Who are you?

Where u r2 - BasharAlaeddin

These days it seems, in our fast-paced and high prestige society, no one really cares about who you are. All you ever get asked is: Where do you work? What do you do? Who do you know? Which fancy-shmancy club can you get VIP treatment?

How small is Amman?

 Balad by T.amara

You've all heard of the 6-degrees of separation right? Well in Amman, Jordan it's more like One-Degree of separation. I can guarantee you that if there is a person I do not know... some one I know very well in my inner circle of ten gazillion friends will know them. There are advantages and there are disadvantages to this... where shall I start? I'll give you one of each OK? One thing, you can't have a private date almost anywhere without bumping into a friend or uncle who's gonna relay your gossip to the rest of the town. Yet on the other hand, God Forbid something would happen to you, rest assured people would jump to your aid and get you help instantly. So it's a double-edged sword really. It's a constant dilemma for anyone who's family is based here yet has studied/lived in the West for quite a few years. You try to have the advantages of both polars but end up failing which results in regular disappointments. You're happy that family is close-by and everyone is healthy yet you hate how night-clubs are filled with sleazy douche-bags. It's an on-going inner conflict between knowing what's more important to you in life: is it the long-time friends & family security of the region or is it the perks & 8mb Internet lines of western civilization?

"Il-Shab Artist"

Beirut

Bashar Alaeddin - TiltShift Beirut

Whether you're drunk or having one of those life-reflecting moments, it's that goose-bump feeling you get when you think you're down and feel like times have changed, and that you've grown old out of your university party days that you realize driving back on that Syrian highway back to Amman from Beirut, that life is so beautifully simple and that it will always keep moving no matter how many times you try to pause it to help yourself reflect in those goose-bump moments.

Computing the cost

Sasahafatcat - fear, conform, consume

I hate this photo!!! It pains me to know, acknowledge and believe it to be so true in this day and age which makes me hate it even more. We’re a generation of confusion (generation Y if you didn’t know or O for Obama if you’d prefer). We’re spoilt with choices and don’t know where to start or what we want, lost and confused in a fragile state.

Note To Self...

Image: Beautiful Evening - Taken from Bernskiold Learning

So let's get one thing straight, I hate conventional thinking and traditional mentalities. Break out of your shells and move on kinda thing. Around me are people who buy/get art strictly on the basis of "Is it a beautiful landscape?" or "Does this art piece speak to my soul?"... Puuuhlease!