.its where you end up

I ended up in SriLanka, somehow.

It was a very stunning unplanned offspring of the mind, I have enjoyed most parts of my trips, if it weren't for tour assigned driver who was legitimately practicing his speeding skills, and the illness that has overcome me during the trip, it would have been beyond perfect.

So it was nice.

There are definitely a few drawbacks that I have witnessed here and there, but the breathtaking scenery makes it all well worth it.

I have spent 9 days between Kandy, Kalutara and Colombo, we have arranged the trip through an agency which is something that we have highly regretted, as the schedule was stiff and repetitive at many points, there were areas that were only assigned half a day when they deserved a full trip on their own, such as the gorgeous  Nuwra Eliya.

I, and this is my own personal opinion, though Kalutara was a disastrous idea during that time of year (mid September), we were accomodated at a resort by the beach, where no one was able to take advantage of anything, the tides were insane and the weather was relatively chilly most of the time, the beach was empty throughout our stay and so were the hotel pools.

If it were up to me I would have arranged a trip that was exclusively to Kandy and Nuwra Eliya only, they were the only destinations I found worth the visit, let alone the variety of activities you can enjoy there.

One of the main things i have really enjoyed in SriLanka, cuisine wise, which would be surprising to many, particularly curry seekers, is the soft tea bread that they have, i pretty much consumed it as a main source of nutrition throughout that whole trip.

I wouldn't classify SriLanka as super affordable, it's actually very comparable to Jordan in terms of rates, I think it's one of the last destination to be considered for a shopaholic. It's phenomenal for nature and fruit lovers. You will have the opportunity to experience fruits that you most probably don't get to at your neck of the woods, but just a piece of advice, if you don't know what durian is do not buy it, I was hurling due to its stinch, definitely go for the yellow mangoes, mangosteen  and red bananas. 

Here's more visually accessible envy.

.she's not getting it

In an attempt to go through the process of cancelling my Netflix subscription, every month, I endure and even more effort and time consuming burden of choosing a light weight, indie/hipster wannabe series that has no more than one season to binge over a period that is not allowed to exceed three days, which I could have spent doing something far more fruitful to both myself and this world, but after all I'm still under the umbrella of absolutely entitled millennial, so I'd rather feed the abhorrent, pointless monster that is this network.

Either that or I just don't want to go through the subscription process all over again once the news seasons of OITNB or Stranger Things are released.

Yeah, sounds a lot simpler.

The series I had the dreadful pleasure of stumbling upon this time was Netflix's recreation of "She's gotta have it" which depicts that life of a young, very attractive female artist whose chose a different path in life than to be identified according to a monogamous relationship and "belonging" to one man.

I'm not going to go into further details of the plot because I don't care enough to do that, neither am I going to engage into any comparison between that and the original because I have not seen it (yet), I'm just going to list some noteworthy pros and cons.

Pros:
1- The aesthetics of it all: the colors to shapes coordination is sensational visually, the interior sense throughout the series is absolutely inspiring, the color theme is very cozy and aligns perfectly with the theme of the setup.

2- No specific demographic: I feel like everyone can set through this (referring to the concept).
3- Personal interest: my biggest bucket list item is to visit Brooklyn some day, this could be an overly exaggerated or even completely inaccurate representation of the area and its' culture, but that was a beautiful peak into what myself or other NY enthusiasts might hope to witness when the day comes.
4- A refreshing African-American set of faces: is something we desperately need on television networks. :)

Cons:

1- Over the top acting: I could have missed the memo, and I do understand that it could be deliberate to deliver a theatrical type of performance, I just didn't find it very appealing as a viewer, it was irritating at some points, mostly because it was not played very well. it did not feel natural or organic, it felt very stiff and forced, there were moments where the main character and protagonist, Nola darling, would laugh and it was mind-numbing how fake it sounded. The idea is absolutely beautiful and is meant to represent real people, but it was poorly executed.

2- Exaggeration once again: the whole entire cast was placed into cast-types of the cliches expected from their character, particularly when it came to clothing, I do understand this usually applies in real life, but it could have been twisted up to make up for an interesting element in at least a couple of the characters, I would love to see an aspiring exotic dancer rocking a pant suit, nothing wrong with that.

3- Trivializing: this could stem from my own personal beliefs and perspectives , but #BlackLivesMatter, MATTERS on a much larger level than to be capitalized upon in a very poorly structured way, through a very cringe-inducing outro in one episode. it could have been presented to the varied audience interested throughout the entire production in every aspect of the life of this beautiful artist, but somehow, someone decided it was better to throw it out like this.

4- Disconnection: in one the episode, the protagonist showcases her works at an art gallery, where it was criticized by one of her very own lovers as for being disconnected, which is a great metaphor for what this production was.

Overall it's a 5.5/10 from me, It was very flawed, but it is one of the more beautiful and interesting things I have seen, probably because I am not used to things that actually add any cultural value.

.oh ma douce suffrance

I'd like to raise a glass filled with broken teeth to the fboy of all candy that got me going to the dentist twice a week and not even quitting it.

 I love/hate/ no just love you.

.cold itchy feet

After eating my husband's ears off about why it is a wonderful idea to travel across the Phillipines this summer, instead of going to a cliche destination like Turkey, setting up spreadsheets and presentations to convince our companions, and fighting tooth and nail against everyone's suggestions until they eventually gave in..

I want to go to Turkey.

I'm not sure if it's the bipolar jerk inside of me, or the extremely exhausted working mother, whose idea of a vacation should not necessarily include a 14hr flight with a toddler to a location where no one wants or can do any of the available activities.

Sure the idea of swimming with a giant fish sounds exciting , but the possiblity of soiling your self due to fear of it isn't, at all. 

.cute cues (Sleep solutions 0-3 months) Pt.1

During the first month of his life, my son Adam was the most peaceful sleeper imaginable, his daily cycles pretty much consisted of feeding, changing and being put to sleep, which was easy as ever as he would be already drowsy from the feed. I thought to myself "Wow, who would have thought that putting a baby to sleep was such a simple task?", and boy, was I wrong.

Once he entered the dreaded phase of the 6-8 weeks crying fits, everything turned around at 360 degrees, he would go into them mostly at dawn, which was the worst time for both his father and I, I felt like at that time in particular, the fatigue is ready to be drained out completely, but then he would wake up, and we're back to square one.

I was desperate enough to resort to books, not to sound like an ignorant person, but when it comes to solving such problems I find that they only list several methods based on the origin of the problem without really offering guaranteed solutions. Nonetheless, I decided to purchase Dr. Harvey Karp's book "The Happiest Baby Guide to Great Sleep", the book is supposed to guide you through the use of great sleep cues and offer solutions for very common sleep problems facing parents of children aged between zero to five years, so far, even without finishing the book, it had helped greatly  in establishing the right techniques and figuring out the best props to use in order to result in a fuss and tear free sleep training.

Below, I will list the steps as they are already immensely widespread all over the internet. I will not,however, go into the more intricate details in the book in respect of the copy rights to the material. I will be speaking about how we executed each step, how it helped, and what product we have used.

1- Swaddling
When we were first introduced to swaddling, mostly by my mother and MIL, we were keen on the idea that it was an old habit that probably benefited the child in no more than provision of warmth, particularly when the hospital's lactation consultant basically advised us not to do it because it limits the baby's freedom to move. We have,however tried it anyway, and we noticed that Adam was always wiggling his arms out of it, so we stopped doing it for a while. After purchasing and reading the book, I came to a much better understanding of the purpose of swaddling, it is basically to mimic the curled up position the baby was accustomed to in mother's womb! So we gave it another shot, and the second time around, the difference in his sleep longevity was noticeable, why? as he would wiggle his arms out, he scratched his face, and eventually woke himself up!

Initially we used traditional wrap swaddle blankets, but later on I stumbled upon the Safety 1st Swaddle blanket, it is an easier type, sac like swaddle, with velcro tabs to secure the baby in a way that guarantees them to stay wrapped in tight. (not the one pictured)

Swaddling is recommended up to 3 moths of age only, and that is approximately when we had stopped using the technique.

2- Side stomach position
This position makes the baby feel secure during the soothing process, it helps calm down the baby very quickly, however, it is definitely a big no-go when it comes to placing the baby in the crib/ on the bed to sleep, as it increases the risk of SIDS, it is better to have the baby lying on their back.

3- Shushing
Shushing your baby using your own voice is definitely doable but could also be very exhausting. I remember the first time I used white noise, Adam was back from a vaccination appointment when he was two months old, it was his first ever crying fit. I felt helpless, i broke down in tears, I called my husband demanding that he comes home from work to calm down his son (lol). I suddenly remembered the infamous video of Harvey Karp MD demonstrating the shushing on several babies, and I tried it myself. It sure worked, but not for so long, why? other than the fact that I did not factor in all the cues, I was shortly out of saliva from all the shushing, so I immediately searched youtube for "shushing sound" and I found out more about white noise. Next thing I know, he was asleep in 5 minutes, and five more minutes afterwards, so was I.

There are several wonderful white noise machines on the market to choose from. I however, relied on my iPad, since I already owned a device that could provide that from I didn't feel the need to go ahead and purchase a whole separate machine.
It is absolutely safe, as long as you keep a distance between the device and the baby, and you keep it on airplane mode.

Here is a picture of the one app I liked the most. It has several nature inspire white noise tracks, that are played on an infinite loop, and don't require the device to stay unlocked.

Simply search the App Store for : Relaxing white noise

4- Swinging
it is recommended to use a swing that fully reclines. The swing we had received as a gift when Adam was born, did not have that feature, unfortunately. That was not the only missing feature, as through a lot of research, and actually trying out other types of swings with Adam, I realised why he didn't like it and why we didn't use it for more than four weeks. It was basically swinging! Back and forth, and this is not what babies need! Babies are calmed down through the motions of bouncing and rocking as well as some gentle vibrations, similar to the ones experienced in the womb. Which is why we had to resort to rocking Adam on our arms, which was the biggest challenge for me of all. I was exhausted, I went through postpartum depression and I cried constantly because of my aching body. Adam would nap every 2-3 hours, and I had to rock him for 30 minutes each time he did that, so basically he was slowly breaking my arms. It went on like this until I started to introduce the sleeping props I will talk about in the second part of this series.


5- Sucking
Basically, the pacifier. It contributes greatly to the relaxation of the baby.
The pacifier was actually the number one thing our paediatrician recommended to me on our first visit, which I honestly found quiet unusual, as I thought he would be against it. But I was even more surprised when I knew of its benefits in not only calming down babies, but preventing SIDS.
We had used a pacifier with Adam up until he was six months old, he actually self-weened off of that one, which had me doing a major Phew!, because it always had me worried on how I would ween him off of it, because -and this is strictly personal- I don't like it when babies are extremely hooked on their dummies, and I know from all the moms around me that it is the most difficult thing to ween a child off of.

We used the Avent pacifiers, and they are wonderful! I have been recommending them to every mom I know, especially those whose babies won't take a pacifier, this will get a guaranteed baby approval! I recommend getting at least two (one pack)

Ever since Adam reached 4 months of age, the sleeping issue became much less of a hassle, I will talk about that more in the second part of this post.

.the bottle battle (collective review)

During the first four months of his life, my son was almost exclusively breast fed, we would give him bottles of expressed milk from time to time when he was younger that I had pumped to keep up my supply, but after his two months ped visit, it was recommended to us that it wasn't necessary to give him a bottle in order to avoid any risks of nipple confusion or breastmilk reduction due to shortage of consumption.

However, at 5 months of age, my little one would remain hungry even after nursing, we supplemented very basic solids based on the paediatrician's recommendation as he was fully ready to start sampling, he still needed more milk and the breastmilk supply was not fully satisfactory to his need and we had to supplement with formula, of which he takes 2-3 feedings a day.

I must say, we have had a lot of products that we have regretted buying in all baby departments be it gear or even clothing, but the biggest bugger of all was definitely the choice of the ideal bottle for us, because with gear, even though there are many options, there is a specific criteria we learned to follow in order to get our child the most comfortable and safest item, but with bottles, it depended not only on his liking, but his mood as well.

I will list and shortly review each bottle we have used from the first bottle he was given till the one he is now settled on, which, by the way - spoiler alert- is probably my least favourite of them all!


1- Avent Bottle, Natural Nipple

Price: 7.00 JOD - Medium Budget


I was given away two bottles of this model by my brother, his twins absolutely refused them from the first attempt, but we decided to try them out with Adam, as we considered the fact that his twins were quiet netpicky and weren't easily satisfied anyway, well, he was not satisfied with them either, and neither were half the babies I know (including Adam's other cousin as well).

In terms of shape, they are adorable, quiet futuristic looking if I might add! aAnother pro to these bottles, which is actually the reason many parents choose them , is that they are widely available in Jordan, so it wouldn't be a hard quest to find replacement nipples or purchase a new set of bottles for the baby.
However, the cons are more serious.
These bottles have rubber nipples, that are quiet rigid, with very short tops, it does not really live up to the claim of mimicking a mother's breast in neither softness nor flexibility. The other more serious concern is that due to these bottles very bad bubble venting system, all the babies around me who have tried them have experienced choking, spitting up or basically, like in Adam's case, couldn't tolerate to finish up the milk as they were too bothered by the air bubbles.

We have used these for about two weeks, and then they were set aside to be given away.


2- Avent Bottle, Classic Nipple

Price: 7.00 JOD Medium Budget

These bottles were given away to us by my brother as well, on his second attempt with the twins.
I must say, this one is definitely better than the natural nipple on, in terms of nipple shape and material, it has a silicone nipple that is bell shaped which, through experience, I think is the best for baby to accept without refusing the breast. However, this bottles shares the same con with the natural bottle in that they both have very bad bubble venting systems, add to that, the nipples to fit this bottle have an overly slow flow, I know it is mostly designed like that in order to prevent nipple confusion, but my little one would get way too tired before finishing his feed.

So, away it goes.


3- Medela Calma

Price: unknown as it came with my Harmony breast pump, however I am positive it fits in the high budget category.

When I first unboxed my Medela breast pump, I immediately set this bottle aside, it just looked bizarre to me, and I was using the Avent bottles at the time which looked a lot less confusing than this spaceship like baby bottle.
I tired it later however, it is supposedly designed in away that makes it impossible to leak a drop of milk, and it only dispenses milk in accordance with the baby's sucking power, which is exactly why I found it to be very difficult for a new born, they don't have that much power to vacuum up the milk at a high voltage! The one time we tried it with him he couldn't latch hard enough and he started crying as there was no milk coming out. I honestly fail to see how this is supposed to mimic the natural flow of the breast, a new mother's breast leaks milk on it's own during the feed, and doesn't require some machinery to get the flow going.

Fail.

4- Tommee Tippee (Closer to Nature)

Price: 10 JOD - Higher budget

These bottles were the ones my twin nephews had settled on and loved, which is why we decided to purchase a trial bottle after we were noticing bad results with the Avent bottles.
When we first purchased the smaller 5oz bottle, we noticed a huge improvement in Adam's bottle feeding, there was no spit up, he would finish the whole bottle, and more importantly would easily accept it, which is what drove us to purchase two more of the 9oz models.
Two weeks, and he started refusing them again.
My theory is that there are two main reasons for that, which are basically the cons:
First of all, the nipples, again, like the Avent natural, are rigid rubber, with short tops that don't even come close to a natural breast, it doesn't matter if it is shaped like a breast, it doesn't feel like a breast!
Another major drawback, these bottles leak like crazy, and at that time they were the only bottles that I have experienced that with. The bubble venting system was fine in comparison, though.

He utterly refused them,however, which led us to give them away.

5- Playtex ventAire (the older model)

Price : 3 Pack for 16 JOD, I would consider this Low Budget, the newer model however is better yet more expensive.

I already had the smaller bottle given to me as a gift by my sister who uses Playtex products exclusively with her children. I didn't like it at first only looking at the nipple, as I had the belief that only the natural nipple shape was the best choice for a breast fed baby, and boy was I wrong.

I just have to say that hands down, these bottles are my absolute favourite of everything I have tried, they are not my child's, but definitely mine for a variety of reasons, but the main and most important one is : the air venting technique, it is phenomenal!

The bottle basically releases air bubbles through a vent at the bottom since it is to be held upside down, it has a medium length classic silicone nipple that is easy and comfortable for baby to latch on, and I was just staring in amusement when I couldn't see a single bubble in the bottle.

However, Mr.Moody decided he doesn't like this one, due to one drawback: the nipple, even if silicone is quiet rigid, so he dropped it, and I didn't like that one bit. :/


6- Junior's bottles (Centrepoint-Baby Shop)

Price: 1.9 JOD, need I say more?

So, these bottles are cheap, by all measures. First of all, they have an air venting system that is worse than anything I had tried earlier. The 0-3 months stage nipples are actually what I use on my child now, and he is 6 months old, they have extremely fast flow, I can't even imagine a newborn baby tolerating them! The material of the bottle body is very light, that I  never even consider popping them inside the bottle warmer, not because it doesn't measure the temperature correctly, but these bottles don't look like they would handle any kind of heat.
Pros, however, they the most flexible, softest teats, that I think are the only ones I have seen that actually mimic the feel of the breast( definitely not the shape as you can see they are classic nipples).
They also have a very cute sort of vintage looking, or maybe basically they didn't put that much effort into the design lol.
And most importantly, baby loves them! I wish we had given them a try earlier though, would have saved us a ton of money.

But thank you baby for being a super saver a choosing wallet friendly items. :D

To be continued.. 

.and then there was Adam

An unexpected visitor, at an unexpected time, with an unexpected name choice
(he was planned though lol)

On November 8th of 2013, my fairytale dream came true by marrying the wind that has blown beneath my wings for several years going quiet unnoticed for the majority of them, my wonder wall whom I now have the honour to call my husband.
My life has continued at the same pace it was going at prior to the marriage, the same dull routine, same boring job that got even more boring as the days went by, same outings, same friends, circles, places..etc. As lifeless as it may sound, I was quiet content with it that way, I was in no place for taking risks or engaging in new experiences as I thought to myself I had already done that by getting married, nothing major had changed in my routine but that is undoubtedly a major chapter.

And then all of a sudden, hit the maternal instincts, and the question that my husband dreaded for weeks before the pregnancy, and which made him question the exact level of maturity his wife was on:
"how come I am not pregnant yet? We've been married for a good amount of time now!"

Needless to say, I was quiet naive and uninformed, doing a laboratory test just to be one hundred percent certain, I found out about my pregnancy when I was around 8 weeks far along!

When I got the lab results, I was nothing like I would have imagined myself to be, long before getting married I always thought of pregnancy and labour as this horrifying experience that I simply wouldn't want to go through under any circumstances what so ever, and if my maternal instincts were to kick, I'd get a pet and call it a day. But it was completely different, I was not happy, I was euphoric, to see the least.

I was just seeing so vividly how beautiful this wild ride is going to be, and how much both my pea in the pod and I are going to enjoy it, every milestone, every trimester, every growth spurt, every development and every single moment of it all, I knew it was going to be priceless. I was utterly unafraid, I had a relatively large ovarian cyst that absolutely meant nothing, the cesarean meant nothing, as long as it all led to me meeting the light of my eyes.

On October 19th 2014, I delivered my baby "Adam", not only had a new chapter of my life just begun, I felt like that was the first day of my life.

The first week post partum was very difficult for me giving the c-section (obviously I acknowledge that women who give vaginal birth go through hell and back as well), but I can recall how painful it was not being able to eat,rest,sleep, pass anything,, or even talk due to how much pain I was feeling.

I remember the moment I woke up after the surgery, I was hungover, on a hospital bed in the post-surgery transfer room, on the other side of the wall, there was a woman going into labour and she was screaming bloody murder, I grabbed the closest nurse to me in a way that felt like it was straight out of a horror flick and I recall whispering to her "get me out of here". She did, out of fear, I'd like to believe.

When I had arrived to my room at the hospital, Adam was not there, which freaked me out! See, watching a lot of TV, I always assumed the mother and newborn stay at the same room, but apparently no :D they would bring him to me every four hours, which was devastating, I couldn't get enough of looking at him, I remember the first time I held him in my arms and my husband wanted to take him from me to send him back to the nursery, I yelled: "no, he's mine!". Well , he is. :/

Going back home with the baby was very easy, two weeks before giving birth I had set up everything I might need, which made transiting him from the hospital to the house very easy, and he made it very easy as well, Adam was a very peaceful newborn, he had a very precise schedule of feeding and sleeping that he fell into on his own, and he would only cry a little bit when waking up hungry, but there were no unexplained  fits of crying of any sort (at least not until the dreaded phase were that is expected to happen).

Now as the days go by, I find that every stage has its beauty and its own challenges as well, but so far it has been a magnificent experience, watching my little guy grow from a ball of fragile flesh into this travel sized human being with an ever developing bright personality, and the connection I have with him is indescribable. I will do whatever it takes, but I need to pray that i have the strength and ability to be the best mother you could ever ask for, my everything <3 nbsp="" p="">

.iLike: my current playlist

An un-mentioned resolution for the new year is to give up hip hop music. The more I get into it the more my already disturbed mind gets soiled. I am not generalizing and saying that all rap/ hip hop music is bad, I will keep listening to some of those who have actual meanings to their songs, but I guess the mistake I have made that I have sacrificed lyrics quality for hypnotizing beats.

Any who, I am really liking these few songs at the moment.

Starting off with miss Lizzy Grant :P I didn't like her songs a while ago but i am growing accustomed to them, this one is my favorite.

Lana Del Rey-Radio

The second one is by the girl who introduced me to the song afterwards, this brilliant girl is the Aussie Bella who surprisingly did not win X-Factor, she's amazing, her voice gives me goosebumps, I am glad she got a record deal though.

Bella Ferraro- Set me On Fire 

And next.... Birdy-Skinny Love 

And last but not least, Adele's Skyfall, I have to admit though Adele sure wasn't the best choice for this song, I still like it though it could have been performed better.

.photoS of the day

Click to enlarge (for better quality)

This is the first time I have seen it snow in 4 years, not super excited, but thankful, this is definitely a blessing.

.new year's resolutions..

1- Update this abandoned warehouse more often: it is so neglected that owls are living here.

I say this approximately every year or two, and I end up forgetting that this place exists. Its mostly as i get caught up with things that are more defining to my future than my online diary that no one ever cares about.
But I still feel contained in it, it's my little sanctuary where I can keep secrets and tell them at the same time, hopefully I will be encouraged to update it if I follow the next resolution.

2- Take more pictures.

Dear self: please put up with the camera you have despite the fact that you want another one, what you have is good enough and even better than what most people have, especially Canon users. Take enough pictures and maybe that will be a good reason for you to get an update.

And do it quick, this weather is gorgeous.

3-Format the closet: you've already started miss foof, well done.

Embrace the apparel that you like, and to hell with whatever anyone else thinks.

4- Take more self portraits: while you're doing the above two.
Especially those OOTD photos, I like them a lot. Try to gain the confidence it takes for these pictures to be posted.

5- Fear of anything; begone!

6- Redecorate your bedroom: just try to maintain its tidiness and cleanness  and then move on to the next step.

7- Disconnect from the outer world: as strange as it may sound, I should seriously start doing this, turning off all IM possibilities, turning off my phone, taking a day or two off of work. People are the worst of distractions and sometimes I need to get them out of the way for a little bit.

8 - Give ultimatums, and see who takes them seriously :).

9- Start a reasonable diet and join the gym

10- Learn something new, whatever that would be...

.sinful pleasures

A confession of a couple of quite bad addictions I happen to suffer from and don't even bother to get treatment for.

1- Shisha (Hookah) 

This is an addiction that was conceived in happiness and leisure, raised in rage and depression, has grown to be my only refuge and is consuming every last part of me (including my honesty).

First time I have huffed a puff was approximately 4 years ago, when the females in my family were all around, and new beautiful bonds were forming, along with all these sweet moments it was introduced by an older and rather awesome one of us. But things happen and people depart, physically of course, we cannot ever be detached emotionally, we integrate each other. I am not assuming, but entirely positive that I took off the habit by myself because subconsciously, it reminded me of a much better, much simpler time, it's like I have extracted the parts of those memories that is the easiest to recreate and went ahead with it.

The bad part is, I am not being able to let go, I have tried, financial crisis didn't stop me, physical damage didn't stop, disapproval of loved ones didn't effect me.. I don't know what else well, and I don't want to get to the moment where I no longer have a choice.

My father was a heavy smoker, and he quit due to a severe illness he encountered, my uncle passed away because of his tobacco consumption, this is exactly what I do not want, I want to quit while I am still strong, but I am honest enough with myself to admit that I do not see it happening anytime soon...




To be continued..

.my celebrity crush

for the time being, of course, I am very unstable emotionally..

It is Donald Glover.

I am not going to be very articulate or thorough listing the reasons why, but I will state a fact that is undeniable by anyone, this man is volcano of talents. It's really depressing to see him not getting the exposure he deserves, but maybe that's because he is not so subject to being scandalous and mediocre.

Now, let's get to why that is..

1- He, (IMO) is -as he best explains it "hot like a parked car, weird like n*gger with a hard R"

2- He is hilarious, and God knows how much I am drawn to people with sophisticated and clever humor. I am not saying this only based on his role in Community as Troy, but based a) the fact that he writes my all time favorite TV comedy series 30 Rock along with Tina Fey, b) going through the outtakes of Community and seeing how he, and the entire cast improvises is impressive, 3) watching his stand up, he is brilliant. He uses many pop culture and modern references but his humor is still timeless and could get to anyone.




3- His music is awesome, period.



I decided to share this video because i think it's brilliant, and the music video is a bit disturbing and seriously unrelated to anything.

4- He is into fashion, I rest my case :).

.Monsieur Lazhar

Is a stunning film.

I am not saying this merely because I am biased towards French films, but I am saying it because what I have had the privilege to watch was absolute perfection. However, I will rate it 9/10 because that is as nice as I can go.

Everything about it is just different, the events of the production take place in Canada, meaning that it's not heavily reliant on the charm that overcomes one instantly when seeing scenery from French cities, and yet the places are still memorable and the simplicity of them contributes beautifully to a story that is highly complex by consisting of simple details.

The story line is unique, that is the best way to describe it, it is not familiar or predictable, the cast isn't a composition of over-dramatic models, but of absolutely charming people with realistic raw emotions.

What I loved most about it would be the vague connections between any pair or group of people, it keeps the mind interested, and I know I was interested when an approximately 90 minute  movie, passes in what feels like 10 min.

It is so captivating, and sophisticated, it might not interest everyone, but I am certain it will impress most.

.a yummy photo post

I feel that with most places (with few exceptions coming to mind) it's always not easily possible for a certain restaurant/cafe/joint to offer excellent choices from all categories, which is why i like experimenting with different places in order to narrow down my choices and make it easier for me and my company to enjoy a nice treat and satisfactory service.

In Irbid specifically, you need thorough excavation work to find a decent place that covers your needs at at least one category and from few aspects, if it's not the quality of the orders that is terrible, it's the service, if not that, the atmosphere is dreadfully uncomfortable,, and so on.

One of the very few places that stand out (in my opinion) is a small Café with a very cute and creative name, called Wake Cup, the place serves breakfast dishes, hot and cold drinks, and also desserts.

The first thing that caught my eye was the interior of the place, it's very relate-able to an old pub, with hard wood furniture and floors that gave a cozy yet pleasant feeling.

Another pro to the place is the fact that it is not so popular thus not over crowded 24/7, once any space is overcrowded in Irbid, the owners might as well say their prayers.

Other than that, everything is supper scrumptious and the service is great and the staff is friendly, that gives it a gold star in my book :). 

.home delicious home

My mother is guilty as charged for being the reason behind my VERY annoying standards regarding eating Pizza (in particular) outside.

It's the constant thought that circles my mind whenever i enter a Pizzaria or a Pizza serving resturant that aside fro the fact that my mother's is more delicious, I was there when it was made and ii know exactly how it was prepared and baked and who is held accountable for the procecesses and outcome, ok my mother is also responsible for developing this paranoia, somewhat..

But i am not exaggerating or being delusional or even emotional, my mom makes the best Pizza in the world!

There are always exceptions to every rule, there is only one Pizzaria in Irbid that I wouldn't mind eating at on daily basis, mainly because the owner who id also the chef, actually got the recipes and preperation methods from legit Italian Pizzarias, and they prepare the Pizza right in front of you.

But other than that, Papa Jones, Pizza Hut, Dominos, thanks for the stomache aches. :/

.bigotry level: Arab

Not just recently, but for a very long time now, I have noticed that we (as Arabs) were designed to believe that we are the most discriminated against group of people on the globe, we were fed this fact so exaggeratively that when signs of it do surface we become absolutely irrational.

I am not at all denying that it is true, the ignorance of some and the media's exploitation of that ignorance by throwing stereotypes in the air to sprinkle the icings on their minds are backing up that fact like no other. I don't want to run the guilt machine or fish in turbid waters, but call it Karma.

When you start making jokes about how the Jordanian soccer team lost to Japan's because they couldn't tell who's who of offense and defense, when you treat foreign labor workers as if they are lower species designed especially for your service, when you consider people who have a skin tone darker than yours Abeed (slaves), when you hate someone from your own country because you idiot come from another area, then yes, do call it Karma.

Discrimination against any ethnicity/religion is always wrong and unjustified in anyway, but it's like punching people around all day then turning to the legal system because someone poked me. Respect people and treat them fairly in order for that to happen to you.

#JustAsimpleRant

.the vintage effect

As requested by Sarah

There are various ways for you to achieve this effect using photoshop, or any other software for that matter, I'm just going to attempt to explain this in the simplest way possible, and by explaining certain steps that will help you later on in editing even if you don't want the vintage effect.

It's basically a washed surface of the picture, distorted edges, yet the colors are still vibrant and saturated


the easiest thing for me to do , is to give you this image, and ask you to fit it on a picture

because it will achieve almost everything, except one thing, you practically haven't learned anything.

so let's move on to the real deal :D

I will use this picture because it's a daffodil, and they are awesome

The first thing you're going to do is add the desired texture, I chose a very light old paper texture, try to choose one that is not too grungy, that is not a work of art itself, something stable and works like a fine base for the beigey overall tone you're looking to achieve, but has a little bit of grunge to add texture to the photograph and complete the old photo effect.

this is the one i have used

 as you can see it's very simple, more like a color filter

Now, the complicated process that is adding to the photo :@ lol

Adding the texture

I am not going to add a screenshot for this because i have too much respect for you, so all you have to do is download the image, open it in photoshop , Ctrl+A then Ctrl+C

Go on to the main image you're editing, and paste

and since you had a problem with this step, if the texture doesn't already fit your picture completely ( which is the usual case ) fit it onto the photo using the transformation points, they should appear as soon as you click the texture .

Now after they're layered evenly , choose the texture layer ( make sure it's the one selected ) and change it's blending mode to Soft light, here's how you do that

Drop the circled menu and choose Soft Light

Here's the result in this case ..

You can see that the picture has a slightly beige undertone now, and it looks more washed out but it will be fixed later, also, you can notice the caused by the texture

Solid Color Layers

These layers are going to affect the shadows and undertones in the photo as well, since the above is washed out and the colors are pretty dull, these are meant to add more color, yet not enough vibrancy, this will be controlled later

now go back to the layers box, you will see a small icon in the shape of a circle half black and half white
clicking it, a menu will appear, choose Solid Color

After choosing the color, you're going to work with the blending modes again

so just a simple explanation of the colors you'll be using and what blending modes to set them to

Choose a Violet color, like this one but darker , and set the layer's blending mode to Exclusion  
and change the opacity to 70%
Choose a golden orange color, like this one but deeper, and set the blending mode to Multiply 
and it's opacity to 20%


These two colors will balance each other out while giving more color to the picture, and softening it's shadows

this is what it looks like so far

the colors have changed but it's still washed out, now time to add the contrast


The Black and white layer

I love using this to add contrast because i think it it automatically highlights and emphasizes the shadows of the picture without adding a contrast that is too harsh to all the points. It's extremely simple

Go back to the Adjustment Layers button, and choose Black & White

after the layer is added, set it's blending mode to Soft light


Now to the final step, or two steps actually

right click any layer in the layers list, and choose the option : Merge Visible , it will merge all the layers into one, you will be doing this so the next effect will take place on the finished photo and look stronger

Vignette

Go the Filters menu, and choose Lens correction, If you happen to have an older version of PS, this would probably be under the filter Render>Lens correction
I am currently using PS CS5, If you are, then great !

once you choose it , this box will appear , in older PS version the custom window is selected by default, in CS5 however, it is not

As for the amounts set in the screenshot, they are not necessarily obligatory , to be fair i just keep decreasing the first and increasing the second till i get the satisfying result !

aaand you're done !

voila :)

الحاله تعبانه.

مش عم بلاقي باب مفتوح..

كله مسكر ، او عم يوهمني انه مفتوح ،و يضحك عليّ و الاقيه مسكر، و تخرب الحالة بزيادة

الحالة النفسية بالحضيض

العاطفية متضامنة مع اللي فوق

الماديّة شكلها هيّ اللّي لمّتهم عليّ

الصحية بتقدم طلب انضمام 

بس ياللّه زبطّنا اللغة و بلشنا نكتب عربي

عربي  نص كم، و لا العدم

فَرَجك يا عالي .....

:(

في إحدى الحضانات.

"المدرّس الشرس" الذي ضرب 25 طفلاً في حضانة مصرية

I couldn't bear to see the video screenshot again, that's why I only posted a link

I wonder why there's still no law to have teachers go under a psychological health examination before taking off teaching kids, especially when the ages they're supposed to be "teaching" and "taking care of" are this young and sensitive.

But apparently, anyone who agreed to hire this psychopath, needs to be examined as well, so that shows how deteriorated the situation is.

What makes me wonder even more, are the people who actually film this kind of crap, and so proudly post it online, what the frack is so entertaining about 4-5 year old children begging for mercy that is not in anyway given to them, not from the monster who is abusing them in the name of teaching, not from the animals recording this video which can't be considered anything less than a crime, and even when they get back to their homes to find relief from all this suffering they get to go through when they shouldn't even be hearing about, they go back to parents - who according to the article- don't have any problem with what's occurring in that trash shaped kindergarten.

So , 2 more groups in need of serious help.

Reading the comments, some people justify this by saying that they've experienced the worst when they were young attending public schools and they turned out fine, especially that this could be the only way to deal with some students, so the video content isn't much.

Ok, so,, I got hit by a bus and turned out fine, I should throw my kids on the street and let them experience it to prove my point ?

This does not even qualify for a justification, this does not even qualify for an opinion.

I have attended public schools in Jordan, and I know this actually does happen, but thank God - and unlike some people- I have enough rationality and intelligence to know that if it's happening that does not make it acceptable, I know the emotional and mental scarring these experiences can cause, just ask anyone who was humiliated once or no matter how many times by a teacher in high school and listen to how bitter they sound when telling the story, imagine children who have not reached the age that allows them to tell the story properly.

So to those people, congratulations, you'll be joining the other groups in the same category, I don't think you'll mind it TBH.

This is sickening, by all means, it's awful enough to see child abuse, but to see it recorded, enjoyed, intentionally shared as entertainment material and agreed upon, is just too much to take.

I know that if I ever have children, I will seriously go "Egyptian KG teacher" on anyone who comes near them  , be it abusive language or even daring to touch them, I can't imagine how people would have the heart to let something like this happen to their own children.

As for that idiot, I'm not wasting my breath by praying for him to rot in hell, that's probably happening anyway. 

phew

.tamagotchi

I hate it when i intentionally turn down a pretty purchase, and then when it crosses my mind for whatever reason I start whining on how much of an idiot I was by not getting it, always happens. always will..

Being in large malls or stores freaks me out for a reason, I get the feeling that they're designed like that for a reason : pushing the consumer around and forcing them to buy things whether they want those products or not
* That ginormous roof is staring into my soul*

That's why I decided to have some self control when I walk into these stores especially if they're ones I actually like, but the last couple of times I did this, I thought it back and wished those forces were stronger than I was enough to let me buy those things.



they are

an awesome feather ring that looks almost exactly like the one above but in silver, that wasn't an issue for me until I started craving things that had feathers on them.

but then..

The Tamagotchi

I don't know what kind of  idiocy took over the moment i decided NOT to get one when since the moment I have heard of them I have wanted to get my hands on one, I do have several portable game devices, but this is just too awesome to miss out on.

Dear Self : let yourself go next time, I already forgive you for being the push over of corporate agendas.