a bit of 80s fever

Having been born in the late 80s, I didn’t get to “live” the eighties with its legendary
music, movies, haircuts, and dance moves! But that can’t stop me, right? Not sure about
the hairdos though!

I’ve been craving 80s for the past few months…

I’ve updated my playlist:

Been watching the movies:

“What do you need a fake I.D. for?”
“So I can vote.”

“I love that you get cold when it’s 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an
hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above
your nose when you’re looking at me like I’m nuts. I love that after I spend
the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that
you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it’s
not because I’m lonely, and it’s not because it’s New Year’s Eve. I came here
tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with
somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”

“The space goes down, down baby, down, down the roller coaster. Sweet,
sweet baby, sweet, sweet, don’t let me go. Shimmy, shimmy, cocoa pop.
Shimmy, shimmy, rock. Shimmy, shimmy, cocoa pop. Shimmy, shimmy, rock.
I met a girlfriend – a triscuit. She said, a triscuit – a biscuit. Ice cream, soda pop,
vanilla on the top.Ooh, Shelly’s out, walking down the street, ten times a week.
I read it. I said it. I stole my momma’s credit. I’m cool. I’m hot. Sock me in the
stomach three more times.”

Gotten myself familiar with the dance moves:

…and even bought a t-shirt!

Have you had any yearning fevers lately?

Happiness is…

The smell of fresh bread swirling around as you walk into a bakery amidst the delightful display of don’t-know-which-one-to-choose-from baked goodies.

These clumsy little munchkins. If there’s only a way I could have one!

My family. The magnificent-seven.

A red bicycle with a nice basket on the front. Ah, bliss!

A tree dressed in cherry blossom. This, right there, would be my special place.

My little rascals: Tara, Zachariah, and Isam.

The ray of sunshine passing through. The sound of nature. The scent of the woods.

Getting lost in a library and spending hours roaming the isles, flipping through
the pages of many books until I find myself captivated by that special one.

A big yummy breakfast. My favourite meal of the day.

A genuine smile, a nice gesture, kindness.

The excitement of the unknown. The anticipation.

One of my strongest desires: A treehouse. Pretty please!

Opening the letter box and finding a letter or a postcard.

Bees.

What’s your happiness?

Shake hands, kiss, hug: A story of a confused ‘Hello’!

I’m always a hugger. I’d rather hug people than figuring out whether I should’ve started a kiss from the left cheek or the right one. Whether I should’ve gone for a kiss on one cheek and two kisses on the other. That is a social algorithm I won’t be able to figure out!

Obviously, if I met a person for the first time, I’d shake their hands; a hug would be too awkward for a first-time encounter. But the next time around, I would hug, hug, and hug.

What type of a greeting-person are you?

Happy World Book Day, Y’all!

Work those muscles, little girl 🙂

Aaaaaah!

“Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread
book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one
who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing
the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never
resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.”

I can almost smell it. Oh, the joy!

What are you reading today?

Banksy in Gaza

“Make this the year YOU discover a new destination“

When Children’s Books Fever Hits You Hard

This what makes my eyes twinkle…

 

One Fine Day

It was a long commute. 54 minutes to be exact. Passing through 16 stations. A book was indeed necessary; “The Sun Also Rises” by Hemingway. I don’t particularly enjoy this novel but I make an effort to finish it nonetheless, 4 more chapters to go – ‘Phewwww!’
The pre-recorded voice of the train-lady announces that I have arrived to my destination.
I follow the ‘WAY OUT’ sign and up to the escalators. I swipe my oyster card and make my way out of the station. It’s drizzling; some people are escaping the rain inside cafés and restaurants, and others are doing ok under their umbrellas. As for me, I stepped into a time capsule; an 1838 building that stands on one of London’s most vibrant squares. There I was, inside the National Gallery with its high-reaching ceilings, and stretched out walls carpeted with the most amazing works of art. I eagerly marched to the 19th century collection.
Through one of the glass door separating one hall from the other, I catch sight of a canvas; an impressionist painting. And that was it…
I immersed myself in the impressionism sphere, dancing my way from one piece to the
next, gazing at the marvels of Monet, Renoir, and Degas; admiring the masterly brushstrokes
of Rysselberghe, Vuillard, and Gogh.

Claude Monet – Water Lilies, after 1916
Monet described hid Water-Lilies as “producing the effect of an endless
whole, of a watery surface with no horizon and no shore”.

Claude Monet – The Japanese Bridge , about 1919-24
“The instability of a universe that changes constantly under our very own eyes” Monet adds.

Claude Monet – The Water-Lily Pond, 1899

Pierre-Auguste Renoir – The Skiff (La Yole), 1875
Renoir painted a number of ‘open air’ boating scenes on the Seine during the 1870s.

Claude Monet – Snow Scene at Argenteuil, 1875
It is the largest of no fewer than eighteen works Monet painted of his home
commune of Argenteuil while it was under a blanket of snow during the winter
of 1874-1875.

Claude Monet – The Gare St-Lazare, 1877
When he painted this painting, Monet had just left Argenteuil to settle in Paris.
After several years of painting in the countryside, he turned to urban landscapes.

Claude Monet – The Beach at Trouvill, 1870
Grains of sand are present in the paint, confirming that it must have been at least
partly executed outside on the beach.

Georges Pierre Seurat – Bathers at Asnières, 1884
Asnières is an industrial suburb north-west of Paris on the River Seine.

Théo van Rysselberghe, Coastal Scene, about 1892
A Belgian neo-impressionist painter, who adopted the pointillist technique
of Seurat in the late 1880s.

Gustav Klimt – Portrait of Hermine Gallia, 1904
Besides being the painter of this portrait, Klimt also designed the dress
Hermine Gallia is wearing.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir – At the Theatre (La Première Sortie), 1876-7

Édouard Vuillard – La Terrasse at Vasouy, 1901, reworked 1935

Vincent van Gogh – Sunflowers, 1888
Van Gogh associated the colour yellow with hope and friendship.

Vincent van Gogh – A Wheatfield with Cypresses, 1889
This was painted in September 1889, when Van Gogh was in the St-Rémy
mental asylum, near Arles, where he was a patient from May 1889 until May 1890.
Paul Cézanne – Avenue at Chantilly, 1888

Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas – Ballet Dancers, about 1890-1900

Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas – Russian Dancers, about 1899
The artist has extended the composition by adding a strip of paper at the bottom.

And this is me, leaving…

The once upon a time of the unprepared ”Hello!”

You would hear the unmistakable sound from across the house. You rush your way throughout the hallway, turning left and right from one room to the other. It would only take you less than a minute to reach it; but in your mind you’ve already envisioned numerous and unforeseeable scenarios, for you have no idea who’s on the other end. It would go like this: Ring, Ring – “Hello!”.
Nowadays however, the raw mechanical structure of a call is like this:
Ring, Ring – reveal the caller – ehm, ehm – “Hello!” (with a designated tone of voice)

There was an exquisite kick to the mystery of the unidentified. The thrill of the unknown.
The yearning for an unplanned conversation.

Here’s to the once upon a time of the unprepared “Hello”. May it rest in peace!

 

 

Childhood Gladiators

It’s between 8:00 and 9:00 in the morning, sometime in the early nineties. My siblings
and I already wide awake, had our usual breakfast à la italiana; milk and biscuits with
mom’s special dose of love and little coffee powder; because for us, drinking white milk
was and still is, unfriendly for our palates. We are now gathered, all five of us, in front of
the Jordanian channel, back when it was a hit, anxiously waiting for the cartoon programs
to start, those cartoons that we’ve been devotedly watching for God knows how long.

Knowing now that we were oblivious to what those cartoons were about and stood
for; as any kid would be, we were fascinated by the images, the characters, the idea
of the cartoon itself, and having a good time in our massive living room – or maybe
we were too small! Now, as grown-ups we can really watch and understand what they
really meant; every word of the lyrics kicks you so hard inside, leaving you in pity
and melancholy sighs.

See, cartoons back then were worthy of watching; the majority of them were about a cause
with important messages; patriotism, safeguarding humanity, preserving integrity, standing
for the good and defeating the bad.  Today’s programs, on the other hand, scare me. The larger part of them is about boys chasing girls, narcissism, idle subjects, and hollow ideas. Not only does this trigger the brain to decayed thinking, but it also generates ignorance and self-loath
in future generations, which will result in wrecked societies.

To my back-in-the-day comrades, here’s a taste of those Good Ol’ Days, and an extra topping of the lyrics in Arabic and their translation to English. Enjoy!

Roman Holiday – minus Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck!

There’s a certain charm to old movies; a charm that mirrored people’s quotidian lives. Roman Holiday in particular is one of my favourite black-and-white films. Audrey Hepburn’s sweet and graceful presence with Gregory Peck’s charismatic poise in the midst of Rome is radiant with bubbly feelings.

I just got back from a roman holiday; one, to my regret, lacked the Hepburn-Peck element; but nevertheless, Rome’s beauty was so captivating that I soon became the lead character of my own 50s movie.

As part Italian, I wanted to experience the life of a tourist, and yet again make the most of my brief stay there. Once you step into the capital’s city centre, you soon realise you entered an
open-air museum of ancient masterpieces; the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, as well
as the magnificent Spanish Steps, and Fontana di Trevi. These and many more still carry the soul of ancient Rome.

 

 

Indulging in life’s pleasures while in Rome is leisurely more natural. Taking a stroll through
the paved alleys while eating an espresso-gelato, gazing at people passing by gesturing with their hands, and sitting on a random step savouring a piece of pizza just out of the oven
is exhilarating. 

And now off I go, hoping a Gregory Peck is somewhere nearby for a Roman Holiday sequel!