I found this on some wall opposite to a highly guarded residential compound in northern Riyadh:

King Faisal Foundation is going to launch a private university next year, “to cause a change in Saudi Arabia,” said Prince Bandar bin Saud bin Khalid, deputy managing director of the foundation. According to the him, the new university should be like MIT or the Cambridge of the Middle East. They will teach engineering, medicine, science and business technology, and will not offer any courses in Islamic or social studies. The interesting part of this news story is: Male and female medical students are going to study together. Now this is going to make some people lose their minds, isn’t it? It is weird how the Sahat guys did open their fires on this story, yet.

Last Sunday, on my way back from campus, I stopped at the red light on Al Oruba’s intersection with Al Takhasosi. On my left, there was a Kia Optima where a young woman wearing Litham and sunglasses was sitting in the backseat. I glanced a quick look her (about 2 seconds), then turned my face to the front waiting for the traffic light to turn green. I wasn’t in a really good mood. I just wanted to pick up some lunch, and get back home to relax after a long day at college.

I turned left on Al Takhasosi, leaving that car behind me and forgot all about it. I stopped at Kudu to get my lunch (Kudu salad, if you were curious). The distance between Kudu and the building where I live is less than 500 meters, so I drove it carelessly until I got there. When I got off my car after parking it in front of the building, I noticed that the same car, the Kia Optima, was following me. The driver was slowing down as they passed by me so the woman could look at me carefully. Another quick eye contact, and the woman ushered to the driver to speed up. I don’t know why I got this weird feeling that she had recognized me, and wanted take another confirmatory* look.

* Blame subjects like pathophysiology and pharmacognosy for words like this!

The new issue (April-March) of Al Qafilah magazine has come out, and inside it there is an article by yours truly. Al Qafilah is a prestigious magazine published bimonthly by Saudi Aramco. I feel proud because this was actually my first writing gig; the first time ever that I get paid to write something. My article was featured in a page where they usually offer a point of view that is unusual regarding some cultural issues. I had the freedom to choose whatever subject I want to write about, so I wrote on the crisis of publishing industry in the Arab World. I want to thank Fatima Al Jefri, the editor of the magazine, who offered me this opportunity based solely on my writings online (especially my Arabic blog). She was really nice to me, and kind enough to answer all of my stupid questions, as this is my first time to do such thing.

Why nerds make better lovers? “A hot body might get you in the door, but eventually, what meets the eye will fade. It’s important to add depth and substance to your personality. The hottest, most intense relationships are the ones with people you can really talk to, laugh with and learn from every day.”

I guess OCSAB (I’m not linking to them this time, they had more than their fair share) should thank me, because my post about them has generated traffic and links for them far more than they could actually create over the past two months ;-) This should not anger the OSCRAP – oops, excuse me, I mean the OCSAB guys, because as you all know: there is no such thing as bad publicity.

Let me make this clear: I’m not getting into some flame-war over this. In spite of all hurdles, SaudiBlogs.org has been around for a long time, and its blogroll is the most comprehensive list of Saudi blogs out there. It is true that the website in total is not yet launched (due to some many technical problems), but the blogroll is regularly updated. I still receive new requests to join every other week or so, and I keep adding new blogs to the list as soon as I can. Anyways, in case you have not noticed, my post was followed by some remarkable additions by the likes of Farah, Aya, the Sandmonkey, and Roba. Have a nice day, everybody.

I never liked pulling all-nighters. I did it once during my first year in college, and it was awful. But if you had to, or if you are simply a night owl, then this how to might help you out.