'Tis the Season... To Fun(d) Raise!

English

It all started when a group of Lebanese bloggers decided to get together and collect a few toys from neighbors and friends to give away to underprivileged children this Christmas.

Soon, what seemed to be a small initiative between friends turned into a gigantic wave that took over the Lebanese blogosphere and quickly attracted more buzz on Facebook and Twitter than any already established charity. Snowballs are funny that way, and at Christmas they seem more unstoppable than ever!

So today, the group is at its third major charity event and counting, and Lebanese Twitterers and Facebookers can't wait for the next Fun(d) Raising activity which, as the name of the initiative already suggests, is all about fun.

Indeed, what could be better than having a great time while doing some good?

Well, great time, good deeds … And delicious sweets of course!

Fun(d) Raising's upcoming gathering will start at 5pm this coming Sunday, December 27 at Edde Yard in Byblos.

poster here

If you like getting your hands dirty (with flour and chocolate); if you love the smell of yummy goodies cooking in the stove; basically if you're a common human by day and a super-baker-(wannabe) by night, then this event if for you!

COOKI3MAN the legendary cookie-maker ruling the Lebanese blogosphere will bring the magic dough and everyone will be invited to add chocolate chips, kinder, m&m's and many many many other goodies! You will be welcome to eat them warm, on the spot and you could even save some for later and share your tasty delights with loved ones. 'Tis the Season of sharing after all.

Of course everybody loves cookies but not everyone's into baking. Fear not flourphobics, COOKI3MAN will bring some home-made cookies that you can purchase in batches of 6 and 12.

Perfect, right?
What more could we ask for, you say?

Well there's always more! Don't you just love the holiday spirit?

The queen of Lebanese cartooning will also be there, signing her now celebrated Amalgam! Do I need to say more? I don't think so (OK, fine, if you haven't heard of this book, the blog or the excellent Maya Zankoul, it probably means you haven't been going out much, Twitting, Facebooking or even watching TV! That girl's everywhere! But don't worry, we won't tell anyone, just click here and get on board!)

And every time you think it can't get any better, the Fun(d) Raising peeps surprise you with more!

There will be a draw to win cookies and Maya's book! And we all know that even if you're baking or buying, and even if you already own a copy of Amalgam; the extra bonus prizes will make for a wonderful gift this season.


For more details, visit:
Event FB Page
Fun(d) Raising Website
An excellent article on Global Voices Online which summarizes everything very clearly

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Tagguée…

Français

Tagguée par l'épice :)

Sept choses que vous ne savez pas; ce sera pas facile! Ma sœur me traite d’exhibitionniste; alors pour les secrets, hein… Va falloir aller chercher ailleurs! Bon, OK, je vais faire un petit effort!


1. Je ne connais pas la taille de mes soutifs par cœur ! Si, si, je vous jure! À chaque fois que je vais en acheter, je demande à la vendeuse de prendre mes mensurations! À chaque fois!! Je ne sais pas pourquoi ma mémoire refuse catégoriquement de stocker cette info!

2. Je déteste lire les textes scolaires, ou tout ce qui leur ressemble! Instructions, bouquins self-help, etc… Ma sœurette en pleure (presque) parcequ’elle veut absolument que je me Zermatise. elle a fait son devoir de bonne sœur (pas au couvent) et m’a offert le bouquin au Noël dernier… Elle attend encore que je le lise ce qui n’arrivera jamais si on me laisse le choix… Résultat : c’est l’épice qui s’y colle et qui va me résumer tout ça… Elle est pas belle la vie? :)

3. J’aimerais bien vous dévoiler que j’ai eu mon permis de conduire à trente ans (!!!) mais ce ne serait que redondance des mes billets précédents! (je sais, je sais, je parle beaucoup) Par contre, ce que vous ne savez pas, c’est que j’avais déjà pris des cours quand j’étais plus jeune. Je devais avoir 20 ans je crois (p*tain que je suis vieille!) et un cousin à mon papa m’a proposé de m’apprendre à conduire pendant les vacances d’été à la montagne. Il a abandonné après la première heure pour cause de DANGER PUBLIC! Ce qu’il faut savoir c’est qu’en voiture, je suis tout le temps dans les nuages. Je crois que c’est la combinaison du paysage qui passe tout autour de moi, avec la musique et les bruits autour, bref tout ça m’hypnotise! Bien sur, il n’y avait pas de musique pendant que je conduisais mais après tant d’années en tuture, la tête dans les nuages, le mal était fait! Bien entendu, mes parents on flippés et donc, finit les cours; ce qui m’allait très bien, de toute façon, conduire ça m’a jamais intéressé… Encore aujourd’hui, au volant, il faut que je me concentre énormément pour ne pas me laisser aller! (chut, ne le dite à personne!)

4. Mes parents nous ont toujours poussés vers les arts et comme tous gosses bien chouchoutés, nous n’avons jamais rien continué jusqu’au bout, au grand désarroi de ma maman. Les activités dont je me rappelle : piano, violon, accordéon, danse classique, danse moderne, jazz, théâtre, peinture, peinture sur soie, dessin, aérobic et surement plein d’autres choses dont je ne me souviens plus!

5. Mon premier job a été vendeuse dans un magasin de maillots de bain et il a duré un mois. Mes parents étaient furieux que je passe mon temps dans un endroit qui n’a rien a voir avec mes études et malgré tout le plaisir que j’ai eu en recevant mon premier chèque, je ne pouvais que me rendre à l’évidence que mes parents ont (toujours :P) raison! Je m’ennuyais à mourir dans ce petit magasin où je ne rencontrais chaque jour qu’un maximum de deux ou trois snobes qui venaient essayer des maillots aux prix exorbitants… beurk!

6. Il y a deux jours, j’ai été chez l’otorhino pour me faire examiner les oreilles. Oui, hubby a décidé que je deviens sourde et que je dois aller voir un médecin d’urgence :) En fait, moi aussi je commençais à avoir des doutes vu que ça fait un bon moment que moi aussi je me sens dure d’oreille! Mes conversations sont toujours tellement pleines de « Quoi ? » « Pardon ? » « Tu peux répéter ? » que je ne les compte même plus! Donc, monsieur l’otorhino, j’arrive! J’ai ainsi fais tous les tests possibles et imaginables (il y en a pas tellement mais bon, c’est ma petite touche de drame) et… Et bien rien. Rien. Non seulement je ne suis pas sourde mais en plus j’ai pu entendre des sons que les personnes dans la moyenne considéré normale n’entendent pas! Apparemment, je suis super-woman de l’écoute… Et pourtant… Pourtant je n’entends rien! Le médecin m’a dit que c’est juste une question de concentration! Et oui, si le sujet ne me plait pas, j’entends pas! Simple non? Le verdict a été très rassurant et satisfaisant pour hubby :)

7. Ce janvier, hubby et moi célébrons notre cinquième anniversaire de mariage. Cinq ans mariés; sept ans ensemble. Pas mal non? :)

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A planet Earth... & a half, please!

English ✮ Français

Following my previous post; I can't be share this article from Le Monde. Since the article is in French, here's what we should note:

1. Mankind would need an entire planet Earth and a half to produce the resources needed for food, clothing, moving around (transportation), getting warm and absorb all our waste; and that only if these lands and ecosystems were exploited in a sustainable manner

2. According to the latest studies made public today, Tuesday November 24, our global carbon footprint keeps on growing. It rose by 2% between 2005 and 2006; and by 22% in comparison with the last decade, both from the rise in population numbers and consumption per person

3. A country's carbon footprint corresponds to the number of global hectares needed to produce food and textiles needed to feed and clothes this country's population; build cities and their infrastructure, and to absorb the waste produced by the country's population. CO2 emissions are thus converted into the number of hectares of forests needed to absorb them.

The United Arab Emirates consume each year the equivalent of 11 global hectares and account for the highest carbon footprint in the world, followed by Qatar and the United States of America. West European countries rank in the first thirty along with Canada, Israel and Japan. France consumes 5 global hectares per person and ranks in 22nd place

--

Français

Après le billet d'hier, je me dois departager cet article de Le Monde:

La Terre de plus en plus mise à mal
LE MONDE | 24.11.09 | 08h22
Mis à jour le 24.11.09 | 09h02

Une planète Terre et demie : c'est désormais la surface qu'il faudrait à l'humanité pour produire les ressources qu'elle consomme en un an pour se nourrir, se vêtir, se déplacer, se chauffer, et absorber ses déchets, si les terres et les écosystèmes étaient exploités de manière durable.

L'image, destinée à frapper les esprits, a été créée et popularisée par l'organisation non gouvernementale canadienne Global Footprint Network (GFN), qui calcule l'empreinte écologique de l'humanité, c'est-à-dire sa consommation de ressources rapportée à la capacité de production et de régénération moyenne de la planète.

L'impact écologique de l'humanité s'accroît fortement. Selon ses derniers calculs, rendus publics mardi 24 novembre, cette empreinte écologique ne cesse de croître. Elle a augmenté de 2 % entre 2005 et 2006, et de 22 % par rapport à la décennie précédente, à la fois du fait de l'augmentation de la population mondiale, et de la croissance de la consommation par tête.

"Nous utilisons trop rapidement les ressources que la Terre peut fournir, et nous produisons plus de déchets qu'elle ne peut en absorber, commente Mathis Wackernagel, créateur du concept et président du GFN. Nous en constatons tous les jours les effets : déforestation, perte de terres arables, surexploitation des ressources marines, stress hydrique, accumulation de CO2 dans l'atmosphère."

Selon le GNF, les besoins de l’humanité ont commencé à excéder les capacités productives de la Terre en 1986. Depuis, l’homme vit en quelque sorte au-dessus de ses moyens, et, en dégradant l’environnement, compromet la capacité des écosystèmes à rendre les services dont il aura besoin dans le futur.

La définition de l'"empreinte écologique".

Le concept d'empreinte écologique a été inventé au début des années 1990, dans le but de mesurer synthétiquement l'impact des activités humaines sur l'environnement.

Son unité est "l'hectare global", dont les capacités de production ou d'absorption des déchets correspondent à la moyenne mondiale des "performances" des terres agricoles et des écosystèmes (biocapacités).

L'empreinte écologique d'un pays correspond au nombre d'hectares globaux nécessaires pour fournir les denrées alimentaires et les fibres textiles consommées par sa population, pour construire ses villes et ses infrastructures, et pour absorber ses déchets, gaz à effet de serre compris. Les émissions de CO2 sont ainsi converties en nombre d'hectares de forêt requis pour les absorber.

Le classement mondial.

Les habitants des Emirats arabes unis, qui consomment chaque année l'équivalent d'environ 11 hectares globaux, ont l'empreinte écologique la plus élevée. Suivent le Qatar et les Etats-Unis.

Les pays d'Europe de l'Ouest figurent parmi les trente premiers, aux côtés du Canada, d'Israël et du Japon.

Les Français, avec 5 hectares globaux par personne, sont au 22e rang mondial.

Chaque Chinois consomme en moyenne 2 hectares globaux, autant que les Maliens ou les Péruviens.

Les habitants d'Haïti, de la République démocratique du Congo, de l'Inde, du Cambodge ou de la Côte d'Ivoire figurent parmi les plus petits consommateurs de ressources au monde, avec moins de 1 hectare global.


Gaëlle Dupont

Article paru dans l'édition du 25.11.09
© Le Monde.fr

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Lost in Translation...

English

I’m having a hard time explaining to my Indonesian housekeeper why it is environmentally irresponsible and on the long run, eventually dramatic to keep the lights on in the entire house all day! If the room is empty, turn off the light. Simple. And yet…

Right now she probably thinks I’m cheap…

I’ve tried explaining to her that my reasons are not financial but I think our newly created common language lacks the proper vocabulary and fails to project environment, global warming, carbon footprint, climate change, sustainable living, energy saving and other ecology-related concepts (explaining them in English is hard enough!!).

To be fair, and at the risk of sounding like I'm trying to show off; I'll use Maslow's hierarchy of needs nicely presented in the very suitable pyramid below: when you’re worried about whether you’ll manage to get a hold of your most basic survival necessities like food and whatnot, the Earth and its issues do not make your top 10 To-do list.

It's a pyramid because the base is made of the most important necessities. If these are not met, one cannot build on top of them to reach more abstract values and ideas. Logical... If your basic physiological needs are not met then how can you think of more abstract issues?

What's also noteworthy is the second stage of needs: Safety. When people don't feel safe, you can't expect them to spend time thinking about (and working for) greater issues; which is probably why war children in Lebanon* for instance, would have a hard time understanding why sustainable living is so important when they can hardly be sure they'll be (just) living tomorrow.
*(Lebanon's war children: our parents, our generation and the younger ones who we hoped would escape this insanity but ended up witnessing first hand war, destruction and death back in July 2006 when Israel decided it was OK to destroy most of Lebanon)


I cannot stop wars.
I cannot eradicate poverty.
I cannot educate all.

Basically, I cannot make this woman safe and confident that her future is not scary.

And somehow I need to explain to her that all those natural disasters the poorest populations suffer each year; her own population endures each year, happen for a reason which is not related to a god’s wrath or just plain bad luck.

They happen because human beings have been violating this Earth for so many years now, the damages and consequences are almost irreversible today.

So yes, the planet should be on everyone’s To-do list; at the very top.

And eradicating poverty.
And justice, equality and fair peace everywhere.
And educating all.

Old news one might say.

Yes. Old news.

And yet, we seem to need to be reminded every day.

So here's for today.

. S H A R E . T H I S . P ✮ S T .

Temptation :-)

English

Reference here: The Marshmallow Test: Psychological Experiments in Self-Control

In this reprise of a now-classic Stanford psychological experiment from the 1960s, kids are put in a room with a marshmallow and told they can either eat it immediately or wait until the researcher gets back, and they'll be given a second marshmallow. Hilarity ensues as the kids suffer marshmallow temptation!

But the consequences go deeper: In the New Yorker article "Don’t!" from May that detailed the very same experiment, it turned out that the ones who passed the marshmallow test enjoyed greater success as adults. Said Walter Mischel, the Stanford professor of psychology in charge of the experiment, "What we’re really measuring with the marshmallows isn’t will power or self-control... It’s much more important than that. This task forces kids to find a way to make the situation work for them. They want the second marshmallow, but how can they get it? We can’t control the world, but we can control how we think about it.”

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Yes, we kicked some French ǻŝš...

Français

... And we can't help but think how fun that must have been for our grand-fathers :-)

To all my French friends (and I have many, many), I'm just teasing ;-) Anyway, if I know you well enough, you're in fact happy we got our independence from France back in 1943.

Well, now we wish we actually could get our independence again.
Why you ask?
There's no occupation in Lebanon?

As a Lebanese I beg to differ... Only a few hours ago, an Israeli surveillance drone violated Lebanese airspace:

Lebanese forces fire at Israeli drone
(AFP) – 15 hours ago

BEIRUT — Lebanese anti-aircraft guns opened fire on Saturday on an Israeli drone that entered Lebanese airspace in the south of the country, the military said in a statement.

"A surveillance drone of the Israeli enemy" overflew "the area of Bint Jbeil at medium altitude" in the morning, the statement said.

"Army anti-aircraft batteries opened fire on the drone, forcing it to gain altitude before leaving Lebanese airspace."

The country's military reports almost daily on airspace violations by Israeli aircraft, but does not normally open fire at them.

The United Nations considers Israeli air incursions into Lebanon to be a violation of Security Council Resolution 1701.

"To the best of my knowledge, there's probably no other country in the world -- probably, I may be wrong -- which is subject to such an intrusive regime of aerial surveillance," UN special envoy for Lebanon Michael Williams said this month.

Resolution 1701 brought an end to the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah militants based in southern Lebanon, although the accord has failed to seal a permanent ceasefire.

It mainly insists on the strict embargo on providing arms to Lebanese militias, while also affirming the Beirut government's sovereignty across the whole country.

Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.

So here we go... again!

To all my fellow Lebanese:
Here's Wishing You All A Happy Independence Day!

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The Other Walls || Les Autres Murs ... on film ...

English ✮ Français

Following my post on Reuters' photo exposé; here's a film that doesn't require words. Just watch.

NO WAY THROUGH
Directed by: Alexandra Bouillon & Sheila Menon
Year: 2009
Country: United Kingdom

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The Other Walls || Les Autres Murs

English ✮ Français

A note I posted on Facebook earlier today.
Un article que j'ai mis sur Facebook ce matin.


Reuters: in pictures...

REUTERS/Ammar Awad

A Palestinian woman and her children walk past a drawing by British graffiti artist Banksy, along part of the controversial Israeli barrier in the West Bank city of Aram, August 10, 2005.

REUTERS/Oleg Popov

Partially dressed Palestinians hold up their hands as they approach Israeli soldiers at the Erez Crossing, while trying to flee from Gaza, June 19, 2007.

REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

A Palestinian woman sits in a bus before leaving Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip November 6, 2009, on her way to perform the annual haj pilgrimage in Mecca.

REUTERS/Nasser Nuri

Egyptian soldiers close part of a destroyed section of the border wall between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, January 28, 2008.

REUTERS/Erik de Castro

A boy waits with other travellers at the holding area on the Iraq side of the Iraq-Iran Muntheria Border, near the city of Khanaqin northeast of Baghdad November 17, 2008.

REUTERS/Khaled al-Hariri

A Syrian Druz cleric waits for his relatives to cross the Syrian-Israeli crossing point into Syria from the Israel-occupied Golan Heights for a four-day visit to the Arab state September 6, 2007.

REUTERS/Carlos Barria

An artistic representation shows coffins with the numbers of immigrants who die trying to cross the border between Mexico and the United States each year at the wall border limit in Tijuana, Mexico May 6, 2006.

REUTERS/Juan Medina

A boy walks past a fence decorated with figures of immigrants trying to scale it during a re-enactment by immigrants of their attempts to cross the border fence between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Melilla in their refugee camp in Bamako, Mali, January 21, 2006.

REUTERS/Lee Jae-Won

A South Korean girl playing the role of a North Korean girl walks through the opening of a gate leading into the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas near Dorasan station, north of Seoul, during a ground breaking ceremony on September 18, 2002.

REUTERS/Stringer

A migrant tries to cross into the U.S. from the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juarez, under the bridge that connects the border city with El Paso March 6, 2006.

REUTERS/Fred Greaves

A man in Mexico looks up at the border fence separating the U.S. and Mexico where it extends into the Pacific Ocean after a storm caused damage to the fence in San Diego in this January 3, 2006 file photo.

REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Belarussian border guards patrol the state border with Poland near the city of Brest, some 360 km (224 miles) southwest of Minsk, June 6, 2009.

REUTERS/Stringer

Turkish Cypriots peer through a border fence in Nicosia towards the Greek Cypriot south Cyprus April 25, 2004.

REUTERS/Vinay Joshi

Border Security Force (BSF) soldiers patrol the border at the India-Pakistan International Border Post, about 180 km (112 miles) from the western Indian city of Bikaner December 25, 2008.

REUTERS/Jeff Topping

A piece of metal framing that will have sheets of metal welded to it is lifted into place by a fork lift, as members of the 116th Construction Support & Equipment Company of the Utah National Guard continue construction on a 1,000 foot long extension of the border wall that separates the U.S. and Mexico in San Luis, Arizona June 7, 2006.

REUTERS/Jason Lee

A female North Korean soldier guards the banks of the Yalu River near the Chongsong county of North Korea opposite the Chinese border town of Hekou, northeastern China's Liaoning province May 31, 2009.

REUTERS/Anton Meres

Women are bent double by sacks of goods at the Spain-Morocco border near Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta, April 19, 2007.

REUTERS/Manuel Hernandez

Venezuelans and Colombians use ladders to get off the Simon Bolivar bridge to evade Venezuelan national guards, in San Antonio November 3, 2009.

REUTERS/Amit Gupta

Pakistani rangers close the gate after it was opened for trade at a crossing point on the military ceasefire line or Line of Control at Chakka-da-Bagh, about 250 km (155 miles) northwest of Jammu, October 21, 2008.

REUTERS/Hazir Reka

A stone is thrown by a Serb during a protest at the Gate 3 border post near Podujevo in Kosovo February 21, 2008.

REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

A Dominican Republic soldier (L) receives a paper from a Haitian at the border with Haiti in Jimani October 5, 2007.

REUTERS/Rafael Marchante

Garments of would-be immigrants are hooked on a razor wire fence which separates Spain's North African enclave of Melilla from Morocco in Melilla, October 3, 2005.

REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh

A Hungarian flag is seen behind barbed wire at the "Iron Curtain Museum" in Felsocsatar, 272km (169 miles) west of Budapest April 29, 2009.

REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

A refugee illegally crosses the Beit Bridge border from Zimbabwe into South Africa July 21 2007.

REUTERS/Paul McErlane

A British army soldier sits alone in his sandbag covered pillbox as demolition work is carried out on the Romeo 14 observation post on Cloghoge Mountain, 1.5km south of Newry, South Armagh, Northern Ireland, May 9, 2003.

REUTERS/Antonio Denti/Files

Migrants stand behind the main gate of a holding centre on the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, September 4, 2008.

REUTERS/Masimba Sasa

A worker repairs a barbed wire fence that was damaged by immigrants illegally crossing at the Beit Bridge border between South Africa and Zimbabwe April 18, 2008.



Reuters

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"Sofia wants to be a poet..."

English

I just came across this short yet very nice interview with Francis Ford Coppola when he was in Beirut, Lebanon. What caught my eye was at the end, as the journalist inquired about Coppola's children.

It's always beautiful to view someone through their parents' eyes. There always is some sort of magic touch, a beauty; some sort of perfection. And I just loved what Francis Ford Coppola said about his daughter:

How big is your influence as a father, producer and director on your daughter (Sofia Coppola)?

Well, I have a very large lower lip that I was very embarrassed about, and she has the same lip... but on her it looks beautiful.

So that is one influence.

But I think my most proud influence on Sofia, and on my son Roman, is that they only want to make personal films.

You will not see Sofia get a job to do 'Twilight 3' or whatever - Sofia wants to be a poet.

How beautiful is that?

"Sofia wants to be a poet"... He is describing his filmmaker-daughter. And he sees her as a poet. Not just a filmmaker that creates images and sounds but that uses these images and sounds to make poetry. Which in other words (to me at least) means beauty.

Sure, parents always think that their kids are perfect. That they are unique, special. And that they are a gift to the world and humanity. Parents are always so proud of their offspring, it's sometimes silly, even laughable (not in Coppola's case though because his daughter has proved she deserves her accolades). Like their perfect child is some sort of personal success they achieved themselves.

It's unreal and yet, unmistakably, always a reality.

And it never fails to make me smile.

This naive perception which is so strong and deep that it becomes a truth to the beholder.

That's probably why I always fear failing. Or at the very least, I always fear my parents would find out about my failures.

They think it's pure love (and it probably is).
To the child it's pure burden.
But that is what love is sometimes. Sometimes the weight of love can be so heavy it feels like a burden. And we have to adjust and live with it, right?


Anyway, a father calling his daughter a poet can only put a smile on my face.

And so that's why I don't need to waste more time on psychoanalysis crap. I just need to share the words with you. And maybe get inspired, just a little bit, to create poetry in some way, not necessarily in writing but in some way, my own way... We'll see.

. S H A R E . T H I S . P ✮ S T .

The God Complex

English

The God Complex... If you Googled the term, the first definition you'd get would probably be Wikipedia's, which redirects you to Narcissistic Personality Disorder; appropriate name considering the use of "disorder" in there. In lame terms, it means you're so full of yourself you think you could be God, or at the very least his vice-president (OK, let's not turn to blasphemy just to make a point).

We all know that ironically, doctors and surgeons in particular suffer from this disease, as one of my favorite shows states it so well:

Turk: Oh, come on, Carla, give me one good reason why you won't go out with me.

Carla: Well, you're a surgeon. So, you've got the god-complex, the cockiness, the whole "married to the job" thing. You're cute, but you're very, very aware of it. You have no idea what I'm like, so all of your feelings for me are coming from down there [points at his crotch].But most of all, I'm looking for the real thing; and you're nothing but a little boy who's not used to being told "no." So there's a bunch of reasons. Pick your favorite.

J.D.: I'd go with the "god-complex"...but it's hard to choose, you know, they're all so good.

Sure, to have the guts to cut someone open and believe you can put them back together without a glitch, you'd need fairly high self-confidence; so we can safely assume a doctor suffering from GC is probably a much better/safer option than a modest MD.

But what about geeks with GC syndrome?

What's up with geeks nowadays anyway?
They think they're so smart.
They think they own the virtual world and the real one by extension.
They think they own us for God's sake! (boy have I been using God's name a lot!!)

I should know.
Two of them live in the same house with me.
One of them sleeps in the same bed with me.

(OK, just to clarify because the above may sound weird and God knows what else to the dirty minds: the first geek is my brother and he lives with me and my husband who is none other than the proud second geek I mentioned. It is also crucial everyone understands the only nerd to share my bed is indeed my hubby...)

And every time I make the mistake to comment on one of their amazingly well thought and well said geeky dorky nerdy statements with an "Oh my God", both of them reply "Yes?"

Damn geeks!


OK fine. Steve Jobs can probably afford a superiority complex or two. So can Bill Gates although frankly, considering how fast Windows crashes, one would be more inclined to go find a big, deep hole somewhere in the middle of nowhere and just hide in it for the rest of eternity!

But let's not be bitter bitches; yes these people are self-made geniuses who managed to change the world as our parents knew it. Technological developments move so fast these days, the sweet bipping of a modem searching for a connection is now (Thank God! -- here I go calling your name again) an obsolete memory most if not all young people have never even heard of! (and by young I mean the under 30 cool peeps which I no longer belong to - deep-deep-extremely-deep-sigh)

So these geeks now, they just go around checking us out, searching our personal stuff, looking for something interesting to please their geeky eyes/ears/keyboards. They dissect us. They judge us. They lecture us. And yes, most of the times, they laugh at us!

So why do we put up with all that?

Let's face it:
What would our lives be without Facebook? or Google for that matter?! Oh Lord! A Googleless life! I don't even want to think about such a disastrous calamity!

(... Or we would call "friends" people we've actually met in person and actually like... And we would probably still be using these amazing huge encyclopedias and dictionaries I loved so much when I was a kid... But now that we've had a taste of the sin that is the Internet, we can never go back to the dark ages of typewriters -- and now those cute youngsters I mentioned before will be lost at the word "typewriter" wondering if that is some kind of new software used to develop fonts...)

Confession Time:
So let's admit it once and for all and face reality as it is, I do love the little buggers... I mean geeks... I married one, that's how much I love them.

And coming from an arts background, I've got to say that when it comes to GC, artists score far above anyone else on Narcissus' scale; so all things considered, I think I did good.

(wink at all geeks and artists out there -- we're just having fun)

Thank God (oh, here you are again!) nobody I know actually reads this or I would be friendless by now (or not, after all I'd still have my 500+ Facebook buddies) ;-)

. S H A R E . T H I S . P ✮ S T .

TravelOverdose

English ✮ Français

How do you know when you've been traveling too much?

My hubby keeps discovering new symptoms:

1. The airline attendants greet you by your first name when you step in the plane
   
   
2. Your favorite restaurant at the airport duty free knows your order by heart and starts preparing the food as you enter the room
   
   
3. The flight attendants ask you "where were you last week" when you miss your weekly flight
   
   
4. When you know which door will open at the arrival and even the cabin crew asks you about it
   
   Hubby takes the Dubai/Qatar Qatar/Dubai flights every week and knows to always book the last seat on the plane because unlike other flights, upon arrival, you exit from the back, although you've boarded the plane from the usual front door. It's not always the same crew on board and it so happened once that one of the attendants noticed upon landing that everyone was standing looking towards the front and waiting to get out while hubby had his back turned to everyone else and was standing in front of the back door; so she asked him "which door is opening?"
   
   
5. And the one I experienced myself just three days ago as we were on our way back to Dubai on the Doha flight which hubby takes religiously every single week:
   
   Not only have you seen all the movies and series but you know all the inflight entertainment program by heart
   
   Yes, hubby was sitting next to me, watching a program without his headphones on while I was quietly playing my sudoku (no headphones on my ears either, even my screen was off). Instead of leaving me alone, he started our own private dubbing of the program on his screen! Even letting me know in advance what was going to happen next... Mmmmh... Not the best screening ever!
   

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Comment savoir quand il grand temps de défaire sa valise?

Mon homme a une liste des symptômes:

1. Les hôtesses vous accueillent en vous appelant par votre prénom à l'embarquement
   
   
2. Les serveurs de votre restaurant favori à l'aéroport connaissent votre commande par cœur et les cuisiniers commencent à préparer vos plats avant même que vous ne commandiez
   
   
3. Les hôtesses vous demandent où vous étiez la semaine dernière quand vous sautez l'un de vos voyages hebdomadaires
   
   
4. Vous savez par quelle porte sortir de l'avion alors que même les hôtesses semblent perdues et vous demandent conseil
   
   Mon doux et tendre prend le vol Dubai/Qatar Qatar/Dubai chaque semaine et sait très bien qu'il est préférable de s'assoir au fond de l'avion car à l'arrivée, on sort par la dernière porte à l'arrière (alors qu'on embarque par la porte habituelle de devant), détail que même certain membres de l'équipage ne savent pas (ce ne sont pas les mêmes équipages qui prennent ce vol chaque semaine) et l'autre jour, après l'arrêt de l'avion, une hôtesse remarque que tout le monde est debout, tourné vers la porte d'entrée alors que mon homme est le seul debout dans l'autre sens devant la porte du fond; elle lui demande alors quelle porte prendre pour la sortie!
   
   
5. Et enfin, le dernier symptôme dont j'ai été moi-même témoin il y a de cela trois jours quand on rentrait de Qatar à Dubai par le même vol que chéri prend chaque semaine:
   
   Non seulement vous avez vu tous les films et séries télévisées à bord, mais vous connaissez tout le programme par cœur
   
   Oui, mon homme était assis à mes cotes et regardait une émission sans ses écouteurs pendant que je jouais à mon sudoku en silence (pas d'écouteurs pour moi non plus, de toute façon même mon écran était éteint). Au lieu de me laisser tranquille, il entama une session de doublage de l'émission qu'il regardait, a voix haute, avec commentaires et en incluant même ce qui allait se passer à l'avance! Mmmmh... Pas vraiment ma meilleure expérience cinématographique!
   

. S H A R E . T H I S . P ✮ S T .