Judge a Book by Its Cover

Something I’ve learned…

We’ve always been taught to think before we speak, to not judge a book by its cover, to not jump into conclusions, to make careful decisions and choices, to study the pros and cons yada yada yadaaa

Well this all sounds like good, sane, smart advice right? Yeah I would say so. I mean I am what you call a book warm, nerd, geek..etc and this advice seem to have worked very effectively in that area. I always thought twice before saying anything in class or writing anything in my exams. I never judged a book by its cover. I never jumped into conclusions.

Unfortunately, this over thinking of everything became a way of life rather than just a studying strategy. I over thought the simplest decisions.. Decisions like picking a nail polish color! I became a very VERY hesitant and quiet person. A person who’s always afraid of saying the wrong things. I had a lot of sleepless nights where I laid in bed staring at the ceiling thinking either of what I did wrong today or what could go wrong tomorrow. I never trusted my gut feelings…I always had to ask people for their approval and research before taking any sort of step..... and I was sick of it! SICK. OF. IT!! whenever people asked me about my opinion about anything… I stutter… I never had an opinion about anything..

but as I grew older and got into college, I was put in a lot of situations, both at university and at many social events, where I had to rely on myself… not at my mom.. not at a book I've memorized.. but at myself! I had to make quick judgments and I had to respond at the heat of the moment.

Yes, I made mistakes a lot of times and i said things i wish i never did… but I was happy with myself and my decisions most of the time. I relied on my gut feelings and they were almost always right! This gave me confidence and strengthened my self-esteem. I think that for the first time in my life I learned to like myself, trust myself and believe in myself which made people around me like me more, trust me more and believe in me more than ever before.

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that sometimes our snap judgments are much better than judgments that are based on numbers and facts. There’s a best seller that we've discussed in an interpersonal communications class at university called Blink by Malcolm Gladwell that discusses this theory. The author proves by facts how rapid decision-making that takes place within the “blink of an eye” is indeed very rational. He calls it “thinking without thinking.” The book will be adapted into a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and is set to come out in 2011.

Again, I could be wrong about this. Tell me if you think this sounds totally ridiculous or makes perfect sense! I’m very easy to convince by the way ;)

On another note, OOOOOOMMMMMMMMGGGGGG I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT SPAIN QUALIFIED TO THE FINAL!!! I'M SOOOO HAPPPY AND EXCITTTTTTED but i'm also sad cuz the world cup is gonna be over in 2 days :'(

Salaaam, Lamoona.

Comic of the day: (Yupe! that's what i meant when i said "thinking without thinking"!! LOL)

Enjoying nothingness!

“Amna?” mom said as she picked up the newspapers from the tea table in front of us.

I lifted my eyes from my cup and gave her the I-am-listening look while sipping my morning Karak tea.

“How are you? What have you been up to? Are you going to your friend’s wedding tomorrow?”

I started telling her about my friends and the world cup because those two are only things keeping me busy at the moment. I continued telling her how some girls are doing summer internships and some girls are taking summer courses until she stopped me and asked me “what have you been up to.. YOU?”

“Me?” I asked her… and myself!

I stayed quiet for a bit thinking of a single thing worth mentioning and came up with nothing. I have to admit, a strange feeling of guilt came over me. I felt like a lazy loser and I felt like I should’ve gotten some stuff done. What stuff? I don’t exactly know but we are all told that we should be terribly busy doing “something.” I felt especially guilty because doing nothing was my choice. I made that decision. I’ve declined internship offers from Shell Qatar, QP and ICT-Qatar and I chose not to enroll in any summer courses with some of my friends.

I’ve never done this before, doing nothing. The past two summers were packed with work and summer school. Those who know me know how hardworking and busy I usually am. So, am I wasting my time doing nothing? Did I make a mistake by deciding to take the whole summer off?

I responded to my mom in the saddest tone “nothing mom…..i haven’t been up to anything” I continued, “ mom, be honest with me! do you think I’ve wasted the first month and a half of my summer break doing nothing?”

My mom put her newspaper back on the table and started asking me “Didn’t you go to mecca? Didn’t you go to Dubai? How many parties and outings have you been to?” I rolled my eyes because she sounded so irrelevant! What does traveling to mecca and going to parties have to do with anything????

But then she said “ Amna, you might be doing nothing, but you are not wasting your time! You are finally sitting with us for lunch like a family member… you are finally free to read books for fun… you are finally free to visit the gym whenever you want… you are finally free to go to the spa whenever you want…you are finally free to take the yoga classes you told me about… you are finally free to start cooking and baking… you are finally free to start working on the project you’ve been passionate about for the past year… you are finally free to get together with friends whenever you want… I would do anything to have the time to do any of those things!! This is not nothing!!! Amna, you are 21, live like a 21 year old and enjoy every minute of it…eat better, sleep better, pray more and take care of yourself... no regrets!”

Okaaaaaay so the mother has a point… I guess! I should stop feeling guilty and start enjoying the nothingness… at least to make myself more productive when I actually do work.

Fyi, the conversation with mom was in Arabic and her pep talk was more than an hour long LOL but I just stopped listening when she started talking about her life when she was 21 :x

Fyi again, I only wrote this post because my friends are sick of my worldcup posts haha

- Lamoona

The Hard Way

Hey there… I thought I was the only one reading my blog but thanks to the live traffic feed I added on the left, it turns out I had visitors from Bahrain, Kuala Lumpur and the UK… now that’s awesome!!! lol

I don’t know about you guys but I’m having a hard time thinking about anything besides football right now. As most of you saw, the world cup kicked off last Thursday with a charity celebration concert featuring exciting performances by many artists like the Peas, Alicia Keys, and the lovely SHAKIRRRRAAAA!!!

Bottom line is: I. AM. PSYCHED!!!! WAKA WAKA PSYCHED!!!

Anywaaay, the tournament has started with some very exciting and some very boring matches. I am an Azzurri fan by heart! I really enjoyed their game against Paraguay.. I was literally standing on my feet for the whole 90+ minutes @@ when the match ended I was exhaaaaaaused!!!

But to be honest, I was so disappointed with their performance!!!! They played like they were forced to be there… like someone strangled them from Italy and brought them to south Africa to torture them.. My biggest disappointment was in the legendary goalkeeper Buffon. About an hour before the match, Aljazeera sports reporter asked him if italy was ready to win the world cup again and he sarcastically stated “don’t expect us to win the world cup every four years!” Seriosuly Gigi? What’s with the attitude ha?.. Not only that, he also failed miserably to save the Paraguayan goal and faked a back injury in the second half :S … he’s such a diva!!! I love him bss he has to snap out of it and start acting like a grown up!!! <>

On another note, I sided with Bafana Bafana in the first match against Mexico, with Uruguay in the second match against France, with the Aussies against the Germans and with the US against England... notice a pattern here?? I always side with the slightly weaker teams! I don’t know whats my deal… I mean shouldn’t we all be rooting for the best or the strongest… or in my friends case the hottest?? Does this make sense to you at all? I mean seriously WHO in his right mind would root for the usa against England (other than americans of course)??? England roster was filled with football superstars including Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney and Peter Crouch while I couldn’t identify a single good player in the US roster except the goalkeeper (who plays in a club in England :S).

Even though I know in the back of my head that it is simply impossible for the weaker teams to win, I try to believe and convince myself that they could for some reason… I fight for them and keep cheering even if they were losing.. So laish a3awer galbi you ask…. Sh7adni ashaji3 faree8 fashel w az3al lama y5sroon?…why bring misery to myself when i can easily choose a winning team? what on earth would make me root for those weak teams? Well .. I don’t know how to explain it…… even though their chances of winning are very slim, I like taking that smalllllll tiny “chance”.... Because… I don’t know I believe that it would just feel so much better when the underdogs rise against all odds… when they prove everybody wrong!

Gosh!!! I talk too much.. now where was I?… I swear I had a point behind this post *scratches head*… ummmmm oh yeah! taking the hard way..

My mom always tells me jokingly: “Lamoona ya3ni lazm tdawreen sebba 3shan t7ateen? Ma t3arfeen testanseeen nafs elnass”

Even though she jokes about it, she’s right!! I mean I chose the weaker teams that would most likely lose while I could've easily picked better teams....

Okay, forget about football for a second. This also holds for the way I live my life! I always do things the hard way.. I create very elaborate and difficult ways to reach my goals even when a simple path or action suffices. I seem to have an uncontrollable urge to complicate matters that are usually simple. What the hell is wrong with me?? I heard a lot of “min 9ejich?”, “wallah ma3endich salfa”, “la tkabreen elmaw’9oo3”, “take it easy”, “mafi shay yeswa” and blah blah blah… sometimes I even say those things to myself and my friends because people made me believe that it's true....

But you know what? There is nothing wrong with taking the hard way.. don’t let people tell you otherwise… don’t let them make you believe that nothing is worth the effort!!! Cuz I bet that it is worth it.. nothing compares to the feeling you get when you accomplish something you’ve worked so hard for… something you struggled for… something you fought for… So if you have a very hard exam or a very challenging project ahead of you, work hard for it.. do everything you can to make it happen.. fight for it.. rise against all odds...

Did any of this make any sense to you guys?? :S Oh well… it did in my head when i wrote it..

Good luck to Azzuri in all of their matches and good luck to El Matador in their game tomorrow!! (my second team)

Until my next post, forza Azzurri and viva España!!!!!

Lamoona

Song of the day: Mambo Italiano! (LOL I love this songggggggg… dedicated to all you azzurri fans out there!!)

Wave Your Flag

I went out for breakfast with dad this morning and I couldn’t help but notice the colorful flags that decorated the coffee shops and restaurants all over Doha. Do you realize what that means? we are ONE WEEK away from the biggest sporting event in the world! The four year wait is over and we’re about to live a month of fun and excitement *yaay*

I can’t wait for the FIFA World Cup in South Africa to start with all the intensity in brings and the stories it creates.

A lot of my friends tell me: “Lamoona, its just a football tournament!”.. and every time I get that comment, I fail to explain why the world cup is MUCH more than just any football tournament. So, here’s another attempt at explaining why I think everybody should be excited, not only us football fans! :p

Well.. There is something about the World Cup that unites people for that short period of time. During this short period, the focus of everyone’s life is at a common cause! Everyone has the same hope.. everyone has the same dream.. and everyone suddenly wants the same thing! The event shatters all audience viewing records every time it is held.

What’s so great about the World Cup is that it requires no previous knowledge of teams or players in order to be enjoyed. It allows ANYONE to get excited about something without really knowing much about the game.

Readers, excuse my blabber :p but it’s been two weeks since I last updated this blog so cut me some slack ok :p

Anyway, back to the world cup, here are the matches I’m most excited about in the Group Stage:

Argentina vs Nigeria 12/06/2010

England vs USA 12/06/2010

Algeria vs England 18/06/2010

Germany vs Australia 13/06/2010

Brazil vs Cote d’Ivoire 20/06/2010

Portugal vs Brazil 25/06/2010

Plus, all of Italy’s matches of course ^_^

Now now, the celebration goes beyooooond the green field so let me share with you the things I’m excited about other than the football :D

The Awesome World Cup Ads

This is not only the world cup of football, this is the world cup of ads! I mean OMG the sponsors come up with the most creative and meaningful world cup-themed ads and TV commercials during this month! Here are some of my favorites this year.
Nike

Coca Cola

Pepsi

McDonald’s (middle east)

The Music

YES THE MUSIC!!! Who doesn’t remmbeber the go go go ole ole ole Ricky Martin song from the world cup in france in 1998? they played it at every birthday party and school event after the world cup @@ and people still sing it today, that’s how popular the world cup songs are! So if you’re not excited about the world cup yet, here is something to help you get there :p sync those to your ipod now!

Akon – oh Africa

Shakira – This time for Africa

K’naan ft. Nancy Ajram – Waving flag (Arabic version)

The WAGs

What is a world cup without some gossip on the side? For those who don’t know what a WAG is, it’s stands for wives and girlfriends of footballers (i'm serious, google it!). Because WAGs are either models, designers or singers, hopefully we’ll spot some hot fashion trends around Johannesburg's streets during the world cup =D so here’s your WAG guide.

Abigail Clancy:
Peter Crouch’s girlfriend.

Coleen Rooney: Wife of England’s star asset Wayne.

Alex Curran:
 Steven Gerrard’s wife.

Melanie Slade: Theo Walcott’s girlfriend.

Alena Seredova:
Girlfriend of Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon

Sarah Brandner:
Girlfriend of German star Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Victoria Beckham: The Queen of WAGs! Even though her husband is injured, he’s expected to go in a coaching capacity.

The Amazing Crazy Fans

I’ll let the pictures talk for themselves here….

hatha chenna 6al3 mn Avatar :p

w hatha thakarni fee lady gaga :p

The Attention Grabbing Hairstyles

Hahahahaa i can't wait to see the players haircuts this year! here are some of the memorable ones from previous world cups.

Seeeeee? Everyone has something to be excited about ^^’ c’mon now and wave your flaaaaaaaaaaag!! *dances*

Sooooooooo, what are you guys most excited about?

Before I go, let me give a shout out to the Qatar 2022 Bid committee. They are doing a great job and they deserve our full support! So show them some love and follow them on twitter and join their facebook group, if you haven’t already done so.

*phew* was that the longest blog post ever or whaaaat?!!!!

Until my next post, ciao!
~ Lamoona

All of the above!

Only recently have I started watching Sex and the City. To be honest, I wasn’t at all interested in watching it bss a lot of girls had recommended it for me and I am the type of person who would never say “no” to anything until they’ve tried it… and that goes for food, music and clothes too.

So, I started watching and I’m in season three right now. I’ve just finished watching episode 10. It’s the one where Samantha invites the girls to her brand new downtown apartment and screams out the window “You see us Manhattan, we have it all!” which brings me and Carrie Bradshaw to the question: “Is Samantha right, can we have it all?”

At all points in my life, as a kid, as a teenager, and as an adult, there was and is always this girl that seem to “have it all.” I bet you’ve met her too. She’s thin and very pretty. She’s rich and successful in her studies and career. She has the nicest family. She has a lot of great friends. She spends her summers tanning in Côte d'Azur and her winters skiing in the Alps. She also regularly donates and supports great charity organizations. She is loved by everyone and has a beautiful aura that shines around her whenever she enters a room. She always seems calm all of the time, even when things go terribly wrong.

She appears to be living her dream…. and everybody else’s! Does she really "have it all"?

No, she doesn’t. She only has what means “all” to HER. She probably has her own problems and insecurities BUT she has clearly decided what she wants in her life and from that decision she has gained focus, energy and POWER. She has learned to sort through the difficulties of her hectic lifestyle. She has taken all possible opportunities around her and has not let herself become distracted by anything else. She has created HER best life. And she is still in the process of creating it.

What defines your “all” in life? What is most important to YOU? Losing weight? Owning piles of designer shoes? Having great friends? Getting good grades? Owning a successful business? All of the above? Once you have the answers cleared out… you can start building it, your ideal life… step by step and brick by brick… just like her.


Now, excuse me ladies.. i'll go watch another episode of my latest addiction..
~ Lamoona

....and on my to-watch list this summer:

The 8-year-old in me

“Yma, is this where Micky Mouse lives?” were the first words that came out of my mouth when I stepped out of our blue car in Disneyland-Florida’s parking lot in 1997. Like a lot of people, I don’t really remember the details of my life as an 8-year-old back then. Bs I remember that Disney Land felt like a place out of this world to me! It felt like…I don’t know.. heaven?

I remember asking my mom if she could take me to see Cindrella’s room in the big castle... that was a major Fail btw! Cuz obviously it wasn’t a real castle Lamoona -__- !! I also remember racing my brother and cousins to the actors in costumes thinking they were the real Disney characters....and I remember standing in line for hours for a ride and then not getting in because I wasn’t tall enough! Pfffft!!

Why all the sudden reminiscing you ask? Well because a few days ago, my friend Lulu hosted a “girl’s game night” at her house. But it was no ordinary game night of scrabble, monopoly or pictionary. No no no nooo, it was a Disney themed game night.

One of girls had this DVD board game called scene It? – Disney edition. In this game, players had to answer trivia questions about Disney films. The questions were read from trivia cards, viewed on a monitor from an included DVD or based on clips from movies, TV shows and music videos.

It was by far, the most fun board game I have ever played in my life. I felt like I was an 8 year old again!! I didn’t realize how much I missed watching those Disney classics until that night… I also didn’t realize how my personality was affected by Disney’s fairy tales until that night.. and it wasn’t only me, all of my friends were having all sorts of flashbacks of their childhood Disney memories...

Anyway, i just read an awesome post on Nofe's blog and it got me inspired and excited about sharing my favorite and most memorable Disney movie songs and scenes =D so, are you ready? Here we go:

Movie: Mulan

Favorite song: I'll make a man out of you

Favorite Scene: Mulan’s hair cut. I mean c’mon, didn’t you want to cut your hair after watching Mulan cut her's with a sword? Ah that scene felt so empowering madri laish!

Movie: The Little Mermaid

Favorite Songs: Under the sea and kiss the girl

Favorite scene: Arial’s fork. Yes, the famous fork scene when Arial was sitting around a fancy dinner table at the castle and then she started combing her hair with the fork! I think every little girl tried this at home! LOL I absolutely love that scene!

Movie: Cinderella

Favorite songs: Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo and The Work Song

Favorite Scene: making Cinderella’s first pink dress. Omg!! After me and my cousins watched how the mice and birds sewed Cindrella’s dress for the ball, we went and bought one of those cheap sewing boxes because we wanted to make our own ball dresses -_-

Movie: Beauty and the Beast

Favorite songs: Be Our Guest, Something There and Tale as Old as Time

Favorite Scene: The beast's transformation. Beauty and the beast was by far my favorite Dinsey classic! I love every single scene in the movie.. One of my favorite scenes was the transformation when the beast turned into a handsome prince <3>

Movie: Alladin

Favorite songs: Prince Ali and A Whole New World

Favorite scene: Aladdin’s attempt at flirting with Jasmine on the balcony loool. Remember the scene when Alladin was trying sooo hard to win Jasmine over and then she told him to jump off the balcony? LOOL It’s the scene right before the legendary magic carpet song, “A whole new world.” LOVE THAT SCENE AND THAT SONG!!

Okaaaaaaay feeeee so maaaaaany scenes I love w it would be impossible to list them all here! Btw, ana mt2athra al7een after watching all the clips on youtube :’( I started downloading all the movies.. i wanna watch them all over again <3>

Disney has been a great source of beautiful, inspiring, touching, and cheering life lessons. The amazing filmmakers have taken us to magical places, from Neverland to Wonderland, Atlantica to Narnia. They made it possible for an 8-year-old living in Qatar to meet legends from American history, Greek mythology and the Arabian Nights...

I love you Dinsey world…. See you in a few months inshallah!

~Lamoona

Comic of the day:

I really enjoyed writing this post! I think I’ll be tagging my posts from now on because I’ll be posting about a lot of topics =D This one will be tagged with “fun stuff”

When life gave me Lemons,

Spring 2010 was the toughest… and by far, the longest. Not everything went according to plan. Life gave me a lot of Lemons when I asked it for strawberries.

There were lots of times when I squinted back my tears…. Lots of times when my stomach squeezed so tightly that I couldn’t sleep at night. There were moments when my loved ones got hurt and I couldn’t do anything to help them… there were moments when a close friend stabbed me in the back… there were moments when someone dear to me slowly drifted away…I had lots of sleepless nights, stressful nights, cruel headaches and blank computer screens…

But spring 2010 semester is over…. and my junior year at college is over.

I look at myself now and I see that I am stronger than I realized… I got bigger, I got better, and I got all the scars to prove it… I learnt that anybody (including me) can do anything when they put their mind and energy into it…

So, life… thanks for the Lemons!

Reader, if Lamoona got through this effy year, you can do it too.

True, life did not give me big Lemons. You might have bigger Lemons than mine. Bs no matter how big or small they are, there is always a way to get through. Always remember to never lose faith and say Al7amdellah.

Here's an inspiring story I watched on Oprah the other day. If this little girl could do it, you can do it too. When life gave her Lemons, she made not only Lemonade, but a Lemonade stand, and a campaign to cure cancer one cup at a time.

Tata until my next post,

Lamoona ~

Song of the day: (thanks for sharing, A)

PS: Do you think I’m taking the whole Lemons theme too far? LOOOL... Anyway, forget about Lemons for now.... It'a SUMMMMMER *dances* and i have a lot to talk about so "stay tuned" or whatever you bloggers say :p