In black and white…

[Via: EnlargeYourPen, Source: Patrick Moberg]

Just came across this: 5o Ways to Help the Planet [Via: EnlargeYourPen]. Which is a webproject by Wire & Twine.

The listed points are so simple, straight-forward, and really easy to follow and implement.

I also found their shirts extremely cool!

I’ve been having some technical problems with my blog that prevented me from blogging or even replying to the comments left on my blog for a while. Now the problems are solved and hopefully I’ll be able to post in peace

I was reading “What Defines A Person?” and it got me really thinking of how we people sometimes refer to things that might be really insignificant, or better say shallow, and yet decide to make them the standards, through which we define other people we know.

MMM lists many arguments: some people are defined by what they think, or what they say or believe, or they’re defined by their religion… and I must agree with him that these are all unreliable standards. The closest to defining the real identity of people, as he mentions, is defining people by what they do, i.e. by their actions.

There’s another thing that I’ve always believed would tell you so much about a person. It wont necessarily define that person, but it will surely help knowing a lot about them… it’s food.  Can we say a person is what he eats? I believe yes we can, in a way. Now you must know that a person’s health condition, or physical shape, or skin condition, or a person’s stress levels, mental health or even criminal tendencies… are all things that could reflect what that person eats. But what if we look at it from a different angle? what if we try to have the choice of food reflect that person and define him, is that possible? let’s see…
The choice of food tells you a lot about a person’s taste, a person who knows good quality cooking, and to whom eating is a pleasure is a person with good taste, and is definitely different from a person who eats just to feed his hunger not bothering what the hell he’d throw in his stomach.

The choice of food also tells you a lot about that person’s financial situation; if he only eats in expensive restaurants or hotels it means he can afford it, but if he always chooses cheap places, that means he’s seriously on a tight budget.

The choice of food tells you a lot about a person’s personality. If he chooses always the same kind of food that means he’s the type who likes to play it safe, or he’s the classic kind of people. But if he tries new menus every time, it means he’s adventurous and daring.

Food can also tell you about the ethnic background, because, not always, but quite often, people would cook food they’re used to eat in their own countries or family homes, even when they’re abroad.

Another interesting thing food can help you know is religion, yeah, if the person eats no pork there’s a big chance he’s either a Muslim or a Jew! Food can also give you a glimpse about a person’s own beliefs/principals; if he’s vegetarian, or vegan then he strongly believes in animal rights
You can know a bit about a person’s health condition by their choice of food. If he constantly avoids nuts, milk, flour-based dishes or any other ingredient, then he’s allergic to these ingredients. If he avoids fatty foods then he’s on diet, either for health-related reasons or just for staying fit which brings me to the fact that food would tell you a lot about a person’s education, or nutrition-awareness. An educated person who’s well-informed about food would -usually- select a healthy meal that will nourish his body; while a poorly informed person;s selection of food would end up with a meal that will just stuff his stomach and most probably pile fat in his body and hurt his health!
So I believe yes, we certainly can know a lot about a person if we know what he eats…

It’s been a long while since I last blogged. The thing is, it’s not because I’m lazy or have nothing to blog about, in fact I have loads of stuff I’d like to share in my blog, the problem is, I can’t, since our landline is yet again DEAD… no internet connection, as usual. All thanks go to Tunisie Telecom of course.

It just gets on my nerves, I mean you pay your bills on time, bills that include tax, services and all that, and then what do you get, nothing! To be honest, I gave up hope on them, ever since we moved in to this appartment (around 4 years ago) and we’ve been having never ending problems with our phone line; it works a month, and goes dead the next 2 and so on. We talked to the people in charge and filed a complaint more than once, yet no one even was nice enough to come, check out the problem (let alone fix it)!

Anyway, sorry to all my readers, hope this problem will be solved soon.

I still can’t believe I didn’t wear my winter jacket except for once! I can’t imagine that I didn’t have my and my husband’s winter clothes taken out of storage and put in the closet until my husband had to leave to Europe!
Ice melting here and there! Creatures dying every now and then! Ah!

I’ve been always aware of the environmental disasters our kind has been causing –nonstop- making this poor planet Earth suffer this way, and therefore, I’ve always tried to do whatever I could to stop or at least limit the harm we’re causing, either by direct actions, or by spreading awareness and urging others to approach a more environment-friendly lifestyle.
I’ve been always very positive and optimistic, I almost believed that we’ll salvage our planet and also rescue our neighboring planets from the damage we’ve been causing throughout the years by constantly interfering in them and their balanced surroundings.
But I have to admit that this year is different! You can say that 2007 has given me this “wake-up-you-fool” slap and succeeded in turning me into an environment- pessimist.
I no longer believe that people are actually aware of the size of damage they’re causing. Even those who are aware, I don’t believe they care enough, and if they care enough, I guess they’re not trying hard enough to take action against the catastrophes humanity is “proudly” creating!
I mean I can’t believe that there are still people who throw their garbage from their car windows into the streets.
And I fail to understand how a lot of people don’t seem to manage throw their trash-bags inside (not above, neither beside, nor between) public trash-containers!
And it simply gets on my nerves, and makes me feel I’m getting a heart attack when I come across a car washing station and see an employee holding the water hose, while it’s ON, not to wash cars, but to –stupidly- point at NOTHING in the middle of the street, just wasting water, a huge amount that could water a whole backyard.

Today, I took Adam and went to buy some fresh vegetables, weather was beautiful, I was so full of energy and Adam was as calm as he could be. I spotted water flowing out of the watering hose, which the gardener uses to water the plants and trees of our building. I traced the source and there were 3 big holes in the hose. So on my way, I looked for him and told him, so that he can fix it and save the water, his reply was: I know, it must be because of the pressure! Don’t worry, and thanks anyway!
Eman: that’s it? What about the water? It’s such a waste!
Gardener: what do you want me to do?
Eman: fix the damn hose, tell the ones in charge to get you a new one, we all pay the service fees, they should be able to cover the cost of a new hose.
Gardener: will tell them about it, but they wont bring a new one right away, it might take a while.
Eman: I don’t see why it should take a while, anyway, until then we must do something.
Gardener: how, stop watering and letting trees die I guess?
Eman: (hahaha, so funny!) just wait, I’ll be right back.
I went back home, got a tape that might just do, it’s water-resistant, and it’s so thick, got it a while ago to fix something in the balcony. I went to the gardener and together we covered the holes and decreased the pressure of the flowing water . It took a lot of tape, but it did just great and I felt SO DAMN GOOD about it I actually feel like I’ve rescued the planet, or saved the world or something…I might not have become a big pessimist, after all, but well, as long as I’m writing this in FEBRUARY with all windows of the apartment wide open, wearing a light spring cotton shirt and one of my summer trousers and I still feel it’s warm, I guess I’ll never stop worrying.
May humanity start serious actions to save what’s left to be saved!

For a pretty long while now I’ve been so NOT into writing. I simply lost interest in writing and let my many to-do things take control and keep me happily busy.

Now that I come to think of it, I guess it’s not just about my writing mood, I believe my life is taking a whole new direction, a direction which I never thought existed. It’s like I’m becoming a different person, not that I’m not my old self anymore, but it’s more like me being my old self plus many other “new selves” I had no idea about. I feel stronger, I’m being more positive, more energetic, more ambitious and more determined.
I must say I’m so proud to carry all these positive feelings at a time from which many people have warned me. I mean many people I know enjoyed scaring the hell out of me when they knew I was having a baby, and kept telling me nothing will be the same again, you wont be able to do this and that, you wont be able to enjoy what you used to enjoy when you had no kids…and all that jazz!
It’s very true nothing is the same anymore… it’s even better! It’s true there are more exhausting responsibilities, but they add this amazing flavor to my life and make it worth living!

Today I came across a very mind-provoking quote by John Greenleaf Whittier: “For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: ‘It might have been!’”
It’s really great to realize our potential, believe in who we are, and do what we really want to do, and be what we’ve always wanted to become so that we’d avoid a day when we’d regret wasting the chance when we had it.
I don’t know how many actually believe that human potential knows no limits, but those must be the ones making the best out of their lives, and those are the ones less likely to utter the saddest words…

Ok, I guess it’s official now; my writing mood is ON, big time…