Cameron is 7 years old…she’s Iman’s (my neice) classmate… Around Eid time, Cameron came to class with treat bags for each one of her classmates. When her teacher asked her what the occassion was, Cameron said: “This is in honor of Eid - the Muslim Holiday.” The teacher proudly asked her to pick a classmate who celebrates Eid to help her pass out the treat bags…(According to Iman, there are 3 Arab Muslims in the class) Cameron picked Iman…they passed out the candy treat bags wishing everyone a Happy Eid!

I believe that was a beautiful gesture on her parents’ part…taking the time to involve their little girl in making treat bags in honor of a holiday they don’t even observe…a gesture of appreciation, respect and acceptance. Cameron is a White American who is definitely growing up in a household with a strong foundation and values that is socially, religiously and culturally aware…and in which respect, tolerance and acceptance is taught and practiced!

You know I was asked to retake my personality test???!!! talk about a major insult!! seriously. How can you ask someone to retake a personality test!! I don’t know!! I think I should be less honest…

The test was basically a list of characteristics, one paper you had to tick off how you think people expect you to act and how you think you are or rather how people expect you to be…and on the other paper it’s how you perceive yourself to be…I know they didn’t match because obviously the one with how I perceive myself to be included my negative and positive characteristics whereas the one with how I was expected to be only had positive characteristics…a psychometric test isn’t really a test and that is because you cannot really fail one…and yet I did I failed a personality test.

How on earth do you fail a personality test??? I didn’t do anything wrong…how do you do something wrong by simply choosing characteristics that exist within your personality!!!

Did they specify how results are measured? NO! All they did was put a list of characteristics like helpful, relaxed, generous, shy, etc. then you tick off the ones that you believe people expect of you … and then on another paper, you get exactly the same characteristics and you tick off the ones that you believe you are… but I didn’t keep it the same now either…basically I decided to omit anything that could be interpreted negatively …but didn’t include things that may have been too good …so I kept it neutral since I’m guessing that’s what they want..I kept my choices minimal; I chose stuff like helpful, understanding, loyal, responsive…I can’t remember the rest …but basically they were just neutral moral qualities …

Maybe it’s because I said I was self-assured and competitive??? but I don’t think that’s negative… I mean you should know your own self-worth, otherwise you’ll never say no to things that are less than you deserve …and you should be competitive, otherwise you’ll get nowhere in life …

I think they were jealous of my IQ result and needed to taint me… that’s what I keep telling myself… It is so rude to even ask a person to re-take a personality test …it’s like telling them, hey you suck. Do you mind not sucking?? I think I might me psychologically scarred for life…

Ugh!!! whatever, I’ll just get rich, buy the company and fire everyone…

Seriously, how do you ask someone to retake a personality test?!

“One thing kids like is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my nephew to Disneyland, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out warehouse. “Oh no,” I said, “Disneyland burned down.” He cried and cried, but I think that deep down he thought it was a pretty good joke. I started to drive over to the real Disneyland, but it was getting pretty late.”

I do things of this type of my nieces and nephews… At some point, I was not allowed to go near my nephew Ahmad…Baha (my brother) claimed that “Ahmad - the 3 year-old has more brains than Amto Iman.” The way I see it is as innocent fun! kids love it ..and that’s exactly why I’m their favorite auntie! I think Baha is jealous because he lacks that special touch that kids just cannot resist!

“If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is, “God is crying.” And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is, ‘Probably because of something you did.’” Yep, sounds familiar

“Maybe in order to understand mankind we have to look at that word itself. MANKIND. Basically, it’s made up of two separate words “mank” and “ind.” What do these words mean? It’s a mystery and that’s why so is mankind.” I knew it was something along those lines!
“I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they’d never expect it.” LOL!

The good old days of SNL … I’m sure Hamzeh can come up with even deeper thoughts than Jack Handey’s!

So this is it…the last paper of the semester…I am going to be very ‘kewl’ and allow my students to choose their own topic for the most crucial paper of the semester… the paper I strongly refuse to accept past the due date…the paper in which MLA has to be perfected … the paper in which spelling, grammar, punctuations, citation, etc. will be perfect … One spelling error = minus 1 point … Anyway, I came across this ‘advice’ (spoof form) and thought it was kinda cute! Definitely the type of advice any college student wishing to succeed ought to avoid

(Read on …)

A day in the life of George W would be __________?

(Don’t lie now!) I replace my toothbrush every _____ months. [inspired by Fun Facts]

I think:

every day should be a Friday…
I just devoured 32,000 calories worth of saturated junk…
Coffee only tastes good with a cigarette…
smoking should be banned in public places…
I’m getting a fever….
hot sauce would make an awesome drink…
Humper is so ugly…

Twins are adorable…
Sayeda is annoying…
Routine is mundane…
Chicago is one of the loveliest cities on earth…
Hamzeh’s bike is hot…with the exception of the tires
Lilian’s golf needs to be towed…
(Read on …)

People…how do I describe thee! Compassionate, giving, forgiving, graceful, helpful, generous, thoughtful, considerate, honest, caring, kind, tender, and I can keep going on and on, but I am starting to nauseate myself… so I’ll stop here!

…Some of the phrases above are ones I’ve said on many occassions and see myself saying every now and then! So I can relate very well to the above!

—

Creating Passionate Users takes me to my early days of User Interface, Design and Usability Testing….

Some people have ignorance spelled out all over their faces, embedded in their actions and basically just one that seems like pretty much an innate quality …

But that doesn’t mean these people can’t change …

‘Prank’ gets teen lessons in tolerance addresses a teen’s action of tapping a Muslim woman on the head, as a result almost pulling off her headscarf . Instead of Jail time, the teen was ordered to “undergo sensitivity training at the downtown Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nations’ largets Muslim civil rights organization.”

This is definitely a more effective approach in teaching one a lesson on social responsibility and tolerance. It’s a positive approach in that it teaches the person about a group he/she doesn’t know much about, if anything at all…

David Huffman told police it was just a prank gone wrong: On April 22, at a McDonald’s in Tinley Park, he tapped a Muslim woman on the head, nearly pulling off her headscarf.

(Read on …)

Looking through Victoria’s Secert latest Catalog…

She: Baby, look how nice this suite is?!!
He: Honey, I’ll buy you anything! Just look like that picture and I’ll buy anything you want!
She: (thinking!: “&%&* you!”)

In my car, leaving work & talking to Lilian on the phone…

Me: My God, Lilian…the gas gauge is on E … Do you think I’ll make it??
Lilian: Yes Iman, you will make it … didn’t you know E is for Enough??

In a conversation…

She: Iman, seriously what the hell is the point of life??? It’s so meaningless..maybe people procreate because it’s a good way to spend your life. you know, take care of a kid, worry about them, think of them, then your time is up…and you die.
Iman: I’m starving

A brief conversation with Omar (my 3-year old nephew)…

Omar: Baba and I are going for coffee.
Me: Really, you drink coffee?
Omar: Yeah, I do!
Me: Why is that???
Omar: Because baba and I need to sit and talk!
Me: What will you talk about?
Omar: I need to ask him if I can sleep over amo Eyad’s house!
Me: awww! Enjoy and let me know what baba says, ok?
Omar: Okay…

Recent statistics published by Dar Himaya in Mecca, Saudi Arabia indicated that it received 134 cases of domestic violence between October, 2005, when the institution was established and the beginning of September 2006. The majority of these cases involve women over 26-years-old. And one would  think that women in that age group would be mature enough to not put up with such abuse…

A recent scientific paper presented by Dar Himaya last month regarding the widespread phenomenon of domestic violence in Saudi Arabia, attributed the major social problem to rapid changes in lifestyle, methods of upbringing inherited from previous generations, conceptions and traditions, in addition to deviant behavior, psychological and mental illnesses, and drug abuse. Great! A kingdom full of stone age mentalities and crack heads!

There were 47 cases involving children between one-month old and fifteen-years-old (oh my God, how bizarre! one month old?!) and 35 cases involving girls aged 16 to 25 years-old. Only three cases involved males aged from the same age group. Which tells you that the majority of those with a complex are men!  [More]