Where Are You From?

Through this blog and blogging in general, I got to know people from completely different backgrounds. I have to say I never saw it coming when I first started and thought I'd only get Jordanian readers, if any, but it has been amazing so far and I'm quite sure it will only get better.

And since I'm always eager to learn about other cultures and other countries, I thought maybe you guys could help me with this little idea, and we could all have fun with it:

In the comments section, I want you guys to tell me a little bit about your culture, history, things you like in your country, things or places you find interesting there or anything you feel like sharing about where you're from. You can post a link to your blog, write a little piece of info or show us some images. Then tell other people so they can share theirs :)

This can be so much fun if everyone participates :) yalla.

UEFA Champions’ League Gone Argentine

Photo source: Corriere Della Sera

Now we’re talking!

Diego Milito, who scored both of Internazionale’s goals in the Champoins’ League finale against Bayern Munich, gave Argentina fans another reason to look forward to June 12th, the day of Argentina’s opening match in the World Cup against Nigeria.

I can’t wait to see him play :)

Who are you looking forward to see?

Grammar Police

When I first talked about the most common mistakes Arabs in general and Jordanians in particular make when they speak English, people were divided into two parties; first, there were those who called me a showoff and said that I had no right to make fun of their mistakes, the "Opposition" if you will. And then there were the supporters, and they outnumbered the first type :) fellow blogger Seleucid suggested we start a grammar and spell-check campaign on Twitter, I didn't think it was a good idea then what with the amount of hate I got the couple of days after I posted the list.

Then, the more I got into Twitter the more mistakes I saw, and being the obsessive type that I am I started to lose concentration, Seleucid suggested it again and this time he said that we would do it nicely, and with people that we're comfortable with, "correct the mistake and add a hashtag so that we would be able to search for it and see our work at the end of the day", he said. Hanin, a really nice Tweep, who also hates seeing mistakes, agreed, and so did 5hadz (but this dude takes it to extreme levels), next, we were looking for a name that would sound cute and non-threatening, like the Grammar Nazis, for example :) and we ended up with "The Grammar Predators" lovely, yeah?

We started among us, for every tweet that contained a grammar or spelling mistake, we replied with the correction and a #GPreds tag, then each one started with her/his followers, and boy did that spread quickly!

By the end of the next day, we had annoyed a large number of people. And our team grew.

But the rules had to be established so Seleucid offered his help; this is what he came up with:

1. We are not a group of belligerence and hate. We seek to enlighten, to raise awareness.
   
2. Our path is to tell you the correct way, then you have a free choice on deciding to use any kind of grammar you want.
3. English is a second language to most of us, treat each case alone. Obvious mistakes for some are a pass for others.
4. Love your prey: Make the person understand it's for fun. And if he gets offended, it's your duty to ask and apologize.
5. Hashtag #GPreds. And try to add something fun and witty.
6. Always try to recruit your prey, make the campaign viral.
7. We have two goals:
   

-         To help people with poor grammar skills write better, and

-         To make lazy people more alert when tweeting

I'm posting this so that Tweeps who read this blog will understand what the GPreds are all about, and not take anything we say personally, in case they get GPredded someday.

If you're not on Twitter, and you've reached this line, I salute you! How did you do that? You should have stopped reading about 6 paragraphs ago :)

Update: For further explanation please refer to Seleucid's comment at the bottom of this page.

10 Facts You Should Know Now.

1. Bottled water causes cancer like, the next day, if you drink it you’ll get gum cancer, if you hold it you’ll get hand cancer, if you pour it over your face you will become ugly and then get face cancer.

2. If the mouse you are using has a scroll, then it’s most likely made in the USA, and Americans use real mice to make them, can’t you see the tail? They’re trying to kill us by giving us plague.

3. Using Facebook is bad for your kidneys, because the Facebook logo radiates a special type of ultraviolet rays that aims straight at your kidneys and gives you kidney stones, quit Facebook now!

4. ChanelDiorGabbanaArmaniDolceRabanne’s latest perfume is made of pig urine, do not buy it! The people behind it are Zionists and they’re also trying to kill us, spread the word if you want to go to heaven.

5. Red lipstick is made of elephant blood, if you wear it on your lips, you’ll grow a trunk.

6. Shampoos, shower gels, soaps and any personal hygiene products that contain the ingredient “Aqua” will make you blind, if you read the word aqua on the shampoo bottle, get out of the shower immediately, a friend of mine ignored this advice and she now has clean hair!

7. Potato chips will make you pregnant because farmers give the potatoes hormones to make them grow faster, and these hormones increase fertility in a way that you can get pregnant by yourself.

8. Shaving your beard causes the hair follicles to migrate to the inside of your body and then grow to make a huge hair ball inside your stomach, that’s why guys who shave their beards feel full most of the time.

9. Wearing bright-colored clothes causes the sunrays to penetrate your skin and your lungs will be slowly cooked. You should only wear beige.

10. If you talk on your mobile phone for long periods of time, you’ll have a heart attack. Well, technically, you might if you get a fat bill.

There. I hope this post is as informative as I intend it to be.

Please people, stop this nonsense. If you really believe such emails will save the humanity in one way or another, would you please check if the info is correct before you go forward them to all the 50 contacts you have?

Sweet Dreams

Did you know that what you smell while you're sleeping can influence your dreams? Scientists say that a pleasant smell can actually lead to positive emotions in your dream and vice versa.

So, the next time you're having bad dreams, try sleeping on a fresh smelling pillow, or as I like to do, wear your favorite perfume or put on some scented lotion before you go to bed, I won't guarantee you sweet dreams, but at least there'll be a nice scent every time you turn or move in your bed :) 

Let's Make Heaven Out of Hell

Meet Elisa Toffoli (mostly known only as Elisa), for those of you who do not know her, Elisa is an Italian singer/song writer/producer who sings mostly in English, her music is a mix of pop, alternative rock and some other genres.

She is not known in the Arab world (first we have our own Elissa and second she doesn't wear as much make-up as she should to become a good singer), and I found out about her back in 2002 when I used to watch Italian music channels a lot. If you want to learn more about her, just go Google her!

The reason I'm writing about her is because I promised I'd tell you guys about my favorite music, so here it is, the first of many great (in my opinion) artists.

The first song "Rainbow" does something to me every time I listen to it, I don't know whether it makes me sad, happy, hopeful or what but it just gives me a strange feeling and music that does that is good music.

The second one I chose is "Heaven Out of Hell", and I didn't post the official video here because she's completely naked in it :) enjoy.

I Don't Hate the Game, I Hate the Players

Every day I wake up a happy person, ready for a new day, and very thankful for what I have.

Then what happens?

I arrive to work.

Every day. Every day. Every frickin’ day.

Laish M3asseb ya Sheikh?

The amount of Islamic TV channels and programs has skyrocketed in the past few years, I don't know if this classifies as a good thing (because people need awareness and they want to learn more about Islam whether it's their religion or not) or as a bad thing (because who knows where the people in these channels get their info from, and who knows how accurate it is).

Religion is a very sensitive subject that should be addressed correctly, and any wrong, inaccurate, or vague word can easily be misinterpreted and send out the wrong message, sometimes a message that is the exact opposite to what you are trying to say.

The more important part of this is the style of the cleric/preacher/Mufti/daa3eyah/sheikh/Imam, whatever you wanna call him (I'll call him Mhaawesh here but you shouldn't) and I don't mean his clothing style or his hair and beard style, that's something I'd rather not get into at this point because I don't believe there's a uniform for a Muslim! I'm talking about his style of delivering the piece of information he wants the viewers to learn.

Let me explain further, suppose Mhaawesh here wants to talk about mercy, compassion, sympathy, kindness, or any other virtue, he wants to say that Mohammed (salla Allahu 3alayhi wa sallam) ordered us to smile at each other, he ordered us to visit our sick friends and relatives, to treat our children equally… etc. now what do you think is the best way for Mhaawesh to say such things? I'll tell you what: BY YELLING! Or at least that's what most of them out there are thinking.

How can you possibly talk about a religion of peace when you're yelling the whole time? Shouldn't you be doing what you're telling us to do before you appear on TV? At least smile at the camera for God's sake 7ajj Mhaawesh!

There's a big difference between talking on air as if you would be talking to a friend or a group of friends, and talking as if you're telling people off for doing something wrong. And if a non-Arabic-speaking person accidentally tuned in, what would they think Mhaawesh is talking about? Peace? Forgiveness? Being good to one another? I don't think so, and frankly, it's not the kind of thing I would want to spend my afternoon listening to, even when I do understand what he's saying, because if I wanted someone to yell at me I'd just tell my father about that time when guys had to lift my car up to get it out of the place I got it into, at least he'd be yelling for something I actually did.

And even in case Mhaawesh is talking about rules that should not be broken, punishment, sins… etc. this is not the way to do it, because a man of religion should be encouraging people to listen to him rather than scaring them away.

Try to see the difference between these two guys, with all due respect to all the shyoukh out there of course, the first one is an Imam in Morocco during Khotbat Al Jumaa (sorry about the video quality but you have to see this) and the second is Dr. Mohammed Rateb Al Nabelsi on a TV show talking about being thankful for God's blessings among other things.

Children of the 80s: Did You Play This Game?

Image source

This is one of the games that I’ll be telling my kids about (if I ever have any) because I don’t think kids play it anymore, it’s such a shame that these games are history now, they’re way more fun than video games if you ask me.

Basically we put a rubber rope around two kids’ feet and jumped between them 10 times, it had many stages and I can’t remember them all, but we’d lift the rope up after completing each level to make the jumping harder. We used to call it “Awwal Tonni”.

I remember our school teachers hating this game, but I still don’t know why, maybe because of the dust resulting from all the jumping, one day our fourth grade teacher Miss Munia took all the ropes and punished everyone who was playing, and rewarded everyone who wasn’t, now I used to be the first to suggest that we play it and the first one to participate when they needed players, but that day I had a stomachache and didn’t play, so I got rewarded instead of being punished! And I got to go on a field trip :P Till this day my classmates hate me for that and they still say I cheated. 14 years later and I still feel guilty about it :(

Have you ever played awwal tonni?

Random Thoughts

They’re building a complex or something right next to where I work which means 8 hours of headache every day at work, plus 6 more hours of side effect headache after I get home. Not pretty, and it makes the simplest noise a real pain. It reminds me of that episode of Tom & Jerry when Jerry takes the end of a stethoscope Tom is wearing and screams in it to blow Tom’s head off.

People need to learn how to walk, I don’t get people who walk backwards or sideways, a lady stepped on my foot on Saturday and it still hurts me, plus it turned blue. No offense to anyone overweight but people who are should pay extra attention because they can cause more damage :( oh and not to mention women in heels! Maybe we should go back to crawling.

 

Before people in Jordan start talking about recycling, I think we should start with using trash cans and learning that the right place to put your trash is inside the garbage dumpster and not beside it. And don’t get me started on the aftermath of a hash w nash day out!
 

Since people like to do the things they shouldn’t be doing, and since junk food is more desired than healthy food, and since people seem to want to touch anything with a label that says “don’t touch”, and since people hate doing stuff that are good for their health, then why don’t we start a “Start Smoking and Don’t Quit” campaign? Shouldn’t that be successful? I think it’s worth a shot.

 

When people learn a new language, the first things they learn are the meanings of swear words and how to say thank you, that’s the spirit of forgiveness at its very best.

 

I think a feminist is someone who has been blessed to have all the right women in their life, similarly, a sexist is someone who’s so unlucky to have some really horrible women in theirs, we should have a feminist and a sexist swap lives for a week or two and see if they change their ideas.


That’s enough takhbees for today.

25 Things About The Ugly Duckling

I was tagged for the first time by one of my favorite bloggers, Ola, so I’m supposed to write 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about myself. Sounds very fun, although I have to tag 25 people myself, I’m not even sure I know that many bloggers but anyway!

Here we go:

1. I’m skinny! Yeah I might talk about food and everything, but all my life I’ve been a handful of kilograms under normal weight.


2. I’m from Irbed, but I live in Amman, and still go to Irbed every month or so because a lot of my relatives still live there, and I love Irbed, way more friendly than Amman.

3. Unless I laugh till tears come streaming down my face at least once, it’s not a good day. I’m addicted to laughing.

4. You all probably know I love football, and want Argentina to win this year’s World Cup.


5. I may come across as arrogant and hard to approach, but I’m not, and it usually takes me a long while before I open up.


6. I don’t listen to Arabic songs, I have a different taste in music, some say it’s weird, some even say I’m arrogant, I’ll let you guys in on it someday.

7. I never ever eat garlic or anything with garlic, it turns my stomach and I become nauseous. I can’t even have sandwiches with mayonnaise that contains garlic, so in case you’re inviting me over for lunch, be sure to hide it if you don’t want your carpet ruined. Ya3 I know.


8. I sing while I’m driving, but I absolutely hate my voice, I cringe every time I hear it. It’s just annoying.


9. I can’t touch animals, insects or anything with a soul, I’m zoophobic, if a cat walks beside me I run away, but if it brushes against my leg I could faint. And I hate it when people say that it’s just a cat and it won’t hurt me, I’m not scared of being hurt, I’m scared of chicks and birds too, I can’t really explain it, it’s just the fact that they’re living creatures. But I wouldn’t hurt any animal, I don’t hate them.


10. I’m as far away from art as I can be, I can’t draw a picture to save my life, I can’t play any instrument and I’m horrible with crafts.


11. I switch moods as fast as you can say switch, I could go from crying to laughing real hard in seconds, it usually takes one joke or funny line.


12. I hate my job. But I love what it’s supposed to be.


13. My memory is perfect when it comes to dates and numbers, but horrible when it comes to first names. So I apologize in advance to all of you.

14. It sickens me to see someone throw trash out of their car, what you want your car to be clean but not the streets?


15. I also can’t tell a joke to save my life.

16. I speak Italian and I learned it on my own, I even got a certificate, something I always brag about, which annoys the hell out of some people.


17. I’m a very heavy sleeper. It’s a real pain for me to wake up. It’s also a nightmare for my parents to wake me up. I set multiple alarms with rock music that wake up the entire neighborhood except me.


18. Prime numbers make my skin itch.


19. Spelling and grammar mistakes make my skin itch, in Arabic and English.

20. I’m a sucker for chocolate, chocolate cake, chocolate muffins, chocolate anything.

  

21. I love anything with flowers, flower prints, flower jewelry, flower key chains, I have a thing for them. Now tell me these above aren’t cute.

22. Sometimes I think I’m invisible to some people, whenever I’m at the mall or walking in the street, I get pushed, shoved, or have my feet stepped on, the other day I was going up some stairs, and the floor was slippery, and this girl who was going down pushed so I almost fell all the way down, if that had happened, I don’t think I would be writing this right now, it was a very long distance.

23. My favorite food is wara2 dawali, (stuffed vine leaves) I can live on it for months.


24. I rarely watch movies, and I’d rate all of them 5-6/10


25. I love everything from ayyam zaman, I like to remember anything old, things that don’t exist anymore, I’m filled with deep longing for my childhood and things and places relating to it.


Wow now that was very self-centered but those are the rules, and I know I’m supposed to tag some bloggers, but I’m new to the whole blogging scene and I don’t know many bloggers, so, if you’re reading this, and you have your own blog, consider yourself tagged :) and have a nice day!