Grow Up Tag Free

Archive for January 2008

Bugs Flying the Naked Skies

In Bits & pieces on January 31, 2008 at 9:59 pm

I must add a new category titled “Bizarro,” where I document the unusual things I always end up discovering. I don’t know how exactly I come to discover them, but I always do. Where is Freud when you need him?

Over at Naked Air, there are pictures of a flight that headed in 2003 towards Mexico, where the passengers were stark naked –every one of them. Don’t click the link unless you are SURE you like seeing naked, saggy, disproportionate middle-aged men and women proudly parading their goods in the plane’s aisles.

I wonder what sort of food they served on that plane.

And then, did you know that Isabella Rossellini featured in several short movies called Green Porno where she acted as a male insect and well, acted out the ways of a bug’s sex life? Ew.

What is this world coming to, I ask you!

I shall say no more.

Beowulf

In Opinion on January 31, 2008 at 3:52 pm

I missed Beowulf at the movies, so in a trip to the DVD store I found it there and bought it some four weeks ago. When I got home, I discovered that I did not buy the correct Beowulf movie. I had purchased a movie called Beowulf and Grendel instead. But no problem, I thought, I will watch it anyway.

Beowulf and Grendel was released in 2006, as I later found out when I googled it. The scenery and cinematography were breathtaking but everything else was mediocre for lack of a stronger word. The minute I pressed Play I was lost. I could not understand the story, at all! Thankfully, I know the myth of the hero Beowulf and so knew what to expect, but even that did not really help much. The plot was jumbled, the dialogue unintelligible, and the order of events really, really, illogical. I could not follow.

But of course, I had to challenge myself and force her to watch for some time. I figured maybe things will get better and I will start understanding them. I reminded myself of the time I was reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, when I forced myself time and again to read through the first quarter of the book, denying that I just could not grasp what was going on, only to curse the book and discard it later. I distinctly remember that the following day, upon telling my wise Italian professor about this my ordeal, he smiled and said: “la vita è troppo corta per un libro brutto” — life is too short to waste on a bad book.

Likewise, I eventually gave up on Beowulf and Grendel.

Later on, I got Beowulf, the 2007 production featuring the genius Sir Anthony Hopkins. The movie was loads better than Beowulf and Grendel, I enjoyed it but I expected it to be more profound. Events picked up very quickly after Beowulf slaughtered Grendel, and his relationship with Grendel’s mother was not altogether clear until the end of the movie. The animation was brilliant, but I would have preferred the movie to be un-animated and played out by the actual actors (especially Hopkins).

All in all, Beowulf did not meet my expectations. If I were to rate it, I would give it a 6.5/10, and I am being generous because Hopkins was in it. Hello, Clarice.

Cat Walk vs. Tololy Walk

In T Play Box on January 31, 2008 at 8:33 am

You know you can never win when you’re competing against a cat in gracefulness over snow.

Cat walk:
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Tololy walk:
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And today’s snow forecast:
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The Smallest, Cutest, Snow Babe

In T Play Box on January 30, 2008 at 12:07 pm

Why waste my time and risk catching pneumonia making a huge, beer-belly snowman?

I made the smallest, cutest snow babe instead:

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The picture should reveal how small she is compared to the environment. She is resting on the roof ledge, enjoying the weather and saying hello to the kids in the street. She has a black heart though. Go figure!

The Snow Will Get You

In Jordan on January 30, 2008 at 8:44 am

Awww… The weather people were right this time. I am so happy for them. They have finally saved face.

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(Wearing my Dad’s worn-out snow sneakers although they’re at least eight sizes bigger than my feet)

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I use Havana Brown as my snow measurement tool. Compare if you like.

GodTube

In Bits & pieces on January 29, 2008 at 2:39 pm

I don’t know whether to be amused or petrified. Presidential candidate Huckabee endorsed a Christian video-sharing community called GodTube, with the disturbing motto of “Broadcast Him.”

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Not Him from The Powerpuff Girls cartoon! No, not the devilish transvestite whose name is so awful it cannot be said. Him, as in either god or Huckabee. The parallel is disturbing on so many different levels. Off GodTube, here is a video titled Letter from Hell:

With all due respect to all the believers out there, I am at loss for words. Except maybe this blasphemous question: how do you put god in a tube?

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Human Pet

In Salon on January 29, 2008 at 9:15 am

Here’s a bit of interesting news:

LONDON (Reuters) – A British bus company has apologized to a girl who is led around on a leash by her boyfriend and describes herself as a human pet after one of its drivers threw her off a bus.

Tasha Maltby, 19, told British newspapers she was the “pet” of her 25-year-old fiance Dani Graves.

Pictures showed her dressed in black Gothic-style clothing with silver buckles on a silver chain — which the driver of a bus from the firm Arriva took exception to.

She told the Daily Mail newspaper Wednesday she was thrown off and told: “We don’t let freaks and dogs like you on.”

Now that in certain parts of the world there are laws protecting the rights of LGTB communities, and more are struggling to be added to the list (think zoophiles, perhaps even people who are into BDSM), where should the law draw the line?

Who gets to decide what is acceptable and what is not? Obviously, law-making has many variables; lobbying, sentiments of people at the time, etc. What was once taboo is now legal because of this, and viceversa. Perhaps by this logic we can say that right and wrong are also variables. They change.

So where do you think the law should draw the line? Should people on leashes be allowed on buses? Should people-animal lovers be allowed to dine in the same restaurants as the rest of the normal “us”? Gay people are already allowed most of the freedoms we enjoy, so why not these other communities?

What do you think?

The Shoe That Killed a Woman

In Bits & pieces on January 28, 2008 at 7:09 pm

I go to work wearing my black and white AirWalk sneakers most of the time. It doesn’t matter what clothes I’m wearing, I usually ruin my whole “look” with the sneakers. But I don’t mind, because they’re comfortable and they make me feel like I am walking on clouds.

I like “not feeling” my feet when I walk. High heels usually make you aware of your feet, aware of your step, and they put you on a heightened level of sensitivity and balance. Not only that, they make everyone around aware of the fact that you are approaching. I think this “anticipation of the arrival of a woman” is part of why high heels are sexy. Add to that; they make you walk a certain way, add to your height, and might improve your posture (temporarily before killing it 30 years later).

I love high heels but I always feel they slow me down. When I need to go somewhere where I just have to sit down most of the time, I wear heels. Everywhere else, sneakers.

When ballerina flats became popular, I was delivered. I could wear something flat, unheely, and comfortable. It didn’t slow me down but it looked great and did not cramp my style. I must confess though, I have not bought flats for a long time and have relied solely on my B&W sneakers. However, today I bought this cute black patent leather pair from NEXT, they were on uber-sale:

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And while I’m on the subject of shoes and heels, I came across an eerie, “classy shoe fetish” site that manufactures punitive shoes and sells them for pretty high prices. Check these out:

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I don’t need research to tell me these will kill my back. They don’t even look healthy…punitive indeed!

Make Yourself At Home: Clean My Kitchen

In Life on January 28, 2008 at 12:40 pm

House work is evil, it must be stopped.

If you want breakfast in bed, sleep in the kitchen.

I child-proofed my house but they still get in.

A clean house is a sign of a wasted life.

They lied. Hard work has killed lots of people.

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Amen to all of that.

Domestically Challenged,

Tololy

P.S: You can buy the five-piece set from BlueQ.

I Am a Floating Brain

In Life on January 27, 2008 at 4:22 pm

Now that’s something I never thought I would say.

According to a new theory by cosmologists, published in the New York Times, me and you might just be the momentary spasms of some brains floating in space.

Freaky, I know. Read this:

If true, it would mean that you yourself reading this article are more likely to be some momentary fluctuation in a field of matter and energy out in space than a person with a real past born through billions of years of evolution in an orderly star-spangled cosmos. Your memories and the world you think you see around you are illusions.

If you are a creationist, you will hate this. If you are an evolutionist, you will equally hate this. The “calculations” leading to the theory have not yet been proven correct, but scientists are still working on them.

You have to read the article more than three times to understand it fully. I read it once and a half so far. But just imagine, the idea of us being “notions” of things that happened in the past, and not being real people with real lives — that is fascinating!

The basic problem is that across the eons of time, the standard theories suggest, the universe can recur over and over again in an endless cycle of big bangs, but it’s hard for nature to make a whole universe. It’s much easier to make fragments of one, like planets, yourself maybe in a spacesuit or even — in the most absurd and troubling example — a naked brain floating in space. Nature tends to do what is easiest, from the standpoint of energy and probability. And so these fragments — in particular the brains — would appear far more frequently than real full-fledged universes, or than us. Or they might be us.

Whoa!

The Chirpy Phase

In Personal on January 27, 2008 at 12:56 pm

A friend of mine told me that my recent posts are chirpy. Since the start of January, and the piercing migration episode that I had, I have sort of picked up blogging again. I am not sure why this has happened, and I do not remember thinking at one point “alright now, back to blogging regularly. Break is over.”

And the truth of the matter is; I didn’t return after a conscious decision to do so. I just had things that I felt like blogging about, and when I blogged about them, you came. It was purely coincidental. For all I know, this might not last. I might not have “returned” at all.

When I said I am taking a break, I had decided it will be for at least one year. I had (have) things going on in my life that I imagined would drain my attention and I would not be able to communicate with anyone outside my GTalk list. I was feeling exceptionally down, defiant, liberated, and hostage. They were very dark times.

I still feel this way but I think that the more you push yourself to do, the more you achieve regardless of what your circumstances may be. I don’t mean to say that this blog here is in any way an addition to world heritage, or that it makes a difference in anyone’s life, but it sure has made a difference in mine.

Perhaps I semi-returned because I realized I had lost my fight. Perhaps because I realized I have nothing to lose, maybe things cannot get any worse and so, what’s the point of not blogging about them? It’s a fight either way, maybe documenting it will help. Brooding certainly won’t.

So, people who read this blog, that was my reflective thought for the day. Enjoy the chirpy phase while it lasts :)

Alien Impact Poisons Canadian Town

In Bits & pieces on January 26, 2008 at 5:15 pm

I think aliens are the coolest things after flavored yogurt. I once thought I spotted an UFO, but it turned out to be a chopper. Well, Discovery News report that an alien impact had actually poisoned the water of one Canadian town, leading to health problems.

The ancient impact shattered the granitic ground so that extraordinary amounts of fluoride now taint the well water. Slightly higher than recommended amounts of fluoride can cause mottled teeth, while even higher concentrations can lead to neurological problems and softened bones.

In Karak, I once saw a huge hole in the ground (really wide and deep) and it was the result of a similar impact. Next time I go there I will take a picture of it and share. I believe that aliens do exist, since there is nothing to disprove it yet. Just think, all of this space in the universe, which is expanding too, is reserved only to us on Earth? I don’t buy it.

Hey, maybe aliens contaminated Jordan’s water last year, too. Just a thought.

Corset Me, Please

In Body Art on January 26, 2008 at 11:48 am

I generally love corsets and think they’re beautiful. This makes me wonder if I would like to wear one at all times — if I can handle making it with my own flesh. I don’t know yet but the concept is very tempting.

I still love this:

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How Much Is My Blog Worth?

In Metablog on January 25, 2008 at 1:08 pm

I did this quiz in the past and my blog was worth 3,387$, and now:


My blog is worth $14,678.04.
How much is your blog worth?

I’m not impressed. After four years of hard work and spilling my brains out on this page, I made a meager 14,678$. Good thing I kept my day job. But on the bright side of things, my blog’s worth more than quadrupled in a little over two years. Not bad, businesswoman Tololy, just keep the job.

Quoting Ziad Rahbani On Details

In Love, Quoting, عربي on January 24, 2008 at 10:15 pm

الشيطانُ يا وَلَدي يَكمُنُ في التفاصيل
أمّا البـــــاقي فملائكـــة!

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مقالات زياد
موسيقى زياد

I love a man who thinks.

بحب الزلمة اللي بيفهم

Amen to that.

آمين

Younger Is Better: Early Marriages in Jordan

In Jordan, Wonder Woman on January 24, 2008 at 1:04 pm

I was just doing my morning news round and I came across an important article in Al Rai newspaper. The article treats the subject of early marriage in Jordan, and why it will sap this country of its riches.

According to Jordanian law, the legal marriage age is 18, which is reasonable. But there is a special clause that basically says that a judge has the authority to marry off a 15 year-old girl whenever he sees fit, or when he sees that the marriage will be for her own good. Of course, a religious judge (which is the type of judges that does marriage procedures) or a Sheikh authorized to write the marriage contract (el ktab) seldom if ever object to marrying off an underage girl. I say this because I have heard from my mother, time and again, how the Sheikh married this girl or that girl although she was only 15-16. Beddo yostor 3aleeha, i.e. he believes he is doing good and preserving her honor (followers of this logic believe that a woman is a scandal waiting to happen).

Al Rai article details the health, financial, and psychological consequences for young marriages and criticizes the legal exception granted to judges to marry off underage girls. In essence, the exception annihilates the actual law, because like I mentioned, very few judges or Sheikhs would object to underage marriages because according to their religious views; they are saving society from the evils of adultery. Never mind the fact that they are helping perpetuate gender inequality and tens of social dysfunctions, not to mention literally endangering the girls’ healths and education and characters by marrying them off to, dare I say this, pedophiles who hunt young brides to “mould them” into the submissive wife-maids they wish. Never mind all that, they are saving society.

According to the article, the percentage of underage marriages is 14%, which translates to 7598 marriages. That is inaccurate, because judges and Sheikhs when they draft up the marriage contracts do NOT put the actual ages of the girls when they are underage, they simply write 18! So that 14% is only what got reported, but not the actual percentage.

Jordan has one million girls under the age of 15, who are alive right now. I did the math; this means that 140,000 girls between the ages of 15-18 WILL get married within the next 15-18 years. That is a huge number! Let’s assume that each one of these girls will only deliver three babies, that makes it 420,000 babies IN ADDITION to the other births from legal marriages. Naturally, the men who marry underage girls do not only want three babies. They want five, six, maybe more, and their child-wives are fertile enough to keep on popping kids for 15 years. And don’t forget, 14% is not the actual percentage of underage marriages in our society.

Can you imagine what will happen to the population of Jordan at this rate? Can you imagine the health bill that will come out of the birth complications and other child-related problems? Can you imagine the thousands of children who will be born to semi-illiterate mothers, what will become of them? Can you imagine what will happen when Almighty Daddy can’t take care of his dozen children?

He will marry off the girls at 15.

حملة نسائية في مجلس النواب

In Jordan, Wonder Woman, عربي on January 23, 2008 at 12:08 pm

يقود تحالف مؤسسات مجتمع مدني ومنظمات نسائية حملة لإقناع مجلس النواب بإدراج قانون الأحوال الشخصية المؤقت رقم (82) لسنة 2001 على جدول أعماله لإقراره

وتطالب التعديلات بما يأتي:

بالتأكيد على ضرورة الإبقاء على تعديل رفع سن الزواج للذكر والأنثى إلى ثمانية عشر سنة ورفع السن بالنسبة للاستثناء الذي يسمح بتزويج من بلغ الخامسة عشر إلى ستة عشر عاماً.

الإبقاء على مبدأ حق المرأة في الخلع القضائي

وتأكيد أهمية رفع مقدار التعويض عن الطلاق التعسفي ليتناسب التعويض مع مدة الزواج

واعتبار تعدد الزوجات ضرراً مفترضاً يسمح بطلب التفريق للضرر إذا لم ترضَ به أي من الزوجات استنادا إلى حق المرأة الوارد في القانون في اشتراط عدم زواج زوجها عليها في عقد الزواج

رفع سن الحضانة إلى خمسة عشر عاماً لكل من البنت والولد ولجميع الطوائف، وجعل الولاية مشتركة بين الولي والأم الحاضنة، وتعديل النصوص بحيث لا تحرم الطفلة في حالة اختيارها البقاء مع أمها من الحق في النفقة

وتعديل الأحكام الخاصة باستحقاق الوصية الواجبة بحيث يستفيد أبناء البنت بحصة من تركة الجد كما يستفيد بنات وأبناء الابن

ضمان حق الأرملة في الاستمرار بالإقامة في بيت الزوجية وفي حق الاحتفاظ بالموجودات لاستخدامها حتى وفاتها ما لم تتزوج

المقال كاملاً في جريدة الرأي بقلم سمر حدادين

مبروك, كلها تعديلات مهمة و يجب إيلائها الأولوية في مجلس النواب مع أنني لا أتوقع لها النجاح في مجلس نوابنا المكون من أغلبية ذكورية ساحقة انتخبها الشعب الأردني. و المسألة التي أريد أن أتناولها هي: أنا شخصياً لم أكن أعلم أن الطفلة تحرم من حق النفقة إذا اختارت البقاء مع والدتها, و لم أكن أعلم أن أبناء البنت لا يستفيدون من تركة الجد على العكس من أبناء الابن, و لم أكن أعلم أن هذه النواقص موجودة بالفعل في القانون الأردني, أو لعلها ليست نواقص بل إنقاص من حقوق المرأة تغاضى عنه القانون.

نحن في الأردن,نساءً و رجالاً, لا نعلم الكثير الكثير من الأمور القانونية التي تنظم حياتنا. أنا مثلاً لا أعلم شيثاً عن قوانين الطلاق لدينا لأن أسرتي لم تعش هذه التجربة, و لكن من المفروض أن أكون على دراية بهذه الأمور إذا قررت أن أتزوج مثلاً في يوم من الأيام و من المفروض أن تكون كل فتاة مطلعة على القوانين التي تذعن لها في اللحظة التي تقرر الارتباط. لماذا؟ حتى تتمكن ما استطاعت من تدارك الأمر قبل حدوثه و ربما تصحيح بعض الأخطاء القانونية في حقها في الوثيقة التي يقدسها المجتمع (كتب الكتاب) قبل أن يفوت الأوان.

شو يعني بدك تشرطي علي؟
مهو أكيد, إزا الزواج عقد و أنت بتحصل على حقوقك غير المكتوبة باسم القانون, فأنا سأحصل على حقوقي التي نسيها القانون بكتابتها هنا.

A Very Special Bellydance For a Very Special You

In V for Video on January 23, 2008 at 9:18 am

If you are celebrating your birthday today, or you know someone who is, this is my present to you on this special day:

Happy birthday!

I Made Chocolate Chip Cookies

In Life on January 22, 2008 at 1:06 pm

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I called this operation shock and awe; exactly how my family feels right now.

Snow in Amman

In Jordan on January 22, 2008 at 8:16 am

Well, well, well. Good morning Amman! The snow probably won’t hold but eh, it’s nice to see something coming down from the sky after the freezing cold spell we were under for a week.

How come nobody said it is going to snow? Even Accuweather doesn’t have that. Did the Gods of Weather trick us all AGAIN?

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30 minutes later:

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30 minutes later:

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I’m pleased. I have a sore throat and I would rather snuggle in my bed next to my soba in my freezing room than go out. My mother wouldn’t let me anyway.

Good morning again!

Mange du Kebab: Kabab Music from Paris

In Culture Arabia, V for Video on January 22, 2008 at 12:58 am

For all of you kabab lovers out there:

The rapper-cum-kabab chef’s website: http://www.mangedukebab.com/

My favorite part is when they say “shish,” then music, then “kabab-u.” Oh, and when the Shawerma master takes off his shirt. Hilarious!

ROFLING: Axis of Evil Comedy Tour

In Culture Arabia on January 21, 2008 at 11:27 am

The other night, my sister and I watched The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour on DVD in her place. Since we both had missed the live performance of the hilarious trio in Amman, we were super excited over actually watching them even if on a TV screen.

Dean Obeidallah:

Aside from the fact that all three of them (Aron Kader, Ahmed Ahmed, Maz Jobrani) with Dean Obeidallah, were incredibly hot, they were so funny. Their sketches were very relevant and really touched upon the feelings and lives of Arab-Americans (and Arabs too) in post 9-11 America. As an Arab-Circassian, I could relate to some of the motifs they talked about, and they wrapped it all in “funny.”

I can’t remember a time I laughed so hard. I especially liked Maz Jobrani’s “Persians and Arabs” and “ecstasy” bits. You HAVE to watch The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour, if you watch nothing else in 2008 do watch this one. You can download the torrent for 9.99$ over at bittorrent or rent it for 3.99$.

Maz Jobrani doing the “Persians and Arabs” piece:

I’m Persian. Meow!

I’m rofling. Funny funny funny.

لو كانت رجلاً!

In Wonder Woman, عربي on January 20, 2008 at 11:27 am

كانت تتحدث بحماسة واضحة عن مشاريعها القادمة، الأعمال، الدراسات، الهوايات، الأمنيات التي ستعمل على تحقيقها بالعمل المتصل والجهد المضاعف.

كانت تتحدث عن كل ذلك حين همست لها: وماذا عن الزواج يا عزيزتي؟ يبدو الموضوع غائباً عن ذهنك تماماً، مهما يكن، فدورة الحياة لا بد لها أن تكتمل.

فأجابت بتأن شديد: في هذا الشأن تحديداً، أتمنى لو كنت رجلاً! ودون أن تلحظ ذهولي، أضافت ببساطة: لو كنت رجلاً، لكنت تزوجت بسرعة ودون تردّد، كنت ارتبطت بواحدة من أولئك النساء الهادئات اللواتي يتقن كل ما يتعلق بإدارة البيت، ويقدسن وجود زوج في حياتهن.

في حالة كهذه، فالزواج سيوفر لي تسهيلات مريحة، وجبة يومية ساخنة مثلاً، منزلاً نظيفاً مرتّباً، أطفالاً أرى فيهم نفسي، ثم سلطة وسطوة…

قلت وقد بدأت أستطرف الموضوع: كيف؟ فقالت بالبساطة نفسها: سيسير كل شيء كما أرغب، فأنا حينها الرب الصغير… إذا لم يعجبني أمر ما، لن أتردد في الصراخ، وإذا ارتفع صوت الأولاد أسكتهم بنظرة واحدة إلى أمهم… وإذا لم تعجبني هي لسبب أو لآخر، أو خالفت رغباتي ومشيئتي، سأردد لها المقولة الشهيرة: الباب بيوسع جمل! وإذا خرجت فعلاً، ودبّت الفوضى في بيتي، سأعمل على أن أردها بألف طريقة جهنمية! ويمكن أن أستلقي متى شئت إذا شعرت بالتعب، ويمكن أن أغلق الباب على نفسي إذا شئت الخلوة أو التأمّل، كما يمكنني أن أصفق الباب نفسه فيما لو انتابتني نوبة غضب مفاجئة… هل جرّبت لذّة صفق الأبواب… إنها الوسيلة الأفضل لتفريغ شحنات الغضب… اسألي بعض الرجال! وأضافت دون أن تأبه لذهولي المتصاعد: ويمكن أن أشكو قليلاً بين الحين والآخر من أنها لا تفهمني… فأنطلق باتجاه علاقة ما تتصدى للرتابة والملل، لكن دون أن تمس هدوء المنزل واستقراره، ودون أن تؤثر على وزني الاجتماعي بين الناس! وتنهدت أخيراً لتقول: هل رأيت كيف أنّ زواجي مستحيل، لأني باختصار، لا أعرف كيف أكون تلك الزوجة التي سأحلم بها فيما لو كنت رجلاً

د.لانا مامكغ
جريدة الرأي

LBC’s “هزي يا نواعم” – World Bellydance Championship: Disappointing Finale

In Culture Arabia, Opinion on January 17, 2008 at 11:33 pm

I am so very disappointed after watching the finale of LBC’s World Bellydance Championship. The winner, Estelle, did not deserve to win in this episode as far as I saw. Layla, the Ukrainian dancer, did extremely well and she was outrageously discriminated against by the judges who kept on repeating the same old tired lines: she can’t speak Arabic, she doesn’t have the bellydance gene (supposedly this is born with Arabs, HAH!?), she didn’t sing with the song. Rubbish!!! Layla was stellar tonight, but unfortunately, the judges were too biased to notice.

Rana didn’t win, obviously, and neither did Fadwa although she got a very good result but as I expected she didn’t do well enough. Suffice to say that the jury was blatantly biased. What a shame to waste the value of a show like this in the very final episode! It’s a massive anticlimax; I am angry!

I also have a bone to pick with the producers of this finale. What on earth was Saeed Murad doing there? A DJ and bellydancers? What? I mean, seriously. I let it slip when they had the girls dance to some crazy African beat, but this, in the FINAL episode no less, was stupid. The final episode should have been about classical bellydancing, leave the revolutionary evolutionary humbug to other episodes. Not the finale. Ugh.

الحلقة الأخيرة من هزي يا نواعم = خيبة أمل + تحيز واضح من لجنة الحكم ضد ليلى الأوكرانية

Here are two video clips showing the final bellydance duo faceoff:

Estelle vs. Rana:

Fadwa vs. Layla:

سيمون دو بوفوار أنثى ضدّ «الأنوثة»؟

In Wonder Woman, عربي on January 16, 2008 at 3:22 pm

قرأت قبل يومين مقالاً في جريدة الأخبار اللبنانية عن أمنا سيمون دو بوفوار و أحببت أن أعيد نشره هنا حتى يطلع عليه المهتمون من القراء.

مما أثار اهتمامي بشكل أساسي في المقالة ذكر لقب سيمون “كاستور” مما يشابه تلقيبي أنا في المنزل باسم مذكر “وجيه” لأن شعري قصير و أفكاري لا تعجب عائلتي على الإطلاق. على كل الأحوال, أنا لم أقرأ كتاب سيمون “الجنس الثاني” بعد مع أنه موجود في لائحة الكتب التي أتمنى الحصول عليها في أمازون (و الرابط في العمود الجانبي للمدونة) و أنوي أن أحصل عليه الشهر القادم إن استطعت لأنه كتاب نسائي محوري و مهم. و يعجبني شخصياً أن سيمون جمعت بين الوجودية و النسائية في عقيدتها و أفكارها, مما يجعلني على مقربة كبيرة منها و بشكل شخصي علاوة على إعجابي الكبير بحياتها. لن أطيل, إليكم المقال


باريس ــ عثمان تزغارت

” مئة عام على ولادة صاحبة” الجنس الثاني

بعد قرابة ربع قرن على رحيلها، ما زالت تثير الجدل. الأم الروحيّة للحركة النسويّة في العالم، ورفيقة درب بطريرك الوجوديّة جان بول سارتر، صار عمرها اليوم مئة عام… عمر من النضالات السياسية والاجتماعيّة، طبعته الجرأة في الفكر والممارسة

لأول مرّة منذ تأسيسها، قبل نصف قرن، تصدرّت غلاف مجلة «نوفيل أوبسرفاتور» الفرنسية الرصينة صورة امرأة عارية. لكنّ المجلة الفرنسية المعروفة بنخبويتها، لم تقدِم على ذلك بدافع الإثارة الرخيصة أو الكسب المالي. وهي لم تختر صورة لعارضة أزياء أو مغنّية أو ملكة جمال، بل كانت الصورة لسيمون دو بوفوار، الأديبة والمفكرة والمناضلة النسائية الفرنسية، التي تحتفل فرنسا والعالم، اليوم، بالذكرى المئوية لولادتها (9 كانون الثاني/ يناير 1908)!

والصورة التقطها المصوّر الشهير آرت شاي، في شقة عشيق دو بوفوار، الروائي الأميركي نيلسون ألغرين، في شيكاغو، خلال خمسينيات القرن الماضي. أما سبب اختيار الصورة مع مانشيت بعنوان: «سيمون الفضائحية»، فيعود إلى أنّ «نوفيل أوبسرفاتور» ـــــ التي كانت إحدى المنابر الرئيسة لصاحبة «الجنس الثاني» وتوأمها الفكري جان بول سارتر، منذ نصف قرن ـــــ تعمّدت إبراز المفارقة الكبيرة التي تطبع الاحتفاء العالمي الحالي بمئوية بوفوار، إذ غلب الجدل بشأن تفاصيل حياتها الشخصية والحميمة على النقاش الفكري المتعلّق بأعمالها وفكرها.

اللافت أنّ خيارات الكاتبة الفرنسيّة سيمون دو بوفوار ومواقفها، سواء في فكرها وأعمالها أو في حياتها الشخصية والعاطفية، ما زالت تثير الجدل، على رغم مرور ربع قرن على رحيلها، ما يبيّن إلى أي مدى كانت سابقة لعصرها، من حيث تحرّرها الفكري وتمرّدها على الأعراف الاجتماعية. وقد رافق الجدل سيمون دو بوفوار منذ بداياتها، لكنّه اتخذ طابعاً أكثر عنفاً وتجنّياً، مع صدور مؤلفها الأبرز: «الجنس الثاني» (1949)، الذي يعدّ بمثابة البيان المؤسّس للحركة المطلبية النسويّة في العالم أجمع. حقّق الكتاب نجاحاً فورياً، وبيعت من طبعته الأولى قرابة مليون ومئتي ألف نسخة، وتُرجم إلى 27 لغة. لكن ذلك لم يمنع مفكّرين بارزين من التجنّي عليه والتهجّم على مؤلّفته. إذ وصف ألبير كامو الكتاب بـ«العار الذي يدنّس شرف الذكر الفرنسي»! أما فرانسوا مورياك، فقد ذهب إلى حد القول، خلال حوار شهير مع مجلة «الأزمنة المعاصرة» التي كان الثنائي سارتر ـــــ دو بوفوار يشرفان على إصدارها: «الشيء الوحيد الذي أفادني به هذا الكتاب هو أنني عرفت أدقّ التفاصيل عن الجهاز التناسلي لمؤلّفته»!

حتى الحزب الشيوعي الفرنسي، الذي كان آنذاك يمثّل طليعة الفكر التقدمي في بلد ديكارت، فقد علّق على الكتاب في جريدته «لومانيتيه»، مشيراً إلى أن «الأفكار التي يتضمنها، رغم ادّعاءاتها التقدّمية، ستُقابل بالسخرية، بلا شك، من عاملات مصانع «رينو» في «بولوني بيانكور» لو أُتيحت لهن فرصة الإطلاع عليها»!

لماذا كل ذلك التجنّي على الكتاب؟ لأنه بكل بساطة جاء في خضم الثورة التحرّرية التي تلت الحرب العالمية، ليطلق رصاصة الرحمة على الأعراف الذكورية السائدة. «لا تولد الواحدة منّا امرأة، بالمفهوم التقليدي ـــــ تقول دو بوفوار ـــــ بل تصبح كذلك، بفعل التأثيرات الاجتماعية التي ترى الأنوثة مزيجاً من الروح الداعرة والتمرّس في فن الرضوخ والعبودية». وتضيف: «الأنوثة بالمفهوم التقليدي السائد هي منتج مصطنع ومفبرك من الحضارة الذكورية. إن ما يشاع عن غرائز الغنج والخضوع لدى النساء، إنما هو انحراف مكتسب اجتماعياً، تماماً مثل غريزة الغرور والأنا الذكورية المنتفخة التي هي مكتسبة وغير فطرية لدى الرجال»!

أحدثت الأفكار الجريئة والرؤى الراديكالية التي تضمّنها «الجنس الثاني» ثورةً اجتماعيةً ومنعطفاً فكرياً مرجعياً، خرجت من معطفه أجيال عدة من مناضلات (ومناضلي) الحركة النسائية العالمية. وإن كان تطوّر الحركة النسائية، لاحقاً، قد سمح بتدارك شطط البدايات، حيث لم تعد مناضلات الحركة النسائية حالياً ترى أنّ «الأنوثة» هي بالضرورة نقيض للتحرّر. وقد أثبتت المؤلفات التي صدرت أخيراً، بالاستناد إلى أوراق ومراسلات دو بوفوار، أنّ حياتها الشخصية لم تكن متطابقة مع الصرامة المتداولة عنها وتقشف الصورة النمطية التي اقترنت بها… ولم تكن تعزف عن «المتع الأنثوية» (راجع البرواز).

بصدور «الجنس الثاني»، لم تعد دو بوفوار مجرد رفيقة درب وتوأم فكري لجان بول ساتر، زعيم التيار الوجودي في عالم ما بعد الحرب العالمية الثانية، بل أصحبت رمزاً ومرجعاً فكرياً للحركة النسائية العالمية. وقد رافق سارتر بالتأييد والدعم نضالات دو بوفوار النسائية، بالقدر نفسه الذي أيّدت هي مواقفه ونضالاته ومعاركه الفكرية، حتى الخاسرة منها، كتأييده الأعمى للاتحاد السوفياتي في العهد الستاليني. ولم يفرّق بين الاثنين سوى انحياز الأخير الصارخ لإسرائيل في أواخر حياته، تحت تأثيرات «سكرتيره الفكري» بيني ليفي. فهذا الأخير لم يتوّرع عن الاستغلال المغرض لشيخوخة سارتر، الذي كان قد أصبح أعمى وشبه أصم، بشهادة جان دانييل، مؤسس أسبوعيّة «نوفيل أوبسرفاتور» العريقة، ورئيس تحريرها حتى اليوم. لكن قطيعة السنوات الأخيرة بين دو بوفوار ورفيق دربها الأزلي، الذي كان يلقبها بكاستور Castor، لم تخرج إلى العلن سوى بعد رحيلهما، حين كشفت عنها بعض الوثائق والمراسلات التي نشرتها ابنة دو بوفوار بالتبنّي، سيلفي لوبون ـــــ دو بوفوار.

عن جريدة الأخبار

Jordan: Dirty Water and Bottled Water

In Salon on January 15, 2008 at 4:20 pm

In the past few years, Jordanians have increasingly resorted to bottled water for their drinking needs. After several scandals involving dirty drinking water causing numerous cases of posisoning/hospitalization, who can blame them? Also, and perhaps on a more elevated level, we have the renowned Jordanian love for conspicuous consumption which, trust me, makes many people carry bottles of water just to show off. I don’t get it either.

On this subject, I was just reading an article detailing the side-effects for the increasing dependability on bottled water. These range from environmental hazards, to consumerism, to ethics. Here they are in a nutshell:

1- First, the manufacturing of plastic bottles, which are often made from nonrecycled virgin material, requires vast quantities of petroleum, and only 12 percent of this material is recovered for recycling.

2- Next, the distribution of bottled water, often by container ship from the other side of the planet (Fiji, Evian, San Pellegrino), is fuel intensive and results in greenhouse gas and sulfur dioxide emissions.

3- When you add the cost of packaging and marketing to transportation, not to mention the water makers’ huge profits, you are paying two to five times more for a bottle of water than you do for the equivalent amount of gasoline.

4- Americans collectively spend five times more on bottled water each year than it would cost to eradicate the 1.8 million deaths of children due to waterborne illness each year.

If you want to read thess reasons in detail, click here to go to Pablo Päster’s article in Salon about bottled water.

Now I want to know what you think about this. Do you think people should depend on tap water and abandon bottled water completely to save the environment and poor thirsty people in Africa? What say you?

Tribute to Lady Oscar, The Rose of Versailles

In Culture Arabia, Love, Wonder Woman on January 14, 2008 at 2:02 pm

Born to live in glory and passion.

Who doesn’t remember Lady Oscar? Jordanian kids of my generation and up to ten years older grew up with this fascinating anime originally called The Rose of Versailles and dubbed in Arabic. In my opinion, Lady Oscar was the ultimate BEST anime ever shown on Jordanian/Arabic TV stations.

I am very nostalgic today. I found myself watching old cartoons on YouTube and repressing my tears. When I found that almost ALL the episodes of Lady Oscar were on there, and in Arabic, I almost cried. To me, Lady Oscar was more than an anime character. Looking at my life, my tastes, my personality now, I understand exactly how she affected me. This was a powerful, intelligent, and no-crap lady who was raised as a man and competed with, and always outshone, her male counterparts. On top of all that, her wardrobe was absolutely gorgeous.

The Rose of Versailles focuses on Oscar François de Jarjayes, a girl raised as a man to become her father’s successor as leader of the Palace Guards. A brilliant combatant with a strong sense of justice, Oscar is proud of the life she leads, but becomes torn between class loyalty and her desire to help the impoverished as revolution brews among the oppressed lower class. Also important to the story are her conflicting desires to live life as both a militiant and a regular woman as well as her relationships with Marie Antoinette, Count Axel von Fersen, and servant and best friend André Grandier.

Lady Oscar was this fabulously strong-willed woman who set, I believe, an excellent example for the thousands of Arab girls who watched her. Now that I think of it, I find it amazing how the anime was ever played on Arab TVs since Lady Oscar’s sexuality was a bit ambiguous. Perhaps the people who censor shows did not get that part, but hey, all the better for us.

There are some shoujo-ai elements embodied in the relationship between Oscar and her protégée Rosalie Lamorlière, the secret daughter of the scheming Madame de Polignac, whose admiration for Oscar may be interpreted as either idol worship or romantic love coming from her possible bisexuality. Many of the court ladies also greatly adore Oscar, openly admiring her at parties and become very jealous when she brings female companions to them.

I remember hating Rosalie too and feeling a very strong attraction to Lady Oscar. I also remember loving André Grandier and hoping they would end up together, him and Oscar, which never happened. There was this imposing sexual and intellectual tension throughout the show, and thinking back, again I wonder how it was broadcasted on Arab TVs in the 20th century. If that was intentional, it was very progressive. If not, well, it didn’t screw me up so the people who censor shows need not feel guilty about letting it slip.

I used to love everything Oscar wore; those military jackets and tight riding pants, the white fitted French-cuff shirts, the fine ruffled collars, the knee-high boots– everything. I still love the look today, and looking at my tastes in fashion, I see Oscar and the period she lived in in most everything I fancy. She was a fine fencer and rider, too. I’ve always wanted to learn fencing and to have a horse, but I learned how to shoot instead. That was more doable.

I used to admire and respect Oscar for being so strong, for being able to always hold her own in front of the men she led, and for being a good person. She was controversial and great. I still remember how heartbroken I was when she died, and although I watched the show tons of times, I cried every time. Oscar was a phenomenon, not just a cartoon show. The anime had a message about gender equality, history, love and loyalty.

I really wish more shows of the type would air on Arab TVs, as Oscar taught me a lot and became a role model of sorts to me. I am still very much in love with the character and the show as a whole, and right now I am looking for a way to purchase the complete episodes on DVD.

This was my humble tribute to Lady Oscar, the rose of Versailles and my role model.

Puffy Jacket To Go

In Life on January 13, 2008 at 1:34 pm

I normally set the alarm on my cell phone to wake me up for work at 7:45 AM, two days a week. This morning, a certain someone sent me a morning message much earlier than that, I’d say at around 7 AM. Since I have a Motorola phone, it kept beeping every five minutes or so to let me know I had an unread message.

The phone was right next to my pillow, upon which my head was resting in a mass of crazy hair. I wished, time and again, for the phone to shut up and let me enjoy my final 45 minutes of peace, to no avail. My bed was so warm, thanks to my being in it for 12 straight hours, and I did not want to move my hand from under the covers to reach for my phone and hush it. Eventually, the alarm went off and I reached for my phone and silenced it.

Quickly, I recalled my hand to come back under the covers and enjoy the warmth. My room was freezing, as was most of Amman this morning. The weather has been cruel lately, very unforgiving, as fellow Jordanians have noticed as well. And seeing as I have the room that I have, extensive heating is necessary every hour of the day. I use everything from central heating to sobet gas. Lately, I have been demanding that my dad install a sobet bawari in my part of the Arctic (i.e my room). It’s that cold.

This got me thinking of the thousands of people who can’t afford to stay warm in their own beds and in their own homes. Jordan is undergoing a lot of changes, the most major of which is the liberalization of the market. I am all for open markets and the free moving of goods and labor, and for a minimum role of the state in shaping the economy, and all that. But our government has yet to play that minimum role. The powers to be want to liberalize our market to give us a competitive edge and to encourage investment, but they are not following through with their end of the deal.

If government is a social contract between the people and those who govern them, then our government is not keeping the interests of the majority of Jordanians in mind and thus is breaching the terms of this contract. My impression of our government’s role in our current situation, where prices have skyrocketed and will increase even more and where people’s incomes have not increased to match this inflation, my impression is that it should A-monitor prices, B-enhance people’s incomes both in the public AND the private sector by exerting reasonable pressure on employers, and C-create the infrastructure that will enable a country as small as Jordan, and a people as modest, to cope with the dramatic changes taking place.

I am not an economist, but I am a Jordanian citizen working in the private sector and struggling to get by and I do far better than many other people. This, if nothing else, should grant me credibility. I live by Woody Allen’s definition of economics: “Economics is about money and why it is good.” Problem is, like old women say, there is no “blessing” in our money, meaning that it gets spent on the bare necessities and then Poof! — it’s gone. That’s called inflation, and it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth.

But let’s put all of that on the side and get back to my story. After I woke up, I resisted getting out of bed for about ten minutes. The room, like I mentioned, was super cold and my bed was super warm and I had a very difficult time convincing my body to abandon ship, so to speak. After these tremulous minutes, I got out of bed and got ready for work.

To protect myself from the cutting cold, I put on my puffiest puffy jacket, the purple one, and went running outside to start my car so that when I am ready to leave to work I would find it as warm and inviting as my mother’s womb once was. I came back in, had my meager strawberry-yoghurt breakfast, and then left to work.

Just moments ago, a colleague of mine called me a Ninja Turtle because I would not take off my puffy purple jacket. That’s the title the cold and the government have earned me. To add more insanity to this magical day, I am being interviewed by a reporter at four. So there.

LBC’s World Bellydance Championship: Grand Finale

In Opinion on January 10, 2008 at 10:44 pm

After tonight’s World Bellydance Championship (هزي يا نواعم) there remains only one prime: the finale. Five dancers were reduced to four tonight with Syrian Sandra leaving the show, finally.

When the show started off, I expected Sandra to get booted in the first prime because she could not dance if her life depended on it. But since she has a double-D bosom she remained, with Simon Asmar clearly indicating the generosity of her bodily features in every prime and giving her 6’s or 7’s on really mediocre performances. My theory is that they wanted to keep her in the competition because she was bringing them the most viewers. But tonight since only one prime is left, people will watch it anyway out of curiosity and Miss.Booby can leave, so they ditched her. That’s show business politics for you.

Here are my impressions of the four finalists:

Fadwa

I find Fadwa too aggressive for my taste, but she is a brilliant dancer nonetheless. She has never failed to impress the jury and is versatile enough to jive with any beat. I expect her to compete over first place. Ironically, I danced with her tonight, mimicking her every move, and to my astonishment I kept up with her. This means she needs to step her game up for the finale.

Layla

Never underestimate a foreign bellydance aficionado.This gorgeous Ukrainian dancer keeps getting better and better every week. Her last week’s performance (dancing on the darbukka, or tableh) was so passionate and beautiful and perfect. I have never seen something quite like it myself, and I have seen a LOT of bellydancing. Layla wants to learn Arabic, any volunteers?

Estelle

Estelle has many things going for her; the jury likes her, she’s tall, and she does exceptionally well in improvisation. I don’t know what it is about her though that I do not digest; maybe the height and skinniness, or it could be that I feel she’s more technical than passionate on stage, unlike Fadwa and Layla, for example.

Rana

I love Rana. She looks so nerdy when they do the small video clips of her before the dance, with her geeky glasses on and casual wear. But when she appears on stage she is a total diva. She’s very sensual and sweet and her dancing is fantastic and well-timed. I like her the best BUT I don’t think she will compete over first place because Estelle and Fadwa and Layla are way more aggressive than she is. Maybe she will give it her all next week, you never know. I would gladly become Rana’s best friend – call me, Rana!

Those were my impressions. I expect the show will have a sequel next season with many many more girls participating and a lot more respect from the general public. For now though, I can hardly wait for the finale!

Got Avatar?

In T Play Box on January 10, 2008 at 2:05 am

If you don’t have an avatar yet, under what rock have you been living?! Check the following sites out and create your own right now. I think mine look groovy:

avatar.gif

DoppelMe.com

Meez 3D avatar avatars games

Meez.com

prep.JPG

pirate.JPG

Gizmoz.com

I am so amused by the following two clips, I think I will add one to my Tololy’s Bio page…it’s a little something extra, click on Play and I will talk:

Funky and egocentric, yeah? My favorite site in the world right now is Gizmoz. Make your own avatars and share them!

Sealed in Blood

In Personal on January 9, 2008 at 4:02 pm

I was just in Abdali at the post office there, sending a bunch of documents to Canada using their Express Mail Service. It was a cold day today so as usual my hands were freezing and purple with extremely red fingertips (for obvious reasons indicated in Wishing for a Transporter).

I walked in and the lady employee there recognized me instantly since I had been to this office some three or four times during the past month alone. We did the usual; wrote the recipient’s detailed address and their phone number, my address and phone number, weighed the package, labeled it clearly, etc.

The lady got busy lecturing a new employee on how to weigh things and on the country codes used for each delivery and in the meantime I was admiring the new decor of the post office, then something caught my eye. I looked at my documents’ envelope and noticed a red, elongated blob smack in the middle of the brown material containing my documents.

I immediately knew what it was. My fingers were bleeding again, damn them! I snatched the envelope while the lady employee was looking away and quickly took a tissue out of my bag and tried to wipe the blood away. I thought the ladies would definitely think I am either weird or just disgusting having bloodied an official package like that just before sending it off. Obviously, had they taken a look at my fingers they would have thought that of me anyway, but I wanted to cheat fate.

Wiping the blood away did not work. I got slightly nervous since it had dried out already and it was not going away, so I simply turned the envelope upside down and gave it back to the lady employee at the post office, who took it and put it in a nice delivery envelope and did not see the gore I had just produced. It looked like I had murdered ten little fingers and dragged their corpses on the envelope, quite a scene.

While she was working on entering the shipment data, I got busy controlling what other damage my fingers had done. I often end up with bloodied collars, or bloodied exam papers, or bloodied bags so I was checking anything and everything I had touched. My fingers, when injured, bleed when it’s cold and always I find some blob somewhere that reveals what has happened. They don’t hurt when they bleed, so that’s a good thing at least.

I just wonder how the officials at the other end of the documents’ destination will react to a brown envelope full of academic rhetoric and semi-soaked in red-black blood. I wonder if it will clear security, actually.

I Want YOUR Opinion

In Metablog on January 8, 2008 at 2:13 pm

Lately, I have been having a presistent urge to change how I write and/or what I write about. I am a mercurial person; meaning I change a lot, in personality, style, and moods. That’s probably why I love costumes and roleplaying and chameleons.

So in this light, I want to see how far I can go and I want your opinion. I would appreciate it if you could answer these questions, maybe leave a comment on this post or drop me an email:

- What posts are your favorite in Tololy’s Box?
- What topics I write about that you enjoy the most?
- What topics I don’t write about that you would like me to write about?
- Any ideas, suggestions?

You can answer any of these questions or all of them, whatever you have the time and mood for. Thank you!

Waiting

In Bits & pieces on January 6, 2008 at 5:25 pm

Serene, I fold my hands and wait,
Nor care for wind, nor tide, nor sea;
I rave no more ‘gainst time or fate,
For lo! my own shall come to me.

- John Burroughs

Wishing For a Transporter

In Bits & pieces on January 5, 2008 at 1:21 pm

Do you remember the transporter from Stark Trek? The teleportation machine that converts a body into energy and then beams it to its destination?

I was thinking today and I realized that the only way I will move from having red, peeled fingers to a happier place would be through the transporter.

I want to go from here:

To here:

Then I will go back to having this:

That’s my current wish in pictures. Yalla ashoof, new year fairy, make it come true. I know you won’t.

Farewell

In Body Art on January 3, 2008 at 12:34 am

red vision

I have decided it was time to remove the bellyring as I don’t think it could have held up three more days. I feel helpless and sad because I had no other choice but to lose it in order to avoid rendering the area unpierceable in the future. My goal right now is to get re-pierced as soon as I have healed.

Farewell red vision, my precious 16th hole. I’m sorry I lost you.

Piercing Migration and Why I Hate 2008

In Body Art, Personal on January 2, 2008 at 3:20 pm

It’s just been a day and a half into the so-called “new” year, and I am as pessimistic as never before. I hate 2008 because of a revelation I “experienced” this morning.

What’s there to like in a year that starts off as badly as this news: prices will double, money value will shrink, confusion would embrace confusion, personal future is unknown and yet is very complicated any way you look at it, and you might lose your most precious piercing which you have been taking care of for the past six months to a mishap in the name of fashion? I’ve probably never said this in a post but fuck it.

I am experiencing what is known as piercing migration. This is a process where a surface piercing’s jewelry starts to move, or migrate, towards the surface of the skin. There are a number of reasons why this happens; and it is pretty common in navel piercings to want to migrate. Sometimes they settle in a more comfortable place, and at other times they continue to migrate until they break the surface skin and leave a scar, completely leaving the body.

Now my piercing was healing perfectly well up until November. At which point, I decided I wanted to decorate it some more and went to Claire’s and bought this beautiful dangling bellyring:

ring.JPG

…which was the mother of all troubles. I took it off after a couple of days because it was too heavy and uncomfortable. I put my original ring back in but I believe it started migrating because it just couldn’t fix the problem generated by the dangling ring, which irritated the puncture holes and sort of stretched them. I didn’t notice this until recently when I started feeling that the ring was a bit loose as compared to before and noticed other signs of migration.

Up until today, I was denying that I might be experiencing piercing migration. I take excellent care of my piercings and they have given me the usual nuisances associated with inserting a foreign object under your skin, but never have I imagined that my body would so resent a piercing that it would actually border on rejecting it! I solemnly believe though that this is not a case of my body rejecting an object, because it healed perfectly well before November, but that it is a case of ill-engineered body jewelry which I foolishly purchased at a high price, both financially and emotionally.

I am crushed…utterly devastated, so much so that I cried and cried and cried this morning when I recognized that I might have to remove my bellyring and let the area heal and close up. I went through a lot to get pierced in the first place and I loved every second of it, and now this! Tears literally ran down my face when I was telling my sister about the potential catastrophe of losing my piercing and I am so sad thinking about it now. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.

If I don’t remove the ring and it continues to migrate, the fistula, which is the piece of skin above the piercing, will eventually break because it cannot hold the weight of the ring and the ring will fall out. This would leave a scar that I do not want. On the other hand, if I remove the ring, the fistula will heal and skin will regenerate inside the puncture holes and the area will go back to being a normal, dull belly button again. I can get re-pierced there as soon as it heals completely, but the question is where and when I will do it again.

In a feeble attempt to combat The Migration, I bought antibiotics to help the fistula heal. I am giving this plan three days and I am putting the piercing under close monitoring to measure any changes. If the fistula does heal and I believe the migration has stopped, I will keep the ring in place. If nothing happens, I will remove it lest it pushes its way out through my skin. Then I will start planning my next trip to New York to go back to Big Joe & Sons and get a new navel piercing, maybe a nipple ring too if I am in a particular mood at the moment. I will have a navel piercing no matter what happens.

If this was a gross post, I won’t apologize for it. I am too absorbed in mourning. I don’t feel any pain as the ring migrates, and the only pain I do feel is in my heart because I love this piercing so much and it means a lot to me. I don’t want to lose it. Please, Gods of Piercing, let me keep this ring. I will be extra good to it from now on, I will not wear any of these stupid dangling rings, and I will never touch it. Please!

:(