Think, thought, sought, success...hopefully!

What do you think of me?

2010-03-08T15:36:00.003+02:00

Do I care, really care, about what people think of me? I don't. It might seem that I do, but I really don't. Some of my acquaintances tell me that I do very much, but I really really don't.

Sometimes I consider other people's opinions before I do something, but I only do that for feedback (because I need more input on the issue before taking a decision), or to pretend that I care about their opinion.

Yet, every rule has an exception, there's always an exception ;)

Enough for now.

Adam Smith in my life

2010-03-07T14:24:00.004+02:00

I ran into a very interesting post about Adam Smith. Won't bother to repeat what the guy wrote, I just wanted to share this quote:

"How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortunes of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it." by Adam Smith

If it weren't for that last part "except the pleasure of seeing it", I would've totally disagreed with the guy.

I do not claim that I travelled the seven seas, across the highest mountains, and experienced all the different cultures of the world. Nor do I assume that I have met my share of people with their different personalities, interests, intentions and actions. But I have seen a bit...

Describing said people as selfish could very well be an understatement. But as brief as it is, the word seems to include the intended meaning(s). I really don't know what to say. I want to keep going on and on about how ugly those people are (from the inside), and how immature their behavior appears when it is so selfishly coated. But that would probably only increase my resentment to them. Currently, I'm saturated with negative energy, and have no place in me for anything but cheerful, positive, constructive, optimistic (etc...) thinking. I can't handle negative/evil vibes, at least for the time being.

Will those people ever change? Will they once consider the interest of others, just for the sake of others and not for their own self pleasure? That change, if it ever occurred, will it be by choice or forced on them by an external power? And if by choice, out of conviction of the greater good of the group (be it friends, family, society, etc...), or because of a dramatic effect that shook them to their roots? Can you see the trend in my questions/thoughts? I guess this is how I expect the possibilities to turn out. It's not what I hope! What I hope is very variant according to my emotionally turbulent state of mind.

Enough for now.

I'm back...so what?!!!

2010-03-03T17:40:00.003+02:00

I've been wanting to resume writing here for quite some time, but as is the case with many of my plans...procrastination. But finally, here I am. Then what?!!!

A couple of days ago, I realized that I've been emotionally/mentally stressed quite a bit for some time. I wasn't feeling very well, and the conclusion just hit me as I was going to bed; I'm not using my full potential, not even close.

Besides the concept of employment & entrepreneurship (owning your business implies much more space for creativity & input), on the personal level as well. Do you know that phase when you have a new idea, new plan, new hobby, new anything that requires some time and effort from your side to satisfy you? Well, I've been having a lot of those new's lately. And the not-so-cool-thing is that they're not alone; i.e. there are some old's as well that keep popping on the surface and add to the stack. The end result is that I find myself extremely frustrated and consequently depressed.

I know, I know, I know. What I should do is write all of those down and plan how to tackle them one at a time, or together. And that is the problem, I can't get myself to write them down, not even one. Yet again, every time I accomplish something really tiny (like getting back in touch with an old close friend, or finishing a complicated report at work that's been taking the whole day) makes me feel a lot better. It's the feeling of accomplishment I guess!

Enough for now.

Why are they so successful?

2007-07-30T14:11:00.000+03:00

Remember my trip to Sweden? (these are all the links). After I arrived at the hotel, and settled down in the city, I sent an e-mail to my parents comforting them that I arrived safely. My dad's reply included a very interesting phrase; "Talk to the people and find out how they managed to be one of the top countries in Europe". After I got over my dad's well known attitude (go son, try to learn as much as you can everywhere), it caught my attention. The Swedish are very successful. They have one of the world's highest income rates. And... and what? Isn't the income rate thing enough?!
A couple of weeks later, I knew why they're so successful. Of course I didn't asking them how they got to be so successful. Let's just say that I observed.
Starting by the city itself, everything was in order. Everything is neat, tidy and in its right place. The organization of how the city runs was amazing. For example, since a few months ago, indoor smoking was totally prohibited in Stockholm. So they had ashtrays by the entrance of every single building. I mean, they didn't miss one! The subways, never late, never overcrowded and of course, never filthy.
But, in order to maintain such order and organization, the state itself cannot handle that alone if it weren't for the people themselves. Everybody follows the rules. I mean, for two weeks, I haven't seen anybody driving through a red light, or crossing the street from the wrong location (non-zebra lines). It's like the people appreciated the effort made by the state to maintain the tidiness and beauty of the city, and on their behalf, they acted back to keep the city as beautiful as it is.
Coming to look at the working environment, it was awesome. I mean, the offices there (at least the one I've been to) were so... I can't find a word to describe it. Let me just say, that it makes you love your job, love going to the office, and love your co-workers no matter how grumpy they might be. Accordingly, you would find the people there arriving to work on time, maintaining a nice atmosphere among the office, very cooperative, and delivering work output that is almost perfect. And around mid-day, they would go have their lunch in the awesome cafeteria. Doesn't that make you just love your job?
All of these factors together, along with their incredible discipline (that keeps it all together, running in harmony), is what I consider the keys to their success.

Girls & Words

2007-07-22T03:06:00.000+03:00

First of all, I'd like to clarify something to all the females reading this post; I am NOT a sexist. I totally believe that women are equal to men, and even better in several areas. So please don't get me wrong.
My thing is, regarding words, women are very very vulnerable. As some (if not all) guys would do anything to get laid, most women (if not all as well) would make themselves believe anything if they heard a few nice words. No matter how much women would argue to differ, this is true.
A woman would give away her virginity if she heard some love talk from her boyfriend. Of course the amount of words needed would highly differ according to the culture and social boundaries, but the concept is basically true. A woman would also stay in a relationship with a guy who hurts her in so many different ways just because he tells her that he loves her. Whatever the situation, and no matter what evidence that could exists to prove the contrary of what the woman makes herself believe, as long as she hears what she wants to hear, then the deal is closed.
I know that the examples mentioned sound a little bit of extremes, but I only exaggerated to stress the point. And I know also that some women might think that they are immune to this nasty trick. Believe me, they aren't, at least on the short term. It's only a matter of what words are being said and how. Bottom line, they're only words...

Why do we work?

2007-03-15T18:16:00.000+02:00

Really, have you ever taken some time to think about that question? As obvious as it might sound, I am willing to bet that many people out there don't have a good answer to that question?
So, why do we work? And please don't start with the "because I love my job" kind of answers, because this is just wrong. This would be an answer to "Why did you pick this job/field of work particularly?"
Obviously a very direct answer would be "to earn a living" or anything along that line; "to be able to get/buy what I want", "to afford a certain living standard", or even "to get my wife all those expensive things she wants". And (although I really disagree with that reason, but that's another issue) for some of the ladies it might be "to prove myself"!
So, putting aside that last (mostly) female reason, it's all about money. But what if you don't want to buy all those nice things for yourself or your partner? Would you consider this scenario:

You, and possibly your beloved one, get a nice house. You have a small piece of land around it (a little bit bigger than a garden) where you would grow some vegetables & fruits. And just live like that. Very primitive & basic, and totally isolated from all the world.

What do you think? Wouldn't it be a lot easier, calmer and totally giving you that inner peace you crave for almost every day? Think about it ;-)

My trip to Sweden; Part VI (the last one)

2007-03-01T23:23:00.000+02:00

I'm finally back! Oh, I can't describe how I was feeling the last two days, and especially the last few minutes when the plane was finally landing in Cairo Airport. I really missed being home, but at the same time, I was really enjoying my time there. It's a beautiful country. And it was one hell of an experience.
First of all, the snow. I've never been somewhere (except maybe when I was a baby with my parents still) where there is snow. So being around that amount of snow was a nice experience. A pretty cold one, true, but still a different and very pleasant one.
From another perspective, working there was a pleasure. The nature of my tasks that I was supposed to do there was very interesting to me. Finally I got to do something that I really liked. I just hope that this doesn't go away on my first day back in the office!

Let me tell you a little about Stockholm. Well, there isn't much to visit, from the traditional touristic point of view. Well, it is true that they have a decent number of museums, as it is the case of almost all European cities. The old (not even ancient) stuff isn't much though. I definitely won't compare their old ours ;-) Just a few hundred years old (as opposed to our thousands)! But the city is beautiful. I haven't seen a city with all those colours. The buildings' fronts' colours are so variant and so beautiful. And you can have a very nice view of that if you just stand at one end of a street and look from an angle at the line of buildings towards the other end. You'll see an amazing colour collection that contains many different, yet tasteful, colours. The architecture is also awesome. Many different styles, all so very nice. And the best thing about all of this is that you can have a really nice overview of all these scenes from their zoo. It is on a place that is relatively elevated towards the north of the city. It has a very nice collection of Scandinavian animals, and models of old houses, farms and shops. To me, it was a very nice place to go on the weekend, although it demanded a pretty long walk, but it was totally worth it.
During the evenings, I would go out alone, either fetch a place to hangout and take some more pictures, or just wonder around the streets, sometimes without even referring to the map. As you know, the best experience you can get when you're in a foreign country is to get lost. Of course not getting lost in a dangerous neighborhood, or very late at night (although in Stockholm, it was very safe), but at least not to stick to the defined places. Exploring on your own gives you the chance to see things not many people see. It makes you get the true essence of the country you're in.

So, after having all these wonderful experiences and visits, I was torn between my admiration and enjoyment of Stockholm, and my longing to get back to my homeland. The time flow on the last couple of days (of my 2 weeks visit) was very weird. I felt it was flying by, as I still wanted to spend more time there. And at the same time, it was crawling slowly, as I was missing my city like hell. As the plane was landing, I started remembering this song about Cairo. Maybe it's a bit overdue, but thanks a million Tomanbay for that wonderful post.

My trip to Sweden; Part V

2007-02-22T14:39:00.000+02:00

Well, this will be a pretty short post with no pictures :P
Today didn't start off really well, I overslept and didn't wake up in time. But fortunately enough, I wasn't very late, just 20 minutes or something. Anyway, we arrived at the office and started almost right away. It wasn't a training session, as it was over yesterday, it was more like a workshop to discuss several issues regarding our project.
I have to admit, I'm loving this. First of all, I'm as sleepy anymore as I was during the previous days in the sessions. There is still a huge temperature difference between the snow outside and the central heating inside, but still, when you're talking, thinking, writing, and listening to people talk to you directly, it's much better than sitting in a half-dark room looking at a projected screen and listen to someone almost reading the slides. Actually, and explaining them, I'll have to be honest, they're good presenters around here. But still, the presentation mode makes me sleepy anywhere, so you can imagine how hard it was for me to stay awake adding to it the temperature thing!
Anyways, I'll happily get back to the workshop now, and I'll see you later ;-)

My trip to Sweden; Part IV

2007-02-21T22:02:00.000+02:00

Oh my God! It's freezing today. I don't know how. Although yesterday their were snow showers and it was very windy. And also today it was sunny. I mean, of course, that the sun could be seen for a short while, not that you could feel any bit of warmth under it. As I was saying, it was way colder than yesterday. But fortunately enough, knowing that today was supposed to be colder than yesterday, I had put more clothes on before leaving the room. But believe me, nothing is enough in this weather.
Anyway, today was an interesting day in the training. More informative sessions, more relevant information that we'll probably actually use, and a detailed description of functions that we will really need. As we had lunch in the amazing office restaurant...oh, haven't I told you about it yet?! Well, simply and briefly, the menu is nice. You choose your main dish from about 3 or 4 options (as I remember). And then you have the dressing bar (if you're having a burger for example), and a very nice salad bar. And of course the drinks machine. And don't forget that the tables are not a few, and are widely spread under a glass front and glass over your head! So you have a very nice view of some trees around you. Well, not that much of a nice view, but when it snows...maybe it's because I'm simply not used to it, but it's an amazing scenery. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to take any pictures of that scene, and as cold as it is, as much as I'd want it to snow that heavily again so that I can take at least a couple of pictures of something that I might not see again soon at all.
After work, and the traditional "throw our laptops at the hotel" thing, we went to a Museum. Wasn't bad at all. Pretty impressive actually, not very to be honest, but nice. After all, I enjoyed my time there, and took some good pictures. And to me, that's the most important thing to do wherever I go; taking good pictures, and lots of them.
As for the coming days for me in Stockholm, I'm expecting a huge load of work. As the training's last day was today, we were told that the training's days were almost the only days that we will be left to go early! I was like "how nice!" As most of the shops close at 6pm, and those that stay late close at 7pm. And since the "early" time that they're talking about is 4:30pm, then I don't think I'll be able to go anywhere except the weekend. Keep in mind that a majority of the shops are totally closed on Sundays, so I only have half their working hours next Saturday. Otherwise, I guess all I'll be able to do to keep busy is try to learn Swedish by watching the TV in my hotel room!

My trip to Sweden; Part III

2007-02-21T11:49:00.000+02:00

Quickly this time; yesterday was nice. The training is becoming more interesting. After we finished I dropped my laptop at the hotel and tried to go buy something. I arrived at the shop at around 6:05-6:10pm, but the sign said that it closes at 6 :( They open from 11am to 6pm only!!
So we had a small walk around the area, checking out the places and the closed shops. Then I went back to the hotel to play a little with some of the pictures that I've taken. Here's what I've done with one of them, hope it's nice.
At night I met Mustafa, the Turkish guy with me in the training, and we went bar hunting. After a walk in what seemed to be a very quiet neighborhood, and asking a taxi driver, we found a few bars. We had a quick walk around the block to check them out first, and ended up entering one of the first two that we saw :-s
It was nice, nothing much. But I like the experience of entering into the not-so-fancy places in foreign countries. So it was an nice experience with some nice pictures as well ;-)

My trip to Sweden; Part II

2007-02-20T14:32:00.000+02:00

Hello again. Today is actually my third day in Stockholm. Yesterday was a relatively long day. After waking up at 7:30am, having breakfast, we (my colleague and I) headed for the office of the company we're visiting to attend the first day of the training. We got a lost :-) But luckily for us the lady from that company called just when we discovered that we were lost. Luckily because we didn't have any dialing ability. I didn't have my phone with me (I don't have a roaming ability anyways) and my colleague could only receive calls, not dial. So, it was help for us. And after about 10 minutes on the phone and wandering around, we finally found her, walked a little bit more and then got to the office. The training was nice, it had both of us from Egypt, a guy from Turkey, another one from Ukraine, and a couple of Swedish guys who just joined the company soon, so they needed that training as well.

After the training ended at around 4pm, we hung out at the office (which is a very nice one by the way, check out the pictures), and left for dinner at 6:30. They had invited us for dinner at a Lebanese restaurant! Can you imagine. I travel all this way to have dinner in a Lebanese restaurant! But well, it wasn't bad to have some food that you know while the locals don't. Listen to some music that you mostly don't like, but at least reminds you of home :-) And here came the surprise, most of the food was unrecognizable by me at all!! I don't know, is that the hundreds of Lebanese restaurants in Egypt have been tricking us, or that they have only picked a few items from the rich Lebanese table and smothered us with them all over Egypt. And to my even bigger surprise, the dishes that I already knew, were served cold (as opposed to me used to them hot).
Anyway, after we finished dinner, I went back to the hotel, hoping that I'll go out again at night, but obviously the weather had a different opinion. Not that it was extremely cold for me out in the streets (the fact that I discovered yesterday, after a tricky moment when I came out of the airport on Sunday), but the transition from the freezing streets to the very warm room was too much for my resistance, and I was totally asleep in about 30 minutes.

My trip to Sweden; Part I

2007-02-19T17:37:00.000+02:00

I arrived at Sweden yesterday on a business trip that will make me stay here until the 1st of March. Of course I was expecting it to be cold, not only because of my very smart guess, but also because someone in the company that I'm here to work with for those couple of weeks, told me in an e-mail a few days before I come that the temperature is around -10 Celsius!
So, there I was in the plane arriving at Stockholm, sitting by the window and watching the enormous areas of snow as the plane was landing. As I came out of the airport, I thought "It's not that cold, not as I thought it would be at least". Maybe because I was expecting way too much, or because I have over-prepared myself with so many layers ;-) I don't know. The important end result is that I wasn't very cold.
I arrived at the hotel after getting lost for a few minutes, checked in and went up to my room. And there it was, THE SHOCK!

I discovered that my beloved company has reserved for me the tiniest room in the hotel. If you could look at the pictures and just try to imagine. How sweet and nice of them to pay all this money for me to travel and work my butt off. And while doing so, they made sure I'm staying at the least claustrophobic room in all of Stockholm. As you can see in the pictures to the right, everything is far away from each other. I mean, if it weren't for my sister's camera's unbelievable zoom, I wouldn't have been able to see the desk while lying in bed. I have no clue what if I had to go to the bathroom urgently. I'll always have to be prepared for running as fast as I can for at least 10 minutes to reach the bathroom. And then for another 5 minutes at double the full speed to reach the toilet. Before I wet my pants.

Anyhow, I love my company, and I miss my room :'-( Not the one back home of course, I'm talking about this one in the hotel. I've been in a training all day long and I can't wait till I'm back in it.

So, besides spending all the time (since yesterday around noon, until now) thinking of my beloved hotel room, I've done some things. Yesterday, after the check in, the meeting with the hall...uh, I mean the room, I went for a quick walking tour of the old town which is less than 10 minutes away from my hotel. It was nice. I just love the essence of really old streets and relatively old buildings (not that I loved, but at least, what I found there). But more on that later...

Differences

2007-02-17T02:32:00.000+02:00

How will you lead your life? I believe that this question would receive variant answers, from a determined listing of how someone will do so and so, all the way to "uh (long deep sigh)...I don't know".

After passing through a rough experience (one that shook me on many different levels), I guess I've reached a decent answer for that question. Basically, you have two options! It's either you live your life as you wish. Stick by your beliefs and your desires. Or you live as people want you to. Re-shape yourself at every encounter depending on the situation and on who you deal with.
If you take the second option, then...I don't know what to tell you. Will this be your life?! Without further elaboration, I don't think so. Whether you'll be happy or not, that depends on how you see this kind of behavior. Or more honestly, how you convince yourself of it. But if you choose the first option, then be prepared for a lifetime of battles; fighting everyone, whether trying to get what you want from them, or trying to convince them that you're right (either you want, yourself and/or them, to feel good about it, which is still wanting something from them; their approval).

And how I see the result of these options is as follows:

You can't please everybody. If you try to, you'll end up pleasing no one, first of which, yourself. You'll end up destroying yourself, tearing yourself apart between every other whim.
And you try to love, and be loved by, everybody. If you try to, you'll end up hating yourself.

So, here's what I believe should work. Do whatever pleases you. Whatever you conceive as right. As long as your not doing anything wrong to anyone, then no one should have a say in what you do, or how you do it. Although some people might still want to interfere with your life and dictate upon you what you should do, you shouldn't pay them any attention. It's your life, not their's.

People's biggest problem is their intolerance for differences. A different opinion or point of view. A different approach in handling things. A different way of saying something. A different lifestyle. What they don't see is that different does not, by any means, mean worse. Not even bad. It's just different.

Getting away

2007-02-12T09:07:00.000+02:00

I would really like to get away from everything right now. I'd like to leave everything and everybody behind and just disappear. Take my music, maybe a couple of readings and go away for some time. And forget all about everything for a while.

I don't know what am I feeling exactly. Or, to be more precise (as I always like to be), I don't think I'm able to describe how I feel properly. So here are some words/feelings that have been wandering in my head recently;
Understanding ... Control ... Pressure ... Stress ... Tolerance ... Support ... Choice ... Independence ...

Therapy, Diaries & Cultures

2006-10-08T13:18:00.000+02:00

I don't know how to start this post. As the title implies, I've been thinking of those three topics concurrently for a while. They might appear to be a bit irrelevant, but hopefully after you read this post, you'll get my point and know how had I been thinking of all three of them at once.

Let me start with a simple comparison between our culture as Egyptians and the American culture. Not in all aspects of course. I only want to draw the lights towards marriage; Relationships in general. Well, I have no solid statistical source in my hands (and I'm too lazy to look for one online). But I guess I could safely note that, as a general knowledge thing, or at worst as conventional wisdom, divorce rate (i.e. rate of failure of relationships) in the US is way higher than here in Egypt. Same ratio could also be applicable to the number of people seeking therapy. And the number of teens keeping a diary.

Before things go out of hand here, let me state that:

I'm not trying to relate between keeping diaries, going to therapists and failing in relationships, as the former two being the cause for the latter.

All I'm trying to say is....well, it's too early for a clear conclusion. Let me talk for a while first.

Something that I deeply believe in a certain idea in relationships. It's a two-way thing. It requires effort from both sides. As much as it needs mutual feelings for the relationship to even exist, it also needs lots of care and deep communication from both sides to survive. Yes, survive, through the difficulties of life and obstacles that any relationship goes through.

Now, about diaries. I might have some concerns about them, but to be honest and fair (as objective as I'm trying to be), it is quite often the case that one needs to get things out of one's chest, without getting any reply, be it criticism, comments or even support. And the safest way to do that is to talk to your ever-listening, never-talking diary. But...the problem that I have in mind is that some use such a friend; the diary, too much to the extent that they lose the essence of talking to real friends (or even partners) about their problems. People out there, thorough communication with your partner is the key to having the healthiest of relationships.

Now let's get to therapy. It's a bit similar to the diaries thing. I have to admit that it took me a while to get convinced of the use of therapy. I didn't believe that a therapist could be any better than a good friend who knows how to listen to you when you need to talk. But yet again, the problem with therapy is that both sides are human. Some therapists could be not as objective as they should be. And some patients deal with their therapists in the manner that they don't think of whatever their therapists tell them. They take it as if it's out of the Holy book or something.
I stress on the point that I'm not generalizing at all, and I don't refer by any means to most therapists, or therpaists' patients. I'm only referring to some abnormal cases that could possibly happen. What I want to come up from this point is that going to therapy could possibly (a low possibility, that's true, but it's still a possibility) affect the communication between the patient and his/her partner in their intimate relationship.

So, about time for my conclusion. Correct me if I'm wrong, or at least express your opinion if you disagree. Am I exaggerating or could it be actually the case that the reason (or one of the reasons) that the rate of failing relationships in a country of many therapy cases and diaries, like the US, be way more than a country like Egypt, because of less communication between partners. And that decrease in communication between partners is a result of people resorting to other comforting methods, when they have problems, other than communicating with their partners?
Again, I'm not by any means trying to say that the average amount of communication between partners in relationships in Egypt is high, or even good at all. But I believe it could be relatively better than it is in a culture like America's.

Tricky

2006-09-19T17:24:00.000+03:00

You know what is a very tricky concept?

- Tolerance

Would you?

2006-09-19T03:47:00.000+03:00

عاشق...إعشقني
كاره...إكرهني
لكن إسمعني
حاول تتغير

غير...غيرني
من أول لمسة

من أول لمسة
غيرلي سنيني
نسيني
رسيني
على أول مرسى

صابر...صبرني
إوعى...تحيرني
شارد...صحيني
نسيني شرودي
تسبقني وعودي
من أول لمسة

تاية...قربني
حلم...فرحني
ما أنت تعرفني
لما بتجرحني
كأن بتدبحني
من أول لمسة

Request

2006-09-17T02:54:00.000+03:00

إبكي...
لو في عيني دموع
إضحكي...
لما أكون فرحان
إحضنيني...
لو الغرام ممنوع
حسي بيا و بعينيا كوني شوق و حنان

محتاجلك...
تبقي جنبي
تبقي قلبي
تبقي عمري
تبقي روح الروح
أنا عايزك...
تبقي ليا
تبقي فيا
إوعي ثانية...
من حياتنا تروح

تبقي صوتي...
لما أغني
تبقي عيني...
لما أشوف
تبقي إحساس الأمان...
إللي عمره ما يبقى خوف

Summing up

2006-09-14T19:54:00.000+03:00

Well, ever since I stopped writing here regularly, I've been wanting to come back. Not that I consider myself an online freak (nor that I want to be anyways), but it has become a solid part of the structure of my daily life. I developed an eye to look for interesting topics to write about. I used to have a different look at things from different angles to try to form an - as much as possible - objective point of view. I don't know why objective! Why can't I simply have a subjective point of view towards something and defend it?
Maybe because I didn't want to go through online debates about something (or many things). Or didn't have the time or the mood for it. Or is that my main aim of writing that blog was to trigger people to think about the topics I'm writing about, without intentionally directing them towards a certain side. Yeah, now I remembered. It was that last thing. As the title of the blog implies; "Think". I wanted people to think about stuff. No matter what the topic is, people need to think about it.
One of our generations' main problems is that people quite often don't take their time to think before they act. Pretty impulsive!!
Well, that's a huge topic to write about, and I'm not intending to go deeply into it right now. This post's main aim was to get me back to blogging. I truely hope it fulfills its task.

How to win an Argument with a Female

2006-08-13T11:21:00.000+03:00

YOU DON'T!

I'm back

2006-07-10T15:45:00.000+03:00

Wow! It's been a while since I last visited this page. I checked my last post, it's almost two months ago. Well, it was for so many reasons; probably the most effective of them is my huge problem with consistency (that I intend to write about sometime).
The important thing is that I'm back. So buckle up loyal fans (all three of you) and get ready to read more of my amazing posts (a bit grandiose, isn't it...nyahahahahaaaaa)

Writing

2006-05-24T11:14:00.000+03:00

Recently, a lot has been going on in Egypt. Lots of demonstrations for different reasons, and all sorts of events occuring. Accordingly, a lot was written about those events in the Egyptian blogosphere. Nevertheless, I didn't want to write about any of them here. Not that these issues aren't important to me, or that I choose to trun a blind eye towards them. But it's not why I blog.
Following up with all of these issues, whether from blog posts of fellow (active) bloggers, or from any other source of information, a thought was starting to grow inside my almost crazy mind. What are they talking about?! Is this all they can do? I wondered, those guys (the aforementioned bloggers) keep talking and talking about all the events as if they're training to work for a news agency. Fine, it's good to share with others a piece of information that you feel is valuable.
Then they never cease to curse the country and pinpoint all the negative/horrible issues about it. Whether in a depressed-like tone, or a sarcastic one. Again, fine, it's never bad to talk about the negatives in order to identify them and hopefully change them one day. And the most recent trend is to brag about how good are the recent events. About how far have the Egyptian people (or at least the activists among them) have grown in number and action against the government. About how Egyptians all over the world are uniting in one action on the same day (Egyptians demonstrating in front of Egypt's embassies and consulates in several cities around the world on May 25th*). Once again, fine, actually great, it's good to be happy about such a progress.
Is this it? Is this all you can do? Or is it all you want to do? Only talk (technically write) about stuff, whether it's good or bad, just write about it? "Hey there, everybody out there, I'm writing. Do you see how much effort I'm doing towards everything? WHAT?! You can't!! How come?! I AM WRITING."
I would really like to go on guessing why is this the case, and what are the consequences, but I'll leave this to you, if you're interested to read.

* I was about to put a couple of links, for more details, to posts written by other people. But I didn't want anyone to take it personally. It's a concept, no one in specific.

PS: Keep in mind that I'm not undermining the importance of writing/talking/discussing issues. Everything needs to be discussed at some point in time. But not only discussed, it's mostly about the action. Especially in our current phase in Egypt where we need more actions and less shouting.

Away from hereِ

2006-05-21T18:04:00.000+03:00

It's been a while since I visited this place. I have been (almost) totally offline for about 10 days. 10 WHOLE DAYS! Can you believe this folks? Well, I haven't intended to do this. But luckily enough, I had a break from the online/electronic world. Well, not quiet, but close enough. Let me tell you the story in a neater way.
I usually hardly logon to anything or even get close to a PC on weekends. I don't know why, probably because I have my share of staring at screens during the week that I'm fed up with them and seriously need the weekend break. Or is it that I spend most of the weekend either sleeping or hanging out with friends (or studying recently). Or even maybe that I don't have Wi-Fi in my new laptop :( I don't know, and I really don't care. The important thing is, I usually have the weekend as my offline break. So a weekend came by, and sooner that I usually hope for, it was over. The different thing about the week that followed was that I was spending that whole week at a client's (more about that client and my experience there later). So I had the whole following week offline as well. And of course, as you guessed you smart ones out there, the following weekend wasn't so different than the one before and every normal weekend.
So when I was back to the office the following Monday (Sunday was also at the client's), it felt weird. I don't know why? I usually explain/understand this as simple as inertia. Bit by bit I started getting back to the online world, which is definitely not as interesting as the real world. But I have to admit something...I missed it. A part of me is yelling at me right now "WHAT! Are you crazy? What did you miss? Just you and that stupid screen? Well, keep missing it and you will definitely go mad, if you're not already!"
No response from me, I'm just enjoying my comeback to my world, my world. Ah, it sure feels good to be back to the place where you've been away from for a while. I'm back baby, open your arms wide open 'cause I'm giving you a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiig hug.

PS: The funny this is that I know I'm not much of an online addict as much as a few people I know. It just feels good, and I'm happy. Isn't this enough?

National Break-Up Day

2006-05-17T18:03:00.000+03:00

I'd say, not a very good excuse.

See for yourselves.

Memorable quotes (#6)

2006-05-03T02:02:00.000+03:00

This is actually one of my very favourites. Not only because it's by my great grandfather; Ismail Mazhar (I know the link doesn't say much, I promise to write more about him soon), who used to be a well known writer and editor at his time. But also because of what it says and signifies. It talks about...why don't you read for yourself? For all the non-Arabic readers out there, the translation might not be literal, but it's effectively a meaningful one.

حرر فكرك من كل التقاليد و الأساطير الموروثة حتى لا تجد صعوبة ما في رفض رأي من الآراء، أو مذهب من المذاهب، اطمأنت إليه نفسك، و سكن إليه عقلك إذا انكشف لك من الحقائق ما يناقضه

Release your mind from all the traditions and inherited myths so that you wouldn't find any difficulty refusing a certain idea or creed, to which your soul has become comforted, and your mind contended, if revealed to you a fact that contradicts it

What to write about

2006-04-30T15:29:00.000+03:00

Not having any new posts for several days, and spending a non-negligible amount of time each morning checking out my subscribed blogs, I got the feeling that I need to post something. As meaningless and aimless as it might be. I don't care, I just want to post something. Hoping that it would make me feel better about myself; blogistically! (I know there's no such word, I just liked how it sounded).
So, what should I write about? Do I try to maintain an up-to-date blog, covering as much current hot topics as possible, giving my opinion on each one of them, or just throwing the news out there. But I'm too lazy for that. Besides, this is not what I want my blog to be anyways.
When I decided to start blogging, I thought of it as a place where I can simply put my thoughts into words, and throw them out in the open. Hoping that every once in a while someone would think that something of what I wrote is worth wasting some time to read it, and actually find it interesting. And maybe even comment on it. Well, that might be asking for too much. But then, how would I know if anyone found anything that I wrote interesting?! I guess it's not too much afterall.
Back to my current problem; I want to write something, but don't know what to write about. It's not that I'm out of thoughts (I tend to think of myself as not-so-shallow), but probably it's just that I can't get my mind to focus on anything. Why's that?
Well, that's another story that I won't include in that useless meaningless post.
Till later then.

PS: Any suggestions would be more than welcomed.

In the name of Egypt

2006-04-16T15:22:00.000+02:00

Since I read this great post by Tomanbay, I've been wanting to write a similar one, not about Cairo, but rather about Egypt. I love my country for so many different reasons and in so many different ways. But, as a gifted poet, Salah Jahin gives an awesome description of how someone like me feels towards Egypt.
Hope the translation is close enough to the original text. Here it goes:

على اسم مصر التاريخ يقدر يقول ما شاء
أنا مصر عندي أحب وأجمل الأشياء
باحبها وهي مالكه الأرض شرق وغرب
وباحبها وهي مرميه جريحة حرب
باحبها بعنف وبرقة وعلى استحياء
واكرهها وألعن أبوها بعشق زي الداء
واسيبها واطفش في درب وتبقى هي ف درب
وتلتفت تلقيني جنبها في الكرب
والنبض ينفض عروقي بألف نغمة وضرب
على اسم مصر

In the name of Egypt, history could say what he pleases
To me, Egypt is most beloved and beautiful thing
I love her and she owns the land, east to west
And I love her while she's laid; war wounded
I love her wildly and delicately and shyly
And I hate her and curse her with disease-like love
And I leave her and I desert her to a path, and she remains in a path
And she turns to find me by her side in the rough times
And pulse shivers my veins with a thousand tune and note
In the name of Egypt

Doing the right thing or doing the thing right?

2006-04-13T13:05:00.000+02:00

In the previous class of organizational behaviour, that I'm currently taking in my MBA, the instructor mentioned something that I found very interesting (as I told you before, the material is interesting, they guy isn't). He was talking about the difference between people who do the right thing as opposed to those who do the thing right.
Think about it, if you had to choose one of those, which one would it be?

My MBA

2006-04-13T13:00:00.000+02:00

I've been thinking a lot about the future of my career and what do I want to do, and what will I be actually able to do. One of the options I always had in my mind is pursuing an MBA degree. I'm not sure why, but it's probably a well known fact that having such a degree while still in the beginning of a career, especially a technical one like mine, would increase the opportunities ahead of me. So, I'm currently doing my MBA. It's only my first semester, and I'm taking two courses; Accounting and Organizational Behaviour.
Accounting is really interesting, lots of numbers that appeal to me, and lots of logical thinking, as in "which figure goes where". But the classroom environment really get on my nerves sometimes. First of all, the instructor, happens to be pretty talented, or properly experienced, in the art of delivering information, as I like to call it. Because not everyone can do that, you could have a tremendous amount of knowledge in a certain field but you just can't get to pass this knowledge to someone else in a way that is easily understandable to this person. It's all about how you communicate your knowledge. In spite of that, he irritates me big time for having a couple of phrases that he almost yells every 10 seconds! "Bla bla bla, GOT IT? Bla bla bla, RIGHT OR NOT? Bla bla bla, GOT IT?" Talking inside my head, I often find big difficulty stopping my self from yelling back at him "YEAH, WE GOT IT. I SWEAR TO GOD WE GOT IT. JUST GO ON WITH THE MATERIAL FOR GOD'S SAKE!"
The second problem with accounting is that some of my beloved classmates tend to argue with the instructor. Most of us, of course, are employees at some companies. Some of my classmates' companies are larger and more known than others. Well, that supposedly shouldn't be a problem. But (and watch out for this "but"), the people who happen to be working for some of these famous companies, and for my bad luck attend the accounting class with me, almost always disagree with what the instructor is saying; which is efficiently the material of the course. For the less fun of it, the instructor is pretty decent and discusses the point with them till they agree on some conclusion, which happens to always be what he was saying in the first place. And I'm saying, inside my head of course (as I'm not the super-class-participation-dude), "Isn't this what he was saying in the first place you #@$@%".
Other than these two tiny issues, the accounting class is fine. Oh, I almost forgot something. Ok, it needs a bit of an introduction first in order not to be misunderstood for a snob or anything similar. I do not claim that I'm super duper smart, but I believe I have a decent amount of that. And as there are people who are smarter that I am, there are those who aren't. Why is it my luck that some people who fall in the second category are with me in my accounting course?! But to be honest, that's not such a big issue. Some people could understand some material easily, while some need some of it to be repeated every once in a while. Or it could be that accounting appeals pretty much to my technical background, while those people have non-science degrees? Maybe, I don't know. Honestly, no offence intended towards any of them. Especially that I sometimes find difficulty absorbing some non-scientific material, so simply, we're even.
About the organizational behaviour course now. The material is extremely interesting. Very much similar to an NLP training that I've attended at work a few months ago. And the classmates are OK! But the huge problem is; THE INSTRUCTOR IS DEAD BORING!!! His slides (that aren't actually his, they're the ones provided by the book authors) are nothing but the headlines and titles in the book. Ok, it's not a necessity that the slides be more informative than that, provided that the instructor is. But all he does is read the slides and translates almost every word! C'mon, for God's sake, you can do more than that. Yeah, he's a decent guy and seems to be pretty helpful, but seeming helpful isn't enough at all. Add to that talking in a very calm and low voice, I put in a huge effort to prevent myself from falling asleep in class.
So long for one post, that was simply the story of my current status in my MBA.
Wish me luck!

Downgrade

2006-04-11T14:40:00.000+02:00

For all the heavily-using-computers folks out there:

Isn't it the worst thing ever to downgrade the configuration you're working on?

I didn't do this on purpose of course, I was forced to, but it's an AWEFUL feeling.
Me not happy at all :(

Religion, the Fatwa & the Statues

2006-04-09T14:29:00.000+02:00

I assume the topic is already known, and spoken of lengthily in several occasions and blogs, naming a couple of examples are these two posts. I don't intend to tell the story all over again. I'll just try to add what I think of this.
First of all, as we all heard about the Fatwa, there is a point in the defense of the Grand Mufti. It's not that he's an open-minded dude with a modern mentality and a good education. Although I already said that in my comment there, but after giving it a little more thought and recalling seeing him talk on TV and what was in the Ahram Weekly interview, trying to look at them from a different angle so that I'd be able to make an objective, non-impulsive, judgment on the guy. After doing that...well, I'm not sure what do I think of the guy (but thanks Prup for the heads up anyway), because most of the information about him/his thoughts, are communicated to us through media, that cannot be very much trusted in copying such sensitive, and possibly critical, infromation properly.
So, put aside the guy, and let's concentrate of the Fatwa for a moment. Oh, before we do that, let me mention the point in the Mufti's defense. I heard from a couple of resources, whose trust worthiness is no better or worse than media, that the Mufti was on TV after that Fatwa was spread and he explained that although these were his words, but they were some time ago, and were in a totally different, specific context. And that the current possessions of statues in any home are no problem at all.
So, now to the Fatwa itself. Does possessing a statue means that it is going to be whorshipped? If yes, then wouldn't it be similar to; Someone putting a Mus-haf in the car would mean that the driver of this car is pretty much more pious than someone who doesn't. I think the issue of statues is as simple as that. Just one minute of thought would do; If you have a statue with the intention of whorshipping it, or having in mind that this statue represents the God you whorship, then it is Haram, otherwise (e.g. artistic/decoration reasons), no problem at all, 100% Halal.
This is what I believe. And this is because I know two things; we have brains of our own that we're supposed to use think of such stuff, and we will either end up in Heaven or Hell depending on the decisions we made using our brains. The bigger problem facing our nation is that the majority of the population don't think. I don't think it's because of an inability of thinking, rather the unintention. People don't want to think, they just want someone to do the thinking for them and they'd just follow blindly. And the disaster happens when they start thinking, but only in the direction of complicating things for themselves and only thinking about the tiny insignificant details, ignoring the more important issues they should focus on.
But that's another issue...till then, give it a thought.

For the love of your country

2006-04-08T13:51:00.000+02:00

I love Egypt. It's true, despite all of its deficiencies and it's horrible current situation. I thought I knew why. And I would use as much arguments as possible in any conversation about that to defend my love for this country. But during a conversation with one of my close friends, he told me "No one actually knows why they love Egypt. They all could talk about the good things in Egypt, but it's...it's not it. All they say is 'tourist-like love' to a country. But why do/would they actually love Egypt?" That was like a couple of weeks ago, and I can't get his point out of my head since then.
Why do I love Egypt? Is it just because it's my country and where I lived for almost all my life (since I was two)? Is it for the "tourist-like" reasons my friend was talking about? Are there actually good things in this country that I relate to and make me love it as much as I do? (Believe me, there are a lot of good things in this country worth noticing at least) Or is it a combination of all of these reasons?
I keep thinking of these possibilities almost everyday. A couple of days ago I read this very good post by Meera. She talks about this, but mostly about "what can one do to change what's bad in one's country" (well, that's something else that I "touched" before, and intend to elaborate on later). But for the issue at hand, she handles it (though not so elaborately) very well.
For the time being, can you do me a favour? If you love your country, not necessary loving it madly, but if you see at least one or two good aspects in your country, could you go ahead and write them down in the comments below. Let's see how many reasons there are to love one's country.

Memorable quotes (#5)

2006-04-05T11:55:00.000+02:00

Simply;

It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not to deserve them.
- Mark Twain

To kill or not to kill yourself; Memorable quotes (#4)

2006-03-27T16:00:00.000+02:00

In a conversation with a couple of co-workers during our break one day last week, the issue of committing suicide came up. Mainly because one of our co-workers is always depressed, and hates almost everything about her life, and she was saying that the only thing preventing her from killing herself is that it is religiously forbidden.
Well, here's the thing, someone said a really good quote regarding that:

It takes more courage to live, than to die.

Tags: suicide, religion, life, courage

Hijab issues

2006-03-27T15:07:00.000+02:00

Well, I'm someone who doesn't believe in Hijab. I don't believe it's an obligation to Muslim women, nor a religious thing to do (at some point in time I only believed that it could be an additional good thing, but not anymore). But as much as I don't believe in Hijab, I also believe in everybody's freedom to do (wear) whatever that pleases them.
And when it comes to freedom of speech, I'm with that as well. Bear in mind, that there is a vital difference between criticism an insult. If you find something wrong in someone, and you really can't resist the urge to express your opinion, go ahead, criticise. And even mock if you want. But consider the following; If your criticism is more towards mockery and insult, then it is more likely that those whom you criticise will only get offended, blindly stick to their point of view, and totally disregard what you said. In case you intend to just mock a point of view and share a laugh, then go ahead, but know that this is all you'll get; a silly laugh that is pretty much frowned upon by those who have this view.

For references/examples of what I'm talking about, check these three posts out there. And the comments out there are pretty interesting as well.

Memorable quotes (#3)

2006-03-21T15:43:00.000+02:00

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus (whatever!). All going to die eventually. Going to Hell or Heaven. Depending on what? Is it what we believe in? What we do? Well here's what we do, when we're under stress according the "Why Men Don't Listen & Women Can't Read Maps", by Allan & Barbra Pease.

When under stress, men act and women talk. That's why 90% of the people in prisons are men, and 90% of the people in therapy are women.

PS: This is not an exact quoting out of the book (the book is currently with my girlfriend), but definitely the same exact meaning. And, I know the intro above is a really lousy one, I just felt like it.

Scrubs philosophy (#2)

2006-03-20T20:10:00.001+02:00

This one won't be an extracted quote like the previous one. It's rather....I don't know. Here it is as it may come. Hope it helps in any way.

When you have a problem with someone, you tend to talk about it with everyone except him/her. While s/he should be the only person you need to talk to in order to resolve that problem. Go talk to them directly, if you want this thing fixed.

Good mood

2006-03-19T15:32:00.001+02:00

Last friday, I was having a casual nighty outing on a café with a few friends. We were done around 1 am. While I was driving one of my friends home, we thought of eating somewhere. After mentioning a few options, we decided to go to El-Hussein. We've been wanting to go there for a while, but didn't have the energy to do it; drive all the way there, desperately try to find a parking spot, go through the crowds to sit in an even more crowded place. Ah, we were just too lazy.
The point is, this time we just went for it. It was late, but we didn't want to go home yet and really wanted to do something different. On our way there we spotted one of the new cabs in the city. Tried to take a pic, but unfortunately there wasn't enough light and my camera isn't that good.
Anyways, we arrived there, found the parking area. The guy responsible there (informally of course) wanted his fee, which was too high. Now, let me tell you something; my bargainning skills are disastrous. So my friend took the initiative and negotiated with the guy till he reached a reasonable price.
We then walked to the restaurant where we intended to have their famous stuffed pigeons. It's such a small place in an alley, but the quality of the food and service are awesome. When compared with 5 stars restaurants, disregarding the location and the neatness of the place, trust me, this tiny place would out run the fancy ones quite easily. I won't go on describing the experiece there, as my friend already did in a very interesting way.
Afterwards, we walked our way to El-Fishawy (the most popular coffee shop there). It was too crowded, so we just occupied a table right next to it. This wasn't my first time there, but it was different. I don't know why.
A couple of tables away, there were three guys playing on an oud, violin, and a tabla. They played and sang songs of Abdel-Wahab & Um Kolthoum. Inspite their not-so-good performance, they just completed the atmosphere. After a good fast meal, just sitting in the coffee shop listening to that music...it was just awesome. That was exactly the mood I needed at this phase.

Great Idea

2006-03-16T09:27:00.000+02:00

That is one very good idea for a website that is implemented pretty well.
I really want to contribute to this website, but I'm too lazy to do that now. Why don't you go check it out, and maybe you'll have more energy that I do now.

Side dishes go to war!

2006-03-15T21:35:00.000+02:00

Here's a hilarious piece written by an old school friend, Ahmad Naguib. He wrote it last Ramadan, during the day while he was fasting. Apparently he was either too hungry and started halucinating, or that he was loosing it.

Never a side dish. Either a main course or nothing at all. Whether a main dish or not both will be eaten. But what’s the difference? The side dish makes you full, and you enjoy the taste of the main course. Have you ever remembered a restaurant for their side dish? Never!! You always remember the fancy plate, the fancy presentation of the food. The delicate vegetables on the right. The sauce lying on top, that make your saliva flow. You sit, all your sense are awake and chose to surrender. Did you ever eat food that you didn’t like its taste, but it was fancy presented? There is a thought.

Then why do you think the side dish wants to be a main course.

You finish eating. You are full, and who takes the credit. I have meta side dish once and said to me, "I wish I could be recognized, only for what I do and what I am", transparent their role to most people, side dishes always feel depressed.

One of the main leaders of the Side Dishes Suicidal organization (SDSO), said, "There is room for fighting, we urge side dishes everywhere to be strong and to believe in our cause. And to the main courses, I would like to say that the war isn’t over. We will fight to the last oil drop of the last side dish, and we will win."

This statement has raised a lot of controversial debates in the side dishes community. People see that a war at this point of time will not do any good. They see that fight against the main courses will be like fighting against fine sand, the more you fight, the faster you go down. Others see that this is the only solution to get their dignity back. They cant take it any more they say. “why wait? And if we waited what’s going to change”, said a young side dish in front of the Side Dish Academy (SDA).

Side dishes fight for their right to be recognized. They deserve it. They earned it. But they don’t know how to reach there. Will they ever win?

That’s what are we going to know in the next episode of "Never a side dish"

Wait for us.
You won't be able to close your eyes.

And for the record, I do remember some restaurants for their side dishes.

Integrity

2006-03-15T21:15:00.000+02:00

If you have it, then definitely at some point in time you'll face a shitty situation where you'll have to make the choice; Either to do what complies with your integrity, what your conscience tells you, that is. Or just do the easier thing, which is probably what you want to do, and probably know deep inside that is wrong as well.
Good luck!

Organized crime

2006-03-15T21:08:00.001+02:00

There's definitely a reason why it's called Organized Crime.
Check these out:
La Cosa Nostra: The Mafia
The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia
Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia
and many other books as well.

I haven't checked them out in detail, but I guess they deliver the message.

How would you know?

2006-03-15T21:08:00.000+02:00

How would you stereotype someone? How would you judge them? What would you think about them? How would you know them? Whatever! The thing is, today, for some reason, I remembered a conversation I had with a friend of mine that we had a while ago. He was saying that he could make a relatively good judgment about a person by noticing how s/he spends their money. I was like, "Are you serious?! C'mon, you can't possibly form such a good judgment on someone by just that!" He insisted! I wasn't in the mood for a deep long conversation (and it would've been so; he's pretty talkative and argumentative), so I just left it there.
While I was recalling that conversation today, a few other ways - to judge people in such a way - crossed my mind. Could it be the way they dress up? What they eat? How they eat? Talk; what they say and how they say it? Actions; again, what they do and how they do it? What they read? etc...
Well, there could be millions of options there. I believe that if you want to really know someone, it's mainly (not all) about their feelings. And to know their true feelings, you have to spend quite a long time with them. When they're happy, sad, angry, vulnerable, stressed, irritated, nervous...all those kinds of feelings. It's about the emotions. No matter how much we think our mind is in control, there are a certain set of emotions, deep inside us, that drive us through life. Either towards these emotions or away from them.
But then again, to judge someone based on one, or few, of the previously mentioned factors, without spending much time communicating with them, which one would you choose?

Memorable quotes (#2)

2006-03-14T01:01:00.000+02:00

If you've been a follower to the blog, you'd probably remember the first memorable quote posted here. Well, this one is around the same topic; relationships, love, marriage, however you want to categorize it. It's by Harry Burns (Bruce Willis) in When Harry met Sally.

...when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.

Well, let it start then...

Update: Pin-pointed by a friend, here's another really good quote from the same movie. By Marie (Carrie Fisher):

All I'm saying is that somewhere out there is the man you are supposed to marry. And if you don't get him first, somebody else will, and you'll have to spend the rest of your life knowing that somebody else is married to your husband.

Tags: marriage, life, relationship, love, Bruce, Willis, Carrie, Fisher, when harry met sally, movie

WOW! To that extent?!

2006-03-13T20:34:00.000+02:00

I couldn't believe myself when I was reading this. Are we getting that retarted and condescending to women? I won't even write anymore about it than Sandmonkey did, because I don't want to get more furious about this that I already am.
Just one thing, regarding that silly argument, "I don't know, I am pretty familiar with the Quran and the Hadith, and not once did I read anything on the internet being forbidden" that Sandmonkey raised (no offence SM, I'm not out there to get you or anything, honestly). It caught my attention that some people might object to any kind of Fatwa only on the basis of it not being explicitly mentioned in Quran or Hadith. We need to use our minds to judge what is Hallal (allowed) and Haram (forbidden), and those people (the religious scholars) are supposed to be the ones using theirs the most. Not just because some of these scholars don't even know how to use their minds, or even more, use it in such a hilarious way, that the rest of the world should just blindly abide by what is written in Quran and Hadith. Yes, it is important to abide by Quran and Hadith, but not every single detail (big or small) in our lives is mentioned there. Even more, even in Quran and Hadith, don't we need to use our minds to interpret them?
Think about it.

The end?

2006-03-13T20:14:00.000+02:00

In a relationship - not necessarily the kind of relationship you have with your spouse (or spouse to be) - there could be a point when you know that it's coming to an end. You try all you can to save it, but the problem is; you're only left with the almost-furious, probably-degrading, apparently-condescending, upset kind of ways to lay on the table what you feel. Earlier, you've tried all the calm, conversational, argumentative ways. But unfortunately, no use.
The other side of the relationship tends to push you away at the first light of any problem, as unsignificant as it might seem. You keep hangning in there as much as you can. And as expected, there comes a point when you can't hold it anymore, and there it goes...
But what if it's a kind of a relationship that you know, for whatever kind or number of reasons, that you can't break this relationship? What if...?

A new blog

2006-03-13T20:05:00.000+02:00

Following the lead of this magnificent image blog, I'm trying to present something that would hopefully appeal to the viewers.
There would be my modest trials in the area of photography, and sometimes the beautiful creations of some collegues and friends.
Here it is.

Scrubs philosophy (#1)

2006-03-12T15:07:00.000+02:00

I've been watching Scrubs lately, extensively. Beside the crazy doctors and staff around the hospital, I came to notice a decent amount of philosophy. Mostly about relationships, love, frienship and life in general.
Here, on as many posts as it may take, I intend to give you what I think is worth noticing and thinking about.
There you go, the first shot of it;

Nothing worth having comes easy.

Tags: scrubs, relationship, love, friendship, life, difficulties, easy

A classic case of Narcissism

2006-03-10T21:51:00.000+02:00

Among the reasons why I started blogging wasn't the desire to become popular, follow up with my opinion on hot current news or anything of that sort. I just wanted to express myself regarding some controversial issues that cross my mind, and hopefully tease my readers into thinking about them as well.
As I got into the blogging world, I got to follow a few blogs that seemed interesting. Among which were those of Tomanbay and Sandmonkey. A few days ago, some sort of a virtual online fight between those two. Some who weren't following it might think I'm exaggerating a bit when I said the word "fight" and would hint that "argument" would probably be a more appropriate expression. But believe me folks, it's not just an argument, it's closer to a war. I tend to believe that this wasn't at all the intention of TB when he started it by a merely objective criticism of Sandmonkey, maybe a bit harsh at some points, but well...the latter had it coming and should've expected this at some point in time (not necessarily by TB, but anyone who reads Sandmonkey's blog regularly and has the balls to criticize such a high traffic blogger).
At first, it seemed that Sandmonkey accepted the objective criticism in a very civilized way, and wrote a light-heartedly reply to it. But then, me surprised to go through almost a whole day without the enormous amount of his posts, I read a 6 page reply in which he replied, lengthily, to every point TB mentioned. Well, not to mention the great deal of self praise that was found in his reply, I thought, "well, that must be it, TB criticized, and Sandmonkey shot his lengthy reply." But apparently, I should've known better, noticing what Sandmonkey seemed to think of himself. Today I read this post of his.
I have nothing personally against Sandmonkey. I don't know the guy, and despite the huge amount of posts he throws out every day (which makes me wonder, "what kind of a job pays well and gives a person that amount of free time!"), he does open my eyes to a lot of what's going on in the world. And disregarding what he thinks about them, I get the benefit that I'm looking for; checking out the current hot topics. But I had to say this; this guy has a huge grandiosity issue.
Well, read for yourself, and I believe Jenny would definitely agree with me when I say, "This is absolutely a classic case of Narcissism".

Want to say it

2006-03-03T00:36:00.000+02:00

Have you ever wanted to tell someone that you love them? Not in terms of the "I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you" kind of phrase that you say to a potential life partner (at least as you would want it to be). That's definitely not the only kind of love you could have towards someone, at least I believe so.
Didn't you ever so appreciative that someone is in your life? Regardless the relationship that you have with this person. Just knowing this person, and having them in your life is enough.
I don't know, maybe I'm just going through one of these emotional phases I tend to have quite frequently lately. But recently, I've been feeling the urge to tell some people "Thank you. I'm so glad you're part of my life. I truely appreciate it. Thank God & I love you"...

Sure feels good

2006-03-02T19:00:00.000+02:00

It's definitely a good feeling when people seek you for advice, help, or whatever it might be. Especially when those who seek you are poor, probably helpless people, or as we call them in Egypt "ghalaba". It makes you feel valuable, helpfull, beneficial. Just the feeling that someone is seeking you for help, not necessarily resulting in you being able to help this person, definitely makes you feel good about yourself. Not that I claim that I've experienced that feeling a lot, but it sure is a great feeling. Don't you think?

No matter how hard

2006-03-02T17:36:00.000+02:00

Stereotyping! I've almost never had an issue with that. Maybe sometime when I was younger I used to submit to believing in stereotypes and judge people according to that. But recently, and by recently I mean for a few years now, I've been trying really hard to avoid that problem. It is a problem. You can't just judge someone, before you get to know them, according to what group of people they belong to. Not according to a general behaviour of that group, or a general - possibly when known - rule and might even turn out to be a well spread rumor.
Well, I've been trying to avoid that. But this morning, and incident (that I won't mention in detail in order to avoid any potential misunderstanding to some of my friends) happened to me that blew all this away.
I'm still trying real hard to avoid stereotyping people, and judging them before getting to know them, but sometimes, it's just too hard...

Update: Want to see a very nice representation of this in the movie industry; Crash

Who would?

2006-03-02T13:12:00.000+02:00

A conversation with my best friend;
Me: You know what, sometimes I wonder; can we really make a difference in this country?
Him: Yeah, in spite of all the negatives around us, I think there's a huge potential for us to make a difference.
Me: I mean, I don't believe that one person can actually make a recognizable difference. And if that's possible, then it will definitely not be during his/her lifetime. But still, for the sake of the argument, regarding the initiative, that would possibly & hopefully encourage a lot of other people, do you think that we can make a difference?
Him: (Thinking for a moment) Well, yeah, why not?
Me: The thing is, look at it this way; the factors involved in shaping us are supposedly the best available. Best educational level in the country. An economic status that is considered among the high class of the country. The community surrounding you is of the same (which is presumably almost the best) educational and cultural level. And thanks to God, having a mentality that is pretty much smart. So, if we, the ones having these factors at hand, don't move it and take the initiative to make a difference, then who should? Who would?

Fear

2006-02-26T22:02:00.000+02:00

Everybody fears something. Only fools deny that fact.
Courage is not the absence of fear. It's the ability to overcome that fear, not letting it control you, actually not letting it paralyze you. It's getting through with your life, achieving your ambitions, and pursuing your goals despite all the fears you have.

September 24th

2006-02-19T12:33:00.000+02:00

Well, for those who don't know that's my birthday, and I'd a convertable on my next one :)
Nah, seriously, I thought of checking out what happened on that day in history, and came up with this. It's good to know what happened on that day. Hope that one day I'd see my name in that part of the list.
Ah, it's just a dream...but what the heck, dreams are for free, aren't they?

Same reason

2006-01-25T15:58:00.000+02:00

A couple of days ago I was having a relaxed outing with two of my good old school friends. The three of us have known each other for almost 9 years now, 7 of which we've been really close. They had known each other a while before that, as I moved to their school only in secondary stage.
Although we don't get to spend much time together lately (and by "lately" I mean, for the past 2 years or so), but we're really close. We've developed a huge understanding of each others' personalities, and grown a deep strong friendship. Nevertheless, we still have many differences.
One of them was talking about his new girlfriend, how they got toghether, and how he feels (and intends as well) that this time would be really different than all his previous relationships. We talked about the different feeling you have when you enter a relationship knowing (you can never know for sure, but it's like a very strong gut feeling) that this would be the one. We (my other friend and I) kept describing how great a feeling it is (I'm in a serious relationship for almost two years now, and my friend is engaged for over a year now).
Suddenly, it hit me to ask them, "Guys, what is it that, when you knew it or felt it, made you feel that this would be the one?" The newly-entered-a-relationship guy answered first, "she's so pure". I asked the second guy (the engaged one) "so, you?" He said, "same as he said, and in addition, she's so quiet/calm" (well, he only said one word, but to translate the exact meaning that he wanted to deliver, I guess I had to use this two-words-with-a-slash-in-between technique). I started laughing. Typically, they asked me "What! Why are you laughing?! What is your answer to your question?" I simply said, "Well, we're very different, the three of us. Yes, we do have several things in common, but we're still different in a lot of stuff. And I assume (and it's probably a correct assumption) that our partners are different as well, yet we've almost fallen for the very same reason. Very similar feelings got us into falling in love with the one." And I told them my answer, and they then knew what I meant, and they knew I was right.

A reflection of myself

2006-01-19T13:05:00.000+02:00

يوم قلت "آه"، سمعوني قالوا "فسد"
"دا كان جدع قلبه حديد وإتحسد"
رديت على اللايمين أنا و قلت "آه"
"لو تعرفوا معنى زئير الأسد"
عجبي

One day I let out an "Ahh", they heard me and said "He's been corrupted"
"He was a tough fellow but he was envied"
I replied to the blamers and said "ِِAh"
"Only if you know the meaning of a lion's roar"
I wonder

You don't like it...What do you do?!

2006-01-18T14:53:00.000+02:00

Almost every day I hear someone complaining about something in Egypt. Whether it's the living circumstances, the behaviour of the people in the streets, at work, anything complainable (if there is such a word!). Lately, every time I hear such a complaint, I tend to think; "If you don't like what's going on in Egypt that much, to the extent that sometimes you seriously consider leaving for a job or even a whole life abroad, then what are you doing towards a change to the better?" Seriously folks, what are you doing to change the circumstances. You really despise people who don't abide by traffic rules but, do you? Do you drive in the best way you can? Well, the examples are endless. The point is, if you don't like what's going on, or how it's going on, then why don't you do anything to change it? Least of all, don't do it if you don't like it that much.
I'm not claiming that I don't complain, or even worse, that I don't do these things that upset me or that I do anything (significant) to change them, but...it's just a thought.

Aging Thoughts

2006-01-14T13:42:00.000+02:00

I was having a very normal outing with a couple of friends on our regular café. Talking about several topics, some of which we just passed by, and some we shared our comments about. One thing was remembering college days and the things we went through together. The thought hit me (not that it's the first time such a thought crosses my mind, but this time is was pretty intense); In 20 or 30 years' time, will we still have such gatherings and remember the old days?
I have many dreams and ambitions. Sometimes when I wander about these dreams, I fear; Is it possible that time passes by and I'd find myself old, and my life almost over and all behind me without achieving all (or practically most) of my dreams? Can I get engaged in the everyday troubles of life and forget all about working on my dreams?
A couple of days ago I watched a very nice Arabic movie; Malek W-Ktaba (Heads & Tails). One thing that happened to the main character (role played beautifully by Mahmoud Hemeida) made me wonder; Can someone live their whole life in a certain way, and then discover that they were living in a lie? That all the world around them is totally different than what they thought it is? That they've been missing on almost everything good in life?

The Arabic language

2005-12-28T11:57:00.000+02:00

Reading this article, I got to think about how we could do something so intuitively that we don't actually realise how difficult it might be, especially to others who try to learn doing it. Here comes the beauty of our Arabic language. It's so complicated; pronounciation, spelling, grammar, and even vocabulary. So many different dialects. A decent, but mistakenly seen as huge, difference between the written and spoken languages. But still, it is fluently used by millions of people, all over the Arab world. And to a good extent, anyone from any Arab country could easily communicate with any other from a different, far away, Arab country, each using their own local dialect. Well, one has to be honest and admit that there could be sometimes difficulty for an Egyptian understanding a Tunisian (for example). But this, I believe, is mostly because of pronounciation issues because the Tunisian "language" (or more appropriately, dialect) has a good deal of French integrated into it. No offence intended to the Tunisians at all, I'm just guessing that this could be a reason for an amount of difficulty understanding what they're saying in Arabic sometimes. The other thing that one has to admit is that not all can use, or even sometimes understand, properly written Arabic. It requires a relatively decent amount of education to master, or at least use easily, the Arabic written language.
But afterall, it's said to be one easy language to learn and use. Maybe I'm just saying that because I'm used to it, but I guess it actually is easy. Think about it...:)

Why do we get married?

2005-12-22T02:23:00.000+02:00

Out of the many quotes I've heard about love, relationships and commitment, there is one that really caught my attention. It is by Beverly Clark (Susan Sarandon) in the movie Shall We Dance (it was with Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez; great dancing in that movie btw). In answer to a question saying "why do people get married?", she said:

Because we need a witness to our life. There's a billion people on the planet, I mean, what does any one life really mean. But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything; the good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things, all of it, all the time, everyday. You're saying "Your life won't go unnoticed, because I will notice it. Your life will not go unwitnessed because I will be your witness".

Burnout

2005-12-18T13:03:00.000+02:00

I feel...drained...totally. There hasn't been any sort of accomplishment lately. I haven't done anything that would likely make me happy about myself. There are a million things that I want to do, varying from the least important, totally about my own luxury, to the most crucial regarding my life, career and everything else. That results in a deep feeling that could be expressed in one simple word, frustration.
I believe my problem is that I don't have enough time to even sit down and organize my time. Just a simple (even dumb) plan would do. No time! I know what's coming, you must be thinking; "C'mon, there must be at least 20 minutes that you can spare here or there to do that. That's a very easy, but rather vital, task that could help you make the best use out of so many other 20 minutes". Well, believe it or not, I know! It's just that...whenever I find a tiny gap in any day, I so tend to do one thing that I haven't done in a while; vegitate on the couch in front of the TV. Ironically enough, I don't even do that, even when I have the time, I'm too worried that if I relaxed for a few minutes, that it wouldn't be just a "few minutes", and that it will take a few hours, which I cannot afford in the mean time.
Is that it? Of course not(with a huge sarcastic smile)! In normal circumstances, this would've been enough to make me feel a bit down, but not drained, as I am pretty much now. Just add to this, for the sake of the cute flavour, a decent amount of stress at work, and that would be it. The equation is complete and the environment is set.
I can't do anything. I can't even...think...

A walk on the beach

2005-12-08T12:01:00.000+02:00

I'm bored. Bored to death and can't concentrate on anything. There are a few things that need to get done, but I can't get myself to focus and finish them. I really wish I was somewhere else right now.
I'm imagining myself having a nice walk on the beach at El-Ein El-Sokhna. It's late at night. The beach is dark. Terrifying....maybe, to some people it might be. But to me, it is as if I'm looking at myself. My inner deep self. I'm having ear phones on, and listening to some smooth music. A weird collection I've put together that has one thing in common; the rythme is so slow, quiet and smooth. The weather is a perfect. A nice breeze is around, it comes and goes, which removes the constancy of the atmosphere, gives it a little bit of a nice change every few minutes. It's chilli, which is exactly what I love. Across the beach, on my other side, there are far, wavely put, low lights that give a rather romantic scene. Romance is not what I'm thinking right now, all that I'm feeling is soothness and relaxation.
Hmm...I could walk like this for ages and never get bored or tired. I absolutely get everything out of my head. I still think of some pending issues in my life, but as an outsider. I don't let anything bother me now. I just scan all what I need to think about, and review it in my mind, keeping that soothness that I can feel now is crawling to reach my soul...

Different kinds

2005-12-07T09:55:00.000+02:00

Last night, I discovered that there are so many kinds of different love, true love. It's not only the feeling that you have for your girlfriend/boyfriend, fiance or spouse, it is that genuine, true emotion that you have towards someone. I don't mean, of course, that love for a partner wouldn't be true or genuine. I mean that love comes in so many shapes and forms, and in so many directions, none of which could make your love to your partner diminish.
Haven't you ever wanted to tell someone (other than your partner) "I love you, you're great. I'm really glad I know you"? I know this could be a little difficult to even consider because of the silly stereotypes of making your partner jealous or being accused of having homosexual intentions! Well, the good thing, I believe, is that you might not have to say it to show it. There are a million ways of showing how you feel towards someone, showing that you appreciate knowing them. But I believe that the best thing ever is to have such a feeling towards someone in the first place, because if you do, you won't need to do something to deliberately give them the message "I love you, you're a great person and I'm happy to know someone like you". It will show. It will be felt.

Relationships

2005-12-06T16:09:00.000+02:00

At the risk of stating the obvious, I'm talking here about intimate relationships, not with your colleagues, family members or friends. Relationship with your spouse, or the one to be, is the one at hand, just in case someone might get confused or....whatever.
What is it all about? What should you do? What should you expect, in return to what you do or even what you expect from someone to consider starting/advancing in a relationship?
Let me clarify something first; when I say "should", in this context here, I don't mean that this is the right thing to do or think. Because everything is relative, and it all depends on what you want to have, what you want to do, and what you can give. But for the sake of making my life easier (formulating the phrases) I would use the word "should" whenever I mean "from my own perspective, I believe this is the right thing to do/think".
First, it's a matter of what you're looking for in a partner of yours. Is it similarity, or diversity from yourself? Keep in mind that too many similarities could be really boring and too many differences could make life with that partner unbearable. Some might think now that I'm heading for the classic extremes-are-bad-and-moderateness-is-always-the-best-solution. Well, isn't it?! Nonetheless, this is not my point. The thing is, you should (as I told you, this means that I believe this is right thing to do) carefully pick what are the similarities and differences (than yourself of course) that you'd want your partner to have.
Now when you pass this stage, i.e. you're with someone now, that's a different issue. Because whether you made a correct judgement, relevant to what you're looking for, and knew really what this person is, or not, you're past that stage and you're in a relationship now. Keep in mind that you can never know everything about your partner, and I mean never. Till the day you (or your partner) die, you'll still be discovering now stuff. So the matter of making a judgement about someone is relative, and only you can judge how much you need to know before entering the relationship. After that stage (with no further procrastination from my side, hopefully), you're in a relationship. It's a matter of what you want to do and what you expect from your partner that governs your behaviour, which is, in turn, the factor that affects the continuation (and success) of the relationship.
Should you give and give all the way, waiting for nothing in return? Isn't this what we (at least some of us) want to do when they deeply in love. This is the furthest extreme to selfishness, isn't it? You don't want anything for yourself. Your only and holy goal is to please your partner by giving and giving and giving. You know what...probably not. Because if you give all the way, totally neglecting yourself, then you're probably either just doing this to feel good about yourself (appearing as the sacrificing one whose mission is to serve the beloved ones), or you totally forgot that you exist as a person, and that you have your own needs that need to be fulfilled adequately or else....I guess I don't need to elaborate here, I'll leave this for your imagination.
Then how much should you give? How much is enough and how much isn't? How far will it be enough for you to know that you're neglecting yourself and your own needs? Hmm.... Are you really expecting me to answer?! :) I told you before (above) that it's all relative. Only you could answer that.
I guess that's enough for the time being about this topic.
To be continued...

To flee or not to flee

2005-12-05T01:59:00.000+02:00

When my friend told me that he's leaving to work - and consequently live for a few years - in Dubai, it got me thinking about this whole thing; leaving the country and work abroad for the sake of a better opportunity, and probably a better life, as opposed to sticking around in Egypt and taking one's chances. It's not only about Egypt. It's the concept of leaving one's home country and living elsewhere. However let me examine Egypt as an example, since it is my home country, and also as I know several cases who did leave it for a "better" opportunity abroad!
Why do people leave Egypt? Well, as far as I've experienced and heard, the reasons (or motives if you may) are twofold; the person had this intention for a long time or that a really good opportunity just popped up.
When it comes to those who had the intention; some just hate the country with all it's problems and all the frustration in it. They don't actually.....umm, I don't know how to put it. They don't see the fact that anywhere else, where they might go, they will have the same amount of problems as it is here. It is probably a different set of problems, towards which they turn a blind eye because of the tremendous amount of discontent they accumulated over the years for the deficiencies of their current environment (i.e. Egypt). Is that practical? Hmmm, I don't think so. Some might argue, and I've actually heard a few, that they can live with those other kinds of deficiencies as they don't form significant issues for them. And even worse arguments, they'd rather live with those other inadequacies than endure the life in Egypt one more day. This is a bit exaggerated, right? Well, I'm not, they are. I'm not intending by any means to start listing those inadequacies that drive people to flee from the country, or even the great (and many) good things that are here in this country, and mostly not in any other place in the world. I'm just trying to think of what drives people to flee from Egypt.
Looking at it from another side, some like it here. But is that enough? It is hardly the case (unfotunately) that staying here is a higher priority than having a good job with a decent income. Of course I'm not encouraging people to give away a lifetime opportunity and live in poverty just for the sake of staying in Egypt. I'm just saying that....ok, let me look at it from my personal perspective; I would give up a very good job with a big salary and potentially a great future (but is located abroad) for another that might seem less promising but would not require me to leave.
One more thing, not in my wildest dreams I would think that one person, no matter who he is or what he does, could change a state of a whole country over night, or even over years. This is the work of thousands, if not millions, of people over a long time. But think with me; if everybody (or at least the good calibers) that could find the opportunities and actually be wanted out there, left the country for these opportunities, then who would stay and work on fixing things up around here? Give it a thought...

He's leaving

2005-11-29T06:39:00.000+02:00

Yesterday, after a nice farewell outing, I realised that one of my very best friends is leaving. I've known that for about a week. But it just hit me yesterday. I don't know why did I just realise it yesterday, or why didn't I face that fact before when I knew. Maybe it was the shock. Maybe it's the rush of the events since he told me. Or maybe it was my denial of the fact that I won't be seeing him for a few years except for a few days every several months.
Without any preparation from my side to respond, without being ready to loose a friend, he's just leaving. And that's how life is, isn't it? With no warnings it just stabs you in the back...