Well, I had a fun afternoon but a frustrating evening. One-out-of-two isn't bad... *smirk*
This afternoon was a nice potluck with people from church downtown (just one I visit sometimes) in one of the more foreigner-oriented communities. Nice to see lots of trees and just chat for hours on end. Mostly just getting to know people better and talking about what we all do, but it was good.
The frustrating part was during Arabic tonight. *sigh* As I'm presently studying, I'm not putting in enough time or not doing things write to learn/memorize quickly enough. I guess I just need to use my time more efficiently and sacrifice some of my "free time" to get things going better. Each lesson we just pile on more and more and I feel myself slipping behind where I should be.
But Bob Marley music is making "everything alright".
I'll get through this, so no worries at this end. Just venting, mostly. For more on writing like this, see David's thoughts on Blogging...
Saturday, May 24, 2003
Music suggestions from my friend Mel. She's always good for non-mainstream music ideas.
“Old School Freight Train (www.osft.net) The first time we saw them, they did a cover of "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder...VERY cool.
We also saw Mike Doughty (www.superspecialrock.com), who is Mr. Do-It-Yourself-er. He was the front man for a band called Soul Coughing until about 4 years ago, but now it's just him and his guitar on stage. Pretty cool guy.”
Both sites have MP3s to download, if you’re patient…
I still have Pink in heavy rotation on my computer. I think I’m going to keep listening to the tracks I have until I get really sick of them.
At some point, I’ll need to borrow some CDs from people to rip to MP3.
Or maybe I’ll download some MP3s, but it’s so slooooooowwwww over a phoneline connection.
But there might be some hope for that situation. One of the other MCC volunteers (Mike) teaches at a Catholic Seminary here in Cairo. They get lots of money from the U.S. and have really nice facilities like decent computers and a (somewhat) fast Internet connection. (ISDN, for those techies out there)
I might go over there sometime and “borrow” their connection to upload photos and download some music. *grin*
Mike is also going to put me in contact with their computer/networking guy so that I can talk wireless networking with him. I think it would be a nice thing if they had a little wireless network connection set up. (I could also use that when I come to Cairo for visits *grin*)
I’m pricing the hardware at one of the computer stores in my neighborhood, just to get an idea of what it would cost. Looks like about $80 for cards and $160 for the access point. Not sure how that is compared to in the U.S.
“Old School Freight Train (www.osft.net) The first time we saw them, they did a cover of "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder...VERY cool.
We also saw Mike Doughty (www.superspecialrock.com), who is Mr. Do-It-Yourself-er. He was the front man for a band called Soul Coughing until about 4 years ago, but now it's just him and his guitar on stage. Pretty cool guy.”
Both sites have MP3s to download, if you’re patient…
I still have Pink in heavy rotation on my computer. I think I’m going to keep listening to the tracks I have until I get really sick of them.
At some point, I’ll need to borrow some CDs from people to rip to MP3.
Or maybe I’ll download some MP3s, but it’s so slooooooowwwww over a phoneline connection.
But there might be some hope for that situation. One of the other MCC volunteers (Mike) teaches at a Catholic Seminary here in Cairo. They get lots of money from the U.S. and have really nice facilities like decent computers and a (somewhat) fast Internet connection. (ISDN, for those techies out there)
I might go over there sometime and “borrow” their connection to upload photos and download some music. *grin*
Mike is also going to put me in contact with their computer/networking guy so that I can talk wireless networking with him. I think it would be a nice thing if they had a little wireless network connection set up. (I could also use that when I come to Cairo for visits *grin*)
I’m pricing the hardware at one of the computer stores in my neighborhood, just to get an idea of what it would cost. Looks like about $80 for cards and $160 for the access point. Not sure how that is compared to in the U.S.
Friday, May 23, 2003
Oops...
I forgot to actually put out the link for Darren's party pics, but it's there now. And here's the link, for good measure:
Darren's Going-Away Party
Username: jpics
Password: easy
I'll try to add the music-related posted (promised from yesterday) later.
I forgot to actually put out the link for Darren's party pics, but it's there now. And here's the link, for good measure:
Darren's Going-Away Party
Username: jpics
Password: easy
I'll try to add the music-related posted (promised from yesterday) later.
Thursday, May 22, 2003
Ahoy -- random thoughts ahead! (you’ve been warned) *smile*
So if you can't find Baking Soda, how do you bake? It's easy to find baking powder, but that's not what my recipes call for. Even in the Western-style supermarket, I can't find baking soda...
Thoughts? Ways to improvise? A no-prize will be given for all correct/useful answers received.
Speaking of prizes...
I came to a realization today. Quiz programs aren’t very effective or entertaining when there aren’t any prizes involved and every caller gets the answer right on the first guess. *smirk*
How did I come to this realization? Well, after my Arabic lesson today, I stopped by the office to relax and I turned on the TV. On NileTV (the sometimes English-language Egyptian network), they were showing a program called “Cinema Quiz”. They would show 10 minutes of an Egyptian b&w movie from the 40s or 50s and then go to a young, attractive Egyptian woman in the studio who would read a question and ask people to call in with the answer. Then, they’d go back to the movie for 10 minutes, and return to her and have a caller guess.
Note the word “guess”. Of the 4 questions/answers I heard, the caller was blindly guessing each time and freely admitted that they didn’t know anything about the movies and the director they were discussing. Add in several “hello, are you there” moments with the hostess talking to a disconnected phoneline and you get to a weird program. Well, at least to Western eyes. When the correct guess was given, it was followed by a "great, please call us again" by the hostes. Couldn't they at least send them a box of tea or something??? *grin*
On the plus side, the movie was quite funny and had English subtitles so I could check to see what I was understanding. The plot involved a rich man with a wife, but also a mistress. Of course, both women end up in the same place and the same time, so he has to convince his trusted (if incompetent) friend to pretend that he is married to the mistress.
Silliness ensues…
Yes, that plot appears to go across cultures. I was reminded of Jerry Lewis for some reason.
-----Odd News story for the week:
Story about a NY Times writer who included inaccuracies and lies in recent stories to intentionally get fired:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Northeast/05/21/blair.ap/index.html
That’s enough for now.
Tomorrow’s topic: music – stay tuned!
So if you can't find Baking Soda, how do you bake? It's easy to find baking powder, but that's not what my recipes call for. Even in the Western-style supermarket, I can't find baking soda...
Thoughts? Ways to improvise? A no-prize will be given for all correct/useful answers received.
Speaking of prizes...
I came to a realization today. Quiz programs aren’t very effective or entertaining when there aren’t any prizes involved and every caller gets the answer right on the first guess. *smirk*
How did I come to this realization? Well, after my Arabic lesson today, I stopped by the office to relax and I turned on the TV. On NileTV (the sometimes English-language Egyptian network), they were showing a program called “Cinema Quiz”. They would show 10 minutes of an Egyptian b&w movie from the 40s or 50s and then go to a young, attractive Egyptian woman in the studio who would read a question and ask people to call in with the answer. Then, they’d go back to the movie for 10 minutes, and return to her and have a caller guess.
Note the word “guess”. Of the 4 questions/answers I heard, the caller was blindly guessing each time and freely admitted that they didn’t know anything about the movies and the director they were discussing. Add in several “hello, are you there” moments with the hostess talking to a disconnected phoneline and you get to a weird program. Well, at least to Western eyes. When the correct guess was given, it was followed by a "great, please call us again" by the hostes. Couldn't they at least send them a box of tea or something??? *grin*
On the plus side, the movie was quite funny and had English subtitles so I could check to see what I was understanding. The plot involved a rich man with a wife, but also a mistress. Of course, both women end up in the same place and the same time, so he has to convince his trusted (if incompetent) friend to pretend that he is married to the mistress.
Silliness ensues…
Yes, that plot appears to go across cultures. I was reminded of Jerry Lewis for some reason.
-----Odd News story for the week:
Story about a NY Times writer who included inaccuracies and lies in recent stories to intentionally get fired:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Northeast/05/21/blair.ap/index.html
That’s enough for now.
Tomorrow’s topic: music – stay tuned!
Wednesday, May 21, 2003
Tuesday, May 20, 2003
Just got back from a really good jazz performance and I was reminded of a few things.
1) I really like jazz, and I’ve missed hearing good live music and guys just up there jamming on a sax, guitar, and drum set. Here, they throw an Oud into the mix. I guess it’s what the guitar is derived from.
2) People in Egypt usually walk slowly, but any vehicle you’re in is driving much faster than you would expect, given the crowded streets. My mini-bus on the way home was no exception to this. Horn blaring all the way, 14-16 of us crammed into a Toyota minivan, no seat belts, and just going on faith… *smile*
A story connected to that:
Last week, Tuesday was Darren’s last day so we had the lunch at Chili’s. Well, I never described how we got there. We had a group of 6 going from Dawson Hall, so we split up 3 each into 2 different cabs and set off.
About mid-way there, I realized the cabs were racing each other!!! Our driver looked somewhat serious and was wearing dark sunglasses, but he flashed us the occasional smile. The driver of the other cab had this huge grin on his face every time he overtook us! Sadly, our car lost the race but I guess we all won since we survived. I was sitting in the front seat and the ladies in the back seemed a bit nervous, especially when we realized that our driver didn’t really understand where we wanted him to go. Fortunately, the other driver did so we followed him.
So the name of the group I saw tonight is “Freddy Rizk & Friends”. (that link is for an upcoming performance that I'll hopefully make it to) They’re mostly Egyptian, but one guy is French and another spent a bunch of time in Quebec. Apparently, they’re touring the U.S. soon, so look out for them. I highly recommend them – definitely worth the price of admission. Well, I paid less than $2 for my ticket, so it’s tough to complain! But I did really enjoy the show – non-stop music for 2 solid hours.
1) I really like jazz, and I’ve missed hearing good live music and guys just up there jamming on a sax, guitar, and drum set. Here, they throw an Oud into the mix. I guess it’s what the guitar is derived from.
2) People in Egypt usually walk slowly, but any vehicle you’re in is driving much faster than you would expect, given the crowded streets. My mini-bus on the way home was no exception to this. Horn blaring all the way, 14-16 of us crammed into a Toyota minivan, no seat belts, and just going on faith… *smile*
A story connected to that:
Last week, Tuesday was Darren’s last day so we had the lunch at Chili’s. Well, I never described how we got there. We had a group of 6 going from Dawson Hall, so we split up 3 each into 2 different cabs and set off.
About mid-way there, I realized the cabs were racing each other!!! Our driver looked somewhat serious and was wearing dark sunglasses, but he flashed us the occasional smile. The driver of the other cab had this huge grin on his face every time he overtook us! Sadly, our car lost the race but I guess we all won since we survived. I was sitting in the front seat and the ladies in the back seemed a bit nervous, especially when we realized that our driver didn’t really understand where we wanted him to go. Fortunately, the other driver did so we followed him.
So the name of the group I saw tonight is “Freddy Rizk & Friends”. (that link is for an upcoming performance that I'll hopefully make it to) They’re mostly Egyptian, but one guy is French and another spent a bunch of time in Quebec. Apparently, they’re touring the U.S. soon, so look out for them. I highly recommend them – definitely worth the price of admission. Well, I paid less than $2 for my ticket, so it’s tough to complain! But I did really enjoy the show – non-stop music for 2 solid hours.
Very funny! I randomly found this link (http://www.freep.com/news/religion/kens19_20030519.htm) on the freep.com yesterday and then my friend Mike emailed me the link to draw my attention to it.
It’s about a church called Kensington. This church planted Genesis, the one that I had been attending in Royal Oak. Now this article is about another church they are going to plant…in Salt Lake City, Utah!!! All this and a connection to the Detroit Lions too – go on, read the story!
Last night, I caught up with my friend Rob on MSN Messenger and it was really nice to catch up with him. Anyone else want to chat with the help of the Evil Empire ™? *smirk*
More Arabic today, and maybe listening to a jazz performance tonight. We shall see…
It’s about a church called Kensington. This church planted Genesis, the one that I had been attending in Royal Oak. Now this article is about another church they are going to plant…in Salt Lake City, Utah!!! All this and a connection to the Detroit Lions too – go on, read the story!
Last night, I caught up with my friend Rob on MSN Messenger and it was really nice to catch up with him. Anyone else want to chat with the help of the Evil Empire ™? *smirk*
More Arabic today, and maybe listening to a jazz performance tonight. We shall see…
Monday, May 19, 2003
Well, I've updated the links to pictures so hopefully that's working. Not much today beyond studying and reading so far. But that's an ok day in my book! *grin*
So does everyone I know from Albion like Dar Williams? Shelby just went to one of her concerts... I know Fin, Misty, Erik, and Dan are all fans, plus Shelby and Kevin. Any others?
Speaking of requests from answers (comments in the journal or emails are fine) -- does anybody have a picture of me from Halloween last year in my Jester's outfit? If so, can you send it/them to my yahoo email account? Thanks.
While writing this, I was listening to a group from the UK called "frou frou". Weird name, nice music.
So does everyone I know from Albion like Dar Williams? Shelby just went to one of her concerts... I know Fin, Misty, Erik, and Dan are all fans, plus Shelby and Kevin. Any others?
Speaking of requests from answers (comments in the journal or emails are fine) -- does anybody have a picture of me from Halloween last year in my Jester's outfit? If so, can you send it/them to my yahoo email account? Thanks.
While writing this, I was listening to a group from the UK called "frou frou". Weird name, nice music.
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