Girls & Guys

It's the fights we have over them and the attention we give to them that give or add to their value. Our value is precious as it is. If you notice it, the more girls drooling over a guy, the more self-centered he is. The more cocky he is, and usually that means he's likely to be a douchebag. A girl is of the highest value, if a value could even be put to her. A girl is valueless, to be put more accurately. Thus, if you want to attract a douchebag, just don't give him a rat's poop. Or, to say it more properly, don't give him attention. Of course, there are other factors that come into play, including your physical appearance and how beautiful he thinks you are, because beauty is subjective, and guys are attracted to that. Another factor would be how he finds you as a person, and that constitutes your personality, your behavior, and basically everything that isn't your physical appearance. This includes how confident you are and how you present yourself to others and in different situations. However, fundamentally, it boils down to you not giving him the attention he's so use to getting with other girls. That will distinguish you from the rest. Unless, the rest are also not giving him attention, at which point his value falls down. At which point giving him attention would make you stand out from the rest.

Imagine a guy with no girls after him. Usually it's because there are no other girls after him. It's usually the one with girls chasing after him that girls wants. I am oversimplifying the case, though. There are other things to consider from the other side as well. The guy side. The guy could be handsome himself, which could be a possible explanation of his arrogance. And it's usually the arrogant guys that girls fall for or drool over. It's the guys that are so sure of themselves.

Thankfully though, some girls recognize those types of guys. Some girls are attracted to those douchey ones specifically and knowingly.

Did curiosity really kill the cat?

So it didn't kill the cat after all. A video that made me feel good about myself and my seemingly never ending questions! Reminded me of that time when my high school chemistry teacher said to my mom in a parents teachers conference, “Your daughter is very inquisitive,” in addition to pointing out something about me asking questions in all cases: when I do or don't understand the content covered (or something around that meaning).

It's something that could act to my benefit, or in some rare cases go against me. Although, asking questions is more helpful than it is futile, in that it helps human beings better understand the world around them. If it wasn't for the curiosity and wonder naturally carved into our minds (almost as natural as having an eye or a nose), we wouldn't be in the level of advancement we are in today.

The video also reminded me of the Theory of Knowledge course I had to take during the course of my two years doing the International Baccalaureate program. Unlike standard academic disciplines, the theory of knowledge course uses a process of discovering and sharing students' views on “knowledge issues” (an umbrella term for “everything that can be approached from a TOK point of view”), so “there is no end to the valid questions that may arise”, “there are many different ways to approach TOK”, “the sheer scope of the TOK course is daunting” and “teachers and students need the confidence to go a little—not too far—outside their traditional comfort zones.”[1]

I have to say the course was a really interesting one and I actually really miss the discussions and umpteen arguments we've undertaken along the way. Oddly enough the teacher who taught it was that same one who made the remark about my inquisitive nature: my chemistry teacher, he taught the TOK course as well. I very much appreciate what he has brought to my plate. Though it was a course he was teaching us, to me it was far more than just that. I was being taught life lessons, most notably the art of intelligently questioning the world around me to get to the bottom of matter. It was very personal because first, we always had to relate the knowledge issues under discussion to our own real-life experiences and second, because I myself am quite fascinated with the whole idea of exploration - whets my always questioning appetite. TOK is like 15% philosophy and the remaining 85% is based entirely of questions, put simply. The most central of these is “How do we know?” Surrounding this central question arises a whole chain of complexly interrelated aspects such as the inquiry into different ways of knowing and into different kinds of knowledge. One of the most valuable lessons it has ultimately taught me is to be mindful of the interpretive nature of knowledge, and of personal ideological biases that are involved with these interpretations.

That being so, the Tunisian historiographer and historian Ibn Khaldun has ignited in me invaluable inspiration in this regard too, so credit goes to him as well! “Basically, I have been compelled by curiosity.” Mary Leakey

Happy Doer

I don't know whether the conscious feeling I experienced the very moment I saw this picture was/is truthful or not. Disregarding the ambiguity, I know for a fact that it was acceptance, contentment, and indulgence in the current chapter of life I'm in. Alhamdul'Allah.

Crazy, Stupid, Love. (incident+movie review)

We bought tickets yesterday to watch 'Crazy, Stupid, Love.' at 7:15 pm today and here's the story; we were supposed to leave the house by 6:50. Fatma called two times - once at around 4 pm and once again a little before 6:30 pm - reassuring we should. Maryam maintained this agreement between us by affirming to Fatma and Rouda when they should be ready for us to drop by and pick them up.
After the prodigious hustle over agreeing when to meet, we all start getting ready. 6:30 pm. The timing's okay, but not for folks like us. First of, we're females and it's very common and well established that creatures who happen to be of this sex most likely take at least about fifteen minutes getting ready. That's just excluding the make up application (assuming all ladies wear make up) and the whole 'what to wear' trauma. Secondly, the driver was at the petrol station waiting for a whole line in front of him, to fill up the car - because the car happened to feel that that was the most suitable time for it to act up on us. Thirdster, we as a family have this special gene of ours called 'no hurry, you've got PLENTY of time ahead of you'.
Maryam was busy applying make up for what seemed to be like forever. Instead of nagging at her to hurry up, I thought nagging at F and R would be a thousand times more productive. When I called Fatma's cell, Rouda replied instead and explained to me that little miss F was busy having a shower. Oh the irony. But her showers are fast so no biggie. Next thing you know, it's six minutes past seven. I'm all ready to hit the road, screaming at the top of my lungs for Maryam to get down, so we could once and for all pick Fatma and Rouda up and head to the movies - notice we have six minutes to do all that.
I've decided, since Maryam seemed to need a couple more minutes until she was ready, and F and R lived in the neighboring houses, to go pick them up, and fetch Maryam on our way to the movies.
When we reached the first traffic light that took us straight to our destination, it was almost 7:15 pm. Good thing we live near the movies. I find it very ironic that the cinemas are so close to where we're at, yet we're very late. Right when we we're about to get out of the car, my body suddenly got electrified with the flowing current interacting in my brain cells reminding me that Maryam switched her bag earlier in the day. The bag she used yesterday. The one she put the tickets in! I screamed "The tickets!"
"What about the tickets?" Fatma asked.
I replied addressing Maryam "It's all your fault! I told you I should have kept the tickets in my bag,"
For a second, she wasn't following what I was referring to. She was all question marks. Then, from her changing facial expressions, I could tell she got what I meant. And almost like a reflex action, she shrieked "Oh my God!"
Of course F and R had no idea what we were talking about and when we told them, they got all anxious with us, because the movie probably just started. And what pissed me off the most was not only have I told her that I'll keep the tickets, but Rouda has also done so yesterday! Rouda was pissed as well, and she kept on reiterating to Maryam "I should have kept the tickets with me."
We started shouting at her and blaming her on what was happening. "It's all your fault," we would repeat.
We were all against her, and we gave her a respected 'zafa'. That translates to mean we gave her a respected lecture. And poor little M was all alone giving excuses for her actions.
We ask the driver to go back home, and he turns right in the next round. After that turn, there's two ways to hit the main road. We either go straight or turn right again. From experience, I remember that the easier way out is turning right; Fatma, Rouda, and Maryam were apparently unaware of that. So as soon as I ask the driver to turn right, Rouda, Maryam, and Fatma are like "Are you crazy?", "Straight is the way out," and "That's the parking lot," respectively.
The driver was confused as to which way to go by. I kept on saying right, they kept on saying straight. We were arguing about which way to go. I bet the driver thought we were insane lunatics from all the fuss and noise we made. He was startled but in the end he turned right. The victorious look I had on my face was priceless.
I called my mom asking her to keep the tickets ready for us to collect. When she checked the bag my sister left, she told us that the tickets weren't there. Maryam on the other hand, was positive she left them there. We checked and double checked in the bags we had with us. Turns out, when we got to the traffic light, just a car's drive away from home, to our dismay, that the tickets were in Maryam's bag all along. Much ado about nothing!
We all started laughing at our idiocy. Luckily, thanks to me, the street we took has an easier route to the mall's entrance. We just had to take a U-turn and there the entrance lied before us. I butt in once again to suggest that a new gate the mall just opened at the movies would be a faster way to get in; at least faster than go to the usual gate, arduously make your way to and through the crowded doors of the movies. But I wish that helped. That was just my useless imagination. In reality the car I saw coming out of the movies' section was just parking in the parking lot there. When I saw that car, I thought there were people who were dropped by their. Seemingly, that wasn't the case. By now, the movie has surely past the commercials and trailers previewing stage, started, and was probably past thirty minutes already, for that matter.
Fatma suggested we enter the mall from the back gates; we turned right to go there. She thought there was a way through it, but all there was was a dead end of grass and greenery. Right after it was the alley that took us to the back entrance. A stupid thought of driving over all the plants crossed our minds, but we weren't ready to face the consequences of doing that - the catastrophe we were in was more than enough to deal with. Not to mention that that's unethical. We just left the movies' section and entered from the normal gate we usually go to.
We weren't even bothered to even think of getting drinks or popcorn. We rushed into the theater to find our seats, only to find a living human elephant and giraffe sitting on two of our seats. The seats were full and jammed so we thought it would be a rather better idea to call the cinema escort man to politely ask the two teenagers to move to their actual seats. You see the problem here is, there wasn't one for that particular cinema. GREAT, just to add that much more drama to our day. As if we actually need any. Just that last piece of cherry to add to the cake of disasters we've already been through. So we had to head out, and call one of the workers for help. I come up to a lady that wore the red uniform workers there normally wear, and asked for help. She pointed to the manager, informing me I should tell him that. Fortunately he wasn't that far from the cinema our movie was in. So I went to him and asked for help, yet again. He uttered in a low voice "Someone will be right up."
He sent one of the cinema escort men to deal with the problem. The two teenagers made their way to their actual seats and by the time we were settled on our seats, it was 7:44 pm. Twenty-nine minutes late. That's almost one third of the movie we missed. However, from the point we came in to watch, the movie was frantically quite understandable. We managed to get what was going on in the movie. At the end of the movie, I thought the quarrel and hassle was all worth it.

Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Here's my review of what I saw from the movie (which was basically most of it):
I was expecting an entertaining, albeit predictable, movie. Boy was I pleasantly surprised!
I thought the plot, meshed together with the great acting made a masterpiece of the movie. Everything comes together in a wonderful fashion. The flow and the film are just smart and so well done. It's not like one of those typical romantic comedies, that you can easily predict while watching. It's quite the opposite. I was psyched to know what's going to happen next, instead of worrying whether it'll match my expectations or not. There was a good deal of heart, some genuine laughs, and a great chemistry-laiden cast whose acting was very professional.
If I hold anything against the film, it is that it ended. The incredibly unlikely pair of Ficarra and Requa has crafted a truly wonderful film that is nothing like what you could have expected watching the trailer. It is bittersweet, and easily one of my favorite movies of the summer. I thought it was emotionally uplifting and distinctly hilarious too. And this is coming from someone who loathes almost every single romantic comedy ever conceived.

1

How could we stop war, when in this world we have people who promote it. Most likely being people with high social status, or supreme authority. When this world was made, there was no such thing as countries. The middle east didn't have "The Gulf", "The Levant", and "The Maghreb", as area names; nor did the continents we live in; or Europe's countries etc. In fact if you took the time to notice, the more we progress into time, the more countries, areas, families, and people in general move their way to increasing fanaticism. These ethnocentric ways are always started by an individual (usually a bigoted one) that wants to enforce his beliefs onto others; the uttermost meaning of uncivilisation I say (yes uncivilisation still exists in this advanced era of life lamentably). This individual would most likely have ravishing skills in deceivingly persuading and convincing others that he/she is the right leader for them; when that's done others are fooled into his/her ways. It's even a huger deception when folks don't even have the right and freedom to choose their leader. These individuals gain or have overwhelmingly strong power. Strong enough to separate large countries into smaller units. Kindoms, smaller sub-units, principalities, duchies, counties, Free Imperial Cities, as well as other domains. You also get further sub-units within these units. It's like unity and group spirit are enemies to us, especially to people these days. I anticipate the day when this world will be one peaceful single whole.

I don't say countries didn't exist in the past, but they were there as a mean to name the location in which people were in; nothing more, nothing less. Now countries are a source of pride, arrogance, greed, hatred amongst others, prejudice by party spirit and all that. IGNORANCE in other words.

Life is Simple...

People make it complicated. Imagine the world without people. Just animals, trees, mountains, seas. Sounds peaceful right?

Since the dawn of time, war has been a way of life for this world and I don't think it will ever stop. It's not because the people of that country want to have it that way; that is most certainly not the case. I don't think people are born with an urge to be in war, to fight in war, to suffer in war. People are brought up in such a way, and in such an environment that it's as if they've been machined to think, say, and act the way they do (socializm). I'm sure some, if not all, of those soldiers fighting out there, whether it be for or against justice, are doing it not because they have a specific intention, mentality or personality. Yes, there are people with the certain nature that wants to slaughter a man's head alive a day, and stab the hell out of another the next, but that would most probably mean they're sick. Literally. Unless someone's born with such a diseaese, I don't think they want to be put under any such circumstance. And one thing's for sure: people have different beliefs and perspectives of this world, think of it and what happens in it in various ways, and have deviating aims and missions in it. However they most certainly share a common interest: achieving peace. The majority of them at least. So since the majority seeks and wants it, how come we never have it? Why doesn't it exist in this planet?

My answer to this is the lack of negotiation between individuals and groups of individuals. "Individuals" is ambiguous here. It could be applied to countries, couples, siblings, etc. This obviously implies a relationship is present, and that war is a result of disagreement. When insufficient negotiation happens, the conflict develops and gets aggravated to a more serious problem; and if not dealt with, results into a crisis.

The next stage is open to pretty much anything. But nothing really pleasant. Ongoing, abstruse dispute. Divorce. Unhonorable competition. Uncalled for violence, injuries, and deaths. The lost benefits of what could have been a healthy positive relationship. The list of what could happen in this stage is endless. No one but a pshyco finds joy in what could happen here (which i will touch in more details in another post). This conflict could last for years, and badly affects the people involved in it. Yet people continue to their ways of perversity and dispute.

Of course, a little disagrement and conflict is healthy in all sorts of relationships, but the downside is when this gets overly out of hand. Oh well, "C'est la vie" as the french best put it.