of Weird reading habits

In her book Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader; Author Anne Fadiman wrote: “If you truly love a book, you should sleep with it, write in it, read aloud from it, and fill its pages with muffin crumbs..”

Although I loved the book yet, the minute I laid eyes on this particular sentence I had to disagree out loud, and called the lady a BOOK BRUISER (I usually talk to authors and characters while reading 3adi khales).

I then paused to reflect on readers behavior, and tried to compare mine to friends.  It occurred to me that people never seize to amaze you with your eccentricities while reading.  The more you watch them the more you feel compelled to write a book about their odd reading behaviors or habits.

For instance -away from talking to the characters and authors-  me being a neat reader I tend to treat books with extra care. I really really love to see them always as good as new.  My reading kit (see attached photo ;) includes a Book, eye glasses, and highlighting flags -mind you I don’t use pens, pencils, or fluorescent highlighters-  whenever I come
across favorite lines, quotes, or paragraphs I stick one the flags on them.  Needless to say that each color is of  significance :

Pink: favorite quotes/lines
Yellow: researchable material
Orange: bloggable thoughts :D
what about green and blue?
Am not big on them ..fa I use them as back-up

What about you!!  Do you have any other odd or intriguing reading habits to confess?

Podcastinnnnnnnnnnnnng

And I finally made it :D

It has been in my mind for a while, yet since am pretty much technically challenged fa I kept on postpoing the “Go Live” phase.

Guys and Gals,

I would like to invite you to the Pink Planet Podcast, Triple P is a podcast that offers nothing but good news everyday…well, mesh awi ya3ni, but I will be digressing most of the time about stuff ya3ni.   I have a lot of skills to work on tab3an, bas I really think it is so much fun :D

Narnoura,

reporting live men 3al kanaba,

The Pink Planet

Weekend digressing

Been a while and I have so many things to digress, as I am simply in the mood for doing so.

The past few weeks were full of victorious as well as awkward moments, yet lovely and heartfelt instances filled in the gaps.  Torturous mood swings prevailed and the “aroma of a temper lost” made the headlines in my diaries.

On the age bit

I missed the annual ritual of posting a happy birthday to me blog post. Since it is better late than never, fa here we go. I turned 31 on May 28^th (yaaaaaaaaay)…. I feel as juvenile as ever el7amdolelah, lighthearted and opening up to life even more than when I started my 20s.  That said today (yuppppppppppppppiee…apparently masr gabet gon delwa2ti ) I am not watching the game asl, I just decided to succumb to my extreme tendency to digress and resorted to the tiny laptop.  It is a challenge to type a long post from it by the way, bas this is another story :D

El mohmem back to our main point el heya “age”.   Today I was sitting with a guy from the IT department working on something keda -I knew he is a 2007 grad- we were chit-chatting about education w keda.  Fa I started telling him about the heart breaking epic of el dof3a el mozdawaga and how we were the last dof3a before the new thanaweya 3amma system.

The guy then said yeah ento men ayam el ta7seen!! (as if ta7seen was the ancient-est system ever), tab3an here yours truly felt like an ancient monument.  I tried to let him know that we actually men abl el ta7seen and the ta7seen thing was the New System.

Quote and note:

“Nobody ever married a book”

Can you see where this is going!!  Tab3an we all know that this is metaphorically speaking ya3ni, the context is eno women with intellects are not men’s first choice for marriage, or ya3ni the majority of men in order not to generalize.  And I will never come around and cave in to the thought.

On Dreams deferred:

I have a dream, a fantasy, to help me through reality

And my destination makes it worth the while

Pushing through the darkness still another mile

Yesterday I was “that” close from getting in touch with a dream of a lifetime.   Yet after a short disturbing encounter at the Egyptian Radio and Television building, I realized that I have always thought of a certain channel to process my dream through, I have waited years and years to have this opportunity, and the minute I had it I came to find that I was pretty delusional.   If I am to cling to my dream then I will have to find out my own conduit.

Currently Reading:

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie.  It is my first for him, I always wanted to read his Satanic Verses but for a reason the idea was pretty freaky, don’t know what the book is about aslan, but the title gives me Goosebumps keda.

Aslan I came across Midnight’s Children while writing an article about the Booker Prize for Read Newspaper.  I got to know that Rushdie’s novel is probably the most celebrated literary work in the history of the booker prize.   It has won the prize initially in 1981, then was selected as the booker of the bookers in 1993.   Later in 40th anniversary of the booker Prize (2008) Rushdie was named winner of the Best of the Booker award for his Novel Midnight’s Children.

I am around the first 200 pages but totally hooked, it is A_M_A_Z_I_N_G.  will probably post a review after finishing it :D

Apparently the game is over and Egypt  has won :D

This post should have had at least one liner on each of the below topics:

Flu outbreak

Plague

Elections (Lebanon & Iran)

Yet I am too lazy to write anything about any of them. All I can say is, I genuinely wish that one day we can voice our choices and have a say in determining the future (I know am hallucinating), but again there is nothing wrong about hoping.

Meanwhile, take care and don’t freak out begad.

Have a lovely weekend,

Nerro, Rateeba, and Ensaf

(tab3an you can easily figure out that the 3 of us were writing that post ;)

Altering the mood

On Pink

(Nerro is sitting in the office staring inside her purse)

R: eih ya Nermo, are you looking for something?

N: No

R: have been looking inside your purse for a while?

N: yeah

R: (waiting for an answer)

N: I am cheering myself up

R (in a sarcastic tone): aha..now that makes sense..you have a clown inside!!

N: nnno, am Coulrophobic

R: Wow…that sounds intense, say it again.

N: lol,  phobic to clowns!

N: I have a new pink wallet, fa I look at it for  a) I am cheering myself up, b) am sorta obsessed with it :D

R: Pink is overrated

N: Pink is diminishing from my desk and purse.  Not a good sign, no!!

R: go green…pink is tacky

N: I hear some displaced anger against pink young lady…get a grip.

R: It is very well placed, plus think about it. “green” is cliché. ya3ni you can start bragging out and saying things like “I have given up on pink to go green. It is environmental friendly”

R & N: Lollllllling

 On impact:

I’ve been taught that my very key to success as a trainer is to make a personal impact.  Well, sounds easy but it is not. For subtle quiet people like myself it is pretty exhausting.  

I always feel compelled to walk around with a hidden bunny under my hat.  I am a naturally quiet person, neither my looks nor my attitude are captivating.  Hence I have to keep the bunny hidden and bring him out when required.

And when is “when required”? it is pretty much when I crave for attention.  Mind you.. Gemini are attention freaks, they mostly like to be the center of attention.  That said, I don’t think I always like to be the center of attention.  Sometimes I enjoy being an invisible creature keda, I indulge in the unnoticed spot until I get bored, or the urge hits me, or else have something interesting to say.

I don’t usually talk for the sake of blabbing, coz I blab in my diaries, I tend not to do so in my daily life.  Anyways…I wonder if one day I will ever be admired for my own mildness.

On Human Emotions:

“Happy, smile. Sad, frown. Use the corresponding face with the corresponding emotion”

There is nothing wrong with being angry for a while.  Also, there is nothing naive or stupid about being incurably positive. C’est la vie :D

under pressure

All I need is a warm comforting hug, and someone who can assure me that everything will be alright.  Someone else other than myself..coz I know it…I just want to make sure that am not being delusional .

of National Iconic Figures

Dear friends,
According to the Guardian’s Country profile, Egypt’s Living National Icons are:

-Omar Sharif (actor)
-Dina (dancer)
-Ahmed Toughan (cartoonist)
-Ahmed Hossam “Mido” (footballer)
-Hesham Mesbah (judo)

I felt totally uneasy about the list and contacted the Guardian to report inaccuracies. I can never debate Omar El Sherif and Toughan’s presence..but the rest!! Mmm, am not quite sure.

What about you? Do you really think the enlisted are Egypt’s Living National Icons? If not, who would you suggest instead?

Update:

I just got a reply from the below reply from the Guardian:
“I am happy to expand the list Nerro — we can’t do everybody, but send us your top picks with their biog info, and we will see what we can do. All the best, Leslie “
suggestions!!

Cheers,
Nerro

Falling for the same pattern!

“You are so terribly nimble, so clever. I distrust your cleverness. You make a wonderful pattern, everything is in its place, it looks convincingly clear, too clear. And meanwhile, where are you? Not on the clear surface of your ideas, but you have already sunk deeper, into darker regions, so that one only thinks one has been given all your thoughts, one only imagines you have emptied yourself in that clarity. But there are layers and layers — you’re bottomless, unfathomable. Your clearness is deceptive. You are the thinker who arouses most confusion in me, most doubt, most disturbance”

                                                                          Anaïs Nin

 

That’s the kind of day I wish for you ;D

Here is to a lovely morning, and more good ones to come :D

A setting sun that paints a tie-dyed sky
A feather bed, an ancient lullaby
A kiss good night from one whose love is true
That’s the kind of day i wish for you

A field of flowers dancing in the spring
A little creek, a tree, an old rope swing
Cotton candy clouds against the blue
That’s the kind of day i wish for you

First love with all its storm
Raging like fire within
Tossing your heart to chance
You swear the dance will never end

But then it does and someone says goodbye
And after all those empty nights you cried
The morning that you wake up good as new
That’s the kind of day i wish for you

The faith of knowing deep inside your heart
That heaven holds more than just some stars
Someone’s up there watching over you
That’s the kind of day i wish for you

Saba7 el foll

Dear friends,

Please, please, please….pretty please. When you step in your office after a long weekend try as much as you can to transfer some positive energy to your colleagues instead of whining about the morning unanticipated traffic and how  #$%$% was your holiday.

 

 As long as you are present in the office, while all family, friends, and loved ones are alive, healthy, and sound..one should be happy and thankful. THIS IS  A BLESSING PEOPLE, don’t take it for granted.

Seriously, you won’t believe the amount of negative energy I’ve absorbed since the minute I stepped in.  What drives me crazy is that I cannot really find a good reason.

 

“Za7ma”!! Yes, I totally understand that traffic is intolerable but hey you have a lovely car with an AC!! Others are suffering in public transportation that they can hardly afford aslan.

Kids are driving you nuts!! Well, many are desperate to have one.

Bored!! Quit being too comfortable, you just want to step out and do different things.

 

I know life isn’t that “cool”, but it is not really bad. You  know what I mean!! Begad think of the extreme and be thankful for waking up in the morning in the first place.  It is literally a MIRACLE.

 

Humans are all about energy, and energy is transferable, so the minute you transfer positive energy to another person, it will get to the third, then the fourth…etc.  It is contagious… Therefore it is your responsibility; when you see someone the first thing in the morning, it is either you make or break his/her day.  No??

 

Have a lovely day and smile :D

 

Yet another film hindi

It was the last day in an extremely strenuous workweek when I called the sis to check if she would like to go watch “Slumdog  Millionaire”,  I was pretty sure she won’t tag along as we definitely dropped down this “going together to movies” issue a few years ago, our last one was “wa7ed men el nas” fa you can imagine how unyielding is our pact ;) (between us girls: she talks during movies, shhhhh).

 

El Mohem we went to the movie which happened to be in Genina Movie Theatre, (a prestigious award winner movie should be allover the place, not only in a few movie theatres across Cairo, no??). We had an hour to waste fa we went around the mall keda, and sister kept torturing me as she practically stopped in front of each and every candy stall we came across.  At the very beginning I thought she wants to buy something in particular but tab3an I was wrong, she was just doing it for the fun of it.

 

I will spare you the familial details and now to the movie review (if I may say), actually it is not a review khales, it is only my opinion, and I can really sum it up in a simple sentence: 

Slumdog Millionaire; yet another “film hindi”, in a short time span.  I totally understand that the movie has practically rocked the world and all, yet to me it didn’t make much sense, like many of those loooooooooooong movies we used to watch during the eid vacation when we were young. 

 

It is the same old recipe.  Throughout the movie inconsistency prevailed.  I have to admit that at many points I was touched to the core, and I also have to admit that the movie is visually brilliant.  But the flawed storyline really got into my nerves, I was totally disappointed.

 

Although I loved the Jai Ho Score at the very end with all the music, energy, and stuff, yet I went like “howa film hindi”.  There is nothing wrong with aflam hindi by the way, I can confidently tell that so many of us used to like the colorful scenes and the music offered in those ones we used to watch zaman, but the drama was never a measure coz we knew that they mostly lack realism.

Chasing the Golden Butterflies in El Dorado

I want to live
I want to give
I’ve been a miner
for a heart of gold
It’s these expressions
I never give
That keep me searching
for a heart of gold
and I’m getting old
                                     (Heart of Gold, Tori Amos)

 

 

I sure am getting old, but apparently it is not a good enough reason for me to stop the chase.  I am not willing to give up, cannot apprehend the idea of letting go and  cling to whatever life offers. 

 

It ultimately offers some good stuff , but what is good? Can you define “good”!! good is subjective, nothing definite about it. 

 

I suppose we all learned the hard way that Dreadfully Awful can surprisingly be Splendidly Admirable, no!! but again who can tell! We always get to figure it out pretty late in the game.

Prayer for a blueberry girl

Neil Gaiman’s Prayer for a Blueberry Girl.
The type of prayer I would want for my daughter :)

A quick tour inside Abdeen Palace

Paris Gate: was intently constructed for Empress Eugene of France entrance during the Suez Canal opening ceremony.  Bas 3ashan el na2, the palace was opened 3 years after the ceremony :)

Supposedly a royal fountain outside the museum complex

The Tea Kiosk: koshk el shay as they used to call it.

Mausoleum of Sidi Badran : one usually don’t expect a mausoleum (ma2am) inside a once was royal residence, no?? the thing is the mausoleum was already on site before the palace’s construction and Khedive Ismail ordered the architects to incorporate it in the palace’s design.  Unfortunately it was closed for renovation, but I heard it is breathtaking.

Me likes :)

The Music Kiosk: Koshk el Mosika, royalities lazem yes7o 3ala music tab3an mesh alarm clocks.

At this point of the tour, gurads will start asking you to stop as you cannot get any closer :S and tab3an I SO wanted to explore further.

READ!!

And the baby is finally out!!

During the past few days SMS and phone calls with Dido were more or less about THE BABY.  READ is a newly born newspaper, those who carried out this project  were determined to make a dream come true, to put together a different kind of publication, a newspaper for young people.  They worked hard to present to you “The Only Newspaper for Youth in Egypt”.

READ.

A vivid concise and to the point biweekly newspaper that comes out on stands on Sundays, printed in full color and covers many interesting aspects:

* News of major events and happenings classified by Continent ( Africa – Asia – Europe – America – Australia) + Middle East
* Special focus on citizen journalism through columns powered by Global Voices Online
* Business Specialized Page
* Science & Technology Specialized page
* 2 pages for sports
* 2 pages for performance & visual arts
* Book Fair
* Human interests
* Masryetna: A page in Arabic language discussing Egyptology and all related topics on Egyptian history & culture

<!–[endif]–>

Where can you get your copy!!
- Read is distributed freely in all private universities
- Read is available free at different bookstores (Shorouk Bookstores – Kotob Khan)
- Read is available free at different coffee shops (Cilantro – Starbucks)
- Read is available at On The Run branches
- Read is sold only for One Pound at Newspaper stands & kiosks.

Read’s Partners:
Content: AFP (Agence France-Presse) – Global News Agency + Global Voice Online

Grab your copy and let Dido know your opinion :D

It is a day off :D

It is Sunday morning and I am home, sipping my coffee “Najjar brand 3ashan we are going local, remember!!”  Someone would say ya Narnoura Najjar is originally Lebanese not Egyptian!! and my answer would be  a) w malhom el Lebanese ba2a, a7san nas (tal3eeb 7awageb ;).  b) yes it is,  however on the pack they stated that it is made in Egypt under the technical supervision of Najjar Association (Lebanon).  Kaman we are supporting Arab as well as Egyptian purchases, cool ya3ni.

Back to my day off :D (which is definitely a happy thought);  it is tough times at work, and I’ve been super stressed  the past few weeks.  Apparently the upcoming weeks until probably the end of March won’t be any better (sweeeeeet!!). That’s why I decided to enjoy a long weekend and totally unplug.   I needed it the most; the thing is I have no problem what_so_ever with work overload, usually what stresses me out are the people.  I cannot go on and on about this issue in particular cause it is sorta unethical yet I believe I will be able to carry on isa after this break.  I know it is normal and I should be grateful that I still have a job, given the current situation.

Off with the topic.  I will probably spend the day reading.  Currently on the last Quarter of Ibrahim 3abdel Meguid’s “3atabat el bahga” which I read solely for the title’s sake :D.   Aslan I lost faith in this writer long ago, and last summer after reading his tyoor el 3anbar..I was like, that’s it buddy.  Let’s call it quits.  you are SO not allowed into my bookcase, and I MEAN it.  Yet, after hearing from so many people that this one is good as well as the alluring title ta3an, I was like, what the heck, give him ore more chance..don’t we all need a second chance??

I was planning to go pamper bondo2a “my car”, yet I am so lazy to go out and monitor people around giving bondo2ty a bride’s shower, I am even too lazy to talk today.  The mood might change by the end of the day though…you never know.

Will go for Tuesdays with Morrie after my current read just to get with reading it, not that am excited about the read.  People were recommending Mitch Albom’s books like crazy, and I was like apparently he is not to be missed.  I started with his Five People you Meet in Heaven and was turned off big time; the book is not really bad on the contrary it is good.   An easy and quick read that’s neither hasty nor intense. I just have a big issue with any book that gives you this feeling of  “the moral of the story is….”.   it is explicitly highlighted, which is something that I didn’t admire awi ya3ni.

Note to you: Any book recommendations for me? been a while since I read something the swept me off my feet!!

I’ve also started a Thursday movie ritual :D.  Seriously; almost every Thursday I would go hit the movie theaters to watch a movie.  I am not much of a movie person and I figured out that I might have missed some good ones cause I simply can’t get myself to sit on a chair for 2+ hours staring at the same screen.  And since I now can declare myself a frequent movie goer ;) I may recommend Both Mikano and the Curious Case of Benjamin Button.  Both movies are not to be missed.  Mikano is quite different for the Egyptian Market, yet falls under the same umbrella of Asef Lel Ez3ag if I may say.  As for Benjamin Buttion you gotta watch it yourself cause it is brilliant.   Just to be honest it is a little long, slow paced, and would leave you with a faint miasma of dejection though.

I will go enjoy my day off, and you have a wonderful one at work ;p