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!

Homecoming

I havent gone home for a week because I was afraid my brain would pop out of my head in boredom, turn around, look at me in the eye, screech and then shrivel and just die. Today I figure I've been out, doing things that have pretty much begun to saturate and infuriate me anyway. So instead of subjecting myself to any more gallivanting around, or coffee induced conversations or couch crashing, I'm gonna impose some me-time on myself. (Speaking off, are there words for "stimuli" when its effect has worn off? Or a "drug" that ones system is immune against? Things that no longer fulfil their purpose or such unfortunate synonyms? )
I do have a stack load of things that I find interesting, but the only challenge is the attention span I possess that resembles the same of a two year old. Maybe three, but thats it. I think its time to play Dr Phil against myself and do the obvious. Time for self-arrest and probably six posts throughout the evening, ha.

Inspirational Tips for Blog Posts

I had to wrestle a friend of mine to introduce a saucy new blogging feature to me the other day, and it may have just reincarnated my dead interest for blogging. I'm still determined not to join the league of bloggers in kuwait http://safat.kuwaitblogs.com/- it is insanely tempting- like as if my life depended on it- but I'll refrain and attempt to write self satisfying bullshit over desperately trying to get hits.

Anyway so I was thinking of how to get inspired on how to blog adn ehre's what i came up with:
Come up with controversial titles that would make a 90 year old get a heart attack.
Treat it like a painting if you are an artist, shade it, colour it, give it a finishing stroke. Or like a car if you are a mechanic, listen to how it sounds, tweak it, turn it, oil it up and rev the engine... I could go on, but then you'd bloody get bored. Just pimp it up.
Scan irrelevant documents that you find on your table, or plagiarize your colleagues cool doodle as yours.
Gossip endlessly about your friends and the stoopid things they do
I'm running out of things right now, so I will stop before this list disintegrates into crap.

Come back for more posts!

The Right Place, The Right Time- makes the Right Belief.

Your choice of religion will be that belief that coincidentally crosses your path when you need it the most. Many others will hover and sway around you, but the only one you will notice is the one that happens to be "lucky" enough to be in the foreground og your attention when you are seeking a rope to grope on to.

Whichever religion this will be, since you have actively chosen it (if you do choose religion that is- you could choose to grapple and find lots of other ways- drugs, psychiatry, etc) you will utilize it for all its got, and such faith can propel anything to happen. That belief will end up being the right one that will work for you, because you have enough conviction in you to passionately make it happen simply because of the circumstances involved.

I have shunned religion for quite a while because I don't quite like the boundaries they draw. They only purpose they seemed to have were to be moral police for society in general, and for the satisfaction of the conscience in an individual. Also, the blind faith usually allows them to channelize their beliefs way better to actually alter the state of current existence to get them what they want. Which is way tougher to do when you believe it the way I do, a lazily aware attempt. Anyways it's the right place and the right time for me finally; and I have stumbled upon a beautiful consolidation of my beliefs. Well, I hope actually, as I am only in the initial stages of understanding it and only know its gist through reviews.

The only thing that makes a good religion is respect and tolerance of other peoples choice to believe what they want as long as it doesnt effect other people. To each their own, unless they're suicide bombers.

Last Country to Leave Yesterday.

Last month when I tried to snake my way out of forgetting to wish a friend a Happy Birthday, I facebooked her a "Happy Birthday Week" with all the pomp and splendour of many smiley faces and exclamation marks. She caught it quick and retorted that I couldnt get off with that phrase and would have to buy her something "big and expensive" firstly for having the memory of a dead elephant and secondly, for tryign to foist myself out of it. So naturally, when I forgot another charmingly witty friends birthday yesterday; I knew I had to come up with nothing short of genius to cover up a human beings natural indifference about celebrating wrinkles and grey hair.

So I googled what country might it still be yesterday in. Honolulu is at half past 11 in the p.m; so I claimed that I was waiting for the last possible moment to wish him so the beauty of his birthday could be prolonged for as long as possible. It was even more cheesy the way I said it, and him and me both know I've forgotten but it's still valid with that logic. Let's see how well I get away with this one.

I'm going to now go see who may be celebrating their birthday tomorrow and wish them according to the time in Kiritimati, Christmas Islands.

Sorry for all the sand.

I have decided to issue a public apology for all the sandstorminess in our dust bowl. It so happens that every time I plan to go out to meet my clients who work out on the horrizontal speck of a plane in the distance- a sandstorm rears it fluffy head. So, so sorry.

Half Life Crisis

It's not a quarter life crisis anymore. When you are 25, half of your life is actually how much of it has whooshed by you already. It may be the modern era of many a medical discovery, but it also is one fast paced world that is progressing towards moving in fast-forward-momentum and if a brick is going to squash your head while you walk under a construction site, be assured it will fall down at you faster and harder than before. There is no reason for this, like the crop circles have no satisfying explanation.

I am doing everything I can to come to the terms that I need to roll over my current personality and induce a heart attack of a change within me. I have cropped my hair, deactivated my facebook account and considering becoming a buddhist; but that shiver of feeling change is not running creepily down my spine. I am still questioning my choice of career, my addiction to mint tipped toothpicks and the lackadaisical attitude that spurts out of me whenever a serious issue commands me to react. The yawns are deeper and the sentiments are only the shimmering glazed surface that can be seen. The influences keep hurtling at breakneck speed towards you, and there is so little time to analyze before reaction and there are so many contradictory ideas that settle in the bowl of comprehension, one big melee of modern madness. Never thoguht I'd hear myself say this, but I'd like to be some years older now.

long winding sentences

they stretched all that they had curtailed to allow my world of daring pleasures according to the convenience of conventions, to me it was my world of explorations that the weak and narrow minded avoid as they are not strong enough to reign over their subconscious. They had to adhere to it, as they never ventured to touch the barriers to see they were imaginary. i listen to the wind disturb the trees and the rain coming in and it calms my intoxicated soul. then the plastic sound of a grocery bag crashes the calm to earth again. I switch on the yellow night light and pick up a notepad. The cat runs out the door chased by the plastic bag that has caught up with her hind leg. The scratchy sound of the pencil against paper soothes me more that the rat-tat-tat of the keyboard, the mount of venus against paper not plastic...... times have changed, and we have along with it. I had read earlier on M's scrap book a line I had entered some 5 years ago. People change and forget to tell each other.

Guilt sits easy on my left collar, playing with my mind as if it were a PS3. I immediately feel awful. I know the answer is lurking in the silence. i wait for it to materialize. i wait for the sudden rustle of the wind to whisper it to me, i wait. i fall asleep, waiting.

Even the mosquitoes move in slow motion. The humidity teases the skin, and the sweat just stays a millisecond below the pores. The power cuts make the air heavier, and it seems like everytime the lights go out something stretches out from the darkness and engulfs all the oxygen. Then while it waits for the darkness to swallow up the village again, it retreats to the inundated gutter on the farther side of the narrow two way road.
I met God today amidst retched gold decor and gory depictions of some obscure unbelievable phase of the bible on the chapel walls. The hymns sung were in another language booming out of two jarring speakers. God is deaf. Or he will be soon, I thought.
I looked at him sitting beside me, flipping pages of the little leather bound book; lips moving faster than I knew his unspectacled eyes could see. I tried not to stare as I studied the creases around his eyes and the slight patch on his skin of something denoting senility and immediately felt guilty about nothing apparent.
I led my thoughts away; to the old pictures I'd found. To the flowers I wanted to put on my long passed away dog, to the pictures I wanted to click. I closed my eyes to imagine it, just in time to not see the lights go out again. I took a deep breath.

The Long Way to the Objective Plane

Keeping into account the thoughts your rage spews- these are the cons of what you are thinking about.

The excuses your slothful lethargy and compacency disgorges- these are the pros.

Think about it when you are drunk. or PMSing. That's how you feel about it.

Then weigh these all down when you are completely neutral and unbiased by any of the above moods, and that is your answer.

Being Pissed off and Working

Management will always be absolute F%$#ers with a bold capital F. They f%$# us around and we f$#@ those people who we manage. A vicious cycle of Karma perhaps, but those are the rules.

Since I was blackmailed and bribed by the company to stay back, I've been trying to mount the work horse again and giddyup. It's difficult to love both the work and the clients, but hate the management and the system. It's tough when you are pumped up to work and your boss does a typically dumb-boss thing, and you get too pissed off to work. You try to rationalize with your rage that it's your target at stake and your clients you may loose, but it's not easy to care for something that will allow those assholes to enjoy the fruit of your labour.

Right now, I just want to set up my own freakin office and open up a business with innovative and creative solutions for office ambience, layout, styles. Anyone with loads of experience wanna partner up with a fresh, raw and hopeful mind?


If not, oh just F%$# the corporate world, Biiiiiatch. So, if any of you managers have treaded paths with this blog, really- don't be the jackass that you truly are deep inside. Put on a loving facade, slap on a caring smile and blab off two sugar coated lies about why we can't have it. It'll work better then taking away hope.

What it's like to work Saturdays....

I've plugged in some u2 in my ears to block out the silence. It's so quiet to work on a saturday that you could hear a pin drop on a Persian carpet. My colleagues heady perfume is probably the loudest thing that could happen today.

But honestly, I don't mind working Saturdays.

Trudging out of bed at 9. Empty roads on the way to work. Pajamas. Donut. The fact that I can stay how long I want to makes me want to work faster, longer. Everythng is to the point - Spewing out this post. That facebook message. The bid. The calls to the client. Sharp. Cut to fit. I'm not obliged to stay here, so I'm actually doing it willfully and efficiently. It's unique to be one of the few to have a purpose today and feel productive at the end of the day. So Tally ho, hoes; I be whistling away at work! :-)

Thursday Night

Already buzzed like a buggaboo

picking up another bottle

in case blogs get checked, i... uh... may be in another country hoo ha.

Friday Worthy

I hate the monotony of regular days when life turns into a drone. You do the same things over and over again that you cannot landmark your days as they all seem the same, living a repetitive series of Deja Vu. I was afraid Friday would be like that but it was one of the most wonderful weekends I've had here.

We went to the Animals Friends League in the morning (by which I mean half past 11) and were engulfed by these bounding, happy smiles all wrapped up in innocence. I was frolicking with four legged bundles of joy!!!!! We just had the wholesome goodness of pure innocent fun with floppy ear-red fluff balls! We just hung in the courtyard and got out a couple of dogs it was so cool, just chilled out there until someone dragged me out kicking and screaming! I found the love of my life, his name is Ninja and he was shorter than the blades of grass!!!!! :-)

Sometimes you need something pure and real to get you back to the ground. People who don't have pets probably go for a confession, and people who have no pets and aint christian probably try to get it from nature- a pure cleansing ritual. Not all of us have at least one of these options. And now, since I feel like sounding like an advertisement, AFL is the answer. Hah but it was, we left some 3 odd hours later, happy, fuller people, grateful that there was a corner in this country where you could feel real again.

In the evening, we went to the Kuwait Riding Centre in Sabhan. There was a horse jumping tournament that we almost completely missed because I was lost in the stables speaking to those sturdy enormous horses in puppy language. There was more than 50 horses, and I hear the owners spend 150 KD per month to keep them here. The horses are imported from various places, but especially Europe. There was a fantastic crowd and after the race was over there was a little get together with the Kuwaiti singer and this guy playing the " Oudh" (sp?) while everyone feasted on food from Mais Alghanim.

If clubbing was legal here, I would have been a hungover vegetable to have the best animal day ever!

I facebooked him, then I yahooed his ass and finally friggin googled him to pieces.

How can you not manage to exist! How will I find you again?

The Destruction Of Man

I don't know how I am going to brush this up into what I wanted it to look like, but this here is the gyst of it. Perceive at will.

Dusk on a Weekday

There is nothing like it. To float in the lukewarm ocean and stare at the sky on a weekday. From the corner of my eye, I see the sun spraying out violent colors of yet another sunset. The beach is empty save for a couple of people far enough away to be just specks, and not people. Cradled by a bed of water, I hear something plop by my left ear. I don't quite care, I'm just singing out loud every second song that comes to my mind and floating there, face to the gods, watching the cottonball sky gradually drench with dark.

I look towards my friend, and he is far out in the distance flopping around making like a dolphin and trying to impress some imaginary girl in the distance. I swim over but halfway through realize that the stamina of a smoker is not the most dependable. It wasnt funny at all to realize it was deeper than the whole 5'7' of me and that my underdeveloped and unrehearsed poodle paddle wasnt keeping me up too long. My buddy wades over, in slow motion that I can only conclude was deliberate, and pitches me towards the shore, afloat on my own again. It's dark and I'm beginning to itch. We fathom those little jellyfishies exiled a disobedient tentacle that passed us by as we trudge out of the water and drape our drenched selves over the beach chairs. Night is falling and tummies start growling. Time to leave the Shaab Beach Club and seep into the snail paced traffic of Gulf Road, blending into one of everyone else; in a hurry to get from somewhere to somewhere else. The engine revs.

Sky and Sea and Solitude.

I have Coldplay droning in my ears loud enough to drown the spastic cackling secretary. There is nothing to concentrate on except trying not to fall asleep. Right now, I belong out there, in the world, in an animated suspended laboratory that experiments how to make something new and invisible. Boxed in a windowless office with a stereotypical designation; instead of unfurling as the potential Fluff Roller or Pin Spinner that I could have been. Given titles; mere syllables that have drawn boundaries around what we want to do and where we think we can go.

I want to go to the beach right now and just float in the water. Sky Starer. Sea Sleeper. Silent Slusher. My friend just called to say he'd pick me up, and I'll give him one minute to be convinced to go swim at the cheap ass place next to the Corniche :-]

Gangre(e)ned my Brains.

Thoughts slurred, before they melted. Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Dripped into fast forward motion then into a tumultuous and stormy cauldron and in the blink of an eye; hypothesis and suppositions put in came out as full grown concepts.