Explosion in Beirut Today

This happens way too often that I can't think back to a time when there was no bombing and no problems in Lebanon. Imagine walking or driving your car casually on the road and then, all of sudden:

BOOM.

I was in Beirut with mom and dad today. Imagine my shock when I learned that a car exploded not far from where we were!
When I think about it, I think about the innocent people that were killed. How can someone live on, normally, knowing that he was the reason behind the deaths of innocent poeple?
We continue on with our lives as if nothing is wrong. I am not saying that that is a bad thing; because if we cannot move on than we cannot accomplish anything in life. Not moving on would keep us living in fear; we would be too scared to go to our jobs or take a walk or drive the car...
But the truth is that everything is not okay at all. Just because those events are way too familiar doesn't mean that everything is fine.
I guess, well.. Happy Holidays.

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*Pictures not mine.

Visit to Golden Vision

I  visited Golden Vision on Monday, Wednesday, then Thursday. Golden Vision is a company in Beirut (that has so many rooms but I only spent time in the Graphic Designers' Room and the cafeteria).

Their motto: "Life is a series of images"

The work place is so welcoming, the desks are nice, and the colors of the walls are, too. AND THEY HAVE HUGE iMACS ASDFGHJKL. I'm not fangirling.

The Graphic Designers' space is big and surrounded by glass; and there were those little ants forming a long line on the glass- cuuute!

First Day:

Dad had some work there so Leen & I went with him. We basically just:

• Went through magazines
• Talked
• Saw what the designers were working at
• I talked to Aya, a graphic designer, about her work and stuff
• We Doodled (I drew this nice thing, really, but I think the paper's still in the car)
• Ate (Leen had a fajita and I had Cesar salad)

Second Day:

Dad dropped me off there (he, mom, & another teacher- Miss Nazha) had a workshop or something in Beirut. Anyways, I sat with Samir first, a graphic designer, and he told me about the basics of this program they use to design magazines (InDesign). Graphic designers use three programs in their work:

• Photoshop (for pictures mainly)
• Illustrator (Vectors and logos..)
• InDesign (Magazines, brochures..)

Then I sat with Aya and she talked to me more about InDesign. She showed me the 'before and after' brochures and magazines she was working on for an Iraqi company, and the transformations she did were crazzy! The original brochures/ magazines had jammed up words, ugly colors and pictures, and the transformed products were bright, nice, and comfortable to read. Their work is so nice.

Third Day:

I went to Golden Vision and Aya was going to arrive at 10 but she didn't come cuz she had some things to do. Anyways, I spent my time:

• Reading "Why Am I So Disorganized"; which I'm sure is beneficial but it was kinda boring and had lots of activities

• Sitting beside Samir and looking at the magazine he was working on
• Going through some of the stuff Golden Vision worked on previously. (They use very nice colors and modern designs. I didn't take pics of much stuff though)

• Reading "Faris" magazines with AlBaraa, a cute 7-year old boy (he's too cute, really)

• Drawing and playing tic-tac-toe with AlBaraa (using MEGA PENS). Using those pens is harder than it looks like. Really.

It was nice and fun, and I got to know what graphic designing is really like. Below is a collage from the visit. Yay! :D

(Thank you to everyone at Golden Vision for their time, especially Ousama, Samir, and mostly, Aya. :])