No more Henna?! :(

It has been 15 days since R's henna party. R is one of my best friends, so I really enjoyed the party, I always enjoy an event if the person concerned is dear to me.

Other wise I would just go as formalities.

Well I always like getting a henna drawing here or there. Nothing major, just something simple, dala3 kida in the mood of the party.

Anyway, I had a flowery bracelet drawn on my wrist, plus a small thing for my little finger, it was simple and nice, but the henna started fading the very next day, while the wedding was still 4 days away!

but till now, I still have a raised relief like pattern of the bracelet. no color, but the pattern is there nonetheless. looks like I developed some sort of allergy to the henna, and the skin where it was is kind of reddish, raised and somehow a bit callous. Don't know if it will go away. it is like when a wound heals wrong and takes ages to return to normal.

do not know if it would remain 3alatool or not, but so far it is a nice sevounir from a beautiful night. but i guess I will have to think again before I approach henna again!

Discovery

I was watching the discovery channel the other day, ( I really enjoy it btw), and the show on was: "Global Trekker". It basically shows a trekking trip to somewhere in the world, and takes you with them, to see parts of the world, and people that you might never see otherwise. It also tells alot about the history of the places, the people, their way of life etc etc....

So, this show was about central China. Very interesting btw. There was this part where the trekker was visiting a place abundant with Muslims. They were showing the mosques and the people. Then came a part where the trekker was going into one of the markets in that area. going in, this is what she said:

"They tell me I do not have to worry about bargaining here, because the muslims will never try to cheat you. Hey that is quite a reputation!"

That is quite a reputation. And it made me smile. I wish more people were like this, showing the true side of Islam, with its ethics and principles, and building a true and correct reputation for Islam, rather than the ones bombing up everything, claiming it in the name of Islam, and hence giving Islam a bad name.

Jaza Allah kol kheir any muslim, especially those living in a non muslim community... who make an effort through their actions... to show the true face of Islam.

Last Minute Shopping

It is 5:45 pm, and I am sitting here at my computer, when I think I should be doing something else somehow.

It is my best friend's wedding in just about 3 hours time. I should be at least napping so as not to nod off tonight. but this is how it is with these things... I always plan timings a little too optimistically, and end up running around the house for the last hour! My mom usually jokes about it: when are you ever gonna stop running! can't you have everything ready from before and relax at the end? and yet even when I do that, at the end, I still run, and I am usually still late by at least 15 minutes to anything. even if i start getting ready an hour earlier, it is like I am programmed to be 15 minutes late! still, I think I am better than alot of my friends at this.

anyway... it is R's wedding, and the whole family is invited. She has been my friend since 12 or 13, and thus she is practically family now. closest thing to a sister after Roora.

So, she has been telling me about her wedding for 3 months now: it is next month. no it will be next. then, no it will be next month... (see, she is running today too. they have been postponing because they haven't been able to finish their running around either :) )

She kept telling me: I am telling you early aho, so you and Roora can have time if you want to make new dresses or something.

I did not make anything new. didn't have the time or the demagh (mental state) to go look for fabric and design, then keep on going to the tailor. UGGGH i hate it.


So, her wedding is today, and yesterday roora took the day off from work and we both went shopping for last minute dresses. I got one. It was discounted too! but Roora could not like anything she wanted.

She went out again in the afternoon to shop... again no results. She is out this very minute still shopping!

after work today.. i had to go shop for some other stuff....my dress is kind of a wierd metallic purple... so i had to buy the shoes and scarf to match. I even bought the nail polish for it. And both Roora and I have spent quite a bundle. Hope all this running around would turn out well. I really need to sleep right now. I guess I can have some more coffee we khalas.

I hope Roora buys something nice.

Gotta run!

Now and Then

March 5th, 2003
5:30 am

I was asleep when the phone rang next to my bed. I was very tired, and had to go to work in just a little while, but it woke me up.
It turned out to be my pregnant sister in law;

She: Good morning D. Happy Birthday!

Me sleepily: (thinking: Why does she have to call me so early to tell me! This can wait at least for the sun to come up!): Hey thanx M. we enty tayyeba.

She: listen D, I am going to have my baby right now. Can you please come over to watch the kids?

Me, fully awake: Now?!! but you are early! oh my, I will be right over!!!

so I got up the earliest ever that I got up on my birthday, and drove over to her house. Poor M, she had been having contractions for a while before she called, but waited for the last minute to call me , so as to let me sleep! When I arrived, she was already dressed, and she and my brother were at the door. so I kissed her, and wished her all the best, and went inside to look on the kids who were still sleeping.

They woke up and were very excited about the whole thing. They are having a new sister... and they get to skip school that day because of it! ( That is a cool excuse isn't it. I am sorry I could not come to school yesterday... my mom was having a baby!)

I was excited about it too. I really liked the baby being born on my birthday. It was like a beautiful birthday present. A new niece. Who will always share my birthday.

4 hours later, baby H was born. I did not get to see her till the next day though Because I had to stay with the children. But when she came home, she was such a cute little bundle!

Three years later, March 5th, 2006
It is our birthday. I go to work, then finish and go over to a toy store. H's brthday is tonight. and whenever someone calls me to see what I am doing on my birthday.... I tell them I am shopping for my niece's birthday! I got her a doll house.

She kind of took over my birthday really... but I really do not mind at all. I love her so much. Besides, they always blow the candles for me too after they sing for her.

Now she is three years old, and I can't believe that 3 years ago she wasn't even here. they do grow so fast.

Shattered Glass

"Shattered glass" is the title of a movie, based on a true story. I just watched it and it's quite interesting actually. Several times it would come on, and I would usually flip the channel looking for something more interesting, but when I did watch it, it turned out quite intriguing. Movies based on true stories usually are.

It's basically about a journalist, who is exposed as having most of his pieces fabricated. How this was found out, and the aftermaths of it.

The point is… his fabricating of his stories was displayed as really a big thing. And come to think of it, it is. The news and papers are basically one of our major trusted sources of information. And if some of it is fiction, we would like to know about it. Remmebr the phrase: "it was on CNN, it must be true!" well that is not really applicable nowadays at all.

I don't know how thorough fact checking is here in Egypt, but I have my concerns. The official papers have very different versions from other opposing papers, ex. Al Ummah, al Fajr, al Naba2, etc etc. Some feel (me included), that these papers really spice up the stuff to sell more. But also others feel that some stuff can be told here, that would not be published in our regular official papers (Al Ahram, Al Akhbar etc). as a matter of fact, both opinions are quite true, and the search of the truth, is well, up to you. You believe what you think is more credible kind of thing. The media does not do as much as fabricate a whole story from A-Z, (maybe they do?), but they sure omit what they want and state what they want, thus making one story told in two different ways very very different.

Now when I see a news item on an Egyptian news channel, I check for the same piece of news in Jezeera, BBC and CNN respectively. Sometimes I get angry with one version or the other, but in the end I am not really sure which one to really buy into.

The business of truth finding has become quite skeptical. But it is good that we are not just exposed to one source of news, so it makes it more difficult to fabricate stuff and manipulate our minds. Oh well, we will see.