Politik 09

The most political I am is when I listen to Coldplays Politik.

Our history is littered with war and spattered with bloodshed, and the past will keep repeating itself. It makes me read the newspaper from back to front avoiding the yellow journalism of the front pages. This is what drapes news stands, the innocent victims of conflict. Is it fair to to expose young minds to the atrocities of the world? Have them grow up in fear, minds conditioned to expect the crappy residue of mindless actions?

Sometimes we like to live oblivious to the gore and sensationalism. Sometimes I think about this hypotheses propagated by The Secret that claims the more you pay attention to something, the more it is reinforced by the energy of your attention and the more it thrives. Maybe I'm just justifying ignorance. Who is to say that blind faith isn't the way to go? What do most of us do in all our awareness of the current crises of the world?

Should beliefs not spur action or is there a self reassuring illusion when they are complacently held? I don't have any answers for a question I don't even know. All I can wonder is, "2009, what will you bring us?"

Midnight Toil

Off I was to Camp Arifjan today, with limited new music on my mediocre N78 and a full tank of Gas. Though my work actively revolves around it, I show up there once in a year to process my access badge, which eventually finds itself in the black hole of a bottom drawer I have; or depending on how nice my picture on it turns out; hangs from the blinds of the window by my desk.
While a good project manager drives the hour long drudgery that is the drive, to liason with clients and look at current progress; the better project manager meets them at parties or elsewhere off base where it's more relaxed and 20 minutes away from the couch, yeah that be me indeed. For work, the phone and email and my cushy chair more than suffices. Nevertheless, the badge is still required if I need to put in an appearance for damage control or another Operation Myspace kind of thang.
So off I went. The procedure to get your access badge gets complicated by every millisecond- which is coincidentally the same amount of time another General Trading Company would take to sprout up that requires a cascade of access badges. I had found out this morning that the latest in a series of unfortunate changes made in the process is this new one- it requires me to personally go to the base to take a token number. This token number is an appointment stating the date and time I can return for a long procedure that involves everything short of a body scrub. Now I'm conditioned to think that all of those meticulous measures are forgivable but what I'm not too happy about is that written on my file, what is supposed to be the time, looks something like a 5. Like 5 in the morning. The A of the M. That's seriously the last way I want to start the 3rd day of the New Year, or the 4th or the 5th even. A couple of calls later and nothing. An hour later, and still nothing. It looks like I'm going to have to experience the beauty of sun rise once again. Ummm, yay.

Anyways since I can't click pics of the base mostly coz they won't let you take a phone with a camera in, I clicked you a mundane Middle Eastern Kuwaiti Sunset on my way there. I'm gonna bet I can get a similar pic of sunrise 3rd morning, look out for an identical post, jeez.

Red Light Mania

No, the mania is not related to being scantily clad at a red light district. I wouldn't want to catch a cold, and there's also the fact that besides not being my cup of tea; it's risky monkey business here. It still exists, though the activity past the Highway of Death down by Fahaheel has thinned down from what it was before (well, at least the former link depicts it isn't prostitution more often than not). Hilarious related stories, though since I just realized that digressing is the cardinal sin of blogging, I shall spare you the more interesting accounts and revert to the original sleep inducing one.
My red light related mania has been my unintentional deviant crossing of red lights. Being the new driver that I am, the focus has usually been on not causing utter chaos while sucessfully releasing pent up fast lane fury.

So you can imagine my horror the other day, when my foot refused to roll off the accelerator and ignored the yellow light; which to my foots utter surprise turned red what seemed like two seconds later. Suddenly it didn't matter that I was cheekily racing with cute SLK guy. My oblivious lil foot hadn't a clue about a 3 month jail sentence and even deportation for expats for crossing a red signal. Fortunately though, both signals I'd swished by had neither cameras nor badly camouflaged cop cars.... It was utterly unintentional, and I'm not the red-signal-crossing type, or resortin-to-safety-lane-during-trafffic-jam-type or non-indicating-skipping-lanes-too-fast-type.

My aberrant indulgences involve inching forward in spurts at red lights to see cars following me doing the same in silly inches; clicking a picture with flash of the jerk who overtakes me after tailing me at 140 bumper to bumper-just so he thinks he got clicked by a speed camera; occasionally putting on my windshield wipers on to spray the jerk behind me if he's kissing bumper butt faster than he should with his high beam on. That could sound like a bad metaphor but it's obviously not. Listen, you may say delinquent, but oh if you only knew how people drove here you'd think I'm an angel shaped Asphodel.

Anyways, just thought I'd put what seemed to be the only circulating ( and now the spelling mistakes in it can be read, thx damn expat :-D) copy of the new traffic rules that seemed to have had an effect. Though as that article implies, expats are being deported for the more severe penalties though it's not mentioned here. Drive safe, peeps. And I'll try to find me some road rage management either way.

Geminiac Disfunctionality

I am the gemini child of gemini parents. Even the conspiring astrologists maintain that a gemini horoscope includes a whirlwind personality with no room for boredom. In the past month though, I have been the living proof for the world to have enough reason to tie up these astrologists and punch 'em until they really see stars.

For the last two months, I have been a virtual wanderer, from blog to blog and link to link (and we know how that can be a vortex of a loop, infinite in its continuity especially when you leave the tabs and windows open from yesterdays reckless web surfing). I have been bored to smithereens, and while the astrologers may shake their fists and say it is situational and blame my laissez-faire aka neglectful uninspiring Management; I will merely ..... merely...... merely raise an eyebrow (!) and say that the word situational** was not mentioned beneath the horoscope in fine print. Hah.
Either way, back to reality where I am supposedly solely responsible for said lethargy and lack of focus- I have figured out how to be productive and fight the humdrum conundrum of 9 to 6 again(no, no more aptitude tests)! Since most of my work is done and over with by noon, I am going to pull out my old Business plan from the folder in the folder within the folder behind the folder- obviously a forgotten and far away file, and edit it yet again for what I suppose is the 33rd time. I was meant to kick start this baby when I was 25 and grieved a dead dream on the eve of my birthday. But hey, if I look beyond my melodrama, I still am 25 and have 6 months before that deadline is actually due!
Now, I need to keep reminding myself that I would be proving 'em astrology peeps predictions wrong if I succeed as an entrepreneur!!!!

Getting Down Tonight

Okay, my best buddy is out of town to gimme an opinion. Even though I know that my non existent range of readers are not going to read this post today itself and the partay is tonight. Oh well, I'll leave it to you to pick one of the two ensembles below.

And if you dont I'm going with the first!

America's Got Talent: A Mockery of Indian and Pakistani Culture

The three judges from America's got Talent seem to have turned Pakistani and Indian culture into an utter mockery by endorsing the most awful representation of it and addressing it as what it was meant to mock. The second round of Americas Got Talent saw Kashif Memon through; and during the selection of these top 20, they addressed the drudgery spewed by the amateur bollywood wannabe as mesmerizing. Osborne lauded him for bringing his own culture to the show thus dooming the otherwise promising Indian movie industry to be stereotyped as a deadpan, bland international joke. Sources reveal that this may be Pakistan's back up attempt to hit India where it hurts most:- the pelvic moves of the cherished Indian cinema!! If America prefers to watch this act, which belongs to the worst grade of Bollywoods bowels, then their ignorance is befuddling- But this may not be a shiny new fact after an 8 year Bush administration.
Memon put on a deadpan performance botching several Indian dance steps which wound up bearing a resemblance to a bad knee massage, he lacked choreography and had the charisma of a dying rabbit. It seems maybe this show was trying too hard to rival Joshua and Katie's bollywood sequence in So You Think you Can Dance

Now compare that to this please?

It seems that America doesn't really have any talent if their top 20 consists of a Pakistani who lived there for 6 months and is doing a bad imitation of Indian Cinema. I think this calls for damage control from those three dunces (not as much Piers Morgan as the other two, since he at least hit the buzzer during Menons third round) and they should invite Joshua and Katie with another Nakul Dev Mahajan sequence to amend what they wrongly depicted in the last season of the series.

How to Get More Blogger Followers.

Yeah, I know I don't have alot of 'em but thats honestly cause I'm not trying to. Different people have different reasons for keeping blogs, and whilst some actively yearn for hits, followers, links; others need a vent, some others need to concoct a facade, some like one of their multiple personalities to get some face time. I need to practice my commitment to something. And starting with something non human was obviously an easier option.

Either way, back to cheap tricks.

Zero in on blogs that have even slightly common interests as you. Leave a comment on their every post for a week. Be sincere. When they start responding back, become a follower. Even if they don't reciprocate, keep at it. If they don't within a week, withdraw the cavalry, cease to follow.

Add yourself to all those new nonsense widgets and gadgets like technorati, humor blogs, 20's something (even if you are not 20 something- you can say you are 20 something at heart) Stumbleupon kicks more ass than any of the others do, more so because its as simple as it is to eat a cupcake. The blogs you find through this, will be those related to your interests and thus sincere comments wont be that difficult.

Keep your posts short, and simple. We have attention spans that are more in demand than is the Mona Lisa. Thats not true but brevity is bloody important. We are kids at heart. We like color too. Slap in a picture or two.

Everytime you get a follower, make a mention of them on your next post with a link. Do a one line review if you can.

Don't underestimate what this group can turn into. It is limited to 100 people and will then be made private. Join now, and it will be an exclusive group of people who would like comments or followers.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=233819112286#/group.php?gid=233819112286

Review of Top Aptitude and Personality Tests

Can you tell that I am saturated with my job? Seems like the common sentiment around, must be the weather.
So I was trying to magically stumble upon my dream job on bayt.com when I saw instead a feature they had done on self assessments tests. Since today is supposed to be a pre- bakri eid holiday, and I am at work (while the employees of the mother concern have sauntered off home) I shall revolt by trying to find out what career I should actually be sacrificing my couch time for!
The first was the Mapp Assessment Test. 71 questions, done in 15 minutes. I think it's the career seeker package that is supposed to solve my problems which is some 40 dollars. It reveals just half of who it supposes you are and conveniently avoids the top 10 suitable careers but allows you to see the 10th-20th best. All Mapp packages reveal the top 10, and the cheapest package is 20 $.
Then I tried the SDS method which I liked a little more. It starts out by asking you what you what careers you are/ have been interested in, takes about 20 minutes. The answers come more naturally and I don't mind paying the 5$ for it. Just trying to find someone who wants to give me an early xmas present since I've got probs with my credit card :-( I'll update the results of the purchase later.
The renowned Myer-Briggs test gives you a a result stating what "type" of person you are. I have before been aptly described as an ENTP, and like an astrological sign there are variations of it at typelogic (it tells you about what relationship is best for you with what type- now obviously you can't go find a certain Type to fill that void in your life - but if you know a certain type and are not taking advantage of this side of the relationship, well stop reading this and apply it and experiment. Then come back here and tell me if it works.) There's even an ENTP website but they may be pushing it too far.
Though it was upsetting to get the results of the Keirsey test for the second time as an Idealist (An ENTP is not an idealist but a Rational (or Inventor)). So I did the Carl Jung Meyer Briggs test again and I turned out to be an ENFP this time which isn't too different from the basic ENTP. It does fit with the Keirsey test and it makes me a champion and Keirseys ENFP description says this type can fall under inventor too. Maybe they are right...... Or maybe we change over time.... I'm also sure I have completely lost you so just go do the Myer-Brigg and the Keirsey test and lemme know if they wind up the same. Time to know who you are, sport!!!!

Pinciatti

I'm gonna miss your pinkness! I even drew you a piggy wiggy .... Surf safe....................

Border Run

Mutton. Sorry, I didn't mean that.
I may have meant Shworma.

Running on empty and we still had 30 Kms to go. But I think a beat up mazda 6 can do 50 kms in reserve

It said do not photograph. My finger slipped! The skeletal remains of vehicles during the war with Iraq.

The left road goes to K Crossing and the Iraqi border. The right goes to Camp Buerrhing.

A lone camel.

Little Vagabond walking towards a mirage.

The middle of nowhere.

More of the Middle of Nowhere, just increased contrast.

To the Kuwait-Iraq Border to K-Crossing. I liked all the pictures so didn't go through the trouble of depriving you of any of the almost identical desert landscapes :-D

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Overrated Originality

First the novels were cast aside by television taking over. Nobody would read anymore. Then it was the internet. There was alot of online reading. The books were e-booked and also audio booked. But somewhere down the line we wound up being satisfied reading articles.
The artists and painters got coreldraw, comic strip generators for cartoonists, PCDJ and other DJ softwares to match BPMS in a heartbeat, we got a Googles Sketchup software for you to become your own architect. Bloggers proliferated and suddenly everyone was a writer. The originality was not running out, it was getting overrated. Everyone can be replaced.

N78 after the 6300

I've had the N78 for about 5 days now, and I've been highly tweaking it. I hope it comes to replace the 6300 I slept with, which witnessed my morning ablutions, which I'd forget at home once every alternate week and drive back 20 minutes to pick up. I thought my palm was permanently contoured to the sleek body of the 6300 but it seems like there is hope. The N78 ain't really waif, but that doesnt make it un-holdable at all. The buttons were particularly noticed by the bevy of ooh-ers and aaah-ers, but it is highly usable as opposed to the comments its appearance provoked. No, the buttons are fine.

The FM transistor being the main function I picked it up for works well, except a 10 second stretch on 6th ring road. I am yet to experience more than the Viva La Vida on it though. The shortcuts flustered me before pleasing me, the keypad is fantastic to navigate around once you figure out the various shortcut keys it allows you to take advantage of. My favourite standby theme hidden under the personalization feature is the Vertical icon bar that allows a maximum of about 14 shortcuts from the main page.

Another feature I found was pressing the menu key left bottom, allows you to see all open applications and go to them from there. Sheer genius. The Games required me to download NGage which works well, but I haven't found fab game options yet.... but there are many more to look through.

So thats my latest discoveries on the N78, I will certainly come back and update this when I uncover some tweaking time from my not very busy day.

Salaries and Costs in Kuwait

I've had a couple of people ask me lately about standard salaries in Kuwait. The different information they receive is staggering apparently, and Google rendered only one relevant article. I know there is a large differentiation in payscales for westerners and non-westerners but that is still too broad a description to help. There are some who get paid more due to the vasta they have with their employers and others who are being paid way below what they deserve. After I filled out my details on www.payscale.com, it said "Our database is growing very quickly, so we hope to be able to satisfy your request for a personal salary report soon. In order to do so, we need more employees in your industry and your location in our database, so please encourage your colleagues to visit us ".
Other than that, current costs have increased here due to , which was followed by government action which happened for the locals, but many others didnt get it and the private sector definitely didnt endorse it. Later in June 2008, another 50 KD approval for Kuwaitis which actually caused the inflation to worsen. So now, studio apartments are no lesser than 200 KD- Its hard to find studio apartments except in Spanish Villas and such with facilities like a pool and Gym. A one bedroom apartment is easily 200 to 250 KD which is what an excellent 2 bedroom place in salmiya by La Baguette on Baghdad Street cost me in Feb 2008. Now it takes alot of searching but I do know of 290 KD two bedroom apartments and 350- KD three bedroom apartments.
It would be helpful for you and others if you anonymously jot down your information, blogger allows you to do so anonymously if you will as well.
I'm sure an anonymous summary of our sals, Ethnicity + # of years in work experience; and monthly expenditures can allow us to share perspectives and perhaps gain insight on where we stand and how to better ourselves.
Update: I'm no longer as brave as http://www.myopenwallet.net/ to scream out the privacies of my bank accounts so I shall be one of the anonymous commentors who (if any) state it below......

Trying to Technorati, and Bugger Buzz.

Technorati Profile
Update: My next post will be Technorati for Dummies. Once I figure it out!
Now I'm going to try to yahoo buzz this article- though I want to ask--- is there a way to automate your posts to enter into the yahoo buzz?
Any place that has yahoo buzz, technorati, digg, reddit for dummies?

The best way to learn another Language

..... is M*U*S*I*C
And the Busuu site I mentioned in my other post.
I have been trying to revive my French and found an excellent radio site with an interesting variety in its 3 french radio stations. You'll have to look through Radios but the site is pretty simple to navigate through.

Here's a good song that I found: it's called A Ma Place by Axel Bauer. I'll put the translation of the lyrics on later. Here's the French:-
COUPLET 1 ( A.Bauer )

Serait-elle à ma place plus forte qu'un homme
Au bout de ces impasses où elle m'abandonne
Vivre l'enfer mourir au combat
Faut-il pour lui plaire aller jusque là ?
Ce peut-il que j'y parvienne,
Ce peut-il qu'on nous pardonne
Ce peut-il qu'on nous aime pour ce que nous sommes

COUPLET 2 ( Zazie )

Se met-il à ma place quelques fois ?
Quand mes ailes se froissent et mes iles se noient
Je plie sous le poids, plie sous le poids
De cette moitié de femme qu'il veut que je sois
Je veux bien faire la belle mais pas dormir au bois,
Je veux bien être reine mais pas l'ombre du roi
Faut-il que je cède, faut-il que je saigne
Pour qu'il m'aime aussi pour ce que je suis

(Zazie )
Pourrait-il faire en sorte
( A.Bauer )
Ferait-elle pour moi
( Zazie )
D'ouvrir un peu la porte
( A.Bauer )
Ne serait-ce qu'un pas
( Zazie )
Pourrait-il faire encore
( A.Bauer )
Encore un effort
( Zazie )
Un geste, un pas vers moi
( A.Bauer )
Un pas vers moi

REFRAIN ( Axel Bauer & Zazie )

Je n'attends pas de toi que tu sois la/le même
Je n'attends pas de toi que tu me comprennes
Seulement que tu m'aimes pour ce que je suis

COUPLET 3 ( A.bauer )

Se met-elle à ma place quelques fois
Que faut-il que je fasse pour que tu me voie
Vivre l'enfer, mourir au combat
Veux-tu faire de moi ce que je ne suis pas
Je veux bien tenter l'effort de regarder en face,
Mais le silence est mort et le tien me glace
Mon âme soeur, cherche l'erreur
Plus mon sang se vide et plus tu as peur

( A.Bauer )
Faut-il que je t'apprenne
( Zazie )
Je ne demande rien
( A.Bauer )
Les eaux troubles où je traine
( Zazie )
Où tu vas d'où tu viens
( A.Bauer )
Faut-il vraiment que tu saches
( Zazie )
Tout ce que tu caches
( A.Bauer )
Le doute au fond de moi
( Zazie )
Au fond de toi

REFRAIN ( Axel Bauer & Zazie )


COUPLET FINAL (Axel Bauer & Zazie )

Quand je doute, quand je tombe
Et quand la route est trop longue
Quand parfois je ne suis pas ce que tu attends de moi,
Que veux tu qu'on y fasse,
Qu'aurais-tu fait à ma place ?

I am Afraid....

to click on my time tracker and see the amount of time I have wasted this week.

Horse Riding Tips

Well, firstly remember that people are watching you so be cool. You don't want to be mocked about the way you sit, or the fact that you were about to fall down or that your face looks real funny when you're scared.

Another thing to do is to talk to your horse. I commented to him about this gorgeous mare who was passing by and Veritas's ears flicked back, and he seriously noticed, did a head flick too. They understand their names for sure too.

Remember how the cowboys walk in old westerns? They look like they had been constipated for two days? Thats coz they sit in such a way that their legs form an O; the legs almost hug the belly of the horse wherein they realize there is someone atop 'em + it helps balance. So said my self absorbed buddy who thinks he is omniscient. Turns out my buddy has quite a wikipedia shaped brain, though I'm not entirely sure what it's filled with. Big hug to you when/ if you read this, little starling :-). He also had another interesting point to make:- Basically we are taught by walking the horse in a large circle, and occasionally our horse teacher would tell us to cut through the middle and walk the horse anti clockwise for a change. Starling suggested to ensure the horse didnt cut corners, and to loop around a corner again if it wouldnt listen and try to cut corners and do a smaller circle. He also suggested to surprise it with little 360 degree turns while we were walking so it was aware there was someone atop it who it should heed, and not let it get mindnumbed with monotonous circles. Nice ideas that I can't wait to try out.

Feed the little bugger a carrot after you ride him. Don't underestimate the power of having them associate the sweet goodness of carrots with yourself.

Tropic Thunder Blunder and Changeling.

Friday was refreshing once again. Slipping out of bed at 1 in the afternoon, ambling through the house in slow motion and sprawling on any flat surface between the bed and the television. My feet dragged me out later. The 3 o clock sunshine on Gulf road was refreshing, the traffic was not. Swarms of people were picnicking too close to the roads, and I'm sure stones could fly off into the crowd at high velocity. But oh well, cant comment any more on that.
It was gonna be a movie night to recuperate from the night before. Tropic Thunder was the first movie we watched, but really did not measure up to what I expected. Big Stars, not very big performances. Though I did think Tom Cruise was pretty good. Definitely didnt agree with IMDB but rotten tomatoes 85% was so uncalled for. One critic though was spot-on. I just think it was a great idea that could've been refined so much more.
Changeling we watched next. It definitely deserved more than the 59% from Rotten tomms. The true story doesnt shed alot more light than the movie does, but there is still some trivia to be read.

The N78 scores, BABY!

Hell yea, I finally picked up a new phone after the old 6300 plopped into the toilet. I always feared it would happen, and let me tell you it is extremely possible. No urban myth there.
Most of the Nseries are Qwerty keyboards or slide phones, both features I ain't a fan of. I wanted most of the old features of my 6300 that I was very happy with, and a good battery life - (the 6300 battery life lasted a one hour conversation) I went to this second hand shop hoping they would let me pick an old phone to try it out, and liked the N78 for everything I was looking for + the FM transmitter. I picked this 2nd hand piece for 60 KD and told him I'd try it and come back exchange it for a new one which was apparently 90 KD. After a two hour trial, I was pretty smitten and hopped off to buy it. On an impulse I ducked into Skynet, another shop 3 stores ahead of this one and inquired the rate of a N78. Imagine how shocked and appalled I was to learn it was 67 KD. Needless to say, I got a refund and picked this latter new piece up. Some people say it's because it's made in China, but I didn't see any difference between the pieces. I shall have a more in depth review of the N78 (N78 for dummies) a little later.

A Bakers Nightmare

Dont need no COD when we got SNOW HOP!

In my post about tracking time I mentioned about how online games would be one culprit responsible for having time sneak by me. It really didnt help that I found Snowhop.Its the darndest little game where you jump on a snow flake and it propels you higher. The graphics don't need to be realistic and it doesnt need to have any relation to the real facts. It's just one darn good adictive game that can get your mind off work for a good five minutes. I suggest you time yourself though, I repeat, it's addictive!

Diggin my Heels into this Crane

My job is very diverse and it has me doing alot of things that you don't see too many women poke their noses into. No I don't drive a crane but hah, I should tell you about the time I was in our yard at Amghara, stilletos dug into the sand and then clambering over all of the equipment and heavy machinery stored there. I should tell you about it, but I won't.
Today, I was supervising a safety check of a crane that we are renting from a third party to the military. It wasnt as simple as I thought it would be. The loading cables of the crane were inserted wrong. The loading test certificate had expired some months ago. The upper limit switch didnt work either. The breaks were worn, etc, etc, etc I won't rant on about complicated crane jargon (please note sarcasm) to you disinterested folk. The local standards are definitely not at par with the American Military Standards as they pointed out. But do check out this link http://www.craneoperator.com/MISHAPS/Mishaps-2003.htm and you'll realize the American standards dont always follow their military safety protocols either. You can stare agape at the visuals and skim through the summaries. I'm going to be googling away Cranes for the next few days.

Tracking life: Time Tracker

I don't know if my blog screams it out or not, but I usually am a very disorganized person. I am very often missing keys, my debit card, my civilian identification card, sunglasses, reading glasses, money and am unsure where my time went as well. Maybe irresponsible is another word, though I'm unsure. Disorganized allows me to sound a little more artsy. Though I'm trying get a little less unruly and not while away hours while at work on lesser important things. I would not call them futile things, as they enhance my knowledge of the world. As I work in marketing, every idea I absorb from games sites, other peoples lives on facebook, learning languages online, reading other peoples blogs and what not; all these are ingredients that amalgamate together in my brewing pot of ideas, and come out looking different. Either way, I wanted to track my time and wound up trying a variety of widgets and time trackers. None of them worked well enough, either I had to put too much effort to manually input the data on what I was doing at the time, or they were time trackers for freelancers who worked by the hour to guage how much time they were working on a project for. The last update was that I was testing out http://www.rescuetime.com/ since about November 2nd.

It has worked like an utter charm! Thankfully, it allows individuals a free account but charges for corporate accounts. It tells you which websites you have visited for the most time. It also allows you to tag websites and applications you use on your pc into categories ( I have tagged excel, my email client "bat", word under 'Work'; and facebook and myspace under 'social networking' and shows this separately as "top tags".

It also allows you to create and check goals- you say how much time you want to spend on a goal and it will track it for you. It also shows you your productivity for the day or for the week. You install the software (it takes up only 1.26 mbs) and it tracks what you do on your pc.Once a month it sends you an email summarizing your virtual vagabonding. If I were boss, I'd install this on my emplyees PC unawares and re-route the monthly email to me!

The best poetry site ever

I have just found what the title above implies. I dare not repeat it so I don't hype it for you, but it's seriously fantabulistic. Its www.poemhunter.com, and they allow you to not only to read historical and contemporary poetry but allows you to put your works on as well. Sort of like a poetry aggregator. I've already got two votes on the one I put up on a topic a tad bit controversial that I couldnt put on here coz I don't quite want the attention. Which means I shouldnt be writing this, I know.... But still. Whatever. Check out the site and tell me what you think of it. I like hearing that I'm right :-D

On my own again

I come home at 8 after work. I work well after half past 5, cigarette smoke slithering in the office and feet up on the chair. Undistracted and mesmerized. The music is not channelized into my ears through headphones, but the loudspeaker allows it its course as it amiably contours the corners of silence. I change my screensaver.

(http://www.newscientist.com/screensaver.ns)

I let myself in. Shoes by the door, bag on the floor. A dinner of sliced cheese and chocolate milk. It doesn’t matter to me that it doesn’t go. It’s never not enough. There’s a mart a minute away. Satisfied. No unknown expectations.
The house is clean. There are no obligations to take care of anything. No dishes used, no dishes to wash, no dishes to own, lesser money spent. My own time. I have always loved it from a distance. The flings with it were few and far between. But I always come back. To be alone is to be brave and expose yourself to a plethora of choices.

Coffee with one of them. Don my mitts and armed with Ipod; feel the rush of the breeze on my face at the beach where I like to walk. Try out everything in my wardrobe. Have a drink. Dance wildly to loud music in front of the mirror. Read a book. Go shopping not knowing what I need to buy. Go horse riding twice a week. Cook something once a week. Sketch. Rewrite my ambitions. Paint my nails. Explore the virtual world. Satisfied. No unknown expectations.
I decide to put in a movie in another language after rummaging through a pile of what nobody else besides me likes to watch. Uninterrupted. I feel sleepy, one of those slumbers you fall into with your lips curled into a half smile.
I hear the front gate. I shrivel inside and hold my breath. No knock on the door, yes, on my own again.

Sharing Accomodation in Salmiya or Salwa?

A basement available? An attic maybe? I'm getting tempted to live out of my car; and it isn't even remotely large!

The ultimating sharing experience would be to find someone who took an apartment before the rates skyrocketed- which would mean the size of the apartment would be bigger as well.... The only problem is, it's only old folks giving out rooms, and I didnt move out of my folks place to listen to other peoples notions of how I oughtta live my life!

I cant imagine anything besides the Spanish villas that'd tolerate my lifestyle. Late nights and loud music. I smoke. May wanna get a dog. I like to have guests over. I wanna paint a mural on one wall. This is reminding me how much I hate Kuwait once again.

Serriously I'm only here for the tax free money, and I think I earn fairly well for my 3 years work experience history, but the question is; am I saving anything? Do I even like where I live? No on both counts. This post was more of a rant, which I shall delete in a day or two. If you do read it, bugger off and dont patronize me.

Sounds and Shapes of Nature

The Sea organ of Zadar in Croatia, These are organ pipes connected to the sea which makes music with the waves going up and down. There are 35 pipes with whistle openings on the sidewalk. The movement of the sea pushes air through, and – depending on the size and velocity of the wave – musical chords are played. The waves create random harmonic sounds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ9qX8lcaBQ&feature=related


This newly completed $1.6 million sculpture commission by Janet Echelman, changes shape in the wind. 160 feet tall, the sculpture spans 300 feet and suspends over a three-lane highway roundabout on the Atlantic coastline in Porto, Portugal. It is credited as the first permanent monumental sculpture to incorporate fluid movement and is called "one of the truly significant public artworks in recent years" by Sculpture Magazine. The sculpture integrates the history of Porto, where a fishing village became an industrial area with smokestacks and tanks. The red and white stripe pattern of the smoke stack referencing elements continues into the sculptural net shape. The shape of the net mirrors the landscape below. The solid, unmoving forms on the ground accentuate the movement and changing forms in the air.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7VtnkMzxPs&feature=related

Looking like the wreckage of an Alien space craft, this Futuristic Sculpture is Art Jim, but not as we know it. Commisioned by a forward thinking Burnley Council, The collection of tubes makes the strangest sounds when the wind blows, which is often round the location at Crown POint, on the moorland overlooking Burnley. Seen in the background is Pendle Hill, famous for the PENDLE WITCHES. Maybe in the sculpture, the myth lives on. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B0hGyKV9qs&feature=related

Obama on Facebook and Myspace

Seriously, talk about being a modern president from the present century. Bush didnt even have a website. Obama has that, a facebook page and alot lot more. He may not pull a David Copperfield act of change, but he's already looking good.

I heard a funny joke about how some American women are supporting Obama over Bush, but I think I can't quite tell how here. Please use your imagination :-D

A Pink Floyd Memory, and some trivia

Its funny that Crazy Diamond (just the name itself, of course) jogged my love for listening to Floyd in a loop again. Three days ago I had an age old friend add me on facebook. What he remembers most was how much I loved the song "Wish you Were Here" 8 years ago.
I still do too. I begin to wonder how many people have how many different memories associated with that song at different times in their lives.
I remember we'd ride our bikes to the bottom of a hill in our neighbourhood and W and I would listen to it from his CD player.
I remember we playing it on the way to a rock concert.
I remember listening to it when I moved to a neighbouring state; staring out at the metropolitan city of blinding lights from my balcony, cigarette and drink in hand.
And I listened to it yesterday in a friends car,and still singing every line softly. It's one of those songs I try not to sing along to too loud coz I don't wanna ruin it with my screechy shrieks.

1: The most famous roadie ever?In 1967, Pink Floyd began employing roadie Pete Watts, who rose through the ranks to become their chief sound engineer. Watts can also be heard laughing between tracks on the band’s Dark Side Of The Moon album. He died in 1976. His daughter Naomi accompanied the group on tour as a child, and went on to become a successful model and actress, starring in the movies, 21 Grams and Mulholland Drive.

2: As it begins, so it endsThe first and last voices ever heard on a Pink Floyd album belong not to any member of the band but to their managers. Floyd’s 1967 debut, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, opens with the track Astronomy Domine and co-manager Peter Jenner narrating astronomical data through a megaphone. The last voice heard on the last Floyd album, 1994’s The Division Bell, is that of the band’s late manager Steve O’Rourke, speaking to guitarist David Gilmour’s son Charlie on the telephone, and accidentally recorded on the Gilmour family’s ansaphone machine.

3: The secret side of the Moon The BBC’s coverage of the Apollo moon landing in July 1969, included a TV programme titled But What If It’s Made Of Green Cheese, for which Pink Floyd performed a still-unreleased track known as Moonhead.

4: Nothing is wastedThe front cover for heavy rock band Def Leppard’s 1981 album, High’n’Dry, depicts a man diving into an empty swimming pool, and was designed by Hipgnosis, the same company behind numerous Pink Floyd album sleeves. Years later, it was revealed that the cover had originally been proposed, and rejected by Pink Floyd for their Atom Heart Mother album in 1970. Instead, Floyd went with the now famous picture of a cow in a field.

5: Boars might fly, sows might notWhen Pink Floyd’s bassist and songwriter Roger Waters quit the band in the early 1980s, a lengthy legal battle ensued with Waters attempting to stop his former bandmates using the Floyd name and their famous ‘flying pig’ stage prop. Waters claimed that the pig had been his idea. To prevent being sued for breach of copyright, Floyd commissioned a new flying pig, with enormous testicles, to differentiate it from Waters’ original female model.

6: Big in JapanDuring the 1960s, Floyd frontman Syd Barrett’s mother often took in lodgers at the family’s house in Hills Road, Cambridge. These were usually students studying at the university, and included the future Prime Minister of Japan, Junichiro Koizumi.

7: Before Sharon Osbourne, there was the FloydAngered by Melody Maker’s lukewarm review of their 1971 album, Meddle, Pink Floyd sent a gift to the paper’s deputy editor, Michael Watts. Assuming it to be a Christmas present, Watts opened the parcel to be confronted with a wooden box concealing a spring-loaded boxing glove.

8: The hidden jazz elementListen very closely to the fadeout of the Floyd song Wish You Were Here and you might still be able to hear the violin solo, played by jazz virtuoso Stéphane Grappelli, who happened to be recording in an adjacent studio to the Floyd at Abbey Road.

9: No Wings on the MoonSeveral voices that can be heard talking between tracks on Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon. These include Floyd roadies Pete Watts and Chris Adamson and Abbey Road Studios doorman Gerry O’Driscoll; all of whom had been asked to answer random questions set by Roger Waters. Paul and Linda McCartney were also interviewed, but their answers were rejected from the final album on the grounds that they were, said Waters “trying too hard to be funny”.

10: Of course, it had to come down to sex Ummagumma, the title of Pink Floyd’s 1969 double album, was a word invented by one of the band’s entourage as a slang expression for sexual intercourse

T-shirt design

I was bored, and Adobe Illustrator was right there.

Rainbow phenomenon in otherwise dreary Kuwait sky

Walked out of my office yesterday and the most gorgeous little- okay not so little really- rainbow streaked through the sky! Okay I know some of you may have loads of Aurora Borealis back at home and see more gorgeous phenomenon.... but it was a Rainbow.... IN KUWAIT!!!!!! Can you tell I don't get enough holidays out of this place?
Either way, the rain was a welcome but that rainbow was the cherry atop the cake.
Just one of those things that make you smile, so I thought I'd catch it with my 2 megapixel
camera heheheh! I'm a sucker for these kind of things, just wanted to share it with y'all! Happy Tuesday People!

Tips that work!!! Focusing on Work!!!

Been building up a list of what not to do at work as I catch myself doing it. It's not taken me too long to come up with a list worth posting.
* Don't sit with your feet folded up, you get more comfortable, less alert.
*Don't keep flip flops in the office.
* Don't have a heavy lunch because 2 hours after it are definitely wasted!
*Don't go on facebook the moment you get to work, and don't leave it open after you have surfed through it. You don't want to accidentally see it when you have forgotten about it.
*Don't forget to make a to-do list so you can bounce from one to the other with no free time that could end up in a black hole of distaction.

* Don't, just don't.
* You know how one link leads to another to another to another? Avoid exploring too many links! What? I don't know how many links are too many links for you!

* Drink coffee/ or tea. But not too much because then you'd wanna throw up, or need too many potty breaks
*If you have to do something outdoors, don't delegate it to someone else. Get out! Fresh air and a change reduces the monotonous cycle.
*Keep a minimal amount of internet pages open, and don't indulge in tabs.

*Don't blog during work. It takes too much time to come up with a post, the right image, all the editing, and the re-editing.

Rain in Kuwait!

Ladies and Gentlemen, it be pissin' it down ! And I.... I... I can't go outside coz I'm wearing expensive heels :-( The infamous rug that makes its way to the entrance everytime it rains. Look closely, its wet-tish outside. And depressing weather, yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
UPDATE: A email titled "Yipppeeee!!!" hits my inbox. The content was almost predictable:-
WEATHER WARNING: TONS OF RAIN, LOCAL FLOODING
Clouds are gradually starting to increase today with light to moderate NW winds. During this evening, the skies will turn overcast with rain arriving and affecting most areas. Rain intensity could be heavy and thundery at times. Please take all necessary pre-cautions of this upcoming scenario. Tomorrow, Monday, the weather will be gloomy and dark with rain that at times will be heavy and persistent associated with thunderstorms. Rainfall amounts are expected to be high with local flooding possible. It will be a very unstable day. Rainfall amounts will be above average. The chance of rain will continue to early Thursday with the worst of the rainfall between Monday and Tuesday Please take caution while driving because it will be hazerdous. All outdoor activities should be cancelled. Ofcourse, any sea activity is strictly not advised. Temperatures will decline to leave the weather cold. Please keep up to date with Q8Weather.Com for daily updates. Q8Weather.Com will advise you through the system of heavy rain.

Horse Riding in Kuwait

I had almost given up my slackly search for horse riding lessons in Kuwait. I searched far and wide (by which I mean I asked 2 or 3 people about it absently during some cocktail conversation) and hope eluded me. We went searching for the MEC but stumbled across The Kuwait Hunting & Equestrian Club due to my friends worse-that-a-womans-navigating-ability. This place required you to become members, which in turn conveniently required you to pay a whopping 300 KD annually. No way, Jose.
We stumbled out of the place disheartened and shattered mumbling about broken dreams when the guy yelled at us to come back and gave us directions in muddled english to another place. Turned out to be a health centre for horses that also has riding classes. 60 KD for 15 classes- it was 12 until I batted my eyelashes, or so they lead me to believe. Before you go whooping in delight and driving crazy onto the 6th ring towards Subhan, here's the hidden costs:- you gotta splurge 20 KD for the helmet and boots respectively. If you have tiny feet- smaller than 38ish- you gotta buy riding shoes (20 kd)+chaps (10 kd) . Rummage through your shoe rack, and your brothers shoe rack while you're at it to find flat shoes so you don't have to buy that but only the chaps.
We got a German lady teaching us, she is fabulous. I think she should start a blog, I'd definitely be a fan. The Jordanian guy who is the other teacher speaks only Arabic. Next Saturday I shall think about juggling the reins in one hand and shoot a video with another. If you're lucky, it may include footage of me falling off a horse. :-)

European Film Week- Kuwait

Since none of you actually read my blog, I figured I'll review this event instead of warning y'all about it. I should've had more readers though, coz I woulda been inspired to put this on in advance; and y'all wouldnt have missed the broader spectrum of life that be!
Okay honestly, I just went for two movies. It was a great experience for the fact that they didnt charge anything, and the ambience of shaab park contributed to it as much as the jazz music that played outdoors wafting away on the winter wind. I went for the 8 o clock movie on the first and the last day. They were supposed to play El Greco on the first day, but the schedule had changed earlier and we wound up watching a deadpan hungarian movie called Fresh Air. My friends stumbled out that night, half asleep and half awake alternatively; all shaking fists and muttering under their breath. Most of them were to never return.
Their loss though. The people who did go for the other movies had pleasant things to say about it and I decided to give it one more chance for the last show on the last day. Kolja.
Kolja. Czech. Beautiful beyond words. A finale to the film week that would leave you wanting much much more. It aced watching any of the superficial blockbusters at our glorified malls. Seriously, I hope more people come next time. Those empty seats were missed opportunities to expand your hearts and minds.

In Oranje - Nederlands
Obaba - Spain
Katyn - Poland
Pacho, The Brigand of Hybe -
Rembetiko -
Mr. Dinosaur - Bulgaria
Germany Kolja - Czech Republic

Motivation and Time management tools

Distracted? Demotivated? Listless? The usual stimuli that inspired you doesnt work anymore? Here's some new ways you can rekindle your love for work, at work.

Yahoo Widgets: http://widgets.yahoo.com/widgets/inspiration The widget is by Martin Koistinen. Customize the quotes to what works for you. I use it with a transparent background so it doesnt interrupt whatever I'm doing on the screen but the red bold font can still haunt me from the corner of my eye. One of the statements I put in: " Shut that Facebook Page Now" works like a charm. Another one, " Are YOU doing something time-worthy RIGHT NOW?!?" spurs some action too. Though I'd advise taking a break from it when you realize 've gotten immune to it/

Set timed goals. Not just long term goals, but super short term goals works as well! Action Day online is a great concept!
A group of people arrange to check in at a certain time each hour. For example, at 13 minutes after the hour.
Every time you check in, you briefly report what you’ve done in the last hour. Then you promise the group what you’ll do in the next hour. You start to learn about how different some people’s lives can be.
Thats an edited excerpt from http://getitdone.quickanddirtytips.com/end-procrastination-with-action-days.aspx Though the author doesnt have it often, you can initiate it with some strangers online through chat.

I think the effective time tracker I haven't found yet would guilt me better into doing what I have to. In the meantime, I'll waste my time seeking out ways not to get distracted and be more productive.

Update: Testing http://www.rescuetime.com/

Time Travel.

Thats what I feel like I did. Skipped to the present from the day I had written that list.
All of us have at some point come across some material we wrote last year whether it was a list of goals,or the last update of our CV, scribbled caricatures denoting insignificant insights or bills of something totally useless. I was staring at 07's goals list with utterly glazed eyes; blinded for a moment by the reality of how long ago it was and how many hours I had actually procrastinated and whiled away unproductively, though the unaccomplished amount of tasks would make you think I wrote it yesterday. Okay, it wasnt thaaaat bad for me. I have achieved some things since, but it 've easily taken 20% of the time to do it, and it could've been more than 50% of the list. I'm apparently not Wonderwoman, darn it. Since it isn't someone else's fault I won't rant and rave about it, but I'll get verbose about the few shiny accomplishments in later posts; which really buys me time to race through the list and finish some more.
I'm gonna make Goals 09 right now so it guilts me into a week of spurred action somewhere next year!

The Heat is On

The phone beeps a message alert. I am expecting it to be one of those silly arabic adverts that you get every second hour when you are expecting that one very important message. Naw, it's M. She wants to know if I'll be hauling my hiney for the rooftop BBQ @ a common friends tonight. I want to ask her if she knows how hot it is! The fact that he lives by the beach may make a great view, but the sea being right there also makes the vicinity humid as hell. And no, I've not been to hell but a humid hell just makes a great alliteration. Either way I oughtta get my vegetated cabbage of an ass out of this sunken sloth on this couch and do something that actually seems productive to ease my silly workaholic conscience.
I was wondering if it was just me or if the summers in Kuwait are getting a tad bit more scorching and the winters just shorter. Either way, now that Ramadan is coming up we (when I say we I bet I mean the whole of Kuwait) hope some hint of winter waddles through on a cool cool breeze. Work hours are gonna be fewer and I would love to frolick around in great weather; and since many here will be starving, tired and some probably grumpy with their self imposed fast for the month I'm sure they'd agree that it better friggin cool down soon . I am excited even about considering what I will do with the extra hours! I'll probably do the same thing as Fridays though, which includes more junk food and blending into the furniture exclusively in front of the big screen, but for right now, there is hope to do stuff!

Interesting Internet Links

After my brand new and only reader, Jared suggested I indulge in exactly what I wanted to in this blog, I decided to heed his sage advice and plunge into incessant rants immediately.
First I shall rave about one awesome website I found during my aimless online wanderings. You have to hit jackpot when the history of your recent pages for one day is longer than China's great little wall. Now keeping in mind that the definition of awesome varies relatively, here is the website I speak of http://www.busuu.com/ I have surfed it for 3 hours and have never been more encouraged in my quest to learn different languages with an interactive community. It has tests, records of your study of every language in every form, chatting with other students with compatible interests and basically everything it needs to have. I have never come across a site such as this on the subject so easily with such a simple interface. I signed up for French, Arabic and German and offered help in english. Already did one test and have received some feedback. Will let you know how that continues.

Okay, my love for watching random series for free online had me exploring what free tv had in store. And came across this.
http://www.free-tv-video-online.info/internet/secret_diary_of_a_call_girl/
Scandallous, independent, bold, daring and foreign. I only saw the first seven episodes but you immediately fall in love with the character and empathize and understand. It's based on some chics true stories that she has down here http://belledejour-uk.blogspot.com/ Hats off to ya, chica!

Cloning, Lack of Animal Rights and other things ridiculous.

I cannot consolidate all my fury into an apt but short title! I could not google any satisfying information at all on why they cannot be banned from doing this.
Whilst the shelters leak puppies and brim cats, along bounces RNL Bio, cloning away a Booger for a lady who missed her pit bull terrier enough to clone it. It's not like it pops out like Booger where she left him off, these are brand new puppies which she paid a merry 50,000 $ and its not like you can clone personality. It is like adopting just another pit bull terrier from her neighbourhood shelter, or maybe from one in the next state. Of course its not just another gene that belongs to these dogs, but if you have that much to spend on cloning- can't you just be unselfish and adopt 12 such dogs that are homeless or start a shelter in your dogs name? If your dog had a soul, wouldn't it feel nicer about something beneficial lingering on earth in its name rather then wannabe replacements? When our dog Bingo died, my brother in law named this design after her, which wasnt made in time to save her but can save and offer comfort to many others.
I would think what needs to be cloned are the endangered species, apparently cloning a gaur failed badly in 2001. In the same year, a European Mouflon was apparently successfully cloned though. Google is not the most helpful, but I hope this can be used for the right purposes.

Salwa, Block 4, Street 4

I sit here eyes glazed, watching as the idea aims lassoes at me. Misses. I have never been anything else besides a perfect pendulum, and oscillated between the majority of major decisions. I can't swallow change easy, I just gargle it in my mouth for a while until I'm forced to spit it out or swallow it. Now wouldn't that just make the worst quote if I did something accidental enough to make me famous? Pray forgive my seeming negativity, it really isn't me- but it's a great vent and sarcasm tickles me in funny places. I even paused a great movie by Miyazaki to write this down.
The phone beeps. It's the third person asking me to join them indulge in the exciting evening life in Kuwait, but my feet seemed to have forgotten to ask me before they turned into roots, so Idecline.
I flip a coin. Heads- Block 4 matchbox house, or Tails- stay here till she leaves. Tails. but when will she leave? Will I still be sane then? My eyes glaze. The wall stares at me, boring holes at the back of my head; scandalized by the fact that I stalled my plan to drape its nakedness with my 6 x 6 NYC photograph. I let it continue looking wide and tall and uninterrupted in its plainness thinking more and more that I will leave my fate to a coin. Money wont let me down.

Dream, dream, Dream!

I am still wallowing in an unnecessary and melodramatically listless phase. Despite finding my prodigal camera and the elusive missing keys.

I have been reading up on Lucid Dreaming, though I would suggest you look up either of the Pavlina's for great free reading. I've been trying to get it going pretty unsuccessfully, mostly so I could hopefully tune into the collective subconscious of the real estate agencies in Kuwait to find one bloody good apartment worth the money. Or maybe float through their database in my dreams and change the rents to something not so severely inflated it would be a helium balloon if I tried to give it form! Okay so its not possible at that level, but it gives me great solace to think about it. I have been searching for some very elusive stimuli to act as catalyst to my life. If another person says that I need to look within me, I will go to a store, buy an umbrella and beat that person with it. I looked inside me already, there's enough of nothing there to use that umbrella seiously.

I've been trying to lucid dream and have been using all the principles wikipedia suggests will trigger it; amazingly enough all I seem to be doing is sleeping so well that I cant even remember my dreams let alone take the reigns and make them giddyap into my fantasies. Persistence. I'm looking forward to go home and sleep after work! It aint gonna do wonders for my social life, but this is one successful plan to save money!

God Awful Day

First of all I wake up with worst hangover imaginable. I normally don't have rough mornings after an indulgent night but yesterday, I wound up mixing spirits as they kept running out of everything I decided to drink.
I lost my camera, passed out when I hit the sack; and can't find my keys right now. Ugh I'm never going to touch another drop again!

Now since one mans Kopi Luwak is to another man civets shit, I will try not to impose my ideas of amusement unto you.

I know alot of people who access the internet at home and still bicker about boredom, or mind numb themselves with too much Texas Hold Em

- Find old movies, Japanese anime, documentaries online

- Read! Don't pick a heavy book if you know your brain is going to tuck in all its grey cells to bed within a few seconds.

- Sketch or be the dilletante that your untapped skills demand you to be!

- Start a website or blog.

- Play Scrabble online with me!