The Coffeehouse

And unrelated to the above, my mom says my room looks like a matbakh (kitchen). How many food-related items can you spot?

Why do we make excuses for good-looking people?

People we deem unattractive wouldn't get away with half the stuff attractive people would...

And I'm using "attractive" and "unattractive" in the loosest form possible, as beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

But the truth remains. A "dirty" joke from an unattractive male/female would get them labeled as "perverted" or "desperate", a look of disgust, and an uncomfortable silence, while attractive people would simply be called "imaginative" or maybe "jerk-y", a slight groan at the bad humour, or a roll of the eyes.

And it can be expanded on. There's a tendency to overlook the personality flaws of those who have the looks to "make up for it", and a tendency to value physical chemistry over intellectual chemistry. Despite its importance, how much can one rely on the physical aspect to be the glue of any relationship, romantic or otherwise? In the end it's our personality and intellect that make us who we are. People complement each other not in the light hair/dark hair type of balance, but in the patient/bad temper type of way. And in the presence of two bad tempers, one cannot be substituted by blonde hair or green eyes to make the relationship easier. Just like a liar is a liar no matter how sexy they are. But it seems that sexy liars get along better in society than frumpy liars. The same concept of "acceptable" and "unacceptable" behaviour is often applied in race, gender, and class. White liar vs. Black liar, rich racist vs. poor racist, and so on. We overlook one more than the other.

Moral of the post: Pretty people can be pretty ugly too...

...but I'd like to meet someone who...

- is a socialist

- is Muslim and religious

- wants to travel/work abroad

- likes sushi

- cares about the environment

- is interested in politics and social justice issues

- is sensitive/funny/all the generic stuff

- likes coffee

- is in my generation

- is single, duh.

See? NOT picky... it is so un-picky, that there's no English word for it....oh wait, delusional.

I know I asked for snow. I asked for sweaters, and mittens, and scarfs, and snowboots. But I did not, I repeat, did NOT, sign up for the cold. That wasn't part of the deal, it was just supposed to be snow. Snow and blue skies.

It's so coooooold. With the windchill, it's been below -20s, and today, I couldn't find my gloves.

My gloves.
My gloves, my gloves, my gloves,
My gloves, my gloves, my gloves,
My lovely winter gloves,
Check it out!

Here is my book tag from Abed:

The rules are: Grab the book closest to you, Open to page 123-Scroll down to the 5th sentence, post the text of next 3 sentences on your blog-Name of the book and the author, Tag 3 people.

Answer:

Although the federal EA process still has the natural environment as its primary focus, given the definition of environment in the Act, proponents are directed to consider social impacts. Environment is meant to mean 'the components of the Earth' and to include '(a) land, water and air, including all layers of the atmosphere, (b) all organic and inorganic matter and living organisms, and (c) the interacting natural systems that include components referred to in (a) and (b) while environmental effects are to include "any effect of any such change on health and socio-economic conditions"' (CEAA 1992, 2(1)).

In practice, the environmental effects of a federal project should include changes in the biophysical environment caused by the project, as well as 'certain effects that flow directly from those changes, including effects on.....

- From Kevin S. Hanna (Ed.) Environmental Impact Assessment: Practice and Participation

So technically, those weren't 3 sentences, but is it my fault I get the longest sentences in history?! The third sentence continues into a list. And Abed, I really must thank you for this tag, because honestly, this is the first time I've read anything in this book, and it's a required text for one of my classes, AND I had a test today for that course, and I just studied my notes....

And 10 Things You Didn't Know About Me from Digital Nomad:

1) I make the bestest Cherry Cheesecake ever. (It's actually Mom's recipe)

2) I was born in Kuwait.

3) I went to three different highschools.

4) I had my adenoids taken out when I was 5 years old. (You were dying to know that)

5) I hate lentil soup.

6) My two favourite childhood teddy bears were called Bunzwella and Bunny Joe (B.J. for short). Bunzwella actually went through several name changes including Sara and possibly Barbie. They're both packed somewhere in the basement.

7) I started another part-time job at Virgin Mobile. (Is this weird? An Arab guy and his friend approached me needing help sending a ringtone from one cellphone to the next via Bluetooth, and they didn't know you had to turn on Bluetooth in both phones....)

8) I ate a champagne flavoured jelly-bean when I was younger, and it said "natural flavours" on the box, and I freaked out. (Because as a Muslim, alcohol is prohibited)

9) I have an e-crush on this guy.

10) I dissected a cat in biology class.