Archive for January, 2010
Fire in the Sky
We woke up to devastating news this morning of an Ethiopian airliner that crashed minutes after taking off from Beirut’s international airport. The plane, carrying 90 people, caught fire and crashed into the sea soon after.
My heart goes out to the families who’ve lost their loved ones. People have been passing along forwards with lists of the passengers – most Lebanese and under the age of 50. Its such a painful incident. The country is shaken up and you feel a whispered mourning for what’s happened.
Regardless of how much we’ve experienced specifically in the Middle East, each incident opens a new wound and the sting gets sharper each time. Officials are saying that so far no sabotage was involved – the cause being bad weather conditions.
It would be very worrying to think otherwise.
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Keep posted on the story as it develops on iLoubnan’s website
Snip, Snip
Cutting certain habits and/or people out of your life can be very therapeutic. When I find myself wondering why certain things happened and begin to dwell over how these things could have been different, I plunge into a negative cycle of useless thinking. Thinking that can be much better directed on more important things in my life.
It’s taken me a while to realize this habit and sometimes the best solution is just to cut the chord – both the mental and the physical one. Now I don’t mean this in a negative, bitter way but more in a self-preserving way. A way to keep myself sane and happy. Cutting things out works best when I do it as soon as I realize the problem.
Eureka – and that’s the problem in and of itself!
Often we don’t see the clear picture until we are either hurt or someone else reminds us. I’m grateful for my wonderful friends in this department who’ll “lovingly” kick my butt whenever they realize what it is I’m doing.
When it comes to men, taking this approach is probably the healthiest way to avoid over-infatuation with the wrong person. The things that on the surface can be so appealing blind the not-so-appealing parts. You know it’s time to cut that person out when you realize the good doesn’t outweigh the bad.
All things aside, we all know in our gut what is right for us and what isn’t. True power is when you know it isn’t right and aren’t afraid to walk away from it.
Mouwathafeen 3
Although I’m no longer working the full-time gig, there are still lots of stories to tell about others working around me.
Take for example the two men I met this morning. Let’s call them Khalil and Boutros for lack of their real names. Right around the corner from my office is an unidentifiable little shop that on the outside looks like a hairdresser shop, but on the inside is actually a Dekeneh (a mini grocery store). I’d always walked past it thinking it was a hairdresser’s because of all the hair products on display, until I accidentally took a peek one day.
With a few shelves and some recycled display tables, it’s home to Khalil and Boutros’ “business”. They have a small fridge, newspapers and magazines, cigarettes, hair products and god knows what else in there. (It was too dark to see it all) I walked in this morning to pick up a pack (I’m hopelessly failing at quitting), and saw the tiniest old men crouched over a 8 inch television with shaky reception. They obviously didn’t enjoy being disrupted from the horse race that was playing on the screen. As I was paying Boutros (the owner, I presumed), I caught Khalil jotting down Arabic numbers on a wrinkled paper.
I’ve never been to a horse race here in Lebanon and was surprised to find these men so actively involved in the results. I wondered which horse they were betting on and if they ever won. Or maybe this was just a hobby. Who knows? More than anything, I wished I was carrying my camera to capture their unfaltering gaze at the screen. Both in their knitted sweaters and low chairs, they were quite the sight.
An old couple of men trapped in time, enticed by a sport so many have forgotten. One day I’ll visit the races here, but until then, I’ll keep updated through Khalil and Boutros.
One Wig Stand
Check out a new side blog I’ve just launched: One Wig Stand
The blog recounts the journeys of a traveling wig stand (my mom’s) that’s making its way around her friend’s homes, sporting the wigs they wear as they battle chemo..
The Stories Shoes Tell
Seems the only inspiration I’m drawing on these days is from this book I’m reading (Little Ghandi by Elias Khoury). As a follow-up to the previous post, little Ghandi (the main character of the story) is a shoe shiner on Bliss Street who works right by Faisal snack. The character is too well-defined to not be inspired by a real one. I keep picturing the old shoe shiner from when I was in college.
Photograph by Rafism - Click on the photo to see more of his work
There’s a certain wisdom to be had from that sort of job. Here’s a caption to make you think twice about the condition of your shoes:
“The shoes were endless. Ghandi could tell a man’s personality from his shoes: worn-out shoes were a sign of carelessness, shoes that were always like new were a sign of fearfulness, shoes that weren’t laced properly were a sign of sexual potency, shoes with the backs folded down like slippers were a sign of craziness.”
People talk endlessly about the power of body language, but what you wear on your feet says a lot too. And so what if I’m a girl. It’s proven true! I read in a body language book recently that interviewers will always check the back of the interviewees shoes as they walked out to determine their mental state.
And ok, if it’s a woman or a gay man (no offense), they will be checking your shoes out for other reasons too.
I still remember my first pair of fancy shoes. They were sandals with multiple thin black straps that wrapped across my foot and buckled right below my ankle. My toes peaked out a little in the front. I must’ve been around 6 years old at the time and would actually look forward to waking up the next morning just to put them on. Funny how these kind of random memories stick with you.
Wait, who am I kidding? I still do that!
