So chanted Nibras Kazimi on the victory of the Iraqi Shada Hassoun, winner of Star Academy Middle East. What better than a trashy TV show to unite a divided country and get the blogs buzzing? Today I have a mixed selection. A lifetime in a week of Iraqi blogger Konfused Kid, bloggers getting quoted by President Bush, and of course Shada. If you read no other post this week read this Konfused Kid has a fight with his father and learns more about life, friendship and people. He writes: It all started when my father hit me with his fist. at about 5:30 PM today, my father came out grumbling, and then began to reproach me for talking too loud on the phone with my friend, as always when he was reproaching me for something, my father was cathartically relieving his frustration and anger… However, this time, he was too angry, I usually know that any dialogue or reply whatsoever will not satisfy his craving, so I tend to murmur something about not doing it again and then I just freeze. This time, after the first few yells, his fist came POW on my head…I played it perfectly, I didn't reply or do anything, I just calmly endured his fists, until my mother came and told him to stop, he stopped but his yelling did not. He went to the kitchen, I came back, sat on the half-broken plastic chair, and finished my work on the computer, after half an hour, I took my passports, my money, and hit the streets. Now homeless, the Kid goes for a walk with a friend who nearly gets gets arrested for not having the right papers. But being a good talker and a Sunni saves him. The Kid ends his day with this: and so here I am, homeless, about to start my life as a single person, posting this to you from an Internet cafe which I am going to spend the night in, I called my mother and assured her I am all right, and then I went out with my friend to get dinner, the street was filled with policemen setting up checkpoints, the contraption our Iraqi lives seem to fearfully revolve upon. The following day brings better fortune but not after a hard night. My friend left me at the net center he works in about 10 PM that day, a Palestinian dude, Alaa, was in charge of the night shift, he was a friend of mine too. We got dinner and then, at about 1 AM, he whipped out a jodarya (like a very thin mattress), and said, “Dude, sleep on this side cuz there's, like, oil on that.” Unfortunately, the other side was filled with what can only be described as a life supply of the smell of sweat, which has come to be the most distinct smell that reminds me of Iraq now, if I tried to put my head on the other side of the jodarya there is a much worse smell in there, dirty socks that might have been worn by dead cats. Anyway, by 3 AM the guy locks up, and I am left to solemn darkness to enjoy my first night all alone, I could not sleep until 5:30 AM. At 7:30 AM my friend barges in like crazy, he was afraid that the owner of the internet center would come in and caps his ass Later his father calls and they patch their differences up. But the whole experience leaves the Kid understanding new things about himself and his friends… This experience was interesting in many ways, a lot of Iraqi kids have problems with their dads, and some even fight back, but this was my first – I was just thinking about it today, you see I happen to know this friend who orchestrates what he believes is a ‘True Friendship Test’ every once in a while, it's a pretty interesting concept except that his idea of it is bizarre, he digs up all his friends and becomes a real jerk with all of them to see who stays with him. In a way, what happened to me was a meter of friendship,- the reaction I got was very heartwarming, I got a lot of emails from concerned friends all over the world, and i was really amazed when some bloggers I barely know and some who I even fight with called me up repeatedly called me to check on how I was doing and offered requests from help, their kindness and understanding is something I hold dearly and which I would truly commit to memory, what's ironic is that this dude who conducts those friendship tests I told you about was the single person who knew about what happened to me and didn't bother to call. You don't need to make synthetic experiments on your pals, we're not in a warzone, goddammit, those kinda things come by themselves. Quoted by the President Getting quoted is a big thing for a blogger but nothing is bigger than being quoted by the President of the United States. But Mohammed of Iraq the Model is not letting this go to his head (links added by me): First of all we're proud of it….Second I would like to make clear one point to bloggers like dailykos and some MSM supported blogs who seem so upset for some reason that the voice of some Iraqis is being heard.