Ok. I'm jealous.

Sometimes I feel the need to confess...
I have this neighbour whom I only see accidentally coming back from the Taraweeh prayers. We never actually started any conversations. However, she got to know my sister. And that's how I knew she's my age.
God! My age! She is like 30 cms taller, and not only that...she looks much more...grown up! And she's engaged. And she goes to the Faculty of Engineering. Perfect.
I never actually saw her until, some minutes ago. Only that then I was much aware of the difference between me and her...as I stood beside her I couldn't help staring at her dreamy eyes that glimmer between blue and green...her pink face, and even her stylish abaya! Now...How can I POSSIBLY be looking beside her? Short. Ordinary. Humble. Unattractive. Pale. Rounded. She must have felt the green-eyed monster beside her because she avoided looking at me the whole way up. I stole a look at her finger...maybe she ended her engagement that's why she still lives here? (Evil, evil me) But no. Some excellent, exotic, perfect, religious, happy, happy engineer is possibly counting the days for their wedding day now!
Oh, Lord. The green-eyed monster!

My Birthday Resolutions...

On my birthday I vow that I:

• will look upon the face of God every day.


• will not spend hours on end at the pc and forget that I have a life.


• will live this life to the fullest!


• will be kind, because everyone I meet is fighting a hard battle.


• will keep finding out the purpose of my life, and carry it out.


• will give more time to my family and friends...tell them that I love them.

Sounds simplistic, I know, but I'm really just a Child at Heart.

On trying different angles...

It was 5 pm…my day was only half over. I still had a long, tiring evening ahead. Mercifully, the sun was going down and the heat was lifted when I stood on the pavement waiting for the bus. I knew the pain was growing, I could feel it swelling up my knees and threatening to stay on for hours on end. But I just had to stand. Suddenly, I had an idea; I would sit right there on the ground until the bus came. It is an option you always have to think of while waiting for a bus in big old Cairo. For a while I thought what a silly thought it is considering the sooty ground and the oppressive culture that wouldn't let an innocent girl sit on the pavement without staring, laughing, or throwing a dirty comment…but I thought what the heck…people here stare ANYWAY.
So I, very coolly, picked up a piece of paper, spread it on the pavement, and sat down. Amateur and professional photographers have this concept of trying different angles when you shoot a picture. A humorous example is a picture taken of the Guiza Pyramids from behind the fore and hind legs of a donkey. The point is that different angles always give more ideas and invoke more feelings inside of you…The moment I sat on the ground, my whole perspective changed. It is not anything I can explain. I was first aware of a huge yellow ant beside me, and tried to ignore the fact that she was probably crawling up my spine now. Then I saw two crows perching on the ground and sharing some food. I must have been a hilarious sight because people in cars twisted their heads around to look at me …I don't know why! But being so close to the ground…very much shorter than the usual…feeling the same as some infant viewing the world from a limited height…was amazing.
Another time I was in a felucca (boat rented in the Nile for a short trip), and though I was enjoying the view, I suddenly jerked my head back so that the waters were above and the sky below me. Perfect.
The next time you are in the streets of Cairo, try different angles, like the top of a forty-storey building…sitting at the same level with the water or even riding back-to-back in a bus...

You will not be able to explain it to me either, but it will be unforgettable.