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| Photo by: Omar Tarawneh Instagram: Abukarak1987 |
Nov 12, 2012
الشتاء؛ فصل الـ.. أحّا!
Jul 6, 2012
تصفيق حار
Oct 15, 2011
اللامرئيون

Feb 17, 2011
Egypt, Jordan, # and my cap
1) I've realized that I can now chant, walk and tweet simultaneously ( I'll never know how to write that word without the help of a dictionary btw!), though it might seem silly, but I find it much telling, tweeting and sharing information as it happens became a part of what we do. We: The youth segment. which takes me to the next point.
2) In the demonstrations, protests, اعتصامات etc..., I've noticed a new look in the "older people"'s eyes when looking at me, it used to be that those old-school-seasoned-activists/politicians would look at us during such events with eyes full of good-surprise and hope, with a look of cautious relief that there's still hope in "this generation", they'd be leading and we'd be there "with them". Now that look has changed, you could feel that they're stepping aside and leaving it up to us to say what we want, and now they're there "with us". looking down at your phone pressing those buttons is no longer disrespectful! In fact, I've had one woman who came to me while I was doing that while at the Egyptian Embassy, tapped over my shoulder and told me " Inta 3al facebook halla2? / are you on facebook right now?" I smiled and said "No, Twitter!" she said "Ah?! bravo 3alaikom bravo 3alaikom"!.
Even though the shift is nice, it's still not where I want it to be -again this post is all too personal- people still won't take me seriously with my cap on, dammit. I have a dream, and in that dream I'm talking to the king with my cap on!.
3) Every time I saw someone holding Jamal Abdel Nasser's picture and when the crowd chanted for/ about him, I felt grateful to my father for naming me after him. I also felt he -my father- was with me, especially on the night of Mubarak's fall, I think I spoke to him at some point in the middle of it. I remember him asking me about the social/political life in the university, and I remember answering him: nothing happens, no one talks about anything. He'd be happy to have seen how it all went down eventually and who is leading these historical revolutions. RIP dad.
4) I'm no longer seen as the crazy/ too political/ dreamy guy! or that's how I feel anyway. Both online and offline, people are more involved in what's happening, they're sharing views and opinions, they're discussing with me, they're asking me about what I think, people are asking me about twitter, how does it work, what da fuck is a hashtag -of course-. The usual random morning talk at work for instance has been all political, domestic and foreign, everyone is involved, and not everyone is on the same page, which is great, because it means that people are not pretending to be involved, they're not repeating what they've heard to look involved, they're actually analyzing and coming up with their own conclusions. brilliant!.
5) I can't help but feel the tendency from everyone to "talk to the youth", to "listen to the youth", it's as if this "mystical creature of the Youth" has been discovered recently and everybody wants to get to know it out of a sudden! Which is good and scary at the same time, good because it's about time someone pay attention to us and take us seriously, and scary because like all-things-Arab; we function on an impulse, with no clear plan or intention, "today the trend is talking to the youth, let's jump on board". I hope I'm mistaken.
All in all, It's been a fascinating time, the situation in Jordan is still unraveling, the calls for change and reform are getting louder, search twitter for "Reform Jo" and "Hashtagdebates" and join the conversation.
Last but not least, I'm working on writing couple of books to help all sectors of the society understand us better, I'm still looking for a publisher:
Aug 6, 2010
Perception rather Inception
Apr 12, 2010
شعب فرايحي
من قال أننا شعب لا يضحك ولا يبتسم؟ الجميع... لكن الجميع غلطانين وقوة ملاحظتهم تؤول للصفر، لكن توجد فرصة مؤكدة للتحقق من الأمر، مع أنها ممكن أن تكون بعد فوات الأوان؛ بعد أن تموت.0بعد أن تموت، ويصبح اسمك فجأة "المرحوم" فلان، ويقام لك بيت عزاء، ويدلّل عليك بسهم مرسوم بقلم "فولوماستر" على ورقة تتلاعب بها الرياح على شارة مرورية - رغم الطائلة القانونية – للوصول إلى بيتك، أو بيت العزاء بك بالأحرى، وبعد أن يصطف أبوك وإخوانك وأولاد عمومتك يستقبلون أقاربك وأصدقاءك، انظر للأعلى (أو للأسفل إن شئت) وانظر بين الحضور، لا، لا تنظر إليهم لحظة الدخول، فالوجوه حزينة أو تكاد أن تكون، انتظر قليلاً، ها هم يمسّون "مساكم الله بالخير"، ويجلسون ويتناولون جرعة من القهوة على شرف حياتك ويدعون لك بالرحمة، يأكلون التمر ويشربون الماء ثم يشعلون سيجارة، في هذه الأثناء تنزاح الأعين عنهم وتنشغل بالقادمين الجدد، ويفقد الواحد منهم شعوره بأنّه الشخصية الأهم في الجلسة، فيبدأون بالكلام، وبالحديث عنك، نصيحتي؟ ابق بعيداً حيث أنت، بعض الحكماء – وما أكثرهم بيننا – لن يكتفي بذكر محاسنك فقط، بل سيعاتبك على شقاوتك ويذكر نوادرك، ومن هنا يبدأ المسلل الذي لا أنصحك بالاستماع إليه، شاهد عن بعد واترك لنفسك ملء الفراغ، اعتقِد لوهلة أنّهم يتحدثون عنك، وما زالوا يتحدثون عنك طيلة الجلسة، حتى ذاك الذي رفع صوته في الكلام ولم تكنّ يداه، نعم هو يتحدث عنك وعن مآثرك الطيبة، كلّهم هناك بسببك، لم يغصبهم أحد على القدوم، لكن –عشاني- لا تقترب، ابق بعيداً، طِر بعيداً، أو ارقد بعيداً، لأنّ الحقيقة يا صديقي أن الحديث ليس عنك، ولا عن مآثرك، والأسنان الظاهرة – المكتملة منها والمتساقطة – لا تتبسّم على ذكر نوادرك حتّى، إنهم يتحدثون عن البورصة، وعن الأسعار، وعن الساتالايت، وعن برشلونة وريال مدريد، إنهم يخبرون النكات، ويبتسمون، ويضحكون على هذا وذاك. لربما تتساءل الآن يا صديقي، ولماذا إذاً كلّما كنت تحاول التحدث لأحدهم أيام كنت بيننا استقبلك بوجه عابس؟ ولماذا إذا ابتسمت في وجه آخر اعتقد أنّك لا بد تدبّر أمراً أو تتندر عليه؟ لماذا يضحكون الآن بالذات؟ أقول لك لماذا... 0
لأنّنا شعب بشوش، وفرايحي، نحن نحب الضحك، ونحب الحياة، ونقاتل النكد بما استطعنا إليه سبيلاً... 0
لكنّنا لا نحترم الموت، ولا الشهداء، ولا الغياب.0
نادر، أخي ورفيق طفولتي، لديك الآن الأزل بأكمله أمامك لتنسى البشوشين الذين دنّسوا عزاءك، فانسهم، وانسني إن شئت، وارقد مستريحاً –عشاني-.0
http://naserz.blogspot.com
Mar 24, 2010
RT or "Re-Tweeting"; another stolen Arab invention
Just in case you're not familiar with the term, an RT or a Retweet is a Tweet (A message sent via Twitter) being sent again by someone else... now to the point:
I really hate how "the west" stole, is stealing, and will always steal our brilliant ideas! Retweeting -the art of repetition- isn't a new internet trend if you ask me, its been there since I can remember, every time something important happened and we were too lazy to do something about it we either Retweet the same things to ourselves, or receive a comforting Retweet from higher powers through media.
Re-tweeters vary from ordinary Arab citizens, to parliament representatives, to ministers and prime ministers and heads of states. We are with no doubt the inventors of the Retweet, and to cope up with the current fast pace world we live in today, the useless Retweets are becoming shorter and shorter by time, that they don't mean anything anymore, they don't even piss me off anymore... and since I need to rant about something, really, I'd like to retweet my favorite Retweet ever
Jan 11, 2010
Social networking while -supposedly- socially socializing (like for fucking real)
I've been seeing this in so many places in Amman, all areas, all kinds of people, a group of "friends" hanging out at some cafe or pub or wherever, couple of them if not all have their laptops on, and of course these days in Amman your ass is WiFi-ed covered everywhere except for Soog el 7arameyyeh and Wadi el 7addadeh maybe, so these ppl with laptops are always playing some game on facebook, zynga poker or that farmvil thing, and it really pisses me off and irritates me !!!
Aren't people supposed to actually communicate and have fun together, in person? and if that wasn't possible then there's the cyber world and networking website such as facebook to help bridge the gap? so how do you explain someone preferring to play cards with a machine rather than playing cards with his other friends sitting with him at the same place? and people can't come up with things to discuss and talk about that they'd be browsing the internet instead of having a real conversations ? that is fucked up!
Dec 12, 2009
يعني لو كان سعد الحريري رئيس وزراء....عندو نفط !؟
الصراحة سياسة لبنان معقدة زيادة عن اللزوم وعندي شعور إنو عمري ما رح أفهمها، ولذلك بس حبيت أوضح إني بكتب الآن مش دفاعاً عن سعد الحريري ولا غيرو، بس حاب أحط أصبعي بعنيكو، أو عنينا بالأصح، ولأني بكره لما الناس "تنهجن" على إشي ولما الكل يصير يقلد التاني عالعمياني وبغباء وبدون تفكير لمجرّد إنو موضوع معيّن عامل ضجة، لإنو عادة هاي الأمور بتيجي وبتروح والناس بتفيع عليها وتاني يوم بنسوها، مثال: حرب غزة الأخيرة، محمود درويش، الخ... نرجع لموضوع سعد الحريري، إحنا شعوب جبانة بشكل مش طبيعي، و ما بنستقوي إلاّ عالأضعف منّا ،في وجه الضعيف فش أشطر منّا بالنقد والمسخرة، أمّا عند القوي بنأرنب وبنصير نوتوت لحالنا أو حتّا بنتحسّر بعقلنا بلاش حدا يسمعنا ! يعني اللي عمرو فيكم حضر قمّة عربية، أو اجتماع رؤساء وزراء عرب لقمّة طارئة أو غير طارئة، أو سمع وزير دفاع دولة خليجية يلقي بيان، أو مسؤول سعودي يتحدث عن تجهيزات الحج أو غيرو...بعرف إنو معظمهم مش أفضل من سعد الحريري، بل أسوأ بمرااااحل، خاصة جماعة اللحى وال"متدينين"، إللي المفروض بقرأوا القرآن 5 مرّات يومياً عالأقل،( بالمناسبة، التفسير الوحيد اللي وجدته لهاي الظاهرة، إنو بلكي هدول الجماعة بعملو زي ما كنت أعمل و أنا صغير لما أجي أصلي، دايماً كنت أقرأ سورة الإخلاص "أو: قل هو الله أحد" وسورة الفلق "أو: قل أعوذ برب الناس" بكل صلاة لأنهم قصار، يمكن عشان هيك لغتهم العربية ركيكة)، المهم، فالصراحة قاعد بفكّر...لو سعد هالحريري كان رئيس وزراء دولة قوية وعندها نفط...كان حدا فيكو تفلسف وعمل فيها أبو العرّيف اللي بغلطش ولا بحرف ؟ والله بشك ! على الأقل، خلينا نقدّر إنو بلبنان مسموحلك تحكي للأعور أعور بوجهو بدون ما تخاف على حياتك وأولادك وشغلك وعيلتك الخ الخ الخ... وتذكروا إنكو بتقدروش تتخنفسو لما شوفير التكسي يبلّش يتشكون عالأسعار وعالحياة الصعبة لإنكو بتخافو يكون بدو يسحب منكو حكي ويسحبكوا النمل بعديها، يعني كل هاللي نشروا فيديو الحريري، ممتاز، المرة الجاي اللي بصير إشي بحتاج الناس تفتح ثمامها عشانو، يا ريت نشوف هالحماس المتّقد بصب باتجاه إشي مفيد، على سبيل التغيير يعني بسhttp://naserz.blogspot.com
Dec 1, 2009
Sea food in Jordan ? I'll pass ...
Nov 27, 2009
What's with the fitting rooms without locks :/ ?
Is this the new cool thing ? changing at some shops in Amman you're gonna need a friend to "look out" for you.. really ? I never thought in a million years that I'll have flashbacks from going to the bathroom in my public school as a kid when I got into that fitting room at that fancy store ,LOL, I mean I've been to other fitting rooms with no locks but it was because the store didn't really have a fitting room,it was some kind of on-the-spot arrangement, but those were official fitting rooms :D ! oh and they have a note that I believe missing a line at the end .... this is the note
and this is the missing sentence "especially of your privacy/ وبالتحديد خصوصيتكم" ! at the end !!
I wonder if the girls fitting rooms are the same way ! are they ?
Anyway, Happy Eid and holidays to all,I'm really sorry for the belated replies on previous posts,I still didn't get a much needed balance with the new "job" and all,the other day I noticed I haven't read in any book for over 2 weeks!
http://naserz.blogspot.com
Nov 14, 2009
a77a! where the hell is the Middle East,Larry King ?!
Better late than never ,that's what I told myself when I noticed the missing Middle East watching the show today!
Why isn't the middle east on Larry King's background map of the world ? Anybody knows ?
Oct 10, 2009
The Middle East Nobel Peace Prize Winners Paradox
I just find it ironic !
Sep 20, 2009
The Most Boring Day of the year has just started ! :/
Aug 6, 2009
Believe it or not,it happened in Amman!
The Taxi meter is 1.64 JD
Aug 4, 2009
JOTAS متلازمة جمهور المسرح الأردني
Jun 3, 2009
Why are Jordanians angry people
I will tell you why , let me tell you how i came to figure out 1st , I've been noticing a gradual change in my mood and temper since i got here,around two weeks period now ,the coolness and relaxation in public places i came to enjoy in Thailand is gradually fading ,and I've been thinking about it ,and been noticing stuff :
1st thing ; we don't say thank you enough :
In Thailand ,when you get into any kind of shop ,or even stop at a street food cart you're greeted "welcome" ,and after you ordered and paid the seller they'd say "Thank you" when they take the money from you, and then when they return the cash or hand you your bags ! however big or small the shop is ,everyone would do the same .with time -believe it or not- ,coming into a shop becomes a relaxing thing . WHERE IN JORDAN : you get into the shop,no one gives a damn ,you say "Marhaba" or "Salamo alaykom" and I'd say you have 4:1 chance of being ignored too.you order your stuff (or get them yourself) and go to the cashier , there is a big chance he'll be sacking it up and calculating while he is not even looking at you,talking to some other guy or on the phone,or even worse sitting on his chair laying back at the wall reaching his arms full length to do everything without moving an inch ,you hand him the bloody money ,he gives you the bloody change;still not looking at your graceful face ,YOU say "Thank you" or Shukran,and this one has a 6:1 chance of being ignored . believe it or not ,its starting to make me hostile towards all sellers ,its just not a nice feeling ! .
2nd thing ; Taxi drivers are self-proclaimed Gods .
I don't drive and i don't own a car ,i take taxis ! when you wave to one of them ,they slow down,ask you through the window (while still moving) "WHERE TO?" you tell him "somewhere" and he hits the gas and keep going .just like that.best case scenario he'd tell you -cuz he is a self-proclaimed God- "no no,not going there" and then hits the gas pedal .
Assuming he wants to take you where you want to go,you have to go with the way he wants to go,cuz he knows better,remember,he is God he knows better .hell,one of them insisted i unbuckle my seat belt cuz he thought i was picking on him and/or making fun of him !! what are these people !!! okay 90% of them,i admit I've been in couple of cabs with real nice clean buckled up drivers with clean nice cars who made me feel like human again . you have to encounter one of the prior kind of drivers and trust me your mood is fucked up for the rest of the day . did i mention they never have change ?or somehow its always 5 piasters short ! W.T.F.
3rd thing ; No where is clean,and everyone smokes everywhere .
now you may wonder (if you haven't lived in a city where everywhere is clean and people don't smoke everywhere) you may wonder how does that effect ones mood ,IT DOES . when the streets are clean,when the parks are clean,when people don't smoke indoors ,or in cars ,you feel good about your community and therefore yourself ,when the whole nation act like that IT DOES make a difference, yes i wasn't really happy with Thai's very strict self commitment to following rules in general,especially when it came to smoking ,but later when i got used to it ,geeeez does that make you feel like a civilized person living in a civilized place !
4th thing ; we don't line up .
Whenever you're anywhere where there is anything that requires people to line up..guess what...you never see the magical line happening ,you see half circles of people over each other's asses and backs each trying to reach their arms as far as they go to get done 1st ...whether its a concert's ticket at Jara Market or the close by bakery ,its always the same scene ,a scene that flashes images of movies such as The Gladiator in your mind walking toward it for some reason .
the list goes on and on .its fucking annoying and depressing ,its sad and fucked up ,we are fucked up,thats why we are angry people ,because we don't know better,and we don't know anything else .
Mar 21, 2009
The A4 conspiracy theory !
Okay here is the deal !
I needed to measure out something ;a rope,I didn't have a ruler, or a meter ,so what do i do ? I started looking for something with known length to compare to it ! I thought of going online and looking for "whats the length of 1 Dollar bill" since i have this 1$ here, but then i thought of something easier ! an A4 paper !
I laid the rope I was measuring down on the paper and measured the 29.7,and then I had to approximate the other 0.3 cm by myself ,folded the paper in half (vertically) so the width is now 10.5 and laid the rest of the rope down and it fit perfectly . had the length been 30 freakin cm I’d have just folded it horizontally right away as it was laying there on the desk with one move instead of rotating the paper and making sure its evenly folded along the TWENTY NINE CENTIMETER SEVENTY MILLIMETER edge .
Anyway ,the rope was approximately 40 cm long if you’re still wondering !have you? If so you need to take some basic math lessons .
Mar 2, 2009
Two dances from Bangkok
Feb 7, 2009
Shower-gels are so gay !
Today is the 1st time i take a bath in a year,....not! but it was the 1st time i spend much time in that uncomfortable ally at the supermarket, the one filled with all kind of woman's stuff,which also comes with good number of girls around you, but it doesn't feel quite right standing there checking items with them for long time :s .but today i just figured I'm gonna read what’s written on the shower-gel pack, since i always just grab this one i recognize by the color in a second ,and i have to say ,guys we're screwed !!what is this ! here is some of what’s actually written on them :
White Glamour / For fair and admired skin
because fair and lovely isn't a shower gel!
Magic Spell / For Soft and Fragranced Skin
because rough hands are so yesterday! and you stink
Soft Kiss / For Soft and Kissable Skin
because people who still use soap bar don't believe in foreplay !
Be Nice / Firming Skin
because we're too bored to write anymore !
Imperial Leather /Nourishing
because we're not convinced that you're human!
Sokubtsu / 99% Cleansing ingredient from plants
because we understand the lasting effect of "99%" in the Arab world
Finally ,after i almost decided to toss a coin to choose from this awesome list,i see something made me feel like at home, a name that brought back all the bad memories of diarrhea as a kid ... DETTOL ,and what did it say on it ? [ FRESH ] . thats it,i want to be fresh ,i held it up high like that scene in The Lion King, and NIDO's commercial started to play in the back of my head ,and we showered happily once after.
And so now i know... DETTOL Fresh means smelling like a hospital facility! fresh alrightt!!
Finally, note to self : Yer7am jeddak!!!Shower-gel ?!











