Bad internet is not so bad after all

So I’ve been trying to think more positively lately; like you know when you try to see the positive side of every negative issue, yeah that... 
And in the light of the raging frustration towards our internet connection and the Ontornet initiative I decided to sit and think of the positives of having a shitty bad internet connection. 
I realized there are advantages!! Who would have thought?! So here are the positive points I just discovered, I'm sure there are many more but I guess I need more practice in the positivity domain:

• The mobile glue effect: wouldn't we all become like BB users (no offense BB users): "If you want me to look at you, you’ll have to send me a message on my BBM"
• The series syndrome: imagine you had the ability to download a whole series season in 1 hour, would you ever leave the house or read a book, or sit with your family?
• Multitasking skills: you’re still able to do offline tasks while waiting for a page to load : like call a friend, make coffee, have a cigarette, work a bit, etc…
• Disconnect-ivity: Isn’t it awesome that we can disconnect from time to time? For example when it’s raining or when there’s no electricity or when some politicians have certain issues and decide to shut down internet...
• Patience skill: Didn't we all become patient by nature? Isn't waiting for someone or for an appointment or in traffic much much bearable?
• The personal contact: Even if you send someone an email, you’ll have to call that person, and check if he received it. Expats still have to visit often because video calls make us look like retards and they would want to check we’re still ok.
• The guaranteed excuse: “Yes I replied, didn't you get it? Oh it must be this bad bad internet connection!”
• Appreciation skill: like when surprisingly a page loads in 5 seconds, don’t you take a minute and appreciate this bliss?
• Physical exercise: if you have a USB dongle or probably any mobile modem device, you'd understand what I mean; holding the laptop, walking around and searching for a better connectivity signal are all equivalent to a 30 min workout.
• Money saving: how many times did you abandon a cart or lost interest in an item because it was taking you more time than it would have taken you if you actually went to the shop and bought it (including travel time)
• Virus protection: any download or received link has to be well thought of, risks have to be measured and priorities have to be made. Even if you clicked a link that turned out to be a virus by mistake, you have plenty of time to realize it and abandon the operation before any damage has been done
• Unity: At least all Lebanese share and agree with the frustration towards the slow internet we have, come on, let's at least cherish that
• Being considerate: while designing a web solution, thinking of the “persona” who has a shitty connection seems to be forgotten sometimes; but we as Lebanese always think of those poor users!
  

And finally, inspired by this post:

• Review and improvement: while trying to publish this post, I had the time to read it 3 times and identifyed several typos. I corrected them before i even published the post! And i still had to go outside, freeze for a while and publish this post!
  

And of course I have to thank our lovely government for thinking of all these advantages and of our well being. How did I not see these before?


Cheers,

• Tweet This!
• Share this on Facebook

"What if" a nation

• What if we had good leaders rather than just blind followers
• What if we had affordable schools to provide our kids with a decent education
• What if being from 2 different religions adds diversity to a couple rather than trouble
• What if our religion wasn't as important as who we are and what we can do as individuals
• What if colors were just colors
• What if we were able to make plans regardless of our political situation
• What if we had loving neighbors
• What if we were able to visit all the amazing regions in the country without fear
• What if guns were used to protect us from the rest of the world instead of each other
• What if we had good electricity
• What if we had better Internet
• What if it our own achievements indicated who we are rather than our family's social status
• What if people cared about each other rather than discussed each others lives
• What if getting visas didn't require preparations and celebrations
• What if how happy we will be in our lives wasn't measured by how much we spent on our wedding
• What if the people we love lived in the country rather than just visited every now and then
• What if watching the news wasn't a necessity
• What if deciding what we wanted to be was an option rather than having it imposed on us
• What if living abroad was merely an exploration of a new lifestyle rather than a step to actually have one
• What if the future of our country wasn't a reflection of its past
• What if we had equal opportunities and more qualified professionals at work
• What if being different indicated that we are special rather an than outlaws
• What if we didn't "pretend" to be proud of our country
• What if we were more proud of being Arabs
• What if we used our language more often
• What if things changed
• What if we had more hope
• What if we were more honest
• What if we were just happier

Just wondering and hoping one day i'll have the answer to at least one of those questions...

• Tweet This!
• Share this on Facebook

Visaphobia

You're sitting in a pub with your friends, and suddenly a plan for an amazing trip comes up! You shout "yeeeey" in the middle of the place filled with excitement and then it all exponentially goes away because you remember the traumatizing fact that you need a "visa"! As much as this trip would be the most exciting plan you ever planned for, you still prevent yourself from getting too excited about it because fact is, you're Lebanese and getting the visa is like winning the lottery; chance plays a big role.
For almost 2 months, the idea of getting this Visa was more than a paranoia issue, i want to start planning, i want to get excited but all i'm trying to do is keep my feet on the ground so that i don't get too disappointed.

And the quest for the visa starts...

You have to be prepared, you have to know all the answers and all the places you're planning to go visit and which sandwich you're gonna pick up from the street... You gotta know which roof you'll be sleeping under so a road trip and backpacking around a country is not designed for you.
And you have to show you can afford it, which makes sense but since you need to apply several months in advance, well maybe your bank accounts can't speak for themselves yet and you need to start saving much earlier.
You should find ways to show you're not a terrorist and specify in an application that you're not planning to do any terrorist activity.
You have to look for people who would certify the reasons you're visiting and you need to be well prepared with evidence that you're not planning to do anything abiding by the law in the country you're visiting.


Then the real nightmare "fun" begins, you take an appointment which can be set after a couple of weeks, and be grateful if it was the second day.
When the appointment date arrives, you spend the night panicking, obsessing about the interview and prepare in your head all the answers to any possible question the interviewer might feel like asking.
You put on 3 alarms, ask all the people you know to make sure you wake up, well obviously you cannot take a risk of not showing up on time during the interview.
The moment of truth arrives and you reach the embassy... you wait in line, make sure you do not having anything on you (other than your pile of documents) and you get checked more than 3 times, and you need to explain to everyone why you wanna visit that country.
And then you sit in a waiting room, and you wait endlessly for your name to be called. You could be asked about anything, people you don't know can ask you very personal questions and you have to answer honestly. You have to show you're trustworthy of visiting their country. Sometimes you directly get the answer, sometimes you have to wait for a couple of weeks.
And when they give you a positive answer, you're filled with joy and start jumping and suddenly it hits you that you're actually going to travel. People congratulate you, and it just feels like graduation!


And now you have to hope than nothing interrupts your trip or cancels it because if you get a visa and don't use it then it's a negative point on your record. YOU HAVE TO GO NO MATTER WHAT!


And that's the easy part because what i described above is a happy ending, and just one scenario of more dramatic ones you can encounter in your life, like living with a visa rejection...


I think it's really unfair, i mean why do i have to give evidence of why i'm planning to visit a certain country while its citizens don't need to worry about visiting mine? Why do i have to feel that i need to celebrate getting a visa, when they should be glad i'm planning to spend my money in their country?!
Why would i have to plan for a trip 3 months in advance?
Why would people wish they had a foreign passport that would save them all this humiliation and feel like a normal human being?


And that doesn't end here...you have to hope that your trip goes smoothly and you don't more humiliated just because you're Lebanese. I leave it to a friend's article to explain more on what i'm talking about : HOW IT FEELS TO BE SECOND CLASS


HAPPY VISA TO ME,
Cheers,

• Tweet This!
• Share this on Facebook