7aki Fadi

Dentists and Hair Dressers: A Comparative Study

Posted on November 20, 2009 by 7aki Fadi

There are two chairs I don’t like to occupy; Dentists and Hair dressers.

They both manage to make me super self-conscious.

With Hair dressers my hair is never good enough, it’s either too dry, or it’s too oily, it is too long or too short, I either condition it too much or I don’t do it enough.

I mention what products I use and they gasp in horror. HOW COULD YOU USE this kind of gel/shampoo/conditioner, you are KILLING your HAIR. You must buy this $100 gel/shampoo/conditioner.

I leave the hair salon thinking I have the worst hair on the planet. I am not worthy of having hair.

Same happens at the dentist office. No matter how nice my teeth are and the fact I never get cavities EVER is not good enough for them. I either don’t use enough mouth rinse or I use it too much, I can never seem to floss the proper way or enough times.And my gums, THE HORROR.

I mention what products I use and they gasp in horror. HOW COULD YOU USE this kind of toothpaste/rinse/floss, you are KILLING your GUMS. You must buy this $100 toothpaste/rinse/floss.

I leave the dentist office thinking I have the worst gums on the planet. I am not worthy of having teeth.

Going to either feels like being in an abusive relationship, I am never good enough and I keep going for more.

Are you in an abusive relationship?

Filed under: Funny, Hilarious, Just Shoot Me, beauty, humor, kill me now | 3 Comments »

This “Sharing Business”.

Posted on November 18, 2009 by 7aki Fadi

Me: I am going to buy 2 bars of chocolate, one for you and one for me and peanut to share.

Little 7aki: Can I have a piece from yours when I finish mine?

Me: But you have a whole bar for yourself! Why would you want to share your sisters?

Little 7aki: Because I always share my stuff with her.

Me: Well no, you have your own so I will not share with you.

Little 7aki, with a hint of attitude in her stance : This is not fair! ….. OK, from now on I don’t want to hear about any of this ….. (while she did double finger quotes in the air) …. “sharing business” .

Me: HA HA HA HA HA. What did you say? (I was thinking, I must be imagining things)

Little 7aki: This ….. (while AGAIN she did double finger quotes in the air) …. “sharing business”

And I passed out from laughing.

Wow.

She is double quoting.

Dude, when did this development happen?

She is five. FIVE!

I AM DOOMED.

Filed under: Funny, Hilarious, Little 7aki, Mothering, family, humor, life | 8 Comments »

Is There Such a Thing As a Moderate Muslim Woman?

Posted on November 17, 2009 by 7aki Fadi

Moderate Muslim Women in the Muslim Society have it hard.

Last Eid got me thinking about the state of Moderate Muslim families / non practicing Muslims particularly women.

We have an Arab mosque close to our house. We drove by it on our way to the traditional Eid lunch with the family. In the mosque courtyard there was some kind of bazaar/activities to celebrate Eid and it was busy with people and children.

Here in Canada Eid is viewed more as a religious affair. Most of the celebrations revolve around mosques and such things. So it makes it really hard for moderate people to participate in such activities.

I would have loved to participate in such events so my kids can feel the sense of community, to soak in the Eid experience that is full of joy for them.

But I was disheartened because even if she was to go, I can be no part of that experience. The combination if woman, no hijab and mosque don’t go together.

Men are allowed to go in mosques anytime and they don’t have to change themselves or hide anything, but I as a woman have to change, my clothes , my demeanor , almost everything to be able to participate. And I am not only talking about going into the mosque itself, I am talking about any activities organized by a religious entity.

Moderate Muslim women can be no part of such activities.

It’s hard for me to understand or define what is it to be an accepted moderate muslim woman. Does it mean you have to wear the hijab but not practice? Does it mean you do not wear the hijab but you practice. Or is it to be aware of the teachings but not practice or wear the hijab?

It’s harder for a woman to be moderate because while a man can hide his religion inside him, in his heart, the woman has to have it on public display.

What are your thoughts?

Filed under: Eid, Expat, family, religion | 12 Comments »

The Blind Assassin

Posted on November 16, 2009 by 7aki Fadi

“Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge.” These words are spoken by Iris Chase Griffen, married at eighteen to a wealthy industrialist but now poor and eighty-two. Iris recalls her far from exemplary life, and the events leading up to her sister’s death, gradually revealing the carefully guarded Chase family secrets. Among these is “The Blind Assassin,” a novel that earned the dead Laura Chase not only notoriety but also a devoted cult following. Sexually explicit for its time, it was a pulp fantasy improvised by two unnamed lovers who meet secretly in rented rooms and seedy cafés. As this novel-within-a-novel twists and turns through love and jealousy, self-sacrifice and betrayal, so does the real narrative, as both move closer to war and catastrophe. Margaret Atwood’s Booker Prize-winning sensation combines elements of gothic drama, romantic suspense, and science fiction fantasy in a spellbinding tale.

From the Hardcover edition.

I have not seen a story as well constructed as this one. What an amazing story teller Atwood is. What a great read.

This book is a novel within a novel within a novel within a novel. Four novels in one. Sounds confusing? It might be to some people and I thought it was brilliant.

As heart breaking the story is in some parts it’s really witty in others. I actually chuckled a bunch of times.

No wonder it won a booker prize, it makes you want to quote it a lot. It’s going on my favorites book list.

What’s on my reading list next? Not sure, Moby dick Maybe? The count of monte cristo?

Click here for more reviews.

Filed under: Book, Book Review, Book Club, Books, Good read, fiction | Leave a Comment »

His Dark Materials

Posted on November 15, 2009 by 7aki Fadi

I watched the movie “The golden compass” when it first came out, although I haven’t had read the book at the time, and was very disappointed in it. I thought it could have been much more. So I was hesitant to read the books.

A year ago as I was browsing in one of those cheap books stores I found the whole trilogy for a very good price and I could not resist buying it. Forward one year , I was low on reading material so I grabbed it and I was pleasantly surprised! I was kicking myself for not reading them sooner.

I just have finished reading His Dark Materials Trilogy (The Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass).

The trilogy is geared towards children but I have to say that it needs a level of maturity to be read. I belive that maybe the kids should be at least 11- 13 to read it since it does contain some information that could be hard to process.

In the books we get to know the 11 year old brave girl Lyra Belacqua and her daemon Pantalaimon who live in a parallel world to ours in Oxford. Lyra takes us with her on her adventure were we get to meet many interesting beings who become her closest friends and allies.

What I found surprising (and I truly did not expect in the books) was the religious (or anti religious as some people would say) aspect of it. It talks about how religion corrupts and how it could turn people into evil beings. It talks about angles and death. It talks about how the soul occupies not only us, but the whole world. It talks about God and the idea of God .

All of these things existence and purpose are questioned and searched.

Truly a thought-provoking trilogy, surprisingly philosophical. The author is truly talented when it comes to creating all these fantasy parallel worlds to ours.

Wether you are a person of faith or not I encourage you to read it. The trilogy is very well written and very thought-provoking.

Next review: The Blind Assassin by Margarete Atwood

Click here for more reviews.

Filed under: Book, Book Review, Books, Good read, Philosophy, Thought Provoking, fiction, thinking | 3 Comments »

Fabrications

Posted on November 9, 2009 by 7aki Fadi

What fabrications they are, mothers. Scarecrows, wax dolls for us to stick pins into, crude diagrams. We deny them an existence of their own, we make them up to suit ourselves – our own hungers, our own wishes, our own deficiencies. Now that I’ve been one myself, I know.

Margarete Atwood

The Blind Assassin

I don’t know why but as soon as I read this in “The Blind Assassin” it struck such a cord.

It is true. When a woman becomes a mother she stops being just a woman, a human, an individual, she becomes a mother, a super hero , the whole family and everything is directly connected to her, affected by her and dependent on her. The success of the husband, the kids the marriage attributed to her along with the blame for any of their failures.

All hung on her like ornaments hung on a Christmas tree. Like a Christmas tree it starts out beautiful and green and will eventually dry and become brittle. It will still hold the ornaments but it will become tired and old. Weighed down by those sparkly ornaments.

It made me think of my mother and all the things that happened to us and her in our life, all the things that went right or wrong. The resentment and the gratefulness I feel towards her all at the same time. Made me realize how selfish we can be and how much we hang on our mothers. Sometimes the weight is too heavy but we never hear them complain.

I love you mom.

Go tell your mom that you love her and maybe unload some of that weight she carries for you.

Filed under: 7aki mish fadi, Book, Books, Good read, Mothering, life | 5 Comments »

A Dose of Vampires: Twilight Series

Posted on October 26, 2009 by 7aki Fadi

I recently finished reading the infamous Twilight book Series .

There are four books in the series : Twilight , New Moon , Eclipse and Breaking Dawn.

The first book was good, it captured my attentuion and I wanted to contiune reading it. Not deep reading by no means but a good distraction. The main character Bella, the human and Edward the vampire were intersting. How do they get along, what happens to them , etc etc.

As for the movie Twilight, IT SUCKED. It was sooo bad. Nothing like the book. Just a watered down version of the book and just blah.

With New Moon, the main female characher Bella started to annoy me, she is soo whiny and just … well .. whines all the time. But it was sitll intersting because the other male lead characther Jacob appears so it’s intersting to see his development in the book. I like Jacob, I think I am on team Jacob.

As for Eclipse, I truly believe that it’s completely redundant and frankly boring. Bella continued to grate on my nerves and at this point I think that I would prefer to read about other people in the book. She is just so annoying.

So before I started reading Breaking Dawn I was dreading reading about oh poor Bella blah blah blah. And as if the Author Stephanie Meyer read my mind and knew that Bella is annoying, she let Jacob narrate half the book and I think that is the books saving grace. Jacob is funny and cute and gives the characters another dimension. So I enjoyed this book . Up until the annoying Bella started narrating again.

All in all these books are light distracting reads that can be enjoyable at times.

I give it one thumb up and one thumb down.

Next review is going to be His Dark Materials Trilogy (The Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass)

More reviews? Go here.

Filed under: Book, Book Review, Books | 9 Comments »

To vaccinate or not To Vaccinate That is the Question – The Swine Flu Edition

Posted on October 23, 2009 by 7aki Fadi

The H1N1 vaccine is finally ready in Canada and it’s getting shipped out to all clinics and I have to make the decision whether to give it to my Girls or not. So I am beyond confused and here is what I got:

- Our family Doctor said, don’t do it, too risky since it was not tested enough
- Every Doctor on TV says, do it , it’s safe, the benefit outweighs the risks by a million
- Most importantly, Dr Hareega says to do it.
- My coworkers sisters brother in law – who is a doctor – says don’t do it.

My question is, are the doctors basing their recommendations on pure science or are they using their personal judgment? Because it seems every doctor is saying something different. Usually doctors agree but it seems they are split right in the middle.

I decided that I am certainly getting it for myself since I get the regular flu shot every year and this shot is no different. Maybe give it to my 5 year old since last year she took the regular flu shot for the first time. But should I give it to the baby? My Husband says he does not want to take it, so if he gets sick he will get the baby sick.

Everybody I know who got the H1N1 Flu got really sick, thankfully did not have to be hospitalized but still suffered a lot.

What should I do?

Filed under: 7aki mish fadi, 7aki peanut, Little 7aki, Mothering, baby, family, thinking | 10 Comments »

Murder in the Name of Honour

Posted on October 20, 2009 by 7aki Fadi

I always admired Rana Husseini’s work but after I read her book “Murder in the Name of Honor” I now admire her even more for her courage, drive and continuous fight for the victims of the – so called – honour crimes. She challenges the status quo even if it threatens her life.

Where the media fails to talk about honour crimes around the world in detail Rana Husseini succeeds.

Rana starts us on her journey of becoming the first and only voice in Jordan, at the time, of the victims of the – so called – honour crimes. She read a short article in the newspaper about a woman killed in the name of honour and decided to go , all by herself, to the girls neighbourhood to learn from her family; Why was she murdered? Who killed her? What happened? I daresay a task most courageous men might be afraid to perform.

She details some of the cases, she talks about her supporters but most importantly does not shy from naming the people, mostly big figures in Jordan, standing in the way of achieving justice for the victims.

What I found very interesting are her interviews with some of the men who have murdered their daughters, sisters or wives. I was interested in seeing the other side of the story, how did these men decide to commit the crime? How were they pushed to doing it and by whom? After committing the crime, how are these men handling it? How do they live with the fact that they killed a loved one?

Although most of these men were celebrated in their neighbourhoods after they committed the crime, they were mostly ruined men after. No one marries their girls to these men in fear that they will do the same to their wife or children. No one in the society that pushed them to perform this crime stood by them after the fact or cared what happened to them. They were simply shunned.

So called honour crimes do not just simply kill the victim but they also ruin families. The crime leaves the family completely ruined and in shambles.

I can’t do the book justice by this review, I urge you to read it. This book is a great resource and full of useful information about honour crimes in the region.

Click here for more of my book reviews

Filed under: 7aki mish fadi, Book, Book Review, Books, Good read, human rights | 5 Comments »

Blog Action Day – Reduce Climate Change and Have Better Life Quality All at the Same Time

Posted on October 15, 2009 by 7aki Fadi

Due to expensive housing, most Canadians live an average of about 40 KM from work. Getting to work is truly a challenge especially during the cold stormy winter months.

Taking public transportation is great and readily available everywhere which makes it so much easier to get to work, so I do that, I take 2 trains and it takes me about an hour and fifteen minutes to get to work.

You do the math, 1.25 h * 2 times a day * 5 days = 12.5 hours a week. Just to get to work.

That’s Crazy!

Although I do enjoy those 12.5 hours reading, time otherwise I don’t have, I would rather be doing something else instead.

With the advance in technology there is no longer a need to be physically at work to be productive which brings me to what I think would be the BEST solution to this problem.

What most Canadian companies should do is what is called office sharing . Two employees share a desk where they do not have to come in to work everyday, they come in 2-3 times a week and work from home the rest of the week. The desk is shared with someone who comes in on the alternate days.

Think about it.
The employer:
- Saves money on rent and utilities since they have to rent half the space.
- Consuming less energy.
- Making more revenue because they are cutting the above costs
- Helping the environment by reducing energy consumption. It’s amazing to just learn how much energy is consumed and spent to run a business.

The employees:
- Are not driving/taking Public transportation to work which reduces green house emissions
- Save money by not having to spend it on public transportation, gas and parking.
- Have better quality of life by not having to spend so much time traveling to work
- Family unit is happier because the stress of getting to work is relieved thus the employee is happier thus the employee is more productive.

I could go on and on about the benefits of this.

I think this should be implemented where it can be. Some agencies are already doing it and I think eventually most companies should.

What ideas do you have to reduce climate change? Blog about it because today is “Blog Action Day” and it’s all about climate change.

Filed under: Blog Action Day, Environment | 6 Comments »

Blog Action Day – Climate Change

Posted on October 13, 2009 by 7aki Fadi

Join us

Filed under: 7aki mish fadi, Blog Action Day | 2 Comments »

Random Early Thoughts of the Day

Posted on October 9, 2009 by 7aki Fadi

- Some people SHOULD NOT be allowed to procreate and pass down their genes.

- I can’t believe it, not matter how early I show up at work there are always people there. I will come to work at 6 am next time. IN YOUR FACE EARLY PEOPLE.

- I am hosting thanksgiving dinner this year….WHAT? YIKES!

- I like to say things in all caps. Is it annoying? Because I am not gonna stop

- It seems that all the great Jordanian bloggers are gone. Except for a handful I can count on one hand. Was blogging just a fad?

- THANKSGIVING DINNER. Yikes.

- I think I am turning into a shopaholic. Too bad I am broke. Or should I be thanking God I am broke?

- I need a raise so I can shop.

- I love my girls. Sigh.

- It’s a long weekend this weekend, yaaaaaay. Oh wait. THANKSGIVING. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

- This post has no purpose maybe I should say something intelligent.

- Did you know that they crashed something on the moon today? ON PURPOSE. Pretty cool if I say so myself.

- The end.

Filed under: random | 10 Comments »

Overheard in the Lunch Room 1

Posted on October 7, 2009 by 7aki Fadi

My new cubicle is located right next to the lunch room so I get to hear a lot of chatter during the day so I will start a series called: overheard in the lunch room.

Way too talkative colleague (AKA the Nanny because she sounds like Nanny Fran): When I go in the shower, first, I scrub real hard and …..

At this point I tuned her out because, DUDE , I didn’t really want the mental image to stay with me all day.

Filed under: Hilarious, Overheard in the Lunch Room, co-workers, humor, work | 7 Comments »

The Guilt of Bieng a Working Mom

Posted on September 27, 2009 by 7aki Fadi

I was watching Queen Rania during her discussion at Yale university and a question she was asked really bothered me.

Females are always asked this question especially women in big leadership roles and who happen to also be mothers. They are always asked:” How do you balance your work and family and how do you do it as a mother?”

Why is this question never asked from men?

It is really frustrating for women to always be asked this question because it kind of makes them feel that although they are very succesful , they have most probably neglected their kids to reach their goals, so how do they balance?

Men are never thought of as neglecting their kids, they are patted on the back and told, wow what a great provider you are , what a great man.

One of the reasons that this bothers me is that most women have no choice. In this expensive day and age most women are working involuntarily, they work to put food on the table. The days of one income households is coming to an end closer and closer, it is so expensive and difficult to only live on the mans income alone so most women have no choice BUT to work.

And no choice but to feel guilty for not being good moms.

So I say enough with the guilt. Women feel so much guilt about this issue from everywhere, media , articles, studies, even friends and family and most frustratingly from other women too.

They are made to feel, hey you are a succesful leader but you know what, how do you do it, maybe you are not as good of a mother as you are a good leader.

I hope that one day there will be a tipping point, the tipping point that will make people see that it’s not only the woman who has to balance work and family, it’s also the mans duty. I am waiting for the day when kings are also asked, how do you balance work and family.

It’s about time men feel the guilt for a change.

Filed under: 7aki mish fadi, Mothering, Rant, family, work | 8 Comments »

On Coming Back to Work and Such

Posted on September 23, 2009 by 7aki Fadi

So I am back in the work force and it took me a record 3 days to realize that although I am excited to be back at work and that I missed it there is a list of things that I have not missed:

1) Committing every speeding violation to drop little 7aki off to the daycare and still make the train that would get me to work at a reasonable time because sauntering in at 9:30 and leaving at 4:00 is apparently “Not Kosher”.

I am pretending that this is my car

2) Still wanting to bitch slap the train riders. HELLOOOOO, news flash, I HAVE PERSONAL SPACE MOFOS, please don’t pretend that I am not sitting in front of you and your STUPID EFFING PURSE is touching my legs, move it Beeeatch.

.
And to you who are sitting next to me, NO , it’s not OK to keep moving your STUPID ELBOWS and touch me every once in a while.

.
And to you back pack carrier. Who , in this day and age, STILL carries a back pack? You are out of elementary school, you should upgrade to different kind of bag … but I digress. When you are walking to get to your seat please FOR THE LOVE OF GOD carry your back pack with your hand because honestly I don’t like to be smacked in the head with a MOFO back pack.

Everybody is invading my personal space

3) The crazies on the subway and street.
Need I say more.
There are LOTS OF THEM in down town Toronto for some reason. In the suburbs we truly live in a cocoon.

OMG there is a guy who looks EXACTLY like that, minus the detonator

4) You know what is sadder than all of the above? That at this point I hadn’t made it to work yet.

This is me when I reach work

5) I like the work part.

6) And then rinse and repeat all of the above in reverse order to get back home.

How I feel but instead of rocks there are trains, people and crazies falling on my head

Filed under: Just Shoot Me, Rant, inhumane, kill me now | 9 Comments »

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