Zeinab Alayan's Blog, page 9

The ratings are a lie.

… well, okay, I’ll be fair. Notallthe time. Yesterday I watched a movie with my fiancé that was rated 4.8 on IMDb. We steeled ourselves for a pretty bad experience; however, we ended up being pleasantly surprised. The movie was not bad in the slightest, and certainly did not deserve a rating as low as [...]

Shop Girl

I used to come and watch you for a few hours each day. I would press my face against the shop’s display window and stare at your extravagant beauty. Youmodeledthere, but I knew for a fact that you weren’t one of those dumb, painted mannequins; no, you were alive and radiant. I let my eyes [...]

Sorry – you didn’t make the cut.

My most recent bout of Writer’s Block lasted more than three months. It’s nothing compared to my five-year Block, but it was still frustrating. I felt stuck and didn’t know how to move forwards or backwards from a specific point in Penny for Your Dreams. For the first time since forever, I was actually editing [...]

In Celebration of World Book Day.

We have days for nearly everything. There’s Pie Day, Popcorn Day, Chocolate Cake Day, Tolkein Reading Day… so it’s only natural that we have a World Book Day. Incidentally, it’s also Talk Like Shakespeare Day. I thought of writing this whole post in Shakespearean English, then I decided it would be a) too difficult and b) too annoying.

But I went off on a tangent there. Today is first and foremost World Book Day! Even if you don’t like Shakespeare, you probably like other books, and now is t...

Stay calm and stick the book in the freezer.

“Joey?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you want to put the book in the freezer?”

“…okay.”

There was an episode in FRIENDS where Joey claims that putting The Shining by Stephen King makes him feel safer from its scary clutches. Then he goes on to put Little Women in the freezer at a point where things get too sad for him. At the time I just laughed at Joey for being his usual silly self, but thinking about it now, I realise he may be onto something.

It’s not about actually sticking it in the freezer, per se, you do...

Books are one-time things.

I almost always read books to their very end; yet at the same time, I almost never reread them. I often feel surprised when I come across someone who has a book or two that they read time and time again. I heard a fan of Jane Eyre say they read the book fifteen times, and my only reaction to that was, “How can you do that? Don’t you get… well, bored?”

I love books as much as the other bibliophile and I do have some favourites, but even those I can’t picture myself reading so often. I can read...

Don’t mess with my pizza.

That’s just wrong on so many levels. Pizza is the kind of sustenance that you need to get right. You just can’t give the client something they didn’t order and expect them to go along with it! I was craving pizza today, and even though I have some ready-made pizza dough at home that I could’ve layered with some toppings and stuck in the oven, there’s something “special” about ordering a pizza and having it delivered to your home steaming and ready for eating.

I went with an extra cheesyMargher...

What’s your genre?

This is a sort of a defining question, isn’t it? Much like a nosy person asking another about their type. Do you like them hot and sizzling like a summer Romance? Or do you like them dark and broody like a sinister Mystery? Or maybe you prefer the thrilling company of an Adventure, or the wit of a Comedy, or even the fun derived from a good old-fashioned Chick Lit.

Your choice in genre indirectly affects the way you appear to others. There are many people who tend to draw assumptions from the...

The roads are a safer place without me.

Driving terrifies me. There I said it. I’m scared of getting behind the wheel and navigating the streets… especially the streets in Lebanon. They are such a disaster. No rules anywhere, motorcycles crisscrossing all over the place, no street lights, cars cutting you off without so much as a warning, people who choose to walk on streets instead of sidewalks… the list is endless.

However, you’ll be surprised to learn that I do actually have a driving license, even if I don’t put it to use. My pa...

You’re so vain.

Have you ever liked one of your own blog posts on WordPress, whether accidentally or on purpose? No? Well, the other day I accidentally liked a post of mine, and though I was quick to unlike it, WordPress caught me out and sent me a notification. However, this wasn’t similar to all the other notifications in which you lovely people like my posts because you think they’re awesome.

Ouch.

Technically, the post was certainly about me, but that’s beside the point. Apparently liking it makes me vai...