I guess that you can tell that there is something wrong with this line before you go any further. What does this line remind you of? You got it right; wedding vows, however; have you ever heard the term betray line up next to love and honor? How does betrayal become a part of a vow that is supposedly a lifetime commitment between two people?

Before you start thinking that I am out of my mind, let me assure you that I am ok and you are ok as well, because this is a title of a book I was reading for the last couple of weeks for my book club. Basically; the book tells stories of 26 anonymous women, married women who have been, are into and think of having an affair.

This is an every day story and is as old as the human race. Ever since the marriage institution was created, infidelity was and still is one of the side effects that some marriages suffer from. Some of the women had terrible lives with their husbands and that’s according to their own words; I still feel that it is not fair to judge by hearing one side of the story, because this book never mentions the men’s side of the story. How would we know that these women are not just making up excuses to justify their actions?

I felt that the most honest ones were those who admitted that there was nothing wrong with their lives; they just wanted more and instead of seeking that from their husbands, they chose to go to another man and look for what they are lacking in their marriages. In almost all the stories, it was the emotional satisfaction, and in most cases, they stayed with the husband because of the kids and/or financial stability … honestly; I found that very selfish because if you are not happy with your husband, you should not stay in a marriage and make him and yourself miserable, and if you are staying because of your kids, then you would not think of hurting them by risking their well being and family balance and having an affair.

Anyway; this is not why I was inspired to write about this topic; it is actually the theory that we discussed as a part of the debate. It goes as follows: The late historian Lawrence Stone says that the median duration of marriage is the same today as it was 100 years ago, when mortality rates were much higher. Helen Fisher, an anthropologist at Rutgers University, says: “The news is not that humans are adulterous, the news is that we pair up at all. I find it remarkable that we are not more adulterous.”

So, what the theory is suggesting is that monogamy might be an unnatural state, or at best a state that is difficult to maintain, and we were asked a question if we concluded that marriages are never meant to last as long as we expect them to today?

Now, isn’t that a scary thought?

I thought that this theory was missing out on the most important factor which is the people involved in the monogamous relationship. It takes at lease one couple to prove that it is possible to maintain such a relationship but through commitment, dedication and a lot of hard work because a marriage does not sustain itself by existing; in fact; it is only the beginning of the long way that two people committed to work together.

As we were discussing that monogamy is actually natural and possible; another idea popped up and that is that humans are not naturally monogamous and not programmed to be with one partner for life. Then polygamy joined the party and we starting discussing; how can monogamy be natural if polygamy is? I mean; polygamy is based on one human (man) maintaining relationships with multiple lifetime partners (women) … so which system is natural and which is not? And how can we say that both are when they totally work against one another?

Frankly; this is confusing … on one hand; if we say that monogamy is unnatural, how can we expect to live with one person for life? In fact; how can we say that marriage is a successful institution to begin with if it is based on something that is not normal and unrealistic? If we go ahead and get married with this conviction in mind, does this make infidelity expected and comes with the marriage package? Does this mean that we should not be angry and hurt if our spouses acted on their urges and had affairs or maybe lived another life?

On the other hand; if we say that monogamy is actually normal and that is the solid base on which you build a strong marriage; then how do we explain polygamy?

Interesting, ha?

When you want to write about a pleasant experience; it is a must that you are in a good mood so that you can give the story its right flavor and reflect the true essence of the experience. This Eid; I had a very nice experience that is worth writing about, but the flu delayed this post a little because of the bad mood it caused.

On the first day of Eid; I met one of the people that are on my “must meet” list; if I say that this was a pleasant refreshing encounter, that would be an understatement!

The land of the Nile sent us a present for this Eid; Sandmonkey was here and we enjoyed his visit exactly like he did and maybe more. He contacted me and said that he will be spending his Eid vacation in Amman; this was more than a nice surprise to me because I enjoy reading his blog and have heard about him from mutual friends, so you can imagine that I was anxious to finally meet him personally.

When I went to the hotel to pick him up; he greeted me with a lovely smile that promised me a day that is full of joy and laughs. We started out by going to Canvas to have lunch where we were joined by Jad, Bakkouz and Roba. The guys hit it the minute they said hello; I expected that they would although SM was reluctant and skeptical about him getting along with Bakkouz after their infamous encounter and he was not sure about Jad because this was the first time he hears of him; boy I am glad they got along and became friends

After lunch; we wanted to go for a cup of coffee and argeeleh for SM. Roba recommended that we go to a place next to Salute because they have a nice setting, but unfortunately; both places did not start their service before 6, so we headed to Old View Café that was closed and no one would answer our calls. Our last hope was Books @ Café and thank God it was open and serving everything we wanted. SM loved the place and found what he was looking for; we sat on the balcony and had a great time.

We discussed many issues and talked about things that concern Egyptians, Jordanians and Arabs in general. We agreed on almost all topics discussed and I can say that there was a nice harmony going on.

SM was everything I imagined him to be and even more; he is smart, outgoing, open-minded, bold, fearless and most importantly cynical. Add to all that his sense of humor; we really enjoyed some good laughs. He talks about serious things in a light manner that does not leave you space to miss the humor yet get the basic idea of what he is aiming at; bottom line; you cannot afford not to like the guy like we all did.

I had to leave them early because mom kept calling me saying that we have a full house and everyone was asking about me; first day of Eid and that is the normal practice. I was supposed to meet him again but flu stopped all plans and left me in a really bad mood because I missed seeing SM before he left and enjoying his company one more time.

I am glad that SM enjoyed his stay in Amman and maybe next time we will take him out of Amman to show him more of Jordan’s beauty.

What can one say to sum up 365 days???
 

How can you describe all the good and bad times???

2005 was very eventfull … but not all on the good side.

I met new exciting people … good!!
I also met some jerks … bad!!

Found 3 good jobs … good!!
Lost 2 good jobs … and thensome … bad!!

My sister got married … good!!
My uncle died of cancer … bad!!

I have a new baby nephew … good!!
I haven’t seen him yet cause he was born in the states … bad!!

The list goes on!!

I thought that something really significant will happen to me in 2005 … not only nothing significant happened but a lot of insignificant unhappy things took place instead.

I am sitting at home … blogging!!

Weather is so cold outside … but I really wish I had someone to celebrate the cold weather with, instead; I am sitting in a 4X4 room, with my loyal TV, and my buddy the laptop, and an interesting book to read … what a lovely way to leave a whole year of my life and greet a new one … but as this is the best I can do now … I will settle that it is the best thing to do ever!!!

Happy New Year my friends … clock is ticking and its only a few hours till we finally say goodbye to a long heavy frustrating year.

Boy oh boy!!

Another New Year’s Eve in my lifetime, and guess what? Like all the previous years; I am still alone, i.e. with no companion; in other words; I am still single, you know what I mean, *sigh*

I remember when this night used to be so much fun. Me, my sisters and friends used to have rituals that we do every New Year’s Eve, partly because we did not have the privilege of going out and at the same time; we did not have companions (boyfriends, fiances, husbands) to celebrate with.

Sitting here now and thinking of the good old days; I would love to share these rituals with you in an attempt to make fun of myself and prove to poor me one more time that I am finally mature!!

       

Now, these were important ingredients for the long night. We used to give each one of us a task to do, so one would bring the potato chips (she has to bring several flavors), and another would bring the popcorn; whether ready-made microwave type or the good old dried corn in the pan; it is her responsibility and she has to do it.

Fruits, juices and milkshakes are the next in the line when it comes to New Year’s Eve rituals. Again, all this effort is shared and divided by all.

Good old homemade cake … nothing beats that. Mom used to put it on the heater (el9oba) and the smell would be all over the house. We used to do it in different flavors as well, but I did not like the nuts that mom used to put inside, I love my cakes plain.

And how can we pass the night without some lebanese appetizers (Mazat)? It was fun preparing them; especially the “yallanji”

Then we would wash it all down with the good old Pepsi … nothing beats it!!

We would play lots of games together and dance to the sound of the latest albums of famous singers at that time, like Ragheb 3alameh, 3amr Diab and others.

Now we reached the final and most peculiar ritual of all. I don’t know who planted the myth in our heads, but this ritual is about an orange skin!

The myth states that if you peel the orange without breaking the skin, just like the picture, and then place it under your pillow, so when you sleep, you will dream of your future husband … DUH!!

These things sound so far now. My friends and sisters are all married and have their own lives; I don’t see my old friends any more, and I guess that our relations died with these rituals, and to tell you the truth; I do miss them both!

Hope you will all have a lovely New Year’s Eve with those that you love and care for!

We always say that rivers, lakes, seas and oceans are still closed doors to us simple humans. It has always fascinated me how beautiful and dangerous are the creatures that live under water; it is worlds under the surface, and I guess like people; they have struggles to decide who is the strongest or the fittest.

But what happens when the struggle becomes between the two worlds? the one under and the one above? Surely there are going to be many clashes. Sometimes we win, but sometimes they do.

The creatures that are superior to single man strength fascinate me the most, and I really admire those who are brave enough to explore their worlds.

Why am I writing about this?

click on the image to visit the blog

Well,
I came across a great blog that specializes in these issues and it has
some interesting information that I have decided to share it with you,
trust me; you will not regret visiting this blog; just click on the image above!

Apparently; Hollywood people do not have that wide of an imagination when it comes to these water creatures, because their world is weird and strange enough that all they have to do is explore and research to come up with the most horrifying movie ideas, and I am not talking about sharks only as the water worlds have many a dangerous creature.

I once read that there is a type of jelly fish that is considered to be the most poisonous creature in the world; each of his arms hold a several thousand poison needles per inch making is very dangerous, and should it hit its victim with one of its arms, they will not have the chance to even scream; talk about very fatal ha?

So do visit this blog and enjoy the useful information!!

Click here to view the profile of the blog owner.
Here is another link for the blog: Swim At Your Own Risk!

Very Brilliant!
 

You probably have heard this or got it by email, but I thought this was cute enough to be posted on my blog!

We have always heard about babies named after famous football players, or singers, but for a kid to be named after an electronic site!! Now, this is new.

The email I got states that a lebanese family residing in Sweden had a baby boy, so the father went to google to search for a nice name for his son. Apparently; he got bored from searching and a bulb was lit in his head; why not name the baby after the site; i.e. google? and that’s exactly what he did!!

Google learned about this baby, who is the first in the world to be named after the famous search engine, and they sent the family valuable gifts for the kid.

I believe that the family has great hopes for their newborn baby; he might become famous himself one day!

But what do you think they will name their second baby??? Yahoo??

Here is the official website and here are some pictures!

2005  was a very full year, on all levels and in every part of the world. Lots of lives were lost, in acts of wars, killings or mother nature.

Some of these people had a significant impact and contribution to history of their countries, and some people were unknown and passed this world without leaving a mark that will remind future generation of their lifetime and no one will know that they even existed at a point of time.

Scientific breakthroughs, discoveries, new inventions and lots and lots of new lives; this year has witnessed with us pains, sorrows and happy moments. We laughed, we cried, we got upset, we shouted, we smiled, loved, hated and expressed our feelings in their purest human forms.

As we prepare for the final count down of 2005 and move towards 2006, I wanted us to take some time off and review some of the significant events that took place in 2005.

To add some fun to this review; I have “cartoonically” posed for the 2005 calendar and will share the pictures here with you. All you have to do is click on the picture representing me for any specific month, and review the events, and while you are doing that; let me know which one of the “Me’s” you like the most. Let’s go!

               
         January Me                                    February Me

              
             March Me                                     April Me

           
             May Me                                             June Me  

       
       
             July Me                                       August Me

                
               September Me                              October Me

            
                November Me                              December Me

2005 is waving goodbye, taking with it a whole year of our lives, but it also added a lot to us, to our wisdom and experience.  Hoping that 2006 will bring our way some nice surprises and good fortune. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

P. S. I did all the pictures using the following program; it’s so cool and I recommend that you try it (http://spstudio.linda.hosting-friends.de/sp-studio.swf)

All information were obtained from Wikipedia

When I first read this in my email inbox I got so excited, because Toyota happens to be my favorite brand in automobile industry. Unfortunately; I am not driving a Toyota for the time being, but things change!!

When I opened the attachment of my email; I was amazed and for so many reasons; take a look at the picture and then let me tell you why I am amazed.

Click on the picture to enlarge

Now, I was amazed because as simple as these people are; they are innovative enough to make use of half the “once was” a pick-up and use it for commuting.
If you pay attention to the photo, you will see that they are happy and smiling to the camera. God knows how many people are sitting in the back, yet those peeking to look in the eye of the camera are just happy because they are being photographed, their simplicity is something to admire.

I was wondering though; do they really need this number of animals to pull this load? or they have other things in mind and the picture is not translating them?!

Anyway; I liked the Cowrolla term that was given to this new breed of Toyota ..

My apologies to Toyota; but I got this picture by email and thought it was amusing and nice to share with all friends out there .. so enjoy!

I feel down!!

For so many reasons and for no reason at all.

I feel numb!!

Paralyzed and still.

Sometimes it hurts so much to get up in the morning and drag myself to work, but I love my work and I guess that’s what keeps me going.

Somewhere along the way; I lost my friends and it is so hard to go back and find them. Time have changed, they have changed. Making new friends is not as easy as it used to be, at least for me, now I feel too old for that or I am not mingling with the right group.

Most of the time I am alone, but mostly I am lonely.

Deciding to be a part of the solution; I stopped thinking of the many problems and complications around me and started thinking of solutions. Still, nothing amuses me, nothing makes me happy … am I depressed?