Monday, July 30, 2007

Welcome To the Woods where the Things have No Name




" Watermelons....can sometimes look very fresh but at some other times would give off the vibe that if you put your nose to them they would smell like cheese."



That thought induced by the sight of the watermelon slices on the buffet to our far left was interrupted by Mr. Adham uttering a word that makes my spine tingle. "Blood bath". I almost dropped the drink i held in my hand when i processed what he was talking about.




Here i am Egyptian, 24 years of age sitting in a ranch in Bordeaux sitting down with a group of people discussing the fate of The middle east. It was a very casual conversation just like any conversation you eavesdrop on that turns political in your local 2ahwa, but when it gets a tad bit too serious someone always comments something along the lines of i dont want to get picked up by state security , and the subject is changed.





This conversation was however a little bit different. I mean the content was the same, you had the analysis of the current situation, expressions of discontent with the status quo, and then the radical solutions to attain the conversing groups interests. Then came the doable ideas. The comparison to 2ahawa talk is quite in order.

The only difference is, the people talking...can actually do it.


Welcome to the Woods where the things have no name.

To my utter shock what i thought takes months of studies and expert committees and so forth to come up with a well studied policy just happens very casually. theres a very big difference between "statistics show that the trend of religous extremism in the middle east can cause detrimental harm to the interests of fortune 500 companies investing in the region" and what was actually said by someone who already had one drink too many "They're a bunch of Raghead fundies...burn them to the ground before they cost us money". What shocks me more, is that months later , when i am back home, i read the newspapers and reialize what was ranted in that sit-down is being put into action on the highest official levels?


Does Bordeaux Wine make you tell the future?

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When in Miami i bunk over at an old friend's place. He left Hungary after causing alot of trouble to bigwigs over there. in Miami he is protected by the power of the Dollar, to the Hungarians he is pretty untouchable. he's pretty small time, but locally hes not to be messed with. hes a King in a town where little Kings have a shelf life of 4 years...hes been there for 15.




Welcome to the Woods where the Things have No Name



The Police and FBI and DEA and any other set of US initials that have a field office in Miami find him very useful, his opinion happens to be important to what the local gangs should and should not do. These Government Agencies are bound by the US Constitution to uphold Democracy and most importantly freedom of speech. They guarantee his protection as a US Citizen to express his opinion and make it heard by the Gang leaders...it's his right, and theyre upholding it for him.







God Bless Freedom of Speech and Free Enterprise and the Right to Bear Arms.


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A Client of mine created a company out of nothing. This company has 40 branches spanning the globe. He's been on the cover of Time magazine once, Forbes 4 times and hundreds of other periodicals. he can buy my entire neighbourhood and turn it into a parking lot for his servants cars if he wants to but he wont cause he really knows the value of Money. Sadly to say, his Two sons don't...not only do they treat their father like an ATM machine, but they watched too many movies and want to be Gangsta... so they invest in some scheme or network as some people call it, that provides quality Carnal entertainment to the rich at affordable prices from Imported all the way from Eastern Europe to the consumption of Emirs and Expat Executives in the Gulf.




Welcome To the Woods where the Things have No Name



My Client is old, and tired. He doesnt know he spawn two bastards from his loins, to him they are simply his pride and joy, justification for all the sweat he prespired and the red gold he bled throughout the years. He beleives he can trust his blood. thats what he learnt...i guess he learnt wrong.
I wasn t there when he took the decision to serve them his head on a plate. But i was there when he asked us to clean up his mess. It was quite a mess. All the energy he gave throghout the years ended up in a puppet, a facade for the most decadent and dastardly of things a man could do to a woman.


Trust should never Rust...But even what is strong as Iron does, if not fused into an Alloy correctly.
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An old friend of mine, She's real sweet -or so i thought- Does Special Field work for the UN, i was asked by her to tag along once as an attempt to show me what her life is like. Her Job requires her to go to the most remote of places. Where Humans fear to tread, she feels right at home. After embarking on the wierdest of transport accomodations we ended up in the middle of the desert waiting for a banged up 4X4 to pick us up by some Nomad she's never seen before. He was 7 hours late...



Welcome to the Woods where the Things have No Name


While i was busy thinking how long would i last in the middle of the Desert and wether would i end up as lunch for vultures or as target practice for a bored Touareg she was dancing all over some deserted highway listening to Nelly Furtado on her i-pod. She Stops...

"Kane..why don't you have a Girlfriend?"
" Dana, is this the best time to talk about my relationship status"
" It's the only free time i've got "


I tried to forget about the fact that she is really UN but not exactly working for the "maintenance of International Peace and Security", that that backpack doesnt really have special equipment but End User Certificates for 20 Czech made Apaches and a dozen Sam sites ready and waiting to be decomissioned at Archangel Militray Facility in the Ukraine. I tried to forget that she is lying through her teeth and that if i show i know she'd probably kill me and i went on with the Conversation.



Why do we base the intentions of people on the colour of their flags? Red white and blue isnt that different from baby blue.












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My Partner might be the only person i can trust...he used to work in Las Vegas Gaming Commission trying to catch Mafia Investors skimming from Casino Safes. the fact he survived that long entails he was smart enough to dodge a few bullets himself. This town was made for people to steal in, and he was the man supposed to fix all that up...not exactly the most loved of guys. He left because it was too much for him, he wanted a decent living free from the uncertainty of losing digits, waking up in a sack of potatos and poisoined martini drinks. All sounds good untill one day my Partner is out on business, a Mr. Montana shows up at my office one day and asks me about my partner,


i tell him to go fly a kite...


He shows me a picture of my Girlfriend....


Welcome to the Woods where the Things have No Name

My Partner is like the Brother i never had, it was a hard decision.


I walk into his office and ask him.."do you have two shovels?"












Blood and Sand have a very good ability of sticking to one another....







In the same time, im supposed to go out for coffee with friends, remember birthdays, get stuck in Traffic, stand in line to buy movie tickets, deal with a mechanic trying to rip me off, stop for a deputy who wants to give me a ticket for not wearing my seat belt, take shit from a bouncer on a club door, answer calls from telemarketers who want to sell me something i dont want, put up with people pissed that i dont call them as often as they'd want me to. put up with fakers who think they are all that cause the work at some bank, comfort my friend for breaking up, attending hundreds of weddings cause that happens to be the only thing people are doing right now, attend wakes and funerals of people i've never met and bear endless conversations about cellphones, gadets, cars, video clips, movies, girls, boys, men, food and TV shows...

And still have time for myself,


i only have one question....


Why me ?

The Number 74: Running with the Gazelles




It's Funny how we react to truama or Drama as i like to call it differently. You are always told to be strong and it will pass , whatever doesnt kill you will only make you stronger, that stuff. we dont have men that cry yada yada. I remember when my Grandfather passed away when i was 11. That was probably the last time i cried when i heard about the death of someone. 74 significant deaths later ( yes i keep count i know im sick) i still havent shed a tear. does that make me strong?






Well i'd beg to differ. i lost someone significant a few months ago. I was in disbelief at first, not only did it catch me off guard but it caught the rest of the world off guard too. It was pretty Tragic but hey, people die everyday dont they? does that mean we have to have a daily hour or moment of silence, mourning and tears? well its not really practical and i beleive in equality. If you dont mourn every brother in kind you have lost then you shouldnt treat anyone better. thats why i dont personally grieve...that is what makes me not cry on the death of 74 people , that had an impact on my life, that probably if lived longer would have affected the outcome of who i am, who if lived less would have made me less of the person i am now. 74 people whom i will add my name to one day, who will become 75 tomorrow if not today, and 6 Billion only God knows when.



So like i was saying, i lost someone significant a few months ago. refused to grieve about it and kept it all in, maybe its Guilt, maybe its my socialization getting the best of me - for like i said ma3andenash regala bet3ayat- regardless of the reason, the end result is, it was all trapped in. I thought that was a good thing...






Come Saturday...






I See a flock of Gazelles...running gracefully on my way from one place to another. I remember Lana Jass who has Faithfully Departed our world a few months ago. She always beleived that her place in the world, the only place she feels she was created to be in, is to run with the Gazelles. I looked at them and wondered...is Lana Jass running with them now?






I couldnt think of anything else all day. I remembered almost every memory i made with Lana Jass, the good and the bad, thought of all the things i wanted to say to Lana, all the things i wanted to do for Lana, but never had the chance.






The only thing that could comfort me was the thought that it was meant to be this way, and all you wanted to say and do are probably better left unsaid and undone. There must be a Good reason why an Angel like Lana has to so tragically depart this cruel evil world.until i find out why, i guess ill be angry.






I finally cried....why did i cry? i mean what was i feeling? i just related...related to the thoughts going through her awarness when she just realized she is no longer alive, she must have been dissapointed, utterly dissappointed , just when things were starting to get better, i mean 3 weeks before she got this new job she couldnt dream of, she finally found something she felt herself in...to me it was just a job...to her it was her Running with the Gazelles, finally sorted out her issues, finally in peace with herself and with life. then she crashes and burns...and its all over. no chance to say a last word to a special someone, no goodbye notes , lots of unfinished business.






Very trivial isn t it , but what do you expect its not like i died before and know what its like...






Sigh, one day i will find out.















Rest In Peace Lana Jass,