Okay, I can finally let you guys know what happened.

My uncle had contacted the consulate and they pressured the company to start processing him out. However, they continue to delay him, forcing him to repeatedly call the consulate.

Around the same time, my cousin in San Antonio managed to get ahold of someone at the NBC affiliate there Sunday. The affiliate about jumped on this story from the get-go. That's when I closed my threads and edited myself here.

Monday, after an editorial meeting, they went ahead and interviewed her (and there was a possibility me and my aunt could have as well) with the information I forwarded to her. The story was broadcast on WOAI in San Antonio that night.

Tuesday, the story is repeated on the Today show. In Saudi Arabia, the story is shown over there on [b]their[/b] news, which, in order to avoid further embarrassment, the company quickly processes my uncle, much earlier than expected. My uncle flew in Wednesday and was back home by Tuesday.

I'd like to thank all those who read this and whatever they did.

- Redacted -

Something came up and I will have to keep quiet about this for now. I did talk to him and he's doing okay.

We won't hear anything until 5am-6am tomorrow. My mother had contacted the Embassy this morning and jumped to conclusions about the time. Hopefully, this will be cleared up tomorrow.

My uncle has an appointment with the State Department today, so it might be cleared up. However, my mother called me today distraught and asking me to receive the information my uncle sent my aunt. Here is the particulars, with my aunt's phone number being redacted.

The situation is improving, but my uncle isn't out of the woods (dunes?) yet. He managed to get in contact with the U.S. Embassy and inform them of what is going on.

I just learned about this from my mother, who had it e-mailed to her from my aunt. Apparently, my uncle, Ed Hernandez, is being held hostage by a Saudi Arabian aircraft company, Al Salam.

"Held hostage" sounds a bit harsh, since they are paying for his hotel room. He resigned from them last month, but they're keeping his passport and work permit and are not giving him a reason they aren't releasing him.

Current Mood: nervous

Even though I was at Animefest for a short time, I still come down with the Con Croup.

From the blogger of Iran Rigged Election:

I will participate in the demonstrations tomorrow. Maybe they will turn violent. Maybe I will be one of the people who is going to get killed. I’m listening to all my favorite music. I even want to dance to a few songs. I always wanted to trim my eyebrows very thin. Yes, maybe I will drop by the salon before the rally tomorrow! I have to watch some great parts of Hamoon* again.I also have to go through my books. Shamlou** and Forough** are worth reading at these moments. I have to review my family album too.And my friends! I have to call them to say goodbye. All I have are two bookshelves full of books which I told my family who should get them. I’m two courses away from getting my bachelors degree but who cares about that now. There is a lot on my mind right now. I am writing these scattered sentences for the next generation so they know we were not just emotional and caught up in excitement. So they know that we did everything we could to create a better future for them. So they know that our ancestors surrendered to Arabs and Mongols but did not surrender to despotism. These words are dedicated to the children of tomorrow …”



I don't think I would ever use this phrase in an unironic sense but

Allahu Akbar!

As part of my Digital Design class, we had to make a new blog to post assignments to. I'm still keeping LJ, but I thought I'll plug my new blog as well.

Zero-Light Image Accumulator.

Also, just in case you guys don't get the reference:

It looks like I will be missing A-Kon for the first time since going back in 1995(?).

The brakes on my car died and had to abandon it at my mom's home until I have the money to get it fixed. Also, my refund for school will likely not come in until late Saturday or even Monday, leaving me both broke and with no transportation.

Dammit.

Current Mood: sad

At least they gave me the option to leave.

I was hoping this would happen later than sooner, as my ASUS motherboard is giving out and running POST errors, which will take $300 bucks to replace (not, I can still RMA it).

Watching the inauguration right now.

Not a whole lot. I ended up spending four days house-and-dog-sitting for my brother, at which I played a lot of STALKER: Shadows of Chernobyl Wednesday night and Thursday, then got Fallout 3 Friday and played the hell out of that for the next couple of days straight.

Also, for some odd reason, I tend to watch a lot of movies off my brother's cable. I have cable at my own home, but rarely watch it. It's very strange. However, I managed to catch up with a lot of movies that I hadn't seen yet but meaning to, as well as some films that I've seen before and watched them anyway. In no discernable order, I saw:

Alien 3 (twice?!)
Predator and Predator 2 (which always cracks me up when I see that the intro captions to Predator 2 that says it takes place in the far-future year of 1997, with doped-up gangs brandishing automatic weapons against an underarmed police force, while in reality, the crime rate was dropping and the police departments were beginning to militarize.)
The Fountain (which I made a point of watching and that I now have to get on DVD. I thought it was a little disjointed at first, but it all starts to make sense as the film continues, so by the end I was throughly satisified and emotionally drained by the climax)
Bowfinger (which I have on DVD, but haven't opened it)
Sunshine (the Danny Boyle/Alex Garland science fiction movie. It was a lot better than I expected, although I could've done without a certain plot element that I'm not going to spoil for anyone. I thought it's introduction was kinda cool at first but the execution left something to be desired. Too much shaky cam involved with that element)
The Hard Way (which I'm surprised I even watched it all the way through. It's not bad, but I think I've grown out of the whole buddy cop-comedy)
The Andromeda Strain (always a favorite)
Children of Men (ditto)
Pan's Labyrith (which was good. Del Toro has something about combining kids and mysticism with the Spanish Civil War, doesn't he? The Devil's Backbone has the same themes. I might follow the Gooberzilla's advice and catch that as well.)

( This is what it's all about )

I want to thank tepintzin for this quiz, even though I think there's something busted in it to give me this result. 

Your result for The Presidential Capacity Test...

Religious Adviser to the President

74% Values, 37% Charisma and 59% Judgment!

"Do you pray for the Senators, Dr. Hale?" someone asked the chaplain. "No, I look at the Senators and pray for the country." - Edward E. Hale

Sorry. You're simply not Presidential material. You simply don't have the leadership ability or the charisma to pull it off. The public have no faith whatsoever in you pulling through.

They do believe you though. Your spotless track record and focus on strong character values means they'd believe every one of your campaign promises and bribes. Too bad you're stammering too much for anyone to understand a word you're saying. You're better suited to an advisorial role.

Let's make you a religious adviser, hm? Not too much power. No silver-tongue needed. But your emphasis on honesty and loyalty should hopefully keep the President on track.

 

Other possibilities:

Take The Presidential Capacity Test at HelloQuizzy

Due to my back condition, my attendence to this coming AnimeFest is becoming unlikely. Unless there's some miracle between now and Friday, I am not likely to appear. My back is still killing me, the medication makes me loopy, and it hurts for me to drive a car unless I absolutely need to. I know that a lot of people I haven't seen in awhile are going to show up, but now I will miss them.

If there's a way someone can get me a ride out there, I would be happy.

Also, does anyone know if there's hotel rooms are still available? This is kinda important, as, once there, I kinda don't want to travel that much to and from the convention.

Current Mood: depressed

Jesus Christ, what a week I've been having. First I go to the doctor's for a back injury, now I have mine and my mom's husband's cars broken into and ransacked them. They also triggered the garage door remote, leaving our home opened up to thievery. Luckily they ran before they could have followed through, but shit, I've been up all night due to this, with paranoid thoughts feeding upon themselves: What's that buzzing sound? Is that JUST the wind blowing? Why hasn't my mom called back?

We called the cops and they took down our info, among other things. This is way too much to handle right now. What can happen next? I swear that when it started raining while the police officer was taking our reports, I honestly thought I was going to be struck by lightning.

Current Mood: and frazled

Oh, great another Shadowrun supplement is out. I'll probably buy it, since I'm a completist asshole. Wish there was someone out there who'd want to play the damn game.