Today, 17 years ago...

Today, 17 years ago...
Originally uploaded by radiant guy

On 2nd of August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait...At the time I was 8 years old (currently I am 14 years old) yet I do remember certain things vividly.
17 years ago I wake up around 10 A.M., I found my family all a wake and looking through the windows, when I asked what's wrong?
They said Iraq invaded us...I looked through the window and I saw columns of smoke everywhere raising in the sky with bombing noise which I already heard earlier but I didn't know what was it at the time.

I do remember that day when my father came back home with my brother, a bullet almost
hit his car's tire.

I also remember my aunt (my mother's sister), she used to record stuff from TV and get them to us so we can watch it, because their house is closer to Saudi Arabia so they can get better TV signals, she used to write "Om Kalthoum" (She is a dead singer) on the VHS tapes to pass through the Iraqi check points.

I also remember when the Iraqi army blown up more than 600 oil fields (more than 1 billion barrels were either spilled in the sea or burned), the sky at 1 P.M. was more like 1 A.M. except there was no moon or stars!

The photo above of my uncle, he wrote our names on the missile as a gift from us to the army of Saddam.

The photo below is a snapshot from Kuwait TV (As seen on many Kuwaiti patriotic songs), my father was driving a school bus with almost everybody in our neighborhood on board, we had a road trip on the liberation day (26th of February 1991) to the north, I am the one in red.

Currently If you visited Kuwait, You will not
realize that a war took place here.

الله يحفظ الكويت و شعبها

!اتفشلوووووون

!اتفشلوووووون
Originally uploaded by radiant guy

غير عنوان الصورة ما عندي تعليق!

AGAINST THE AGONY they WON!

AGAINST THE AGONY they WON!
Originally uploaded by radiant guy

THEY WON!
I am really happy for them, they won the Asian cup for the first time although they've been under massive agony!
When they won the game with Korea, Iraqi people went out in the streets celebrating the victory, 50 were killed and more were injured by a terror explosion.
Their football team consists of many players with different ethnic and religious backgrounds, yet they played as a team and proved to the world that differences means NOTHING.

VIVA IRAQ and f**K BUSH AND CONDOLESSA RICE :D

Tribute to my late uncle Mosa

Tribute to my late uncle Mosa
Originally uploaded by radiant guy

It's already been a year, I still can't believe it.
May his soul rest in peace

Dedicated to my late uncle Mosa (1961 - 2006) who passed away last year on 8th of June 2006...It was the worst day of my life.

الفاتحة على روحه.

Ever seen a bracelet of light in a starry night!

As I said in my earlier post, the greatest open swimming spot in South of Kuwait was closed by Saudi Oil Company. So I went with my friend to find another spot (Eventually we didn't find one; well we did break in someone's under construction property but let's keep that our little secret LOL), anyway we had a road trip for an hour or so and we kinda lost our way so we entered a military base LOL

We didn't realised it until we reached the base's gate :D

So we had a U-turn and on the way back I saw the most amazing scenery for photography (If you don't know yet, I have a thing for starry nights, moons and long exposures), I am kinda dreamy :Pp~

Anyway I parked my car by the base and set my camera on the tripod as If that base owned by my father LOL...I took one photo with 7 seconds exposure (I can't recall for how long), but the stars weren't as bright as I wanted them to be, so I increased the exposure time to 15 seconds and took another one...At the time a car was coming toward us from the base; parked by us and a guy came out and said: "What are you doing here?"My friend replied: "We are taking some photos...He said "photos? of what? Can't you see the base over there?".

I said: "Yes, we came in by mistake, we were trying to find a new swimming spot but we didn't find one yet".

He said: "You shouldn't take photos by the base, it's crowded with Americans and they are about to leave".

I replied: "Well, I don't want to be invaded like Iraq and Afghanistan so I am going to leave".

And that was me being sarcastic :Pp~

I really wanted to take that photo with 30 seconds exposures, just out of curiosity not because I don't like the photo which I already captured and I am talking about the one shown above on my flickr not your ceiling you silly :Pp~

P.S. This photo look way better in reality, very magical :O

It's all OVER!

For the past few years, I've been going with some friends to a remote area in the south of Kuwait called "Al Zoor" (very close to Saudi/Kuwaiti border) to swim in the crystal clear sea, clear as you can see your shadow on the floor with jelly fish belly break around it (I am not kidding I did see jelly fish for real that day, they even bit me LOL... I ment ouch not LOL)!

The sea in Kuwait could be separated into 3 groups, North sea, Kuwait city sea and South sea.

- The north sea is muddy, you can not swim over there.
- Kuwait city sea is better than the north but the water isn't clear.
- The south sea (and some Kuwaiti islands) are the best place for swimming, the water is crystal clear, or Diamond clear!

This year I and my friend had a road trip to the south of Kuwait to find a new swimming spot since our usual one was closed, a Saudi oil company took over the place...It made me furious, Saudi Arabia is larger than probably 8275634972349 times...They don't need a free spot somewhere else to build whatever they want.

Other places around that spot are owned by Kuwaiti citizens, and no one can swim there and it's crowded with beach houses.

Now If you want to swim in a clean and clear water, you should own a beach house in the South of Kuwait or a Yacht to take you for an island such as "Kubbar" or "Qarooh".

It's way cheaper to travel abroad and enjoy the beach in South east Asia or maybe Madagascar and I am not talking about the cartoon which I and my 3 years old niece really love.

Photo above is unposed photo of me taken by a friend while I was fixing my stupid swimsuit :+

I've taken tons of photo but they doesn't show the water's clarity as this one.

In the mood

In the mood
Originally uploaded by radiant guy.

Lights off...
Covering my self with a blanket...
My laptop on the table...
And my hot milk mug next to it...

This is my definition of a great night

BTW...I would like to thank my father or my mother who bought that table for me LOL

Recognize any of these people?

Recognize any of these people?
Originally uploaded by radiant guy.

Right to Left... Kuwaiti singer/actress "Maram", Me, Actress "Yelda" and a Philippino women :D

We met them in a shopping mall, they were going to shoot a TV show so we asked them for some photos and they said OK :+
BTW I love Maram's song "Helafli" but I feel that song didn't be popular as it should be :(

I think it was taken on day# 6 or 7, not sure...I have a temp. memory :+

Useless Copyright laws!

Copyright infringement
Originally uploaded by Cajie.

I always knew that but what made me speak up when I noticed what's happening to some people in flickr (It almost happened to me with melody TV)...
انا من زمان عارف عن هالموضوع بس اللي خلاني اتكلم فيه اخيراً اللي قاعد اشوفه يصير لبعض الناس في فلكر (تقريباً صارلتلي مع قناة ميلودي)...

In the Arab world people rarely care about the copyrights, If someone likes a photo then he will just steal it and publish it in their site, blog, newspaper, magazine or wherever you want!
في الدول العربية مافي احترام لحقوق الملكية الفكرية, لو أي شخص عجبته صورة يقدر يسرقها و يحطها في موقعه, مدونته, جريدته, مجلته أو اي مكان ثاني!

I could spend hours taking photos, processing them or creating a graphic art and anybody could take it, it doesn't matter to them what's I've been through to end up with that work; all what's matter to them is to make their work prettier using others work!
انا ممكن اقعد ساعات اصور و اعدل في الصور او اشتغل في غرافيكس و في الآخر أي شخص ممكن ياخذ شغلي على البراد بدون احم و لا دستور على راي اخوانا المصريين.
مو مهم عندهم اشكثر انت اشتغلت في الصورة...كل اللي يهمهم ان جريدتهم تطلع حلوه بصورتك.

Kuwaiti newspaper Al Qabas is a great example of copyrights mafia!
جريدة القبس الكويتية هي مثال على مافيا الحقوق الملكية الفكرية!
http://www.AlQabas.com.kw

CraZY WeaTHEr!

CraZY WeaTHEr!
Originally uploaded by radiant guy.

Currently the weather in Kuwait is CRAZY!
You could have 17 seasons in 6 minutes!
Dusty, Rainy, Humid, Dry, Windy, Hot, Cold, Dusty again, then clear!
Locally we call that "Sarrayat" season...It usually begin in March and ends in April :+

Photo was taken in the morning on my way to work *YAWN*

Friendship never last forever, IT'S TRUE!

I just don't know what went wrong, it's might be me or he just found a "better" friends group?
We've been best friends for more than 14 years but not anymore, he even changed his number so I don't call him (I wouldn't call him anyway even If I had his number but he is thinking that he is the Queen Elizabeth II and I would be running after him)!

I know I DID NOTHING WRONG but I have no idea what's wrong with him, I wanted to know what went wrong exactly but not anymore since he did forget all those years of our friendship.

I used to think about him for awhile but now I belly dance on Latifa's song "Khalleek Ba'eed" (Translation: Keep Away).

If you think walking a way will make you feel better, OK then you can keep away..
If that would make you more comfortable, I will be happy for you..
But don't return few days later asking for my forgiveness, and to reconciled again!

It's typical of you to forget all about our great days together whenever we have a little problem, I swear if I walked away you will feel lonely even If you had a thousand friends around you
My dear why you are treating me this way?

Don't be patient, return and ask for my forgiveness, and to reconciled again!

P.S. I don't really love Queen Elizabeth II; I am just trying to make a point, I hope she won't sue me for using her name LOL