Out of the Qomqom*

I'm bored, dizzy and sick of being sick. Well dizzy because I've been playing this weird game called First-Person Tetris. Last time I wrote I spent the previous weeks sick in bed. Well, now I'm feeling better.

Little progress in my study as I can't find the right people to answer my questions. I need managers/ employees in UAE, who are willing to use, or already using Intranet Blogs in their organizations. Since I can't find people in such category, my advisor said it's going to be an exploratory study. But still I need managers who are willing to gather and attend a focused group discussion where we can talk and answer the questions of the study.

My MS-office word is giving me hard time. I'm not able to add the tables of index, references, figures, among many other things. So it's really boring and time consuming thing to do it manually. I still have to edit the literature review grammatically, and finish paraphrasing the previous studies section, let alone writing the last two chapters.

I've always loved my study, loved reading books and even better writing my own philosophy regarding what I read and what I'm really interested in i.e writing a thesis; BUT (yes a big but here) this is different.

My life seems upside-down. I have a lot in mind; projects and plans. Yet I feel my life is pending and I'm spending my days just waiting. it feels like gazing at a white wall with nothing in mind, but this wall is full of scratches and sketches of my thoughts, and they are getting messy and crowded.

***

oh, I almost forgot! Today was my father's birthday and as usual, Atta Crocker backed a chocolate cake. No photos this time. we ate it before I could take a picture.

Happy Birthday dad, even though I know you don't read my blog but I'm sure mom will tell you I wrote :)

* Qomqom: the bottle where the jinn are kept .. but in Arabic the word is uses for people who hide away for a while.
P.S. don't over play the game I gave in the link. it's really .. no healthy :|

That's all for now
I hope you can make sense out of this post

Zemanta

I just found this Zemanta thing. Actually this is smart. I always need to add Wikipedia links, videos and photos to my posts but I too busy to check this Zemanta myself. If anyone tried it please update me :)



That's all for now

Hot .. out of the Kiln

 

My beloved Google Account

 

I've never new how much I am attached to my E-life, my Gmail, my Google account until this passing moment! They say when people die, their entire life flashes in their eyes. For a moment, seeing this message, I freaked out thinking: "my email, my archive, my online picasa web albums, my documents, my blog, MY ENTIRE E-LIFE flashing in my eyes!!!!

Then, I tried to sign in again, saying all the prayers I know, staring at the monitor, pressing the "sing in" button worried as much as hopeful and it worked. Thanks God, I can't be more thankful than what I feel right now.

That's all my now

P.S. Google people, I love you so much. Please don't mess up with me again. It really breaks my heart and takes away the trust I've invested in our relationship :)

A Cute Couple

 

Previously I complained about studying and how busy I was trying to juggle between university and study, atelier, house chores and another social activities. After KJ's visit, mom went to Amman and came back with grandma, we went to many places and yet I had to skip some of them. No, not because I was studying, but because I was sick. I spent the last two weeks lazily in bed. Now I'm all fine al7amdulillah, but I'm struggling to maintain my usual routine and struggling to go back to my study. I'm just revising it right now and still have two chapters to go.

***

Found this cute couple in a collection photos of the moon :)
That's all for now

QAQ

QAQ as in Qanatu Al Qasba
First time testing mobile blogging!

Green Leaf

 

I'm still working on my thesis. Progress is something obvious but I still need to speed up more than just a little. I'm rewarding myself and earning my hours in playing with clay in my atelier. This is a tile which I made for gardens. It's part of a collection. Can be hanged on walls or put under the water tab of gardends or just to step on between isles :)

That's all for now

New Hijri Year Prayers

I like to share this Hijri New Year wishes with you

The year has come to an end,
its sweetness and bitterness
happiness and sorrow

Here comes a new year
Therefore, let's start a new page for the new year
Don't look behind, that's a painful past
Nor at today, for it is present that would bother you
Nor forward, that's future would brings you insomnia

But look above, there's the Merciful God

Apologies to all those I did wrong unto, neglected or hurt unconsciously

That's all for now
Happy New Hijri Year :)

Interesting!

Saw this and kept thinking of the last question.

P.S Keep the volume low :)

Anything But My Bathroom

So, the hour I spent today sterilizing my bathroom was unplanned. When jiddo (grandpa) came to visit last year, he stayed in my room and took over my bathroom. I spent about a year in the guest/maid/ laundry room or call it what you will. It's a small room with its bathroom where I spent most of last year studying and preparing for my previous thesis. Such a small room where I used to sit on my office chair and move from here to here, because there was no there.

Back to jiddo's visit. Or right after that, when I discovered the seat of toilet was a bit loose. I told my dad to inform the maintenance back then. then jiddo came to visit again and it was all forgotten. Then my sister Sana finished her study and came to live with us. With her first visit to the bathroom she fixed the loose seat! Thanks Sue :D

Last month I came from Jordan and found the seat loose again. Told dad to inform the maintenance department and next day they came and fixed it. Thanks BUT from that day I noticed spots of water, then bigger wet areas and my sister checked and said the tank is leaking. "So they fixed the seat to break the tank" I believe. We informed the maintenance and they sent a worker and oh my he said the tank is leaking! I thought "we told you so!"

So we waited almost two weeks! and today they sent Mr Know-How-To-Fix-Things and he did fix the tank. While Atta doing her mission of sterilizing the bathroom she discovered now the seat is terribly loose. So they came to fix the tank and break the seat!

First time I tried to flush the toilet an aircraft was in the air. But the sound was sort of coming from the tank! OMG then it landed there I think and a bomb sound was made to announce "the tank is Full" :S

What I am annoyed about is not the broken things or fixing them or the aircraft sound. I'm only annoyed about the idea of a stranger in my bathroom. You should see me, hiding inside my room telling dad to watch the man and not let him touch a thing. I never go in and never want to see someone there. A couple of times I would ask dad what did the worker exactly touch in the bathroom. Dad rolls his eyes and mumbles a couple of words and mention an OCDic friend and move on with his life, while I keep scrubbing every inch in the bathroom.

That's all for now
I wish dad can fix it

No Thanks, I'm not listening to news for now

To study, to focus, to forget the world and sit down and write my thesis is not an easy thing to do. At time I forget myself reading, rereading and writing and editing. Then for a moment I feel I'm looking at a blank white board with a sound of silence that's too good if it lasts another 30 seconds without the AC noise coming back or a neighbor child's scream coming from the window, OR Aasi voice on TV. (don't get me started about this Turkish series my sister is watching).

Today, that sound of silence and meditating and focusing on a certain phrase I was trying to sculpture was broken by the news on the TV for a moment, then my sister voice, obviously calling Baghdad. I went out of my room and asked "what is it? where now?" only to hear my sister's choking voice telling me the update of the news in Baghdad.

"That's why" I said to myself "I've been blocking all news, tv and online, so I won't face the reality and look at my life in exile, just a trivial thing. So I won't think of my thesis a silly thing compared to real life events and stop studying"

 

Handmade Iraq maps by attawie

That's all for now
Let's pray for Iraq

Real Time Search!

This is beyond expectation!
I'm loving it!
wow wow wow
speechless



I could be over excited about it but Google is like my left hand and this is just amazing :)
That's all for now
Google will reveal more :D

Hopeful

Another morning to wake up late and miss the walk to the lake. I'm disappointed but I hope I'll study more and make up for the early morning hours. I miss working on the wheel! I told myself if I finish this ammount of writing I'll reward myself and go to the atelier and work on the wheel. Let's see what will happen.

Meanwhile, I'm sharing this handmade plate which I made along with another bunch of plates but took me a while to glaze them and I'm still left with many biskit plates waiting to be coloured.

 

That's all for now
let's hope for more

Animator vs. Animation!

I'm not sure how many times I watched this but it's so fun and relaxing.



Just click on the text here, click on play,
then leave the mouse alone , sit back allow internet explorer page to open and
enjoy a piece of creative brilliance.
I wonder who had 'time' to do this.



not sure if there's copy rights or something :S

Seeking Fresh Air

It's been a week since I started my morning walks to the lake. It all started when R called and said "I'm going for a walk to the lake, please don't say you're busy studying or talking to Khalid". I rolled my eyes for sure but kept telling her I meant to walk to the lake this week but needed a merical to get me out of bed. She made fun about me supporting her for going to the lake and tried to make sure that I'm not saying complements or going to the lake just because it's officially called Khalid's Lake. (where I have to add a secret here that KJ and I are planning to go to the lake soon and add the phrase "and Atta" on the lake sing :D )

So off to the lake, with my cap and tennis shoes on, ten minutes and I'm there. Looking at the magnificent view; the bring sun, a blue sky with cotton candy white clouds here and there, the sound of the waves along with birds songs. It's still too early to feel the burning sun of UAE but yet not that early to feel the coldness of the early morning.

Forgetting my study and the burden it puts on my shoulders with every morning, which feels like a monkey hanging over my neck, I take my steps smiling at the wonderful morning and crossing my fingers wishing I would accomplish something today.

Now I'm going through a weird phase where I want to share all about my dreams and plans as well as the huge amount of inspiration I have for making new collection of ceramics. But I find myself confused whether to publish my work and art using Attawie or should I start an official blog with my full name to post. If I started a new blog for my art are would I link it to this personal blog? Do I want Attawie blog, my den, to be public to friends and family, here where I write my words right from my thoughts? Not sure yet, but until then I'll be sharing here.

 

Snail

That's all for now
let's wait for more

Happy Eid!

 

I know it's late but something is better than nothing :)

Eid is Coming!

Don't freak out! The sound you're hearing right now is called "Takbeer" it means saying "Allahu akbar" i.e. God is great. There are several ways to say Takbeer,


I ran into a website and I heard this takbeer and there were these crazy html language which I don't know how to deal with but there was a note saying "add this to your website" and I thought "I can give it a try". Even though I hate templates and I've been afraid to change a single dot in it, not even adding "My fiancé" next to KJ's blog! But the sound actually worked!


I'm enjoying it!
That's all for now
and I hope you enjoy it too :)

Distributing Smiles :)

After the date was set, tickets were booked, luggage packed, 28th October, my dad, sister and I were in the airport to fly to Amman. My mother came from Amman only the night before and the plan was to join us the next week. But, mom's relative decided to join us and fly to Amman too.

Carrying too many big bags we were transferred to Overweight luggage. It was 7:30 in the morning and our flight was 9:30. The lines were still empty. We were the only family there weighing our bags the woman on the counter said "you may leave to Amman but I'm afraid the old lady won't" We all had huge exclamation marks over our heads. She added "Her passport is an S"

Attawie's thoughts were "It's ok, no problem. She can go back but I'm leaving to Amman, to KJ, to do the civil marriage papers. Calm down, smile and breathe."

The old lady worried and nagging how to go back to the city with all her bags. My dad went to check the airport security if the regulation is right and she can't fly with; my sister busy with weighing bags and putting tags. And Attawie was distributing smiles here and there pretending there was nothing.

Almost an hour passed and we're still in our same place. The airlines were waiting for a Jordanian authority to wake up and report to work, due to time difference, so they can give us instructions. We waited and waited and people start to come and go. The airline employees' shift changed and the new people are asking what the story was. We explained to them and one of them was really worried and stayed with us giving us consolation. She said "I'm new here, almost a month. But let me tell you that I was given instruction not to let any Iraq or Palestinian on the plane without calling my immediate boss. It's a rule". Attawie was standing distributing smiling here and there and announcing "I'm the bride".

Almost two hours passed and we're still in our same place. My sister called the Jordanian embassy to check if an Iraqi with an S passport can enter Jordan. They said there is such regulation but since the passenger is a resident in another country then there's no problem until 2010. We informed the airlines and the airport security and they said they have to check with the embassy themselves. And Attawie still distributing smiles here and there assuring herself "it's nothing!"

An airport security officer was really nice; he said the airplane won't fly without you even if we had to delay the take off. He stayed with us for so long and kept assuring us there won't be a problem.

For me, I was ready to fly that day no matter what. It's a matter of booking a taxi and finding someone to carry the relative's bags and send her to the city. As simple as that, a piece of cake. But she was so worried about leaving and not leaving, mumbling and nagging and talking to herself. I really like the lady but "hello! I'm the bride" it should be all about me, me and me!

Dingdong "Alnidaa alakheer lirokab al ri7la raqam XYZ almotawajiha ila Amman"

- Atta: what was that?
- Sana: didn't notice.

Dingdong "This is the final call for flight no. XYZ heading to Amman"

Attawie starts distributing smiles extensively. Next moment another Airport officer comes and stands next to our luggage on the scale. He starts saying words in his walky-talky I couldn't understand and whispers to the airlines employee. The bags went in and disappeared from our sights. We're given a paper to pay for the overweight luggage. The Airport Officer No.1 accompanies us to the accountancy. We're sent in the lift to gate…" na'a no gate, an airport officer will receive you there".

My sister with her knee injury, dad with his right thigh torn muscle, the old lady with her back pain, were all meters behind me when the lift door was open. I found the officer and quickened my pace. The officer said something in his walky-talky and in seconds a female officer received me. She said where are the rest? I pointed at them. Now I was runny with her and followed by the rest. She said something in the walky-talky and added "I've got the bride. The four people are following". Another female officer received us and she was accompanied by a guy dressed in formal airport uniform. He took me to the airline's desk to take the boarding cards. Passports were with my sister. He said follow me and they will get the cards. We headed two floors down on feet and there UAE officers were waiting for us and a big bus took us to the airplane. The hostess received us with smiles pointing towards ours seats; the only empty seats on the plane. Felt all eyes were staring at me. I was thinking "OMG they must be saying this is why we're ten minutes behind schedule" So I had to continue distributing smiles!

Within seconds we were flying in the sky heading to Amman. And Attawie still distributing smiles but instead of praying silently in her heart she was now thanking God everything went great.

That's all for now
But there will be more later :)

yay :D

Ya naaaas! Ya 3alaaaaam!
KJ mal Atta o Atta mal KJ! :D

Auntie Atta!

I'm an aunt!

Yay :D

I can't wait to see my niece!
She's a cutie. I love her already.
My sister and her baby are both in good health alhamdulillah.

Wishing I was in Amman, I only got to hear her crying on the phone after she was born and then mom and my brother in law kept updating us with photos of the baby girl via MMS. It took them 24 hours to give her a name! and what a lovely name; Lean, Leann, Leeann, Lee Anne. still not sure of the spelling.

Thanks God for this gift. God bless her for us. :)
That's all for now
I'll update you soon
_____________
Update:
I'm in Amman and Layoona is such a lovely tiny girl!

Happy Birthday Dana :)

 

I hope you'll like it :)
Many happy returns our little princess :)

Hopeful Smile

Oh how I miss blogging!

A lot has been going on lately, unfortunately that means more secrets to hide from you. I feel like writing the story of my life but that's too early I guess. Time would shape my perspective and prove me either right or wrong. That's why the story shall wait as well as proceed. Since you're here I'll share bits and pieces of this story.

Today I received my MBA (General Management) degree from the States, finally! I've been waiting since April. I got an A for my thesis and a GPA of 3.67 *bows for applause*

Earlier, I shared with you that I applied for a double major but things did not work. Months passed, while I was in the process of writing my thesis, I was informed that my wish to do double major was answered and the dean approved it. Had to do extra courses and take a course from EMBA program. All went great -al hamdulillah- and here I am in the process of writing my second thesis.

The second specialization is in HR and my thesis is about Blogging and the use of Intranet Blogs in organizations. That's why I've been reading tens of blogs and online publishing about Blogs. I don't have hard copy of references (books or journals). The topic is new and there are books but most of them study blogs as a phenomena in marketing, PR, and organizational image. Thanks to David, who helped me over a year back with finding references for my Organizational Communication course when I made a presentation about the Revolution of Blogs in OC. I was really fascinated by the topic and that's why I had to adopt it for HR and spend extra effort to achieve what I have in mind regarding the topic.

:)

That's all for now
Wish me luck

Friendship & Love... in one picture

:)

Eid Mobarak

 

عيد مبارك
Eid Mobarak

:)

Restless Freedom

Watching this video over and over even after a couple of days, not knowing why exactly, shedding tears of mixed feelings, all I know is that people need to know about this all over the world.

It's the video of the press conference that was held after Muntadhar al Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who threw a shoe at Bush, was released.

This part of his speech keeps occurring to my mind as if I've seen it with my own eyes.

"...a feeling of shame haunted me like an ugly name because I was powerless.And as soon as I finished my professional duties in reporting the daily tragedies of the Iraqis, and while I washed away the remains of the debris of the ruined Iraqi houses, or the traces of the blood of victims that stained my clothes, I would clench my teeth and make a pledge to our victims, a pledge of vengeance.The opportunity came, and I took it.I took it out of loyalty to every drop of innocent blood that has been shed through the occupation or because of it, every scream of a bereaved mother, every moan of an orphan, the sorrow of a rape victim, the teardrop of an orphan. I say to those who reproach me: Do you know how many broken homes that shoe that I threw had entered because of the occupation? How many times it had trodden over the blood of innocent victims? And how many times it had entered homes in which free Iraqi women and their sanctity had been violated? Maybe that shoe was the appropriate response when all values were violated. When I threw the shoe in the face of the criminal, Bush, I wanted to express my rejection of his lies, his occupation of my country, my rejection of his killing my people. My rejection of his plundering the wealth of my country, and destroying its infrastructure. And casting out its sons into a diaspora.After six years of humiliation, of indignity, of killing and violations of sanctity, and desecration of houses of worship, the killer comes, boasting, bragging about victory and democracy.

He came to say goodbye to his victims and wanted flowers in response. Put simply, that was my flower to the occupier..."

You can read The full speech of Muntader after he was released on Khalid's Blog.

I'm glad he decided to share and glad about his goals.
Can't find a better video or links. I'm sort of in hurry.

That's all for now
I wish we can find peace

Surah Al Qadr

That's all for now :)

Words I Want to Share :)

My Dear Blog,

I am aware I've been away lately, unsure if it was the lack of motivation or being busy with life. It's not that you're not part of my life, on the contrary, at times I see you as the mirror that I look into to show me what I've done and reflects to me whether it's right or wrong. You even helped me evaluate myself, my thoughts and deeds. You've been the door to a whole new world to. Giving me the chance to express myself, introducing me to friends, opening my eyes to appreciate life from different points of views.

Knowing that I've been away for several reasons doesn't mean I don't care about you, neither does it mean I don't want to share with you. For that I'm sharing a secret I've been hiding for a while. I'm going to have a niece! (the secret I talked about earlier) :D

Yes, I know! It means I'm going to be a khala (an aunt). I'm going to be "cool auntie atta" :D

Unfortunately, I missed most of the shopping and preparations for the baby. One because my sister is living in Jordan, second is about me being busy or not there when my mother and Sana went for shopping. I did attend a couple of shopping trip (or was it three times?) and I got something for the baby. It's this tiny stand for bathing. I've never seen one before but the moment I saw it I thought "yay, we put it inside a tub or sink and put the baby on it" it looks like a tiny slide with Pooh and the gang (or was it Tigger? I sent it months ago).

What else did I miss to tell you lately?

Oh! me and another Iraqi female bloggers met at Zhra's for Fotoor (the meal for fast breaking) and then we had to hurry up and sit in a the car just like "Sardine fish in a can" as Zhra calls it. We were in a race with time to catch Isha Prayer (The last of the five daily prayers) followed by Tarawee7 (Ramadan night prayers). The Imam was Salah Bu Khatir, one of the best Quran Reciters I've ever heard(Click to listen)(Click for Translation). When I heard his voice of the first time, was about 18 months ago, I thought he was The best reciter ever.

It was my first time to pray in a masjid in UAE and it's the first time to pray Tarawee7 outside my home. The feeling of being one among those who pray in a group is amazing. How the people are scatered here and there and in one phrase said by the Imam they all stand in in straight lines with not a word to utter is such a feeling that cannot be described in words.


Click to listen :)

Today is the 19th day Ramadan, this night we're going to start the first day of the last ten days of Ramadan. They are considered the best days and they are yet to come. It is believe that the Night of Al-Qadr (The Night of Decree) is one of the last tend nights in Ramadan (Read the links for listening and translation).

oh, and yesterday 9/9/2009 at 9:09:09 was Dubai Metro opening!

A lot is going on in my life and on my mind and I needed to write this and clear my thoughts and hide in my den, at least until Eid. So my dear Blog, even though I'm away but I'll always come back with news and secrets I want to share.

*My calligraphy says: Mobarak Alaikum Ashahar (مبارك عليكم الشهر) May this month be full of blessings to you :)

That's all for now
Until I can share some more.

Ramadan Mubarak :)

اهلا رمضان :)

Welcome Ramadan :)

Accueil Ramadan :)

Click here and enjoy this gift, a nasheed by shekh Afasi, in three languages; Arabic, English and French :)

 

That's all for now
oh and this calligraphy is written by me :D it says Ramadan in Arabic رمضان :)

Bonjour Mes Amis

I'm sharing PHOTOS of my breakfast, not MY breakfast :P

Pancakes?

 

Just for me

 

Even the last bite :D

 

That's all for now
stop begging!

Bored I am :|

Read read read...
Read some more.
Write write write...
Write some more.
Hungry but too lazy to cook.
Messy but too busy to tidy.
Bored like never before.
Absurdity is in the air
and I just don't care

 

 

Leopard and the New Born Baboon

I've never liked monkeys but I could not help falling for this poor baby baboon. I've been checking this video every now and then for weeks now!

That's all for now

Something Fishy is going on :D

I loved this piece of news when I read and and I missed looking at the design so I cam to see it on my blog but I discovered this post was never published! so here it is in case you missed it :)




I really admire the artist who designed this beautiful Jellyfish

Presenting Arts on a Tray

She spreads her imaginary wings and flies to her own glittery world, where the cause of her effect seems just normal, with a trick of magic of different colours, she flies and takes thee off to her Fairyland.

An Iraqi mom, inspired by the cute smiles of her little ones; Moved by their sweet laughter and paralyzed by their tiny tears. My friend, Nadia, decided to join the blogsphere and present you her arts on an artistic virtual tray. I leave you my friend to take an adventure in her world, to enjoy a taste of The Neverland on her Art Tray.

The sleepy moon goes rounds and rounds
Colored with rainbow; shyly smiles

Burdens with worries yet it hopes
bright your sky and bid you good night



That's all for now

Heal The World

Everybody was crazy about Michel Jackson and how he was phenomenally talented in whatever he did. I wasn't to know him if it's not for the big fuzz they made about his music and dancing.

The only album I had was HIStory. It wasn't really mine but my sister was a big fan that time. It was around 1996, I guess. I don't remember much of the songs and even though he made a good material for news, magazines and gossips but when I hear the name Michel Jackson I only remember the good things about him; Heal the world, We are the children, and the Earth song.

Heal The World
Make It A Better Place
For You And For Me
And The Entire Human Race
There Are People Dying
If You Care Enough
For The Living
Make A Better Place
For You And For Me


Maybe the world would stop talking about if he was white or black, good or bad, Muslim or not.

That's all for now
and... Let's heal the world

My Arabic Calligraphy Homework Notebook

Ladies and gentlemen,

I'm proud to present to you the first set of alphabet of Arabic Calligraphy - Diwani style. This is the first movie I make from photos using Picasa 3. I don't have a scanner so I was using mobile cam, and my camera. Bad lighting and lazy me :)

Enjoy :)



I thought making a movie is better than posting 20 photos or more. if you can't view the video then check this or try the following online album:

Arabic Calligraphy

That's all for now

A tip for Lazy lonely Selfish People

Well well well! I'm bloging again (thanks to the fake crowds out there for embarrassing me to post). It's been hectic lately; sleep-deprived, disorganized, lazy and... Well, not really sure what else.

After postponing the laboratory investigations whether the "5 minute Microwave Chocolate Mug cake" is a myth or a truth, I decided to reward the awaiting-bribed-crowds with chocolate cake. I thought it takes 5 minutes so why not give it a try! And a try it was, yes indeed.

But alas, I ended up with failure due to overexcitement and carelessness.
Here is the recipe so you can understand where I messed up.

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE!! (the recipe was emailed to me with photos but I'm posting my photos. You can google it to find it)

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract and your favourite tipple
1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to your largest mug and mix well.

 

Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using), vanilla extract and a drop or two of your favourite tipple, then mix again.

 

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (high).
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!


I made sure that I followed every single step and set the microwave on 5 minutes and kept watching. It really went high over the top of the mug and here I got really excited and started to jump up and down as the smell was very promising! The excitement lasted for few seconds because the cake was starting to shrink! the smell was revealing that something is being burnt! So on the 4th minute I decided to stop the microwave. the smell was horrible and I ran in disappointment to my laptop to re-read the recipe only to find out that it should be cooked for 3 minutes only! OH.MY.GOD. then why it said 5 minutes chocolate mug cake!

 

Looking at it I thought it's not that bad :)

 

Not that bad at all!

 

Oh My God! wait a minute! that's where the burning smell was coming from!

 

I spent the rest of the day and evening burning candles to get rid of the smell.

To tell you the truth, when I read the recipe I wasn't that interested. I thought this suits selfish lonely people who don't care to bake a whole cake and share with others. and this reason was the curse as I believe. If it works great for you, cut it into two halves and share it with someone else :)

If next time the recipe works better I'd share at least the photos with you

.............
Update:
A friend just sent me this healthier version of same recipe

That's all for no

An Open Window to my World.. Have a Peek

First of all hi everyone
I miss blogging. I miss sharing (but not food). I miss writing poetry. I miss a lot of things but somehow 24 hours per day is very little and I'm wondering again if we could add 8 hours for sleeping to the 24 hours.

A lot happened during May. Many things took place apart than Bu Qtair experience my sister's airplane. But I'm not sharing everything :)
After celebrating my sister's birthday and hospital visit and checkups; I had the chance of meeting a group of Iraqi female bloggers. It was different from other meetings for we had an exact purpose for the meeting other than just to get to know one another (I'll think of sharing later).

A couple of visits to our relatives; they are leaving back to Germany for good. I'm going to miss those five little ones horribly. Whenever I see them I take bunch of photos knowing they are growing up so fast (mashaAllah) but never thought I see them off so soon. Yes, we Iraqis always travel, and yes we have to leave and say goodbye (as touta says) but the bad thing about it is that we never know when, where to, why and how.

As for my atelier, the unwelcomed visitor disappeared and I'm glad for that. Hopefully I won't see him again on the walls, ground, TV or anywhere else. As for my work, I've been working on a collection of letters as per N's request. She wanted me to make the initials of her little ones. If it turned out cute I might share some photos.

My sister Sana left to Amman and I have no one to annoy. The house seems so calm lately. I'm thinking of flying her airplane now but there's a missing battery.
Another reason for being busy, as if I don't have enough reasons, is that I joined the institute of Arabic Calligraphy and Ornament. It's something me and my friend R were thinking of since we were done with the Art institute. After about a year the plane was executed and it feels like we're back to kindergarten. Now I'm sharing photos but please NO laughs.

This is Diwani and you can read about it here. or just write Diwani in Google Images to see the beautiful photos available on the net.

 

Alf

 

Ba'

 

Dal

 

Ra'

Any my favorite so far, ladies and gentlemen, the Seen

 

That's all for now
and stop laughing at my handwriting

Bu Qtair Cafeteria

"There's a child inside of all of us" is a phrase that expressed the childish behavior all of us do every now and then but when it comes to my little sister, it's a whole different story. The other day her colleague asked her what does she want for her birthday and my sister innocently said "an airplane". My sister became 24 years old a couple of weeks back.

She came home with gifts and flowers from her colleagues but she was mostly excited about The Airplane! Actually both of us were. But after a couple of hours I got bored and its sound became annoying and forgot about it.

My sister keeps recharging the batteries and keeps annoying me with its sound. I shouldn't have given her the rechargeable ones.

Anyways… to celebrate her birthday, I made some sweets and bought a cake. Then she only wanted us to spend the rest of the evening at Bu Qtair, a seafood restaurant. I don't know what words to use to describe the place and if the word restaurant is applied to such places. This is our second visit but since the place was dark it was hard to get a good photo. Everything was blurred. So let me try to describe.

First of all, we heard about the place from mom's colleague who been there and said it's The place where you taste the Best Fish Ever. She heard of it from an article in one of Dubai's Luxury Magazines and shared the article with mom.

We drove for two hours to get there, only to be disappointed about the bad lighting, seating and the horrible smell of the neighborhood, since it is in Jumaira Beach area. If you happen to walk in Main Street of Jumaira, you'd feel like walking in Cannes Street; it's the best neighborhood in Dubai people dream of living there. But back to where we dined; It was literally a cabin that was located in a Kharaba (abandoned land with remains of a building and usually a lot of garbage here and there). On the same piece of land there were handmade small boats and fishing nets. The only light of that kharaba are the avenue lamps.

The plastic tables and chairs are scattered on the sand of the kharaba. Some people are sitting at tables and others are waiting to be seated. Some are waiting in their cars and others are standing and waiting for their takeaway meals. With this inconvenient setting, it is not easy to get a table. There are no reservations, mind you.

In our first visit we were accompanied by my brother-in-law. After the two-hours-drive, expressions of disappointment were visible on my sister's face as well as mine. He whispered to us "just pretend it's alright and let's wait and see. If you didn't like the food I'll take you to another restaurant". Mom and dad went inside the cabin to order. After about half an hour, a man came out of the cabin and called my Dad's name and took the plates to a different table. We were in a shock! Why he's ignoring us if even if we're saying we're here!

The man disappeared and came after a while. He called a different name but came to our table and to place our order. That was hilarious. In our second visit, we saw a family who looked shocked just like us in our previous visit when his name was called and the food went to a different table.

The plates are plastic but the second time they were disposable. They serve you salad that's made of white cabbage, onion and lime slices. In addition to that, they serve you a spicy red sauce that I have did not even dare to taste. The shrimps made fire comes out of my ears but the taste was too delicious to stop eating.

But the fish! The look was not encouraging but the smell… Oh. My. God. Never tasted such a thing before and I don't think there's a place that cook such delicious fish and now I'm sure if the kharaba was even darker and the smell of the shore way much more horrible, people would still come to taste Bu Qtair's seafood.


Bu Qtair :)


Bu Qtair kitchen inside the cabin


fish


the spicy sauce

That all for now...
Happy belated birthday sis

*Peeks & Runs*

While my sister and mother are watching the American Idol finale; I chose to disappear in the kitchen because I'm no longer interested in that show. I've never really watched any season other than season five 2006 when Taylor won. I used to spend most of the weekends with Hana Banana and she was a huge fan of Daughtry, which made me sort of a fan. Now every season in the same for me, even the Arabic version, one season and I'm bored.

Back to the kitchen, nothing serious is going on, Iron Chef Mario Batali was busy with small lobster on Fatafeet TV, so I was just following mom's direction and dicing boring vegetables and boiling them. Rumor has it there will be chicken and vegetables pie.

Anyways, I've been busy with university papers, which still have some work to do. Busy with my atelier and the gekos and how to get rid of them. I can't believe they kept me away from my work for about a week! I just hate them and can't stand them being around, so coward, silly, weak, call me what you will.

Yesterday, I spent the entire day at hospital doing check-ups and thank God, I'm all fine.

That's not all but at least for now
Talk to you soon

Wealth, Success and Love

A woman came out of her house and saw 3 old men with long white beards sitting in her front yard. She did not recognize them. She said "I don't think I know you, but you must be hungry. Please come in and have something to eat."

"Is the man of the house home?", they asked.

"No", she replied. "He's out."

"Then we cannot come in", they replied.



In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened.

"Go tell them I am home and invite them in!"

The woman went out and invited the men in"

"We do not go into a House together," they replied.

"Why is that?" she asked.



One of the old men explained: "His name is Wealth," he said pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another one, "He is Success, and I am Love." Then he added, "Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home."


The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband was overjoyed. "How nice!!", he said. "Since that is the case, let us invite Wealth. Let him come and fill our home with wealth!"


His wife disagreed. "My dear, why don't we invite Success?"

Their daughter was listening from the other corner of the house. She jumped in with her own suggestion: "Would it not be better to invite Love? Our home will then be filled with love!"

"Let us heed our daughter's advice," said the husband to his wife.

"Go out and invite Love to be our guest."

The woman went out and asked the 3 old men, "Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest."

Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other 2 also got up and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success: "I only invited Love, Why are you coming in?"


The old men replied together: "If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would've stayed out, but since you invited Love, wherever He goes, we go with him. Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!!!!! !"

The Story of Stuff

This is a must seen mind-blowing video for all of us. By that I mean: see, listen, understand, and above all react.

I've always loved the word "stuff" but I never knew there could be such a story behind it! I loved this video and loved it even more when it said "Iraq" and laughed at "Bush"'s name when it came up. Knowing this story is part of "know the whole story" and knowing the truth about wars, poverty, ignorance and how the world is taking steps towards the abbey.

Just like the missing pieces in the "incomplete diagram" you originally saw, each of the person of the people you saw has a story. It's a global issue and your job is at least help to spread awareness to make this planet a better place.

If you're into websites and want to know everything about it then please check the official website of The Story of Stuff

If you're more into blogs then click here

That's all for now
and I wish I can Host a Screening

Names Are Nothing But Words

"Our names,
How tiring it was for our parents
to find our names?
How long they thought of us?
Names are words
What's with words?
Our eyes are our own names"

That what a Lebanese lyric says

What these words called "names" have to with our own lives. There are a lot of personality analysis which are based on names, letters and number of letters but I never really cared. I am against stereotyping and it's just silly to suggest another way of to stereotype people, and according to what? According to their names? Whether John or Salim, Jane or Salima, why do we categorize people according to their names?

Isn't it funny that some other than you decide to pick a name for you to be called for the rest of your life and on the other hand it is used by someone else other than you and still that name define you? I've always thought at certain age people should have the right to decide which name they should be called.

When I was in elementary school, one of my best friends was Osama*. He had health problems and used to be very tiny compared to other boys in our class. He used to be in my team in whatever game we used to play, even when we played "bet beyot" (a game we used to play that imitate real life, where kids pretend they are family, neighbors and friends) he used to be my son or my brother. Osama's family decided to leave Iraq during 1995 and that's when I discovered he was Palestinian. The class missed Osama and I remember when a boy was teasing any of the girls we would remind him how Osama was friendly with us. We used to write collective letters to him but they were never sent, for he left and we were never able to trace him. I liked the name Osama but lately people carrying this name are being discriminated.

It's such a shame when certain names carry the bad images of the figures who once carried them, and it's even worse when other people who have nothing to do with what this name carries are being treated accordingly.

Juliet:

O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name

Speaking of names couple of days back, a friend told me about the name Osayd, which is a miniature of Asaid (cub & lion) and was joking if the kid can change his name once he's 18 into Asaid, since he'll be fully grown. It was a nice joke but later after a couple of hours it hit me! I'm supposed to be a grown up but my name is holding me back!

I referred earlier what was my real name and to sum up the story it means a baby gazelle that still can hardly stand, let alone walk. My mother wanted to call me Reem which means a fully grown up fast gazelle. I never wanted to be Reem but the idea of me running fast like a gazelle and free in the wild where beautiful nature exists is very exciting to me now.

Juliet:

'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.
What if I had another name? What would you call me?

*Osama is a name for lion too.

That's all for now

Snack of the Day

Or the evening...

 

 

That's all for now
oh.. and bon appetite

Sweet Riot

Something sweet just happened. I was praying and heard knocking on my wind. What! Knocking on the window! on the 13th floor! Even if it was the door, I keep on praying. A second later another knocking is heard! It was irregular this time, not like human's knock knock. I'm still praying.

Then there was sort of riot outside the window. One of the sweetest riot… pigeons'. The moment I finished praying they started their Hadeel, which is pigeons' songs. I didn't want to move the curtain fearing that might scare them; I made a small opening and kept looking at them. What a wonderful scene! I'm not sure how many of them there were in at the window but I saw three and one was flying and not settled where to stand. The moment I tried to steal a better look one of them started staring at me! Afterwards the all turned their bodies to face my window!

I love pigeons

That's all for now
Enjoy these photos

Tell Me Why

That's all for now
But...
Let's all think of an answer.

Untitled

على أرض تبدو قاحله
تحت سماء زرقاء
تقف ... تتأمل ...
أغصانها محملة
باحزان صفراء
وهذا الخريف لم يأخذها معه.

فلا تزال ها هنا
كما كانت امس
عنيدة ... تنتظر ...
قد يأتي الشتاء
قد ينزل المطر
ليغسل عنها ما لم يسقط من ورق.

غد جديد
طير يغرد
تصحو ... تبتسم
الاغصان ذاتها
مثقلة بعناء
لكن الامل يلوح في الافق.

Increased Training Realisim!

"The cards will identify several rare archaeological sites and artifacts reminding troops that these areas are not only a part of Iraqi and Afghan cultural history, but also their own. "

Never heard of that before!

That's all for now...
Let's hope we won't end up playing cards.. in the wrong hands

That's Life

It's almost 3 AM and I'm still up. Nothing serious, it's just that my brother-in-law came from Amman and he doesn't have a key, so I'll wait to open the door for him. Since I'm here let me share this, just got it from Hana Banana by email.

There comes a point in your life when you realize:

Who matters,

Who never did,

Who won't anymore...

And who always will...

So, don't worry about people from your past,

there's a reason why they didn't make it to your future..

---------------------
That's all for now
oh wait a minute

*N calls, dad is up and opens the door, atta off to bed*

oh oh and my sister sent me a beautiful purple gift. Thanks sis.. oh oh and there's a big secret that I can hardly keep. I soooo wanna share :D

another oh oh .. N got me 7ab '9iffa :D that's edible seeds a Palestinian kind :D

That's all for now,
seriously :)

Cute Friends

How cute is that!




That's all for now
Maybe we'll learn something!

Za2ir al Layl

He has the guts to show up again! After all these years, after all the explanation I gave to myself for his existence in this world, after doing my best to forget his name, he's here! And for the second time this week!

Standing there with his straight emotionless face, at my door, same face I used to see and swear to everyone that he's smiling at me. Oh God, I forgot how much I hate him now. But his presence brings back bunch of memories, sweet and bitter, that I do treasure.

I don't remember how we first met but I'm sure it was in my grandma's house when I was very young, maybe 5 years old or even younger. I never liked him and my grandma used to tell me "Just ignore him. Forget he's there"

All mischief happens when he's around. I remember once I was very annoyed for his presence and I decided to raise the broom to scare him and since the broom stick was taller than me, as well as my young sister, it fell on her head and she was taken to the ER and she came home with couple of stitches in her head. She always blames ME for that and not him! Not even once!

And there he is standing as high as the door, pretending he's cool. But I swear I saw him breathing fast and could count his heartbeats. I was told once that he senses other's heartbeats and knows if people are intimidated by him. So whenever I see him
I do my best not to show my pulse has reached over 150 bpm.

After all these years, I forgot how much I hate him. I remember when I was a teenager; he "accidentally" came in to family bathroom when I was there. I kept screaming and shouting at him. And later thanked God that my bathroom was fixed ASAP so I won't have to go to the family bathroom and remember this embarrassing experience.

Today, standing in the flesh, facing me with his ever known rudeness, in no doubt of the feelings I had for him, and certain that today I despise him more than ever and hated the sound of his name, staring at me without a blink. I gaze at him telling myself "I'm strong enough to face him. He's nothing. I'll survive this moment and will brag about it later" which I'm not sure of right now.

I decided to act like him. He stares, I stare back. He says nothing, I say nothing too. He pretends to ignore me. I pretend to ignore him too. He stands there silently; I'm silent still… until I came to my senses and remembered I'm all by myself and the last thing on earth I would want is to be with him in the same room with no one else around. All my fears for this moment were what if he steps in?

I was working on a piece of art, using a trimmer and wooden tools, my hand grabbed the nearest scalpel. Yes, I used scalpels and I have many sizes. Holding the scalpel in my hands, raised it to make sure he'll notice it I said with a firm voice "addamorrak, agga6i3ak, ashari7ak… etha tfakir tidkhul" (I'll destroy you, cut you into pieces, and dissect you… if you think of coming in).

To tell you the truth, I'm not sure if he understood a word but I'm sure these words were enough to alarm him and that's how he decided to wait until I was not looking at him so he can escape from the opening between the ceiling and the door and save face. Lizards!

After I graduated from the 4th grade, during the summer when I had a very long curly hair, I used to tie my pony tail really high so the hair won't touch my neck. I was playing at our neighbors' garden with my sister and their two daughters. Their two young men cousins where staying with them so they were in the garden to witness the scene. The girls and I were playing with dolls and I felt my hair was on my arm. It ticked me so I pulled my hair to the other side. Something was still there and that's when I started shouting and running, followed by the girls, all hurrying towards my house and some other kids from the street started running with us.

I went in to my mom, crying and telling her: "I looked at him while he was standing on my arm… I moved my arm… he looked at me... He ran towards my hand… then looked left and right as if he's crossing a street and then went to the finger in the middle and jumped to the porch". He was very tiny that you may see his guts through his pink skin. That summer I was no longer the girl with the long hair.

In the year 2000, I moved to bigger room which had a bigger window the only door to the backyard garden that was known as Attawie's garden. I was very excited about having a bigger room and a garden for myself. I kept dreaming about making it something like "7adeeqat Ommi" (my mother's garden) the one I used to see in Sandy Bell cartoon. All my dreams went in vain with the first visit paid by a huge gigantic lizard. The door was locked ever since and was covered from all sides with sponge and wood.

My mother is a real Lizard-buster. Even neighbors used to call her to help them with such situation. She has a broom stick that she used only for the purpose of killing this creature, in addition to a sort of pest control gun with a formula called "nogoss" (if that's the right spelling). He was able to hi that huge lizard but it wasn't enough to kill him. But he disappeared. After about a month he appeared in my sister's room with two tails! He started to appear several times here and there and no one could catch him. We started calling him "abu thailain" (the one with two tails)

Then he paid me another visit and disappeared. I saw him leave the room but nobody outside the room saw him coming out. After a while a small lizard was about to enter my room and disappeared! I thought there must be a reason why lizards disappear next to my door. That's when I discovered that there was a missing piece of wood on the top of my door where lizard can get inside the door itself. We covered the place of the missing piece with a sticking tape as well as the whole of the lock. I left the door open for days until I could touch the handle. Eventually I forgot about it.
The next summer, I heard scratching sound and a weird screaming sound but not of a human. Then a wounded average-sized lizard came out followed by "abu thailain"! I left the room and things were taken care of by my mother and I don't even want to know the rest of the story.

That's all for now
And I hope I won't see a lizard again