A Look into my Musical Taste

iTunes Listing <--- Click Here!

This is a service I found that allows people to share listings of their iTunes libraries online. This can facilitate mixtape creation, and hopefully I can take advantage of this next year with my (hopeful) radio show at Columbia.

Enjoy!

Ethiopian Family Dynamic.

Current Mood: Anxious.

Saturday evening will be a big day in my life. It is my senior graduation party, and it's kind of a milestone, I think. People have come from all around the world, just to see me? It's interestingly curious why they came to see me in particular. I'm an Ivy League boy? I'm a funny person? I'm family? Whatever the reason, I like it.

There is nothing quite as curious as an Ethiopian family eating food together. Family at the table have traveled all over the world: India (most recently), Berlin and all of Europe, China, Mexico, Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Dubai, Canada, France, Italy, etc. Crazy culture lies deep within the bones of these folks, and they're all crowded around me, waiting to hear me speak, watching my every move, looking to me for guidance. That's a lot of weight if you ask me. I love making them happy, and I guess this is their payment for that. I'm excited for the graduation party. It will signify my separation from my family and moving into my new existence, essentially, becoming independent, and becoming a man. This ceremony trumps the graduation ceremony that has been trivialized by tickets, odd speeches, and black folks hootin' and hollerin' to get everyone to notice their baby. I'm glad to hear from Nelson though. His speech is gonna bring people to tears, promise. I'll document! That's why I made this thing. Not only to inform my readers of my progression through life, but to remind myself that I am changing quickly, and that I need to simmer down sometimes. I hope I don't bore anyone.

I'm working on a few projects at the moment. I changed my cross stitch from a gift to a postcard. I'm gonna send it to a girl I hope to visit in the near future that isn't having such a good time right now it seems. I did get the chance to talk to Wendi Thomas from the Commercial Appeal today. She killed me on Twitter. Also I have to remind myself to e-mail Stan Bell back.

Today I went to work @ 12:14. I was very late, but Mrs. Chang kind of pardoned me. She was mad though, because she had to go somewhere. I went inside and rushed to make the many drinks that I was needed for. I worked really hard today, and none of the people in the kitchen had to stop cooking because I was on the dishes like clean on dem forks, heck yeah. I love working @ Changs.

The bubble tea of the day:

Green Mango!

I love it. I love it. I love it. It's so sour, yet so good for the summer. Hazelnut is out :'( Sanket will be very angry.

Well, it's late, and I'm reading this C++ book for another project. I'm gonna buy a microprocessor and make this robot that I've been meaning to make. Either the robot will display tweets somewhere large in my room, or it'll tweet by itself every 12 hours and I'll get people to send it around the country. Schematics, Source Code, Pictures, and Videos coming mad soon.

Also, I need to work on playing the ukulele often, play WoW/D2, go to work, run, work out, get my license, continue blogging/facebooking/twittering, start praying often, eat more at home and spend more time here. I think I've got this. Now let's wrap this up with some music.

Listening to: Henrietta - The Fratellis

Very, VERY Good Night.

Current Mood - Bittersweet.

So last night was the culmination of months upon months of planning and maybe years of anticipation. It was my senior prom. But before I can tell you about the night, I must speak of the daytime.

Yesterday started as such: I woke up at 8, got dressed, and headed over to Woodland Hills, the venue for our prom. There, myself, along with all the other members of the SPPC ([Semi] Secret Prom Planning Committee), setup the decorations we've been working on since the first semester this school year. It was long, tedious, and expensive, but all in all, I think we did the absolute best job we could have. I'm really sad I don't have pictures to share with you guys, but if I do chance upon some pictures of our arrangement, I will share.

Next, I went home to prepare for prom. I cleaned out my brothers absolutely disgusting car, filled it with gas, came home, showered, ate, and got dressed, all within the span of an hour and a half. I felt quite accomplished, but then I remembered one thing: I completely forgot about the corsage. I made the appropriate phone calls, took pictures with my mother, and sped off to East Memphis to get the corsage. After getting it, I met up with Fadi and headed over to MRI's house to take part in one of the silliest parts of the "prom experience", the photo shoot.

This photo-op consisted of men and women representing the majority of each individual's family taking photos. This process could be simple. One person, preferably with a nice camera, takes a picture of the group/couple and sends the respective pictures to the respective families. But no. Everyone gets whatever cameras are on hand takes as many pictures as possible. Silly, no?

After that, we went to a nice restaurant by the name of Owen Brennan's. 'twas very delicious, and we all had a lot of fun talking and playing telephone at the table. One funny result: "Raptor Claw Central loves Peacemaker's Rhythm" turned into "Raptor's Claw Country loves Method Man" or something of that nature. Tee hee.

Despues de cena, we messed around for a little bit and headed over to prom. That's where the fun began. We walked in, and to my surprise, the party was already pretty pumpin'. I voted for King and Queen (Steve and Chantella respectively) and went on to revel in the party. The "Stanky Legg" was on as we walked in, but we only caught the tail end of it. Sad. But all was well when it came on again later that night. I found Alex and we Stanky Legg'd together.

The night continued, and we danced, danced, danced. What really made it great was seeing Fadi immersing himself in the night. Each ghetto song got it's proper treatment as he fizzled all through the night. Mad props.

So as the night came to a close, and I changed out of my sweat drenched clothes, the gravity of the night began to hit me, in more ways than one. First, I was beat. Waking up so early to decorate, then running around all day to get ready, topped off by some serious crumping (lol)? Needless to say, I was mad tired. Second, I had realized that last night was by far the best night I've had all year. I was with all of my friends, there was minimal drama, and I got to dance. There really isn't more I could have asked for.

I do hope that this summer is filled with experiences like this. Prom, for me, was significant for a lot of reasons. It was the culmination of many months of planning; it was the successful actualization of planning; and it was amazingly fun. Hopefully I can ride on this wave of success and give some of my other plans the attention they need. And to my readers, I hope the same for you. It has always been a hobgoblin of mine that my plans never come to fruition. As my school counselor said her recommendation letter: "He's sometimes too scatterbrained and gets distracted. Hopefully this is simply a problem that will be solved with age." Maybe I'll grow up this summer ;)

That's it for this installation. Hope everyone enjoyed it. Until the next murmor.

Listening to: "Got a Thing on my Mind" - Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings

Quick Post

Currently: Awesome :D

I don't have much time, but just a quick update on the week/weekend.

• Done with AP exams, just working on random projects.
• I got my Columbia E-mail address: raa2148@columbia.edu
• Friday night was fun: CK's at Midnight
• Saturday night: Partied at Jehls, then CK's again. :p

I'll update you guys on projects and the like soon, but for now, I'm off to work!

Also, check this out. Just let it load and press play. You'll definitely enjoy this.

http://soytuaire.labuat.com/

Listening to: Fallin' - Asher Roth

Sloooooooow Sunday.

Mood: Tired. -.-

So today began fairly slowly. Woke up at 11:30ish, like I always do on Sundays, so I could get to work on time. I work at a Chinese restaurant called Chang's Bubble Tea Cafe where I make Bubble Tea! It's really fun, and I love working there for a lot of reasons:

1. I love making people happy, and Bubble Teas make a lot of people happy!
2. Bubble Tea is delicious, and when you get it for free, it makes life better :D
3. Working at a restaurant gives you street smarts. You learn how to interact with and manipulate people to make everyone happy.
4. My boss is THE BOMB. She's an old Chinese lady that speaks Mandarin, Cantonese, and Spanish, and I love practicing Spanish with her. She's really interesting, and she loves to tell me stories of the places that she has lived in (China, US, Canada, Venezuela) and all the adventures she has been on.
5. Free Chinese food. Need I say more?

This morning was really hectic for about two hours. The church crowd came rolling in, and they're somewhat obnoxious sometimes :\ Also, today I was on all of the medications my doctor prescribed for my ailments, so I was a bit out of it the entire day. I did, however, make some of the best bubble teas I've ever tasted.

Odd Bubble Teas of the Day (OBT)

Mango (no syrup/no jam) [tasted terrible]

Mango + Avocado [makes avocado bearable]

After work it was just time to relax and enjoy my home. I watched Star Wars V: Empire Strikes Back, and it definitely made Awesome++.

After watching Darth do his business to Lukie's hand, I chilled and watched some TV with my mom. There was this interesting show on TLC about a woman who agreed to bring a black man to her home in the South to show her family that diversity isn't that bad and all that jazz. It was pretty cool watching her father, this seemingly hidebound man, open up to all the facets of African-American culture.

Now, I'm on the phone with Charlene, working on AP Stat stuff. The exam is on Tuesday (along with Computer Science. >,<) I'll just be mad happy when it's over with. Well, now off to do 1,000,000 javabat problems to save my grade in Comp Sci and get some last minute practice in. I'll update tomorrow. Peace!

Listening to: St. Exquisite's Confessions - of Montreal

Arts and Crafts with Devony: First!

Current Mood: Junked out, but happy :D

So here's the beginning of a series I'd like to call AaCwD. It'll be called that until I can find a witty name/acronym for it :p Basically this series consists of artsy-type project that Devony and I work on. Currently we have a collage, cross stitches, stencils, and various other things we're working on, and I'll showcase one about every week.

Today's Focus: 8-Bit Mario!

Devony came over at about 10, and we chatted, sipped coffee, and made a few things. We made some progress on my coll(a/e)ge that I have yet to unveil (more coming soon!) and we talked about future projects, but the highlight of the night is the cross stitching! I taught her how to cross stitch, and we went to work after finding an image on google. After about three hours of on and off work, we came up with this. Here's the result: 8-Bit Mario Cross Stitch

Here's a video of the cross stitch action in HD!

8-bit Mario Cross Stitch from Ramzi Abdoch on Vimeo.

Cross stitch of 8-bit Mario I made with Devony. Approx. build time = 3 hours on and off. The video beings about halfway into the build.

**Sorry about the terrible angle! Filmed with the only camera I had on hand - My Macbook.

Music - C.R.E.A.M. : El Michels Affair

Well that's it for AaCwD for now, tune in next time for more Awesome++ action! Peace.

Listening to: Kids (Chiddy Bang Remix) - MGMT

Swine Flu Scare.

Feeling today: Bored :/ and Sick! :(

Well, seems like my latest string of posts revolve around my being sick. I'm in the emergency room now, waiting to be called. My mom brought me in after I left Mock Trial practice and she found me sniffling miserably in bed. I don't think it's anything serious, but better safe than sorry.

I've got some of the symptoms of the flu, but not all of them. No chills, no fever (yet? Mama says I'm warm :/), no muscle pain. All these measures are crazy precautionary, and in a way, I think it's a bit too much. They gave me a mask and everything! Hopefully this epidemic doesn't grow any further, but it's getting even closer. A case was found in Nashville yesterday, and a school in Collierville closed for seven days on suspicion. Here in Memphis a few friends aren't feeling well either. Jonathan has been out all week, Luke didn't come to practice because he has symptoms, and a good part of my AP Comp. Sci. class are under the weather. Hopefully this doesn't get anywhere near the magnitude of the outbreak in 1913.

Here's what my friend Justin had to say about Bird Flu:

• Me: Do you know why it's so hazardous? How is it different from the normal flu?
• Justin: There is no resistance. Either biological by people or by medicine. In addition, this virus seems to mutate very quickly, which gives it that X factor. It jumped from birds, to other types of birds, to pigs, [and] now to humans in a short time frame. That's scary. It's like the hive of the flu world, and it has people worked up.

Outside of being sick things are decent. Just lots and lots of AP practice. I got a high 4 on my Comp Sci practice, and I should get about the same on my Stat exam. I don't know though... Practicing for these things always makes me feel like I'm severely unprepared for the exam, but hopefully things will go well. I'm sure when the time comes to actually take the test it'll all come together :)

Well, I'm gonna sit and chill while I wait to get called to get checked out. Wish me well :) Peace.

Listening to: C.R.E.A.M. - El Michels Affair