Three And Twenty

The good thing about having my birthday (hint hint) so close to New Year's, is that I only need to go into a deep reflective mode once a year! Which is more than enough for me really.

And to be fair to both occasions (my birthday is on the 5th), this usually happens somewhere in between. And since today is the 3rd, what better timing, no?

I'll be turning 23! I won't lie to you, I wasn't thrilled at first. I don't really like odd numbers (the exception being 21- I loved being 21! It felt so important). I'd rather be 24 than 23. Or I could stay 22, I loved being 22! I'm going to miss being 22:) Oh well, life goes on. (See I'm already halfway into this "wise pondering mode", must say I'm proud of meself:P

So in the spirit of embracing being 23, this post's theme will be... you guessed it, TWENTY THREE!
Brace yourselves. Oh and don't expect this to be deep (I'm too drowsy and high on sugar to know what the heck I'm writing).

23 Things I'm Thankful For:

1. Chocolates.
2. Godiva Chocolate.
3. A nutella Jar of spreadable bliss!
4. Any Chocolate, really.
5. Yep, even semi-sweet baking chocolate.
6. Anything with sufficient sugar to guarantee a sugar rush effect, really.
7. My pillow. Try sleeping without one and you'll know what I'm talking about.
8. Kids. The world would be such a serious, dull and unlivable place without them.
9. Smiles. Best thing in the world, no competition.
10. Liquid soap.
11. Snuggle socks. My toes would fall off without them (not good).
12. Water- especially after a long run.
13. Being able to run.
14. My ugly runners (hey they do the job pretty darn well- but yeah they're awfully ugly I dunno what I was thinking when I bought them.)
15. Msn, emails, this blog, whatever keeps me connected to my dearest loved ones!
16. My dearest loved ones.
17. My dearest loved ones.
18. My dearest loved ones. (can't say that enough)
19. Laughter. Hard and often.
20. Pajamas. The cute kiddish ones. Man I would love to live in my Pajamas- day and night!
21. Friends (the comedy). Oh alright, and the real ones as well;P
22. Great people like Hamza Yusuf and Amr Khaled.
23. The million stars (in Wadi Rum). We don't look up at the sky often enough. We should.

My Far-Fetched Wish List (23 items):

1. Have chocolate scratched off the "Things that could seriously shorten your life span and cause sudden painful death" list.
2. Learn to play an instrument (guitar or piano...).
3. Backpack through Europe, Amazon, Africa and India.
4. Learn another language fluently.
5. Be a professional athlete.
6. Win an Olympic Gold medal.
7. Work with Greenpeace.
8. Work as a wild life photographer for National Geographic.
9. Open my own school.
10. Have my owns kids to experiment with and eventually mess up, but nonetheless love them to death.
11. Don't worry, I do realise I must find their dad first. That would be item 11:P
12. Live in Jerusalem.
13. Write a bestseller (even if it's cause I bought and scared my friends into buying 999, 000 of the million copies sold;)
14. Read an encyclopedia from cover to cover and actually REMEMBER stuff.
15. Have a better memory. (I'm sorry, do I know you? My brother? for real?)
16. Becoming one of those AWESOME teachers who know their stuff.
17. Become a character in Harry Potter series.
18. Somehow stopping people from being SUCH DISGUSTING LITTER BUGS. Honestly.
19. Getting my black belt in Ju-Jitsu and being as dangerously awesome as Sensei Nadine is.
20. Learning to say no to drugs. (HEHEHEHE I'm kidding mom don't freak out!)
21. See an end to wars, poverty and abuse.
22. Memorize the Qoran.
23. Never ever be away from or lose someone I love.

23 things I resolve never to do- not in a million years (so help me God!)

1. Wear heels.
2. Eat chips or processed meat.
3. Put on Makeup.
4. Wear animal prints.
5. Live in the Gulf (Huh. So much for that resolution!)
6. Backbite.
7. Take more than 10-15 minutes to get ready (unless it's for a fancy event)
8. Forget my friends' birthdays.
9. Watch a soap opera, reality TV or talk show (well, for more than 10 seconds anyway).
10. Visit a dentist- viscious people I tell you.
11. Being sucked into the materialistic life around here.
12. Forget Amman. The things I love about it.
13. Complain more than once a day.
14. Make snap judgements, especially about people.
15. Think I'm all that.
16. Throw one of the kids in my classroom out of the window.
17. Smoke or be around people who do.
18. Upset my parents.
19. Outgrowing a day at the playground.
20. Wallow in my misfortune rather than celebrate my blessings.
21. Drink turkish coffee.
22. Swear off chocolates.
23. Stop loving my big fat crazy cat.

Man, this post woulda been so much easier to write if I were turning 4!