365 Days In The Life Of An Observer
Photography is not about what you see, but what you feel when you see it.
Writer’s block?
Hey guys! How long has it been, ten days?
It’s times like these when I’m greatful that my livelihood doesn’t depend on writing. Imagine what would happen if I stopped writing for weeks (as I’ve done with you guys.) I’d probably just starve to death. The only upside would be that I’d finally have something to write about after going through all that.
The thing is, I’m feeling a little uninspired lately. It’s like the happy, creative half of my brain has shut down completely. I’m just going through the motions without seeing the world with the special sight that I’ve developed. Nothing seems magical right now. Everything is just there. I miss seeing the world from my own perspective, from describing it in words nobody else could have strung together.
This whole thing reminds me of the time when I’d become really numb. I’d lost the power to express myself as openly as I used to. I was afraid to show my weakness or tears to anyone at all. I hated how shutting everyone out made me feel, but for some reason I just couldn’t help it. I missed being so open about my emotions. I liked letting people see how I felt. It gave me a sense of strength and growth.
I’m slowly moving past that now. I hope my happy brain will wake up soon and help me see again.
❤
War.
Challenge 13: Something sweet
So DPixel has finally crawled out of whatever rock she was taking shelter under and decide to complete the previous challenge. It is therefore time to move on to the next one!
This is the first ever ice cream cake I’ve made!! Here’s the link for the recipe:
How to make Oreo Ice Cream Cake Recipe – Laura Vi…: http://youtu.be/JOecLVgUTZ8
It was a huge success in my family because of all the kids we had sleeping over. Made some pretty yummy memories with them =)
❤
-War.
Challenge 12: Inside my bag
I’ve been told that I carry an unnecessarily large bag and here’s what’s inside it:
First, we have my wallet which was a gift from my aunt. I share my uncle’s thoughts on the fact that a wallet should always be a gift. In other words, it’s weird to buy your own wallet. I can’t explain exactly why but it just is.
Then there’s my student ID, a few books (the purple one was a gift from T) and pens, a pair of sunglasses (also from T), a few USBs and a teabag of herbal tea.
It’s funny how whenever I try to look for any one of these things in my bag, it takes me a good five minutes, but seeing them spread out so tidily make me realize that they aren’t many. Maybe I should use my eyes instead of trying to find things by touch next time. Yeah, that should do it.
Tc
-War.
Challenge 11: Something yellow
Evening, here’s my something yellow:
It’s my copy of the two in one ‘Charlie and the chocolate factory and Charlie and the great glass elevator’.
As you can see, the cover had to be replaced. I’d like to own up for that but in my defence.. I loved that book. Still do!
When we were little, my dad used to rent out children’s novels for my brother and I to help us get through the summer. I remember very clearly how he’d come home on the first day with a giant bag of books ranging from Asterix and Obelix to the Goosebumps series and a whole bunch of Roald Dahl books added to the mix. There was some Harry Potter in there too but I was never a fan of those (please don’t shoot.)
I remember spending many a sleepless nights flipping page after page, so captivated by the vivid imagery.
There’s one thing about this particular book that I must say though. I loved the first part, where Charlie has his adventure at the chocolate factory. However, even as a child I wasn’t a big fan of sequels. For some reason, my imagination could allow for chocolate rivers, everlasting gobstoppers and the witty little oompa loompas, but it just wouldn’t accept an elevator full of buttons launching into space. God knows when my brain decided that the line between imagination and just sheer stupidity had been crossed.
In any case I’d give up all my jellybeans to be in Charlie’s place… Cuz I’d just get some more there!
I’m grateful for these beautiful memories, so far this week has been a lovely jog down memory lane.. let’s see what DPixel challenges me to next…
❤
-War.
Challenge 10: Something ending with the letter ‘Y’
So, my something with a ‘Y’ is a toy…train
There was a time when my parents would buy toys as Eid presents for my cousins and family friends. I remember one Eid when we went to the store, while my parents were too busy looking for gifts, my sister and I were checking out all the cool new toys.
My sister is around 7 years younger than me, and when I saw her begging dad to buy her a new toy car I thought to myself, ‘what a brat’. That’s when my eyes fell on this train set. It had been a dream of mine for quite a while to own one and even though I was just 12, I thought myself too old to be buying such things.
That’s when another thought hit me, ‘if not now, when?’ And so what if I was too old? (I obviously wasn’t), I felt it was time to strike this off of my mental bucket list. So I approached my dad in the way I always do when I want something. I said to him,’ Hey dad, come look at this really cool train set.’
He came by, glanced at it, smiled and walked away. Next, I did the same with mom and even added a ‘Isn’t it just perfect?’
She had pretty much the same reaction as dad. I repeated this one or two more times. That was when my mum finally got the hint. ‘Do you want it?’ She asked.
‘I don’t know, I mean.. I’ve always wanted one but…’
‘ If you like it so much just tel dad.’ Mum said.
‘Could you please ask him for me? I feel bad because he’s already buying so much other stuff..’
Next thing I know, I’m sitting in the back of the car, bubbling with excitement and waiting impatiently as we make the seemingly long ride home.
I played with on that day and the day after that, but since then it’s been packed neatly in its box, sad and forgotten… Until today that is!
I’m so glad DPixel picked this theme for our challenge. I can’t describe the childlike joy it gives me to sit on the floor and just watch the train go.
❤
-War.
P.s. to be very honest, what I’d always dreamt of was a giant train set that had tunnels and hills and stuff, but I settled on this. One day maybe I’ll find what I have been looking for.
Challenge 9: Something cool
Here’s my something cool:
This is a scene from season nine episode 11 of the tv series, Bones. In this episode, a brilliant physicist loses his daughter and this is his coping mechanism. Agent Booth doesn’t understand how a person could lose so much and have no reaction to it besides just getting back to work. On the other hand, being quite a brilliant mind herself, Dr Brenan understands how the man feels.
At the end of the episode, she makes a final visit to the physicist’s office to find him working on what you see in the photo.
As it turns out, it is the narration of her whole life.. in equations! From her crawling to her doing cartwheels (she was a gymnast).
I have to say, it was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. And pretty cool too!
❤
War.
Challenge 8 : Your Shoes
Yeah I know. I was supposed to post this on Thursday. What can I say, I’ve been busy with Eid and stuff. Oh and Eid Mubarak everyone! This is what the morning after looks like after a late night Eid gathering: 
It’s 2.15 PM and I just got out of bed. I still feel sleepy and one look in the mirror tells me that my face isn’t mine anymore. I really shouldn’t sleep with makeup on. On the upside, I managed to change into my pajamas before crashing, so yay me! Now about this shoe.. firstly : No, I didn’t sleep with it on. Secondly: where on earth is it’s pair? I mean, I couldn’t possibly have gone to the party with one shoe on, but how is the other not dumped ‘neatly’ in a corner of my room, like this one? Sigh, I’ll get around to looking for it at some point… Which will probably be when I’m running super late and panicking. Sigh, old habbits. ❤ -War
Challenge 8: Something old
I know the challenge was something but I went with someone.
A candid shot of one of our doctors. He’s been practicing medicine for no less than thirty years now and each line on that face represents a new memory, a new experience. Sitting in his lecture, listening to him speak, a hint of a smile touches my lips. You see, he isn’t like the younger doctors (young compared to him, but experienced none the less.) He doesn’t just teach us what we need to know in order to get good grades, he shares his experiences with us too.
I wrote a bunch of other cheesy stuff but then decided to let the photograph speak for itself.
❤
-War
Challenge 7: Patterns
Ever try watching the sunset only to get lost in your thoughts and miss the whole thing anyway? Get lost to the point that you can no longer see or hear anything that’s going on around you?
Once you get back from lala-land and your mind refocuses to your surroundings, you might (just like me) find yourself staring at at the endless Dubai sharjah traffic.. only to dive back into deep thought, contemplating the horror of having to drive though that traffic again tomorrow. *shivers*
I remember the time when I thought that driving myself around would be so awesome and freeing.. hah, innocent little me.. if only I knew then what I know now. Or rather, if only I hadn’t pretended to not know what I already knew about the sleep inducingly slow traffic.
I think I’ve adapted well to it by now though. I’ve managed to create a morning routine which starts with me trying to race my final alarm to get to my car before 6.22 am ( don’t ask.) Then it’s morning duas for twenty minutes followed by radio silence. No seriously, my car’s A/C sounds like an in between radio frequency.. sometimes I can hear it whispering to me.
By now I’m stuck in really heavy traffic with nothing to do but break- release- break. Clearly I’ve started hallucinating at this point what with all the voices OR I’m ready to fall asleep on the wheel. This is when I bring out my secret weapon… Old music!
Out come the old Script and John Mayer albums, stuff that I can sing along to. I couldn’t care less about the fact that the neighbouring drivers might think that I’m having a heart attack, what with the singing at the top of my lungs. I’m just trying my best not to nod off. This goes on for about an hour to an hour and a half until I finally reach my destination at 8.30. That’s right folks, TWO HOURS and that’s actually a minimum.
I bet I’m not the only one though, I mean if I was then there wouldn’t be so much traffic and I wouldn’t be complaining =0
It scares me how easily complaining comes to us. I want to smack myself for doing it, specially because this isn’t the first time but I just can’t seem to stop!
Complain-Recover-Repeat
-_-”
❤
-War .
Challenge 6: Something blue
For my something blue, I picked this paperweight/globe
This is one of the shelves in a showcase my dad put together with much care and affection. The glove sets the mood for the pieces surrounding it and together they tell the story of our travels. Mind you, some of this stuff was gifted to us by family and friends but it fits in perfectly. Each piece has it’s own little story.
The Taj Mahal replica in the centre was probably one of the first pieces from our ‘collection’. My parents bought it when they went to Agra to see the real thing back when they were young and I didn’t exist. I’ve seen plenty of photos of my mum in a pretty red dress flaunting her curly whirly hair, and dad with his totally G shades (I think that’s where I get my G-ness from).
The statues in the back were gifted to us by my uncle when he visited us from Nairobi. To me they symbolize family, love and unity.
The rocking chair in the right is a souvineer from our visit to Chandigarh, Punjab. That trip was really memorable for me. I was at the brink of starting a new journey ( I’d just been accepted into med school) and as far as I knew, it was supposed to be my last relaxing holiday. I still feel the med school stress is a bit overrated, I mean I’m still alive, aren’t I? It was the first time I’d been to a place that smelled so green.. I don’t know why but that’s just not something you expect or even think about before you visit a green land. Or maybe the lack of exposure to such terrain made it all the more striking to my senses.
You can see a bit of a plate with buildings painted on it towards the left. That was a gift from an old friend of dad’s. It shows all the main attractions of London. It’s almost as old as the Taj replica I think.
Then we’ve got the beer flask from Germany, which is another one of my uncle’s gifts from back when he went there a few years ago.
Then moving closer to the foreground we’ve got the Malaysia’s major buildings. This was a gift from my aunt when she came to visit us in the winter. I was meeting her for the second time and just like the first time we met, it felt like we’ve been living together for years. She brought two of my cousins with her and I must say, they inspired me to be a better me. Those guys are just so humble in their ways that I felt like a total brat. It was sop much fun showing them around Dubai. I love to see people’s reactions as they soak in the sights, simply because they don’t have the same effect on us because we live here. It’s so refreshing to see someone appreciate what is truly a work of art.
Finally, the replica of the Kuwait towers. That’s from when we went to visit my uncle in Kuwait. What can I say, we just can’t get enough of each other (yes, this is the same uncle who brought the stuff from Nairobi and Germany). Perhaps I don’t say this enough, or maybe I do but anyway, him and his family are very close to my heart. I think in the absence of my parents, he’d be the first person I’d call for help.
I’m sitting in my bed with a slight smile on my face. Such happy memories. I’m afraid the shell is getting a bit overcrowded and hopefully we have many more adventures yet to come. Wonder where we’ll put the new stuff then….
❤
-War.
Where Are You From?
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365 Days In The Life Of An Observer 