* No, I’m not going to talk about the show “24″ or Jack Bauer (Sorry, Marzouq!)…

I’m turning 24 on August 12th, and I’ve been planning a birthday party ever since the 12th of July lol

It’s going to be a costume party so all the people I’ve invited have enough time to decide, design and get creative with the costume of their choice… The only rule I have is that nobody should dress anything cat-like…

Nobody knows what I’m going to be since I didn’t specify what cat-like thing I’m going to be, it could be anything.. Catwoman, a black cat, a white cat, a black & white cat, sheraaziya, a tabby, a lion or even a cheetah with spots lol

The only thing that’s bugging me out is that everybody’s away in August.. I love having my birthday on the exact specific date since it’s pointless if it’s a few days before, and I don’t want to stretch it out for a week or two if the party’s waaayyy after the date…

And everybody’s either away already or about to travel around that time.. the only people I understand are the ones away on serious business like Juju (hope your dad feels much better soon :D) but the others are malaaqaaaa *rolls her eyes*

I’ve been getting sms messages from friends asking what to get me and to put together a wishlist so nobody gets me millions of perfumes or something…

I thought that was a great idea since I always wish everybody had a wish list for their birthdays.. I’m not a personal fan of perfumes, I know 100% that that person would want something better… So if you’re coming to my birthday and you want to get me something, I’m a size 14 (UK) and my shoe size is 38 lol and if my old Amazon wish list helps out, then why not, just click on this button…

* I’ve been quite busy with Toastmasters these past few months.. Laialy & I have been running around tweaking some things here and there and I’d just like to use this personal space to thank her.. You’re my TM partner-in-crime and we work great together, so thank you

* Why’s my Mac’s software update freezing up?! It used to freeze up when it reached 80% or 85%… I fixed it after reading Carolyn Samit’s suggestion here and it loaded just fine, no problems.. now it’s updating iTunes and it’s just stuck here…

And it won’t budge!

* I’ve been playing around with StumbleUpon and it’s so much fun!

It’s amazing how the internet is full of these really interesting websites that match my love for photography, crafts, humor, books and movies… I’ve been stumbling for a few days now and that’s all I’d be doing all day, with small breaks here and there to check my e-mail or feeds reader… here’s one of those gems I found:

* I’m preparing for the upcoming semester (yes, I’m that much of a geek).. and I have enough exercises to shut up any complaints from the senior teacher or tawjeeh.. and for the new school year, I have a resolution, ba9eer na7eesa and I won’t share whatever exercises I design since I’ve noticed that some teachers scribble over the names and use the papers as their own.. wela chena ta3bana 3alaihum during the summer.. so no more of that generosity when it comes to people who don’t deserve it…

And that’s about it… what’s new with you guys?

(Warning: A Very Long Picture Post Coming Up)

So I’m back… last night I went out with my girlies and it was a lot of fun.. one of the things that kept the laughs coming was the pics I took of my students’ badliyat.. And that reminded me to share them with you :p

One of the really rare things that kept me amused during corrections is the way the girls wrote specific things.. Here are some of my favourites that I took pics of (yes, i take pics of badliyat on exam papers… who doesn’t!?) with their translations…

Keep in mind that these girls have just graduated high school and are coming to a University/College near you…

more…

Today was the last day of school! Finally, I can finish planning for the Open Day! (look below)

I’ve been singing this all day lol…

Things I Hate:

1* When a teacher asks me about a students’ grade and she’s not related to the student.

2* When bloggers/non-blogging commenters aren’t nice. (Shame on you!)

3* When people give me strange looks when I say “Thank you!”, “Please?” and “Can I help you, 7ajiya?”

4* When a guy calls a wrong number and won’t hang up until he knows my name. (that’s when I pull the “Ello dear, you seem to have a wrong numba, daaah-ling… My name is Eliza Doolittle, would you like to speak to Mr. Higgins?” trick.)

5* When Hollywood tries to ruin classics like “My Fair Lady” (site has some language you may not like)… Who can ever replace Audrey Hepburn? Nobody.

6* When a person thinks that he/she has every right to be a racist bitch/bastard just because they can.

7* When I see my students at the co-op, they come up to me to say hi but are trying to glance at my brothers.

8* When I invite somebody into my own house and they yell at me and then giggle like it was nothing.

9* When somebody constantly (constantly constantly) complains about a specific country they’re living in (and its nationals) but still continues to live here and interact with the citizens. If you love your country so much, why didn’t you just stay there! 7emdaw rabkum 3ala kil ni3ma! If you don’t like it here, get the fuck out and never come back!

10* When my younger brother treats me like a child. I changed your diapers and wiped the drool off your face when u were a little kid, punk! So try a little respect, will ya?! Don’t make me slap it into you and you know I can, I don’t care if you have a moustache!

Things I Love:

1* Finally getting my own car. I can’t believe a hunk of metal just gave me my freedom. I hate sharing cars.

2* When I use the cigarette lighter thing in the car to burn incense… my car smells niiice :p

3* When me and the girls finally agree on an outing! *can’t wait, can’t waiiit*

4* When I do something I’d promised and the look on the person’s face is “I can’t believe you still remembered!“

5* Running my own errands without waiting for somebody to let me borrow the car. (It’s related to 1, but I’m still happy about it hehe)

6* When I play with Photoshop at work on my own laptop or work on a sewing project and sink into my own world.

7* When a beloved friend of mine finally posts again with amazing news.

8* When I use a bag I’d sewn to carry stuff around and somebody thinks it’s cute *yay*..

9* The TEDTalks podcast on iTunes.

10* When I’m nominated for awards related to creativity. I’m very very flattered *turns into a 6oma6a* Thank you Purg & Jewaira!

I know I know, I’ve disappeared off the face of the earth… but here I am with a quick update…

• RS and I have reached a weird truce where we try to like each other, and at the same time avoid being anywhere near each other (at least i’m trying).

• RS is part of the Student Council and as one of their activities, they’re having little video-taped interviews with teachers..

She chose to have an interview with me. Zebdat el salfa, it was a “9adoh” prank, but thankfully I kinda sensed something was wrong when she started asking questions that I don’t think the ekh9a’aiya would’ve approved of.

Apparently, the ekh9a’iya thought it’d be a fun idea to allow students to pull pranks like that on the teachers and allowing questions like “We’ve made a survey and found out that 99 *boin6* 9 percent of the students hate you. Will you please just quit your job?” and “Egool el mathal “Anam mathloom wela anam thalem”.. cham marra nayma thalma?”

• The people who live upstairs are having loud sex every night. How do I know? Well, they’re newly-weds and when the apartments were built, the master bedroom was right on top of my bedroom.

The people who lived up there first had young sons and I knew the isolation sucked because the were loud, rowdy and just normal plain boy-ish… I told my parents and they said that I should just try to get used to it cos i’m already living with brothers who’re loud and rowdy…

But now there are newly-weds up there… What am I supposed to tell my parents? “Mom.. Dad.. if the lady upstairs gets pregnant any time soon, I’d have most likely heard the conception.”? How awkward.

• I’m back into sewing again… I went through many steps (I didn’t make the basic bag -it was one of TopShop’s promotion bags-, I just attached the squares -from some extra fabric I had-)… and the result is this:

I’m very proud :p

• I love Gene Kelly… I’m getting into an oldies mood and I tried looking for as many torrents as possible, but all I could find and download is “Singin’ In The Rain“, “An American In Paris” and “The Pirate“…

His being hot and the way he dances helps a LOT! I love the classics (remember this?) :p

• I need some sort of make-over.. and I want to try something new.. The other day some of my mom’s friends mentioned a building in salmiya that had a salon and spa (seperate places but equally good)..

They say the spa -called “MySpa“- has some pretty cool Ayurveda treatments as well as yoga therapy… I might try the hair treatments at the “5 Stones Salon” too…

• I HATE ELECTIONS!! Banners and ads covering the U-Turns, stupid stupid smses, repeated speeches over and over and over again, even teachers are dropping hints and suggesting people to vote for!! AAHH! MABI!

• I’m really into this Flyleaf song, “All Around Me”… Can’t stop listening to it…

And I don’t know what to think of the new Maroon 5 & Rihanna song… I think I like it but i never really liked the original to begin with.. I think Rihanna adds some spice to it…

• Join Swair and Sou’s fan page on Facebook!

That’s all for now…