How my blog turned into Shayma Ali

Ladies and gentlemen, if I ever even begin to consider plastic surgery smack me. I have no self control. A simple exercise on this blog has lead me to believe that I will inevitably turn into Shayma Ali if I ever went the surgery route.

So this is what happened, I was uninspired by the look of my blog, so I considered a face lift.

Add another sidebar. Change the colors. Find a completely new theme. Add enough widgets to make a blog reader's head spin. Delete all the widgets. Bring some back. Change the header. Decide that the header was too girly. Change it back. Make it bigger.

Search other blogs. Hmm Nav Menus are for important people. Decide I am important enough for a menu. Get a menu. Have nothing to put in the menu since I'm actually not important enough for a menu. Delete the menu. What the heck, bring the anorexic menu back. Change the display picture. Consider branding. Rethink branding the blog with my feet. Decide I like my feet picture so much, I keep it.

I had to stop somewhere. Readers, this way taking over my day. I don't like the way it looks but I'm going to keep it anyway. Because ultimately unlike Shayma Ali, this is not my face. And I don't care.

So that's the story of my blog face lift and how it lead me to understand Shayma's conundrum.

I've had nothing to say (that could not be said on twitter) for almost two months now. I don't want my blog to be all politics all the time. Since that's what has been on my mind for awhile, I stopped blogging. Oh well.

In other news, Glitter has tagged me in an internet meme. Since I have nothing better to do, I'm gonna do it.

قوانين التاج السلطاني

اذكر اسم من طلب منك حل هذا الواجب
تحدث عن ستة أسرار قد لا يكتشفها من يقابلك للمرة الأولى
حول هذا الواجب إلى ستة مدونين، واذكر أسماءهم مع روابط مدوناتهم في موضوعك
اترك تعليقا في مدونة من حولت الواجب إليهم، ليعلموا عن هذا الواجب

Six secrets:

1) I've had a close friend get mad at me for not sharing my secrets with her. I don't really have many secrets.

2) I hate how cynical I am of the world. I want to be one of those really earnest people I scoff at.

3) I find most bloggers vapid. (please see #2)

4) I've caught too many people lying online, now I'm obsessed with being authentic.

5) I love my voice. I'm a pretty small woman but I have a very clear authoritative voice.

6) I was supposed to be on the Mavi Marmara. I got a nasty infection two days before my flight to Istanbul.

Sorry, I won't be tagging others to do this. By all means, link back if you saw this here and decided to do it.

objects in mirror are closer than they appear

objects in mirror are closer than they appear
Originally uploaded by wmliu

I was blog-hopping the other day and came across a real life acquaintance's blog. It's amusing and creepy because it seems that either this person is embellishing their life greatly or living a secretive double life.

I often wonder how honest bloggers are. I understand that most of us write our entries with keystrokes of both fact and fiction. We bold our thoughts, italicize our reactions and upload pictures that we choose very carefully.

Somewhere within these uniquely constructed realities our truths lie. Afterall, our online personas are only one facet of ourselves right?

I've known quite a few people who are the proverbial life of the facebook party but are wall flowers in real life. Or are against talking to men and consider me a heathen for having male friends and are very friendly with dudes either on blogs or on facebook. I find this dichotomy both fascinating and disturbing.

It's extremely offputting to me because I've chosen a very strong "World, this is me. I live with this me everyday, at home and out, in front of my parents and away, in Kuwait and abroad, in real life and on the interwebs"-approach to life.

How truthful to your real-life self are you? If I found out who you are, or came across your blog, how shocked would I be?

I'm a LADY!

Hallelujah! Interwebs think I'm a lady! Found here.

ChickenPox: the Quirks meme.

Like an ugly stomach bug that's been going around, I knew this was coming.

The 6 quirks meme courtesy of Palomino



1) I hate gum. (and poprocks.) *
2) When at a restaurant, I can't sit with my back to an aisle or anywhere else people walk. (I got whacked on the back of my head with a hotplate once, my life has never been the same.)
3) I have to wash my feet before I go to bed.
4) When IMing...I punctuate everything with ellipses...I do that on the blog also... I dunno why...it just seems like more of a conversation....like this...*
5) I cannot sleep with wet hair. (I thought this was normal.)*
6) I'm obsessed with organizing, decluttering and minimalism. My vanity's top is completely empty, everything is in drawers. In my bathroom, the only visible products (I tear of labels or change bottles to nicer ones) are those I use daily, everything else is in baskets on shelves.


Consider yourself tagged if you'd like to do the meme.

* quirks provided by NobRa.

AlFarhan released!

Fouad Al-Farhan has been released from jail this morning. WoooHoooo!!!

Today marks 100 days in jail for Saudi Blogger Fouad Al-Farhan.

To whom it may concern,

One of the reasons I blog is because I have found that writing a journal is very cathartic. Unfortunate to me, I'm more comfortable typing than writing by hand...but when I did journal on my laptop I wasn't comfortable sharing it (my sister borrows it a lot). In an effort to become a kinder, more generous sister: I created a blog.

I blog for myself. For no one in particular and for everyone. I have shared my blog with a few people but none of my family.

I chose to be anonymous because I share my frustrations about friends and family a lot. I'm very private in real life. Many times I share personal information or feelings I'm not comfortable fessing up to in real life. I'm not hiding behind an pseudonym, I'm shedding a sometimes constricting shell.

Having said that, I don't need to be anonymous. I don't have much to hide. I'm not a "bad" girl by any stretch of the imagination. I don't lead a double-life. I haven't written anything that I am ashamed of.


So when I get e-mails that say "I know who you are." I laugh them off...good for you*. I know who I am too. Then, when they assume I'm threatened by their emails, I get very confused. I have no idea why people think that would scare me. It doesn't. Absolute worst case scenario is I'll click the delete blog button and move on with my life and journal elsewhere.

If you have problems keeping your multiple personalities straight and imagined lives apart, I don't. I don't Jekyll or Hyde. Like Popeye, I am who I am. The same person. In the house and out. In Kuwait and abroad. Online and in real life. (But you knew that since you "know" me!)


Please don't project your flippin' insecurities on me.


Now, if my blog touches you in anyway, whether it makes you laugh (at/with me...doesn't really matter), feel good about yourself, amuses you, or tickles your fancy in anyway at all please don't hesitate to read along and join the conversation if you feel inclined to do so. (I have nothing against you personally. well, I'll forget soon enough.)


All I ask is that you respect my privacy.


*Hey smartypants...I'm easily identifiable on the blog anyway. I've gotten two "do you blog?" phone calls as well as a few emails. What can I say...my great personality shines through! (in case you're the dimwit I think you are...that was a joke)

"I don't want to be forgotten in jail"

Fouad Al-Farhan, a 32 year old Saudi blogger, was detained on December 10,2007 "for violating rules not related to state security," according to the Saudi government.

The father of two was told by a source that there was an official order out for his arrest. In light of these events, Al-Farhan wrote a letter to his friends.

According to the letter, Al-Farhan was being detained for spearheading an online propaganda campaign supporting a few political prisoners who were charged under the guise of "terrorism".

The source, according to the letter, asked Al-Farhan to write an apology letter. "An apology for what?," Al-Farhan wrote, "for saying the government lied when it accused reformers of supporting terrorism?"

The worst case scenario would be that he spends three days in prison, the official told him according to the letter.

The blogger asked his friends to publish the letter if he is gone for over 3 days. He's been detained for 53 days, as of today.

"I don’t want to be forgotten in jail,” he told his friends.

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This is not a domestic Saudi issue as it has happened here as well. This is an issue for all of us, at least those of us who consider the internet a sounding board for their thoughts.

This is it...this is the new frontier and we have to earn our right to use it; to make it our home.

I starting reading his blog after he was detained, read (in Arabic) some of my favorite posts of his here and here.

(Shame on you Saudi government for painting people you dislike with the "terrorist" brush. Who do you think you are George W. Bush?)

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This situation reminds me of a famous quote by pastor Martin Niemoller:

In Germany they first came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me -
and by that time no one was left to speak up.