Haven't posted in a while, won't post in a while either. It's been a hectic few weeks, and it'll continue to be so for two months or so.

In all this chaos, however, I've found a new-old lover to keep me company. We've been spending endless days and nights together. We study together, we have fun together, we even eat together. And she's not even mine.

Today we started off with a short meeting, as we both had other matters to attend to. This was followed however by a six-hour non-stop session, which ended with both of us completely exhausted. Now, as I type this up, we are once again spending the night keeping each other company.

We have become really close. From rigorous intellectual academic analysis to chats about soccer, we've had it all. Tensions can run high sometimes, as she, like most other women, can sometimes be moody, freeze unexpectedly, and refuse to respond to any rational actions on my part.

Yup, me and my friend's computer have now become inseparable. I know, you might say it's sad, but I'm not letting any of your evil whispers come between me and my baby. As someone once said:


قالوا ترى مالك امل في قربها لو يوم
ابعد وجنّب دربها .. هذا هو المقسوم
قلت اتركوني واسكتوا .. خلو العتب واللوم
قدني غرقت في بحرها .. ولاعاد يفيد العوم

قالوا ترى في حبها ويل .. وأسى .. و هموم
قلت ان قتلني حبها .. حسبي تقول مرحوم
قالوا انسى ذكرها .. منتب بها ملزوم
قلت ابشروا ياعاذلين .. بنسى لذيذ النوم


Anyway, it's mostly been some heavy sessions on Matlab. If you've never heard of this amazing product, I recommend you get it. It could enhance your relationship endlessly. It could be hard to get to grip with in the beginning, but once you have mastered it, the possibilities never end.

One advantage of spending so much time on a computer is that you quickly get bored with one thing and you drift away in the world of the internet. One amazing discovery for me was the forums, particularly, the bahraini forums.

AND THERE ARE TRUCKLOADS OF THEM.

I'm sure some of us bloggers have wondered why blogs have not mushroomed around the island, as they have did for example in Iran. Sure, there is a steady flow of blogs being produced, but it is not exactly a phenomenon swooping the island at the moment. The most telling evidence of this is that the blogs seem to be almost exclusively in English, with Arabic blogs being sporadic and infrequently updated. Maybe it is because it is mainly us western educated and (relatively) wealthy individuals have the most access to the internet? Maybe it is indeed because most blogs are in English and that does not appeal to a wider audience? Maybe people are yet to hear about blogs?

WRONG

The main reason, I think, is the amazing outburst of forums all around the place.

And the forums are indeed a phenomenon in every word of the sense. If you check out these forums, it seems even your local beggar at the mosque accesses them. The memberships for these forums are ridiculous, with the smallest ones around 1000 members and registering at least a similar number of hits a day. The country indeed seems to be literally online, and the number of users just keeps growing.

Why is it that forums seem to have taken off much more than blogs? Well the main the reason it seems that most of these forums are extremely encompassing, having sections that deal from sports to Politics. They obviously also allow any member to publish a post. Hence, the number of topics and activities is substantially increased, making the average day much more entertaining than that that occurs on a blog. In fact, in one of my sad days, I even checked logging on the same forum after every hour, and it is amazing how fast the topics keep shifting. Literally every minute there is something new happening. This is not to mention that you as a poster are obviously exposed to a much wider audience in an established forum rather than creating a base from scratch for your own blog.

This is not to say, however, that blogs won't catch up. The number one advantage for a blog is that it offers you a personal platform, your own kingdom, to post your views, and see what others think of them. Every blogs is different and unique to another, and to certain extent that is lacking in forums. Obviously forums are catching on to this, and they allow their users to display unique tags and style when posting nowadays. They do tend however, to post the same topics over and over again with repititions across the forums. Thus, I think blogs still have a role to play to those that like diversity. It's the difference I guess between those who like to shop in one gigantic sprawling mall that encompasses everything (e.g. Seef) or prefer walking down a street that encompasses many unique and different shops (e.g. Oxford Street or King's Road).

Anyway, for those you are yet to fully indulge into the entertaining art of Bahraini forums, here is a list of the most popular:

Political/General:
bahrainonline (mainly shia political religious)

montadayat (mainly shia political/religious)

bahrainforums pro-government but offers a wide range of views (including sunni, shia, leftist)

durazi mainly shia political religious

Sports/General:

Muharraqawi The site of the sheikh of all Khaleeji clubs

kooora Most popular football/sports forum (with about 20 subforums inside catering even to the Zimbabwean league)

al ahli Al Ahli club

riffa3i eldeyayeh elzargah club

muharraq fans eltheeb

My picks of the moment are muharraqawi (massive debate raging on about why the football team is not doing so well and whether it's the administration's fault), kooora, bahrainforums, and bahrainonline.

Anyway, although it's not the greatest times for eltheeb (the wolf) at the moment, we all know that الذيب يمرض لكن مايموت. And when he wakes up from his hibernation, he's going to be pretty damn hungry, and he's going to be looking for some chicken. Blue chicken in particular is his favourite dish, so beware. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

I myself will be in hibernation for a period, with posts being intermittent at best, so I wish you all a pleasant period in the mean time. In the end, I leave you with this link:



yak eltheeb






P.S. This applies just as well to the upcoming game on Wednesday in Europe! The (remaining few) old lady's teeth have been shattered, and next it's the roman empire!

¶ 3:09 AM