project for awesome

So, I'm officially done with AUC until next semester. It was a little anticlimactic, but it still feels awesome to know that I don't have any two hour long bus rides lurking in my near future.
But AUC isn't what I want to talk about today. I want to talk about the Project for Awesome. It's an annual YouTube event that brings together video creators and viewers to trick YouTube's algorithms into featuring videos about charities instead of videos about kittens on roombas. (Although who doesn't love kittens on roombas?)
Basically, participants in the P4A (which is you, if you want) like, favorite, and comment on as many P4A videos as many times as they can, in an effort to raise awareness of many different charities. Hank explains it all here or you can click here to go to the P4A website, where you can donate money by purchasing raffle tickets to win cool things, or you can just watch some of the videos I'll put below and donate to any charity that you feel a connection to. Please do what you can, this is really an amazing event, and we've already raised $15,000 for charity through the P4A website in the five hours since the project started. It goes on for another nineteen, and I know we'll accomplish so much more.
I didn't get to make a Project for Awesome video myself this year, thanks to finals week, but here are some of my favorites:












I know that's a lot of videos. Sorry. I can promise you, they are all worth your time. (And your money, don't forget! If you can spare even just $5 to one of these charities, you'll help make a difference.)
DFTBA!
p.s. I've been commenting so much on videos tonight that YouTube has become convinced I am a robot, and has been making me prove my humanity after every comment by typing a captcha. Some are hilarious, some are completely unintelligible. Bonus points to anyone who leaves a comment giving me a definition for their favorite captcha (or even just deciphering one)!

100 posts?

It honestly snuck up on me. This is the 100th time I've posted on this blog, starting the night before I left home to come to Cairo. Wow.
Today was a good Tuesday, again. I went to Coffee Bean and worked on my essay, and made a good amount of progress. Then I went to lunch with friends and then came home to essay a bit more, a goal which I completely failed to accomplish. That was okay, though.
I made my vlog for today, and had a really good time doing it.
If you watch the video, which is at the bottom of this post, I suggest clicking through to the video page and watching the linked video in the doobly-doo. Well, I suggest that if you're a huge nerd, or a nerdfighter. Otherwise, I guess it might be slightly confusing or off-putting.
Tomorrow I've got to get to school early and read The Caucasian Chalk Circle for Dramatic Lit, because I totally forgot to get a copy from the copy shop on campus, so I couldn't read it today like I meant to. I hope I can finish it before class and still have time to work on my Art and Architecture paper or the Dramatic Lit paper. If that doesn't work out, though, I'll settle for just finishing the play on time. I hate it when I totally blank on reading assignments like that, especially when they're for a class that is completely made up of discussion of the reading.
And that was a really boring 100th post! What can I say? It was a Tuesday.

is it time to blog again?

Apparently, yes.
So since I blogged earlier, I was going to skip tonight, but I decided not to. For no real reason at all, actually. I mean, there's nothing left to say.
I worked on my paper a bit, read some sources. Didn't do as much as I was planning to do. Tomorrow is another day?
Basically, I don't want to go to bed yet because I haven't talked to my family on skype in two or three days (except for my aunt who is amazing and called me!) and I miss them. I'm debating right now whether to keep working on my paper (because late night sentences are still sentences) and stay up to see if they get on the computer, or just say screw it and go to bed. Decisions, decisions.
While I'm pondering that, go look at this.

This album, Erase This, from DFTBA records (that's Don't Forget To Be Awesome for all you non-nfs out there) is amazing, and I'm almost ashamed that I didn't buy it before its creators offered it up for a free download.

Erase This is one of those albums that tells a story, although what it says to each person who listens is almost certainly different. I just know that the story I hear when I listen to it seems to come from my heart, not just Alan Lastufka's mind or Luke Conard's voice.

If you have $12, I suggest you follow the link above and buy the album. If you don't have $12, at least listen to Boxcar Blood for free a few times and see how you like it. (Or go here to the iTunes store for previews of all the songs. Try 'Forgiven' and 'Erase This' at the very least.)

Although right now Erase This is my bus ride music, I'm very much looking forward to the time when I can play it in my car, driving anywhere I want, home home home.

p.s. My mom just called. So yay.

a sketchy situation

Woke up today at 7:30 to shower and start studying, which actually kind of worked. I got stuff done, at least until I took my first break, which lasted a lot longer than it should have. I got to skype with my friend Maggie from home, though, so that was really nice.
Then I went downstairs to the courtyard to study more, and managed to get through my notes almost two times before we had to catch a cab to the Egyptian Museum. It was an interesting experience, because the driver was the first I'd met who willingly admitted that he didn't speak a lick of English, not in so many words of course. I was pretty proud of myself for making it work, and getting him to drop us off in the right place, although we did have to cross about six lanes of traffic to actually get to the museum. We also were there freakishly early, because Kim and I were a bit paranoid about being late again, after last time. It wasn't too long before the entire group showed up though, and we headed inside. The trip this time was much less frenetic, and much less boiling hot, because it wasn't nearly as crowded and we didn't have to run up and down any giant staircases. We looked at and learned about a ton of new and interesting Old Kingdom statues, including the only for-sure identified statue of Khufu (Cheops), the builder of the great pyramid at Giza. The statue is less than four inches tall. And it's adorable. The only remaining image of a pharaoh who is painted in history as an egotistical maniac is a teeny tiny ivory statue. If he'd really been as bad as Herodotus says he was, don't you think we'd have found more evidence?
Part of our assignment at the museum today, other than to follow Professor Ikram around like little ducklings* (or 'chickadees' as she sometimes calls us), was to describe a work of art in detail, as practice for our class paper. I chose a statue of King Raneferef from the 5th dynasty, which sadly is all broken up and the paint is almost all gone. That in itself isn't very interesting, but what happened to me when I was sketching the statue was. Perhaps the fact that what I was drawing was called a 'sketch' lends a certain tone to my encounter. An Egyptian man, who I hadn't noticed standing beside me, all of a sudden commented on my art. "Very beautiful," he said, "you are very good." I pretty much ignored him, and continued to draw. "You have chosen a wonderful piece," he said, "it is beautiful." At this point, I was wondering if he would just go away, but sadly, this was not the case. "You are from America," he stated, "you are touring?" I really shouldn't have responded, but I couldn't seem to help myself. "No," I said, "I live here. I live in Cairo." He was bit surprised, but quickly smoothed it over with, "Me too! I also live in Cairo. I am an accountant. What do you study?" "Egyptology." "What?" "Egyptology." "What?" "I study Egypt," I finally said, really kind of wanting him to go away. "Oh, oh, Egypt. Of course. I am an accountant," he repeated, as if I had thrown him off his script. "I play judo, and also swimming." "Hmmm," I said, trying to be noncommittal and also dismissive, if at all possible. Maybe I should have left then, but I was still trying to draw the stupid statue. He was silent for a while, then said, "Okay, okay. I must say. I am not married. I have not been married."
Around then, my friends showed up, ready to leave, I finished my sketch, and I said to him, "Very nice to meet you, goodbye." And to his credit, he left. Major props to him for that, at the very least. So, that was it. My very first 'marriage proposal' in Egypt. I'm so excited. I could tell he didn't really care about me though, I knew the relationship couldn't last. Relationships based on lies never do, and he started out with one, complimenting my drawing. I know the truth. This was my sketch, after all... (As you can see, that man was a big fat liar. Also, you can stop laughing now. Anytime.)
When I got home from the museum, I studied some more, then made the mistake of taking another break. It didn't really turn out to be a mistake, though. Quite the opposite. Instead of spending another five hours studying, I spent five hours hanging out with friends talking about whatever crossed our minds. And apparently, we are all huge nerds. I mean, I know I'm a huge nerd, but it's always nice to have company. We talked about Doctor Who, Harry Potter, Buffy&Angel, Lord of the Rings, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Anne McCaffrey, George RR Martin, Sherlock, The Room, fanfiction, Lost, Dr. Horrible, internet memes including drunk Jeff Goldblum and sad Keanu, and in short, it was the most epic conversation I've had in a long time. There were, of course, interludes of pizza and cupcakes (not for anyone but Peter, though), but pretty much, it was an amazing conversation that continued solidly for five hours.
One of the best quotes to come out of this monster conversation was this, as Peter attempted to explain why everything bad that happens to Harry Potter and his friends is Harry's own fault: "Harry Potter is the reason Cedric Diggory is a vampire." And I have to say, it was a pretty persuasive argument. Also, the description of the Twilight movies as "comedies with really good soundtracks" was wonderfully apt.
So, that was my day. Egyptian Museum (with marriage proposal), studying, and ultra-nerdiness. It was a pretty great day. Hopefully celebrating my birthday tomorrow on the Giza plateau running around after Professor Ikram again* will be just as fantastic.

*Do not in anyway misunderstand me: I love having the chance to follow Salima Ikram around like a baby duckling.

bread mold is healthy, right? like penicillin?

I went to work again this morning. Organizing/editing wasn't as simple as last time, mainly because I finished the first few catalogue pages I was given, and more had to be printed out, except the new ones were kind of backwards, and still had the tags for html all over them. So that was fun. In short, I've now gone through boxes 1, 2, 3, half of 4, half of 6, 9, 10, and 11, which leaves four and two halves boxes to do on Wednesday and Thursday. That's pretty good progress I think. Then I can (hopefully) get on a computer and actually make the edits for real, instead of just on paper with a pencil. The library was also freezing this morning. I was wearing real shoes and socks, not just sandals, and my toes were numb by the time I was leaving.
Classes were fine today, except for some minor angst in my ling class regarding extra points awarded to those who showed up for class last Thursday instead of going on vacation. A fair point was made by a classmate, who brought up the syllabus and pointed out that we can all miss three classes without being penalized by the professor, according to 'the contract' that we are all a part of, including him. I think the argument was pretty reasonable, but it basically got shot down, with the professor overruling 'the contract' as if it didn't apply when he didn't want it to. That's his prerogative, he's the teacher, but I don't think I agree with him.
Okay, remember Sons of Admirals? I posted their video for 'Here Comes My Baby' a long time ago. Now they are apparently an internet sensation, according to the Sun newspaper. The had a live performance at the Sun, and recorded some acoustic songs, my favorite of which is posted below. Please watch the video, because it will make you happy. Or it will if you like these guys:

And these guys:

Sons of Admirals singing the theme song from Arthur? Yes please!
So, basically, hearing this song at school made my day. And then my day/month/year/whatever was made even more awesome by hearing what the teefury shirt for today is. In case you don't know, teefury is a website that sells a different shirt every day, for that day only. Once the day is over, you can't buy that shirt ever again. And this is today's:

Yes, I bought it. How could I not? Really? Of course, I won't actually have it for a while, since risking it in the mail to Egypt is not a good idea. I'll get it when I get home. A welcome home gift to me! And something to look forward to when I discover it again after I forget all about it in the next eight months.
The bus ride home today was interesting, because I got one of the very last seats on the bus, right up at the very front. I took the opportunity to film a bit of average Cairo traffic for you. Actually, this is quite a bit tamer than average, since at some points, you can see the road.

When I got home, I decided that instead of buying dinner, I would just eat some of the pita bread that I bought at the grocery store. The good news is, it tasted really good. The bad news is, I got through half a piece before I realized that what I was tasting was mostly mold. Oops. I don't know why I'm grossed out by stray cats but not by eating mold (at least not that grossed out), but I am. Go figure. Just in case I have to say it, I did throw the rest away when I found the mold, promise.
As a special treat to those of you who love Arthur, here's another classic. [warning: do not watch this video unless you are prepared to have a fairly annoying, if entertaining, song stuck in your head for a very long time.]

Also, if anybody noticed, sorry for the late blog tonight. I went out with friends and had fun instead of staying home and doing homework. I might have to make a habit of this, actually, since I had a great time. And now I'm friends with a bunch of Europeans who I never knew before. Good times.

'thank you for your disturbance'

*I should be blogging right now. Why am I not blogging now?* Oh wait. Never mind.
Those thoughts have been going through my head for the last hour and a half, but I guess they finally got through to me.
Today was a good weekend day to not do anything. I think I succeeded in that, while also accomplishing something! Good for me. I did my Arabic homework, and it only took an hour and a half, because I had to go on a hunt for a new dvd to use. The one that I bought with my textbook (used, of course), finally decided it was too scratched to go on living, and ended itself, taking my dvd player program with it, at least temporarily. Luckily, I could borrow the dvd from a friend, and even better, soon we'll be onto the new textbook, and it won't be a problem any more.

the picture that justifies egypt's rating (from here)

I learned an interesting fact today. Did you know that Egypt ranks as 49th in a list of the world's 60 most failed countries, with its neighbor to the south, Sudan, coming in at number 3? Read here for pictures and the full list.
Now, I don't really know how I feel about this. I love Egypt, almost everywhere I've been has been welcoming and intriguing and alive. I'm not saying there aren't bad things about the country (police state, anyone?), but I don't think it ranks as a 'failed country'. At least, not from my point of view. I guess there aren't that many countries in the world (193 according to the world almanac), so if you put 60 on your list, that's almost a third of all the countries we have! When I was reading through the list, it seemed like almost a roster of the third world, which may seem accurate given today's definition of that term, but according to what I learned, the 'third world' is just those countries that weren't allied with either the United States (the first world) or the Soviet Union (the second world) during the Cold War. [Please, Mr. Thomas, anyone, correct me if I'm wrong!] Is that really why so many countries are underprivileged and in trouble today? Because they didn't pick a team, or nobody wanted them? Is that what happened to Sudan? To Cambodia? To Egypt? Or is it the countries themselves? Did they do something wrong to invite trouble? Or is it a few people in each country, making bad decisions for the masses? I don't know the answers to these questions that I just made up, and I don't know if I can or want to. And since I'm rambling anyway, I think I'll move on to happier things.
I spent about three or four hours today watching John Green, one of my favorite authors, live on the internet. The purpose of the liveshow was to raise money for two things: jamesatwar's cat Chomp Chomp's operation (to remove a ribbon from his intestine that would otherwise kill him) and to fight malaria. Like John said, it wasn't either/or giving (i.e. either I can help James' cat or I can fight malaria) but both/and giving (I can both help James' cat and I can fight malaria). The liveshow was a success, and we completed the $1500 needed for Chomp Chomp to live to chomp another day, and raised $500 dollars to buy mosquito nets to fight malaria. [If you want to fight malaria too, please go donate to Malaria No More.]
John, aside from donating money to both causes himself, set up an auction system for viewers to promise donations in return for John doing things. In this way, I got to watch and listen to John read from his first book Looking for Alaska, read a chapter from his never-to-be-finished zombie apocalypse novel, and oh yeah. Proclaim his love for unicorns (which, according to John, suck like malaria).
The moment was captured by a screenshot-ready nerdfighter, and is now preserved for eternity on facebook:

The entire proclamation of love can be viewed on the effyeahnerdfighters tumblr here as well (and I highly recommend you do so).
Aside from the Arabic homework and my interview with the Egyptian police, the liveshow was the highlight of my day, as you can probably tell. What's that? I didn't tell you about the police yet? Okay, fine.
I got a call this morning around 10:30 on my room phone, which almost never rings, from Waleed, and RA of the dorm. He asked me to come down to the garden, because there was an 'officer who wanted to speak with me.' I was fairly confused and a little worried, until he clarified that it was about the squirt-gun incident from last week. I went down to meet them and found my friend Halima already there. We explained to the officer what had happened, and he took very good notes and seemed interested, but eventually pretty much dismissed what we had to say. According to him, it was not a threat to Americans' security, not targeted at Americans, just teenagers out being stupid. I agree with him, except for the part about the targeting. It may not have been assault or harmful in the long term, but it was targeted specifically at American students at a specific place and a specific time where American students reliably are. There is just no way that a random car full of Egyptian teenagers with a squirt gun would hit the same place multiple times randomly just as a bunch of American students were walking to the bus. That just doesn't make sense. That being said, I don't think there's a whole lot to be done about it, unless they get caught in the act.
At the end of the interview, the officer asked us to write down our names and information, including passport numbers. I tried to remember mine, then asked if he wanted me to go up to my room and check. I guess it seemed to him like I was trying to avoid giving him my information, because he immediately started reassuring me that he was a police officer and worked with the US Embassy. Yeah, dude, I get it. Now can I go get my passport number for you? Eventually I did, and came back and gave it to him, and it was all fine. He said goodbye, and thanked me 'for my disturbance', and English phrase he seemed very proud of. I didn't have the heart to look puzzled, so I just smiled and went to eat lunch.
And thats was it for today. Tanis tomorrow! If I can find my way to the downtown campus alive, that is...
p.s. I know this is post is a little nerdfighteria-heavy already, but here's John's latest video, one of my favorites in a long time: