To Feel Or Not To Feel

Is it better to feel? Or is it better not to feel?
Is it better to have feelings and emotions and get affected by every thrilling, tragic, or crazy detail that shapes your life story? Or is it better to be ignorant and emotionless about whatever goes on with your life?
At the first thought, most of us would choose to feel rather than not to feel. But take a minute or two to actually weigh in the two sides.
I personally have been tortured all my life, by a very dear friend whom i loathe as much as i adore. He always insisted that i "feel". His name is Conscience.
Whenever a hurtful incident happens, and i choose not to feel, Conscience is there to remind me to feel.
When people leave, either leave you for a while or leave life itself, you wish not to feel and to runaway for a while.
Whenever you read the news and read between lines the misery of nations, you wish not to feel. Whenever you have a bad day, a fight with a dear one, a bad grade, you wish not to feel.
When I look at people who do not feel, i find them very happy. Are they happy deep down there? I can't tell for sure. But for the moment, for me, they look happy. The choice they took of not to feel made them happy.. could it be?
I really envy people who can pass each day without having worries that emerge from having a "feeling" toward each incident. I envy people who fail a subject and shrug it off. I envy people who watch the war news, frown for a second, then change the channel.
Sometimes i wish i was ignorant and didn't feel as much, would life be easier? I always wonder.

The Good Earth

I started reading a very old novel today, it's called The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck. I only finished the first chapter, and started liking it already. It's a Chinese tale telling the story of a farmer who lives with his father, and recently got married to a woman that used to be a slave in a mansion.
And then! I had a thought:
How about if we start a bloggers' book club?
Each month or so , we choose a book, read it, and then we all discuss it.
We can even discuss the book before finishing it, on a daily or a weekly basis let's say.
I really love to read, but only a few of my friends read. So normally i don't find people to discuss my thoughts about the books i read with. But my new blogger friends sound intellectual somehow and might be interested in books and nerdy stuff.
So, what do you say guys?? Bring out the nerd in you! Join Dima's one and only book club on the blogoshpere (although im not sure of that, i bet there are other book clubs)
So who's in? Leave a comment if you would like to join the book club, and feed your mind with the Chinese heritage that is full of wisdom.
Eager to hear your ideas and thoughts.

Then and Now

Then (Time:Four months ago, Place: Amman, Jordan. Status: Alone)

Day 1: Breakfast: Water.
Lunch: Chicken Royal meal, Meduim size, with coke from Burger King
Dinner: Indomie, curry flavour (instant noodles)

Day 2: Breakfast: Water.
Lunch: Indomie.
Dinner: Indomie

Day 3: Breakfast: Water.
Lunch: Chicken Royal meal.
Dinner: Indomie

Day 8274938743: Breakfast: Water.
Lunch: Indomie
Dinner: Chicken Royal.

Now (Time: Since Thursday (yesterday). Place: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Satus: With family)

Day 1: Breakfast: jebneh, labneh, zaytoon, tomatoes, cucumbers, soft not dry bread, tea.
Lunch: Tabee5 Laban, rice, pickles, juice.
Between lunch and dinner: Roz be 7aleeb, merameyye, fruits, chocolates.....
Dinner: Fried eggs, martadella, jebneh, vegetables, juice, tea.

Day 2: Breakfast: Cheese Sandwitch, tomatoes, pickles, and tea
Lunch: Fish and chips, shrimps, macarooni salad, rice.
Dinner: Still to come, can't wait

And you all ask me why do you love Riyadh???
Love you mom, your the best Chef (K)

Make sure the software on your laptop is original when traveling!

THE SAUDI GAZETTE ( SAUDI ARABIA ), January 2007:
Saudi Students held at US Airports
The Saudi Gazette
PHILADELPHIA
TWO separate groups of Saudi students were detained at Philadelphia and New York airports by US Immigration Authorities for violating copyright laws, reported the Arabic language daily newspaper Okaz Thursday.
The students were found to be carrying pirated software in their laptops. The Saudi students, who arrived in the US , said some of their colleagues were detained at New York airport for 48 hours. They said the US immigration authorities scanned all the contents and programs stored in the laptops by incoming Saudi students.
A Saudi students association in the US has warned the incoming Saudis against carrying any pirated programs or anything referring to extremist groups anywhere in the world in their laptops.
The association confirmed the US authorities are questioning some Saudi students while others have been deported.
It also mentioned that some students are being tried. The penalty for copyright law violation ranges between 5-20 years in prison, and the luckiest ones get deported.

Along Came A Gas Truck...

I'm sitting peacefully, studying for an Electronic Business quiz. Although it's cold outside, I'm enjoying the warmness of the room provided by me beloved gas heater.
Suddenly, i feel a cold shudder. I look at my dearful heater to find it's flame has gone off.

Dramatic moment: " Noooooooooo...5eles el'3az :("

Ok, no problem, I'll turn the radiators on instead ;)

Another dramatic moment: " Nooooooo... nseet a3abbi Solar :("

Confusion is arising, only two things circulate endlessly in my mind: It's cold, i need gas!
And the journey begins.
I take my E-Business book, and go stand behind the window, waiting upon a wish... that will turn my cold hours into happy warm ones... waiting..... for the only thing that will make my life better..... wiating.... for my only hope..... The Gas Truck.
I wait and wait and wait. Oh! do I hear a gas truck coming??? Yes it is! Ya lal far7a! No! The sound of its music is fading away, the truck turned into another neighborhood....

The waiting continues.. my breath leaves miserable cirlces of fog on the freezing glass as i wait and pray for a gas truck to show up.
I can hear it! YES! The lovely music of the gas truck... the Bethoven's 2837.2/3 symphony that delcares a promise: "Fear no fear, no more cold is here"
I prepare myself to charge. Here comes the hardest mission: attracting the truck's attention.
I open the window, the cold breeze slaps my cheecks.
"I can do it...I will do it"
I start waving my hands at the truck driver HOON LAW SAMA7T HOOON.
The driver is enjoying a smoke, and doesn't pay attention to me. Another woman on another window is waving to him as well.
I need to think fast"No... I won't let her have the gas truck first, it's getting very cold,,and I need to study, sorry auntie!"
So i start my next charge: Karate moves that i learned when i was twelve, jumping, hitting my fists through the air, anything to attract the driver's attention.
YES he noticed.! He gestures in his hand asking: kam jarra????
I gesture using my fingers: Two! Two!
A little boy coming back from the dokkane eating chips Cheezy excitingly jumps and waves his hands at me: BYEE!! Inno 3njad ma b3raf shu da5alo, 3m b3mel be my hands TWo lal 3ammo taba3 el'3az mesh BYE la elo!
I go open the door to receive my lovely gas bottle. I find all the neighbors openning their doors asking me pleadingly: " Shu??!! Ija el'3az???" I reply "Yes! Ija el7amdilla!!"
And the orders for jarrat el'3az start exploding from every door in the building
"Jarra wa7de!...Jarteen...hoon 3ndak!"
Finally the process is over, all neighbors give me this thankful pittyful look as they close their doors.
I am proud of myslef. for I, and no one but I, who got the gas truck to the building. It is because of me, and my suffering next to the freezing window, that everyone is feeling warm, and the neighbor's children are laughing again, and chasing each other in the house like monkeys :)

Nedba7lak 6ayr El7amam!

Once I was sitting with an American friend: Joanne, and a Tunisian friend: Marwan.
Joanne asked me: "Dima, what lullabies do you sing for babies to sleep?"
So, I started singing happily: "Yalla nnam yalla nnam nedba7lak 6ayr el7amam-"
Marwan interrupted me, eyes wide open and said: "SHNOWA?!! NEDBA7LAK 6AYR EL7AMAM??!!!"
I got shocked ofcourse: " Yeah Marwan.... this is how the song goes...doesn't it...??"
Marwan, even more shocked:"3ALEEH TEDBA7 6AYR EL7AMAM ELMESKEEN??!!! 6AYR EL7AMAM RAMZ LAL SALAM!! Go on! Continue the song I want to know the rest!!"
Freaking out i continued singing in my shaking voice: "Roo7 ya 7amam la tsadda2, ned7ak 3ala Joanne ta tnam-"
Marwan: "KAMAAAN!! NED7AK 3ALA JOANNE?? MOSH BS DABE7 7AMAM! KAMAN NED7AK Y3NI NEKTHEB!"
By this time, i was laughing like crazy. Joanne ofcourse didn't understand and requested translation.
Marwan translated: " Go to sleep, go to sleep, and I will SLAUGHTER a pigeon for you, go poor pigeon don't believe us, we are LYING to the baby so that the baby would shutup and sleep!!!!"
Joanne was getting really scared and feeling insecure at this point. With tears forming in her eyes she said: "But...why would you slaughter an innocent pigeon....I mean, do you mean that the baby can't sleep unless he is SURE that the pigeon will be slaughtered??!!"
Marwan: " Shofti ya Dima!!! This is the most terrifying song I ever heard!!! The baby will have nightmares when he sleeps of pigeons and blood!! W kamannn mosh bs hakka (hakka y3ni heek) kaman on top of that the mother is lying! What example of a mother is she!!!"
Tab3an ana by this time i couldn't breathe I was laughing so hard. I mean 3njad!!!! How come we never thought of the meanings!!
Marwan: " Tell me Dima, who sang this song??? Or did your mother make it up just to scare you?!"
I was like: "C'mon! It's known worldwide!! It's for Fairouz!!"
Marwan:"How dare you!!! Fairouz is full of passion and sensitivity!! She's not a pigeon-killer, chlidren-terrifyer terrorist!!!"

El7amdilla i didn't continue the song, or else Marwan would've had a heart attack, especially if he heard the part which says: ya bayya3 el3inab, wel 3inabeyye, 5a6afooni el'3ajar...
I can imagine him saying: "SHNOWA 5A6EF KAMAN!! W RAS OMMI INNIK ERHABEYYA!" and then he would translate to poor Joanne: " O' grapes seller, the nomads kidnapped me.."

I decided to never sing this song if I have children one day!

5 Thing You Don't Know About Me

Well, Wedad tagged me, and since I'm still new on this whole blogging thing, this is my first tag :D
Soooo five things you don't know about me would be:

1) I have a phobia from statues :S, not a reeaal phobia, but whenever i'm near to a statue (including the plastic models in malls) i feel really uncomfortable and i get goose bumps. Especially if the statue was human shaped. I feel that this statue will suddenly whisper a secret in my ear, a secret that I will have to carry it's burden all my life, or what if it winks at me?? What if it's not just a statue? what if it's a real human that got stoned over the ages. ya mamaaaaa :(

2) I was chosen to represent Jordan for two months at the University of Delaware, Delaware, USA in the last summer, in a program for Leadership and American studies.

3) I am currently working on a theory that will hopefully make it not important for humans to sleep. I truly see sleeping as a waste of time. We spend at least 7 hours of the day lying still doing nothing. 3njad it's a waste of time. The world would be much more developed if people didn't have to sleep everyday. We would have had Internet since the last 50 years isntead. My theory will make it possible to sleep for only two hours and still be able to function well.

4) I live alone in Jordan, my family is in Riyadh. This means inni ba3raf keef arakeb jarret el'3az la7aaali :D

5) I tried all hobbies in life: Writing, reading, collecting stamps, acting in plays, drawing, handcrafts, piano, teasing Shadi ibin eljeeran (Shadi kteer zene5 w kaman his brothers Hadi w Fadi azna5 minno, bekafi asma2hom zay ba3ad, they deserved to be teased, i won't feel guilty about that). Elmohem, I am only left with one hobby now: Reading :D

6) Something extra: I met the Dalai Lama.

Ok, tag accomplished, I tag: Faris (Hareega), Sara (Sarazation), Diana (Tulip), and The Vegeterian Shark

Invisible Children

I watched a documentary movie called Invisible Children. This movie has touched eveyone who's watched it. It brought tears into everyone's eyes. I really hate tragic documentaries and movies. But, in my opnion, it's a crime against humanity not to watch this movie.

The Middle East is a very troubled region, and we have more than enough catastrophes to worry about. This has stopped us from caring about world issues, since we are mostly the world's issue. All I'm asking is that we have to at least know about this even more troubled region, Africa.

I got the following information from the movie's website: www.invisiblechildren.com

What started out as a film-making adventure in Africa, transformed into much more, when the three young American’s (Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey, and Laren Poole) original travels took a divine turn, and they found themselves stranded in Northern Uganda. They discovered children being kidnapped nightly from their homes and subsequently forced to become fight as child soldiers. This film is dedicated to exposing this tragic, and amazingly untold story.
Even at this moment, in Uganda, Children as young as 8 are methodically kidnapped from their homes by a rebel group called the “Lord’s Resistance Army” (LRA). The abducted children are then desensitized to the horror of brutal violence and killing, as they themselves are turned into vicious fighters. Some escape and hide in constant fear for their lives. Most remain captive, and grow to maturity with no education other than life “in the bush” and fighting in a guerilla war.

Here's a link to a trailor about the movie. I wish anyone who reads this post tries to get this movie. When you buy the movie, you get two copies, one for you to keep, and one to pass around. However, watching the movie is not enough, we need to start acting. The website includes many ways in which you can react.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0XQEysQJPQ

*I'm a new blogger, I'm not sure how to make the trailor available from You Tube on this post. If anyone kows jsut please leave a comment.

Ellison's Oath on the Qur'an

Muslim Congress Representative, Keith Ellison takes his oath by putting his hand on the Qur'an.

We all have been hearing about this incident.

At the beginning when i heard this news, I was worried that this will arouse new problems toward Muslims. I was telling myself "Since some of Congress members do not even use a book, and they just raise their hands to take the oath, why can't Rep. Ellison just do the same and swear by the name of Allah, without a book like the rest. This way, it will be just normal and will save him and Muslims all critisism. I thought that as a Muslim, there are much important things he should be proving. And maybe starting his membership with all these hysterical reactions toward him might not be an indication of a good start.
But then I came to realize two important things:
First of all, the Congress must understand how deep Rep. Ellison's loyalty is to America. He chose his holy book, the Quraan, to take the oath. It is this serious to him. He is this sure of his loyalty to his country. Qura'an is a way of life, it sets all the rules that a human being will need to live a decent life. Rep. Ellison's oath was taken on the book that organizes his whole life. We must not forget that taking an oath over Qura'an in Islam is not something easy. If you take a false oath, or break your oath in the future, it is considered a serious sin.
Second of all, by doing this, Rep. Ellsion - I am quoting Mr. James Zogbi- "sends a clear message to the world about American diversity and our values of acceptance and inclusion that have made us strong." Americans should be proud that a new member of their congress sees this diversity as a key of success to the American story, and chooses to start his political career as a congress member reminding America of one of its successive elements, accepting diversity. What is really interesting is that Rep. Ellison used Qur'an copy that once belonged to none other than President Thomas Jefferson, the USA's thrid president. Rep. Ellison used this copy to remind Americans of how understanding their profounders once were toward diversity.

Here a link for more information: : www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/3995

No Comment

I discovered lately that this life is full of hippocrates. A lot of situations happened that made me stand astonished at how silly and stupid people can get.
I don't knwo why, but i feel that the more the wolrd grows older, the more the "brains" of its citizens become smaller. Also, i feel that people are really becmong aggressive and over protective. A lot of people i know are becoming really defensive. It's as if that the trend here is being aggressive or defensive. It's really weird. Once you ask someone anything, they jump into defending themselves and giving excuses.
I know that your friends at universtiy change constatnly, i mean you might have a best friend or two, but with time, this might change too. People get busy and find new lives, and that's ok. But what astonishes me most is that when you run across a friend that you havn't seen for a long time and go like " heyy zaman 3anik, i missed you weenik?!" Instead of just going with the flow and saying the same back, they reply to you by saying: "heyy, i miss you too, why the hell don't you ask about me??? you changed a lot. I always ask friends about you and i tell them to tell you to call me." lol this is ironic. Instead of telling friends to tell me to call you, why don't you call yourself?? I mean, i can blame you for the exact same thing, but i choose not to, because i know you have your own excuses just like i have mine! The idea is, being defensive and blaming others for insignificent matters suck.
All my life i believed that the Liar, is the worst person in life. I can stand a thief, anyone, but not a liar. Currently, i thought i might add another charachter i abhor, the Selfish. The one who delays the whole work of a group, and won't let anyone work, untill they get done with personal business. The one who does not engage in any matter of any kind, unless it has direct benifit to themselves. The one that will never help you, unless they are sure that they will need something from you in the future. The one that tells the story in a way that makes them sound that they've done all the job, and their team did nothing, although in reality its vice versa, and you to choose to shutup, and let them go with this lie, because you're mature, and you work for your ownslef, and to satisfy your own consious, not to get appraisal from others. I also started hating immitators, who just do what everyone is doing without knowing why. Saddam has been on trial since ever, and now once he's dead, everyone is putting his pictures on their mobile wallpapers and msn display pictures. Suddenly everyone loves him. I call this hippocracy. The same people who said that Saddam is a dictator and evil, are now saying he was a "hero" and a "shaheed" and are already writing him peoms. I even heard people saying that the whole Kimawi war was a lie and that Saddam was throwing "flour" just to scare them, and he wouldn't kill anyone. Anyway, i don't know much about that since I choose to be ignorant about politics becasue usually, after discussing politics i end having nausia.
All what i'm asking from our very mature nation is to base their "feelings" and "sense of belonging" on solid facts, opinions, and then decissions. Don't just do what eveyrone is doing. How special does this leave you? Have your own thoughts and ideas, read, listen, discuss, debate, think, and then form an opnion. You will be much respected for an opnion that you worked on hard to develop, rather than an immitated opinion that missleads you and missleads others. And by respect I mean respect for your self. Enough is enough, we seriously need to grow.

The Art of Discourse

The essential nature of Socrates' art lay in the fact that he did not appear to want to instruct people. On the contrary he gave the impression of one desiring to learn from those he spoke with. So instead of lecturing like a traditional schoolmaster, he discussed.
Obviously he would not have become a famous philosopher had he confined himself purely to listening to others. Nor would he have been sentenced to death. But he just asked questions, especially to begin a conversation, as if he knew nothing. In the course of the discussion he would generally get his opponents to recognize the weakness of their arguments, and, forced into a corner, they would finally be obliged to realize what was right and what was wrong.
Socrates, whose mother was a midwife, used to say that his art was like the art of the midwife. She does not herself give birth to the child, but she is there to help during its delivery. Similarly, Socrates saw his task as helping people to "give birth" to the correct insight, since real understanding must come from within. It cannot be imparted by someone else. And only the understanding that comes from within can lead to true insight.

By Jostein Gaarder, In Sophie's World