Aural pleasure

After a blissful 10 days back in Singapore, I am back in the dessert. Now usually when I'm out here, I have nothing to spend on except food. The shopping here is not to my taste and well, I fear for my life enough to stop me from venturing out to explore the shopping districts.

In Singapore though, its a different story! I pamper myself with gadgets and items that make me happy. And why not? You gotta perk yourself up every now and then. So this time round, I picked up a pair of sweeeet sounding earphones from Shure. These babies sound amazing and they block out all external noises at the same time! That leaves your ears with nothing but uninterrupted sound from your music machines.

I remember on one of my previous flights back to Singapore, I had a mother sitting across the row from me with her infant next to her. My feeble iPod earphones did nothing to block out the baby's wailing. Coldplay's "God put a smile upon my face" was being diluted with a huge dose of "waaaaaaaaah" and it wasn't coming from Chris Martin. I definitely didn't have a smile upon my face. I was contemplating executing either one of two options. Jam the baby's mouth with the amenity kit I was provided with or ask to be moved to economy class. Of course I did neither but an article in the gadget magazine I was reading caught my eye amid the agonizing cries. Noise isolating earphones! What an ingenious idea! So the moment I touched down, I researched and decided on the Shure SE530.



On my plane ride back this time, I was set. All you mommies with cry babies / loud talking arabs / no volume control china men, I am ready for you! I will shut you out on the airplane and enjoy my music! But there were none of them on the plane. Instead, I did not hear the stewardesses asking me if I wanted another drink. The captain's announcements were shut out as well. Hell, I couldn't even hear the passenger next to me when he asked if it was ok if he closed the window shades. All I heard were the full, rich sounds from coldplay, angels & airwaves and the like. These earphones made it feel like the bands themselves were having a concert in my head. Amazing! The audiophile in me was deeply impressed.

Bottom line is, dump the iPod earphones and invest in a good pair. They make a world of difference in terms of the sound quality. Even better if it has a sound isolation feature. Its portable aural bliss wherever you are.

rain rain go away

It rained yesterday! Such a rare occurrence in these parts. Good thing it was my off day and I was safe and snug at home. Safe from the flooded roads that turn saudi drivers and their cars into air hockey pucks. Safe from the big angry drops that pick up all the sand in the air while making its way into the ground.

But as with all things Saudi, something had to go wrong. My internet stopped working. The little blinking modem light that usually indicated some connection or activity wasn't blinking anymore. I could not email, I could not MSN, I could not download stuff or surf the web. I could not do anything. It was the nightmare of all nightmares. As if being here wasn't mind blowingly boring enough, I had to be here without an internet connection.

I frantically brought up my web browser and typed in the address to my internet service provider. I needed the number for the technical help desk. "YOU ARE NOT CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET" my smug macintosh computer reminded me with the words splashed across a pristine white blank screen. Bugger. A flaw in the plan. I started to break out in cold sweat. My fingers were twitching and my upper lip was quivering.

I was desperate so I called my colleague. "DO YOU USE MOBILY INTERNET?!!?!?" I screamed into the phone. "No I don't have internet at home" he replied, in a calm and composed tone as if he was not weird at all for not having an internet connection at his residence. "Why? you need mobily internet?" he asked. I told him that I only needed the technical help number and that he was a useless bugger for this situation. But he actually came up with an answer! "try calling 1100. Its the mobily help desk for our mobiles" Thats right! My cellular connection is by the same company too! This might actually work.

Gingerly I keyed in 1100 into the keypad and listened to some weird grunting on the other end before a menu in English came up. Option 3 was for mobily broadband customers! I could see the light at the end of the tunnel! I greeted the technical arab help guy cheerfully and asked him if there was a problem with the network.

"Yes"

ok? what was the problem? would you like to share Mr arab help guy?

"wee tar"

Did you just call me a retard?

"wee tar! wee tar! you know? rain rain"

Ohhhhh weather! Ok I see I see. So when it rains? I lose my internet?

"Yes"

You guys are such a great establishment. Marvelous. So I will get my internet back when the rain stops?

"Yes, insha-allah"

Oh crap, the dreaded "I" word again. Directly translated, it means "if God willing" I've worked here long enough to know that when you ask for something and they tell you insha-allah, you're better off waiting for an elephant to climb a tree to shit on my face. So in Saudi Arabia, your internet connection is dependent on weather and God.

Thank God (my God, not the other one) the rain stopped and the internet connection returned soon after. If not I wouldn't be able to sit here and tell you how amazing Saudi Arabia is.