Yesterday, I was like damn, it’s the third ALREADY and I have completely forgotten about my visual monthly review. I usually look forward to that.
Not that it matters. June was not really a very colorful month.

But anyway, I really want that car.

Time Flies:
On March
On April
On May
On June
On July
On August
On September
On October
On November
On December
On January
On February
On March
On April
On May

This is my Wednesday’s brand diary. Most of my days really include the same brands.
The only Arab brands: Mood, Fine, and toot.

(idea stolen from here, hattip: Phil)

What brands do you use every day?

Step 21: Jump at any opportunity to take pictures of strange sock/shoe combinations.
In this photo: Roba Al-Assi [photos | remove tag]
Added June 13

From the album:
“How to Act Like an Idiot - Part 1″by Hal

Hal wrote:
at 9:55am on June 15th, 2008
I’m only not on the Internet when I’m sleeping or when I’m shopping.
No wait, sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night to hug the Internet a little, for comfort :p
And yes. The socks are art. ART I tell ya. Yo when am I gonna see Rainbow Bright’s apartment?!?!? :D

Yasmeen wrote:
at 12:14 am yesterday
1: Roba and Moose’s apartment looks like the horrific aftermath of a Rainbow’s drunken night out, seriously, the thing just went out, got wasted, came back in there and PUKED ITS GUTS all over the place.

2: Roba, seriously? The socks?

3: Hal I wake up and hug Ally Mcbeal for comfort at night. She speaks to me. Is that so bad? She’s my internet. How lame did that just sound? Moving along.

4: Hal, your album is hi. la. rious. Emphasis on all three syllables please. Merci. Point final.

Hal wrote:
at 11:40am yesterday
Yasmeeeeeeeen! Ok so
1: I CAN’T WAIT. I am so gonna make fun of that crib MOHAHAHHAHA.
2: That’s what I said. The ’seriously?’ part.
3: Seriously?
4: :D

I’ve always been seriously amused by abandoned spaces. There’s a certain charm to them, the charm of a place that was once a person’s warm, loving home. The charm of walls that saw intimacy that outsiders have never seen.

When I pass by an abandoned space, especially in the once very beautiful neighborhoods such as Jabal Amman and Weibdeh, I always stop and try to imagine what it was like when the gardens were green, and a family sat and had coffee in the courtyard.

Yet, most of these spaces are impersonal to me. For the most part, the days of their glory came to pass before I reached maturity. My fascination with them is just that of an outsider, trying to imagine what it would have been like to be a part of that space before it was abandoned.

Then this weekend, we decided to go check out if there is anything to salvage in one of the first houses that my family ever lived in. They bought it sometime in the early-to-mid 80’s and we moved to Saudi Arabia a very, very short time afterwards, leaving the house abandoned to vandalism and insects.

During those early years, we used to spend the summers there, but then sometime in the early 90’s, we switched to spending our vacations at my grandmother’s house instead. It has been completely abandoned since then, and when we moved back to Amman 20 years later, my parents decided to buy our current home, because it is close to my grandmother.

The house has basically been forgotten for the past 15 years. The thing I found most interesting when we went there this weekend is how it’s obvious it was never really meant to be abandoned the way it was. The dishes are still stacked neatly above the kitchen sink to drain, the cupboard in the toilet is still stocked with toothpaste and shaving cream, and the toys are still haphazardly thrown around as if my brothers and I had just finished playing with them.

I remember those toys very clearly, and I remember that we used to love sitting on the stairs while we play. My mother had painted a Snow White mural on our bedroom door because I used to love Snow White. I don’t remember her painting it, but I remember being very proud of them.

It is one thing to walk into an abandoned space that you cannot relate to, and a completely different thing to skip over cobwebs and think, damn, I used to love that spot. It’s as if a moment of my childhood got stuck in time, complete with 80’s logos and 80’s fashion.

Of course, with a lot more layers of dust.

… and I just looked at my calendar and though, oh my god, it’s June 2nd.

May flew by.

Time Flies:
On March
On April
On May
On June
On July
On August
On September
On October
On November
On December
On January
On February
On March
On April

For Week One, go here.

Yesterday we got the chance to attend one of dance performances in the Zakharef in Motion event at Al-Hussein Theatre in Ras Al-Ain, namely, the tap dancing show by the New York Dance Ensemble. It was really awesome, in fact, it was one of the best events we’ve been to in a while. The show was interactive, fun to watch, funny, and different.

Moses suposes his toeses are roses
But Moses supposes erroneously
And Moses, he knowses his toeses aren’t roses
As Moses supposes his toeses to be

The best part is, although the NY Dance Ensemble will not perform again, there’s a dazzling array of other shows that you can watch (for free) for the rest of this week.

Today, the 24th of April at 5:00 - The New York Tap Ensemble with a “special performance for children and youth” (not sure what that entails) and a short performance by Ryuji Yamaguchi.

(All show below are at 7:30 PM, at the Al-Hussein Cultural Center, and for free!)

Saturday: ISH from Holland.

Sunday: Mal Pelo from Spain.

Monday: Dansgroep Krisztina Chatel from Holland.

Tuesday: Compagnie Trafic de Style from France

Wednesday: Folkwang Tanzstudio from Germany

Saturday: Compagnie Thor from Belgium.

For more details about each show check out this post on Khobbeizeh.

Lady 1: I’m trying to send her credit but I can’t for some reason.
Lady 2: Her network is Mobilcom. What’s your network?
Lady 1: Fastlink.

Yup. It’s still Fastlink, it’s still Mobilcom. I want to return the Zein prepaid credit card every time I get one, “I’m sorry, but I don’t like Zain, I’m actually a Fastlink…”

Thanks to Y’s brilliant ideas, the whole office enjoyed a delicious, filling, and healthy meal for under 4 JDs (combined total).