Stereotyping Prostitutes !

With her black smoky eyes, with her devil-red lip sticks, with her exaggerated makeup, with her stretched summarized dress, with her exhumed hair, she enters to master the hall. She moves to take her seat, waiting for a customer to pass by and invite her for the nightly drink. If she accepts, then her night journey begins; if not, then another customer may be of better taste and wealth to have a slightly higher tip for her services. That’s how she lives, eroding herself from all human emotions to become a great actor. She can be the prostitute of pleasure, she can me the caring mother for those running away from their daily life pressures, and she can be a companion in a chilly night in Geneva. After all that, she comes to her dorm, removes all of her accessories, unmask her makeup, looks to the mirror and see her true self, a girl who was dreaming in her calm village in Brazil of finding her true love, got married to a handsome man, raising their children in her sea side house and living her life in secure. But the excitement to know what lies beyond the hills of her town drove her into a world she thought in the beginning that it will provide her with wealth, fame, and power. She ended to become a Brazilian prostitute in the cold city of Geneva; and this is the start.

Every time she discovered a new thing. She met different kinds of men; Men with different social and business standards who appear to differ in their demands. The most important thing she kept in her mind is not to fall in love with any. She knew that she was here to work and gain some money that will enable her to go back to her town and open a farm and marry the love of her life. But the love feeling was unavoidable. At the end she is a human, she has the right to feel, but she has to make sure that the other side does not perceive her as a prostitute at all. There were the problem of the look she received or any misinterpretations that happen in any held dialogue. She always wanted to come out of the environment she was living in, but the need for money always kept her break up any attempts. Even when she had all the money to go back home, something kept her nailed to that piece of land. It was the warmth she started to feel with the painter who discovered the light in her. She felt weird for how can a beautiful prostitute, who met a lot of men, still hold a light within. That was the reason that unleashed her emotions again through believing that she was looked at as a woman, not as the profession she masters.

So, for any reasons, we don’t have the right to stereotype. We don’t know the main reasons and circumstances that pushed such girls to become prostitutes. If we don’t want to generalize at least we don’t want to specify. Life creates barriers and handicaps for people and obliges them sometimes to use roads they never intended to use. A prostitute may be more honorable from inside than a house raised lady. She may hold decent manners another lady lack. Again, sometimes the current of life sweeps the human being in accordance to circumstances he/she is experiencing away from his/her real dreams and intentions.

Lost in ... Nationality

Sense of belonging. An important notion that we all thrive to achieve in the best means we have. Once we are integrated in a certain population or group, we feel safety; an essential component of one's life. Whatever that group was, we still find shelter there among them. We still feel backed up when all life's doors are blocked and its ways twist. Sense of belonging is a way to acquiring Nationality, a term that protects the person from all the dangers that pop up in this highly bordered world.

Nationality is not just holding a passport. Its concept is deeper and more ramified than it appears. It's a combination of geography, history, culture, heritage, education, and people. To feel Nationalistic, you should have part of each of the total whole. Sometimes we lose parts of some, but yet we still feel the essence of it. But in other occasions, due to circumstances that couldn't be faced and couldn't be changed, the feeling of a great lack of the sense of belonging in the land and in the group is felt, and this implies on the nation we hold its passport as a whole.

This is a horrible feeling, I don't envy anyone who feels it, but yet it's a reality that faces some of the people we see everyday but they hide it inside, they don't want to become exposed or feel naked in front of the group. Integration here is lacked and there lies the problem. When the memories of the place and the friends and the family are loosened and don't have the strength to bind us to the nation, we start searching for the place that will fulfill our need for safety and belonging. This journey doesn’t stop. It's the instinct that drives us as humans, as it drives animals, to integrate in a group and be one with them.

Confusion should be paused; concentration on the elements that mean to us may help to formulate the puzzle that will form the whole road map. Until that moment comes, we remain in a fierce struggle; a struggle for the search of our own identity, for our own nationality, for our own history and future at the same time. Once you know the future upon which you will project your past, then you definitely found the way; Thus your life becomes steady.

Discovering The Internal Self

In the time we are living, where cement sculptures rise, highways spread, technology flourishes, and individualism rules, the last thing we do think of is developing our internal self. The daily work pressure and all its problems exert a great force on the human self and rip it off of all its powers so that the body becomes a machine and the mind becomes coded just to what the work requires. No more, no less.

In a book I am still in the process of reading, another way of understanding and another way of behavior and thinking is taught so that the person becomes happier, more satisfied, and in a peaceful status with his soul. When this conformity is established, time becomes a pleasure and life becomes a flowery garden.

To become happier and in a peaceful status with our souls and minds, many things can be done just to relief the body from the unnecessary spoiling threads of thinking. In an ordinary day for example, our mind undergoes 60,000 thinking processes regarding different aspects. When we start becoming able to narrow down these 60,000 into smaller and smaller fractions, we start relieving our mind from being depleted and we start concentrating on our main topic that we want to achieve. Once we reach the level that 59,999 thinking threads are eliminated, then it can be said that the real purpose of life is settled and all mental powers are directed towards achieving it.

But if we want to break down the process, it’s not that simple. Many things should be changed and adopted in order to attain the ultimate. The most important thing is to realize what we really want to be in this life. When this objective is set clear, then the ways to attain it are easier to find. The first step lies in making a clear image to what we want to be. Give ourselves a time period to achieve it, since any goal without a deadline is not preferably to be achieved. Then a certain pressure should be imposed to foster the objective attainability. For example, if you want to lose weight, then you may specify a period of 10 weeks to achieve it. The pressure comes here by informing your surroundings that you decided to lose weight. Then, on a daily basis, they will start to monitor your improvement. This imposes a pressure on you to continue what you have started in order to prove your capability in achieving your goal. Failure to achieve the set objective requires certain sanctions just as sages of Sivana do (characters in the book). They walk towards the chili waterfall and sit beneath it until their peripherals numb.

To start changing the old behavior, a period of 21 days of repetitive action should be followed in order to become familiar with what you are doing. In a method used to enable concentration called The Heart Of The Rose, the person is asked to sit in a calm area with a rose in front of him. He should start concentrating at the heart of the rose, thus it’s naming, until he becomes able to think just of the single object in front of him thus relieving his brain from all distortions and noise. This is an important step to start nurturing the brain and make it used to the one-thing thinking process.

Another method used is called the Opposition Thinking. It is agreed that negative thinking drains the brain from its powers; this reflects on the total body status. The Opposition Thinking method is simple; just replace any negative thought with a positive one. Repeating this process makes the person happier and more peaceful. When, for example, you face problems at work for any reason, on the spot just think that you will go home and have a delightful dinner with your wife or family. This will save your brain powers and keep you relaxed. Opposition Thinking is proved to have productive outcomes since it keeps the mental and spiritual aspects of the human being in a positive thinking pattern.

What was mentioned above is part of a spiritual and mental healing process that directs the human powers towards achieving what the human aims to be, to generate positive energy, and to attain spiritual peace and conformity with the surrounding and the universe as a whole.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Notes where quoted from the book “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari” by Robin Sharma, an international Best Seller 1997.

Dining Turkish, Sensing Morocan

In life there is always a first time. There is always a first step. There is always a first approach, a first trial, a first look, and among all the firsts, there is a first taste. Sometimes we take things for granted; we don't just scratch the crust to discover what lies beneath and reveal the truth. We all eat Lebanese. We never thought where from does the naming or recipies of our dishes came from. Yesterday, in a dinner at a Turkish restaurant here, something rang a bell in my head. It's true that we were under the Otoman occupation for 400 consecutive years. So, it's not weird to have had acquired and developed certain Turkish behavioral acts. We eat Turkish, we drink Turkish, we smoke Turkish, and yes we dress Turkish. But thanks god we speak Arabic, and we preserved and developed, to a great extent, our Lebanese folklore, culture, and traditions.

That was just an introduction, and its not what I wanted to talk about. I say "yes" I enjoyed Turkish cuisine, maybe not because it is tasty, not because I love eggplants, not because it's something new, not at all; it's because of the company. We all agree that it's the gathering not the food that adds the taste to food. And hereby, I say the same; I am still normal and I didnt come with anything new. It's the company, it's the company, it's the company.I am never enough listening to the conversation. I am never enough enjoying my time, I am never enough feeling content when such company is present. But I am never enough also of trying different tastes, different moods, different places, and different times.Since I have spoken about times, what is more is that time has a completely different taste when it goes Morocan. Morocoo is a representation or the Orient. The east with its complicated decorations, diversified drinks and tastes, cozy atmospheres, relaxing couches, and the secret blend of tobacoo whose odour fills the place and tempts the person to stay.Again, I enjoyed the place, I enjoyed the taste, I enjoyed the mild Morocan tea, the wild decorations, the decending lanterns, the reddish walls, and the arabic oriental essence that fills the place. But what I enjoyed more, is the interrupted dialogue with the group I was with. What I am enjoying with this group is that the dialogue never becomes silly. Its always something new and interesting to talk about. When it starts to complicate, all go silent fetching for a new topic to launch. Everything is allowed to talk about. New books' releases, new music CDs, Politics, traditions, culture, habits, and it does not pass without a great deal of talking personal, and that adds the richness.I am just enjoying my time. I am trying to discover the Dubai identity, which is lost in all the international crowd. I am sure that I will find it sometimes in the future, but I am not sure where. Will it be in a building, in a place, in a garden, in a space, or maybe in a person.

Shame on the National Villains

To whichever axis they want to drive us, to wherever destination they want to deport us to thrive and get reputed, to whatever destructive or peaceful situation they want to reach, to whenever time of their imagination they glad to restore, they will remain our devilish villains and we will keep our attachment to our homeland. They want it a farm, a forest of conflicting confessions, an unbearable place to live, a discriminative land where the mind vanishes and the instincts rules, where ignorance flourish and knowledge imprisons, where the money speaks and expertise silence, where the strong eats the weak and the wrong rapes the right, where the bats establish their dark kingdom and the light got veiled by spiders' webs, owls' feathers, and rusted doors. They want it a Moredore, we want it a Shire. We will win, they will get lost in the dungeons of history where they can meet their look-alikes.

Its shame to remain acting as herds. Its shame to ignore our seperate identities and personalities and blend with their plans that did prove to bring war and destruction, separation and hatred, disintegration and erosion. Its shame for what so ever reason to remain silent while they rule, to keep our mouths shut while our nation is being torn apart, to drain our human powers and keep the shades.

Its a big shame to have a country who brought Jobran, Sabah, Fayrouz, Abou L Hisin, Wadih, Majida, Amin, Elijah, the Rahbanies ... etc to lack the least ethics of commemorating those giants while they are still alive. Just to make them feel that their years that passed weren’t for nothing. Its shame not to build statues, name the streets, museums, theaters, libraries, and the like with their names just if not to reward them but to advertise our culture among foreigners who just love to visit the home of cedars, the origin of the alphabet, the land of consecutive civilizations, the place of diversity, and the destiny where all Arabs seek shelter to invent and conceive.

Its shame to have Fayrouz not yet honored while her voice is used as a healing remedy in Denmark, while her music is taught in schools, where the whole Lebanese folklore and heritage is drawn by her voice. Its shame to wait until the artist or writer or singer fade away until the government remembers to honor him and give him/her the silly, cheap, meaningless medal. What they need is to feel that the efforts they invested for the sake of their country and its people are being appreciated.

Until our people awakens from the paralyzing environment they have been driven to, our nation, yes our nation, will remain under erosion by all means until the time comes where there will not remain unless those politicians and their “Yes Sir” puppets.

The Universe Conspires

We have heard a lot of stories in life about the positive or negative chronology in some people's lives that may have driven them into success or failure in accordance to the elements that fused together to form their past and orients them into the future.
We have watched many movies, heard about destinies, learned about fate, but we have always to think about it as a process that is meant to happen regardless to what a person plans to do with his time in his life; I believe, at least, that whatever we plan to do, we are always destined to face what the universe wants us to face. As Paolo Coelho says in his fable "The Alchimist". When a person wants to achive his destiny, the whole universe conspires to help him. It sounds contradictory, but no in depth it is the same. At the end, we are destined to reach our destinies.

I dont want to deflect from what I want to write about, but rather I think it will be confusing if I cut parts from the whole. I wish I will have the time and ability to summarize the subject keeping all the richness in the content.

Many personalities are formed due to deprivations caused by social neglectness or financial shortage. But when the person have the money, the means, and the "effective & total" social acceptness and integration, then we may think, why this person needs to achieve his dream? while here, yes, its the case, where the main reason lies within the family; the building block of all societies.

This person was brought up with a golden spoon in his mouth. Everything he wanted was there. Financial excess, notieable family, his dad ranked high in the diplomatical, governmental, and educational fields; his mother was fully educated; they toured the world for work reasons and melted in different civilizations where he took the good from each and left the bad. He is a mixture of knowledge, wrapped with an interesting personality, enthusiastic, curiuos, achieving, interesting, close to the heart, professional, well oriented and brought up, family directed, collectivist, simple and complicated in the same time, nationalistic, socially noticed, multi lingual, presentable, and what the hell I am doing, I will never end counting his goodies. He is a very interesting person to sit and talk to, to summarize.

He was self dependent while he was 18. He started his higher education abroad and entered the show business from its broad doors, where he didnt notice himslef until he became a celebrity, dressing from international designers, lemos waiting for him in the airport, his travels increased in number, his money maybe accumulated, but on the other hand he became driven away from his friends, his time consuming job ripped him off the society. Instead of joining friends during the weekends he buckeled on making up his university projects. He shined academically, his thesis was published on the university website, but he started to think, should I give all my life to being a celebrity? or something should change? a change that should drive him back into society, into friendships, into reality... and that was his choice.

He shifted into media production, accepted certain middle eastern offers and rejected others. He did a variety of researches regarding middle eastern media implications and the perception of the male in the east. He thrilled there.

Life continues, his work improved in the middle east; His trials to stay and work in Lebanon vanished after the Hariri assassination. He left Lebanon and noticed that he either has to leave to England (his home land) or to Dubai to meet an offer there; the Dubai choice won.
His father's death left a mark in his mind. The idea that his father during his sickness didnt notice him left a trace inside him. And imagining the family house without his dad was terrorising. He stayed beside his father in his last days making sure not to shed a tear. His father's death took place during his absence and he wasnt able to attent his funeral.

After moving on, and trying to create a new life momentum, he stood again facing the reality that friendships are a waist of time in the middle east. People reffered to him as a British while he insisted that he is Lebanese. Friends appeared and disappeared just after discovering that not all were true friends. Some were hypocrates or selfish or looking for a certain benefit.

Again, destiny plays its role. The entire universe conspired to let me know this person. Indulge in the great life and business experience he got in the yet young age. I am satisfied and relaxed in having a friend who can handle a fruitful dialogue, talk about interesting things other than cars, fashion, and clubbing. Other than shallowness, silliness, and lameness.

VACATION SENSATIONS

It's just true that when you are waiting for something eagerly, time slows down and crawls in a much slower momentum until you feel that a year have passed and these few days yet havent. Thats fine if all things are kept equal i.e when you reach what you were waiting for to happen, then time keeps its slow momentum. On the contrary, it rushes in a sense that you come back to your previuos status and environment as if nothing happened. Well yes, maybe its true that happy times vanish quickly while routine one's dont.

Anyways, 7 days still have to pass until I ride the plane back to my homeland. A short stay which I am not ready for yet since with all the traffic in my schedules, I feel I will end up of nothing from the whole thing. Among seeing my family, my friends, and my village; splitting the residence between Beirut and the mountain; finish my long shopping list; meeting my 20+ friends, hanging up with them, and some social activites all seem appealing to me, but I think I will not have the other choice of doing them all. Come one, can any one do all in a few days stay?? Here comes my decision to priortize those activites which is a safe road map at least to finish my short vacatio feeling that I did something, not time went and I didnt do even something of everything.

I am cheering for it, whatever it will be eventhough security fears are leveling up in Lebanon. I will be there in the most critical period in the Lebanese history. But who cares, I want to enjoy it and disable my policized part of my brain. At the end if anything is to happen, everyone is doomed to his fate.

So, wish me a nice stay.

END

WHY BE COMPLICATED?

When we look around, after going back to nature, we realize the unbearable harmony that exists; We sight a great simplicity thats surrounds the whole place, even though from beneath and inbetween the cliffs and bushes, there lies the most complicated life chain that we can imagine. But who cares, since we entertain our senses with that breath-taking beauty that reliefs the soul from the inside and strips away all real-life burdons. This is the healing natural process. But when we go back to our cement bunkers, to our tall scruptures, to our partitioned offices, we regain the stressful moments that can be simple just if we all agree to make them so. All technology created, computers and databases, printers and faxes, cars and planes, telephones and mobiles, msn and facebook, were meant to simplify the way we live our lives; but some do just the opposite... they abuse those tools and complicate them until we become really the most tortuous creatures who complicate things just to complicate and thats it, and here I want to specify the Lebanese expatriates who are living and working in Dudai. When a Lebanese travels, he bring all the lebanese society complications with him/her. Instead of releafing his/her soul from what they know it is complicated, they carry all the compliqué, sauvage, cliche's they have and export them to the new society and new country. And this will never change. If we go back to Lebanon, I knew something that stunned me yesterday. For those ladies who will read this note, if you plan to visit the Lebanese beach resorts, please abide by the following in order to be considered INN. If you miss a step, you will be out-fashioned and vulger. So, when you lady decides to visit the beach, make sure to do ALL of the following:

1- put a Hayfa-style full makeup on you face, eyes, cheeks, and neck.

2- do your hair. Dye it well, dry it, iron it, and make it extra smooth in order to make it reach your waist.

3- Use the most expensive perfume u have. Cine'ma, Nina Ricci, Burberry, Channel ...etc because this will elevate your social standing and first-beach impressions.

4- wear a 2-piece swim suit. A Bikini ya3ni. NEVER use the one-piece suit.

5- wear the 10 + cm shoes. less than that you are OUT.

6- do ur nails, manicure and pedicure not one of them. DO BOTH.

7- bring your expensive new mobile phone. A Vertu will do the job.

8- carry your CK or Versace hand bag. Dont forget the showl and the branded towel, it is important since it will be your unipole on the beach.

9- walk like a model, dont give any slight attentions to others. just walk with your nose touching the clouds, and your $500+ sunglasses ON.

10- choose the best location on the stands and if you call the guy and be rude to him to seat you in the best position, that will be extra great since your rudeness will dominate and will attract the attentions of others.

11- dont sit silly, every second take your mobile from your sac and check for calls. If no one is calling, then call whoever. Appear busy and demanded.

So, ladies, feel safe by following the above directions and avoid being a subject for those complicated sitting waiting for a victim to talk about.

When I heard some of that, I felt that we may be in a very peacefull country, where the economy is experiencing a never-ending growth, job vacancies are in thousands and security have never been better. Ouh My GOD.

On the contrary, from an incident I knew last year, an American lady wanted to go to our beach resorts near Jbeil. She went with all her American innocence to the beach without noticing that her end will be there. She wear the one-piece swim suit; that was the first big-mistake; she took her casual towel with her where some hair-dye spots from several previous usages, and her hair was wrapped behind. After she reached there, she started to witness the weird gazes arrowing towards her, she melted and sinked in the sands praying, plz plz dont look at me. Her fault was that she went spontanuous and simple, she didnt complicate it.

So guys and girls, stay simple, behave naturally, avoid verbose and unnecessary dialogues, hide your properties, and express who you really are. Why be complicated when you can be simple and relief yourselves from the stressful burdun. Remeber, social integration doesnot happen solely by being materialistic.

END

To Lebanon August 2, 2007

I am still counting the days. When will Thursday August 2, 2007 finally come. Usually time passes quickly; but one a person is eager for something, time snails. I was thinking about it yesterday. I know the feeling of riding the plane and heading to Beirut, but I started thinking of the coming-back feeling. I know it will not be that easy. It will be a trip from heaven to hell although I love Dubai. Being surrounded with your family and friends, with your villagers and relatives, with cool fresh air and green fruitful trees is definiltly different from the artificial Dubai and its sands.

Anyways, I will make use of the time and have fun and will leave the thinking of the comming back till it comes.

END

SONY TZ

It was the SONY VAIO day to launch the 2 new products in UAE. The VAIO TZ business-oriented notebook and the fashion-oriented VAIO CR. The Event took place at the Grosvenor House Hotel at Dubai Media City at 11:00 am.

I represented ART at the event. Everything was just in place when I arrived; I felt the SONY rays emitting all over the place and I expected something special to appear just when the host declared ceremony start.

A well designed stage with a HUGE VAIO print. A giant projection screen and 2 stand to the right and left of the audince, sound effects, and spot lights. The Japanese joury were sitting, they appeared SONY branded, and the media filled the hall. Every one in place and ready to welcome the new born SONY VAIO TZ & CR.

After a presentation from the Marketing and Communication MAnager and the GULF office representative, the babies appeared on the stage carried by the well-suited models. The TZ was just a professional creation, small and carbon-fiber coated and light weight not exceeding a 1.2 kg. Small and elegant but armed with all the weapons a business wo/man needs.

The turn came for the CR. The same models changed their dressings into funky-elegant fashions, each carrying a certain-color VAIO CR comlementing their fabrics colors and accessories. At this time the stand were uncovered and the real trial session started. I didnt miss the opportunity ti try the TZ. I carried it, touched it, and felt its carbonated material. Its 1mm screen with embedded camera was the innovation by itself, since no one can imagine how can these Japanese embedd a 1.8 mp camera in the 1mm or so screen frame. They are really people from another planet and belong to a different time.

I will not forget to mention the 1 GB memory stick that I received as a souvenir. I was really planning to buy one, but why not have one for free??

In a 5 minute chat with the Japanese Marketing Manager Sunao Sakata, I tried to inquire about the functionality difference between the 2 models. Before the launch, I read th whole booklet and founf just hardware differences that are not a big deal between the two. I knew that the main difference lies in the design, material, and Windows Vista version. In a word its practicality that differs and not functionality in addition to the price for sure. The TZ retails at 7990 Dhs while the CR retalis at 3890 Dhs roughly speaking.

Its convincing to me, but since I gave my baby Canon EOS 400D my word, I will postpone the TZ for now. My Toshiba Satellite is soo huge man. Its soo huge. It doesnt appeal to me anymore.

END

Intentional Rudeness

When a person abides by the usual life standards and rules of decent communication in everyday life, at least he should expect the same in return; that was the case and still with a break that happened yesterday. I may have forgotten that when it comes to rudeness, I am the master of it. But my calmness is always dominating my behavior because it’s my personality first and second I am not a trouble seeker. I always try to do my job calmly, professionally, and without any outer intervention since those interventors that may assist are not my type of people especially after a battle of smoking-nonsmoking issues and when I really concluded that a wall is a wall no matter what approach you use with him.

I feel like writing today; I will not dig into the incident but rather I am glad it happened. This had arisen in me the same feeling that I once had regarding recalculating all decisions I have made and I am thinking to make. But this time I am sure that any decision I will undertake will come without mercy, and definitely without any regret.

Things are back under control. I was obliged to take away my usual calmness and mask up the rudeness that I know how to use. I didn’t need explanations and apologies that came from the responsible person, but rather I needed to show that when it comes to messing things up, I am the wrong one to mess with. I rarely be like that and don't like to be, but sometimes with piling conscious and unconscious conceptions, all will flood in a moment, and with me they flooded but I controlled the amount. I think that was sufficient for this first time, but the coming one, if it took place or dared to happen, I am sure, I am very sure, the flood will be devastating this time.

It will appear vague, I know, to the readers and they will ask what the hell he is talking about, and I know that some curious people will stay digging until they know what exactly happened. I say clearly that no one is allowed to ask since no answers will be given. So, please save your time; although I know that I may disseminate some tips to some.

END

COLD

Its the first Cold flew I catch in Dubai. It's not a wonderful thing to wite about, but I found myself archiving it. I feel soo terrible today; dizzy, down, tired, sleepy, and misconcentrating. Its a terrible feeling to have as I usually remeber the sleepless nights of fever and headaches.

Few more days to come and then it will be over, but the definite thing is that it ruined my up-comming weekend.

I HATE COLDS.

END