This week

In another continent, people have taken to the streets calling for the resignation of a president who has been in power for as long as I have put up with this world and all its crap. That's a helluva long time, I tell you. My friend, Jae, has decided to change her profile pic from an I'm-a-fashionable-geek photo to one that shows her on the street holding up a piece of paper that says "Mubarak game over." I am tempted to write a blog about freedom and democracy just to respond to so many friends who say this country of jaywalking, boozing and late-coming people needs a dictator who will whip misbehavior out of everyone and show the way to progress but I'm not going to do that. First, because it's a bit geeky. Second, because if I tried to respond, I wouldnt know where to begin and how to stop. Third, because we should give the spotlight and our full support to Egypt. I will however tell you a brief story about a foreigner who said that the best thing about the AM radio is that it doesnt rob people of imagination, which supposedly TV does. That's what you get when you live in a country where the government writes the news on air and in print so the only accurate thing you can gather from the media is the traffic report. The best thing about the radio is the news, dude. In this country, at least.


So that's what's going in Egypt. Not much here in my room at exactly 11:30 on the 6th of February. I worked only two days this week because of an embarrassingly bad cough that has kept me cooped up in my room with absolutely nothing to do but close my eyes and imagine far more interesting things waiting on my doorstep. My computer has been acting up lately; I can't hear anything from my earphones or my speakers. My DVD player is broken. And although I vowed to finish 1984, it's just way too geeky. (Many times when I was home alone and idle, it called me for more discussion on the idea that war is peace, freedom is slavery and so on but I managed to intimidate it into shutting up. And so again, I close my eyes and see what bundle of joy awaits on my doorstep.)


I dont feel like being geeky eight days before Valentines Day, which is by the way NOT just another day. The way things are going I am NOT going to have a date -- AGAIN! And I'm not going to get any more text messages reading "V-DAY sucks" to which I can respond "Down with VDAY!" because Dianne is happily married.


I am so sad. There are only four reasons that I am not absolutely depressed. First, it's a little off to be so down when the world has bigger problems: for one, Egypt needs to be free (Must not be self-centered.) Second, I have reason to believe I will enjoy the book after 1984 (Must look forward to better things.) Third, I am just never depressed. And finally, because the world can be a pretty messed up place but not when I close my eyes.