the only way is to find ways to make more money, and try not to live a life of higher standard with the extra income. For some reason, the more money you get, the more expensive your standard of living gets.

Summer is kicking in and people are already leaving for a nice long vacation away from the sun and heat; a lot of people I know are already out of town for at least a month or so. Still monthly visitors remained almost the same at 28,000 this month. Comments however have shrunk last two weeks, plus I haven’t been posting as much, but that mouse keeps clicking on my blog So, here I am again posting this to thank everyone who comments here, speaks their minds on the chat box, or simply just for visiting.

Top 5 commentors for June 2008 are:

1. DLC - 34 (top for 3 months now)
2. Zed - 22 (a regular from a very long time)
3. Purgatory - 19 (I’m shocked!! Third place!)
4. Tartar - 14 (a regular since the first days the blog was created)
5. Intlxpatr - 12 (a regular since a long time and the voice of reason