Off for a few weeks

I'm traveling tomorrow, and therefore, this blog will not be updated for a while.

You know, the one thing I always have with me when I travel is a big book. It has to be big because I do not have the space to carry a few books, so it has to last. It has to be non-fiction, because I like to feel like I'm not just wasting the time away. Vacation time is a good time to embrace history and its reality and maybe learn from it. Also, it has to be paperback. I really do not understand the fascination with hardback book covers. They make it bulky and heavy. You can't just sit and read it anywhere. Your hands get tired and eventually, you stop.

So, after careful consideration and much deliberation, I picked Mein Kampf (Hitler's "baby"). As a poli sci graduate, I am ashamed to admit that I never read it. I was looking for a good, decent translation. I do not want to read something that does not represent it properly. So, I got one that comes highly recomended, and I plan to read it through. Hopefuly, I will finish it before I get back, but if I didn't, then that would mean that I am having way too much fun and not enough time to read. So, we will see how it goes.

As I was saying before my ADD kicked in, I will be MIA for a few weeks, so check in after July 10th for new posts.

Missing you all already.

Bisous!

P.S.

B, Happy Birthday hun! I'll call you soon as I land.
C, I'll miss our videocalls!
Tar, wa ashra7 laha, 3an 7alati... I blame you for getting that stuck in my head
Fads, I think I finally found you a codename, you like? Honestly?
Anj, where are you and what are you doing? You went * poof * and disappeared

On Book Endings...

You buy a book, rush home and flip to the first page. You start to read, and then, you become so engrossed in the book that you lose track of time. You no longer know whether it is day or night, nor do you even care. You read and you read, you read until you pass half of it and then, dread seeps in. You want to finish the book, you want the characters to end their stories, may it be a happy ending, or a sad one. You want to set them free. At the same time, you aren't ready to say goodbye yet. So, you read a little slower, take your time and give them theirs. Slowly, yet inevitably, you reach the last chapter. By then, the characters aren't just alive in your imagination, they are crystal clear. You can hear their voices clearly and see them dressed in all their different outfits and could even see the rooms they enter/exit and the roads they travel on.

However, no matter how slow you read, and how much you prolong it, it happens. You reach the last page, the last few words and then, you read "The End". These two words are bittersweet. You are happy that it ended for their sake, but your sad because, it is like saying goodbye to a friend. It is as hard to say goodbye to the characters as it is to say goodbye to friends. Why is that? Well, for a brief moment in time, you are allowed in to their world, you share their secrets, celebrate their triumphs and cringe at their failures. They become a part of you as you become a part of them.

I just finished reading one of the best books I have ever read. The best thing about the book is that it is many stories in one. I must admit, in the beginning, it was a little hard to get into it, but eventually, I really had a hard time putting it down. I'm really sad that it had to end. Some books you just wish would go on forever and ever. This is definitely one of those. The book is called "The Hakawati" by Rabih Alameddine. He is a Lebanese American and the book is written in English, so nothing is lost in translation. The best part of this book in particular and any book in general is when you can relate to it. Family dynamics and societal ones are similar all over the world, and so, anyone can relate to it somehow. I highly recommend it.

One of my favorite paragraphs:

" Uncle Jihad used to say that what happens is of little significance compared with the stories we tell ourselves about what happens. Events matter little, only stories of those events that affect us. My father and I may have shared numerous experiences, but, as I was constantly finding out, we rarely shared their stories; we didn't know how to listen to one another."

Rambling....

Know what's the saying I hate the most? It is the one that goes "life deals everyone different cards, and it's how we play those cards that counts". I hate it, mainly because in a poker game when you are dealt cards, you always have the option to fold and try your luck the next round. However, life doesn't really work that way, now does it? We are stuck with the "cards" we are dealt, and that is the end of it.

Life, to me, is more like the saying "we are all kings and pawns". Sometimes, we are kings, we rule, we decide, we choose, we use, we... well, we are in charge basically. Other times, we are pawns. We are ruled, decisions are made for us, in a nut shell, we are ruled.

The best saying, however, is "Life is a bitch". It is obvious why that is...

Out

Random Things About Me:

I got this idea from E. I don't know how long this list will be... so bear with me =)

1. I've always wanted to learn how to juggle
2. My dream is to one day write a novel
3. If I am passionate about something, I become obsessed.
4. My mind works in mysterious ways. Seriously, I have the weirdest shit going through my head at all times, and I have so much random, useless info stored, it freaks me out sometimes.
5. I really enjoy my time away from people, sometimes a little too much.
6. I have a memory that is worse even than a Goldfish's one
7. I love to sing, and I do not care that a. my voice sucks, and b. i can not carry a tune
8. I used to draw, and I was pretty good at it
9. I've written enough poetry to fill a book, but I never share them with anyone
10. My imagination tends to get a little out of hand very often
11. I laugh in sad, sappy movies. The only movie that ever made me cry is: Saving Private Ryan
12. I may put on a tough exterior, but I'm pretty damn sensitive inside.
13. I am very blunt and straightforward. I also appreciate it when someone is the same with me. I do not like games.
14. I do, however, LOVE board games, card games, video games, ANY game. Sadly, no one would play speed or monopoly with me anymore. Apparently, people do not like to lose
15. I love movies and books. They are my passion. Actually, my other dream is to own a book shop...
16. I am a tech- geek. That is the reason why I do not go to places such as Jumbo electronics, Sharaf DG, Virgin Mega store, Plug Ins, Radio shack, Cell phone shops etc. If I did, I'd own every single new gadget out there.
17. I am more logical than I am emotional when it comes to certain things.
18. I'm insomniac =)
19. Although I am blunt, I hate rude people. Speak your mind if you must, but do so politely
20. I STILL can't eat M&M's regardless of what colour they are.

Iout.

The beauty of poems...

... is that they linger. There is something so reassuring about reading a loved poem. It always manages to take you back to that exact moment when you fell in love with it for the first time. It yanks you through space and time, envelops you in a bubble, and for the next few minutes nothing can touch you or ruin the moment for you. For at that precise moment, you are isolated from everything, nothing exists but your thoughts and your soul. It is an experience that one can never tire from.


Sonnet # 43
By: William Shakespear

"When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see,
For all the day they view things unrespected;
But when I sleep, in dreams they look on thee,
And darkly bright, are bright in dark directed.
Then thou, whose shadow shadows doth make bright,
How would thy shadow's form form happy show
To the clear day with thy much clearer light,
When to unseeing eyes thy shade shines so!
How would, I say, mine eyes be blessed made
By looking on thee in the living day,
When in dead night thy fair imperfect shade
Through heavy sleep on sightless eyes doth stay!
All days are nights to see till I see thee,
And nights bright days when dreams do show thee me."

He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
By: W. B. Yeats

"HAD I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams."

IF
By: Rudyard Kipling

"If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!"

Click for good

Whenever you are on line, bored and have a few minutes to spare, please visit the following websites to make a donation by a simple mouse-click. Yes, isn't it grand? All you have to do, is click the banner and voila! Someone will get food, someone will get a mamogram and so on.

Websites:

Link 1
(Has around 5 or 6 different causes to donate to)

Link 2
(To donate kibble to homeless dogs)

Link 3
(To donate kibble to homeless cats)

Blogger being annoying...

Again!!!

Seriously, I do not know where my posts decided to disappear to and get lost. I lost a previously published post and a new post I was writing.

Oh well, not like I will go through the motions of writing everything again. Whatever, I guess they weren't meant to be on blogger in the first place...

On family...

Family, can not live without them, and at the same time, living with them is continuous struggle!!!

Ugh!

E, this is for you

"Live your life in happiness, even though those around you lead lives which are unhealthy, and wish to spread their illness to you. Be Happiness itself."
- Buddha

The cactus mystery... solved!

I was sent a quotation that suggests that I am not the only human to ever manage to kill a cactus plant. Granted, it took me a month, but by the end of the month, the cactus had shriveled, dried out and collapsed. It was a very pitiful sight, and one could not help but feel sorry for the plant. Needless to say, I haven't come close to any plant for over 5 years now. I've been scarred for life. And yes, I guess I too am less nurturing than a desert. On the brighter side, my cat survived a whole year with me, so there! I can take care of moving living things.

"I bought a cactus. A week later it died. And I got depressed, because I thought, Damn. I am less nurturing than a desert."
- Demetri Martin

=) =) =)