Friday, April 21, 2006

The Wake up Call

"When A Stranger Calls", a new thrill movie I like to see, though, during an interview with the director he said we won't be able to hire a babysitter for five years or so and that he is sorry for that. I want to see the movie because I like horror movies and such stuff but the babysitting issue is not that easy to mock. I used to baby-sit two of my cousins back in Jordan and it was great.


The Babysitting:

I used to baby-sit them when their parents are out for dinner or even during big nights like New Year's Eve. The kids and I would play games or watch some movies they rent especially for my being there with them. Other times we would play FIFA on their play station. They even would sing and act for me pretending they were in a Star Makers program. The TV would be most of the times on Network Cartoons. The youngest one would always like to watch Scooby Doo and just like usual he would ask me to sit and watch with him because he loves to see the cartoon but he is a bit scared.

Cartoons never scared me. However, it was scary when I look at the huge empty unfurnished guestroom. The kids had made it their own play-yard. At times, we used to set a table with a net in the middle and play Ping-Pong. Or we would place two laundry baskets on a couple of boxes and play basketball. Other times, we would put chairs to mark two sides of a goal to play football. It was fun except when I look out at the dark empty backyards from the window.

The phone was never a problem, both kids love it when the phone rings and they answer. It's something universal.


Strange Phone Calls:

I hate strangers' calls. People you don't know and they call for trying to get a favor from one of your parents and they try to be nice with. "Who is this beautiful girl? how old are you? What school do u go to?" Can't they call and say it straightly that they one Mr. or Mrs. …

I remember when I was about 10 and the phone rang around 5 am. Everybody was asleep and I heard the phone. I pick up the handle and the voice was horrible. It was whispering in a freaky way and saying, "I'm your future husband; I want to talk to you…" I put the handle down as fast as I could and ran to my bed. I was scared and when I told my family, my sisters started to laugh at me.

We have many funny people in the family would call and say, "I'm Grendizer, can I talk to your father" (which was mostly the father of the two kids above). Or even if it was my aunt's husband who calls when she is with us and say is "Auatif", or mabe "Nadia" or any other name comes to his mind asking about my aunt. He did it even when my aunt was visiting from the States and he was calling from China. I just said no and hanged the phone.

When I was a teenager, I had admirers who used to call begging for one conversation and I would just hang the phone on their faces. Once a guy called and said "Hi, I’m he. Who are you" I had nothing to say but "I'm she. Don't call again".

In Jordan, I received many weird phone calls. An admirer used to call from Saudi Arabia, he would call and call and even send SMSs and picture messages. Another caller was from Lebanon but this one gave up after three days. Sometimes I let guys in my group to answer the phone so the caller would stop.

Two days ago, I was playing violin and couldn't hear my mobile ringing. My dad called me and said it's your mobile. I checked the phone and it was miscall from "MY NUMBER UAE". The first thing to do was to check the dialed numbers to make sure if it was dialed by mistake. But it wasn't that.

Hours later, my father was making fun of it and told my mother that I had a miscall from myself.


Wake Up Call

I've been finding difficulties to sleep at night. It would take me hours and hours just to fall asleep. Whether I went to bed at 10 or 2 am I would sleep at 3 am. As a result, I would wake up late, at 11:30 mostly, after the beautiful morning hours had passed already. I asked my parents to wake me up early many times and they tried their best but it just didn't work.

On Wednesday, at 7:48 and at 7:48 AM, I received two miscalls from "my number UAE" which is really my number. This frightened me. I called my mom and told her to check what it was all about.

I felt it's a bliss, I got to wake up early which means I'll sleep early and… bingo… I broke the circle.

I had my breakfast, heard Fayrooz's beautiful songs and the phone rang again. It was my mother telling me the morning caller was a HACKER. Hackers want to hack my phone number. So now, there are mobile hackers and I who thought it was a "wake up call" that saved me from everlasting misarranging time.

Did I mention I have a really nice phone number??? Like AB AC ABC

7 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Recieving a call from my cell on my cell would freak the hell out of me as well attawie!!! Since I saw this Excorcism movie and I can't even sleep with the lights off. I keep a lala next to my head the whole night which mostly I spent it reading or browsing.

4/23/2006 5:34 AM  
Blogger Morbid Smile said...

I had a wake up explosion today!!! It was 11:30 and I was still asleep when I heard a very loud BANG!! It was somewhere near home..

I just checked your number, it's really simple as that! I haven't noticed that before.. And by the way, my number is like AB CB CD ;)

4/24/2006 12:20 PM  
Blogger attawie said...

Hi miraj..
I had problems with switching the lights off too but now, somehow, I can't sleep unless it's completely dark.

Luke, I saw you online the other day but the sign "idle" was there and I had to diconnect. hope to chat with you soon.

So, Smiley "an explosion wake up" is much more serious than my "wake up call".
I ran to check your number I know only the last 4 but it is right, your number sounds good too.

take care all

Oh and in case melantrys check this

xjjis

4/24/2006 3:39 PM  
Blogger Lynnette In Minnesota said...

"When A Stranger Calls", is that a remake? I saw the previews and it sounded vaguely familiar.

Yes, my friends and I used to make crank calls all the time when I was a teenager. And we would get them too. Ahhh, those were the days. Way too much time on our hands. :)

Nice blog, Attawie. I figured it was about time I checked it out. You were mentioned on Winds of Change, btw.

4/25/2006 1:21 AM  
Blogger David said...

Hello Attawie,

As we seem to have some common friends, I thought I would drop by to see what you are blogging about. After reading some of your posts, I am very impressed with your writing talent!

I have never had many strangers bothering me with harassing phone calls, but I suppose men in general don't usually have that problem. However, when I was in college, a very strange girl started to call in the middle of the night, wake me up, and ask me what I was doing. I would usually respond with something like, "Well, I was having a pleasant dream until a loud noise woke me up!" She liked to play games and would tell be about what she was wearing, or more often, what she was not wearing! At first, I suppose there was a certain excitement on my part, but after a few calls, I decided that I would rather get a good night's sleep than play her games. So, I finally made it a habit to unplug the phone before I went to bed.

I sometimes have great trouble falling asleep too. Its like my mind just wont shut off. However, over the years, I have learned about some vitamen suppliments and certain foods that have helped me to sleep better. If you like, I could suggest a few things that you could try.

I liked your pictures from the archeological museum. One of the subjects that interested me most in college was anthropology. I have enjoyed visiting various museums here in the U.S. I once saw an exhibit of Egyptian artifacts. There were many beautiful carved stone statues and ornately decorated scarcophagi, but the thing that really got me emotional was looking at some 3000 year old papyruses with hand written heiroglyphics! They were in an almost perfect state of preservation, and yet I thought of the hands that had written those thoughts, and how many centuries ago they had turned to dust...

4/26/2006 10:36 AM  
Blogger attawie said...

Hi Lynnette,
welcome to my blog.

I'm glad you are done with that kind of phone calls.

Oh, and I know about the Winds of Change, thank you.


David,
Welcome to Attawie.

I had that kind of phone calls. It was exactly at 1 am. If I don't answer the phone they guy would send me SMS. They are either teenagers, or empty people.

I'm interested in Arts in general. I admire human's brain and its creativity. You'll notice that if you read my previous posts or the coming ones.

And off course I would like to hear your suggestions about falling asleep problem.

Thanks for your visit.

4/26/2006 10:54 PM  
Blogger David said...

Ok, here are my suggestions. Keep in mind that what works for me may not work for you, but these are some things that you can try.

Try to go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day (I can't always follow my own advice here :) ).

Cut back or eliminate drinks that contain caffeine such as coffee, tea, and many soft drinks. If you do want some of these drinks, try to not drink them after mid-afternoon or in the evening.

I have found that foods that are high in Omega-3, such as salmon and walnuts, help to relieve feelings of stress that may contribute to thoughts or worries that can keep me awake at night.

A glass of cold milk (apparently cold is better than warm for some reason) can be relaxing before bed time. It contains the amino acid tryptophan that the brain converts into serotonin which helps to induce sleep. Turkey is also very high in tryptophan. Have you eaten turkey and then felt very sleepy (it sure does that to me)? That is why.

Some general suppliments that may help are B-Complex vitamins, and specifically Vitamin B-6. The B-6 helps to promote serotonin production in the brain (don't take too much though: 50 to 100 mg of B-6 is more than enough). B-Vitamins are good for general health as well. For example, I haven't had a cold in years.

The hormone Melatonin (it is naturally produced by the brain and is very important to inducing sleep) has been available in pill form for years. People who fly a lot often take it to help them sleep and to overcome the effects of jet lag. I sometimes take a small dose of about 0.25 mg to help me sleep. Pills are available in the U.S. up to 3 mg dose, but this is really way too much!

As a last resort, I sometimes take a small dose of a suppliment containing GABA (another naturally occurring chemical in the brain). This stuff really knocks me out and turns my mind off! However, I always feel mildly depressed the next day (sort of a hangover effect). Thats why I prefer not to take it unless nothing else in my bag of tricks works. :)

Well, I hope something here might be useful to you. I know how frustrating insomnia can be! Good luck!

4/27/2006 11:57 AM  

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