It all boils down to this...

Recently, a good friend who I have known for about twelve years (and whose advice I very much respect) called me out on something that I now feel ashamed and regretful about. It was quite a startling, yet completely true, wake-up call, and I’m very glad that it was called to my attention. What exactly this awakening was about is beside the point; therefore, I will leave out the details.

However, what I have no qualms in publicizing is that this got me thinking about how, no matter how good of a person someone tries to be, there will always be yet another way to improve. And these ways of improving are not always apparent to each of us, because our own thoughts and feelings are the only ones that we have access to 24/7. It is not always clear when our intentions translate into something completely different to someone else.

My honest opinion is that most people, at the core, have at least a speck of desire to be a good human being. As the Dalai Lama has preached, it is everybody’s deepest wish to be happy. It is never enough for us, though – no one ever reaches complete and utter happiness because there is always one more thing that we wish for. This is what distracts a person from being as good of a human being as possible, thus causing flaws that hurt others, in turn resulting in unhappiness. It is a vicious cycle that will, I’m sure, never ends throughout any of our lives.

Despite this cycle, we all have the capability to live in the best way possible – we just each need to figure out what the best way to do that is. This is why we have the ability to change each day and be a little bit better and treat our fellow people more respectfully and with more dignity. This is why we all have the capacity (with whatever senses are given to us at birth) to listen, and to learn.

Noa and Mira Awad -- THANK YOU!

Noa and Mira Awad, I can't tell you how excited I was to find your Eurovision song about a week ago. Yes, it took me that long! That is one of the many downsides of living in the United States. There is so much amazing art, in general, that never really makes it to the U.S. because the media is so closed-minded and ethnocentric.

Anyway, I digress. The main point of this blog post is to just thank these two ladies for this song... it really puts a lot of hope into the world. I know I sound cheesy, but just hearing everything on the news makes me feel like my heart has been broken in two. It's ridiculous how close the Arab and Jewish cultures are, yet there are those few figures of authority who make it their life's mission to destroy that for everyone.

I know that it is much more complicated than that, and that what I just wrote doesn't even touch on the specific issues at hand, but that is where things like Noa and Mira Awad's song come in. This song speaks more loudly than any editorial, any CNN coverage, or even any president's speech.

If I had the choice, I would choose meeting Noa and Mira over any super-famous celebrity. I have never written such a silly fan message like this before, but I am going to risk looking stupid for the sake of getting the word out: Listen to what these ladies are saying! Maybe someday we'll get somewhere with it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN8B1xvCxI0

The Caribou vs. Starbucks Debate

Caribou Coffee and Starbucks are always going to be competitors. Like the age-old Pepsi vs. Coke debate, it's only natural that some people would prefer Starbucks over Caribou, and vice-versa. But this little "competition" has been taken to a whole new level that I was not at all aware of until about a year and a half ago.

I was working at a very hipp-tastic global imports store (which adds a bit of irony to this situation), and a middle-aged male customer came into the store. I'm not sure how the topic of coffee came up, but I of course had to ask "Why?" when the guy mentioned never wanting to get anything at Caribou Coffee again. I thought his answer was going to be something like, "They always screw up my drink," or "They make things too sweet," or, "I always have to wait in line for 20 minutes." But, no, his answer was, "The Saudi Arabians own Caribou Coffee! Did you know that?"

Fast forward about a year, when I was hanging out with a new friend of mine from Palestine. Yep, I'm sure anyone reading this can guess where this is going! I was about to waste some money on an overpriced cup of coffee from Starbucks, but then my friend suggested that I waste that money on an overpriced cup of Caribou Coffee instead. I asked him if he liked Caribou better, and he said, "Of course I do! Starbucks is owned by Jews and the money goes toward the war on Gaza." Oh, great. Here we go again.

Was this topic over after that day? Oh, no, not in the slightest. Last week, after quite an impressive amount of time controlling my urge to buy an obscenely-priced beverage, I was at the mall and decided to go to Caribou. Was I thinking, "I'm going to go purchase some grains of sand from Saudi Arabia."? No. I was thinking, "I'm really thirsty, and Caribou is ten feet away from me." As I was attempting to enjoy my $4 iced caffeine in peace for the next fifteen minutes of my life, a couple of guys walked past, slapped me on the back, and said, "F*** Israel! Keep drinking that Caribou, girl!" Yeah, that pretty much ruined that delicious decision of mine. Last time I checked, when a person sits down for a cup of coffee, that moment is intended to be purely dedicated to one's own id. Those guys interrupted my special moment with my id - what a disappointment.

For the purpose of this blog entry, I did a little Google research, and came up with these two links, to prove that I'm not the only one encountering this argument:
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/6103/ <--About Starbucks

http://www.twincitiesgasprices.com/Forum_MSG.aspx?master=1&category=1162&topic=133036&page_no=1 <--About Caribou

In the end, all I can say is that, as long as I live, I know that I, personally, will have the sporadic craving for a $4-or-more vanilla chai latte or something equally as ridiculous... from whatever coffee shop happens to be conveniently located. And I will always make my purchases even more expensive by adding to the tip jar, because, well, minimum-wage baristas who stand on their feet for eight hours at a time deserve some credit. And as we all know, those tips will directly impact those minimum-wage workers - not Saudi Arabia, and not Israel. And besides, since we're on the topic, I rightfully have a soft spot for both Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Actually, maybe I should just stick with Dunn Brothers so I can drink my coffee in peace.

Thoughts on the Bluetooth

I’m sure we are all now accustomed to those moments on the elevator, being startled amidst the silence when another person on that elevator starts talking… but not directing the discussion toward anybody present. Yes, this is just one example of the joys of the Bluetooth.

These $100-and-some contraptions have created a whole new acceptable social behavior. To see somebody walking down the lanes of a mall alone, talking while simultaneously carrying several shopping bags in both hands, has become an everyday expected sight.

While perhaps there is a magical benefit to these tiny wireless inventions, it is interesting, and quite fun, to notice the amusement in the effect that such a small object can have on a person’s entire body. A person with a Bluetooth walks differently – a little more upright and with a slight self-important swagger. Also, if I were to count all of the Bluetooth-talkers I have observed, I am quite positive that over half of these people were carrying a cup of Caribou or, more commonly, Starbucks.

This new age of hands-free, wireless technology has transformed human behavior in a way that the general public, just ten years ago, would have never imagined. What’s next? A mobile device planted in our brains into which we can simply think what we have to say? Hey, it would require even less work than talking!

Working for The Man

So… apparently, blogs are meant to be written in. What an amazing concept. I guess I just didn’t get that memo for the past month and a half or so. :)

Something I would like to talk about is the corporate world, specifically Corporate America, as that is what I have first-hand experience with. For the first time in my life, I am working for a huge – and I mean HUGE – corporation. My past jobs were all with local businesses run by one or two people or with educational organizations. Therefore... this is quite new for me.

A specific situation that occurred two days ago which amused me very highly really got me thinking about the whole concept of a giant company, and how one runs. Here goes:

A security guard saw me doing something behind the counter. I had a can of Sprite in front of me, which I moved with my hand, about to take it out to drink a sip, and apparently, the can caught some light and looked shiny or glowing. Somehow, this glimmer of light caused by my Sprite can made the security guard think that I had a laptop computer hidden underneath the shelf in front of me. Yes. A laptop computer, a suspicion caused by a can of Sprite.

Did the security guard address me on the topic? No. She proceeded to call my boss’s boss over the phone, and inform her that she suspected I had a laptop computer hidden in front of me, thus was not demonstrating proper work behavior. After that, my boss’s boss called me and asked me if I had brought a computer to work. Very perplexed by the question, I asked, “What?” She said, “One of the security guards thinks she saw you with a laptop computer.” VERY confused, I said that I did not have a computer, that all I had in front of me was a can of Sprite because I was thirsty. She said she believed me, and hung up. I called the security guard and asked her what had prompted the belief that I had a laptop computer in my possession at that very moment, and I offered to let her search my belongings. She said that, no, that would not be necessary.

About five minutes later, my boss’s boss walked upstairs to where I was working. She said, “You cannot be calling the security officers and challenging them like that.” I said that I really just wanted to talk to the security guard directly and figure out what had prompted such a strange tip-off. She answered that there was no “direct speaking” at work, and that we had to go through a chain of people. She then explained further how a large company works, that people do not address one another directly, but need to go through mediators and middlemen.

She asked me what I had in my belongings. I gestured toward my Sprite can. The discussion then came to an end.

This is just a very, very small sample of what goes on at that place every single day.

By the way, nearly a week ago, I put in my two weeks’ notice. :) I am very much looking forward to the new job that I am going to start in a couple of weeks.

Lil' Wayne!

If I were to count how many funny looks or amused responses I received when I told people, excitedly, that I was going to see a Lil’ Wayne concert, I would need more than two hands. I will admit that I am not excluding myself in that count – I think it is hilarious that I went to a Lil’ Wayne concert and enjoyed it as much as I did. The reason it amuses me as much as it does is that, really, I am far from being that cool. I don’t feel worthy of liking him; I was probably the biggest dork out of the entire 8,900-member (or so) audience.

The show opened with Gym Class Heroes, Keyshia Cole, and T-Pain. My friends were so smooth in their hip-hop-style dancing, and, well, let’s just not even bring up my own dancing. The whole world seemed to dissolve when Lil’ Wayne entered the stage, and even more so when I got to see him perform his famous hit “Got Money” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTdDahpe2Ag
There is something about that song that is just pure genius to me. My fellow music majors might shoot me for saying that, but I don’t really care.

This got me thinking about how we as a society match groups of people with certain kinds of music, based on race, class, personality, and culture. For example, if an entire audience at an Enya concert consisted of dudes with green Mohawks and fifteen piercings, the world would, perhaps, go into shock. Every individual person is so incredibly complex, and although we each know that about ourselves (at least, I hope so) I think we often forget that that applies to everybody. It is second nature to automatically, at a glance, group people together based on their looks/style.

See, a good dose of Lil’ Wayne can result some pretty deep thought. :)

Welcome to the Alia blog.

I've been meaning to start a blog for awhile now, and a day on which a.) I don't start working until this evening, and b.) the high temperature is -4 degrees fahrenheit seems like the prime time.

I'd like to start with a dream I had a couple of nights ago, which, as cheesy as this sounds, seemed rather symbolic. The dream started with a bird's-eye view of a small room, containing an imam, a rabbi, and a priest (yeah, I know, this sounds like the start of a bad joke.) The three were sitting as completely far away from each other as possible, and suddenly, all three of them looked up at me and started shouting in a very hateful, malignant manner. All three of them had beat-red faces and looked as if they wanted to kill someone. I woke up extremely angry, and that stupid dream has been bugging me ever since.

There have been several occurrences over the past few months which, I guess, have cultivated in my recent frustration. Just to lay it out there, I do associate with a religion (Episcopalian), so this isn't going to be a rant about how religion shouldn't exist. In my opinion, religion can be a beautiful thing as long as it is used in the way that it is intended to be used. The idea of a group of people coming together and dedicating a certain amount of time every week to acknowledge and celebrate what they believe in the company of others is pretty cool. But as far as I know, all three monotheistic religions command that God is the only judge, so the fact that so many religious people are judgmental is beyond me.

Over the holidays, I celebrated Hanukkah (in New York, no less!), Christmas (also in New York - super cool), and Eid (in, well, Minnesota. :)) All three were fun, and all three brought on criticism from various people. "Can't you get out of your Christmas Eve service?" "Why do you have to hang out with all those Muslims?" (which, by the way, was very weird, as I am half Saudi Arabian, and would have expected said person to have a little bit more tact) "It seems like you have cared way more about Hanukkah this year than about Christmas." Wow. Really, now?? I didn't understand what the problem was. I had fun taking part in all three holidays, and... um, it WAS 2008, not the the 1950s. Haven't we progressed as a society at least a little bit and striven to become a more inclusive, more united community? Apparently not. I couldn't believe that people I know and associate myself with still have such separatist ideals. Where is that going to get us?

Just had to get that out there.