It is finished, the year is over, yesterday has passed. I really hope that everyone will have a great new year, a great 2005.

Every December 31st, I sit and think about how another year has passed; another 12 months, another 365 days, another New Year’s Eve.
I find it mind-blowing.
Think about it…Time is such an abstract concept; minutes crawl, weeks fly, days start, and years end. Yet, we still assess this colossal conception we call “time” in static formulas that I believe serve only as limits to what we can accomplish in a certain frame.

Ok, enough blabbering. So how was your 2004? Mine was alright, it wasn’t too great a year- I definitely preferred 2003. The last few weeks have also been kinda bad, but maybe I’m just saying that because I’m not in the best of moods as I’m writing this(regarding issues pertaining to misuse of authority, AHH!)

The New Year certainly seems appealing though, with January starting off with the arrival of people I care about, and who I haven’t seen for too long. The summer also holds a promise to bring over someone I haven’t seen since August 2003, so that should be really nice as well. I’m also really excited about having a Lord of The Rings movie marathon when my friend Sami comes this January as almost none of my Jordan friends agreed to have
a marathon with me(2al they couldn’t stay awake through one LotR movie, bleh)

So basically, I won’t be lighting my fireworks for the idea of another 365 more days of my life going down the drain, rather for the fact that this not-too-great-a-year is over.

As for resolutions, I’m not much of a resolution person. I don’t drink, I d’n’t smoke, and I’m generally quite happy with my life and with who I am, so I have none and hopefully will never be one of the people who needs to have a resolution to accomplish something.

At the end of 2004, I would like to share with you parts of the lyrics of a No Doubt song called Six Feet Under. It’s rather pessimistic, and I’m a very optimistic person, but it portrays the frame of mind I’m in at this time of the year:

In the morning I wake up
And in the night I sleep
Since the day that I was born
Repeat, repeat, repeat
Brought to this life
Born to this life
Where was I before?
Non-existent? Not at all?
Will I ever know?

Subconsciously motivated natural instinct
Alter nature for the pleasure
Orthocycline
Flirt with conception
Slow the cycle
Will the baby grow?
Social tradition interference
Control, control, control

Spinning, spinning
Before I can recall
All the unknown chemicals
Control the cycle
The successive generations
From dust to dust
Burying my grandma
Then give birth to my own daughter

And I get one every year
And some day…
Hard to believe
But I’ll be buried six feet underground
I’ll be dead and gone, no longer around

Have a great 2005.

I really love comfort shoes, and the Adidas Superstar is one of my favorites. They’re also so incredibly creative with the Superstar designs, which I love.
Anyway, to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Superstar, Adidas is releasing 35 new color/styleways in several different series. The latest includes 7 customs dedicated to the cities most responsible for making the Superstar a classic; London, Berlin, NY, Boston, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, and Paris.

Check out more details at the Adidas Superstar website(and look at the rest of the collection), or check out Cool Hutning, probably my favorite design blog around.

To my sheer annoyance though(yeah, I know, DUH), Adidas didn’t make an “I love Amman” shoe. Ok, so we didn’t contribute in making it go mainstream, but I’m still a tad jealous, so I took matters into my own hands:

Hetta/Shmagh/ghutra because it represents not only Jordan, but a huge portion of the Arab world, and red because red is my favorite color.
I love Amman :)

After a phonecall from Auntie Eman from Canada, I couldn’t help but find my self reminiscing about the days of Riyadh(Auntie, we miss you guys so much).

Usually when I reminisce, the first thing I do is browse through the thousands of digital photographs piled up over the years, and I thought I’d share these with you guys(maybe to lessen your hate for the Gulf, look everyone’s having fun):
Click on images for larger image

A neighbor pot-luck dinner we used to have often in the compound we used to live in in Riyadh

BBQing chestnuts by the pool at the compound during the cold desert nights. I really love this photograph

I still get my brother’s RYSA sports activities emailed to my inbox although its been years already since we’ve lived in Riyadh

Some French guy started spreading his fascination with Space Invaders(the video game) by finding ways to invade the world, city by city, with the little aliens. He has already invaded Paris, and has frighteningly good maps for all the other invasions he plans. He travels around putting up small mosaics of the old-school space alien logo. He’s already tagged six of the nine letters of the infamous Hollywood sign in LA, although he wouldn’t consider what he does graffiti.

A small part of his Earth invading scheme is this shoe. On the sole of each shoe are an alien and the words “10 points” in relief so that every time you walk on wet cement, sand, or whatever you leave your invasion mark! Each shoebox is signed, and only 1500 were produced.
This is one guy I would love to meet.

Check out the website at space-invaders.com
Via Cool Hunting

I’m really impressed by the recent authority initiative to acquaint the Jordanian audience with world-renowned musical standards of classical music. I think its amazing that there is interest in enriching the cultural life of Jordanians, especially in Amman.
The latest cultural awareness initiative was organized by the Embassy of the Russian Federation and the Municipality of Greater Amman who presented two opera soloists- Vladimir Malchenko and Nickolai Semenov accompanied by Elena Alkhimova on the piano. The concert was held at Al-Hussein Cultural Center, and in my opinion, it was a huge success.
Both soloists were amazing, especially Semenov who gave me goosebumps the whole time he was singing. It’s unbelievable what passion adds to everything in life. The theatre was also full, with practically no seats to spare.
I hope there will be many more similar concerts to come.

Here now are the top ten flicks that made the most green, thanks in large part to a certain, um, green ogre:

10) TROY
$133 million

9) I, ROBOT
$144 million

8) SHARK TALE
$154 million

7) THE BOURNE SUPREMACY
$175 million

6) THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW
$186 million

5) THE INCREDIBLES
$214 million (and counting)

4) HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
$249 million

3) THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
$370 million

2) SPIDER-MAN 2
$373 million

1) SHREK 2
$436 million