hasanhujairi[dot]com

I was watching TV in an attempt to appease my latest spell of insomnia that reemerged after a two month hiatus (Welcome back, Lady Sleepless Nights!), when I found this show in which a bunch of not-so-masculine-looking male members of a pop “band” in Japan were being asked about the Beethoven (big surprise that they knew nothing about him).
Here […]

In my umpteenth pseudo-serious attempt at getting back into shape, I decided to go to the pool yesterday. I started the day by eating a light snack and had half a liter of water, packed my goggles, shorts and swimming cap (all of which are required at the local pool), put on my coat and […]

If my mother is reading this: First of all, let me clear this out. NO, I wasn’t drunk and NO, I didn’t get into any physical fights with anyone.
Last Saturday - at around 09:30am - I went to a 24-hour family restaurant near one of those dinky little stations one could find all over Tokyo. The reason for dragging myself out of […]

Japan is NOTORIOUS for excessive application forms. In many cases, I find the contents of these application forms boring, time-consuming and sometimes plainly out of context in the bigger scheme of things. I wonder, sometimes, whether there is someone in the back offices analyzing my handwriting and answers as part of a psychological examination every time I […]

Since October of last year, I’ve been involved in a music project with a full-time musician to compose/record our own original music and also try to perform in some concerts. We were “successful” to an extent, until things got to the meltdown point.
In the weeks leading up to our most recent and final performance, he and I […]

Charbel Rouhana SINGS?! Since when?!
The first time I fell in love with the Oud was when I was in the 9th grade and I went to see Marcel Khalife and Charbel Rouhana’s monumental Oud Duo called “Jadal” with my best friend. The image I always had of Chabel Rouhana was that of “Revolutionary Instrumentalist” in his […]

J says:
what are good questions to ask in my interview tomorrow
srsly i don’t have any more questions..
Hasan says:
“where do babies come from?”
J says:
omg ROFL
that is just perfect
“any questions?” ” ya..i was actually wondering where do babies come from?”
Hasan thinks to himself:
Potential Kodak moment in the making.

After my previous post - entitled “Failed Love Letter from a Train” - a mischievous little bird (which is as black as a crow and as enchanting as a Murakami-style Wind-Up Bird) told me that it took the liberty to carry my Love Letter - as potentially disastrous as a tsunami in a crowded swimming […]

______,my dear,
I’m on my way to Chichibu Station, which is somewhere in between InTheMiddleOfNoWhere Station and WhatOnEarthAmIDoingHere Station, and I just realized that the only other people on the train with me are a bajillion old people in their late sixties/early seventies and one young lady in a panda suit.
I can understand the Panda-girl, but […]

One of the many statements that mean a lot to me now (which at the time didn’t seem like advice, but rather, a pseudo-scolding/reverse-psychology punch-line devised to make me feel guilty) my father often told me while I was growing up is “il-mushkilla inkum ma tiqra’oon” (Literally translating from the Arabic into, “The problem with you kids  is that you don’t […]