By onoffbeirut on April 20, 2012
How do you know summer in Beirut is right around the corner?
Cortina truck !
Posted in street vibe, urban living |
By onoffbeirut on March 25, 2012
I don’t think my parents ever thought that at some point in their life they would be going with their son (and his wife) to a Fairouz concert. They had listened to Fairouz regularly long before they were even courting (we rarely think of our parents courting 
The four of us going to the concert as a specific isolated incident isn’t a big deal; however, when you look at it from a perspective of a series of random events over the decades that lead to this small isolated incident, that is when you feel there is something more profound going on.
The reason I thought of my parents retrospective is that I had a similar feeling a few months ago: When I was hanging out with my friends on the stairs of West Hall at AUB in the late 90s, the thought never occurred to me that I will do the same with my daughter Lea many years down the line.
It hit me when I was sitting there the way simple and obvious truths tend to do: I have a daughter, and we are hanging out on the stairs of West Hall as she tries going after one of AUB’s infamous cats.
Hope you have specific isolated incidents that have a profound underlying meaning based on decades of other isolated incidents.
Posted in fatherhood, music, performance art | Tagged american university of beirut, aub, beirut, fairouz, Fairuz, Lea, lebanon, parenting, parents, west hall, westhall |
By onoffbeirut on March 20, 2012
when you get on a bus, do you sit upfront, in the middle, or way in the back ?
recently was on a bus with an age group of 25 to 50+ and was very intrigued to see how self-assigned seats on the bus reflected their personalities and behavior.
this got me thinking, how much of our childhood behavior do we keep with us (for something even as simple as choosing a seat on a bus) ?
(background info: I was on my way to speak at a conference in the Dead Sea on the use of Social Media to empower NGOs (link). The bus was heading to the Dead Sea from Amman with a handful of participating NGOs from Lebanon)
Posted in social media, urban living | Tagged Amman, conference, dead sea, Jordan, NGO, NGOs, speaking |
By onoffbeirut on March 18, 2012
a few weeks ago, I was going through the movie listings Sunday afternoon to find a movie to take my parents to and I found out that Star Wars Episode I is playing in 3D.
I did what any responsible son would do, I rescheduled an outing with the parents and called up my friends who would enjoy watching Star Wars.
It appears that despite being married and having a daughter, boys will be boys.
oh and the radio played Rhythm is a Dancer while on the way.
The 90s all over again !
What memories of the 90s do you have ?
Posted in urban living | Tagged 3D, lebanon, movies, star wars, starwars |
By onoffbeirut on March 11, 2012
Sometimes, it strikes me that: ”Wow, I have a year and a half-daughter”. With all the exams and qualifications we all go through in our life (school, university, work,…), you would think that there is an equivalent parenting qualification/assessment system — surprisingly there isn’t.
More or less you are expected to wing it and learn from day-to-day experience. How come this methodology that is currently applied (and generally accepted) for something as critical as child bearing and child raising is not applied in other aspects of our life such as education ?
A small example:
Our educational system and society structure instill in us a need to work hard, qualify, go through assessment tests,.. We choose school paths based on sciences, math, literature as a preamble for what we hope to do in college (sciences, arts, …). We are tested every step of the way in school and in university. Moreover, to move from school to university or to a masters program we need to go through assessment tests (SAT, GMAT, GRE,…). All through that process, members of society follow up with you and your parents to make sure you are on the right track, that you are achieving things as you move forward, and frequently guilting you when you don’t do well. None of that process applies when you have children. You would think that with all of the qualifications and tests you go through all of your life, there would be some equivalent for parenting. There are essential skills that I know I lack from the simple day-to-day processes and taking care of a baby girl to the more existential of how to create a nurturing environment that would serve her well as she grows older. Below are some thoughts that go through her head when I wing it.
So how come our society and educational system don’t have a parenting readiness / improvement track like is applied to school or university ?
Other examples:
Posted in fatherhood, parenting | Tagged assessment, education, lebanon, parenting, qualifications, society |
By onoffbeirut on February 12, 2012
You would think that something as important as a high voltage cautionary sign in a publicly accessible area would be displayed more emphatically.
Then again, I guess it is better than no sign at all.
(Sign Reads: Death warning. 220 volts. Don’t touch.)
Posted in street vibe |
By onoffbeirut on February 5, 2012
I recently nuked my complete music library and started from scratch rebuilding in hopes of discovering and genuinely enjoying new music.
Ended up gradually buying the same music I threw out without experiencing new music as I was hoping would happen.
Memories and feelings associated with songs are not something we can give away easily and find ourselves inevitably drawn back to them.
That got me thinking on why can’t I seem to come across new music that shakes my core ?
What I have figured out so far is that there are two core contributors to my current music interests:
- Primarily, music that came across via an experience (a great party, a night over at a friend’s house, a great DJ performance, an amazing tune that suddenly comes across during a boring party, a relationship infused song,…)
- Secondarily, a friend’s obsession with a genre or artist. I clearly recall a friend of mine back in school who first introduced me to Nirvana’s Nevermind album . As he reluctantly let go of the CD, he said: if u scratch it, I will inflict pain on you <– don’t have that musical passion around me anymore unfortunately
Been fooling around Path, with a dire interest in finding new music shared by others.
Turns out, I only end up buying tracks that I forgot I liked ! (back to repopulating my music library with music I already had — not new
(Exception of course is the pop tracks we are frequently surrounded with on the radio, VH1, MTV….these seem to stick in my head — but only for a short short while)
How do you discover / find new music that genuinely appeals to you ?
Posted in music | Tagged discover, itunes, music, path |
By onoffbeirut on November 6, 2011
how will I know how to teach Lea how to know right from wrong when choosing her friends (especially the male ones) ?
saw a young girl parked under our building and obviously waiting for somebody to come down. it got me thinking of what role I can play to help Lea better choose her friends. folks who would look out for her and wish her well ? worse, in terms of guys, how can I play a role in making sure she can have clear judgement and be able to call a spade a spade when it comes to guys ?
lea is 14 months now and I have time to worry about this BUT it isn’t like I am going to take a class in a couple of years that provides pointers and best-practices 
will most likely be clueless then like I am now.
here is hoping…that Lea is surrounded by loving friends and family…helping her steer through the days ahead…
(image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/x1brett/)
Posted in fatherhood, parenting |
By onoffbeirut on February 2, 2011
i had my first yoga session tonight
(the last time I did yoga was ages ago and i was probably 8).
below are my misconceptions and lessons learned:
my misconceptions:
- misconception 1: it is as straight-forward as visiting a spa. it is easy to do. doesn’t hurt a bit. isn’t actually classified as exercise.
- misconception 2: even an out-of-shape digital-centric guy like me can jump in and do ok from the first session
- misconception 3: you do one or two sessions and you feel right as rain and super-relaxed
lessons learned:
- i seemed to have misplaced my center of gravity, leading to easily losing balance with every move (didn’t know my center of gravity was something i could misplace)
- i am definitely definitely definitely out-of-shape. we all know at some level that we are out-of-shape and we are quite good at denial; but it really strikes you when you are exerting an effort, especially publicly
- i know it is not the yoga-way to swear, but I found myself involuntarily swearing underneath my breath when i did a wrong (i.e. painful) stretch or lost my balance. definitely intend to work on that.
- physical fitness has never been my strongest point ever since the gym days back in school. adding years and years of inactivity on top of that makes it worse.
- i will be sore for quite a while and can actually hurt myself if I don’t pay close attention. still sounds funny to me injuring myself doing yoga (see misconception 1)
summary:
i have yet to find an activity that is a breeze to do, gets your mind off things, and makes you healthy along the way.
survived my first yoga session and not sure that i’ll continue down this path for an extensive time; however, i do intend to try it out a couple of more times.
yoga space info:
instructor is a good friend, ghia osseiran who is very patient and has extensive years of experience in yoga.
place is the Shiva-Lila Yoga Space (website ; facebook page)
(sunset yoga image from akalat’s photostream)
Posted in performance art, street vibe, urban living |
