MusicLover Recommendation

The other day MusicLover posted a comment on one of my post regarding a movie recommendation. After doing some research, I was not able to find this movie at my local movie rental place via their website, and was disappointed.

Tonight, however, after work Amira and I went to the movie rental place to pick up a couple of movies to watch over the long Thanksgiving holiday, and low in behold the movie, Away From Her, was starring right at me as soon as I rounded the corner. Of course, I immediately picked it up along with a few others. When we got home we had to watch Amira’s movie first which was Mickey Mouse’s Christmas….LOL It was cute. After finishing her movie, I immediately popped in Away From Her. Oh my goodness, what a perfect movie for the holidays. For the matter, it’s the perfect movie anytime. It will definitely be one of my favorites. I should caution to keep tissue nearby because it’s a very powerful movie.

I cannot and hope I never have to experience what both these people experienced, inshallah. But, how I would love to be able to spend 44 years with a beloved, inshallah. This movie is a great reminder of how we should be ever so grateful for every moment we have on this earth, and every moment we spend with our dear families, friends, and people will meet in the future. Truly life is the most precious gift on this earth, alhamdullilah, and we, as humans should cherish life as if it were a rare and precious gem. Moreover, we should always remember to never take advantage of the wonderful relationships we have with every human that crosses our path, inshallah.

MusicLover, thank you for the recommendation.

Thankful for All Things

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More Than A Day

As Thanksgiving Day rolls around,
It brings up some facts, quite profound.
We may think that we're poor,
Feel like bums, insecure,
But in truth, our riches astound.
We have friends and family we love;
We have guidance from heaven above.
We have so much more
Than they sell in a store,
We're wealthy, when push comes to shove.
So add up your blessings, I say;
Make Thanksgiving last more than a day.
Enjoy what you've got;
Realize it's a lot,
And you'll make all your cares go away.

Santa Cruz Weekend

This past weekend my dance group went to Santa Cruz for a workshop and performance. It was quite a big deal----at least from what I could tell. We were taking a masters class by a world-renowned choreography named Yousry Sharif.

Our class started first thing Saturday morning around 10:30 a.m. and we didn’t finished until 4:00 p.m. It was an awesome workshop, and one I’m glad I was invited to participate in. If I’m being really honest, I felt like a little fish in a big pond with all these phenomenal dancers. Just taking our workshop in a professional ballroom was impressive. :-P

Immediately after the workshop we rushed back to our hotel, took showers and quickly prepared to go to a show to see two performing musical groups, accented with dancers. The opening group was called AZA. They were incredible. They were a young, hip group that actually did Arabic music infused with reggae and other twists of music. The lead band members were Moroccan and they were soooooooo much fun.

(AZA - AZA, local favorite and rising star on the international world musicscene, will open the show with their delightful music and spontaneoustraditional dancing. Recently returned from their second concert tourto Morocco and France, AZA combines traditional Tamazight (Berber)music indigenous to the Atlas mountains of Morocco with the globalinfluences of its diverse members, featuring deep danceable grooveswith infectious vocals and melodic style.)

Here’s a small sample of their music.



The main performance was The Georges Lammam Ensemble. Oh my goodness these people were absolutely incredible. Georges is a marvelous violinist. His brother Elias played the accordion unbelievably well, and the other brother, Tony, was a fabulous drummer. They also had a Pakistani woman that sang who was out of this world.

(The Georges Lammam Ensemble, noted for its awe-inspiring presentations of a panoramic range of the Arab musical repertoire, with the Santa Cruz premiere of its latest CD, Dreaming the Diaspora. Blending artful Eastern improvisation with Western harmonic and melodic styling, this original music will sing to people of all cultures - songs for love, songs for dance, and songs to heal. As artistic director of the Georges Lammam Ensemble, Georges is devoted to bringing the rich diversity and passion of Arabic music to listeners everywhere. He performs throughout the United States as a featured artist and with global fusion groups.)

Here’s a sample of their music as well as one of the dancers that performed.



On Sunday we had a free day to leisurely walk about the town. We found a little coffee shop called Bad Ass Coffee – Coffee with an attitude. :-) Meandered through a little flea market as well as some cute little shops.

Later that evening we performed at a cultural center with dancers from all around the world. Again feeling like a little fish in a big pond, myself and the two girls I roomed with, were really nervous. However, once we finished our performance we were all thrilled we survived. ;-) After the show, we went to a quaint restaurant and celebrated our teacher’s birthday and ended our time together with a wonderful meal and wonderful conversation.

Truly it was a memorable weekend filled with fun and laughter, alhamdullilah.

Mermaida

Whew! Once again I feel like I have life as I received my camera back from Canon. They needed to replace the little clicker button that snaps the photo, and alhamdullilah it came back ready for capturing the moments of our lives.

This last weekend Mixed Up Me, Charming Child, Amira and I went to an aquatic complex to swim for the day. What a delight that was to be submerged in water for hours on end. Truly water has to be one of the greatest healing sources God has afforded us, alhamdullilah.

Many, many thanks to our near and dear friends, Mixed Up Me and Charming Child for sharing this fantastic watering hole with us. We can't wait to go again.

Hollywood! She thinks these are her swimming goggles. :-)

Are these the cutiest 'cheeks' you've ever seen?

Amira and Charming Child!

Humanistic Reaction

Wow! What an action packed weekend we had, but before I go into sharing that with you I thought I’d find out how you react to certain people.

Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be able to download photos and share the eventful weekend with you, inshallah.

There was a group of 9 of us – all family members that gathered together everyday since last Wednesday evening as my cousins came in for a mini vacation. Just love these cousins and every moment we are able to spend together, alhamdullilah.

From the onset there’s a family member that passively demands to be in control through unspoken communication and through manipulative tactics. I know you all know or have one of these people either in your immediate family, distant family, close network of friends, or otherwise. The one that refuses to make a decision, but always seems extremely willing and game to do anything anyone wants to do. Yet, when a decisions is made and it doesn’t go off flawlessly that person is always there to give you the “I told you so” look or sigh or roll of the eyes or (fill in the blank). Thus resulting in tension amongst the group because we all feel this unspoken communication yet none of us address the individual. Maybe out of respect, out of fear of upsetting them, or maybe because we (speaking individually) think we are the only one’s that feel this tension and therefore keep silent. Regardless of the answer it is frustrating at best.

Moreover, I’m overly amazed at how much havoc this one person can wreak on the entire group without a mere utterance of a word. Not until this weekend did I ever see how much this person is in control of everything yet seeming from the outside as if the victim or at least seeming to be available for everything but getting mad or pouting if they don’t get their way. This was a real eye opener for me, truly. For although this person is an adult chronologically they exude such childlike qualities. Don’t get me wrong, I realize we all can have these tendencies of getting frustrated or upset because things aren’t going our way or we aren’t getting what we want, but I’m not certain the majority live in this daily state of consciousness. Then again, I could be sadly mistaken.

For years I have felt sorry for this individual and made justifications for them because I always perceived them as a victim of sorts; however, learned this past weekend that perhaps victimization was also a form of manipulation.

I sat watching this all unfold before me and said very little. Why? I’m not entirely sure why. I think the mere realization of the unfolding truth befuddled me. For sometimes the truth can be so profound and take some processing time, at least for me. Furthermore, it can be somewhat shocking when the blinders (so to speak) have been removed and you can see things clearly or at best in a different fashion then what you’ve become accustomed too.

I find myself somewhat feeling guiltily conflicted in my emotions because there’s a part of me that wants to confront this individual and yet fear either their wrath or more of the same behavior. Moreover, feel guilty for having these feelings towards a family member because perhaps it would be perceived as not a wise thing to do.

Curious to know how you handle family/friend conflict(s) with someone that exudes either the qualities of passiveness, manipulation, victimization, all the previously mentioned or other behaviors not mentioned.