We started Saturday measuring in the morning calculated we needed 75 pieces of sod. We first stopped by at Home Depot and picked up 35 pieces of the brick paver edgers. Loaded them in the two carts we had and unloaded them in the mini van. Okay this wasn’t so bad so far. Then it was Lowes for the grass, we picked up 50 pieces of sod figured we can get more if we need. I loaded 50 pieces of sod on a flat bed cart. Not an easy task. Good thing we got 50 instead of 75, the cart was heavy and difficult to move but I pushed it to the cashier and to the mini van. Now I had to load the 50 pieces again from the cart to the back of car. At this point I realize I am going to have to unload these again when I get home.

At home we first placed out the edgers to see how they will look. Dad tied a rope to a spike in the dirt and ran it so we would line them up straight. We proceeded with setting up the dirt below each paver and adjusting it in position. Dad mostly did this as he likes to be precise with it while I helped carry over the pavers. After it was time to unload the sod. I suggested we back the mini van up from my neighbor’s driveway and into my lawn. My Dad liked that idea and he backed up the van and I unloaded the 50 pieces. I then proceeded to start laying out the grass. The edgers came in very handy as they created a border and the pieces of sod fit in perfectly after we found the best way to lay them out so we did not have to cut the sod up. Great!

We laid out the 50 pieces and measured what was left and we did need 25 more pieces. I headed back to Lowes. My hands were all black from the dirt I had been loading and unloading and placing. I stopped for gas at a BP on the way and a nice guy let me pay for my gas before him, maybe because he saw I was so dirty and looked tired. And then back to Lowes to do it all again but with 25 pieces this time. My back was aching from all that bending over loading and unloading. I got back to the house and backed up the mini van same way and unloaded the sod and proceeded to lay them out. This was around 5:30 now and I had spent the day on 5-8 bottles of water and without food. I used the hose to water the new sod and with my back aching, me filthy and hungry, I glanced over the end result and felt great about the work we did. It was worth it and felt rewarding. I showered, took a few pictures of the result and went back in and had food!

Later that evening I showed my Dad the pictures I took and he had an idea to pick up some 12×12 pavers for stepping stones to lay them out from the front of the house to the back leading to the screen door for the patio in the back. I was sold and suggested we lay them out as diamonds instead of squares and we agreed. We had a new plan. And that was today. Same as Saturday, stepped out and measured and looked around and Dad suggested to maybe get more sod to fill up some more in the back and all the grass we will cut out for the stepping stones combined we can fill up further to the back with the sod. And off we went.

First stop Home Depot. We picked up 30 pieces of the stepping stones and another 20 paver edgers to fill to the back of the house along the new sod. We headed back home to unload them. But this time we picked up some gloves at Home Depot to use both for the stepping stones and the sod. After 75 pieces of sod, I finally had gloves! I told my Dad I will go to Lowes and pick up the sod while he can work on the paver edgers. Alas I was prepared with gloves and loaded up mini van the sod. I looked like a pro next to some noob and his girlfriend who picked up 8 pieces of sod while I loaded my 25 pieces! When I returned I backed up the mini van on my lawn instead because my neighbor had sealed his driveway pavers.

When I got back, my Dad had finished up the edgers and I proceed to lay out the new sod and then we laid out the first stepping stone followed by a second and shuffled them around a few times until we found a good distance between them and using the same rope we made a line to keep them aligned in the middle. We ended up putting them closer than we first had in mind which meant we would be short a few steps. After all were lined up, we saw we need 3 more steps so we figured we will get 5 more. Again we had spent the day without food and bottles of water. I told my Dad I will get go the 5 stepping stones and pick up some Boston Market for us and he can start cutting the grass under the steps and dropping the steps in place of the grass. I entered the garden area of Home Depot for the 3rd time today and the cashiers all greeted me knowing I was back yet again, but this time it was quick.

I headed to Boston Market where the parking lot was full. For whatever reason that Boston Market is always packed on Sunday, with old people. While waiting on line, this time less dirty as the gloves kept my hands clean below the wrist. Above the wrist was another story. Someone behind me tapped me on my shoulder. A nice man offered me a coupon for $2 off $10 purchase after he asked me if I was buying two meals. Great! I ordered 2 quarter white chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy for each, and a side of corn for my dad and stuffing for mine. The guy working asked me if I wanted another side for another dollar, I already spent $4 on the 4 sides but I said sure I will try the spinach out. And to the mini van parked further away in BEALLS parking lot.

Got back and my dad had cut out and placed the first eight or so steps. We had our lunch and headed back to work. I began to vigorously and rapidly cut the grass with a kitchen knife like repo-men. I would stop after 2 or 3 stones to break and Dad would work on the next 2 and then I would get the next 2 or 3 and so on. With my sweat dropping all over my glasses and on the stones, blurring my vision as it rolled down the lenses of my glasses, I proceeded. I wanted to be done so I kept going. It wasn’t only cutting the grass and fitting in the step, but also carrying the cut out pieces of sod and working on a puzzle in the back fitting the new cut pieces as needed. The last piece of grass I cut was the hardest, the knife was so dull and I was exhausted. After that we finished up the remaining pieces of sod in the back. Got 5 bags of mulch and placed them in the back were there was still dead grass area. We have 2 fig trees in that spot. We emptied out all that mulch and spread it and it was dark, we have a 6th bag of mulch which we will fill in any thin areas with during the day when we can see. But we were done, it was too dark for pictures, I watered all the new grass along with the steps and the mulch. I showered and my legs are sore and my back and I am sure I will feel it in the morning like I felt my lower back this morning when I woke up.

It was a great weekend with hard work and quality time and a great result to show for it. Tomorrow it is raining which is great to soak up the new grass some more. And now I must sleep to rest and because I have to wake up early for a blood exam. I will post some pictures of the weekend project later. I didn’t do a before picture, but I may have an old picture from before showing that area. Looking forward to the next weekend project, just not next weekend or the one after or after or after but eventually! I need a massage, a brookstone visit is indeed needed!

It all started with Bakugan.

Bakugan Tournament

Nearly 300 miles away was a Bakugan Tournament at Gulf View Square Mall, and that was our excuse to take the trip knowing that the tournament would be at most an hour event, but the kids would love it. My nephews that is. =)

Kids were excited and had a great time. They got t-shirts, wrist bands and got to be official bakugan battle brawlers with a card with their picture certifying it! COOL!

Following the bakugan tournament, we headed to Olive Garden for breakfast/lunch. We did wake up at 6am just to be in time for the bakugan tournament so we were pretty hungry. After we found a place called stop and play which was just an arcade and after that headed to Orlando.

We arrived in Orlando and found a Radisson Hotel to stay in. It wasn’t as good as we had expected, but not bad overall but next time staying in a Holiday Inn would probably be the better choice. And from the hotel it was out to Old Town where there is an amusement park. We bought tickets for the kids to play on the rides and were convinced that any adult can ride with any kid on the ride. After smashing and bumping the cars on the race track around which they threaten to kick you out if you do so, we learned that they want kids of certain height to go on rides alone and won’t let an adult go with them unless they pay for the ride again. Alright so we broke their policy of no refunds and got our refund and then just bought individual tickets for the rides. Silly of them, we ended up spending much less.

But the amusement park gave me good opportunities to take shots with slower shutter speeds to achieve cool effects.

Old Town

Do not bump, Do not push

Double Ferris Wheel

I also found a waterfall finally … well kinda.

Waterfall at the Radisson

The next morning we headed to the waffle house, when you are in Orlando, there is some rule that you have to have breakfast at the waffle house. Had pecan and chocolate waffles, eggs, hash browns and orange juice.

Waffle House

Pecan Waffle

And finally from the waffle house, we started the trip to Nasa Kennedy Space Center. If you want to feel very little, this is where you go and see how gigantic things are and the great things that man can build.

Shuttle Dock

Space Stuff

Work Area Viewing

A stranger walks up to me, telling me he loves my jacket. And he has the perfect pants to go with it and wanted to buy it. I did not want to sell. And he offers to pay double for it. I still refused, but he was really trying.

Lunch in the second floor cafeteria with two friends. EHM, they broke the table and our food went flying all over the place as the big round table top wobbled on the floor like a coin before coming to a stop. Everyone in the cafeteria stopped and looked at us. Of course they insist to this day that it was me that broke the table. Pfffft, girls. Glad we finished eating our food before you guys broke the table!

A day of feeling like hitting rock bottom. I remember being extremely angry and was ready to punch anyone that crossed me. A friend came by to hang out. Poor thing, she said hi, looked at my eyes. Said something like “Are you ok? Maybe this isn’t a good time to talk.” I can’t remember what she said exactly but I nodded to whatever she did say and she knew to leave me alone. Or maybe run away.

A friend or maybe an acquaintance says hi as we pass each other, I respond and continue only to have her chase after me, telling me to wait. I stop. She asks me a random question and as I answer, she cuts me off. Tells me to look at her hair as she unties it and lets it down. She was her hyper self and says “look look, I colored it back! Do you like it?” I respond with “love it”. She starts jumping up and down, dancing, excited, and tells me she is so happy and she is going to leave it down to show it off now. A few months back, she had colored her hair blond and I told her I didn’t like it. I suppose I made an impact.

A conversation about round and square butts. I don’t think I need to get in details here.

Crumpling up my math exam and throwing it in the trash, as opposed to handing it in.

A friend whom I did not realize had a crush on me until much later down the line when it all became so clear. Weird. She never admitted to it and still denies it.

A french “chick” whom I apparently made cry. Something about me calling her a stuck up, spoiled, and rich white girl. I am not sure which of those words offended her. I wish I was rich and spoiled. You can call me stuck up then too. She really was spoiled, her FATHER grew weed for her until she told him to stop cause she was afraid he may end up in jail.

A friend riding home on the R train with me gets angry and hits me because I was looking at another girl on the train with us. She does this out loud and in plain view of the pretty girl sitting right across from us, not to mention everyone else on the train. The pretty girl enjoys this and is clearly flattered. She smiles at me and laughs at this girl hitting me and insisting I stop looking at the girl.

A friend hanging out on the 3rd floor cafeteria decides to put her makeup on in front of me. This was the first time I watched makeup being applied directly in front of me, face to face. I watched this girl transform, and I was sickened in my gut, I wanted to throw up.

So many more memories. Too many to list, and some I can’t share here. But the college years were some of the best times. I met a lot of people. College was sometimes fun, and sometimes not but either way it was a great experience. I miss college and I may have to just go back to school sometime.

I believe it was January, maybe February. I am pretty sure it was 2007. This voice mail perhaps started a chain of events for that year. A voice mail with an honest apology, genuine regret and good intentions. A message asking for forgiveness and a continued friendship. A desperate voice, almost cracking, not knowing what else to do to correct a mistake.

I believe this voice mail was the start of a closer friendship. It came after about two months of complete disconnection. It was explained by a memory initiated from reading a book, but I believe it was more than that. I believe it was a feeling of some emptiness. I believe it was a glimpse of life that did not include me. I know I may sound conceited or maybe even arrogant, but this is what had happened. It was only a day after returning from a long trip out of the country, not even a day, and the first business matter to attend to was to fix this mistake, to reconnect, to rebuild, to reestablish and to secretly admit.

This is just a memory of a small event, that set the stage for an interesting year. A year of genuine friendship, learning, understanding, experience and perhaps struggle. A year beneficial to both of us. And a year of memories that can’t ever be erased.

And then there was disconnection again. Only this time it was for good. And this time not because of a mistake, but because of things being what they are. And so the friendship lives on in memory. And it will continue to do so.

“Thanks for the good times.”

A first place ribbon from PS 152. I don’t remember what it was for, did I even win it? Maybe it was my sister’s but I kept it I remember getting a few of these but can’t remember for what exactly.

PS 152 First Place Ribbon

This is actually a t-shirt that the class of 1991 in PS 152 signed. I signed it too, find my name. Instead of throwing out the t-shirt, my mom wanted to keep it, so we cut it and put it some plastic or vinyl thing.

PS 152 Class of 1991

I also have a few old report cards, I thought the predefined comments teachers left were funny. Most of the comments I received were not so good as you can see below. I don’t know that I actually was absent all those times as that report card states. I think the teachers are just liars!

Old Report Card

Just some old post cards. First is the George Washington Bridge in NY. Second is the Liberty Bell in Pennsylvania. And third is the Verrazano – Narrows Bridge in NY.

Old Post Cards

A bunch of old coins I had collected. I sure hope one of these coins is worth a lot and I can ebay it!!! Anyone wants to buy?

Old Coins

My Nintendo game manuals. This is great, I love these. I don’t have the game system anymore but these manuals I kept.

Nintendo Game Manuals

I loved this game! Plus who can forget Duck Hunt with my orange Nintendo gun! Look at the wear on that manual!

Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt

These were the best collecting cards ever! They were not only cards, they were stickers! I loved these, and my dad bought them for me. One night he came home and gave me a pack of the cards, I opened it up and was excited. Then he gave me a second and third pack. And that wasn’t enough I was sooooo happy and excited, he gave me a full box of the card packs he bought for me. And I still have them to this day. Too bad I glued them on something, because the back of each card has some round paper spot from where the glue was and the paper ripped of. Still these are great!

Nintendo Cards

I think I made this in some class in junior high school. I can’t remember exactly. You know, some plastic thing with holes in it, and I stitched through it. Somehow.

Mahmoud Stitch

I used to play basketball a lot. I loved it. It was great exercise and kept me in great shape. Plus I worked out daily then. My favorite team was the Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. I still have Scottie Pippen’s Bulls jersey.

Michael Jordan Card

These were mentioned in an earlier post, back in high school. I forgot I had also Romeo and Juliet. Hahaha, who wants to read Shakespeare. I sure didn’t!

Cliff Notes

Ok these are really old. I was in some boy scouts thing way back. This was in Lebanon. This is really cool. I love that my parents kept these for me. I just loved blowing that whistle for no reason. What kid doesn’t like to make noise?

I was a boy scout

Ah! Beavis and Butthead. I used to watch this show all the time. It was great! I actually used to do their voices. Yeah yeah!!! I remember working at the Sports Authority and doing the voices for a friend that worked with me. We were in the stock room “working”, I was doing the voices and he was cracking up while packing some stuff or unpacking, who cares, my impressions where inspiring him to work! I got this sticker at a supermarket, you know those 25 and 50 cents machines they have when leaving supermarkets to try to get the last quarter your parents had cause you just had to have some stupid cheap toys or stickers. I think this one was 50 cents! It was a clever system, they knew you saw your parents get change at the cashier, so they couldn’t deny having a quarter or two on them!

Beavis and Butthead Sticker

I also found a few old High School schedules. I remember carrying one of these to school everyday. We had to show it to the guard when going in school to prove we were students I think. The number in red is the lunch period we had, it was their way of making sure you didn’t go to the cafeteria all day long.

10th Grade Schedule

And here is the back of it. My graffiti. I like how the folded out side is so dirty and the other is white. Looks like I was pimping, got some phone numbers on it.I think the bottom right corner is the W from Wu-tang Clan! Chessboxin!

Back of 10th Grade Schedule

What great memories! I will definitely keep these and look back at them years from now again. I have more cool stuff too, including old action figures I had.

]]> http://westernarab.com/2009/02/22/blast-from-the-past/feed/ 0 http://westernarab.com/2009/02/13/this-one-time-at-high-school/ http://westernarab.com/2009/02/13/this-one-time-at-high-school/#comments Fri, 13 Feb 2009 23:06:32 +0000 Mahmoud http://westernarab.com/?p=134 12 years ago. High school. AP Bio.

Yes I took AP Bio, that is Advanced Placement Biology. Wow how did I end up there. I wasn’t even good in regular Bio. But my AP Bio teacher was very cool, in fact my regular bio teacher was cool as well, maybe that is why I took AP. I surely wasn’t supposed to be there, but doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good experience. I wasn’t a good student in AP Bio, my classmates knew this, my teacher knew this, and I knew this. Yet, my classmates mostly liked me, my teacher liked me and I liked me. I will have to say I at least made the class entertaining.

There was AT LEAST one girl that was interested in me in this class and tried to get my attention, initially. She later found out how I really am, and all that changed. She was Greek. 90% of that high school was Greek, if you are reading this and you are Greek, you probably went to my high school. High school was fun, it was some of the best years I had.

Cliff Notes

So AP Bio, my teacher was cool and let me joke around and completely interrupt her lessons to make my jokes or annoying comments . I mean there was serious time sometimes, but that didn’t apply to me, it was for everyone else, I think we all knew that! Or maybe my teacher didn’t know that until she decided to take my cliff notes, which had a picture of someone inside. Yes the picture was of a girl, no I will not say who she is, and no I don’t have the picture anymore. And yes she was fully clothed. I am not sure why she took it, but I think she wanted to try to be tough with me. To tell me, I should behave perhaps. That didn’t fly with me so well. I was quickly angered with her and within seconds I planned out my revenge.

It so happens that day, we were supposed to do something in class, I don’t know what it is because I didn’t know what it was then. I didn’t pay attention but do know that she gave out rulers to everyone. There were maybe 30 people in the class, so 30 rulers. It was simple, she took something of mine and I was supposed to do the same to her. I left my seat and walked around the classroom, I collected every ruler from every student, just before the class ended. In my hand I had a stack of 30 rulers clenched in my fist. I didn’t even say anything to my teacher, I just grabbed my book bag and walked out of the classroom. I am pretty sure she needed them for the next class, but I wasn’t going to let her get away with taking my belongings!

Funny thing, I never let those rulers out of my hand, I walked with them in my hand the whole day, and AP Bio was one of my morning classes. I don’t think I put the rulers down anywhere the entire day. I got asked the same question by whoever saw me and wasn’t scared that I would hit them with the rulers. Why do you have all these rulers? Usually the question came with a smile, laugh or look of confusion or maybe fear. My answer was the same, my teacher took my book, I took her rulers. Which I think sent a message to many students and perhaps other teachers, DO NOT TAKE HIS STUFF. It was only until I was no longer angry sometime in the day that I eased up my clench on the rulers. I had sweaty palms back then, wait maybe I still do … well squeezing my hand on them didn’t help that. After the long day, after final period (class), I decided to go see if she was in the class room and to make a trade.

Ruler but like 30 of them

I went up the flight of stairs and opened the door to see her at the end of the hallway, just closing the classroom door and about to lock it. In that moment that I saw her, she turned to me and saw me step out of the stair case with 30 rulers still in my hand. Did I tell you this teacher was cool? She couldn’t even control herself, she just burst out laughing when she saw me. She quickly opened the class room door and let me in. She asked why I took them but really she knew already, and I didn’t have to ask for a trade, she just went straight to her desk, opened her drawer and handed me my book back, at which I pried open my fist to give her back the rulers. We were back to same old the following class. She never took my belongings again. Thanks for being such a cool teacher.

• cow stomach linings
• town center fives and nines
• Las Olas and Las O Not
• 24 hour dunkin donuts

And some memories that came up today. Some fun, some good, some eh. Phrases from these memories:

• Double Tree
• Hooters Pass Thru
• A1A Beach Leak
• Lost Lucky at a Gas Station
• Mohsen Weekend