Vanilla Skies

This is a picture I took a few months ago from my apartment. Of course I zoomed in quite a bit, so the image is a little bit distorted. Those two buildings are not that close in reality....

Sun set can be amazing in New York City.

Have a peaceful weekend everyone...

Yet another blunder in Afghanistan???

President Obama pledged to the American (and the World) public that he will withdraw the troops from Iraq within the next 18 months. But quickly added, he will escalate the war in Afghanistan by adding 17,000 more combat soldiers. He was quite stern and adamant about fighting Al Qaida and smoke out the extremism that is out to destroy the “West”. In fact his exact words were:

"With our friends and allies, we will forge a new and comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan to defeat Al Qaida and combat extremism, because I will not allow terrorists to plot against the American people from safe havens halfway around the world. We will not allow it."

Rhetoric like, “Combating extremism” or “Defeating Al Qaida”, may make sense to a lot of people in the US and to some bubble head racists around the world, but to the Afghanis who are suffering in the most horrendous way, sounds nothing more then “war mongering”.

When air attacks destroys villages, kills and injures their uncles, aunts, children, husbands or wives, what do you think they are feeling/thinking? I can assure you, each and everyone will become the next Al Qaida…

The war in Afghanistan is yet another blunder and an unwinnable war. I am ashamed of the Congress for getting up and applauding the President on such a huge mistake. The latest escalation in Afghanistan will not only hurt Americans but also people who are living half way around the other side of the world. Didn’t we learn anything from the Iraqi disaster?

It seems neither the Congress or the new President have!

Now for something completely different...

A few friends e-mailed me, asking for more pictures and a follow up of my trip. Here are a few photos I have selected from the Cayman Island.


Sometimes I feel a little creative....

Amazon pulls 'rape' computer game!

As you know, I have been away for a little while, resting my mind, diving, drinking and sleeping a lot. I have a confession to make... I am finding it a little difficult to get back to the groove of things. In fact, I am feeling a little down. Maybe it is the drastic change in the temperature, maybe it’s leaving a tropical island or maybe just having difficulty getting back to the rat race? Whatever the reason, I am dragging my feet to get back to my usual routine.

This afternoon, I forced myself to look through some of the old newspaper articles that I have not read while I was away and guess what, I came across this horrendous news which shocked me to the core! What a great way to start blogging again…!

There is a violent video game that was released in Japan last year, which slowly creped it’s way through the shores of United States and caused lots of controversy for obvious reasons. The video game that I am talking about is pretty violent and extremely gruesome. It stimulates raping young women and girls in the most explicit way. Basically, “male” characters gain points by stalking and finally raping female characters. One can make more points, by including other male characters in gang rape. BUT, if one of the female characters’ becomes pregnant, you have to force her for an abortion, otherwise, if she has the baby, your character dies.

As you can imagine, this game caused quite a bit of outrage and controversy in the United States. Amazon pulled the game after complains from many users. "We determined that we did not want to be selling this particular item," a spokeswoman said.

Such games (be it virtual) offend me on so many levels; I do not know where to start. First of all, in the real world, women are attacked violently everyday both physically and emotionally. Rape is real and not a joking matter. It is a devastating form of violence and power play, which in most cases perpetrated by men. Why would anyone in his (or her?) right mind create such a horrible game that is not only creepy but also quite revolting?

What is the thinking behind creating such games, be it raping a woman or killing another human being? Let’s face it, there are plenty “war” games out there where men kill other men in quite explicit and violent ways. Is it some kind of a fantasy play? Or did we completely loose touch with our “humanity”?

When I was diving, I saw a large “Snapper” eat small fishes without any mercy. But there was some kind of logic to the snappers’ violent behavior. It was not for pleasure or just pure violence. It was for survival. That type of violence makes sense to me… But this “video game” just does NOT!

Any ideas?

PLEASE READ THE FULL ARTICLE

I am back from the Grand Cayman Island...

I had a delicious time diving and resting in the Grand Cayman Island. It was so wonderful to pause the world for a little while. I dove everyday while I was there, each time double tank dives, one deep dive for 30 minutes and one shallow dive for 40 minutes. In total I had quite a bit of diving done, which was so wonderful and exciting. The deepest dive was 120 ft / 40 meters.

Here are some pictures.... Enjoy!

A dive buddy

More diving buddies

Beautiful corals






Stingray

This was a wall of corals that went down as deep as 300 ft / 100 meters









Sea Cucumber



The highlights of my diving holiday were; dancing with a sea turtle, almost loosing my camera among various colorful corals, ascending to the top with as little air as 100 PSI, seeing a gigantic lobster, a stingray, moray eal, a baby nurse shark and of course the jokes and the camaraderie among the diving buddies on the boat.... It was totally awesome... I miss it already!

I will be back to my regular blogging in a few days.

I am going diving... See you in 2 weeks...!

I will be away from my computer for about 2 weeks….

I will miss my blog… but! Will not miss my hectic life in the city. I need to pause the world and not think about politics, kids school, hectic after school programs and just day-to-day struggles of my mundane life.

I am going DIVING! Yes, finally that adrenaline filled hobby of mine is going to be satisfied. Every year, my husband arranges a diving trip just for me. He doesn’t particularly like it himself but doesn’t mind sipping margaritas and taking care of the kids while I am gone. It’s a win win for all. Kids get to play in the beach, I get to dive and my husband get’s to close his eyes and soak up the sun in peace and quite.

I discovered diving about 10 years ago. We went to a trip to the island of Turks and Caicos. There for the first time I tried snorkeling, which immediately had a strange effect on me. Have you ever tried something and knew immediately you wanted more? One time was never going to be enough…! Well, with snorkeling, I knew I was getting only a taste of what was out there in the vast ocean. I didn’t want to look at the corals and the living habitat from above. I wanted to be in it! I wanted to dance with the fishes and other creatures that so gracefully moved. In my next trip the following year, I got my Padi Open water diving certificate and have been diving ever since.

In my previous trips, I saw several “nurse and hammerhead sharks, eels, giant lobsters, sting rays, huge turtles, various strikingly beautiful fishes of all sizes and of course wonderful and weird looking corals. Being under water gives me an odd sense of my own limitations as a human being. I truly feel, I am a guest in an environment that is foreign to me in every way. When I look around me, all I see is the limitless see with creatures swimming around me in curiosity. I enjoy their slow and graceful strokes, their amazing shapes and bright colors. Then all of a sudden a shark appearing in the corner of my eye quite far away gives me a huge sense of insecurity but quite quickly turns into admiration for this powerful animal. The fear I feel when I am above water goes away and all I want to do is get close to the creatures that look and sound so intimidating when seen on TV or read in a book.

There is also something really kind about divers in general. Maybe the effects of the water or the mellow life style, but every dive-master and fellow diver I have encountered, have all been very helpful and sweet. One feels connected to something larger then ones “Ego”, whether it’s another diver or a sea creature.

This year I want to try something totally new, which I have never done before due to my own fear. I will go “night diving”. Something about diving in the dark scares me to death but I must admit, it will be pure adrenal rush. It is something I have never done and want to try so desperately….

Can’t wait to take my kids to the under world, once they are 12 years old, just won’t tell their grandmother…. No need to give her a heart attack!

Let's listen to the wise words of a 4 year old....

Yesterday, I went out to lunch with a Jewish-Turkish friend of mine, whom I will refer to as “Z.” I met her quite coincidentally last year in the lobby of my building. I was having a conversation in Turkish with my children when she overheard the familiar language. Happily, she approached us and introduced herself as a fellow countryman, or rather shall I say, countrywoman. There was an immediate spark between us. It turned out that she is best friends with a childhood friend of mine (who is also of Jewish ancestry) that I have known since I was 7 or 8 years old. Basically, a friend whom I have known my entire life.

Z’s parents are from Istanbul, Turkey. Their ancestors are Spanish Jews who migrated from Spain after the Spanish Inquisition in late 1400’s. Z’s family has resided in Istanbul for more then ten generations. She is as Istanbulian as one can get. Z loves her country - Turkey; it is where her heart is, her roots are, her childhood, her womanhood, and all her memories belong. Although she is married to an American man, her four-year-old daughter speaks Turkish perfectly. Z is adamant that her daughter be fluent in Turkish, her mother tongue.

Z is smart, dignified and patriotic in a sweet and caring way. But yesterday, she told me several stories over lunch about her recent trip from Istanbul that both saddened and outraged me. She told me about a small group of thugs that were protesting in Taksim Square (the Istanbul equivalent of Times Square in NYC) and screaming “Jews out.” She told me about how she read articles espousing hate towards her religion. She told me about how, some people, in the country she loves has turned against Jews quite suddenly. She told me about the rise of anti-Semitism in general and how she felt uncomfortable in Turkey, her own homeland, for the first time in her life.

Z is such a patriot that she immediately tried to brighten it up with, “I love my country, I am a proud Turkish-Jew, I know this will all pass and it will never be really bad. There are great intellectuals, journalists, politicians and various others who have protested in response to the latest anti-Semitic wave.” She added, “The majority of Turks hate (the Prime Minister) Erdogan and want him gone.” I said “Amen to that!” I told her how sad I am to hear her say these words, about how Erdogan is turning Turkey into an Islamic state, about how he is disliked by many more Turks than meets the eye. I told her, I am not only sorry for non-Muslims but Muslims alike.

Her four-year old was with us during lunch, carefully watching and listening. Finally, she piped up and asked her mother “Why don’t we talk about something nice?” I am not kidding! I was shocked at how this little child not only understood that we were talking about sad things, but she wanted to change the conversation so that we could all look happy. So, that is exactly what we did! Thanks to her four-year old daughter….

This post is not about Israel, Turkey, Gaza, Palestinians or religion. I am not blaming or diminishing anyone’s pain. I am simply conveying a conversation between good friends. I remember my sadness and anger towards America when all Muslims were seen as terrorists, some were even attacked in the streets, and most were ridiculed for their belief right after 9/11… Let us Turks not make the same mistake. It is important to realize “pain” is universal.

I ask Erdogan, the Takism hoodlums, the Israeli government, Hamas and all of you, let us all change this hateful conversation, too… Let’s listen to the wise words of a 4 year old.

President Obama: Yet another Interventionist?

Since (war criminal) Bush left and Obama took office, those of us who are following world politics closely are wondering what type of direction will he take the “Empire” in? Will he continue with the rhetoric of “war on terror”, will he attack Iran, Syria? Or will he pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan? Will he start developing close ties with the rising powers such as Russia or China?

The truth is, US is an Empire and when I look at various Empires in the past, their downfall have been due to their greed and hunger for more power. I am afraid the faith of the US Empire will follow suite. No “one” Empire can rule the world or be a “leader” for too long. Mongolians, Romans, Byzantines, Turks, Germans, French, British, Russians, Austrians, Chinese, Huns, Persians, Egyptians have all tried but were unsuccessful in conquering the world. Or should I say, staying at the top for eternity…

Let us not forget the human psychological factor. Majority of the human race love to rally around their leader and if that leader has a so-called valid rhetoric, then it is that much easier to control the masses. Religious Crusades, War on Terror, Clash of Civilizations, Islamofascism Treat, Global Anarchy and Communism are great fables to put the masses into a deep sleep so the rulers at the top can continue with their grand strategies. Most people crave for adventure, romance and a sense of purpose in life. What better way to do it then promoting for the collective good, fighting for evil, restoring justice, ethnic/religious cleansing or some other grand idea that Empires have used in the past.

The question is, will Obama follow suite? Will he become the next Emperor without cloths? The answer is an unequivocal YES! He has no choice… Because he excepted the position of the "Throne", he needs to follow in the footsteps of his predecessors. The problem is, the Empire he took control off is on a stand still. The train stopped in the middle of the tracks… not moving… The economy is in dire straits, Iraq and Afghanistan wars are unwinnable, China, Russia are fast growing economies that also want a piece of the pie, South America is breaking it’s chains from slavery, Middle East is on fire and furthermore, USA lost it’s leadership role and credibility due to the blunders of Bush and Co in the last 8 years.

I feel sorry for President Barrack Hussein Obama! He seems like a really nice guy. But not so sorry for the power loss of the American Empire… I wonder which (next) looser will think to conquer the world all over again? Will it be the Chinese or the Russians? Will it be Indians? Europeans? Mid-east powers? South Americans?

Or maybe, finally, we "humans" will learn to share the earth without fighting, killing, raping, torturing or name calling each other?

Please read the article posted by the Right Web, written by Leon Hadar, who worded it much better and more eloquent then me.

PLEASE READ!