Good news!

I'm engaged!

Well, kind of. He "proposed", I said yes- my father agreed and his parents agreed. It's just that his parents aren't really in the country and won't be for the next few months. When they do get here for vacation time my family and I will get to meet them, and then and only then am I officially engaged.

I am a nervous wreck. I wake up at night because I know I am the most socially awkward person you could ever meet, and I am absolutely dreading the moment I have to meet his parents.

I had a laughing attack the moment my daddy said "mabrook", and it carried on for the rest of the evening.

God, I can just picture it now. They walk in, I offer them tea and then proceed to pour it on their shoes. OR they ask me a question about myself and I provide them with the most awkward response there is in existence for that question.

Example?

Kiwi's parents: How are you?
Sallypino: I'm GREAT, my eye's been infected-- but the swelling's gone down so...yeah.

I wish I could say that that was an exaggeration, but the truth is that I really would say something like that. My eyes would then drift to the nearest inanimate object and I would proceed to scream the loudest "NOOOOOO YOU DID NOT JUST SAY THAT!!!!" in my head.

*sigh*

The good thing is, his mother sounds like a sweetheart, annnnnd the kiwi gets to come over as much as he'd like now :)

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for smooth sailing until February.

Happy Eid and Community Channel

Happy Eid!!!!

I hope everyone's enjoying the holidays!

I'm definitely enjoying my break-- ha, or should I say "swine-flu holiday". I'm in my ugly pjs, poufy socks and a big fuzzy blanket watching Community Channel on YouTube. Can't complain about that :)

I effing love her...and her mad video editing skills. I will learn how to do that one day dammit, I WILL!!!

Anyway...I shooould have something to write about in a few days. *gets giddy* Hopefully :)

What's new?

Updates:

• The employment fair I attended was a pin to the optimistic bubble I blew. Arabic-- or my lack of it gets in my way. People can dismiss you just like that *snaps fingers* because of it. More opportunities, and better ones hopefully will come my way though. Patience!

• In happier news-- the Kiwi talked to his parents some more about the engagement! And... ok, his mom calls me Lucy. So what, right? She can think my name is banana chikita for all I care, as long as she likes me. AND, he bumped into my dad last night....and wait for it, my dad actually patted him on the back. The Kiwi and I have thoroughly analyzed that pat on the back and have come to the conclusion that it was my daddy's way of saying "I know about you and my daughter and I like you." Seriously, there could be no other reason for it.
  

• I recently wore high-heels and didn't die.

• We're getting another Swine Flu holiday. WHAT DO YOU HAVE AGAINST MY GRADUATION, PEOPLE?! I sincerely hope they do not extend the semester.
  

• I saw "This is it", and absolutely loved it. If you haven't seen it yet, I suggest you do. The atmosphere in the cinema was great. Kids less than half my age were singing along, and people were applauding after each song. :)

• I have an Arabic quiz I should be studying for. *cries hysterically*

• Me gustas Manu Chao, me gustas tu.

• THE OFFICE IS AMAZING.
  

To do:

I stumbled across this the other day and it made me smile.

"Work on happiness."

"Look for the best in people."

"Help others succeed and you will too."

"Never under-estimate your own power."

"Be the last to fight and the first to make up."

"Do the right thing."

I think it was much easier for me to really listen to words like that when I was younger. I remember being so different. I wanted to work for Unicef when I got older! I was the 'peace-maker' in class. I never, ever lied. I honestly think I was much better as a person...

I think going through life, you get knocked down a couple of times...and you start to doubt whether the ideals you learned as a child even mean anything.

People take advantage of you.
People that cheat, lie and steal get ahead.
Doing the right thing screws you over.

You grow up and find that the world is a corrupt place, void of these ideals.

But maybe it's so corrupt because it's a cyclical thing? You grow up and find this non-utopia in place of what you believed in as a child and then begin to contribute to the corruption just to get by.

I remember once describing a friend of mine as "pure". Completely unaffected by what she was surrounded by. This girl does not have a single 'corrupt' bone in her body. And what is so refreshing to note, is that she IS succeeding in life. She's doing work that benefits children, people in general, and the eco-system.

So I'll take to heart what these post-its say. One a day. I'll rest easier in knowing I'm at least a slightly better person than I was the day before. :)

Set Fire To The Third Bar

Sometimes the person you care about most isn't physically distant so much as he/she is emotionally. I don't know which is worse to be honest. In any case, I absolutely love this song by Snow Patrol.

Got a problem? Maybe you just need some Fair and Lovely.

I've been meaning to write about this for ages but I have this terrible problem with my memory-- it's worse than that of a goldfish.

I have a problem with Fair and Lovely.

Have you heard of it? I think it is THE single most ridiculous product I have ever heard of. Hands down. The name itself is ridiculous. It's aimed at ladies that want to lighten their skin and the ADVERTISEMENTS for it....damn! They enrage me the most.

In most of them, a woman is depicted all emo and depressed about some problem she has. She soon discovers that her REAL problem is the fact that she's just too damn brown. She uses Fair and Lovely and, like magic, all her problems go away. Life is suddenly so much better now that she's whiter.

I've never used this product, and I don't intend to. I don't know if it works, but I know that if some chick was talking to me with a fair face and a brown body, I'd definitely raise one of my eyebrows.

You see that a lot here in Egypt. At any engagement or wedding you go to, there will be at least 10 women there with caked on foundation that's at least 10 shades lighter than their natural skin color. And the sad thing is they think they look good.

Different countries have different ideas about beauty.

In the States, a fit girl with a nice tan is considered beautiful.
Here, it's fair skin that makes people drool.

(I apologize for the generalizations, I'm sure there are exceptions)

When are we going to learn that we're beautiful just the way we are?

Anyway, here is one of the Ads I was talking about:

My Brain and Art.

It's crazy how much work I have to do this semester...I'm only taking 2 courses!

You see, we have this new head of the department and she teaches class the way it's supposed to be taught. It's a 300 level class so we should be doing the amount of work, and the kind of work one would be doing in ANY 300 level class right?

Wrong. You see, the people at my university (myself included, I won't lie) are used to getting by with our brains sort of...how do you say it? Ah yes-- "Off."

I came in thinking I would be really challenged, and then found that professors would actually dumb down the subject matter so that everyone in the class would understand. I think I died twice when someone once asked my professor what a semicolon was. I died the first time because I couldn't understand how you could be in university and not know what that was, and I died a second time because that idiot was in Mass Media Writing II....meaning, SOMEHOW- he managed to pass Mass Media Writing I.

There have been many, many, more examples since that day.

My point is that doing challenging work is like a new experience for my brain. It's not used to it, it's in a state of shock. AND I'm apparently experiencing a mad case of Senioritis. I mean, don't get me wrong, I like that I'm learning. I just don't remember the last time I was in a class and learned so much from it, in so little time. I can't even fathom how much work people must do in other universities...you know, universities without slackers as professors.

SO, I'll be writing a paper on Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. Have you heard of the latter? His stuff is pretty,um, well...you go look it up.
I like that I can look at a lot of art now and see it as more than just colors, lines and shapes. I can place works in their context- and I now know the reasons behind the colors, lines and shapes :)


I shall leave you with Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss" and "The Tree of Life":