My brain is a haunted house.

This is a fascinating story to say the least. Reminds us of how vulnerable we human beings are, we could be doing a mundane activity one moment, and the next one a single blood vessel shifting by a 400th inch shifting your whole world.

This dude over here went from being a Chiropractic into an artist. But it wasn't only his interests that changed, but also his behavior, attention span and perception of emotions and such. He became rude, self absorbed and obsessed with drawing.

While reading the story about this guy, I couldn't help myself to think about his wife, how she "accepted" things at one point, how he knew that he will never change back to the old him and how with their love, understanding and friendship, they were able to find a way nonetheless.

A lesson that I repeatedly try not to forget, is not to take things for granted. Another lesson that could be drawn from this is perhaps, adaptation, is not so bad.

Read full article about "Jon Sarkin: The man who couldn't stop drawing" here

I have to say, the one sentence that I found to be so deep, a sentence that actually explains many feelings I've been experiencing lately, is the following:

I feel like I'm a haunted house, I feel at home, but never comfortable.

Never give up

Are belief and hope, the things that help you keep going? or the things that pull you back and keep you from accomplishing other things... 

Scuba Underwater Photography Diving

http://incoglilo.blogspot.com/2011/07/need-to-do-to-do-list.htmlI posted a to do list a couple of week ago, but decided to alter #6. I said I want to be better at photography, this stays, but I want to add to it, and learn underwater photography, so while I am at it, will also learn scuba diving.

Geeky way of saying "Kil Shi Byerja3lak/lik"

Quoting Sheldon Cooper from The Big Band Theory sitcom:

Yes, well, I'm polymerized tree sap, and you're an inorganic adhesive. So whatever verbal projectile you launch in my direction is reflected off of me, returns on its original trajectory and adheres to you.

Well, or you can just mimic holding a mirror in your hand :P Up to you! 

Need to do a to do list

Remember back when I used to do Todo Lists (first list, 2nd list, I think there was more...)? And they were effective I must add, I wanted to see paris and new york, learn a new language, lose weight etc... They did help me set some goals - short term ones - try to attain them, luckily I was able to make several of them true. So I guess, I am in for another run. And we'll see how it goes.

1- Learn a new language, this time I think I will go for german.

2- Work out, tone my body (Jessica Biel, am still eyeing you) and of course eat better.

3- Visit Spain and Nepal.

4- Revisit Washington for the museums

5- Watch a football game live

6- Become better at photography

7- Learn to ride a bike (still on since last list) *embarrassed look*

8- Drift a car (also since last list). But you should know that I did drift my car on April 1st for about 30-40 meters, like real drifting, but it was unintentional :P And I ended up paying 600$ to fix it, so I'd rather LEARN to control drifting my car.

Okay, I guess that's it for now.

p.s. a day ago I saw my google tasks thingie open on its own, and one of the tasks was "GO Home". Now I don't know how I managed to make such a task, but sure, why not.

Must See Sarcastic/Dark Comedy Movies

If you have gone through life without having seen these (in no specific order) sarcastic funny movies, I will forgive you for now and tell you to go buy those DVDs for 1000LL from Bourj Hammoud or Da7yeh, and start watching them

1- Idiocracy

2- The Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy

3- Dogma

4- Anger Management

5- Napoleon Dynamite

6- Clerks.

7- Pulp Fiction

Am sure I missed something, any recommendations? I really recommend most Kevin Smith movies anyway! Start with Dogma :D

What would you do

Would you lose your sanity for a loved one? Or a loved one for your sanity?

#NowPlaying Chris Brown - Beautiful People. Although not everywhere do you find beautiful people, some people are truly nasty, full of complexes, and many of them NOT FUNNY. Ya khaye you're not funny stop trying.

Sola en Espana?

So what do you think about traveling alone? I am thinking Barcelona :) Gotta go see that Dali Museum!

Captcha?

When you prefer pain over numbness
A punch over indifference
A swear over invisibility

This is not being masochist, or stupid, or silly. It's simply wanting to feel, because if you don't feel, you're just another bot who is trying to successfully write those captchas.

Been a long time since I babbled... here you go

It's all in the brains. After all, what do we have that makes up our mind and our point of views, our opinions and our perception of things but our brains. You can love a person indefinitely, endlessly and with so much passion, and another day you can simply look at them like they are total strangers, like they are obstacles and holding you back from where you want to go and who you want to be. Be it a friend, a lover, a brother...

Sometimes I wonder about those people who are in denial, are they really in denial or did they simply program their brains to perceive something in a way that will make them feel okay about their life and their surroundings, that's a defense mechanism alright, but why do some people consider it so wrong? Now I understand, if you're in denial but you are sad, then you haven't really succeeded in convincing yourself about acceptance. However, when you're in denial and happy, are you really in denial? 

How do we know that happiness is a real thing and it's nothing something you simply look at differently. How many times do people advise you to just "be happy". What does that mean really? Do conditions change? Do you get happy and then change the conditions around you? Do you accept conditions the way they are and decide to just "be happy"? How do you know you're not lying to yourself and we are not all lying to ourselves all the time 24/7 just to pass this life.

How do you know you are really in love, that you really like drinking, that you really like partying, that you really like coffee, that you really like reading a book? Do you read a book to escape real life? Do you read a book to get better at something so you feel better about yourself so you become more confident when with others? Why do we have to be very good at things to feel self-confident around others. 

If you're not doing what you love, love what you do. Life is overrated. Love is overrated. Everything in this life is overrated. My flaw is that I believe, and I expect too much. After 30 years on this planet, I can say I will stop believing, and I will stop expecting. The only thing I want to do is have a good time, on the expense of anyone.

That was a moment I was truly happy, since then I take the same style of photo but I can never reproduce that moment. I have discussed and asked so many times on this blog, what is happiness and if it can be attained alone. I want to convince myself, that yes it can. And I don't care about sharing it. I mean, I can always share it on this blog, with the people who have become my friends, and that is good enough for me.

Can you become more intelligent?

You know, I hate when someone says: "I hate math and will never get it". I also hate that I used to think I could never memorize history chapters. I had to learn the hard way, the right method to learn something. Sadly, not all people get to do that, and of course it depends on the subject.

Not so many years ago, I was told by a professor of mine that you didn't have much control over your intelligence. It was genetic—determined at birth.

You know the tricks, some people write things down, some people read out loud, some people have to re-solve all math exercises, other give a name for every letter in a very complicated disease name, some people make a song out of a paragraph, or some (like me) read something and sleep on it, my own explanation is "khalliyoun yetkhamaro", so on and so forth

One of my first clients was a little boy w/  PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Delays-Not Otherwise Specified), a mild form of autism. When we began therapy, his IQ was tested and scored in the low 80s —which is considered borderline mental retardation. After I worked with him for about three years [..] he was retested. His IQ score was well over 100

I stumbled upon this link "You can increase your intelligence: 5 ways to maximize your cognitive potential". And I wasn't surprised or shocked to know this truth, because it happened with me. I remember increase my IQ by 17 points. I did that by learning the tricks on those IQ tests. I learned to skim through articles and read "the important", I learned that (only when I want to), summarize what I am reading by the main idea of each paragraph, I learned to focus, another thing I learned was "repeating" to someone what I read, and then BAM, it moves from your short term memory, to your long term memory. Best way is to read something over several days, really does sneak and spread through your neurons.

So this article talks about Multimodal Teaching (using as many modes of input as possible). The author's point and my point as well, is that there is always a way to understand something, but understanding isn't enough, remembering is more important, and there is also several methods to accomplish that. Now this article is pretty interesting for educators, and I believe presenters of any kind of information to any audience.

This sort of also remind me of the movie Limitless. We have a brain, but we don't fully use it. How do we know this? I don't want to get scientific here, I just want you to imagine when we have a deadline, how our brains transform from a serpent to a dolphin's.

There is also a link to an interesting paper about this whole Multimodal Teaching, consider reading it if you want your head to grow a bit bigger, shou Megamind a7san?

[Photo Source] http://www.sodahead.com

Reliant on technology a bit too much?

I am sure this is a question we don't even dare ask ourselves. Smartphone, internet on your phone, constantly checking your email, and everyone expecting you to answer them at any minute of the day.

Remember when you were too shy to call someone at their home after 9pm or before 10am? 

Remember when you used to go pick up your friend, and tell them when you left your home by calling them, and then honking on arrival or ringing them on their house's inter-phone?

Remember when we used to go camping, and we did not having a cell in our hands when we were sitting under a tree or firing a camp fire?

Remember when we used to leave the house and not panic because we did not have a metal square like gadget in our hand?

Also remember when we used to not be held accountable when we did not reply to an email?

Anyway, check out these folks, who's complete reliance on GPS led the woman to be stranded for two months, and the man to get "completely" lost. 

Recalculating... Don't trust your GPS

Puma Ocean

When you spend a while thinking what title to give a photo, you think should it be something funny, deep, romantic... Most of the time, photos can be beautiful on their own, but when they have a title, the photographer is able to translate something, something hidden to her audience. And other times, you look at a photo and you say, what beautiful scenery, what a large ocean, what a vast sky... limitless... but what are Puma shoes doing there? Why do I always include my sneakers inside those photos, what am I trying to prove? That I was there? Are my feet my identity now? Why don't I put a photo of my portrait with that landscape ...

I will tell you why.

This is how I saw it. The photo, of the landscape, is how I saw it.

So need I give a title to this photo? Or should I just tell you, that I was cold, the sky was beautiful, and the sound of the waves crashing on the shore but most importantly, that my phone cam is not bad during daylight. No title is needed. After all, I just babbled almost 200 words.

Know yourself first. Can it get any harder?

Life constantly makes you become someone you don't recognize at times where you need yourself the most. Surival First

You can run away from people, from places, from family, from work... But where do you run away from yourself? You suddenly find yourself stalking you, you no longer want that newly acquired habit, or newly reached way of thinking to be anywhere near you. You don't want to know what's going on, you just want it to go away. 

When you get to a point where you rely on a coin to make important decisions for you, this is when you know something went wrong. But what is right or wrong really? How confused can someone get? How hard can things be?

Lesson I finally learned and have now engraved in my brains, is never ever to judge anyone else, or wonder "why" they're thinking that way or "why" they behaved that way. When amateur you think you know a lot, when pro, you realize you know nothing.

This comes down to what Socrates said, the simplest thing I've heard, a sentence you think you understand, but completely and utterly miss out on realizing every moment of every day during your entire life.

Know Thyself

Phone Weirdo

I have been getting this a lot lately, from friends and colleagues and people I work with. It's about the way I communicate on the phone, something very close to someone shocked and just held a phone in their hands for the first time.

I swear I don't do this on purpose, something possesses me when I pick up the phone. Actually someone pointed it out recently to me, and made fun of me, thank YOU (you know yourself).

I am gonna do this T-Shirt:

Don't like talkin' on phone. 

Tweet.me.instead.

Perfectionism sucks sometimes

What do you think about when some "perfectionist" people, tend to "perfect" a project they're working on, and take all the time they need, and while they're "perfecting" their work, someone else comes and does it before them; and then end up gaining THE momentum, money, fame, reactions, whatever the case may be... 

So "to perfect"? Or just get by? Or does it depend on the project?

To my mom

It's been several years mom would be away on Mother's day.

I am guilty of not treating mom as much as she deserves, one of my biggest flaws is my attachment to my laptop, internet and writing. She'd be sitting right there beside me, but I'd be living in my own binary world. If not that, I'd be out and about. In a nutshell, I appear as a lousy daughter.

But what mom doesn't know or maybe it's because I don't show it much, is how much I love her, admire her and respect her.

Mom taught me to be honest, to respect, to dream, to change the course of my life if needed, not to be afraid to speak my mind, and all that without offending people.

Mom taught me an important lesson. So many times I'd get back home angry from something, and instead of blindly supporting me, she would actually point out if it was my fault, but in a cute manner. Of course I'd get mad at her, go to my room, close the door like any teenager, adolescent and adult :P would do, but when I'd sit alone, I would ponder about how wise she is, and would realize that I should be more fair and more objective.

I always had a bad temper, I still do. Everyone who knows me are thinking: "But you're so calm!" Yes I am, and it is because of mom. She helped me learn how to control my anger and look at things more positively.

I am a better person, a more patient one because of you mom. And I owe my imagination and modest (really modest) creativity to the stories you used to make up for me before I'd go to sleep when I was a child.

You my mom, are the most important person in my life. 

Be happy mamie, and khalleh 3al daghet ba2al yinzal 7ajik m3ateltineh hammik :P Ba3dik sabiye wlo!

When you wake up thinking about Red Velvet & Chocolate cake ball

... then you know you have been bitten by Le Gustav - Innovation Sucrée, more like, you have bitten Le Gustav. I don't know what I can add to what Micheline already beautifully described and said about Le Gustav in her blog post, except one thing:

After Chef Noor offers me a Chocolate cake ball, or a Red velvet ball (yes, they love me this much), the second I take a bite, I instantly get transported to another world full of happiness, joy, satisfaction, love, daisies, rainbows, marshmallow clouds, floating in the air, porsches... yes, those 2-3 minutes are simply heaven to me. Yes! Heaven!

I have been planning on grabbing my not-so-bad-camera and shooting those desserts, but hey.. you know how forgetful and lazy I am, so for now, just look at the lame iPhone's camera photos, and I promise I shall bring you much much better photos. It will also be a challenge for me to do some Dessert Photography.

Red Velvet Cake on the top. Chef Noor baking :)

More and more red velvets (Yes I love this cake)

Red Velvet Balls with Melted white chocolate on the top

Tarts with Pomegranate

Chef Noor pouring Melted White Chocolate on a Red velvet cake

Convinced? I am sure you are! Check the map of Le Gustav :)

Just believe, you're not gonna be sexy forever

I used to say: "I will buy a house soon!", the responses I would get would range from "Why? It's the guy who is supposed to buy the house!" macho tone to "You look like you don't want to get married, hein!" sarcastic lame tone to "But this way, the future husband will get greedy, and will only marry you for the house!" evil tone

And, my response would be mostly : "meh"

They don't get it. It's not about me + someone. It's just about me! If I want to buy a house, it's for me!

Me... me... me! *mouse like voice*

We no longer live in in the 19th century, where the girl remained illiterate, and had to rely on a man to make a life. Now, things are different. Do I really need to explain how? Seriously?

I am not rooting for being alone forever, far from that, I believe happiness is to be shared, so are achievements and goals. I am just saying, if a woman is alone, it doesn't mean she's "incomplete". So cut her some slack.

This is a shout out to many women, single or not, you are a whole on your own. Embrace it. You rock. Not all of you, some of you really need to restart their brains and stop thinking that their only role in this life is cooking and cleaning (that is what the cook and cleaning person are for) and raising kids (it's not your sole job)! Yeah you can do much more for the community, in the industry, for the country, just believe!

So did this post distract you with all these photos of these sexy and beautiful women? I really don't know why they're here. I have no idea what my point is. Hmmm. You got an idea what my point was? Maybe I just wanted to tease you. I donno.

Thanks for twitter people for helping me find these photos and include them in this post.

Happy Women's Day :)

Let me tell you why God doesn't exist

See and follow through my epic logic. You know in Math, there is a method called "par recurrence" used to prove something, after validating it for x = 1, 2, 3 and then "par recurrence" or "by induction?" we prove that it's also valid for x = n.

Now I play the lottery maybe once every 6 months. 

x = 1 was when I said: "God, if I win the lottery, I will distribute them on my family"

Did not win

x = 2 was when I said: "God, if I win the lottery, I will distribute them on my family and friends and charities, I don't want anything for myself"

Did not win

x = 3 was when I said: "God, if I win the lottery, I will keep them for me, me me me me... only me!" Yes, I tried the selfish one

Did not win

So by induction, I should conclude that I will never win, and God doesn't exist. But hey, I am going to try to validate for x = 4. "God, if I win the lottery, I will run naked in front of all twitter people".

Kidding :P Not even 10 million dollars would make me do anything like that! MEH