On or Off?

With this year's Earth Hour behind us, it's now time to be introspective.
Okay, not really. I just thought it might make a mildly interesting post.
Did you participate in this year's global switch off?
I'm not going to lie, I honestly didn't feel like switching off anything. The enthusiasm I had for the day last year was missing this year.
Despite my apathy, I did what had to be done. 
My enthusiasm might be gone, but my conscience is still there.
I would have felt terribly guilty had I sat through the hour with everything switched on, especially since my neighborhood was as dark as the darkest woods.
I spent Earth Hour sitting in our family room, with a candle for light, and a laptop that's screen seemed to burn holes in my eyes with its suddenly abnormally intense light.
In case you're wondering, it was on battery power. 
In my understanding that's alright, unless any of you tell me otherwise of course. Then I'll have to bother finding out properly.
I did consider making use of the hour by taking a shower, but I wasn't sure how I'd be able to do that in the dark without breaking at least a few significant bones. I opted to stay in my pajamas, eat a few Oreos, and tinker around on my laptop.
How did you spend Earth Hour? Where were you? And what did you do to contribute?
Do tell, because I'd love to know!
More later,
xOxOxO

Everyone blinks their eyes, now you can bling them too!

Want everyone to see the sparkle in your eyes?
Swarovski has come up with a way to help in the quest for beautiful, bright, shining eyes.
Anthony Mallier, the person behind the idea, has designed contact lenses that have Swarovski crystals embedded in them.
The lenses have been named "Sparkle", and intend to make your eyes do just that.
One can't help but wonder whether it's a good idea to tamper with something that sits in the eye like this.
A mere particle of dust on the surface of a contact lens can be extremely uncomfortable and cause damage to the eye of the wearer, so it will be really interesting to see how wearable these lenses are, and how they perform in the long run.
Then again, those are issues the designer probably considered before developing such a product, right?


Source: perezhilton.com

In the Mood for Gloss?

Make up company Too Faced has come out with a new line of lip gloss called, "Mood Swing Emotionally Activated Lip Gloss".
The gloss comes in four different shades, and each $18.50 tube comes with a "color chart".
As the wearer's mood changes, so does the color of the lip gloss. 
The color chart helps to tell the wearer what each color change means, and what mood it corresponds to.
The concept is the same as that of the "mood ring", and just like it, this seems to be a product made purely for novelty sake.
Why would someone want the make up on their face changing color, and that too without their control?
Some women may buy this gloss for fun, but it doesn't seem like a product that's going to be around for a very long time.


Source: perezhilton.com

"Up Side, Down side" on DesiVibe

Quite a bit of my one month trip to Sharjah was spent doing things revolving around our new apartment there. 

Although my dad had moved in by the time my mom and I arrived, there was still a lot to be done.

The apartment is still not completely furnished, and we're still waiting for the rest of our family, living, and dining room furniture from the place we ordered it to be custom made.

We've moved countless times, and have lived in different places, and in more than 20 different houses, but each time is an experience in itself.

I thought I'd share a bit about what this particular move was like. 

Hope you enjoy it!

xOxOxO

To read, go to: 

http://www.desivibe.com/special-feature/591-up-side-down-side-

It's Time to Click

Last week I started the photojournalism course I'd enrolled in before I left for my month long getaway to the Gulf.
My first class was just a few days after I landed back in Ottawa, so I had to attend, jet lagged, dazed, suffering from wisdom tooth pain, and all.
Our first assignment was to take news paper submission type photographs of the change in weather in Ottawa over the weekend.
I did the assignment, of course, but let's just say I was less than confident about the results.
Everyone else in the class has all the proper equipment they need, because they either are, or intend to become photographers of some sort.
I'm the odd one out.
I plan to continue to just write. I'm taking the course to gain a better understanding of the photographic aspects of a news paper or magazine.
During my internship at Insider magazine in Dubai, I was lucky enough to be able to work at the pictures desk, and I must say it was fun.
That piqued my interest, so here I am, doing a course purely to learn. It might help of course, but there's no concrete benefit to me from doing this, other than satiating my own curiosity.
Learning for the sake of learning. Such a dated yet romantic notion. I know, nerdy.
Surprisingly though, the professor actually liked some of the things I managed to come up with.
He knows I'm no photographer, and lack the proper equipment or techniques, but told me I have a very artistic eye, and was impressed by my thought process and creativity.
That's what matters most anyway, right? 
You can always learn techniques and polish up raw talent, but if you don't have the sense or aptitude for something, you can't go out and acquire that from somewhere.
For the moment, that's all the feed back I need to know I'm off to a good start. Just like with most other things in life, I'm hoping the rest will come with time.
More later then, 
xOxOxO

The Multiplication of Pain

Growing older doesn't necessarily mean growing up, as most of you already know I'm sure.
One (among many) annoying things about growing up, or getting older, or however else you put it, is that you very quickly realize that some of the things you celebrated as a child, become royal pains once you're grown up.
In this case, that would be the royal pain in my mouth.
When we're younger, the sight of a new tooth poking through our little pink gums makes us feel proud, and seems like proof of our growing up.
When you're in your twenties however, the very same thing can become a never ending nightmare.
The wisdom tooth that has been struggling to make it through your swollen gum is not only an eye sore, but a source of unbelievable pain too.
Not only does your erupting tooth make your face look like a swollen turnip from one side, it also hurts so much that sometimes you feel like you might just pass out from all the pain.
And that wouldn't be an entirely bad thing either - anything to stop the agony.
Agreed, I probably should have gotten the surgery I was supposed to years ago, to remove all four of my stubborn wisdom teeth before they became a source of torture, even though it's really only one of them that causes me misery every now and then.
Yesterday, after more than five days of sheer agony, I finally dragged myself to the doctor because I could feel my throat becoming sore. 
The good news is, contrary to what I thought, my problematic wisdom tooth isn't really infected.
The bad news is, it could be very soon, and my throat is already infected, because of which I now have to shove antibiotics into my mouth three times a day for the next ten days.
I finished a course of the horrid things just less than a month ago, to clear up a throat infection that had gone into one of my lungs.
That probably had something to do with my unwillingness to visit the clinic sooner, because I waited long enough for the infection to spread from my throat to my poor, unsuspecting lung.
It's a lesson I learn over and over again, yet fail to act upon.
Next time though, I'll try to make sure things go differently.
I'll try to get things sorted out on time instead of trying to ignore them, the result of which is a bigger mess in the end.
This is probably something I, and all of us, could benefit from in other areas of our lives too.
If something is bothering you, don't let it just sit there and multiply.
Get rid of it as soon as you can, right from the root.
I should have done the same with my agony inducing wisdom tooth as well.
Then again, there's always next time.
Which brings me to another important lesson here - wisdom (or the absence of it) has absolutely nothing to do with wisdom teeth. 
If it did, I'd have lots of it, because the rest of my wisdom teeth have come out properly, and they seem to be doing fine at the moment.
Till some of my pain abates then,
xOxOxO

In Ottawa - Here, There, or Everywhere?

One thing has become very clear to me after this particular trip, and my subsequent return flight to Ottawa.
Sometimes, the only way we can decide where we truly want to be, is by being somewhere else.
For the last three years, I have been torn between what seem like opposite ends of the earth.
The U.A.E, where I spent my childhood and most of my teenage years, or Ottawa, where I went to university, completed my undergrad, and got to experience things not everyone is lucky enough to have a chance to experience.
My first job was in Ottawa, (never mind that it was a terrible experience and probably did a fair amount of psychological damage).
Similarly, my first internship was in Dubai, a much better experience, even though I probably should have had more to do.
Ottawa has always been about a lot of firsts, good and bad, and for the first time I realized, that the same is going to be true about Dubai, if I choose to make that my home.
I'm not entirely sure why it took me years to be able to decide where I want to stay put, at least for a good chunk of time now.
This trip made me realize that I'm tired of being a ping pong ball. 
I don't want to just up and leave every few months.
I don't want to feel like I belong in two different places with totally different lifestyles all the time.
I don't want to pack, unpack, and have to get used to just having arrived in another place every few months.
But most of all, I don't want to feel that I don't really belong anywhere anymore, even though I have two places to call home.
So which am I going to leave, and which will I embrace?
I'd tell you now, but that would take the fun out of it.
All in due time, I assure you. Till then, keep guessing, and keep reading!
xOxOxO

To Ottawa - The end of a hectic month

My one month here is up, and it's time to pack my bags (once again) already.
I'm leaving for Ottawa tomorrow, and I can honestly say the day has come too soon.
The past month has been mainly about furniture hunting, shopping, eating out, and a bit of sightseeing and socializing (as much as was possible with the time left after all those other activities).
It has been a short but mostly fun trip, with hardly any time for blogging or writing.
I do have two articles lined up though, and maybe even a few blog posts about my experiences during my short (but far from uneventful) trip. 
Anecdotes about moving, and Desi families, as well as their politics often make for an interesting read.
That'll all have to wait though, because I have two suitcases to start stuffing things into.
You'll get to hear from me from the other side of the ocean now. 
Till then, 
xOxOxO

Ottawa to Dubai - In Dubai

I know I've been missing in action for a while now.

Just like I do every few months, I had to catch a flight to Dubai on the 17th of last month.

My parents plan on moving to Dubai for good sometime next year when our villa there is completed. At the moment though, we live in its neighboring emirate, Sharjah, because that's where my dad works.

Contrary to what most might think, I haven't been blogging because I've hardly had time to sit down and write since I've gotten here, and it's not because of my extremely lazy-to-the-point-of-being-debilitating nature.

My mom, dad, and myself have been busy going around doing all sorts of things because we just moved into our own place here in Sharjah.

Because it's a new place, and because we didn't bring a single item of furniture (as well as other household things) from our old place, it's like starting all over again.

It's a lot of fun, no doubt.

But it's also very tiring, time consuming, energy sapping, and downright frustrating at times.

We got most of our furniture custom made, according to what we had in mind for each of our rooms.

I picked out the theme and colours for my room, as well as my sister's, who is still in Ottawa, and couldn't be bothered to tell me what it was that she wanted done to her room.

Not to brag, but our rooms turned out pretty neat, so all those hours spent figuring out every little detail with the interior designers finally paid off.

I'll be back, with more details of what I've been up to here.

Till then, take care,

xOxOxO

MizzPinkx - Quotes

I recently came across a beautiful quote and thought it was worth sharing.
All of us feel a little unsure about things occasionally, so here's something that may be useful during those confusing times.


"When God leaves you at the edge of a cliff, trust him; One of two things will happen: Either He'll catch you when you fall, or He'll teach you how to fly."

I don't know who penned it, but it's a gem of a quote. I don't need to say more, because it speaks for itself.

xOxOxO