Once Upon a Habba: The Swarovski Crystal
can i buy Pregabalin in mexico By danderma | October 15, 2012
The year was 2003. I had just gotten my new car then and I looked for the perfect thing to hang from its rear view mirror. Then I was in Swaroviski, I remember clearly it was the Salhiya branch, when I saw the crystal snowflake Xmas ornament. I knew right then and there that this was the perfect thing I was looking for.
I hung it on my rear view mirror, the sun rays caught in the crystal edges whenever I drove and it would light up with a million colorful lights, like something out of a cartoon dream. People used to stop me and ask me where I got it from. It was a big thing back then and it stayed on for a while, perhaps a few years even. It was simply beautiful.
I loved my crystal and now, 9 years later, I still do. Even though most of the edges broke off when I hit a speed bump and the crystal would crash into the windscreen. Even though sometimes the glitter of the light would blind my eyes, I would never take it down.
Do you remember the Swarovski crystal habba? Do you still hang yours in your car?
A very long time ago, back in the early and mid 80’s, we enjoyed drinking soft drinks for two reasons: the taste of course and for the bottle caps. You see, most of the time there were Read more »
A weird habba has been hanging on Kuwaiti girls wrists for a while now, something that reminds me of the 80s, a retro golden Casio digital watch. Back in 2010 I saw retro Timex watches in Selfridges and wrote a post about would you wear one of these (post) I guess now it has indeed become a trend but with Casio.
I think back in the 80s some male in the family had a silver watch but its fuzzy. I remember young boys in the mid 90s going crazy over some Casio watch with buttons that made phone calls or something and the girls going crazy for Casio Baby G’s. The only Casio I’ve ever went gaga over was the Casio Magic Diary back in 1992 or 1993 (post).
I surely don’t understand this habba even though it reminded me of the golden Swatch watch habba back in the mid 2000s. I don’t really like the watch much even though it has a retro look, its just not something I’d pick up and wear. I’m also not a habba girl so I wouldn’t buy something I don’t love just because everyone is doing it, whether Kuwaitis or fashionistas around the globe. I don’t think I will follow that habba anytime soon.
What about you? What do you think? Do you understand the appeal on this watch besides the fact that its habba? Would you wear it? If you want to, here is a link to where you can purchase it online just in case all Casio sellers in Kuwait had already run out of it. It costs around 9 KD (link).
One of the things I love about the summers of my childhood I spent in the UK were the Milk Bottles. The moment we arrive my father would arrange for us to have two fresh milk bottles placed on our doorstep every morning. I love the milkman, and those curved glass bottles of cold,creamy, impossibly white milk. A big fan of milk myself, imagine that milk used for your cereal, or in bechamel sauce, or infused with cardamom for breakfast? Lipsmacking.
Of course in Kuwait we have no milkman. Or good milk for that matter. That was the case until last year Alban Dairy came into the picture and began producing quality dairy products. Their milk is almost as good as milk you’d drink abroad. The other day I was in the newly opened Alban Dairy cafe (post) when I saw these milk bottles and began fantasizing about having our very own milkman in Kuwait leaving us delicious milk in glass bottles as are those every morning. Why not? We can dream, everything is possible, mo?
In the 80’s two things were a big hit: Rambo and the MSX. It is no wonder that MSX had a Rambo game back then and given that I was -and still is- a Rambo fan I loved the game so much. So much in fact that I think the cartridge was fried from being overly used and it stopped working a short while after we Read more »
Ahh my first ever car racing game! It was very primitive yet very hard to play. Check out the animated people in bathing suits above :p We used to call it “Sebaq Sayarat” athary its name is “Road Fighter”! Read more »
One of my favorite games on my MSX was The Circus! This little cheery clown jumping through hoops of flames or balancing over a rope with a smile on his face! My dream was to reach the ending of Read more »
This game wasn’t very popular in the 80’s. Not as popular as the rest of the MSX games that is. It could very well be the last MSX game we ever bought and we called it The Hamburger game.
The little chef needs to climb the stairs and walk all over the bun, patty, lettuce, and cheese to drop them into place and make up hamburgers while trying to dodge the killer pickles, sausages, and eggs who want to eat him.
I remember when I first saw it in my cousin’s MSX. I loved it immediately and made my parents buy it for me. I loved it and as I played it I always imagined myself back in Hardeez ordering burgers which was our weekly weekend treat -the happy meal came with smurfs!-
Come to think about it I still like games that include burgers and burger making “Burger Shop mathalan (post)”. This game was like a very primitive version of Burger Shop :p
Do you remember this game?
One of the most famous and loved games on MSX is The Penguin. Everyone I know would remember “El Ba6reeq” with the fondest gleam of their eyes! I remember back in the day that we didn’t own the cartridge -I don’t know why- but two of my cousins did and luckily one of them was our neighbor so whenever I was at their house to play which was quite often I would play the penguin as much as I loved.
My favorite part happens to be when I fall into one of the holes in the ground and start buying stuff which was kinda unique for MSX games back then. Specifically I loved betting my fishes :p Maybe that’s why my father didn’t allow the game in the house after all come to think about it.
I still play the penguin on my MSX emulator and I of me.still enjoy it immensely. For those moment I play it I lose sight of my surroundings and feel like I’m a little kid again with nothing to worry about but not killing off my penguin with the rest of the summer vacation ahead of me <3
Do you remember the penguin?
I really doubt anyone would remember this game. Its simply ancient! When I first discovered my MSX emulator I started remembering my old games and searched for them by name. However this game I didn’t remember. Then one day as I was playing it just hit me: there was a game with baloons!
There was a game where we used to shoot baloons! What game was that? I remember that I loved it dearly, that we didn’t own the cartridge of the game and had to wait to go to one of my cousin’s houses to play it, and that we had to take turns and when it was my long awaited turn I would be ecstatic. I searched high and low for this game until I found it: King & Baloons is its name! So the little fella is a king and we are supposed to be defending him y7leelah!
The game is addictive. It literally doesn’t change in pace and it doesn’t end, but still I would play it whenever I feel there is something on my brain that I need to release and escape from. A great stress releaver for sure.
Do you, by any chance, remember this game on MSX sakhar?
Ever wanted to see the ending of the Castle? Watch this video, the guy finishes the game in five minutes and the song he chose is hilarious, totally makes sense :p
Only someone born in the 80’s would remember this game. Ah, to be 7 again playing with all your heart and drinking KDD Mango Juice <3
Don’t you miss this game?! I think i want to play it on my Emulator just for old times sake.
I was rummaging through a drawer filled with junk when i found this little thing! I was confused for a moment trying to place it… then it hit me! That’s my Magic Diary!!!
If i am not mistaken it was back in 1993 when one day an ad appeared for this diary in the news papers… kids went berserk! I remember running to my parents and begging for Read more »
Alphonso is my childhood, my lovely 80’s days, my Failaka Ice Cream, my Sakhar MSX games, my Hungry Bunny days, my Huda 7sain plays in Kaifan theatre, my visits to Na7no wal a6fal… Alphonso is a time capsule that holds all these sweet days and displays them to me the moment i smell a whiff of its memorable scent… Read more »
I recall the day i knew what i wanted to be when i grew up…
I was 7 years old, and daddy walks in with a Sakhar MSX PC in hand. We all gather around him, open mouthed, while he connected it to our tv, put in a cartridge called Alf Ba2 Ta2, and started making us play…
On that day… i knew i wanted a profession where i know every thing about this little box of wonders!
So growing up, i loved my video games! I would sit with my brother for hours, playing on the latest it machine, just like the rest of our generation i guess. After the invasion of 1990 we have lost the MSX machine, but i do still have the cartdiges, so we began wandering into the world of Sega, and nintendos, and then later dreamcast and psps and ds and finally Wii, there was a machine that didnt last much, i dont recall its name, it had a worm dressed up as a space man game…
So anyways, the first of the lot began with Sega Master System… it is black and maroon as i recall and we had three games for it (we bought the sega genesis very shortly afterwards fa no time for it)… Alex in Miracle World, A warrior game, and the most stupid penguin game on earth…
so we took the Master System to our place in the UK and kept it there. In the years to come, whenever i was sick in the summer, or bored, i would get it out, finish the Alex game, and fiddle with the warrior game that goes on forever…
I am a person who doesnt like change much, so when u say sonic the hedgehog, i would not enjoy it UNLESS it was the very first sonic. I would play it for hours on end, each song and each turn pulling me back int ime, actually the smells and conversations that took place in that era comes back full force. I still remember the cheat code for Alladin game (right left up down A+Start)… and the codes for mortal combat that would make the loser a baby, or make him die a violent death!!! Or the story lines that would come up after Street Fighter, how i would finish with each character only to read the story lines.
But alas, my mother hates clutter. So at any given chance, she would throw away the old unused machines and its cartdiges.
The only one i have now sitting next to me is my nintendo DS, my Wii (almost about to finish paper mario by the way), and my old dream cast!!! I keep the dreamcast for two reasons… 1- Crazy Taxi and 2- Shenmu… my 2nd most favourite game after all the zelda’s!!! I finished Shenmu 1, which at its time was a big hit in 3d games, and im almost done with shenmu 2, but because that stupid last CD from hawalli wont work, i had to buy it all the way from UK, only to remember that i have changed the lense of my dreamcast from the UK original one to the US one to run shenmu 1!!! and there is no shenmu 2 US version!!!! So unless Bu Tootee tolerates me and takes it back to Hawalli for a change, i must wait..
Anyways, back to tonight…
Since i have nostalgic pangs to my childhood, i discovered THE BEST WAY EVER to play all your favourite games, on ur PC…
It’s a little thing called an emulator.
Its basically a program, you run it on ur pc, and you download the games you want to play, and you open those games from the program and VOILA!!! you play whatever u want!!!
I finished Knightmare and Rambo, the Goonies, and almost the Penguin and the Pyramids using my MSX emulator.
I finished Sonic 1 & 2 using my Sega Genesis Emulator. I play many other games all the time. But mostly i miss sonic 1
and today, i was craving playing with Alex Kidd, it reminds me soo much of london.
so i cannot sleep. I downloaded the Emulator for Sega megadrive, downloaded the rom for Alex Kidd in miracle word, and im playing away… Wanasa!!!
It looks that i will sleep today at 6 am… i plan on finishing the game tonight insha2 allah…
😀
