Some very long time ago, I guess during my late teen years, my sister brought me a couple of nice T-shirts. They were little T-shirts, one white with three blue daisies on the chest and the other was a cute green with four little sparrows in the middle. I liked that green T-shirt a lot, it was pretty and light and I had it on almost everywhere.

My best friend at the time loved it as well, she was a crazy fashionable girl (at the time) and she loved the T-shirt as soon as she's laid eyes on it.

My sister however did forget to mention one little detail, which I would've been quite okay with anyway except that, one day, I was walking around the neighborhood for a quick errand, wearing my cute little green sparrow T-shirt, and as I got closer to home, I passed by these group of little kids, who suddenly - and to my amazement - became quite interested in me, they all just shouted and called out, I even tried to look behind hoping to see someone else whom they'd rather be interested in...but...it was me! I just couldn't get it, why the crazy show in the middle of the street?

But I then got it...as there, in the middle of the crowd, stood a little girl of about 8-9 years old, short curly hair with a little ribbon trying to keep it in place, calling and waving at me as she pointed at her little cute green sparrow T-shirt.

Apparently, my sister's gotten the T-shirts out of the kids' section. Oh yes, I believe she has at some point in time considered me the little sparrow of the house and so she thought the T-shirts would suit me well...and they did...until that day, where they just turned to be my home-wear.

Ania...

P.S. Thank you sis for all the nice clothes you've brought me along the time...I still have and love the little green T-shirt ;)

يقف على الحافة, يشعر بالرياح  تداعب وجهه, من هناك يستطيع رؤية الجزيرة بأكملها, يرى البحيرة العذبة الدافئة التى يحب اللإستحمام فيها مع صديقته الجميلة من سكان الجزيرة, و يرى أيضا الغابة الكثيفة القريبة من كوخه الصغير, فوهة البركان الخامد معظم أشهر السنة و بعيدا الشلال المقدس الذى يجلب لأهل الجزيرة كثيرا من الخيرات. حسنا...إن هذا المنظر الخلاب لجدير بأن يصبح أخر ما يرى...يغلق عينيه...الرياح لا تزال تداعب وجهه...يستطيع سماع أصوات الأمواج المتلاطمة على الصخور أسفل الحافة العالية...يخطو خطوة للأمام...خطوة أخرى...يشعر براحة عجيبة...خطوة أخيرة و ينتهى كل شىء, تنتهى معاناته مع تلك الحياة المرهقة, ينتهى قلقه, تنتهى حياته البائسة...يهم ليخطو خطوته, يشعر بالفضاء تحت قدمه...يميل للأمام...و تجذبه الأرض...يفتح عينيه فيرى الأمواج تقترب, و يشعر بقوة إندفاعه لأسفل, ها هى الصخور الحادة التى لن تلبث أن تهشم رأسه حالما يصدم بها...طالما كان يخاف تلك اللحظة, اللحظة التى تنتهى فيها قفزته و يلتقى بالأرض الصلبة...و لكنه لا يشعر بهذا الخوف الأن. لم يلاحظ حدة تلك الصخور من قبل و تلك الطحالب التى تكسوها..... ألم حاد يشعر به عند إصطدام رأسه, يعرف إنه ينزف, ها هو يهوى من فوق تلك الصخرة الكبيرة ليصطدم بالصخور الحادة القريبة...و لكنه فجأة يشعر بأنه يحلق إلى أعلى, قرب الصخرة الكبيرة, يستطيع رؤية جسده يسحق و نزيف رأسه لا يتوقف...تغمره الأمواج فتغسل بعضا من نزيفه و تتركه على الصخور جثة هامدة, ثم تأتى مرة أخرى و تأخذه معها إلى المحيط حيث لن يعثر عليه أبدا, فتنتهى حياته كما بدأت و كما صارت...

فى حادث أليم ألقت حتفها أمس الأول ذبابة مجهولة الهوية وجدت ملقاة فى إحدى بلاعات صرف  منطقة مصر الجديدة. و قد تم العثور على الجثة فى مكانها هذا بعد أن أبلغ بعض سكان منطقة بلاعات مصر الجديدة من الصراصير عن وجود رائحة عفنة كتلك التى تكون للذباب المتوفى. و فى الحال توجه الرائد ذبابى ذبابوبى و ومعه العقيد صرصور الصراصيرى و تأخر اللواع خنفوس الخنافيسى عن الحضور بسبب تعطل سيارته الذى سسببه بعض الإرهابيين من الجراد المقنع.

وبعد نقل الجثة أكد الطبيب الشرعى أن حالة الوفاة سببها الغرق حيث إنه وجد أثارشاى باللبن فى رئتى المتوفاه, و يرجح أن المتوفاه كانت تطير بجانب كوبا منه و عندما دفعها الطمع و الفضول فى الحصول على شفتة منه, رأها صاحب الكوب و دفع بها هى و الشاى باللبن إلى بالوعة المطبخ حيث دفع التيار بهما إلى البالوعة و ألقت حتفها بالحال.

و على هذا قرر رئيس وزراء الذباب الطائر شن حملة لتوعية الذباب بعدم الطفاصة و محاولة أخذ شفطة من كوب الغير و نرجو له النجاح و التوفيق فى حملته التوعييية. 

A Dentist...isn't that someone who meets plenty of people everyday, yet none of them actually shares him/er affection. It actually hits me right now that I never give my dentist a "Thank you" when I go, it just never seems necessary, or maybe it's that I'm usually in too much pain, and sometimes it's like..."Thank God..I'm OUT! ALIVE!.....let me see...4 legs..3 hands...2 toes...okay, I'm good!!" 

It might explain why it's claimed that dentists will most likely commit suicide. I mean, think it out:

- A dentist is constantly trying to help out people who in most cases never wanna see his face again.

- His decisions are always questioned, like..."doctor, Can't u just take the damn tooth off" or "No, I don't wanna lose any more portions of the tooth, can't you just fix it without touching it!!"

- They make lots of money, yet no one gives money to a dentist voluntarily. They earn cursed money.

- Having his hands dipped into some dull ugly smelly narrow space (that is your mouth) all day is not exactly how he expected to spend his life when he first decided to become some rich popular funky dentist.

- Dentists are not as good looking as ophthalmologists.                I mean how many times have you opened your eyes in front of an ophthalmologist and caught yourself staring at him from behind that big telescope of his in some indescribable admiration!! I bet the only time you decided to open your eyes at a dentist's is when you caught this cruel ugly expression he wears while messing up your tooth!!

- The only reason a damsel will fall in love and marry the dentist, is because when he kills himself, she gets all his money.

- To commit suicide, a dentist has all the tools.

- And finally, No one hates seeing a dentist go. 

...Ania, suffering a toothache caused by a dentist.

Do you know Ernie & Bert? They are two fictional Muppet characters from the long-running children's television show, Sesame Street. And, do you know my brother & sister? They are two real world characters from the long-living famous Al-Badawi's.

Long ago when they were kids, my parents brought them two little key chains shaped as little Ernie & Bert, where of course Enie the little trouble maker goes to bro & world-weary Bert goes to sis...typical, isn't it ;). 

Well that's not the story anyway. The story starts when on one of the weekly family gatherings, my bro and sis started showing off their key chains, you know how kids get excited when they have something the other kids would envy them for ;). And during the show, and while my sister was showing little Bert to cousin Marwa, she left her for a while, and came back to find it vanished!! Little Bert just disappeared. 

Searching everywhere, asking everybody, crying, begging and screaming...Bert just never came back, and noone had a clue where it might've gone. But for some reason, sneaky little cousin Amr kept telling my sis that grandpa took it!! "It's grandpa I'm telling you...HE took it", he said, "You left it on the table, and he took it". And considering that at the time, my sister wasn't too close to grandpa, as my family was always away in Saudi, she believed sneaky cousin, and went accusing grandpa who insisted that he doesn't know what little Bert was she talking about. Bert just left for good.

20 years later, grandpa passed away...Oh, don't worry, my sister was on better terms with him then. So, the family was going through his stuff, they opened his drawer, and there, a little Bert, came out of it, smiling at my sister, who cried out "I KNEW HE TOOK IT...um...God rest his soul...uhm".

Our grandpa, had many other things in that drawer that he's gathered throughout the years, the old man was a collector, he had all sorts of things, wallets, perfumes, "seba7", weird candy that he's used to get us every time he's back from the prayers...etc.                                                                                              And as for my sister, she now has two Bert & Ernie dolls, and she keeps buying any Bert & Ernie she finds at any store. Little Bert! it was given it to youngest person in the family at that time, cousin Nora.

Isn't it amazing how the elderly can behave like childern :D.

...Ania, from my memory book...

Do you know that eastern people, or at least Egyptians for all I know, are too shy to speak about the money? To ask for money others owe you, for deserved allowance, for rent sometimes...etc. Some people find it embarrassing to. Yea it is ridicules when you read about it now...but trust me it happens...now check out how some can use that...

Sometimes you go into a store or a supermarket, like something and wish to know it's price, so you turn for the ticket of the item and read..."size M - wash dark colors separately...blah blah" or "Whole wheat...Made in China"...no price. So you turn for the salesperson and ask, but he replies in such an arrogant manner "it's XXXX" where XXXX here stands for a price way more than the item is actually worth.

That's quite alright, but what really bothers me here is the arrogant salesperson who's giving me that look of "OH NO, You're asking about the money, shame on you...Don't do that, just buy the thing". And if you say something to imply that this item is way too expensive for what it's actually worth(Sometimes the thing is actually really low on quality or made of cheap material), he turns his head and acts like you're not worthy of existing in this store, it's only for people who aren't that cheap and care not about the money, it's like he's thinking "I Want your money...Show me the GREEN stuff or go away, don't waste my time".

That's one example...And I have many more to tell...

Ania... 

It was the time of the British occupation in Egypt and access to the industrial zone of the canal has been restricted. Only workers were allowed in and were occasionally searched on their way out.  Bikes being a common mean for transport at that time were how workers usually went to work.

One day, a man approached the gates on his way out with a bike and a big sac on its seat. The English officer at the gate got suspicious from that sac, he opened it just to find nothing but...sand. "This guy is hiding something", he thought. He emptied the whole sac, searched almost every grain, yet found nothing. So, he just gave it back to the guy and let him go.

Days went by and the guy came out with a similar sac of sand in the same manner almost everyday. The officer insisted each time on searching the whole sac, every single grain, for he believed the guy will make his move one day when he gets fed up from the pointless search.

So, the officer never gave up, and the man came out with the sac of sand everyday.

It went on like that for some time. Then one day the officer received news that he would be replaced. On his last day, he approached the man and said "Alright, I give you my word as a gentleman, I shall tell no man. What's with the sac?", and the guy replied "Nothing's with the sac, it's just that I go out with a different bike everyday".

...Ania

Like having a bad day at work and trying to fake my way through the day wasn't enough, I have to go home and get through that pathetic argument of why on earth was I late.

Or, if you left home from two to six and missed supper, you're in deep trouble and are a crappy sinner...or actually, leaving home without letting everyone in the building know where you're goin and why, is already an unforgivable act of dishonor.  Not to mention that, goin out when the sun goes down!! That's when the world's comin to an end.

You can have one day (a.k.a. a couple of hours) in the week with your friends...that's your day off, the rest of the week you shall punch your head on your desk at work and come back home for the rest of it.

...etc.

It's like that almost all the time. I believe it's something that has to do with eastern families(or not, I don't know), they do not understand that their kids Do for fact grow up and throw away their pony tails & childish thoughts along the way just to take on a business suit & start developing thoughts of getting a life. And that means, they need their privacy and the flexibility to choose their own lifestyle.

Why is it that our eastern families keep hold of us like we're gonna catch cold if we're left out a bit, don't they think that we might rot if we stayed in more than enough. oh wait, you have to be a girl to understand, although I do know guys who sometimes get a taste of it with some minor issues of their lives. But guys can easily have their way, families are more flexible with them.

What really bugs me out is that if you talk to someone about it, they tell you that the only way to get "your own way" is to get settled down and marry...what a freaky lame solution..."don't like the way your family handles you, go buy a guy who will handle you his own way"... Or stay in and feel the need to fight and stand out for yourself whether it's for achieving something in your career, getting a life or getting out of your parent's pockets. Whereas, in an ideal world you might only have to fight for the life that you want and still get your family's support.

...Ania, fighting fighting fighting... 

I was sitting there on the sofa, watching this TV show about some fabulous island in the pacific when the phone rang and I thought "This is my friend whom I haven't heard from or seen for such a long time now"... and it is my friend.

Now our phone does not rarely ring, so could it be a co-incidence that every time the phone rings, I know if it's her.

Has it been a co-incidence back then when I only checked our mail box when there's mail for our flat! No, I wasn't checking it too often, and when I found mail, usually it was just delivered!

Have you ever felt that you're being watched, and then you turned to find someone actually watching & checking you out?!

Have you ever thought of some movie you haven't seen for such a long time, then turned on the TV just to find it showing?!

And worst of all, have you ever had some brilliant idea and just when you're about to open your mouth to suggest it, someone else starts explaining it!!

Yes, I do believe that us, human beings do posses some ability to foresee things, it's not magic or anything, it's more of an intelligent program or something, that somehow gets trained by one's experiences. It lets you guess that, right now, mum's gonna ask me if I wanna eat chicken, or my uncle is gonna pay us a visit today or; and this happens to me a lot, this morning, some automatic vehicle will be double parking in front of my car and I'll have a hard time finding whose is it! 

Some might find this silly and not worth noticing and think "so what, we all know that!", but I say, it's quite cool. Maybe if this intelligent something got well trained, we could all be telepathic...jejeje...maybe if we got to be telepathic, we wouldn't need phones, maybe we could just...mind talk! Hey now that would be funny, I can "call"..or now I can "think" my parents "mum, I don't want chicken"...lol.

...Ania, training to be telepathic (H)