After Donation

I went to the Salmaniya Hospital Blood Bank last Thursday and donated what I could. There were some people who also answered the SMS call and raced to help others. As it seems, they are now in need of all blood types. They usually write down on a white board inside what types they need, as an internal memo. But this time it actually said "All blood types needed".
I kept hearing the name of a small girl, "Reem" I reckon. I understood that she was needing a specific blood type (either an A+ or an AB+, I know, my memory is useless), and they had a hard time getting it. Only two donors matched, which means they have only 900 cc of blood. Less than a liter. Not exactly sufficient is it?
Well if you do have that blood type, or are just a nice person, do go there and help others (See the picture, I'm smiling! It doesn't hurt, really!). If you are a blogger and wish to help organize a gathering to promote blood donation, please leave a comment.

Blood Needed TODAY

This morning, The Blood Bank at Salmaniya Hospital sent me an SMS. They need more blood (sounds like a phrase from a movie, doesn't it?) Its for Anemic & Thelacemic children, and they need it by 12 PM today (Short notice, I know) so I'm going there with some colleagues, join us if you can.
The blood bank is in Salmaniya Hospital, near the parking lot for the Emergency dept. Its the building on your right, if you are facing the Emergency's entrance. Head through the door and read the signs to know where to go.
More info about donating blood and its benefits (yes, it is actually good for you) is here.
This is not the Bloggers 4 Blood rally that we (along with other bloggers) wish to run, but it just sorta happened. Come see us there!

Street Fighter IV: Prepare yourself

It was 1992
over 15 years ago. Yes, Fifteen.
Street Fighter II was out and it took the world by storm. I spent untold amounts of cash at the Sindibad arcade at the Exhibition avenue (now le Ancien Cafe, or something).
Street Fighter II was a revolution. It made Arcades popular again, and gave rise to the fighting genre. Street Fighter II was as popular as Michael Jackson in his days, the characters more known than Micky Mouse or Mario even. Capcom was on top of the world.
As I said, that was 15 years ago.
The fighting Genre is almost dead, if not for true die hard fans. Arcades are dead. People are talking about ipods, wiimotes and 1080p now. They forgot the hadokens and shoryukens.

Now, it's coming back. Street Fighter IV is soon to be. I feel like crying at times, at times I feel giddy.
I seriously can't wait!

Can I go home now?

I've got the flu. Being sick, only 17% of my brain cells are active (y'know, for breathing and stuff).
Since I am at work, I typed what I feel into MSWord:

Can I go home now?

and "synonymized" it to become:

May I be authorized to depart in the direction of my domicile at this time?

My meds aren't working too well. Entertain a poor sick guy will ya? Synonmize some phrases for me.

Eid Mubarak عيدكم مبارك

Fight for Kisses

Fighting your own flesh.
Horrible, but a scenario possible in all homes.

Blood donation spam

I keep getting emails that say some one needs blood urgently, please donate and call him on number so&so.
While they are a beautiful gesture of kindness, they are also a sign of sheer stupidity and it makes me mad.
Why? Consider today's flavour of the blood spam:

There is a 5 year old boy admitted in salmania ward 204.room 3.

He has cancer & need blood donation B+ .

Please forward this to all you know ..

Father name &mobile 39xxxxxx

Khalid A H..

What is wrong with this? let me tell you:

O+ blood is the most common blood type in Bahrain. If someone has B+ and needs blood, they can give him O+, do not worry. If they are in shortage, they SMS their donor data base (I am one of them) so if they need blood I would know before you do.

Second of all, You do not know when this happened! It could be last year for all you know.

And as far as the phone number, it could be a prank and now this poor fellow cannot use his mobile phone because of all the "charity" phone calls he is getting.

I know Bahraini's are kind but, come on!

There is a table on the Ministry of Health's website showing blood type compatibilities. It also has a field where donors enter in their CPR number to show thier record. This of course does not work (nor is secure should it work).
I do have to commend the guys at Salmaniya hospital's Blood Bank though, they are providing an enormous benefit that no one thinks of. It is very easy to donate, nay it is beneficial too. Look here at what Wikipedia says.
So moral of post is:
1- Please give a call to Salmaniya's blood bank, it takes half an hour or so to donate. (How about organizing a bloggers donation day?? Anyone interested)
and 2- of course, stop forwarding junk without thinking. I hate it.

Human LCD Screens

So, south Koreans wanted to cheer for their soccer teams. What do they do? transform them selves into LARGE STADIUM LCDS!

Just so you know, these are live humans in an unbelievable level of synchronization. They are not using coloured cards, but their own clothes non the less. They have a jacket with one colour in the front, another in the back, and they can open it up to reveal a third colour in their t-shirts. One school even figured out how to use pants as shading.

This is a human feat. Our legendary electronic National stadium score board is no match to their 100% manual efforts.

To read more into this: this just shows the level of creativity and efficiency that a culture reached. I remember when I was young, Japanese cars were put down as being "only Japanese", hinting towards inferior quality. Who can say that anything Japanese is inferior to anything now?

Same thing happened with the Koreans, but just look how we are fighting over their latest goods. It is now being said about China, but just you wait and see.

So in my own life time, I saw culture morph into a much more developed version of the original.

I wonder, what do you think happened to Bahrain in the mean time? Did we progress? Or had we indeed, regressed?

The Japanese School of Bahrain's Festival - 07

The Japanese school of Bahrain is holding its annual festival. Mr. Baraa of the Japanese Embassy thankfully called and invited me. I've been there ages ago, you have the nice traditional food stalls, games, students dancing. It's like a trip to Japan on a diet.
I highly recommend that you go. Tickets cost BD 2 only, but I am sure that they are limited and not everyone can get them so call quickly.
Call Baraa on 17711323.