yepti…I am off tomorrow…sounds like I had a bad week or so…but actually no…I am so relaxed aslan…but boss is coming back on Sunday…and I can’t take off Thursday 3ashan I have one of these SUPER BORING ceremonies…so I have that feeling of “oh…you gotta take a day off”….
Speaking of boring ceremonies…me and C are working on a “things to do during boring events” list….should be ready by tomorrow….he is gonna go buy the materials tomorrow…asl we hate someone in specific…and this someone is gonna be there on Thursday…fa we have vicious plans…here are some clues to the “Thursday Parade”…chewing gum….marshmallows…..microwave….sticks….peanut butter…” and more to come…the good thing about me and C doing such plans…eno we can easily get away with it…or to be more precise…we never had “fingers pointed” ta us
Same thing like school time…we’ve never been caught doing whatever we were doing…and that was A LOT.
I remembered now the Famous Agami Water Balloon thing…Imagine!! this was a plan to attract our next door neighbours…yep…we used waterballoons..and mashabek…yep…wonder why they used to hate us?? anywayz…honestly…we didn’t like them…our target was the 3 jet skis parked inside their villa 😉
Gotta leave now…we have a mother’s day gathering at grandma’s place….sea-food w 7arakat gamda awi…. family evening toll..
Ah…w gali zozo…try to figure this out 😉
more on…tonight
Update @ 11:30 pm
It is almost 11:30 pm, we arrived a while ago….thought I would start reading one of Al’s books…he gave me 2 yesterday…one is “el dafa el okhra” his first book..it is a collection of short stories …and the other is a novel called “Engil Adam”….he recommended that I would start with the first one….to go chronologically ya3ni….actually he made this chronological thing up…coz he later on forewarned me…eno the novel is sorta controversial!!!! so when someone tells u read this first…and leave that till the end…what would you do?? exactly…go ahead and do the opposite 3ala tooool. Was supposed to get a signed copy from Al-Aidy’s novel as well…bas later ba2a isa :))…i like the concentrated arabic dose….thought I wouldn’t be so interested in reading arabic novels that much…but the truth of matter is….whenever I start one…I can hardly keep myself away from it….
Anywayz…back to my ZOZO 😉 Zozo….is zobon ya3ni…aka client…yes….I had my first photography client today..what happend ba2a?? my ex-boss….mesh boss awi ya3ni….bas kinda…attened our exhibition…then asked me keda about my catalogue or photography profile…so today I gave her the link…she went through it..then e-mailed back with a request for 3 photos for her summer house!!!!! sounds stupid but I was soooooo Inestimably happy. Ok…here is a little something ba2a…since I never sold any of my photos…fa I never really thought about my prices or such stuff…thought am an amateur…and will exhibit w khalas ya3ni…bas yesterday when we were all at the studio…the same lady asked about the prices…coz she found that the revenue of any sold photo will go to the orphans…fa I was like “mute” for a while until a colleague of mine told her eno it is “….”. Fa in her e-mail to me…she mentioned something like if am gonna sell the same price or more…fa in my reply…I said something to the effect that she is my first client and I won’t take money from her and stuff….am sure what she is gonna do…coz I know her quite well…bas I don’t like it. a) It is so embarrassing. b) this lady have a special place in my heart…I owe her a lot aslan….she helped me a lot when i first started working there “was a fresh graduate ba2a…w 7aga maskhara”..she taught me looooooooooooooots of stuff…and if am to consider myself a successful person “career wise”…she would have some credit for that. To cut the story short…I had my first Zozo today…bas keda 😉
Going to Alex next Friday isa….will spend the day there…someone “rabena yesam7o” reserved tickets @ the 6 am train…which means that I go out from here sometime around 5:15 or so…which eventually means eno I wake up around 4….what am thinking of ba2a…eno i come back to Cairo by bus…coz there is a bus stop @ Haliobliz “according to our bawab”…fa what’s the point of coming back in a train which stops @ Ramsusssssss “accordig to the guy who pops up from the microbus window”!!!! mom thought about me driving in the morning which is “ok”…but what about the return trip ba2a…would I be able to drive….I was like…mum u can’t be serious… I’d need a “kayf tahbat el ta2era” book for my return trip.
Am kinda drowsy…but don’t feel like going to bed at all. Ah…here is something I just recalled….R usually talks loudly in the phone…so I used to know whatever happens in her personal life…well, when I told her…that I don’t really feel comfortable with her discussing EXTREMELY personal stuff in front of me…she started to go talk in the rest rooms…and let me tell you that the average phone call takes like 20 mins…sometimes it is a r-e-a-l good one…fa it takes “God only knows” how long. I forgot what I wanted to say…remember…. I am really sleepy but holding up. Ok..back…so for a person like me…rest rooms are essentials…fa whenever I go…she is there…fa I go out….and wait up…she doesn’t come out…I go in again…she is still there…I surrender and use the toilet…and ohhhhhhhhh…God…what a feeling…ya3ni…the feeling that the one on the line knows what am doing exactly…every single step…fa I finally went out and asked her to go use the office…3ashan am so annoyed…and can’t use the toilet…why am I saying all this?? it is another issue…it is like people are in love with each other…and they don’t tell instead..they convince their friends..eno they barely know anything about one another!!!! ok…I would better stop talking now.
Nightieeeeeeeeee
These are torn out pages from a sculptor’s diaries…God only knows why she took them off her chronicles. Maybe she wanted to erase them from her life for good…maybe she had the memory carved in her heart and mind and thought that was enough….or maybe she just didn’t want to be charged of insanity??? Who knows!!
Lost Page # 1
“I woke up one morning with the intention of creating the most magnificent piece of art….a piece that I won’t mind if no one except myself liked it. Yes…It is gonna be totally mine. A piece that I will not exhibit … sell…or present to friends. They said am crazy…but but I thought it is a band-aid on loneliness.
Started mixing up materials…got the clay ready…but…no…would my perfect statue be made of clay…just like the rest!!!! Won’t be up to my expectations then. I will marble carve my perfect work. Carving him was hard…took too much time…thinking and planning. I then invaded my formless piece…tough to control and surpass…days and nights…blood and sweat…yet I smile and laugh when I feel the victory and see more features. My eyes sparkles whenever I look at you…and see the almost perfect model I yearned to.
Hallelujah….today is the day….you are gonna be complete and flawless…what a surprsise??? when I entered the hideaway to add your final touches….you expertly decided to add them up yourself….”surprised…yes…proud…tremendously….coz that’s the kind of perfection I sought”.
Lost page # 2
Enjoyed his glamorous presence in my life….kind of substituted everything and everybody. Gave me strength to live and love, stand and fight….time passed…and with everyday I get more attached to him….even at the Grand Ball….I went out bragging with him….my MARBLE piece…yes…I keep on reminding myself and the others…”he is not like you…he is something else…and you are not up to me”.
My perfect statue started a sense of narcissism that I didn’t like…I developed a sense of romanticism that he didn’t accept….convinced myself it is only of my imagination… Soon he started to whine, object, and rebel….what??? Against who…me?? his existence became ugly….what am I supposed to do now??? Finish him?? Can I?? what a sour feeling…when you feel that your heart is gambled for …??What??
Held an axe…would it work?? Looking to each other straight in the eye…he stared…I cried….left the place for days. When I came back he was still there…with a sweet smile…the one I first saw….kissed him….lied and said “I am leaving temporarily”…kissed back and hugged me tightly…my perfect marble statue…knew I am lying….knew I am leaving him and everything else that would remind me of him behind.
So I SMSed M inorder to invite him to the exhibition…after all 3eib ya3ni…or that’s why I thought “seriously…I am in bad need to a brain and heart transplant”…anywayz…here is my message:
“I would like to invite you to the Egypt Photographers exhibition from 17-28 March, opening 7 pm@ studio 206. Looking forward to see u there”.
Here is his reply:
“Are u participating?? I attended an exhibition for this group before, and it was TERRIBLE”.
How sweet and encouraging???
Maybe it is not the most suitable morning for doing it, sun started rising with a promise of a hot day to come…. but it is early enough not to feel the heat, suuny yet coolish. So I went out….. walked to the German baker…. had a cup of coffee and a donut…then a piece of pizza to go…”yep…I eat my dessert first”…that I thought I ‘d eat in my way back to work…but no…I don’t want to go back to work…I enjoyed yesterday’s walk…so why not go for a second run today…I have food, music, and above all the mood to do it.
One of the things I love about Maadi is that you can do anything…noone will stare at you…or screw “whatever u r doing”…I started eating my pizza..played Buhhda bar playlist…instead of the random one….until I reached the corniche…spent sometime there…watching people coming and going..only one felluca was in action. If I only have enough time and my camera…I would’ve gone for one….. finished my coffee then decided to go back….wonder if N called this morning to check on yesterday’s assignment!! ha…will see and even if….I really was in bad need to do this. Although I just did it yesterday :)) but since am a morning person, fa evening strolls to me are good, but early morning strolls are the best. Debated the idea of stopping a cab in my way back…then found myself walking…so let it be!!!
“Oh…my…that was a heck of a stroll”…that’s what I realized when reached my office…If you know Maadi quite well, then you will understand it is quite a WALK from Rd. 200, to Rd. 9…head to the Corniche…then all the way back! But I really liked it…came back full of energy…”as if I have any problems with it already ;-)”…and ready to work “not really…but have to ;-)”.
Apparently am still hungry…or to be more precise “tafsanana”…yep…”nefsy awi f ta3meya sokhna to7fa…mesh ay ta3meya…I want the one with sesame on top…and a bit hot keda…the best ones I used to ate in Alexandria…but it’s been a while since I enjoyed eating ta3meya 7elwa”.
I always wanted to take a photo for a butterfly….man…this is so darn hard. So when I was out this Sunday…found this bee going from one flower to another….fa I thought…wow…cool ya3ni…if I can’t get a butterfly…I have a chance with the bee I guess. So if you were to choose…would you like to be a butterfly or a bee??
I embrace emerging experience.
I participate in discovery.
I am a butterfly.I am not a butterfly collector.
I want the experience of the butterfly. “William Stafford”
There are many ways of binding by which one can be dominated and controlled in this world, but the bond of affection is the strongest. For example, take the case of the humble bee which, although expert at piercing hardened wood, becomes caught in the embrace of its beloved flowers (as the petals close at dusk). “Chanakya”
Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair
If Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair
then Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t fuzzy, was he?”
Here is a tongue twister: “try to say it keda”
Betty Botter bought some butter but she said the butter’s bitter. If I put it in my batter it will make my batter bitter. So, she bought some better butter, better than the bitter butter and she put it in her batter and her batter was not bitter. So it was good that Betty Botter bought some better butter
See how close I am…and the cute baby has not any intention to move away “as any cat would do when someone approaches”…she was drinking like crazy…we stood there for like 10 minutes, and until we left…she was still drinking :))
Yoooohooo….I got my blog fixed..Kinda screwed it up last Thursday and wasn’t really sure what the hell went wrong…tried every-possible-thing but never worked, now that I was playing a bit with the settings…it is working :))
Didn’t sleep well last night, and was supposed to wake up early this morning, as I had a walk…oh my…it was darn good….been to El Mensesterly palace, Nilometer, and Oum Kalthoum Museum….crossed the bridge…and here we go….alleys and really small streets…but amazing…and here I am not acting like a “tourist”…it was really awesome….it is like when I was telling that friend of mine during the walk…it is amazing how people can adapt themselves to the surroundings…noone has any problem in anything I guess….we visited a couple of mosques “sa3i el ba7r” and Mohamed el Soghayar “not the hairdresser”…actually he is Mohamed the son of Abu Bakr El Sedik. Lots of tales and facts…it is just you never know which is which…it is like you have an idea about something…but the people of this place would give you hundred stories about the place!!! and you start like…could this be true?? wrote down lots of points that I got to some research on…this should be interesting…I am looking forward to have sometime and start going thru all this..one of the points that was mentioned today….that at one point of time Cannibalism spread among the citizens of “Fustat”….true?? no??? will find out.
Another interesting thing that I really wasn’t expecting at all, was that Om Kalthoum had a REALLY small feet….always seeing her in movies and on stage as one big lady…maybe coz she was a bit fat or so, that’s why I had this impression…but today when I saw her shoes…I was like “no, this couldn’t be…these are size 35 or 36 max…could never ever be 37. I loved this one two, they showed like a 20 minutes documentary…that I didn’t watch till the end…honeslty wanted to go around the museum, her wedding dress was loaded with pearls I think, and some other stones, that you would go like “oh gosh…not a mm without a stone”…wish there are lots of these museums…going thru personal stuff…would give you a good feel of the person.
The Nilometer dome from inside amazed me, will post the photos soon so you can get what am talkig about..it is tremendously neat. After that we headed to city stars for late lunch and movies.
Ok…how do I feel these days?? well,am pretty much ok…it is just yesterday someone sent me sms to go somewhere today ….and I said am sorry can’t do it 3ashan Workshop thing w keda. Today smsed again, “would have loved to see you”…and am like “me too bgad…it is just this WS”. All is ok…it is just am so much afraid of any confrontation….it is like that other time…the minute I feel he is somewhere close..it is like I had a hard bite from a cross-eyed water snake…fa it is just to ok to keep the low profile mood a little.
I am taking tomorrow off ;p the thing is my to do list is not that full these days…boss is out of country….annoying replacement been on vacation…the good one is around…fa why not pamper Narnoura shwaya…need at least to get my hair done…didn’t get it dry even once this week, although all complimented the look, but actually it is too early for the undried curly hairstyle.
A: you are a liberal, no??
B: am a communist!!!
A: since when/why?
B: I look hell good in red 😉
A week ago:
Ring…ring
N: Hello!!
Papa: How are you Nonos
N: Papa…am good el7amdolelah…
Papa: Grandma and Uncle are already here or not yet?
N: No they are here….yallo don’t be late..
Papa: ok…but let me ask you this first, why is your car parked infront of the bldg??
N: Coz I brought grandma…and am pretty lazy to park it behind the bldg…fa thought I would keep it there till I drive grandma back!!
Papa: Ok….but don’t do this again, coz you would easily get a ticket for it…
Today during a family gathering…”which was quite embarrassing”
Papa: Nono…is taking a ticket for parking infront of the bldg becoming a Friday tradition or what!!
N: No pa..again…I thought I would better drive grandma first then park mara wa7da…
Papa: listen….I have no problem if you had to pay 300 pounds for this coz am not gonna..it is not the money…it is just why?? what’s the problem in parking in a proper place!!
N: Papa…..how much did you pay for traffic violations this time!!
Papa: was supposed to pay 600…but it has been reduced to 300
N: “in a sarcastic tone”….I paid 25!!!!
The conversation was kinda tough…although I can never call dad a tough/stiff guy “when it comes to us”… he shifted the conversation to a very funny direction then…it is always the way he ends our conversations…he intensely hits his point…and when we reach this “unbelievably pleasent moment”…he goes to a funny part…and stays there….it is ok…but you know. It is SO fine to have a ticket…it is ok to hit your car coz something caught your attention….it is ok to get ripped off at the traffic departemt, there is a lesson out of all this…you would probably get something. I mean my parents knows quite well, eno I can even reach the 3rd dimension all by myself…but they still like to feel that I need directions!!!
Yeah…it wasn’t the plan, I only had a slip for only one day, but it ended up 2….how cool is that!!
– I hate the day I have to go to the Heliopolis traffic department ….ohhhh..horrible…horrible…horrible, it is like you really need another thing to remind you how hard is to get something done here without wasting your time and money. Away from paying your fees…you have to hand everyone “something” to get things going…although I hate to do that…but it is like “I gotta do it anywayz”…wanted to get my paper done..a3mel eih. And guess what!!! I suck…I can’t even do it right…the guy took the money and assured me eno “kolo tamam”….I spent the whole day there bardo…Grrrr. Not only that I had to put up with the employees attitude…la2 kaman….people somking…flirting….squeezing you to the wall, coz they want to ask about something…or they just want to take your place!!!!!
– Dana Reeve’s death shocked the world and smashed the Osacar’s celebrations….Superman’s Widow passed away after losing her battle against Lung cancer…although non-smoker. I liked the lady coz she was real faithful…put off her career, all the efforts she did during her husband’s illness till his death…was really amazing. I want to add something to the accomplishments of this lady…but think it is really inappropriate to say it right now.
– I kinda watched A-L-L the Oscar related programs, Oprah, 20/20, the inside edition, good morning america special episode, etc…it is not that am so mad about such extravagansas “well..I might be…just a little”….but Gosh GC looked awesome…you know…although he is like 25+ yrs older than me…but I don’t have the tiniest problem in marrying him…how sweet this could be??? wake up everyday and the first face to see is GC…”sigh”.
– This is serious now…who really think that aliens have destructive powers and one day they are gonna invade the earth…and turn it to a hell of place….and who think they are peaceful creatures?? I personally adopt the second the second one, the first hypothesis sounds so irrelevant to me…but I really want to know what do you think.
– Wanted to go for a walk today, but the weather isn’t good at all, I am so desperate for a long long walk in a nice place..with a nice hot chocolate/Cappucino cup….some nice music….not a single horn blowing in my ears. yeah…right…as if it is possible!!
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
I don’t believe in perfect happiness and never looked for it, I just like being constantly happy…this keeps me going real good…I am the type of person who would be extremely happy for the smallest things in the world, and also would be mad for the most trivial things…
What is your greatest fear?
Losing loved ones….
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
If you mean historical figures with solid grounds, there should be good ones but I never wanted to be any of them. I always liked to think that I was Jo March in Louisa May Alcott’s novel little women. Never knew why I don’t go like “Louisa” although she is a real one while Jo is fiction…it is just we know that Jo is somehow Louisa herself…mmm. I also admire Helen of Troy so much…and would have loved to be a mythological figure :))
Which living person do you most admire?
My family members.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Being such a moody person….I hate my mood swings.
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
HYPOCRISY
What is your greatest extravagance?
Nothing in particular.
On what occasion do you lie?
When I am in real trouble 🙂
What do you dislike most about your appearance?
You might think I am stupid…despite the fact that I am not a pretty hot chick, but I really like the way I look :)…maybe I don’t like the way my mouth look, but I am so ok with it.
Which living person do you most despise?
Cruel and merciless.
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
Cool, super cool, w keda, fa
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
would like to be a stronger person, sometimes I feel eno am pretty fragile…
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
My greatest achievement would be getting a position with the UN volunteers, and I am not there yet…so lessa shwaya :))
If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be ?
An alien, am so curious about life upthere….I wish I can have the chance to know more about this and get introduced to the outer space.
Who are your favorite writers?
I don’t have favourite writers…I go with favourite books.
Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
Alice.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Disappointment kills me.
Where would you like to live?
Alexandria – South Africa “Cape Town” – Alaska
What is your most marked characteristic?
That’s hard to answer, it is not that am a hell of a modest person :0 I just have lots of qualities that are too much to count, and I don’t know where to start 😉
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
“Girls are so queer you never know what they mean. They say No when they mean Yes, and drive a man out of his wits for the fun of it” Louisa May Alcott :)) isn’t that awesome!!!
What is your greatest regret?
Nothing that I can remember.
What OR Who is the greatest love of your life?
Will be my husband isa.
How would you like to die?
So peacefully I hope.
I tag everyone in my coolies side bar “tab3an if you would like to”.
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Nermeena 