Rants and Raves | Chocolate Mints In a Jar

A Positive Status Message on Face Book

It’s a wonderful thing that you have donated your Face Book status message. Really it shows that you are aware of what is going on and that you care. Now, have you donated money, medicine, food or any kind of tangible item that can actually help the people in Gaza? Is there a FaceBook app which can tell us how much money has been collected and a link for people to donate more to encourage the donation of money? The numbers are devastating and saddening but publicly stating what is already known does no good.

Financial aid is needed now for treatment of the wounded, food, clothing, shelter and power. You can easily donate from anywhere in the world as long as you have internet access. In Egypt you can head over to the Egyptian Medical Syndicate, they have been helping send donations to Gaza and Palestine since the beginning of the siege, these are doctors and administrators who leave their homes, jobs and families for days and weeks waiting at the border in Rafah to make sure that the supplies get through the borders.

It also gives this sense that the problem can go away if the killing stops and the numbers stop rising. Has anyone thought how much money Gaza will need to rebuild its infrastructure? How much money will be needed to help support the widdows, orphans and the people who will need medical care for the coming months? How much money will be needed to rebuild schools and put young men and women through college so they can replace the doctors and engineers who have been killed? Once the attacks are over and Israel has completely demolished everything in Gaza will you still remember and will you still care?

There is a humanitarian crisis right now. Your face book status is of no value, it is just a reminder of how powerless we all are and how we choose to show our solidarity by a couple of words on a status instead of finding ways to help no matter how simple or simplistic they might appear.

But you are not that fat

Angry I just hate it when someone tries to force me to eat something and I tell them that I am trying to cut back because I am trying to loose the baby weight and they say “But you are not that fat”. That’s for me to decide not you so it’s an annoying phrase. Like other totally annoying and useless phrases.

Why won’t your daughter eat this or that? Because she is a human being and might not be hungry and no matter how hard you are going to try she is only going to eat what she wants when she wants it. Seriously, she’s still being breastfed so there is no reason I should force her to do anything and associate it with negative feelings.

Why won’t you eat spinach? For the same reasons above, I am a human being too entitled to my likes and dislikes.

I love your colors. I don’t get it, you like what I am wearing? Just say so? What colors? It just doesn’t make sense. It’s a lame suck up kind of phrase that people usually say in a generic sense when they don’t have anything interesting or smart to say.

Me too, Me too. If I wanted someone to say Me too whenever I said anything I would have bought a parrot. It is only polite to listen to people and relate but if every sentence has to be answered with a “me too” then go get a life.

How much did you pay for that? Really? Didn’t your mother teach you that asking questions like that is not polite? Especially when you ask about how much I paid for the dishes, the sofa, the napkins, the chairs, my watch and for the tv. If you really need to know you can ask where I got it from and go ask yourself.

You must go back to work. Yes I had a kick ass career, yes I miss it and yes I will eventually go back to work. Especially when the person telling me this is not my mother, my husband or my sister. Meddling in other people’s business is wrong.

Someone told me / I heard that the moon is made of cheese. Do you really expect me to believe things that have no scientific reference?

Why haven’t you called? Well I am calling right now, and if you really cared you would have called yourself earlier.

I couldn’t reach you. Really? In this day and age? You can email me, leave a message on facebook or call my cell phone. Trust me if you try reaching me I will call.

Where you asleep? Yes, you idiot it is past 11pm, I have a baby girl and I was asleep and you woke me up are you happy now?

Are you awake? This is even more annoying. I am now, because you woke me up.

No you have it all wrong. This is more of a context thing. If I am stating my opinion then I don’t think I could have it all wrong because I am entitled to an opinion even if it is totally crazy. If it is a factual thing then ok explain why I am wrong instead of just pretending to be a know it all.

I got an email that said if I talk on my cell phone more than 3 minutes my head will explode and my toes will fall off. Please, if you are going to repeat what you get from your lame email forwards check the facts first. If you are going to forward lame emails check the facts. Check the facts, OK?

Did I bother you? Well if you said something that is annoying, then most probably you did bother me.

Join us for lunch right now. We have plans you know, we have a life. If you want to invite someone for lunch then at least let them know earlier.

Drop what you are doing and come do this with me. No.

The world revolves around me (it’s not a phrase but an attitude). No it doesn’t.

If you needed some excitement what would you do?

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Ugly Betty

Ugly Betty Cast

I’ve been watching Ugly Betty since the very first season (season 3 is now currently being aired). I loved the show from episode 1 and still do. I am not much of a TV person but do enjoy shows which are funny, interesting and have some sort of moral to it all. The show is about Betty Suarez (America Ferrera) who works at a top fashion magazine. The twist here is that she’s a total misfit who doesn’t really care. She dresses in the most outrageous outfits complete with really tacky jewelery. She’s short and plump in a world of models dressed in tomorrow’s fashionable couture. She has big dreams and wants to make it even bigger but the events trap her in the funniest predicaments. What I love most is that she is a nice person always trying to do the right thing even though she sometimes fails miserably. Her insistence on succeeding is just beyond commendable because it reminds us that even when the going gets tough, people who want to make it try harder.

Things I love about the show:

The cool outfits some of the actors get to wear (most of it is awesome except of course Betty’s wardrobe which is hideous)
The amazing decor at Mode.
Mean mean Wilhelmina Slater the evil editor in chief, she’s so mean it’s funny.
The great bond Betty shares with her family.
How Betty doesn’t try to fit in or change herself to fit in better at mode.
The soundtrack

Kolena Laila: The survey

Part of the Kolena Laila initiative.

Kolena Laila

Please help the people behind Kolena Laila come up with statistics and more insight on what people really think by answering the surveys.

Survey for women.

Survey for men.

Hmm I wonder

I got tagged by Mama Mona to do this tag on the bloggers I wonder about. She tagged me ages ago but I was super busy with everything else and didn’t have the time to post about it. I spent two days thinking if I wonder about bloggers or not and realized I sort of occasionally do but not enough to post anything even remotely interesting. Yet, I am still a very curious person and I do wonder about other things.

I wonder about the sad faces in the streets, why are they sad. About the happy faces, what has them so happy?

I wonder about the future. What will happen? How will things change? What will stay the same? Who will change? Who will stay the same. I used to stress myself worrying about the future and what would I do if things went wrong. A while back I remembered all of the times things went really wrong and bad in my life and realized that all of those events are just distant memmories and that everything in life eventually when looked at from the future becomes nothing more than just a faint memmory; some even get completely lost as you get older and gain more perspective in life.

I wonder why people are sometimes very rigid in their thoughts.

I wonder why people would ruin relationships, marriages and friendships over money.

I wonder why anyone would buy a masculine car like a HUMMER and then paint it with glitter paint.

I wonder how we ever lived before cell phones and the internet

I wonder about other cultures. I love reading and watching documentaries about exotic and different countries and their cultures. I am fascinated by history. I find that fashion, cuisine, languages, landmarks, literature, ideas, poetry and even wars interesting. From the Egyptian Pharos to Babylon to Modern day Japan; they all have their own thing and it is just amazing.

I wonder about how people lived in the past and how they will live in the future.

I wonder how authors sit down and write novels, composers create great music, architects design great buildings, how anyone can create a work of art from his own imagination be it a rocket or a tasty new dish.

I wonder about love, how fragile it is yet how strong it can keep people together forever.

I wonder about motherhood, how even though it is exhausting it is the most inexplicable bond in life.

I wonder about everything and anything. I love the simple process of just letting one thought flow and grow into the next.

What do you wonder about?

Just thoughts

I was thinking and just decided to post this as a rant. I was thinking about women’s issues in general because of the Kolena Layla campaign (if I can call it that). I love empowered women. I tried to start blogging about great examples of Egyptian women a while back and got stuck. I still manage to find examples which still make me proud even if it is for simpler reasons (like businesses or bloggerettes turned authors). Is it because there are not a lot of examples? or is perhaps because they are not celebrated as much? I know think more about women’s rights, education, health and general well being now that I have a girl of my own.

I was very lucky to have been blessed with an amazing set of parents who thought that we could do or be whatever we wanted as long as it wasn’t harram. Their line was drawn there and only there. It is hard to argue with religion because those kind of values do not budge when society does. They taught us (I have a super younger sister too) that we could think for ourselves.

It is all about mindset, beleifs and the basic idea that we have rights, even if they are very simple ones. It is all about teaching girls to be balanced, strong individuals. The media is not helping either, and this is confusing girls.

Even girls who do have a choice are confused. Do they want to be successful? Should they look like super models? Should they get married or follow their dreams? Do they want to have kids right away or do they want to wait? Do they want to stand out as innovators, leaders, inventors and owners? Do they want to follow?

A total rant.

Noor Mania

I absolutely loved this post on Noor Mania.

I watched a couple of episodes when I was back in Egypt, when I travelled back to Kuwait and tried watching at home my husband put his foot down and said “No”. I have to tell you that he rarely ever says “no” and usually just fools me into doing what he wants me to. And no it wasn’t because Mohanad is cute or anything, he just couldn’t stand the Syrian voice overs and actually hates romantic mushy wushiness. I did watch a couple of the re-runs that are played earlier in the day but got bored quickly. What I loved most about the show was the mansion, its perfect location overlooking the Bosphoros was just magical to me. Although there was one episode where they show Nour hiding in their bathroom from Mohanad and they had this neon yellow towell hanging. That was what broke it for me. Who buys neon yellow towels?!?! Maybe in an ultra modern bathroom yes, but in a white marble one NOOOOOOOOOOOOO. How can rich people with that kind of moolah not realize that towels should match your bathroom. Terribly annoying! I guess I mainly watched in Egypt because I loved watching with my sister and gossiping and making fun of everything. It’s not so much fun watching on my own. Oh well, I guess I’ll just wait till the next season of Ugly Betty to watch something more entertaining.

I am repeatedly amazed …

by my daughter. She is six months and has been playing with a peice of silver gift wrapping paper for the last hour. She has examined it, scrunched it, licked it, tried to eat it and watched it reflect light. She has folded it, crumpled it, even smiled at it and sort of sang to it. Not only is she entertained but she appears to be interested in something I was going to throw away. Everything must seem so new and interesting when one is that young. SubhanAllah.

Egyptian TV Websites

Being the geek that I am, I was looking for El 3ashera Masa2an website in search of more information on something I had seen. A powerful TV show like that should have a website right? Apparently the big folks at Dream don’t think so. I am not sure why? Actually I am not sure if their site even qualifies as a decent site. Starting with their flash intro which reminds me of the pre-Web 2.0 era, the ugly blues and the horrible music and moving onto the dancing girl screen-shots that fly all over the intro. First a countdown sequence with beep beep beep, like it is going to blow up now, then woman’s scary voice greets you with “Welcome to Dream TV”. And then lots of lovely flashes from video clips, they are of course all of women scantily clad and dancing.
I don’t get it, Dream has a lot of interesting and serious shows but they choose to portray themselves as a musical channel in their intro? Elmohem; I am still looking so I decide to ignore the intro. The site itself is ugly, has horrible navigation and just feels so wrong. I click on the link for the show and find a two liner that describes the show, a link to Mona El-Shazly’s profile that has nothing but her name and a picture.

A complete television magazine starts at 10 o’clock with the days great event and each day a new issues is discussed relaying on the real shots when possible Broadcasted from Saturday to Wednesday at 10:00PM CLT

Ok all geekiness aside, this is just zero business sense. Here is a program that is screaming cash cow and they are doing nothing to gain from it. With millions of viewers all over the world they could be getting so much money from this show alone and it is all going to waste. Ad revenue, promotional space and sponsorships all to waste.

Why don’t they have a schedule for the comming shows with their guest list.
A listing of all archived shows and their content.
References that they use, such as newspaper clippings, sources whatever.
When they have a guest they should list his credentials someplace
Transcripts of past shows
A forum or discussion space where people can discuss current events and shows
The ability to comment online during a show which is being aired so that people are offered more interactivity and the ability to give direct feedback.
Video clips of the best shows if not all of them.
Where are the RSS feeds so people can subscribe to all of the above
Where are the blogs written by the reporters or Mona El-Shazly herself?

And that is just off the top of my head. Where are the designers? Where is their facebook page? Where is the ability to share clips? The multimedia?

The world has moved to web 2.0 , social networks and new tools and these people are still stuck in 1998′s version of the internet.

El Mehwar’s 90 minutes is much better but could still use some imrpovements, but that’s a totally different post.