L.O.V.E

Been trying for some time to write an explanation of love, just couldn't find a suitable definition nor an explanation.
Till I came up with this sentence.

Love: it's what makes life worth the hassle.

Thank you my princess :)

Belya's beliefs :)

I tend to believe that :

1) What goes around comes around.
2) Not every smiling face is a happy one.
3) Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.
4) Don't judge people if you don't want to be judged.
5) Curiosity killed the cat :)



I just completed an old post . 3ashan 7'atrek ya Gjoe. :D

Your health.

Please please please, Don't hide any information as regards you health from your treating dentist.

A couple of days ago at the hospital, we had a patient who suffered from major complications during receiving his dental treatment. All of this was because he withheld a piece of information about his health, he thought irrelevant.

So, please be frank about your health.

The Favourites Post.

Favorite color: Aqua

Favorite perfume (guys): Tommy ( when going out with friends ), Burberry & the ultimate classic Drakar Noir

Favorite perfume (girls): -------- ( no idea )

Favorite clothes brand in general: Next

Favorite person in the entire world: My mom & my younger brother

Favorite country: I love Egypt but Turkey comes second

Favorite car: BMW ( one day will be in my garage )

Favorite sport: Soccer ( cliche isn't it ). Although I loved Archery when I used to play it.

Favorite sport player: Michael Schumakher. ( a true legend )

Favorite spot in the World: I always dream of the Maldives.

Favorite animal: Horses and eagles.

Favorite movie: That's a long list.

Favorite singer: Fairouz & Asala.

Favorite day in the week: Mondays ( no idea why is that )

Favorite time of the day: The afternoon.

Favorite holiday season: Eids

Favorite number: 5 & 6

Favorite food: My mom's come first. If it wasn't for her I would have been living in Italy long time ago.

Favorite chocolate: Milk chocolate. If you ask me about brands, Aero.

Favorite cartoon: The jungle book.

Favorite blogger: not answering.

Favorite Flavor Ice Cream: Chocolate , chocolate & more chocolate.

Favorite Mobile Brand: I'm used to Nokia.

Favorite name: This is another long list. ( Youssef, Tareq, Osama, Yara, Rana ..... )

Favorite room in my house: My room.

Favorite fruit: Mango

Favorite flower: mosh 3aref.

Favorite Quran Reciter: Mishary Rashed, Al-3agamy & Tawfiq Al-saye3'.

Favorite Website: Masrawy & wikipedia

You've got mail

Today was my first time to watch the brilliant movie " You've Got Mail " as a whole. Every time it's on TV I usually catch the last half.

Anyways, I enjoyed the movie alottttt.

Yet, I was left with some questions afterwards ? ( ridiculous ones basically )

1) Does all men enjoy torturing ( a big word, mosh keda ) the lady that loves them? Referring to Tom Hanks having the advantage of knowing the girl mailing him and choosing how to make use of it and how to meet .........etc. It ended marvelously in the movie.
I don't think all men do, but I can say that a lot of us men enjoy this game (in an innocent way I mean).

2) Is it easy to make a person fall for you, if you want to? Referring to the same situation above.
I believe it's not easy, but it's doable.

3) Are we the same person both in real life as well as the cyber space?
Not necessarily, I know lots of people who are charming in reality and awful when it come to e-connections. I also know others who are the total opposite.


What was this all about ?!!!!!!!!!!!

I absolutely have no idea, I just don't feel like sleeping.

Launching

Here we go...

We've started off our blog for the BUY EGYPT campaign.

It's not yet finalized but we are working on improvements.

For any comments please mail us at: buyegypt@gmail.com

Driving obliquely

Funny as it sounds, yet this remark was noticed by my Dad.
Most drivers in Cairo can't drive in a straight line. I've just noticed it today. I had 2 long journeys through Cairo, during the journeys I followed how people drove their cars.
It's almost impossible to find a sane person driving in a straight line, lazem yemsho bel-warb.

Why Belya ?

It's almost 3 years of blogging and I have just realized that I never explained why I chose the name Belya.
For those of you who are Egyptians, lived in Egypt for a while or even watch Egyptian movies; they know who Belya is. Belya is usually the small child helping the old mechanic, he's always covered with oil and sha7m . He is helping the mechanic and at the same time learning , one day he will be the master of the trade.

That's it, I just want to feel like Belya all the time. Learning and learning till one day I can be the master, but then I'll keep my inner Belya alive .

On feeling free

لم أكن أعلم أن حرية الروح كما سلبت يمكن يوما أن تعود . فإني أعلم بالتحديد في أي لحظات حياتي سلبت مني حريتي ، فلم أعد أتنفس كالبشر ، و لكني كنت منذ تلك اللحظة كالآلة التي تسحب الهواء ثم تفرغه دون إستغلاله أو الشعور بوجوده

و لكن مع إقلاع الطائرة لم أستطع إلا الإبتسام و الإحساس بنسيم الحرية يملىء رئتي . فها أنا قد ولدت حرا من جديد

Belya, 26-8-08

Right after the plane take-off .

One of the best lines I've read

كانت الدنيا تمر بحالة من السكون التام حين يكون الليل و ما فيه من نقيق و صرير قد ولى ، و حين لا يكون النهار الكامل بأصواته و ضجيجه قد أقبل بعد. سكون تام مطبق وكأنما ستقوم القيامة بعده . سكون جليل مهيب تتردد حتى أدق الكائنات في خدشه.

الحرام ----- يوسف إدريس

The universal person

If you were given the chance to choose traits from countrys and regions allover the world. Which ones would you choose ?

Here are my choices, ( in no particular order )

- Think like a Japanese
- Be punctuate like a German
- Enjoy life like a Lebanese
- Love like an Italian
- Dance like a Latino
- Strong like an African
- Mysterious like a Russian

Finally, sarcastic as an Egyptian :)

What about you.

Feel free

When did you feel that you are liberated and free ?

As for myself:

1) On the way down to the pool after jumping from the 5-m or the 3-m ramp. The feeling of the air surrounding your body is just magnificent.
2) When I used to run endlessly in the childish game of hide & seek.
3) Riding ( or is it playing ) with the swing & flying high in the sky.
4) Sitting by the sea.
5) Driving your car full throttle on an empty road .

Dina is dancing, call the police.

If you are living in Egypt or you've been following the Egyptian satellite channels throughout the past week. You would have probably noticed what was keeping the people busy.
The People's Assembly ( magles el-sha3b ) had been busy condemning the fact that Dina ( the famous belly dancer ) danced at a party. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes that's true. The people's representatives ( nowwab ) were angry because that party was a Prom celebration. They say that Dina will ruin the youth ( hatbawwaz a7'la2hom ).

I'm not here to defend Dina or belly dancing, it's just strange that as far as I know students attend proms to celebrate their final year of school by DANCING. What Dina did was nothing strange to what was going over there, she even wasn't dressed in her always hot dancing suits. She was an invited guest and just wanted to share the students' their happiness.

So, let's stop Prom parties and imprison all High school students for attending them .

Ya gama3a 7aram 3aleiko kefaya tahreeg ba2a. ( ya magles el-sha3b )

And one more thing, Thumbs up for the People's Assembly : Condemning the dancer for dancing & approving 2 more years of Emergency Law.

What's wrong with car pooling.

If you are a Cairo resident, I won't have to tell you how the traffic has become the past couple of years. But , I'd like to ask you a question: Have you ever noticed the amount of cars with only the driver in it ??!!! I guess most of the cars in the streets carry only one passenger, the driver that is.

This fact drew my attention around a year ago, while I was reading " Whatever happened to the Egyptians " by Dr. Galal Amin ( the book is gr8 btw ).

I'm driven to think that this is one of the major causes of the lousy traffic we are having in our capital. We have poor, poor, poor & in-efficient public transportation; whether it was the underground, buses or taxis. So, families that can afford to buy cars for every member, will certainly do so without hesitation.
Doing the math ( just my own assumptions ), a single family could push around 3 cars in the streets each morning. Looking from the other side ( the destination side ), a working place with 100 employees could have 50 - 70 cars parking in the streets. ( At my department, we have a car for every single member)

I believe that such problem could be partially solved by changing our attitudes as regards transportation. I suggest car pooling.

I'll take my department as an example. Instead of having, 10 cars awaiting in the parking lot; there could be only 7. That's a 30% reduction in traffic.

What makes Egyptians not used to car pooling ?
( in my opinion )

1) We are not used to think as a community. We just tend to think of our own benefit ( ana w mn ba3dy el-toofan )
2) A lot of people tend to think that it'll take more time and consume more fuel to drive 5 more minutes. But, if it was considered thoroughly; the traffic reduction will decrease time consumption, fuel consumption and pollution.
3) We are not used to share.
4) Everyone thinks he's the most important one in the world, they can't wait extra 5 minutes till their colleagues are free to go home.
5) WE LACK PUNCTUALITY.


that's all for now.

A gesture that's stronger than a million words

Yesterday I was watching a movie on TV. Then came a scene close to the end of the movie where 2 friends just exchange glances, their eyes expressed all what they have experienced throughout the whole story.

On seeing this, I re-called a similar situation.
We were having a farewell party, as O ( my best friend ) was leaving for the U.S. By the end of the day, everyone present started wishing him & his wife good luck ........etc. Some of our friends almost cried, some even left early becoz the atmosphere was getting very emotional.
As for myself, I stood there till the end of day. I was the last person to salute him on that day and all we had to share was a warm hand shake, a small hug , a good luck word and an intense eye talk.

It's been almost 2 years now, but I will never forget the look in his eyes and the messages we delivered at that moment. Begadd, in-describable.

Egyptian sense of time

It really gets on my nerves the way Egyptians deal with time. I can't think of a better discription than ( dis-respect ).
If you decide to meet up with almost anyone at 8:00 p.m, you'll probably end up meeting at around 10:00.
If someone tells you he'll be late for just 15 minutes, he probably means that the earliest he can arrive is after 15 minutes. Usually it's never 15 nor 30 minutes it revolves around an hour or more.

I for myself used to be a very punctuate person, I learned from my dad to arrive 10 minutes ahead of any appointment. The Egytian timing has affected me big time, now I'm usually late for any appointment by 15 minutes ( this is un-acceptable on my scale )..

On going out with my friends ( they have terrible sense of time, that's if they have any ), I used to be the first to arrive. I was late for an hour on purpose, so as not to wait for long , BUT I usually had to wait for another hour or more.

Here's just one incidence: We had planned a Ramdan iftar at Mo- Cafe last year. I arrived at the restaurant 30 minutes before the Maghreb prayers ( which I thought was late for iftar outings, if you know what I mean ) I wasn't surprised to find myself the first to arrive. What made me laugh was 15 minutes before the Maghreb prayers, I was still on my own & recieved this call from N : " I was certain you'd be the only one in the restaurant. Could you please take my order , so that it's ready when I arrive "...........................

How to clean your room

If you have a messy room or if your parents give you some hard time about your room.
This article will help you a lot.

Don't you just love the people at Wiki :)

What number are you ?

You Are 1: The Reformer

You're a responsible person - with a clear sense of right and wrong. High standards are important to you, and you do everything to meet them. You are your own worst critic, feeling ashamed if you're not perfect. You have uncompromising integrity, and people expect you to be fair. At Your Best: You are hopeful, honest, and inspiring. You bring out the best in humanity. At Your Worst: You are intolerant, judgmental, and picky. Your Fixation: Resentment Your Primary Fear: Being corrupt. Your Primary Desire: To be good. Other Number 1's: Al Gore, Martha Stewart, Gandhi, Celene Dion, and Spock from Star Trek.

What Number Are You?

If you like the idea, consider yourself tagged.

The cycle of betrayal, unconfidence & immorality.

I had this conversation with a guy, a lower class 26 years old. He was having a conversation with someone he called his beloved and so on.

Me: So, you are gonna get engaged soon ?
Him: No. I was betrayed once. A few years ago, my fiance just vanished taking everything & leaving without a trace.
Me: Aren't you planning to get engaged to that girl you were talking to ?
Him: No, she's already engaged to someone.
Me: What !!!!!!!!! then why are you having that phone romance ?
Him: We are interested in each other.
Me: Then why doesn't she call her current relation off, and you two get engaged ?
Him: Cause I won't go into a relation with someone like her.
Me: Why is that ?
Him: What if I get engaged to her , and she betrays me with some other guy like she does now...
Me: Then why don't you just leave her ?
Him: If I did, someone else would take my place ( hatemshy ma3a 7ad tany )
Me: How decent are you !!!! ( me being sarcastic )
Him: Don't judge me wrong, I'm veeeeeeery decent & moral. I haven't touched her although I had many chances to do so.


At this point I had to put an end to that conversation as I was reaching no where.

TED

Have you ever heard about TED ? I haven't till yesterday.
Yesterday I was introduced to TED by my smart friend O. This seems to be some kind of a project that gathers brilliant people with magnificent ideas to give presentations about their ideas ( that's as far as I care ).
Take a glimpse at the kind of people over there.This guy is just amazing.

It seems that TED would be my newest addiction.