Life, the Universe and Jaffa Cakes

the street my hotel is on is called the GranD Winston Churhillaan. How wierd and random is that? Not to mention that my hotel is called the Grand Winston, and they have this massive 2 floor high picture of the old man. Distinctly odd.

And so I am here on my second day in this hotel. Riveting stuff. Although I must admit my language has imporved no end. No more "Thanks". No sirree, its now all "Thank You". Similarly, all the "hi!"s are gone and now are "Hello." I am all grown up way too quickly. Though most of you might enjoy this new me. Pity we will have to wait awhile before we meet.

PS for those of you who did not guess, I was talking about Winston Churchill.

thought of the day.

life has to be a little bit nuts. otherwise it would feel like a bunch of thursdays strung out together.

so in an effort to balance my angst over the previous article, here are 2 other fantastic articles which I think are a must read for anyone who appreciates quirks in life.

Airline's 'lonely hearts' tactic
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5298284.stm

At least I am not the only one thinking of lonely heart columns hey :)

CNN says sorry for live mic gaffe
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5297958.stm

Girls, be very careful who you talk about and where you talk about when you talk. Cos it might not end out all pretty :) Though you have to admit, it is ironic it actually happened to the female broadcasters......

Ran across this article today. WTF. This entire situation is getting out of hand. When will sanity prevail?

Arabic tshirt sparks row

so i flew into amsterdam to take up residence in the hotel for 51 nights. 51 nights!!!! thats a bit long isnt it. i thought this would be a good idea, but one day of this and i am dead bored. theres no one to talk to, i dont have my own laptop and life pretty much sucks.

whoa there, you may say. when did this funny (ok, thats maybe a stretch, but at least it raises a giggle now or then) blog turn into this?! well, when i just found myself wathcing 4 hours of tv solid back to back. i have run to this internet pc in the reception out of desperation, and i seriously would have KO-ed anyone using it.

so theres my internet rush for the day. no i am not addicted. stop saying that. you are still thinking it. stop. stop now. grrrrr.

ok, token smiley face to relieve tension. :)

so anyways, amsterdam is a beautiful city. pity the languages has so many throat-jarring throat-clearing type noises in it. think of a camel spitting and you get the idea.

went to a bit of a reunion last night in london - met up with a couple of friends in harrow, and made some new ones! all good. i even sang aladdin. happy days. (yes you are right, i should stop doing that in public. wasnt my fault though - i was told to sing it, and i cant say no). witnessed a balloon fight, as well as balloon negotiations so that a purple one could be exchanged for another colour. all good fun. especially when we threw in bargaining power - so a red and green for purple perhaps?

oh and i made my inaugural trip to CostCo - very exciting. for those of you who are not cool enough to know, this is a wholesale warehouse type store. anyways, we go in and are waiting to be served, when i am told to check out the namebadge of one of the salespeople. it said "WAZ"!!!!!! was terrifying. i could see my future in front of my eyes, and it was not good. for one thing, i was female (see now thats just a horrible horrible thought isnt it), and the colour of the uniform would just never go with my skin tone. lots of incentive not to mess up. :)

thought of the day (yes these are back, as long as i manage to think - currently, a v difficult proposition, tv has killed my brain)

i thoroughly disapprove of duels. if any man were to challenge me to one, i would look at him with pity, leading him by the hand to a quiet corner and then finish him. (Mark Twain)

so i get paid for my flight by my company from muscat to london (an 8 hour flight). i get the ticket, and I find that I have been booked business class!! :D:D:D oh yeah. how can life get better i wonder.

and then i reach the lounge of the airport, all relaxing and having a great time (i love the concept of buffets, its awesome. food food and more food!). and then the air hostess approaches me and asks to see my boarding pass. i am grinning at this point, because i expect her to be disappointed that I actually belong in the lounge and am not another guy just trying to crash it. and then she hands me another boarding pass with "congratulations you have just been upgraded to FIRST CLASS" !!!!

now thats luck. swedish airhostesses kneeling at your feet, asking for you to tell them if you want anything, anything at all. hot towels, cold towels, juice, 3 course dinners, fully flat beds you can sleep in, the works. wheeeeee.

of course this doesnt compare to mikes amazing looking US trip or sophs jaunts around the land of oz, but i still had fun :D (aforementioned dudes are chem eng buddies)

oh and did i mention limo service from heathrow to any destination ;)

adios for now.

this and the previous post were sent from me and published via email. COOL!!!

no not the movie (though i do recommend it, george clooney does a great
job, and i love the whole black and white environment - it adds amazingly
to the effect of nostalgia and thats-what-reporting-used-to-be like).

so after that little detour, i will get back to the business of saying au
revoir, and good bye to the summer in oman. will i miss it - yes, but its
now time to move on. and hopefully i will get to meet some of you lot in
london or in amsterdam in the very near future [you listening ms purple or
mr canadian or ms bhav]

oh and there may be some delay in new posts as i try and find internet
connections and a computer in the coming days, so dont go away!

adios.

Stone rolls into smoking ban row

At least theres a justice for all. Read this article from BBC (alternatively, its quite short so read below).

Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards may have flouted Scotland's smoking ban when he played to thousands fans at Glasgow's Hampden Park.

The city council confirmed it was investigating reports that he smoked on stage throughout the gig on Friday.

The veteran rocker could face a £50 fine and Hampden Park could also face a £250 penalty if officials prove the venue failed to enforce the ban.

Hmm, at least they are being consistent :)

went out for some last minute shopping (bought 6 pairs of identical grey socks - no more having to go out with odd pairs :D victory!!!), but also saw this whilst out and about.





if you look carefully, you will note that this tshirt is for the age of 11-12years. WTF. anyone else think this is definitely a little bit too far? i mean, come on!!! the dudes only going to be a little kid! unless its a midget who buys the tshirt, in which case, go you man!

or maybe i am just jealous that it looks like an 11 yr old has a better chance of getting a girl than me. i should go talk to my shrink again.

oh yes, one more thought that flitted across my subconscious mind......one of my friends went totally out-of-this-world excited when she discovered this website:

The Purple Store

So yes.......... who would have thought such a thing would actually exist. you got to give credit to said friend though, she actually has purple lipstick (which she does not use often) just so that she can say she has purple lipstick to any non-believer who dares question her loyalty to purple :) i take my hat off to thee.

[yes i dared ask and i regretted it. in the interests of self preservation, do not question this young ladys affectation. ever.]

but the internet is a funny place. you get to see ALL sorts of things on the web. including this:

Playstation 3 to solve worlds ills

mommy mommy i want to solve the worlds problems!
thats great son, how?
I need to buy a PS3!!!

Yeah yeah it might work!!! i would give it a shot, except i can afford one on my own now. MWAHAHAHA. :) cue in reminder about positive cash flow being cool.

Oh and then of course we have:

Church 'alarm' over cross caution

What is the world coming to.

Anyways, thats a quick snapshot of the world as i see it today. i am now going to try and figure out Santa Claus' trick. You know, the one where he puts toys for all the kids into a little bag slung over his shoulder. Cos i could use that space saving trick for my own suitcase. Either that or invent a shrink ray. hmmmm.

i think this is an appropriate moment to note that this is my last weekend in oman for a significant amount of time. yes ladies and gentleman, i am now going to enter the real world. scary!!! i have to behave all grownup and speak grownup and so on and so forth.....however this new chapter is probably going to be fun. i will definitely think so on the 1st of october when i get paid :D:D a BIG yay for positive cash flow :)

i read this quote today, and i think its awesome:

we dont stop playing because we get old. we get old becasue we stop playing.

so you know what, thats what i will say to myself when i suggest playing hide-and-seek and everyone looks at me oddly. oldies, each and every one of you!! :)

more pretty pictures. if i were an arty farty photogrpaher, i would probably name this something along the lines of "an expression of serenity".

wow good thing i am not an arty farty photographer hey :)

our dil chahta hai shot....

[DCH is a movie, very fun.]

[yes you are right we just thought our rear ends were more photogenic than our front.]

oh yeah. check out my forehead in the rearview mirror. big or what. help! going bald prematurely methinks.....

once you get a driving license, this place is actually pretty funky. one of the beautiful sights of oman......

driving round omans highways.........ooooh pretty lights

yeah i make lots of them. but it adds to the personal feel of the blog non? :)

you are right, that sounds like a load of manure (ahem ahem look at me trying my hardest to be polite). I shall make more effort to enhance your reading pleasure and ensure linguistic perfection.

wow i am bored :)

wait for the pun. wait for it!

and here we get to the root of the problem.

yes!

:)

this is a great one. honest. i wont sully it by attempting to be witty.

for the uninitiated (just a wild stab in the dark, but would you be american?), thats a silly cartoon where you got to find this character wally in a cartoon.........

i think peter took the first bit too literally........

right, i can see that look on your face - and relax. there are some great math jokes around honest.

no i am not a geek from the planet geekoid.

see the above and enjoy!

You may heard of the new security measures, but I guarantee this one takes the biscuit.

Click here to see it in all its glory.

http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/notices.php?notice=060822-ASP-EN

Thanks to RyanAir for hosting the pic, and to Henry Skeoch for pointing it out to me.

You might be familiar with Prison Break (UK tv program for those who are going huh?). What do you need to break out of jail? Money, crowbar, explosives......so on and so forth.

But not in Indonesia. Oh no. Those clever chaps used..........chilli pepper!!!

Read it here: Indonesian prisoners use chilli peppers to break out of jail

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5274924.stm

tune in for more fun news, coming your way soon!

or at least as soon as someone else does something fun.

Swedish blunder puts porn on news

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5273706.stm

now thats a great article folks, definitely a must read :D

will keep you updated with more choice articles from BBC.

i am talking about the madness in a cricket specific way. those of you who may not know, the previous test between pakistan and englad was awarded to the host (england for you ignorant fools who do not follow the great game). this was due to a controversy around ball tampering. where the umpires believed the ball was tampered with, and awarded 5 penalty runs to england, and changed the ball. theres a lot of media spotlight on this issue, with everyone (including yours truly) giving thier 2 cents worth. its interesting to note that the asian block writers have condemned the umpires, whereas the fairer (ie. white - i am trying to pc) have damned the visitors for bringing the game into disrepute. a pity such a schism has opened. cricket had just emerged form cronjegate, and now this.

however a few pointers.

1) the umpires had no HARD evidence that something had happened to the ball, only thier looking at the ball. no cameras deteced anyone doing anything to the ball. admittedly if one tried to illegally change the state of the ball, one would try to hide it from cameras, but NO evidence??

2) the ball had just started reverse swinging. and then, Hair goes and starts the whole issue. Hmmmmm. coincidence?

3) i am trying to remain unbiased. what was pakistans position? did they intend to give up the game? or play the match under protest? only one or the other could be achieved - the way they did it, they just brought the game into a farcical position from where it could not recover. cmon Inzy, you should have thought it out through. coming out so much later on is not grounds for saying you are willing to play.

SO if anyone is reading this, what do you think? :)

a stupid picture of me in a hat....but what the hey.

yes those are chem eng notes that were burnt. i wasnt there at the time, but i still look on it as a symbol, as a road mark. not to mention i view my notes as something akin to road kill i suppose - yucky and something i never ever want to see again. :)

well, ppl, the answer to this is simple, and be sumamrized in 3000 words. relax, i meant 3 pictures. graduating, no more academia, and fun in the sun! (or more like fun in sun assissted by AC, its boiling down here in muscat, with temperatures soaring above 40 degrees like crazy)....so the pics are going be uploaded one by one.......look up above! its a bird, its a plane, no...its my pictures!

So whats hapepened in my life? Well, graduation, good bye to academia, and a lot of fun in the sun. i will let the pictures tell the story for now......over to you, oh demigod of a photographer.

Hello everyone.

So I am back. My apologies to all who are reading this, I am sorry its taken so long but this blog has now been resurrected from the ashes of my lethargy to which it had been previously consigned.

Where am I at this point in my life? Well dear reader, you may be interested to know that I have graduated from university, and am about to embark on a job with Shell.

Unfrotuantely, dear reader, I am also bored of writing (all prin and proper) like this. so back to waz-stylee (as jem would say it) I go.

So whats up y'all? I hope everyones alright?