Please Take All Your Belongings With You

Went to supermarket to shop for groceries yesterday. The fridge was all empty; so it was a big one. I strolled through the aisles in a kind of strange joy - the joy of consumption. As I proceeded through the aisles, my trolley got heavier and heavier and eventually became difficult to push it around in narrow aisles. So I parked it in some unpopular corner and went to some section to pick my stuff.

On my way, an itch came whether it was safe to leave all my stuff there. Then I realized that my wallet was in my pocket, so was my phone. Rest in the trolley was goods that I hadn't paid for yet. So it was OK to leave them there. Even if the trolley was taken away, I could have started shopping from the beginning which wouldn't be very pleasurable but certainly not end of the world either.

Suddenly I realized that the level of attachment I felt for that basket was the level of attachment I wanted to feel against my actual belongings. I realized strong relations between objects and my persona wasn't something I wanted to cope with.

And what about the idea of belonging to a person or a person belonging to us? Can the above mentioned sentiment be applied here? Does fear get involved here? If yes - fear of what?


This text brought me again to this G. Marquez quote that I had posted on my FB profile the other day: "...The interpretation of our reality through patterns not our own, serves only to make us ever more unknown, ever less free, ever more solitary."

Bad Eye

Today, I have come across a scene that would have been possible in only very few places on earth, fortunately or unfortunately including Istanbul.

A woman at her 40's is walking on one of the main shopping streets of Istanbul with her daughter. Very conservative in her moves, the mother looks quite poor and is wearing an old fashioned hijab. The uncovered daughter walking beneath her mother is throwing wannabe sexy smiles around; she is at most at her 15. The big inscription on her tight t-shirt says: "NO SEX CAUSES BAD EYE".

The incident looked so weird that I questioned whether or not it could have been that long since the last time I got laid. Or whether or not Istanbul is the bad eye itself.

July 19th. 00:20

It was yesterday midnight when the smoking ban in Turkey started to be in effect. Last night after having couple of beers with my friend Idil, we moved on to Peyote . When we reached the place, at roughly 00:20, we found people apparently kicked out from inside gathered in front of the entrance smoking their cigarettes. The mood seemed to be quite positive where everyone was complaining but secretly seeming to like it.

We moved on to Cihangir. Walking along streets lined up with clubs, we passed by groups of people smoking outside. I kept thinking that the law was received surprisingly fast until we reached our destination club Kiki to find it still in a thick smoke cloud. The law apparently hadn't reached there last night. People were smoking, so were the bartenders and DJs.

So yeah, luckily another night could be spent with smoking and being smoked. But indicators show that not many of these nights are left for Istanbullus.

Fenerbahce

One of the major ngo's with the greatest number of supporters in Turkey. The organization is actively working on fostering wannabe mafia culture in the country.

For other similar examples of this size, please refer to following articles;

(refer to: galatasaray)
(refer to: besiktas)

Duman Making Fun of Koran

(the discussion is about a particular song from the new album of a rock group named Duman which has lyrics where well-known Arabic words from Koran are selectively taken and distorted into funny Turkish words to criticise the religion)

If someone feels like it, it should be more than OK to make fun of Koran. Sacredness is all about one's personal perception. Someone else's sacred thing doesn't necessarily have to be mine as well.

If our dear religious friend is looking for the affirmation that he is not stupid or for the social applause he thinks he have earned for his very eligible art of submission in Duman's songs - well this is the wrong place to look for, I'm sorry. He needs to find about these in himself - only in himself.

If your faith is really that strong, why the need for to keep an eye on your surroundings?

To Feel Like Belonging To Only One Man All Your Life

At most, a sensitive little dick can feel like that.

Sour Dictionary - 1

Eksisozluk - literally meaning the sour dictionary - is the primary online community in Turkey where people share their (mostly bullshit but sometimes really) interesting thoughts. The site is reachable by anyone where articles are written by somewhat 20000 authors - in eksisozluk terminology so called "susers" - whose articles are being monitored by a handful praetors - voluntary legal counsels, mostly lawyers by profession - who make sure that the entries have no legal implications and moderators who are responsible that format rules are being followed. In this fashion on average every year about one million articles - entry in dictionary terminology - are recorded.

The authors include some really interesting fellows coming from all corners of the political spectrum. Sometimes the discussions become really harsh particularly around topics such as the Armenian genocide, Kurdish question, religion's role in the country and so on.

Overall it is a platform where a country's fiercely divided youth learns to co-exist with each other and learn about each other's thoughts.

I have been contributing in this community in the last 4-5 years under the nickname degisen - literally meaning "the ever changing one".

I decided to translate some of my contributions I will be doing to the dictionary here to give you an idea about current hot topics in Turkey and my point of view about these issues. After all, it's Turkey, on any given day the country is burning with discussions. Of course, I will take the pleasure to share my entries which are not that serious as well.

Label for these type of entries will be "sourdictionary".