Friday, June 30, 2006

Games

I never watch football, or at least I stopped watching years ago, ever since the day football games started giving me stress & quasi-heart attacks, and of course, because any team I cheered for used to strangely end up losing the game.
So my first game since long, today: Germany versus Argentina. And history repeated itself all over again… It was stressful indeed, wasn't it?

On a another level, we got a call from one of our relatives, who, you can say, has a part time job as an old fashioned matchmaker:
- No dear, it's not for you this time. I need to talk to one of your sisters (anyone of them?). The "3aress" doesn't want someone too tall. (huh?)
So I got rejected, roghma anfi, due to a couple of centimeters. That's encouraging.

Yalla, still 7 days to Jour J.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

9

Countdown to the "Once Upon a Dance" Show: 9 days

General State: initial signals of stage fright.

Yesterday's Training: danced like a duck.

Expectations: disastrous

Conclusion: but you still have to come :)

Friday, June 23, 2006

NO, no, no...



I won on that day, remember? :)

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Technical Dads

IT colleague B. (currently in Lebanon) watches his newly-born son (in the States) everyday on the internet, with the help of a camera set in the baby’s room, and adjusted to rotate all around the cradle. It’s very much like real TV: this morning, we were able to see mommy waking up in the middle of the night to feed the baby. She must have known somebody was watching, since she was hearing the camera moving all around the place to look for the missing child. Haram, she didn’t seem happy about it. Anyway, parents also use this device to check on the baby through the laptop, before actually heading to his room. After all, who is in the mood for leaving the bed in the early hours of the morning? Talk about technology, eih?

Yalla, Happy Father's Day everyone. and to those of you who are concerned, can you get more fatherly than that? ;)

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Googling Yourself


I tried googling my name in Arabic, and what do you know: I’m famous! With the exclusion of an entry by some namesake in an Amr-Khaled forum, calling people to follow the path of God, there are about ten entries about yours truly, the books I have translated when I was still struggling in the labor market. Even though I was still naïve at the time, and I let myself be deceived by one employer who never acknowledged me as a translator to two important books I had worked so hard on, and although it was not rewarding money wise, but seeing all these books was priceless indeed. It is at these times that I miss having this kind of relation with a book: no, not the reading part, rather getting to know the book, spending most of your days and nights with it, fantasizing about it, fathoming it out, eagerly waiting for its birth, and then, when you're done with it, going separate ways with a mixture of heartsease and sorrow in your heart.

But anyway, with my current work schedule, succumbing to the spell of such a relation right now would be both a social and a physical suicide. mental too, eventually.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Tagged

Ok, it's time for fun, and I'm tagged by Nermeena! (sorry for taking that long to answer ya Nerro)

1- Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as your dinner guest? As your close friend? As your lover?
Dinner guest: Poutine
Close friend: Lara Fabian
Lover: that gorgeous guy from my "best friend's wedding"!

2- Would you be willing to reduce your life expectancy by five years to become extremely attractive?
five years? like 5 times 365 days + 1 day on the leap year? certainly not!

3- Would you rather spend a month on vacation with your parents or put in overtime at your current job for four weeks without extra compensation?
are you kidding. I don't think I ever spent a minute after 5:00 p.m. at the office. vacation of course.

4- When did you last cry by yourself? In front of another person?
I teared in from of another person recently. but cried years before, perhaps.
Cried by myself... hmmm... maybe a couple of months ago.

5- If 100 people your age were chosen at random, how many do you think you’d find leading a more satisfying life than yours?
50%

6- If you had the choice of one intimate soul mate and no other close friends, or of no such soul mate and many friends and acquaintances, which would you choose?
Is there a difference between "soul mate" and "close friend" aslan? soul mate may be too "cheesy" for me. I love my close friends & would very much like to keep them all.

7- Do you think your friends would agree with one another about the kind of person you are?
the friends friends ya3neh? yeah, pretty much so.

8- Would you prefer to be blind or deaf?
huh? neither!

9- How many of your friendships have lasted more than ten years? Which of your current friends do you feel will still be important to you ten years from now?
I've been wiz Natalou for more than ten, ana w Rima are going on five, and many important current friends including some bloggers are in as well;)

10- If you could mould to your liking your memories of any past experience, would you do so?
Yes. I would erase a lot of embarassing moments. and i dont care if they say: you learn from your mistakes.

11- Would you be content with a marriage of the highest quality in all respects but one – it completely lacked sex?
euh... is there someone who would answer that with a yes?!

12- If you were happily married, and then met someone you felt was certain to always bring you deeply passionate, intoxicating love, would you leave your spouse? What if you had kids?
not that I believe in the existence of "everlasting passionate intoxicating love", but yeah I might :p, however, worth more thinking in case of kids.

13- Relative of the population at large? How do you rate your physical attractiveness? Your intelligence? Your personality?
euh... inno ca va... mesheh haleh :)

14- If you could script the basic plot for the dream you will have tonight, what would the story be?
trapped in the elevator with a particular someone :p hey im realistic, no?

15- While out one day, you are surprised to see your father holding hands with someone who is clearly his lover, he begs you not to say anything to your mother. How would you respond? What if your mother later told you that she was going crazy thinking that your father was having an affair yet knew it was just her imagination?
I'll definitely tell. ba3ed na2es!

16- If you had to spend the next 2 years inside a small but fully provisioned Antarctic shelter with one other person, whom would you like to have with you?
yiy... if I brought the one I have in mind, I'll end up not standing to see him in the end of these two years. la2 haram. I think I'll bring my dance teacher. heik in the end, I'll be a pro :)

17- You become involved romantically but after 6 months realize you need to end the relationship. If you were certain the person would commit suicide if you were to leave and were also certain you could not be happy with the person, what would you do?
dump him still. w yostofel.

18- What was your most enjoyable dream? Your worst nightmare?
I can pass one question, no?

19- If by sacrificing your life you could contribute so much to the world you would be honored by all nations, would you be willing to do so? If so, would you make the sacrifice knowing that someone you thoroughly disliked would received that honor while you went unrecognized?
Hey, I'm not a saint. I might do the first one if I'm caught up in the heat of the moment.

20- Would you like your spouse to be both smarter and more attractive than you are?
yeah, it will be more challenging.

21- You discover that your wonderful one-year-old child is, because of a mix-up at the hospital, not yours. Would you want to exchange the child to try and correct the mistake?
no idea. I'm not into motherhood yet. but yeah, I think I'll exchange.

22- When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?
singing to myself: everyday
to someone else: last week, and he said my voice is not bad :p no, no, I didn't threathen him.

23- Which sex do you think has it easier in our culture? Have you ever wished you were of the opposite sex?
first question: it's a man's world
second question: only one time every month. 3azeib!

24- What are your most compulsive habits? Do you regularly struggle to break these habits?
I'm suspicious. I question people's motives. I guess I'm not used to people just being nice heik. I should stop doing that.

25- Would you enjoy spending a month of solitude in a beautiful natural setting? Food and shelter would be provided but you would not see another person.
Not at all. Ljanneh bala nes...

26- If you knew you would die of an incurable disease within 3 months, would you allow yourself to be frozen within the week if you knew it would give you a modest chance of being revived in 1,000 years and living a greatly extended life?
no, thx.

27- You are invited to a party that will be attended by many fascinating people you’ve never met. Would you want to go if you had to go by yourself?
yeah, it's not everyday you meet many fascinating people.

28- If you were at a friend’s house for thanksgiving dinner and you found a dead cockroach in your salad, what would you do?
My screaming will take care of it.

29- If someone you love deeply is brutally murdered and you know the identity of the murderer, who unfortunately is acquitted of the crime. Would you seek revenge?
Yes.

Anyone who wants to be tagged is welcome to do so!

Hands Off!

I was doing some window-shopping yesterday, and all of a sudden, I felt this hand pulling me hard, and dragging me a few steps ahead:
- You have to see this; I found the perfect shoes for you!
My mind hadn’t processed yet what did just happen, or why a stranger decided I must check those perfect shoes she was so excited about. I wanted to say: "hey, lady, Look at me! I'm not your sister or friend or whomever you thought I was!" but I was just too surprised, lazy or numb if you want. I was being carried away and keeping the silence. And although she did look at me at some point, she kept pulling my hand zealously; who knows, maybe her mind was in a slow processing mode as well.
In the end, she realized her mistake, and simply let go without uttering a single word.

An hour later, in some other place, I was paying the cashier the price of an item I purchased, when I felt a couple of hands touching me. "ya 3ammeh, shul ossa!" was I being robbed? Or maybe the place is just too crowded? The hands were getting closer and closer, as if hugging me from behind, and I was vainly trying to turn and return, still not processing what was going on. A few seconds later, they still wouldn’t let go. But it wasn’t due to the crowd! This time, when the girl in question discovered she mistook me for her friend, she almost died of embarrassment and quickly faded away.

Did I wear the wrong clothes that day? Or maybe I wore the wrong face? The anonymous one? Was I Mrs. Smith or Mme Dupond, or just somebody who is nobody, somebody who can be anybody? I don’t know. but it was weird. and disturbing.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Kitty



Who are you and Why are you looking at me like that?

I'm just small

lonely

and away from home

Who are you? Is this why you're looking at me like that?

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Inno shouuuu...

One of the arguments that usually get me scolded by my mother is saying "shou?" instead of "na3am?" sometimes. Yes, I'm 25 and I still argue with my mom over the shou/na3am use. In fact, "shou" is categorized under the insult section in our house (this is an answer to all the people who wonder why I never swear when driving). And btw, don't think it's an excuse if it accidentally slipped your mind:
- Mom, come on! I just came back from the gym. I'm all sweaty, smelly, disgusting and ready to crash down on anything! Not the shou/na3am argument!

On the other hand, stepping into the "outside world" can get confusing. I have often heard the speech that someone from long time ago used to deliver to me every time:
- "Na3am?"? mahdoumeh Eve, are you serious? What am I? the Abouna/ Father of the church?

So after all these years, I'm programmed to saying "na3am" now, bass inno how can you be Lebanese and not say "shou" wlo?!

Monday, June 05, 2006

Jounieh & Adma by Bike



Guys, it was so coooool! (although certain parts of my body do not totally share that thought)