Today was my nephew's Birthday; he turned 5!

He called my mother two days ago and asked her to deliver a message to me and my sister; the message was that we should buy him gifts from a certain store and he should be there to choose the gift, brilliant ha?

So yesterday, we went to a kids store in Jebal Amman called Ali Baba; they have all costumes you can think of; Spiderman, Superman, Batman, etc. and a whole lot of toys and games.

He asked to get him a Spiderman scooter and that is exactly what I did. My sister got him an educational toy laptop according to his own request; and he told me that he wanted this specific gift because he likes my laptop!!

We threw him a nice party tonight and as usual; I would love to share the joy with the entire blogosphere; so there you go!

Happy Birthday Sign


Part of the decorations


Homemade Fruit Salad


Nice Black Forest


Birthday Boy (3ahed) holding a gift


I asked him about his age and that was his answer


He is happy with the scooter


Enjoying another gift


And another

There is a big difference between acts of kindness and complete ignorance, and when we are blinded by our emotions, logic and common sense usually take a back seat and as a result; sad and tragic consequences are in order.

As I was browsing through the famous Arabic magazine; Zahrat Al Khaleej, I came across an article reporting two tragedies that took place in Jordan; specifically in Al Koorah.

The two separate incidents are about two families that were shattered by someone finally speaking and telling the truth.

After 24 years of marriage that resulted in 9 sons and daughters; Mohammed discovered that his wife is banned to him because he was breast fed by his grandfather's wife, and in a complicated chain of relations, he discovered that he married the granddaughter of his brother, and when the case was tried by the court, the ruling came horrifying to the whole family and they got a divorce right away.

In less than 60 days and in the same area; another case emerges and Ibrahim discovered that the breast feeding syndrome turned him into his wife's uncle, and again the court ruled that this marriage cannot continue.

Is it ignorance or stupidity? What is the fate of the sons and daughters who discovered after all these years that they were living a lie? How can this happen? And the more important question; is this still happening? If a new mother is sick and cannot breastfeed her child, are people still seeking other nursing mothers to compensate for the lack of breast milk?

I understand that in ancient times, when there was no powder milk or liquid milk on the shelves of any pharmacy or supermarket, that the need might arise for a substitute mother to step in and save the newborn, but when we have all the facilities and products to compensate and provide the child with a healthy beginning; why do we still go to extreme measures and risk future incidents like these to take place and wreck calm lives?

Let me go with the idea, and assume that this already happened; shouldn't there be witnesses to declare that this marriage is not allowed before it takes place?

I can't believe that we still have such tragedies. Whose responsibility is this? I suggest that with each blood test people take to check if they are compatible for marriage, they should check their histories as well to double check that the guy is not marrying his sister, aunt, niece, etc.

It sounds like an Indian movie, but it is tragically true and some people are suffering from the consequences!!

When and where does this charade stop?

What does it take to make us think before we act? Why do we always tend to drag ourselves into the most stupid situations? And then we start whining how the west is marking us for stupid and primitive.

Despite all the effort that we do to build our personalities, despite all the education that we get, despite all the reading and knowledge, despite all the travel and exposure to the world, we still let ourselves slip and go with the flow of the masses.

Every time something or anything happens, make sure that we are going to boycott something because that’s what we are perfect at, boycotting.

I am telling you, we are so good at it; no we even mastered the art. Let me tell you, we start campaigns, we bombard people with emails, we announce the brands that will be included in the boycott, and we keep insisting and persisting till we get what we want and you better be careful mister as we are boycotting these days!!!

When does this stop for God's sake? When do we stop acting like a clan of anger and pure grudges? When do we start thinking and proving to the whole world that we are indeed civilized?

Instead; we continue to mark ourselves as the 3^rd world people who will never ever reach global standards.

For God's sake; stop all this nonsense about boycotting whatever brand, as this is not the way to make your voice heard, and please stop spamming us over and over with the brands that we should stop consuming. Did I say should? Well, says who? And what is the benefit? How are we affecting anyone by boycotting? Think again or better yet start thinking.

Boycotting shmoycotting; well enough already with the dark ages techniques!!!!!!

A couple of weeks ago I was doing some searches over the net and I came across a blog of a Kuwaiti fellow blogger. As I was browsing through the posts on that blog, I came across one that left me very disturbed and preoccupied with its content that as a patriot Jordanian, I had to comment and seek permission to link to his post and get my fellow Jordanian bloggers to participate, so here I am seeking your kind assistance.

To cut a long story short; the Kuwaiti newspaper Al Watan has announced on the 8^th of December 2005 that Kuwaiti students in Jordan are under attack, and that this is a series of incidents that have been taking place for some time; please read the piece of news here.

The Kuwaiti blogger UzF was moved and disturbed by the news that he understandably blogged about it.

I do not know whether this piece of news is true or not as this is not the reason I am blogging about this; my main concern is the amount of hostility I got towards Jordan and Jordanians by reading the comments on that specific post, which you can get here.

I am seeking your kind assistance to show our Kuwaiti brothers and sisters that there is no hidden agenda against Kuwait or Kuwaitis and that we as Jordanians share their annoyance and anger from these incidents if they ever took place and that we condemn such acts, and as I commented to him that we think highly of Kuwait and Kuwaitis and this is by no means a reflection of our country, or our people.

I will be informing our fellow Kuwaiti blogger about this post and I hope that our responses will urge him to reflect this in a new post on his blog so that his readers can learn the truth.

Last but not least; thank you in advance for participating in this initiative; I look forward to getting your responses and feedback.

This obsession that has well known brands to continuously introduce new products and race to be the first to get it out in the markets before others.

The first evidence of using makeup goes all the way back in history to ancient Egyptians around 4000 BC, and there are also some records of Greeks and Romans using it. In 1800's, Queen Victoria publicly declared makeup as impolite. In the World War II era, though makeup was used casually in the west; it was still banned in Germany.

Geishas in Japan were very innovative when it became to the ingredients they used to mix their own makeup. For instance; they used crushed safflower petals to make lipstick, and they used wax for the makeup base and then added paste and powder to get the peculiar white color that characterized geishas.

Nowadays; the market is dominated by a few big names including but not limited to L'Oreal, Revlon, Christian Dior, Lancôme, Max Factor, Estee Lauder, Elizabeth Arden, Helena Rubinstein and many others.

The main purpose for wearing makeup is to make the wearer look more attractive, but when does it become too much?

There is a very fine line between attractive and quite the opposite, and what we are witnessing these days is the opposite. Some women turned wearing makeup into a task that takes more than it should from their daily routine, so they wear it in the morning adding a bit too much of everything, and then many times during the day, they have to fix it or powder their noses, add lipstick as if there is a need to do that and work a bit on the eye shadow, eye liner, mascara, blusher, etc.

I used to wear makeup on daily basis some years ago, and then I lost the passion for it, and it became normal that I start my day au naturel, without a touch of a brush here or a color there; it just makes me feel more free and at ease as I go through my tough long day.

Don’t get me wrong; I like a touch of makeup every now and then, or even light makeup everyday, but when it becomes an obsession on its own, to the extent that a woman literally cannot step out of the house without wearing makeup. Some take it to a more extreme level by wearing lenses to change the color of their eyes, and with dying the hair and the revolution of botox and collagen; I have to wonder if what we are seeing is true! I mean; who are these ladies and what do they really look like? Sometimes I feel that they themselves do not recognize themselves without makeup, and it had become their permanent loyal companion.

To me, makeup is a total yea until it becomes an obsession that turns people into unrecognizable creatures; then it becomes a complete nay all the way!

Today was a very long day and we spent it making sweets we should have made before Eid. Yes, I am talking about Ka3k w Ma3mool!

My brother in law is leaving on Monday to the states to go back to his routine work life, and my sister decided to make some ka3k w ma3mool for him to take it with him for the family there. She asked me, my mother and my sisters for help and we gladly went to her place, helped her make them and got out with some nice sweets at the end of it.

I took the chance to capture some pictures while we were working and decided to share them with you, and no, my blog is not turning into a virtual cookbook … LOL!

Dates and ka3k (cookies) before shaping


Placing the date inside to crust to make ka3k (cookies)


Ka3k placed in baking tray after shaping them


Ka3k in the oven being baked


Out of the oven, hot and yummy!!


Another tray of Ma3mool with sugar on top


No more teasing ... this plate is going to Jeeran!!

I have been tagged, not for something I said, but for something I will say!

My dear friend Fadi tagged me and started a nice game that aims at bloggers getting to know each other better, read it here on Fadi's post.

Rules of the game:

1-       Declare 5 facts about yourself

2-       State 3 things you like in others

3-       State 3 things you don’t like in others

4-       Tag 4 bloggers and comment on their blogs that they have been tagged and direct them to your post

Easy, ha?

Let me start by the 5 facts:

1-       I am so disorganized, but I have a good memory that saves me from ugly situation caused by my commotion and my chaos.

2-       I am moody; sometimes I switch from good mood to bad mood so quickly that no one notices.

3-       Love reading and I mean really love reading.

4-       I have a very lazy thyroid.

5-       I have a nice voice and love to sing.

3 things I like in others:

1-       Humbleness and humility.

2-       Honesty and straight forwardness.

3-       Simplicity.

3 things I don’t like in others:

1-       Lying.

2-       Arrogance.

3-       Sarcasm.

I tag:

OneDevotion, Tololy, Dar , Ramroom

I really won something!!

I won a mobile device from Radio Fann FM and Mobilecom … YAY!!!!

Update: I went to Radio Fann and they gave me a voucher ... then I went to Mobilecom and got the device when surprise surprise ... it comes with a line as well :)

Pretty cool ha??

Thank you everyone for your comments and I got the black one (for ghaloosh)

Well, I do!!

I was just listening to this song by the great one and only; Cher.

It is true that we fall in love and probably out of love all the time, but what happens when you get your heart broken in the process?

Would you go like: Unbreak my heart? Or where do broken hearts go? Or would you go I am strong enough to live without you!!

Going through the experience myself; I went through the three phases. It started out with unbreak my heart, and progressed with where do broken hearts go, until I reached the point where I built my strength again and it was time for I am strong enough to live without you and I quit trying long enough … great song and so expressive; I just love Cher!!

I do believe that inside each of us there is a strong person that helps us bounce back and start all over again, and they used to say: no body dies of love.

It really takes a lot of courage to be in love and show it, and it takes even more strength to face everyone after breakup or a lost love, so if you went through this experience or are going through one now; dig up your internal hero and let him help you get over this phase; it's time to move on.

Wouldn't it be cool if we were charmed?!

This TV drama had us focused and glued to our screens, although we know deep down that it is all a lie, but you can say that it is a nice kind of lies.

This had me wonder, if there were real charmed people in life, some with magical powers and have the ability to change facts or manipulate reality to make things better. And should this be the case, there must be some with black magical powers to balance out.

I would love to be on the good side, to be charmed with good or white magical powers to make the world a better place. Which of the witches' powers I would like to have? Would it be the power to move things with my mind, or to freeze or bomb things, or to fly or get premonitions, or orb from one place to another?

If I am to choose; I would definitely pick the power to freeze or bomb things as I think that this is the coolest power, although orbing is also great.

Just imagine what one can do if he/she possesses such power. It would be nice to stop time momentarily to smooth things or prevent a disaster.
 

So if you were to choose a power, what would it be??

The first time I heard the term "Laughter Yoga", I went like: HUH!!!

I think some of you must have heard or even practiced laughter yoga, but let me share with you my own experience in this field.

A couple of years ago when I was living in Dubai, I was presented with an opportunity to participate in a laughter yoga session, and I was very excited at the prospect of trying something new. We were gathered in the front yard of a friend's house (and ex boss), and the instructors were at the very front. We were standing randomly in a group.

The instructor started out by explaining to us how laughter is known to help us relieve some of the internal stress that we suffer, and he also explained that analyzing the laughter act; it is a bunch of movements and acts that the body performs, hence we can actually practice it.

And then the session began.

We were instructed to start the laughter by bending our heads to the front and imitate laughter saying ho ho and then expand the arms as we raise our heads way to the back till we see the stars as we go ha ha ha, and repeat this till he tells us to stop.

At the beginning; it all seemed strange and I was uneasy about how stupid I must have looked ho ho'ing and ha ha ha'ing, but as he changed the exercises and varied the movements, we really picked up the pace and soon we were all moving around, facing all parties in the group as we continue to ho ho and ha ha ha. We were even given instructions to increase and decrease the pace of the ha ha ha, and before we knew it, we had been laughing our hearts out.

I remember this phone move!

By the time we finished, we were extremely exhausted, as if we had done heavy exercises but we were very happy and relieved.

I have to tell you that this experience was fantastic and I really wish we had it here so that I can go and do it all over again.

Laughter Yoga was started around 10 years ago in India by a Dr Madan Kataria and his wife Madhuri. Their initiative has extended to forming hundreds of laughter clubs around the world and they hold lots of events internationally; you can get all the exciting info here.

Founder and Co-founder of Laughter Yoga Organization

At the end of this post; I have to say: laughter is really one of the best medicines I have ever come across!!

The New 7 Wonders Foundation has launched the first-ever global vote to choose 7 wonders out of 21 nominated ones. Petra is one of the nominees and therefore; this is a call to all of us to vote for our heritage to be one of the chosen 7 wonders.

The voting has already started and it will last for a full year. The results will be announced in Jan 2007, so do cast your votes now.

You can find all the information on how to vote on the official website for the foundation; click here to visit the website.

To give you an idea about what the nominations are and they are listed here by code as on the website:

CODE 01: Acropolis - Athens, Greece

CODE 02: Alhambra - Granada, Spain

CODE 03: Angkor – Cambodia

CODE 04: Chichen Itza - Yucatan, Mexico

CODE 05: Christ Redeemer - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

CODE 06: Colosseum - Rome, Italy

CODE 07: Easter Island Statues – Chile

CODE 08: Eiffel Tower - Paris, France

CODE 09: Great Wall – China

CODE 10: Hagia Sophia - Istanbul, Turkey

CODE 11: Kiyomizu Temple - Kyoto, Japan

CODE 12: Kremlin / St. Basil - Moscow, Russia

CODE 13: Machu Picchu – Peru

CODE 14: Neuschwanstein Castle - Füssen, Germany

CODE 15: Petra – Jordan

CODE 16: Pyramids of Giza – Egypt

CODE 17: Statue of Liberty - New York, USA

CODE 18: Stonehenge - Amesbury, United Kingdom

CODE 19: Sydney Opera House – Australia

CODE 20: Taj Mahal, Agra – India

CODE 21: Timbuktu – Mali
 

As you can see; the competition is aggressive, so we better do our duty and vote for Petra to make it to the finalists.

Please spread the word, you can find the instructions and the numbers to vote here.

We all know what the word means, don’t we?

But are we all aware of the consequences? Do we know exactly what effect gossip has over people's lives and futures? And even if we knew; does that stop us?

Experienced gossipers know their business quite well; all they have to do is say: I heard such and such and a rumor is on the spread, like fire in straw and it is seldom stopped or contained; in fact it only gets bigger and much worse.

Gossip has become a profession, especially for tabloid news hunters and paparazzi, who spend all their waking hours chasing celebrities to get some dirt as they call it, and sell it to the highest bidder or several of them; to them, this has become a way of living.

We all condemn such acts, yet we somehow enjoy reading about scandals and celebrities news.

In regular newspapers; we have pages for such news talking about anonymous people getting into accidents or killing each other over a conversation or any other piece of news that interests the public, and I say that because if no one was interested in these kinds of things, they would not be there in the first place.

You might be thinking to yourself now, that this is so normal and why is she blogging about this?

Well, my friends, the reason is very simple!

I am blogging about this because we have a new type of gossip that is emerging and strongly I might add. I am going to call it "E-Gossip" and this stands for Electronic Gossip.

What is E-Gossip?

With the new freedom discovered in blogging, and the power of blogospheres and blog communities; some would find this a suitable soil to start spreading some false information or unsupported news that might have all sorts of consequences on the readers, especially that you have the power of commenting and maybe adding to these news.

A blogger has a responsibility towards his/her readers, and fellow bloggers to have enough integrity and honesty in presenting his/her opinions, especially when addressing social issues that are highly subjective to public opinions. Personal accountability in this specific field plays a major role in reflecting both the blogger's and commenter's credibility.

In my attempt to search for good content blogs on the web; I come across a lot of blogs that are based on such gossip. Some bloggers pick issues that have impact in the society and are faced with a lot of contradiction, and this is not bad if it was channeled and directed properly, because I believe that conflict is good and gives opportunity for more brains to be scratched, and more pencils to be sharpened, which benefits all involved parties.

It is good to have discussions about different matters as long as they are based on a strong solid foundation of true credible information and not on something we heard or read about.

Last but not least; I would like to add that I am proud to be a part of a credible blogosphere and honest community like Jordan Planet; it makes all the difference to me to know in my heart that what I read in blogs of my fellow citizens is honest and credible and of very high value, and I consider all the time I spend in reading and commenting on their entries to be time very well spent.

Keep on blogging mates; we have a responsibility to make this world a better place to live in starting with our small community.  

i.e. I am at home and I am sick 

It all started out with a severe lack of sleep; and here we are thinking that this can never harm you, I mean:

فما أطال النوم عمراً ... ولا قصّر في الأعمار طول السهر

Unfortunately; science and nature tell us otherwise as lack of sleep can kill you if you are not careful.

Some would tell you that your biological clock might be out of control and that's because of the extra long vacation we just had. That would be so true if I did not suffer from the lack of sleep for a longer period than a week, so this theory is out of the question.

Another theory states that I am suffering from anxiety and over worrying. I can't deny that I have so much on my mind, but I don’t know for sure if this is what is keeping me up till the early hours of the morning; so this theory is a possibility.

Others would say that I am depressed and that is why I am not sleeping. Could this be true?

This made me google the physical signs of depression; to my shock, lack of sleep is also a symptom of depression along with other signs that I have, so this theory is also a possibility.

My boss told me yesterday that lack of sleep can weaken the immunity system in the body and that I will be susceptible to catch a cold or any other illness. I guess he was right because I am really sick.

Now I am sitting at home cause I could not go to work, and I feel like I have been hit by a train … fever and runny nose … BLEH

Do yourself a favor and get some good sleep every night … I learned this the hard way

Inspired by my colleague Omar's post about True Love, I am asking this question  to all those who supposedly succeeded in finding love, or were lucky enough to have been found by love … what is love?

I realize and admit that I am a total failure when it comes to love, the strange obsession that changes everything in your life and without you even noticing.

Of course there were times in my life that I was in love, or at least I thought I was. The common denominator in all these experiences is that I was never appreciated until I was no longer available; as long as I was in the relationship, I was pretty much taken for granted, but once I rebel for my poor dignity and withdraw myself from the unhealthy situation, they come back seeking forgiveness and saying they were sorry they had hurt me or let me go, or they were stupid … blah blah blah

I had more than my fair share of love or illusion of it that I stopped believing in it altogether. If love exists for real, how does it feel like? How do you know that you are in love? How do you know that this is the one?

I know that some of you will say that it is my fault and that I am the one who is incapable of love and that might be true. I really don’t know and have no way in finding out; I just feel empty from the inside, is this longing for love?

Let's hear what you think …

The Writing under the picture: A Volkswagen Polo is loaded in the car towers of the VW Autostadt in Wolfsburg, northern Germany on Wednesday. The Autostadt, situated next to Volkswagen headquarters, is the company's themepark and distribution center where daily 5,500 visitors view Volkswagen brands like Bentley, Audi, Lamborghini. (Click to enlarge)

This made me sadly think of out experience in finding a parking spot in the rapidly changing Amman. You go to any part of town and it is a struggle to find a parking space to safely leave your car in.

Behind our offices in Sweifieh; there is a closed street where we can supposedly park our cars while we are at work; but guess what? Almost half of this space is owned by a hotel owner, and yeah the hotel is there but you never guess it is actually a hotel, but anyway, we are not allowed to park there.

Some of the buildings' guards actually reserve spots to some of the workers in the same building. I really don’t know how they get them to do that, but they just put some rocks to reserve the space and you cannot argue with them because you will be putting yourself in a compromising position which is unwise at the end of the day.

It just perplexes me how they fail to plan for proper parkings when they plan and build cities; it is really silly.

 Beautiful City of Abu Dhabi - UAE

Like Abu Dhabi; if you have visited the city before you would know that it is filled with very tall buildings, but the funny thing is that you will find a block of these buildings with only one space in the center to represent a parking for all the people residing or working in these buildings. It takes ages for one to find a spot and park the car for the day or the night; I remember once that it took me 40 minutes to find a spot; I know it's crazy.

 Parking in Abu Dhabi - UAE

This would make you think that they changed the planning for Dubai, but no, they did not. People in Dubai suffer from the same problem.

As everyone is witnessing now, the number of cars is rapidly increasing in Amman, and almost every working adult in Amman has a car, so it is a simple calculation for those planners. If you have a commercial building that has 10 offices in 5 floors. Let's say that each office has 5 people on average which is the minimum number any company can consist of, then at least you would need a parking that can hold 30 – 50 cars at least, and I know that no one would mind the extra rent if the office comes with a parking; I know I wouldn't.

Endless problem; it almost made me feel that having a car is a curse as well as a blessing!!

So it's that time of the year again, when the whole family gathers at one place and we do good old BBQ.

Be it hot or cold, this never stopped us from enjoying this one ritual that puts all of us in one place, sharing the effort and the fun.

This year, it happened to be very cold, and nonetheless; my father and my brother in law set to work in the cold weather, preparing and grilling … and at the end of it we sat and enjoyed the yummy food, and of course there were lots of appetizers and after lunch goodies, fruits and sweets.

My camera was a witness to some of the action, but I could not take many pictures because of the cold, so I leave you with the best two!

Happy Eid to all!!

The Grill looks inviting, don't you think?

Yesterday night, I was reading an article in the Jordanian Magazine "Living Well" and the least I could say is that I was shocked by this specific article.

The article is titled "What I like about you". The writer meets 8 of Jordan's most eligible bachelors to ask them about what they like in their dream girls.

I have to say that I was really sad from what I read, because these guys are supposedly a good representation of Jordanian men, and if the answers they gave are the truth about how men evaluate and see women; well then, I guess we are in a more dangerous position than I thought.

The questions lead these men to describe what they like and don’t like about girls' physique, and never once it hinted on what they think of a woman's brains and personality. The guys threw some hints here in there in a desperate attempt to show that they are not really focused on physical appearance, but as a reader; it sure did not do them any good.

In case you did not read the article; I am listing here the 13 questions those guys were cornered with, and they were as follows:

1-       Do you like a woman to be skinny or more voluptuous?

2-       What's the first thing you look at in a woman?

3-       What physical traits attract you to a woman?

4-       Would your dream girl be a blonde, brunette, or a redhead and why?

5-       Do you like an outgoing girl who is a party animal? Why or why not?

6-       Do you ever notice what a girl is wearing? Does style matter to you?

7-       What look do you like in a woman, be it sexy, casual, elegant, girly, etc., and why?

8-       If you go out to dinner with a woman who doesn't eat more than a salad, what would go through your mind?

9-       Do you like a girl to wear make-up?

10-   What is your favorite scent on a woman?

11-   What physical traits are turn offs for you, and why?

12-   Do you believe in the quote "Beauty is on the inside"?

13-   Describe your dream girl's physical appearance.

Look again at this list of questions and tell me; can't you summarize them in 2 or 3 questions at the most? Whatever happened to a woman's personality and brains? Do all men want to be seen next to a doll no matter what? Is that their ultimate goal in their relationships? To be seen with the most beautiful sexiest dead gorgeous girl out there? Is that all what they care about?

Let's assume that yes that is exactly what men are after, what happens when this great physical appearance start to change and fade away? Do they start looking for another doll and forget about the first one? Or they get depressed and blame the whole world for their bad luck? What happened to reason and logic?  No wonder so many marriages are collapsing and falling apart after a few years; if the man enters the relationship believing that he will always have a beauty queen for a wife, he will get the shock of his life when he finally realizes that even the most beautiful women change with time and other factors like having babies for example!

And what about guys and how they look like? Shouldn't there be another article interviewing the most eligible bachelorettes to ask them about what they like in their dream men? That's only fair if you ask me, because these guys did not hit me as the Arabic version of Brad Pitt, Nickolas Cage or George Clooney. In the end they are normal guys who are craving abnormal women!

What never changes about a woman and only continues to grow is her character and unique personality, but unfortunately; this was never a part of the questionnaire and the writer says that the secret is finally out about what men like and encourages the readers to "Read 'em and weep!"

This image that these guys appeared in is not attractive at all, and I am telling you that only empty headed women will like what was mentioned in that article and try to become the dream girl of these guys; physically that is; because there was no mention whatsoever to whether these guys wanted their ladies with brains or not.

No wonder the emerging generation is obsessed with plastic surgery and diets. I mean; these guys want goddesses for girlfriends and then they would be seriously alerted if this girlfriend ate only a salad for dinner … DUH!!!

The highlights of the conversations were really peculiar.

First guy said that humans should not have toes because he hates how they look.
Second guy says that it is a must that a girl has a gap between her thighs because he hates it how some women's thighs stick together.
Third guy says that a woman should have a luscious mouth because in his opinion; nice lips are a sign of greater things to come.
Fourth guy says that he is now a butt guy because he realized that if a woman has a nice butt, she must have a nice body.
Fifth guy says that he likes the chic look in a woman i.e. a girl who looks like a woman and oozes style and elegance.
Sixth guy says that he like the super feminine lady who is also pretty and gives off sex appeal without trying.
Seventh guy says that a woman has to have the face of Degas and the body of Botticelli.
Finally, the eighth guy says that designer labels are the least of his concern; if it looks good, then cool.

I will tell you what; I would love to see the women that these guys will end up with.

The reason I am posting about this is that I am really shocked of the facts mentioned in this article, and to ask you what you think. Do you agree with these guys? Or do you think that a woman has more to her than physical appearance?

After reading this article; I thanked God that I was never a dead gorgeous diva and I will never be, because if it means that I will end up with a guy who does not look into my soul and likes what he sees, thank you very much, but I'd rather not.

P.S. This post is totally and purely a reflection of my personal opinion and does not intend to critisize any party in particular.

My aunt's family owns a big farm in a town called "Om Rommaneh". I don’t know if you have heard of that place but it is located between Shafa Badran and Baqa'a or something like that. All I know is that it is a lovely place, great weather and wonderful farms.

My aunt plants all sorts of vegetables and fruits on their land, and they always bring us some of the farm products when they do visit every now and then. Figs, grapes, tomatoes, olives, olive oil, peaches, apricots … etc.

Now, this post is not about my aunt's farm, though I will be posting some of the pictures taken there; I am sure you will all love them.

This post is about a tree that we pass on the way to the farm. I believe that this tree must be the oldest and biggest in Jordan; once you see the picture, you will understand why.

It is so tall that sometimes I imagine that it is actually reaching the clouds with its branches, and it is so big that we can't help but park the car and get some pictures of it. Its shade is as big as a house, and believe me; picnics there are the best ever.

I leave you with the pictures of this wonderful tree and I am sure you will love it as much as I do.

Click on the images to enlarge 

They really did! 

Here is how they did it …

I purchased my car last year in December and am still paying installments; will keep doing so and not for a short while.

Needless to say; the license renewal was due last December but I did not have the time to do it assuming that the delay month would end on the 24^th of Jan, however; checking my car license I realized that it ends on the 14^th and not 24^th, so I had only today (Thursday) and Sunday to renew it, so my dad rushed this morning to the registration department to do that for me (thank God for dads).

The problem started at 9:00 A.M. when my dad thought he was finished, after he paid the money and they handed him the receipt and went ahead with issuing the license, but when dad checked the receipt he realized that it was issued to someone else, and by the time he went back to bring their attention to it, the "efficient" clerks had already issued the license to that someone, and just like that, my car was not mine anymore … the screwed up and STOLE MY CAR!!!!

Can I scream now?

No, not yet, because they do not have the authority to rectify the terrible mistake they did, they only have the authority to do the mistake!!!

Apparently they had to refer the matter to the head office to get their approval to rectify and give me my car back, and they gave dad the money back and told him to wait.

My poor old diabetic dad sat there and waited till they called him to start the whole process all over again, and every time they send him again to another one of their clerks behind the dirty windows, they shout in his face: "b el dor ya 7aj" i.e. stand in line; they had the nerve to do that at every window till dad felt sick to his senses but he wanted to get the car back at any cost.

By the time he was done it was 4 hours later, and no they did not apologize to him. I am so pissed off that I don’t know what to say or how to react so I chose to vent so that anyone who reads this post would be careful to check and double check what these idiots do before leaving their position in front of those dirty windows!!!

This morning as I was driving to work, I got into a traffic jam as usual and I was wondering what the cause might be this time.

As I neared the core of the reason, the ambulance was just leaving the scene and I was thinking that the drivers might be hurt so bad that and ambulance was needed to rush them to the nearest hospital, and luckily there was one very close by.

I did not realize how bad the accident was until I was right next to it. The policemen were doing their best to clear the scene and move the traffic. I had taken my camera out hoping to be able to capture the scene as I neared it and was able to take one single shot from the side.

Click on the picture to enlarge

As you can see from the picture, the mini bus has climbed over the separating street island and smashed in the electric post, so practically half the car was on the other side of the street which caused another car coming from the opposite direction to smash in the minibus from the front.

The shattered glass was allover the street and I could hear it under the tires of my own vehicle which caused a shiver to run through my body.

I do not know how badly the drivers were hurt or worse if one or both of them has died (God forbid), but I could almost smell it in the air.

This got me really thinking; when we are speeding up, and yes, I do that more often than not, so when we do that; are we rushing to reach a certain destination or rushing to face a more drastic action of fate? I mean; what is the worst that can happen if we are a few minutes late? Whatever happened to "Better Late than Never"? Why do we neglect the call of common sense that emerges from within us when it comes to the competitive nature of our souls?

I really felt so sad to have witnessed such an awful accident this morning and I hope to God that these poor drivers were not severely hurt.

Before I say anything about the topic of this post, I have to warn you; if you have a sensitive stomach, easily grossed or can't handle the truth; read at your own responsibility.

Two days ago, I was watching a reality show with my parents on one of the foreign channels that you get only if you are paying for what you watch. Anyway; this show in particular was shocking that it got me thinking that I should share the information with you, because if it is happening there; what makes us sure that it is not happening here? How can we be sure that it is a special case to that show or that region?

To clarify what I am talking about; the show was about cameras hidden in big restaurant and hotel kitchens to observe and monitor staff behavior and hygiene, and it turned out to be a horror movie rather than just a surveillance tape.

I know that you might be thinking to yourself now that it is about staff not wearing gloves while working with the food that later will be put on our tables and goes straight to our stomachs, but I am afraid it is a little more serious than that.

I am going to narrate some of the scenes that were captured by the surveillance camera, and I apologize for the details if they are a bit repulsing or disgusting.

I know that the kitchen looks OK, but do you see anyone wearing gloves???!!!

Picture it with me; the location is a big kitchen of a hotel/restaurant. Staff is quite busy preparing food for customers who are nagging to get their food in the minimum possible waiting time, so the scenes vary as follows:

-          A chef is preparing the pizza and is spreading the crust, but get this; he is sneezing on it and working as if nothing is happening.

-          Another chef doing the same as the first one but goes as far as wiping his nose with his bare hand and continuing to spread the crust normally.

-          A lady chef is preparing a dish of Chinese food when all of a sudden she drops the whole pan on the floor, and what she does next is that she collects the food in the pan with her feet (with her shoes on, not that it would be any better if she were barefoot) and then serves it to the customers as it is.

-          A waiter is about to serve a soup dish, but before he does; he stirs it with his bare hand a bit and continues to serve it to the customer.

-          Another waiter spits in the dish before serving it to the customer.

-          A staff member peeing in the ice maker machine!!!!!!!!!

-          A chef peeing in the food that he is preparing.

-          Another goes as far as puking in the cooking pan.

-          A couple get carried away and make love right there while they are preparing the food.

 (Scenes were taken in different locations, obviously!)

These are only a part of the shocking scenes that were shown and discussed, and according to the show; these scenes were taken in large hotels and restaurants that are well known and supposedly reputable.

What made me transfer this to you is the idea that this can be happening under our noses, and who knows what we are eating in these places?!!

So it is not about washing hands, cleaning around the kitchen, wearing gloves and paying attention to the kitchen overall hygiene; it is about the integrity of these people preparing and serving our food.

Just how confident are we that the waiter did not spit in our drinks or put his bare hands in our food after they have been -God knows- where!!

I am telling you; this show has changed my whole perspective about restaurants and eating out, and if I am eating out; I am urged to go enter the kitchen and check what they are doing there.

The questions that come to mind: are owners keen on staff hygiene in general? How often is this checked and double checked? What kinds of penalties do they have for those who don’t follow the regulations? Do they wear the same clothes every day? How often are they washed?

So next time you are eating out be sure not to piss off your waiter, because you might end up getting more than you asked for from him, just for getting back at you!!!

I apologize for the images that I left you with in this post, but I had to share this with all of you because it is a very sensitive issue.

As a gift to all the readers; here is a FREE E-book about Kitchen Hygiene and I hope that you will enjoy it!
Just click on the picture to download!

 Hygiene in the Kitchen

Disclaimer: This post is a general one; not hinting or implying any party in particular; rather it is an observation and some questions that came to my mind.
All images were fetched through Yahoo Image Search!!