Six Pieces of Advice Meme, For Boys

Last month, I was asked by Aaminah (in one of the comments on Izzy Mo's blog) to do the "Six Pieces of Advice" meme, but for boys. I've been rather busy the past few weeks (the end of the current school term finished yesterday), but I hadn't forgotten about doing it. Now, as I've thought through this meme, I came to the conclusion that all of my advice applies not only to boys but to girls as well, so listen up, kids, Uncle JDsg has somethin' to say to you:

The Rules:
1. Post these rules before presenting your list.
2. List 6 actions or achievements you think every person (or in this case, young women/girls) should accomplish before turning 18.
3. At the end of your blog, choose 6 people to get tagged and list their names.
4. People who are tagged write their own blog entry with their 6 suggestions.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged.

Number 1: Learn to touch type. Doesn't sound like much, but it's one of the best pieces of advice I can give any teenager, boy or girl. When you get to college and you've got a dozen or so reports to write each semester, ranging anywhere between two and thirty pages long, you're gonna wish you had taken that typing course your high school offered when you had the chance. "Hunt and peck" takes for freakin' ever, so learn the language of the fingers while you have the chance. And if you have the opportunity to take a longer typing class (my high school offered both a half-year and full-year course), take the class over the full year. Not being the most nimble of fingers at the time, it took me about 3/4 of the school year to get the hang of touch typing. If I had taken the half-year course, I might never have gotten the brain-finger coordination that's needed. One other thing: boys, remember, typing class is where all the girls are! ;) No kidding. In my class there were four boys, including me, and about 26 girls. (A guy I knew when I was a teenager used the same logic when registering for a home ec class, but that's a different story.)

Number 2: Become fluent in a second language. Considering the number of times I've written on this topic on my blog, it should come as no surprise that I'd bring it up again. But seriously, don't just think, "I'll never leave the U.S." or "I'll never have the chance to use another language." This is not true. Especially if you're an American teenager living in certain states, like California, Arizona, New Mexico or Florida, a second language like Spanish is going to be immensely helpful for you to get a job or expand your career horizons. (American Express in Phoenix was always advertising for Portuguese speakers who could work with their Brazilian offices and customers.) A second language (and even a third) is absolutely vital if you have any interest in living or working overseas. (And, of course, if you're a young Muslim boy or girl, one of those languages should be Arabic.)

Number 3: Start becoming an expert in three subjects. This is something I picked up from Tom Friedman's book, The World is Flat. I once read that the half-life of a college education is five years. Meaning, in five years, half of what you learned at school will become irrelevant, and in ten years 75% of what you learned will be irrelevant, and so on. The sad fact of the matter is that it's true. If you have any desire for a decent-paying job, you need to accept that you've got to keep learning for the rest of your life. You may not necessarily have to go back to school, but you'll have to learn in one way or another. (I, personally, will buy and read through college textbooks on subjects that I think I should know or should refresh myself on.) Friedman's point was that you always need to keep rotating your areas of expertise. You become an expert in one topic; as that topic starts to fade in terms of importance, you start becoming an expert in a second topic. And then you begin learning about a third topic, one that you think may become important for the future. And then you keep on adding and dropping topics to learn about as you progress through your career. The topic may not necessarily be a full-blown subject like "psychology," but can be something as small as a specific job skill (e.g., knowing how to use a computer program). But you continue to learn new things over your lifetime that will help keep your career and job skills relevant.

Number 4: Join a band or a chorus. I'd have included this one anyway, coming from a musical family as I do, but another interesting point in Friedman's "The World is Flat" is that people who belong (or belonged) to musical organizations, such as bands, drum corps, choruses, etc., are more rounded individuals and are better able to interact with other people. Friedman discusses how Georgia Tech's retention and graduation rates improved dramatically when the university began emphasizing the admission of musically-gifted students. (Remember, Georgia Tech is known as an engineering university!) So, if you don't sing or play an instrument yet, by all means do so. (Just don't make a fool of yourself auditioning for American Idol. ;) )

Number 5: Start learning about personal finances and how the money and capital markets work. The simple fact of the matter is, you're going to have to learn this anyway. Earning and spending money is the easy part; trying to save your money and invest it wisely is much more difficult. Start with the basics: learning how to balance a checkbook, putting 10% of every paycheck into a savings account and learning how to live on the remainder, learning how to read the financial section of the newspaper and what all those numbers mean. Then start learning about the different types of investments (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc.) and how they're bought and sold. (If you're Muslim, you'll also need to know which investments are halal or not.) This is not the sort of topic that you can read about overnight; most of us take years to fully understand it all (and understanding the financial jargon is half the battle). But plug away at it, try investing in some mutual funds and, above all, remember, "past performance is no guarantee of future results." :)

Number 6: Become a hafiz. Milady's suggestion was that Muslim teenagers should read through all of the Qur'an, from one end to the other, a minimum of three times. It's a very good suggestion, but I'll go one better, become a hafiz (or hafizah for the girls). It's so much more difficult to remember things as you get older (trust me on this), but when you're younger, it's much easier to remember (and retain knowledge of) whatever it is you're trying to memorize. And what's more important than memorizing the Qur'an? So crack open that Qur'an (after doing wudu, of course) and start memorizing those surahs.

Now, whom can I make moan and groan this time? ;) How about Abdurrahman Squires at Mere Islam (who doesn't write nearly as often as he should), Abu Sinan~Sayf (welcome back!), Bin Gregory (for his second meme), the inimitable Dr. M, Rob Wagner (who's not Muslim, but should be), and Brother Saifuddin, who helps me spread the word over at Street Prophets (along with a few other Muslims, like Amad, Dervish and Rockinhejabi).

The Freakin' *Grumble Grumble* Book Meme

Courtesy of a vengeful Izzy Mo. ;)

The Rules:

1. You have to look up page 123 in the nearest book around you.
2. Look for the fifth sentence.
3. Then post the three sentences that follow that fifth sentence on page 123.
4. And then tag five people, just like you were tagged!

The nearest book around me? In a tiny room filled with three bookcases, which book qualifies? Seeing how I was tagged all five times, I'll do a little penance and write out two passages, one for fiction and the other for non-fiction.

Fiction: Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card

She did not let her parents know, and above all never hinted to Peter how often she thought about Ender, how often she wrote him letters that she knew he would not answer. And when Mother and Father had announced to them that they were leaving the city to move to North Carolina, of all places, Valentine knew that they never expected to see Ender again. They were leaving the only place where he knew to find them. How would Ender find them here, among these trees, under this changeable and heavy sky?

Non-Fiction: The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently... and Why, by Richard E. Nisbett

Imagine that you see a college student being asked to show possible donors around the campus for a day and that for this service the student is offered only a small amount of money -- less than the minimum wage -- and imagine that the student refuses. Do you suppose you would think it is likely that the student would volunteer to help in an upcoming Red Cross blood drive? Probably not very likely. But suppose a friend of yours had seen another student offered a reasonable amount of money -- say, 50 percent above the minimum wage -- to show the donors around and the student had agreed to do so.

Whom shall I piss off today? ;) How about Rob Wagner, our sister in Islam Kay, another sister in Islam, DramaMama, fellow drum corps alum James Chappell (who completely missed my recent posts of the 20 best SF novels), and (let's see if he even notices a lowly blog like mine) Mr. "IZ" of IZ Reloaded.

Thoughts to Ponder

This is most of an e-mail I got today:

Life is sexually transmitted.

Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

Men have two emotions: hungry and horny. If you see him without an erection, make him a sandwich.

Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.

Some people are like a Slinky... Not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs.

Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.

All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

Why does a slight tax increase cost you $200 and a substantial tax cut saves you $30?

In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.

The Blog Readability Test

Not a bad level, actually. As a writer, I am concerned about having my writing as readable as possible. Not that I try to dumb down my writing, but I do want people to understand what I'm saying as easily as possible. (I think it also helps that I try to use George Orwell's rules at the end of his essay, Politics and the English Language.)


BTW, my other blogs come out as:
Dunner's Learn About Islam - Junior High School Level
Ang Moh in SG - Elementary School Level
Areology - Genius Level

The readability level of Areology isn't any surprise as that's a blog devoted to science and space exploration. You know, something you need an ed-you-kay-shun to understand. ;)

"Mum, Dad & Bruce"

I got this from extended family today via e-mail. I have no idea if the story is really true, but the photo sure does make one think so. ;)

A family was on holiday in Australia for a week and a half when the husband, wife and their 15-year-old son decided to go scuba diving. The husband is in the Navy and has had some scuba experience.

His son wanted to take a pictuere of his mum and dad in all their gear with the underwater camera. As the son was taking the picture, the dad realized that the son looked like he was panicking and gave him the "OK" hand sign to see if he was all right.

The son took the picture and swam back to the boat as quick as he could, with mum and dad following to see if he was OK. When they got back to him he was scrambling onto the boat.

When the parents asked why, he said, "There was a shark behind you!" The dad thought he was joking, but the skipper of the boat said it was true and that they wouldn't believe him if he told them what it was. As soon as the family got back to the hotel they put the picture onto the laptop and this is what they saw:

I'm not surprised...

Mingle² - Online Dating

I figured I'd get at least an "R." According to the website, I got the "NC-17" because of the word "sex" (four times), "bomb" (three times), "death" (twice), and "crack" (once). Actually, that seems pretty tame to me... Let's see if we can't make the blog more worthy of its rating. ;)

Mr. Sulu

I know, I know... I really don't put this sort of thing on my blog, but I am and always have been a Trekker. The result did come back as a surprise, though. I've never really identified with Mr. Sulu so much as some of the other characters. In middle school, I identified with Mr. Spock in a major way... I guess this shows just how much I've changed since then.

Your results:
You are Mr. Sulu. You are able to master many skills such as swords, plants and martial arts.

Mr. Sulu - 65%
Uhura - 65%
James T. Kirk (Captain) - 60%
Chekov - 55%
Worf - 55%
Deanna Troi - 55%
Will Riker - 55%
An Expendable Character (Redshirt) - 55%
Geordi LaForge - 55%
Jean-Luc Picard - 50%
Data - 44%
Beverly Crusher - 40%
Mr. Scott - 35%
Spock - 32%
Leonard McCoy (Bones) - 30%

Click here to take the "Which Star Trek character am I?" quiz...

Hail, Augustus!

I rarely take these types of quizes anymore, but I'm so much into ancient Roman history that I couldn't resist. I don't have a problem being "Augustus." :)

You scored as Augustus. You are Augustus! First emperor of the Romans and one of the greatest statesmen in the ancient world. You brilliantly eased the old Republic into the Principate and set the path for an empire that would last for centuries and form the underpinnings for all western civilization. Hail Caesar! Augustus 86% Vespasian 64% Trajan 64% Domitian 64% Hadrian 64% Marcus Aurelius 61% Antoninus Pius 61% Vitellius 57% Nerva 54% Claudius 54% Nero 54% Tiberius 50% Commodus 43% Caligula 29% Which Roman Emperor Are You? created with QuizFarm.com

SF Book Meme

I came across this meme over at Jim Chappell's blog. He didn't tag me for this, but I'm probably just as much into SF as him, so I thought I'd see how I do against him. :)

Review the following list of books. Boldface the books you’ve read, italicize those you might read, cross out the ones you won’t, and place brackets around the ones you’ve never even heard of.

The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
Dune, Frank Herbert
Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
Neuromancer, William Gibson
Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbur
The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
[Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras]
Cities in Flight, James Blish
The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
Gateway, Frederik Pohl
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
[I Am Legend, Richard Matheson]
Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
[Little, Big, John Crowley]
Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick - ?
Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
On the Beach, Nevil Shute
Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
Ringworld, Larry Niven
Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
[Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson]
Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock - ?
The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
Timescape, Gregory Benford - ?
To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

My totals: 30 read, 14 might read, two won't reads, and 4 never heard of. Jim's totals: 36 read, 10 might read, one won't read, and three never heard of. Of my 14 "might read," I've added question marks after three, meaning, I may very well have read those three books, but I don't remember if I did or not. For example, I've read a lot of Michael Moorcock's fantasies, including a number of the Elric novels, but don't know if I've specifically read Stormbringer. It's certainly a possibility. Likewise for the other two.

One of the problems with trying to read SF in S'pore is that even the best stocked bookstores here (e.g., Kinokuniya) have limited selections available. Especially some of the older authors on this list (e.g., Cordwainer Smith, Algis Budrys, Alfred Bester), trying to find their novels is virtually impossible. About the only realistic way I could get these books would be to buy them through Amazon (and I don't do that very often). Still, some of these older novels have been recently republished. For example, I recently bought and re-read Ringworld; I prolly hadn't read that book in over 20 years. Which made the experience very pleasurable, like meeting an old friend after a long absence.

41 and Counting

The first post on my "favorite movies" meme can be located here; that post focuses on Sci-Fi and War movies. This is my second installment on a third category, with two more categories to go, insha'allah:

Comedy/Romantic Comedy
Overall, I’m not a big fan of comedies. There are very few of them that I really enjoy, although I do have a few favorites. One is “What’s Up, Doc?” the 1972 screwball comedy with Barbra Streisand and Ryan O’Neil, which is actually an updated version of another of my favorites, “Bringing Up Baby” (1938), with Cary Grant and a completely ditzy Katherine Hepburn. (I know, oxymoron time – ditzy/Hepburn – but what can I say? She was in that movie.) I also loved Madeline Kahn in “What’s Up, Doc?” There are some characters that are so abrasive (in a good way) that they can magically transform a good movie into something really special. Crispin Glover did it with his “George McFly” character in “Back to the Future;” Madeline Kahn did it with her “Eunice Burns” in “What’s Up, Doc?”

Another great comedy with Cary Grant is “Arsenic & Old Lace” (one of Milady’s favorites). And I’m also rather partial to “Operation Petticoat” (with Grant, Tony Curtis, and a very young knockout by the name of Marion Ross – yeah, “Richie Cunningham’s” mother on “Happy Days”), although I’m not including this movie as one of my absolute favorites.

Two other comedies on my list are “Young Frankenstein,” the Mel Brooks’ comedy with Gene Wilder, Teri Garr, Marty Feldman and the recently departed Peter Boyle. “Frau Blucher!” :) (Actually, there are several people in both “What’s Up, Doc?” and “Young Frankenstein” that made both movies terrific, including Madeline Kahn, Liam Dunn and Kenneth Mars.) In recent years, the best comedy I’ve seen is “Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain,” aka “Amélie.” That’s a cute movie and while it’s something of a romantic comedy, I think of it more as a regular comedy.

Speaking of which, I’d much rather watch a romantic comedy now than a regular comedy. While I’ve enjoyed Nora Ephron’s various romantic comedies (“When Harry Met Sally…”, “Sleepless in Seattle”), I like “You’ve Got Mail” the best. Another great but underrated romantic comedy is “Strictly Ballroom.” (Milady groans yet again.) This Australian movie has a really tight plot and it’s got a wonderful soundtrack, being heavy on Latin music. “A life lived in fear is a life half-lived!” Last on my list for romantic comedies is the old (1952) John Wayne movie, “The Quiet Man.” Just like I like to watch “Young Frankenstein” every Halloween if I can, “The Quiet Man” often comes out every St. Patrick’s Day. For this movie they seemed to have picked up every character actor in Ireland at the time of filming, which made it into a wonderful ensemble picture.

Ooooh, speaking of ensemble movies (yes, I’ve just added another movie to my list), “Four Weddings and a Funeral.” While the movie is a little uneven in places, I really enjoy this film. It was a great boost for the careers of Hugh Grant, John Hannah and Kristin Scott Thomas. I also loved Simon Callow’s performance. Sadly, Charlotte Coleman, who played “Scarlett” in the movie, died a few years ago from an asthma attack. From Allah (swt) do we come, and unto Allah (swt) do we return.

My Top 5 ... uh ... 39 Movies (So Far)

[Note: Due to time constraints, I haven't been able to finish this meme just yet, and I don't know when I'll get it done (insha'allah, later in the week). So I'm going to post the first couple of paragraphs that I've written so far and, insha'allah, I'll finish this up soon.]

It's been ages since I've been tagged with a meme, but seeing how the last time MENJ asked me to do one and I didn't, and that this meme is on a topic of interest to me, I thought I'd do this one...sort of.

The meme is actually to choose your top 5 favorite movies, but I love movies so much that to choose only five is...well, impossible. In fact, in trying to make my movie selections, I thought I'd first categorize the movies into five types and then select the best movie in each group...and that didn't even work. So here are my top 36...er, 37...uh, 39 movies (so far). :)

Science Fiction
I've been reading SF since I was a teenager, and my tastes in SF tend toward realism (what's called "hard SF" among the SF community). With that in mind, probably my earliest favorite SF movie was "2001: A Space Odyssey." That movie was one of the first to have "realistic" looking space technology, and I really loved that look. I used to try to design the space station and various spacecraft from the movie during study hall in high school. :)

In the late 70s, I caught the Lucas/Spielberg bug: "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (which my dad and I saw together at the theater) is a great movie about obsession, treated in a very humane way. Of course, "Star Wars" is also a good movie (replayed on TV this past Sunday night), but "The Empire Strikes Back" (coming up on TV this Sunday) is my all-time favorite Star Wars movie. I enjoy "dark" movies and, of course, the "I am your father" revelation by Darth Vader was a great twist at the time. Back to Spielberg, "ET: The Extra-Terrestrial" struck a nerve with me when it was released in '82. I had just moved away from home (permanently) a few months before the movie came out and the theme of homesickness really shook me up. I probably saw the movie about a dozen times at the theater that summer.

Another great - and very underrated - movie that came out soon thereafter was "Tron." The storyline wasn't much, but the computer graphics were quite revolutionary for the era and the very last scene, the time-lapse night scene that resembles the data speeding through the computer in the movie, made me rethink how to look at our world as a whole. (And have you ever noticed that the ending of Will Smith's "I Robot" was taken straight from "Tron?" Milady did.)

In the mid 80s, I really loved "The Road Warrior" with Mel Gibson. (Milady groans.) The plot is a retelling of the siege of Troy, and some year I should write a little more about the similarities between this movie and the Trojan War, insha'allah. (But not now.) Finally, SF movies in the 90s and 00s haven't really struck me as much as the earlier movies did. The Matrix movies were good, and I enjoyed "The Matrix Reloaded" the most. That second movie in the trilogy seems to me to be the most "Matrixish." (The third movie is too much your standard action movie.)


War Movies
This is another category that, on the face of it, you'd think would be easy to choose one movie above all...but, noooo! "Patton," with George C. Scott, is a strong favorite. My parents used to have the soundtrack for that movie, and that made a strong impression on me as well. Another great, but old (1962) movie is "Laurence of Arabia." (Milady groans again.) Despite loving the movie, I've yet to get past the first few pages of Lawrence's "Seven Pillars of Wisdom," which is supposed to be an excellent book.

Another great, but even older (1953) movie is "Stalag 17," which the 60s TV series, "Hogan's Heroes," is based off of. Robert Strauss, who played "Animal" in the movie, steals the show with a great over-the-top performance (he was nominated for an Academy Award - Best Supporting Actor - for that role).

Once again, Spielberg makes my list with two greats: "Saving Private Ryan" (the first 20 minutes of which will give anyone post-traumatic stress disorder) and "Schindler's List." The last movie for this section is Akiro Kurosawa's "Ran." The movie is one of Kurosawa's adaptations of a Shakespearean play turned into a Samurai classic. "Ran" is very loosely based on "King Lear," and is a very artistic and stylish movie (with heavy doses of blood and gore). (I've been thinking of how I could turn "King Lear" into a modern adaptation based here in S'pore.)

Future categories (insha'allah): Comedy/Romantic Comedy, Drama and Other.

State Meme

I've been trying to avoid memes and writing other "personal" posts in recent months because I had hoped to make this blog more "serious" (not that I think anyone's noticed ;) ). However, the "States Meme" is being passed around, and I thought I'd do it because I have a couple questions and comments to make. So, if you don't know the "rules" of the meme, underlining represents those states I've lived in, bold indicates the states I've visited, and italics indicates the state I'm supposed to be currently living in (except, of course, I'm an expat so no state has been italicized).

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C.

So, as you can see, I've lived in only two states (roughly 20 years in each), and have visited 33 states plus D.C. I've yet to visit the extreme NE (Maine and New Hampshire), parts of the deep South (Alabama, Mississippi), and most of the upper Midwest and NW, plus Alaska and Hawaii. In fact, many of these trips to the various states happened up through my college years, either from travelling with drum corps (primarily in the Mid-Atlantic states and Ohio), travelling with family (up and down the Atlantic seaboard, to visit relatives), or from a series of cross-country bus trips when I would go back and forth between Arizona and New York for the summer and winter vacations. When I lived in Arizona, I rarely went out of the state except on the occasional trip.

But what does "visiting" a state really entail? I've listed Kansas as a state I've "visited," but the "visit" was just so I could say "I've been there." On my way to Arizona the first time, when I was going to be in my first semester of college, my dad, one of my sisters, and I had stayed one night in SW Missouri (Joplin, I think). The next morning, as we went into Oklahoma, we noticed that the Kansas state border was a very short distance away. So my dad drove off the interstate, and we headed north to Kansas. He drove maybe 500 yards past the Kansas border sign, then made a U-turn and we continued on our way back to Arizona. Thus, I've "been" to Kansas, or have I? Actually, there are several other states where my visit was similar to the Kansas "visit," and while I may have spent a day or two there, I saw very little of the state: Kentucky, Nevada, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia. Also, many of my "visits" were pass-throughs: Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, North and South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia. In which case, I feel like I know only 14 states (plus D.C.) really well.

The same "problem" also applies with some of the other countries I've visited. When I went to Switzerland, I only saw Geneva (and a tiny bit of France); the same with Mexico (visiting Nogales, Sonora, for some shopping). In Japan, I spent one day in Fukuoka, before returning to Korea. In Thailand, I went outside of the international passengers' section of the Bangkok airport just to be able to get some Thai stamps in my passport; otherwise I stayed in the airport (it was raining too hard that day to go visit the city, as I had hoped to do). Of course, I've also done some serious visiting of other countries, with numerous trips to Canada (various cities in Ontario) and Malaysia; likewise, living these past four years in Korea and S'pore.

I will also say, given the time and opportunity, I'd rather be on the ground when I visit a new state or country than up in the air. I do love flying, and it's an absolute necessity for traveling around most of Asia, but if I really want to know what a state or country is like, I'd rather be in a car or on a train. I'd rather see the landscape and the local weather and vegetation (or the lack thereof) to get an idea of how people and their cultures and societies are shaped. Flying is of limited help that way.

What People Want

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Seven Things

I've been tagged on Izzy Mo's blog for the "Seven Things" meme. This was much tougher than it looked. My wife made at least half of the suggestions (if not 2/3s); I wonder if I could do as well if we did this meme for her. :) Anyhoo...


Seven Things I Plan to do Before I Die, Insha'allah

1. Go on hajj.


2. Start a business ASAP.


3. Have lots of kids (preferably, at least three).


4. Start another non-profit organization (started one once before); not sure what this one would do just yet, though.


5. Visit the ruins of Hisarlik (the site of ancient Troy), Mycenae, and Knossos; also, to visit the Roman Forum.


6. Collect as many flags from around the world as possible. (It's a hobby; I collect flags from different countries/states. I've got about a dozen flags in my collection so far.)


7. Get my friggin' things out of storage back in the States. :)

Seven Things I Can Do

1. Make my wife laugh. :)


2. Make ramen, macaroni and cheese, and sandwiches. :)


3. Play the baritone bugle (I used to be in drum corps) and the trombone.


4. Write and edit articles (although I prefer editing to writing).


5. Take decent photographs. (I prefer using my 35mm SLR, but the tiny digital has been used more often in recent months.)


6. Navigate. :) (My wife may have been born and raised in Singapore, but I'm the one who tells her how to get from one place to another while she drives. ;) )


7. Read and recite very slowly from the Qur'an. (I've been learning in recent months.)

Seven Things I Cannot Do

1. Speak fluently in any language other than English (although I know lots of words and phrases in many languages).


2. Cook or sew very well. :)


3. Be patient with bureaucracy. (Too true.)


4. Take too much sugar/carbohydrates. (I'm diabetic.)


5. Tolerate humidity (which is ironic considering where I live now).


6. Tolerate racist speech.


7. Stay away from my computer. ;)

Seven Things I Say Most Often

1. "Tschhh." (A noise I often make...I think I do it mostly when I'm annoyed by something, but my wife says I do it "whenever." :) Actually, my wife often makes this noise now as well. :) )


2. "Good morning." (I say this to people regardless of the time of day.)


3. "What do you care what other people think?" (Picked up from the Richard Feynman book of the same name.)


4. "No, I don't!"


5. "Y'all." (I picked this up from my relatives down South.)


6. "Salaam 'alaikum."


7. "Terima Kasih/Sama sama." (Malay for "Thank You/You're Welcome." "Terima Kasih" literally means "Received love.")

Seven Things That Attract Me to the Opposite Sex

1. 1) Personality


2. Piety/religious values (I needed to find someone who had the same values as me; alhamdulillah that I did).


3. Someone who wanted to have a family and would be a good mother for my children, insha'allah.


4. Similar lifestyle. (A friend recently said that my wife and I lead a "boring lifestyle," but that's OK with us because it's the lifestyle we want to live right now.)


5. Someone who will tolerate my eccentricities. :)


6. Someone who can comfort me when I'm down and nurse me when I'm sick.


7. Someone who could cook and sew, because I sure as heck can't. :)

This looks fairly accurate too...

You are a Social Liberal (60% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (36% permissive) You are best described as a: Centrist Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid

Actually, I think this is fairly accurate of me... :)

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Honest Abe :)

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

You Know You're From Arizona When...

This seems to be the latest rage among Muslim bloggers, to comment on these "You Know You're From..." lists, so I thought I'd give a try. Although I haven't lived in Arizona in almost four years, I still have family there and I get my daily e-mail of Arizona Republic headlines. Anyhoo...

You've signed so many petitions to recall governors you can't remember the name of the incumbent.
A cheap shot. The only significant petition drive to recall a governor was back in the Evan Mecham days (late 1980s). And the current governor is Janet Napolitano.

You notice your car overheating before you drive it.
Not true, but I understand why people might think this. :)

You no longer associate bridges or rivers with water.
Of course! Most of the rivers are dammed to provide drinking and irrigation water. Duh!

You know a swamp cooler is not a happy hour drink.
For me, this is an "of course." When I first moved to Arizona, some of my dorm's common rooms were cooled down by swamp coolers. However, air conditioners have become so commonplace that I doubt many people new to Arizona (or the younger generation) are familiar with them.

You can hear the weather forecast of 115 degrees without flinching.
It's only when it gets to about 120 that you start to flinch. ;)

You can be in the snow, then drive for an hour...and it will be over 100 degrees.
Heh. In August 1979, I went to the Grand Canyon. Just outside the park entrance, there were still patches of snow on the ground; on the way back home, we could see snow falling on the San Francisco Peaks. And, yes, it was well above 100 degrees back in Phoenix.

You discover, in July it only takes two fingers to drive your car, because your steering wheel is so hot.
July? Try May! Who are you trying to kid? ;)

You can make sun tea instantly.
More or less. Something more appropriate might be how many sun tea jars one sees on any given summer day.

You run your a/c in the middle of winter so you can use your fireplace.
I never lived in any building that had a fireplace, but there were a few days in some Decembers where I'd have been tempted to light a fireplace if I had one.

The best parking is determined by shade.....not distance.
Absolutely!

You realize that "Valley Fever" isn't a disco dance.
Duh! Most newcomers to Arizona are warned about Valley Fever fairly quickly.

Hotter water comes from the cold water tap than the hot one.
Sometimes, yes.

It's noon in July, kids are on summer vacation and yet all the streets are totally empty of both cars and people.
The only time I've ever seen Phoenix streets totally deserted was back in the spring of 1993, when the Suns made it to the NBA finals. (One of the playoff games was playing, but I was working at the office with some others, and we wanted some dinner. I drove to a Chinese take-out place, and the streets were absolutely deserted. Everyone was watching the game on TV. That was one of two times I ever saw Phoenix "dead.")

You actually burn your hand opening the car door.
Duh!

Sunscreen is sold year round, kept right at the checkout counter.
More or less.

You put on fresh sunscreen just to go check the mail box.
Cute. Not true.

Some fools will market mini-misters for joggers and some other fools will actually buy them. Worse.....some fools actually try to jog.
Never seen the "mini-misters." And the real fools are those who make fun of Arizona joggers.

You know hot air balloons can't rise because the air temperature is hotter than the air inside the balloon.
Duh! That's why hot air balloons only fly during the winter in Arizona.

No one would dream of putting vinyl inside a car.
Absolutely! (Or buying a vinyl sofa, even.)

You see two trees fighting over a dog.
Cute.

You can say "Hohokam" and people don't think you're laughing funny.
Lame. Who's the f***in' loser who wrote this?

You see more irrigation water on the street than there is in the Salt River.
True.

You have to go to a fake beach for some fake waves.
Big Surf. Lived in Arizona for 20 years, and never went there. It's more of a kids/teenager-kind of place.

You can pronounce"Saguaro", "Tempe", "San Xavier", "Canyon de Chelly", "Mogollon Rim", and "Cholla."
"Suh-war-oh," "Tehm-pee" (better get that one right, I used to live there :) ), "Sahn Zay-vee-yur," "Can-yon deh Shay," "Muh-gee-yohn (with a hard "gee," like the French name, Guy) Rim," and "Choy-yah."

You can understand the reason for a town named "Why."
Is there a Why, Arizona? I didn't know that. Where's your sense of Yuma? :)

You can fry an egg on the hood of a car IN THE MORNING!
Don't know about on the hood of a car, but trying to fry eggs on the sidewalk won't work. (Friends tried that.)

You hear people say "but it's a DRY heat!"
It is! And I miss it! Humidity sucks!

You buy salsa by the gallon.
Almost! ;)

Your Christmas decorations include sand and l00 paper bags.
Offensive! Only an ignorant Anglo would write something like this.

You think a red light is merely a suggestion.
Not true. But I wish more governments there would switch to a "lagging" left turn-signal.

All of your out-of-state friends start to visit after October but clear out come the end of April.
Of course! We're the ones telling them not to come during the summer!

You think someone driving wearing oven mitts is clever.
I never used oven mitts for driving, but my woolly sheepskin driving wheel cover was a God-send.

Most of the restaurants in town have the first name "El" or "Los."
Exaggeration!

You think 60 tons of crushed red rock makes a beautiful yard.
With some nice cacti and other desert flora, it can make for a very beautiful yard. And you don't have to mow the "lawn" ever again. Loser!

Your house is made of stucco and has a red clay tile roof.
The red tile roof is commonplace enough (we even have red tile roofs here in S'pore). The "stucco" part is someone's imagination that Arizona homes haven't progressed out of the "Old West" days.

Vehicles with open windows have the right-of-way in the summer.
Having owned two cars whose a/c's didn't work very well, I can definitely sympathize! :)

Most homes have more firearms than people.
Don't know about "most homes," but I once visited a guy's home long ago where there were prolly 75-100 guns of various shapes and sizes, what seemed like 10,000 rounds of ammo, and a nice, big German Shepherd. Hmmm, and yes, they had a fireplace too (and we lit it up as well).

Kids will ask, "What's a mosquito?"
Not quite true, but they're not that common there, thank God.

People who have black cars or black upholstery in their car are automatically assumed to be from out of-state or nuts.
At one job, when I was bored, I used to count the number of white cars in a parking lot that I could see from the office window. The percentage always came to about 40%. Black cars and Arizona don't mix.

You know better than to get into a car with leather seats if you're wearing shorts.
These leather seats must be in the black cars from the out of state nuts. :)

If you haven't worked for Motorola at some time, you must be a newcomer.
Never got a job there, although I did some temp work once for a company that had their offices located within a Motorola plant. Does that count? ;)

You can finish a Big Gulp in 10 minutes and go back for seconds.
No $hit! Ten minutes? When it's really hot and you're incredibly thirsty, try ten seconds!