Post #600

This is the 600th post in the ever-improving age of this blog's extablishment.

I wish you a happy 600th Anniversary - to those who have been since the dawn of this blog and, inshallah, to more prospects and more useful more targeted posts.

Thank you all...

R.I.P.

In memory of recent events, I have lost my fifth friend to Lukeimia - otherwise known as blood cancer.

I wish I could something to stop all those very young people from moving on to the next stage in their eternal life. But it seems that I am helpless against a disease unwilling to rest and challenging evermore to take more of my friendships away.

R.I.P. my friend...

curiosity & the design of life

Some people think that the value in life is what keeps everyone unique as they are. The way everyone thinks makes everyone special in their own sweet way.

Take for instance - in my case - a young woman whose not afraid to smile, laugh, look around and smell, touch, feel the world that revolves around her. She is just as unique as man (and this one's from a ladies point of view) who sits with a few friends of his, probably debating in worldly issues, political, social, financial or otherwise.

You see, the fundamental common factor between the two that makes them so significant, is just that they want to look around, feel what surrounds them, touch what their hands can and cannot reach.

The urge that describes humanity in one word; curiosity.

To say that we have all grown up mentally is an informal technically grammar error. There is a child within us all that longs to reach out to see what he could do with their arms, legs, feet, toes, fingers, mouth, nose and the list just keeps going on and on.

What could one say about such a person? Would you say that they are invaluably immature? Or they just haven't reached that sense of realism, yet?

To answer that question one would probably take a lifetime, when the answer actually lies right ahead.

The design of life is an adventure. You're either taking that risk to go on that adventure or you're just too afraid to budge.

But then again, where there's a will there's a way.

Question is now; which way will you take?

an elephant never forgets

I have been having a rough time with dealing with a few people in my life that - and to be totally honest - I would disapprove of the attitude with me for one reason or another. And for those type of people I try and try again to understand their point of view of the problem with me but to no avail. And I end up failing in such a simple task to the point that I would just totally give up.

Attitude is and has always been a problem with people because of their different personalities. Some are just born keen to face everyone they see in their face while others are not. But faced with people you get to see everyday with a negative attitude and a much less appreciative manner of dealing in respect is just simple something, to which I believe, that no one in the world could ever handle unless you were an antisocialist to the bone.

At this point in such a situation, you end up asking yourself again and again, is there something I haven't tried to reconcile against the differences between the two of us? Would there a way around all of this? What can be done to face such a mental tragedy that neither would ever look, or speak to the other?

What would you say is the answer?

The Fever

I lie here in my bed
Fever overpowering my senses, clouds over my head

I can hardly feel my fingertips
Nor sense anything around
This fever really
Has gotten me pinned to the ground

I open my eyes
To a wet cloth slowly brushing away the sweat
I feel hot inside
Cold outside
And like I am losing my breath

I need to drink
Like I haven't drank for a month
This fever is stabbing me
In all the right spots

I don't give up that easy, you know
I know I can fight this fever
That I can fight this pain
The path that I will follow unto thee
Under this drenched sweaty rain
I know I am not alone
Nor will I ever be
I will always be
A fighter, inside, for all eternity

J.O.B.

There was a debate last week at my work place between colleagues about the issue of education and how the youth of Oman are reallybenefitting from it. On one hand, they have to go through a phase of finishing 12 school grades, of which, they hardly ever use afterwards in their real life (apart from those who graduate out of a number of a handful of private schools which give an almost perfect education that can be implemented for higher education purposes). So that would mean that they would have lost 12 years of their lives getting education out of almost nothing that has a prospect in future terms.

Then comes those who enter a degree that they don't wish to uptake because of parental pressure, and end up either losing out on 3 years of higher education (if it's a Diploma) or 4 years (if it's a BA/BSc Degree) studying something they don't like.

Then when they are hit by reality in the market; Government sector only employs through wasta (in most cases), the private sector wants to hire labor of whichever nationality at a cheap level so to bare their overall costs and at some times people who don't undertake higher education because of family issues or financial obstacles either get paid 180 Omani Rials for a job that could literally break their backs under a scorching sun, or stay at home because they realize that the effort put into finding an employment opportunity is far too tedious for them besides their small salaries or the beauracritic procedures that they have to follow to get their certificates signed, stamped and approved by the Ministry of Higher Education, then the deal with the Ministry of Manpower that requires that every Omani employee should have an Omani Labor Card that identifies where he works, what he gets paid as a wage/salary, and setting up his/her own retirement account at the Ministry of Social Affairs.

After knowing that all these procedures, it would not surprise me the least if someone didn't want to work at all.

And with the new establishment of e-government concept, would this mean that these procedures would all vanish to make it easier on the potential employee?

Pretentious Perfection

We can never claim in our lives ever that it is perfect by every sense sicular manner nor in the sense of satisfaction in every aspect. Mainly because we all know that nothing in life is perfect - ever.

But it is the imperfection that we deal within our daily lives that leads us to this perfection. We could be having such a tedious day of work, worries, and financial problems, yet the one thing that gives that overwhelming oblivian that everything is just fine, is us coming to a nice cosy bedroom we retire to, sit within our own four walls to have an evening's quite of solitude.

There is nothing in life that could bring us to the demeaning vicious cycle of having to take our own lives (at least in my depressed times) than having a day where there is a permanent black cloud over your head where-ever you may go.

Our options could be seen as choice and could be seen as obstacles. We have it within ourselves to turn things to our advantage if we only understand the signs. That could also interpreted into perfection by some individuals.

A perfect life isn't always when you find the woman/man of your life and live happily ever after. Its where you keep a certain balance of the signs that stable your connection to the world that surrounds you, whether you're married or not.

In two words, I call that; pretentious perfection.

Privacy

Local companies have always sought out the methods to which they can reach their clients by offering the best services, prices and after sales methods in terms of customer requirements and wants.

But of late, there has been a disturbing more than alarming issue that these companies have started to develop by leaving junk mail on your door step. And you thought your Internet service provider was bad. These firms will go to the extent of not only ringing your doorbell to demonstrate their products and services but also to the point of leaving their unwanted pamphlets showcasing their special offers to you without the need to go beyond the borders of your own household.

Such mail, in some terms, can be categorized as somewhat inventive and even to the point of being creative to allow fluid choice at the rest of the customer to just pick up and dial should they be interested in such a thing. But what about the rest of the people who by the very glimps of these trading pamphlets, choose to either shred the into bits and pieces, throw them away or trash them right off.

The point of this all, that a person or a family is no longer protected by the sacred boundaries of his own quarters to have a firm that is trying to illude him into their wonderous web of various products and services and have their own (the individual/family) privacy invaded.

Chosen individuals would most likely not be interested to be indulged into such superficial matters of trade that involves the end-user agreement to be triggered by the time the product/service is delivered.

And that would be just the beginning..

the policy of democracy

Ever since the dawn of mankind on Earth, there has always been that urging urging lust for power. Power over other nations, power of land owned, and power over control.

That lust for power has gradually taken form in different ways to gain such an advantage over other nations. The latest of being - democracy.

Ask yourselves; who, in their right mind, would enable democracy in a land of uneducated people, whose sole purpose is to barely survive? Such as the many countries in the African continent. Or other nations in the Asian continent, of which, the middle east, is a part of.

Education in the the rules of life and how to live by it go hand in hand in applying democratic values. This is not to demean any society that sees this as an 'insult'.

One good example, is the Sultanate of Oman.

The tendancy was always to give the people what they wanted and needed in matters of supply and demand. And H.M, the Sultan of Oman, has always lent a open ear to listen to the troubles of his citizens in matters of most pressured services needed.

There came the establishment of Majlis A' Shura, that works for the people by appointing a representative on behalf of a Wilayah or region and to indulge into a constructive debate of whether the demands were met or not and why if in such a case they were not.

The ability to vote for a representative to be appointed in the Majlis is one of the key elements provided as to provide choice for the people to whom they think who is most suitable for the position.

In a country like Oman, you cannot forcefeed democracy into a nation that is barely ready for such a challenge. In all matters, the fruits of laboring democratic values into the Omani society is paying off in a well manner that rebounds off the Omani society in general as a good effect, economically, socially, and politically.

Democracy was never, nor will ever be, about enforcing its values upon an unable already challenged nation.

Never.

What Is Life?

What is life? What is it all for?
Why laugh? Why cry? Why smile anymore?
Why have a good time when someone is in grief?
Where days are spent away and nights are waltzed into mellow ease

What is life? What is it we ask for?
The denial that it is all about work and play ceases to exist in a rational mind - like old folklore

The tales we used to tell ourselves at night
And sleep away the bad dreams we have, with a smile
There's just no telling what anyone may think or say
Will it? Will it not - be a happy day?

fate's explanation..

I haven't forgotten what has happened to me as far as my feelings are conveyed through blogging. And I have yet still to taste the bittersweet taste of life in my coming years, of this, I know.

And not to sound all too pesimistic or depressed, but I had read earlier on in my 'horor'-scope (I don't believe in that nonesense, by the way), that even with everything going against me right now, there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

Where have I heard that before? Hmm..

It's funny how some people turn to the things that mean most to them in desperate measures, yet forget to thank those who helped them along the way with having everything they need and want in their life up to some point in time.

There are those who believe in the stars (i.e.: Zodiac signs), others who are Muslims, Christians and of other beliefs. What is it that drives us to believe in something or 'someone' - per say? Is it the sole need of guidance in their life? Or to find an answer to every question that lingers on in their minds up to the big ultimate - 'why'?

Why does the world turn around? Why is the sky blue? Why can't control our own feelings and heartbeats?

If we had all those answers, we would be in Heaven.

You might all think that I am lame in saying this; but to me I have been dealing with misery after misery after misery. And it seems everytime I reach high ground, I need Noah's (PBUH) Ark just to survive the storm that gushes it's way pulling me with it to the bottom of the ocean.

If fate had a hand in what happened to me. And, yes; I believe it did.

Well, then..

It had better come up with a pretty good explanation.

-------

PS: Thanks to everyone for their wonderfully and remarkeabley comforting words.

The Mark on The Wall

There's a mark on the wall
On where to go
Life holds out a rope
For you to step out of your hole

You tug away
You try
It seems to be oily
You call out but no one seems to reply

You look up to a black midnight sky
You feel the cold shiver down your spine
Your mind is at unrest
Your feelings at bay
What life had once commenced into pumping into your soul, you had thrown away

But there's a whimper, you hear
You look around - nothing to see
Another hint of that young voice in whimper
Taking another peek,
You see this child with his knees up to his face

'What's wrong?'
The child whimpers on
The child is bruised all over
Blood overflows
The child still whimpers
Knowing no one can help him with this problem

You try to reach out
You try to comfort him
But your hand flows through him
Like he wasn't there

The child vanishes away
The pain you feel starts to crawl away
You turn around to see a door and a window
The door is locked but the window you can go through

Outside it's a blue spring sky
With green fields oh so wide
A river flows beside the window

There's a melody that lullabies you comfortably away

You start to ask yourself; 'is there really another day?'

from misery to mayhem

Suddenly there's no meaning to a life that you live.

You thought you had something in your grasp and it slips away like silk. There is no such thing as choice in this life. Apart from the minor happenings of where you get to choose which toothpaste you want to use every morning and night. The type of milkshake you like. The best fast food you think is to your appeal.

But as far as choices go in terms of choosing which way you want to go; there is no such thing. You either have to go one way or another. Much like a monopoly. Even when you're spoilt for choice. You still have to take a choice that you don't like. And it's tough luck whether you like it or not. Because you have no other way to go about it.

That's what life is all about, ladies and gentleman.

Nothing more. And, nothing less.

Why cram your style by doing everything the way you're supposed to? Why don't you overboard and do it with real style? Why don't you break every rule?

Because, you'll always end up like me .. now.

Someone kill me please.

Wonderland of Misery

I love in a wonderland of misery
Of where thoughts roam my head
A child screams within
The nightmares he dreads

Of moonlight shine that tries to smile upon me
I turn away
Of where my life is an impeccable twist
Of treacharies and defeats

I look around
For someone to hold on to
But there's no one there

No one to tell me it'll be alright
Everything will be just fine
That I would last the day

My soul is cut; stabbed
The pain - I no longer understand

Forest of mystery
Sunlight of delight
Maybe I'm just not cut out
For this kind of a life

...A hand on my shoulder
Another, soft on my cheek
Is this another waterfall emotion?
Or just another daydream?

Now that I no longer who I am or where I should be
What is to become of my life and my feeling being lonely?

Do the stars have a have a surprise for me?
Or is this all a master plan that's hidden beneath?

My smile has now gone under a mask
I'm no longer a free spirit but an emotionless man

Forgive Me, God

Forgive me, dear God
For my bad thoughts to end my life
For thinking for a moment to give back the gift you had given me
Before it was due time

I picked up the knife and looked it both ways
I had tears in my eyes thinking how my life is miserable in so many ways
I wish I had a baseball bat but I didn't
So I wouldn't attempt to kill myself at that moment, that minute

Forgive me God for my vulnerable emotional nature
I am but a dying soul
Trying to dig a hole
In the wall of time
Trying to seek the truth out of a lie
Where it is hidden underneath the sands of time

But my attempts had all failed
And now I am in the sunlight window shade
Twirling this knife on my wrist - again and again
Thinking of where to start the slit so I can stop wishing the pain away

I was crying all the time
I've been dying this whole time inside
I no longer feel the love that I should
The fog that conceals my eyes
As I was about to start
The door opens up to my room with the knife hidden away
My parents come in to ask me if I'm okay
I say 'yeah', and they bid me the night away

Forgive me God

Blonde.. Very Blonde..

It seems our dear new Blonde..err...Bond - Daniel Craig - has added another embarassment to his list of failures to aspire to the role of being the next actor to play in the series of the secret service agent under the service of Her Majesty's service and MI6.

In addition to Mr. Daniel's unrealbility to drive a manual gearbox on the latest Bond car; he also lost two teeth in a fighting scene requiring the studio to fly in his own personal dentist to fix them overnight in their secret location and now, for an extremely important scene in the movie the studio's producers had to fly in a poker expert to give him an intensive laydown on how to play.

It seems the studio is determined to bring down the Bond name in his suave, classic manner and make it into another XxX lookalike.

This blogger will entertain the idea of seeing the movie studio screw this one up only to hand it back to Mr. Pierce Brosnan - the best Bond ever - on a gold platter.

mad world

In a dark, dark world do we live
In a place where remorse grows like a tree, and happiness ends by the sunset of the day
In a place where a man has no shelter because he has no money
He lives in the streets
Eating the rubbish out of a can
Saving what has not been touched for another day
Doesn't anyone how the world has become?
Don't they understand?

We live in a world where wars bring in money
A free healthcare lives no more
Where life is no longer about living in harmony
Where one brother kills his brother so that they may not live in hunger
Where a sister is raped for sheer pleasure
And now worlds collide
There is no reason to hold on to hope anymore
A child bleeds - no one cares
A man is stabbed to death - no one takes a second look
A woman is taken into a dark alley where dark deeds are deviled by a corrupted soul
There is no sense of conciousness anymore
Doesn't anyone care?
Doesn't anybody understand?

A musical box jingles away a lullaby melody
A toddler crawls along a floor that is oh so dirty
One second there
Another - gone
Bombarded by an enemy's missle upon the house
What reason was there to kill this innocent soul?
Degrees of burning flesh
Bones rot away in the corner of a room that's been torn apart
Homeless people pass by
Pay no attention to the damage caused by the missile
Walk away
That's how the world deals with issues, these days

When will anyone care?

When will anyone ever understand?

the very life and existence of me

Have you ever felt that once in your life you need to take a stance upon a few standards or an issue or a matter about how something is done? Or by getting criticism for something you really want in your life that you would die for, that you don't care at all what kind of tales you hear about yourself because you believe so much in it?

I believe in something on which I cannot come to disclose here on the blog. And I very firmly believe in it to the point that I would give up my entire existence's being if it meant that I could have that for the spare time until something happens to me, one way or another.

I believe I am changed man because of something. And I get the frustration to deal with the issue almost everyday because I am so occupied day and night about it. And now I have some grey hairs to prove it.

There is also a believe that the issue has been resolved to the point that it no longer exists. And that subject at hand - undisclosed - has put away to the rot away in the shelves of the sands of time.

That is untrue.

What would you do if you were in my position, though?

VIP healthcare treatment

I thought that there has always been a certain equilibruim point when you get to take medicine and the such. It seems not the case nowadays.

For now, even VIPs are now treated much more efficiently, and much better healthcare than anyone else who is considered a 'standard patient'.

Is it me or am I rocking the right boat here in this case? Isn't healthcare meant for everyone beyond the measure of who you are, what race you're in, what ethnic origin you belong to?

Or is it the fact that globalization has also hit healthcare services to bring in money into untapped resources?

It is understandable that an individual needs to pay sometimes for some medical treatment but that another person who is of a 'different class in society' than another should be treated any differently is simply a ludacris idea altogether.

So then, why do we do have these measures implemented in the first place?

The Lifeline

She looked through the window onto the sun setting down
She sat there, breathing silently – on her face, a frown

Imagining his presence by her side
She turned, only with a tear in her eye

I wish you'd come back only to see
How your emptiness is killing me
The solitude you have cast me to
Is now eating me inside, through and through

She closes her eyes only to weep
She weeps silently like the lonely child, she feels

A bird passes by the window
Signaling there will always be another tomorrow
And as stares at the bird with her eyes in the sunlight rays
They convert into a beautiful brown colored haze

She imagines him hugging her worries away
The lightness, it is, she is filled with, now lifts her up into a lullaby sway

But it is the sadness she is filled with that overgrows her emotion
She lies to herself saying that ignoring her feelings is the only solution

Sunlight turns into moonlight shade
The clouds go from shady white to paintbrush grey
And she still stands by her open window into the blankness of her life
Asking herself again and again; why does happiness have to have such a short lifeline?

Supersticious Nonsence or The Original 'Deal'?

In Islam, there is a sort of ritual that is more than a tradition of reciting the fatiha verses from the Holy Qur'an. It is said between relegious scholars that reading these specific verses from the Qur'an sort of protects the individual who recited them from any type of harm, if it is in God's will that it doesn't.

But there is also more to it.

It has also been said, although not as much as it rebounded around, that wearing a jewel of gold or silver origin that has the inscriptions of these verses from the Holy Book also gives one similar protection from any type of harm - again; if it is in God's will that nothing should happen to him/her.

The question in my mind is: is it (and God forgive me if I am making a mistake here) supersticious nonsence that uses Islam's beliefs as a base or is this truly something of oringinality from the relegion of Islam?

Hi ho, Hi ho..

I never realized that employment can invegorate you of making you hum a song while going to a dentist appointment. I mean, I have been employed before, but I never felt this good.

I actually found out that I am a workaholic at nature because I didn't notice the time pass by today when it was all of a sudden 7pm and me realizing that I had spent 10 hours at work. I mean, it felt really, really, really good.

I am so glad and so thankful that I finally found something to occupy my tme and finally realize that I can be a working productive member of the society.

How many of you have experienced this feeling such as I?

Stop The War..

The gruesome General smiles along the battered unpaved way
The child cries of hunger, thirst and shelter or even a cave

The rattled disease beyond the sands
The power within man's hands are beyond comprehend
Live and let live, for death is a mortal's path and not for you to begin the end
For life is a flower as it will bloom one day
Purple, maroon or fire
Green lands will come once again
But war, is an illetrate man's game to gain power - but to what end?

Stop the war..

Anti-Socialism

Anti-socialism is a name that other people brand others to which they don't understand their circumstances. While it does exist in reality, a few facts are actually known as to why a person would behave in such a manner.

There are those types of people who like to be alone to their own ideas and feel that if they interact with other people they would just collide in terms of contradictary beleifs and fundamental understandings.

I am one of those people.

Although I like to be as socialistic as possible, I feel, though, most of the time that I need my own space to think about 'things'; personal things that everyone whose out there would want to know why I am being quite would pounce at me because they feel I am depressed. Which only happens a little these days because of the fact that I finally got a job.

Anti-socialism isn't a problem unless we make it so. Maybe we haven't found the right person to conversate with. And those who act despretely to know what goes on in our minds aren't particularly the type to socialize with, for many different reasons.

If anyone should differ with their opinions, please join in and comment.

Time heals all wounds?

Say you had everything in the world you ever needed.

Say you had everything in the world to benefit from and that everything was going your way.

Except for one thing.

What would you consider doing then? Would you give up everything you had fought for to get the position you are at now only to go back to caveman ages and live like the unsorrowful monk you once were? Or would you push on; thinking that there still lies hope farther into the future and that everything will be alright?

Even though that this one thing that you miss is the most important thing in the world to you and everything else compared to it means nothing at all, whatsoever.

What would you do?

Everything Was A Lie

I close my eyes that are filled with blood
My ears, I close them not to hear what I dread
I peak through my eyelids
I seek the light that would show me the path of which is hid

Sunlight sky
Dark rain
Of life within life, where does it all begin?

Turn the deceit, the lies away
Turn the hacked faces, sawn by their own disbeliefs
Where is it, one can turn to when shadowed by the world's firm ugly trend?

I ask thee
Help me
Help me to tackle the rush of pain inside
The hills that grown within, the thrust of rock against tides
Time will follow
Regret will bring in you
And what you always thought was a truth
..Was just a lie

No Smoking

I've written and expressed a great about the bad habit of smoking and how it effects us, the people who don't. How it not only endangers the smoker in first position, but also endangers the lives of others who don't and sit around doing the habit but passively.

What new evidence could I possibly give to ensure people's attention towards the safety hazards that come out of smoking behavior?

First of all, we all know how it affects the smokers directly, through - if it was a male smoker - causing lung cancer, decreasing sperm count, causing detoriation of the tongue and mouth areas (not to mention serious dental damage to teeth infrastructure). And if it was a female - it can cause serious birth difficulties and allow the baby's general body to be deformed in a very horrible manner including everything that was mentioned for the male smoker's body apart from the loss in sperm count.

In general, smoking can cause quick tireness, and possibly cave in your lungs making it harder to breath normally, this is often caused by loss of oxygen levels with the blood mainstream because of smoking.

Passive smoking is also a great danger to those who don't actually like or take up this horrible habit. Causing them, without knowing, to possibly have the same symptoms as a regular smoker. Not to mention the endagerment of a child's life in front of the puff caused by smoking a cigarrette is catastrophic.

People in Oman can still avoid these dangers by never buying another cigarrette or seeking psychological help to avoid going back to the habit.

Perhaps this is a bit too harsh to say, but, nevertheless, I feel that smokers who still pursue the habit can obtain no respect from society because as such endangering your own life clearly shows how irresponsible a human being you can possibly ever be and that, by itself, is a cause for disrespect.

Denial

'I don't have any feelings for you'
'But..'
'Nothing'
A heart that was once beating, has now had that line cut

She moved away
In a motion so slow
She didn't say why
She just didn't want to have a go

She left them there
In agony
In pain

She blew away his feeling of love
Of which he believed
Was his true gain

'Is it because I am what I am?', he asked
He tried to fathom the answer, so he may better understand

A wonder of love and desire
The land of truth seperates the soul from denial

The red rose in his hand
He had tried to offer it many a times
Now withers away with the wind
A cold feeling, a cocktail of wonder and regret

Slowly out the door, does she leave
The window of choice has been dminished away
Now a path so dark haunts his mind
The questions and wonders of what could have been; one day

Letter of Passion

Walking the streets of another Rome
Where cold winds meet and gather memories, unknown
Pair by pair, men are turned into dust
The Devil's lair, the fabled trust

Sign the letter of passion
With the blood of pain
Regular is the unwinding tail of two cities hearts
Who is to blame?
Cast the beggars and peasants into the streets
Cast into their nightmares, not dreams
Cast into a world of dark shadows
Cast into a life that's filled with doubts

'Save me, dear sir', I hear a call
An old man reaches out a hand, haunting, is his nature, and cold
'Save me from the beast of time'
'Of where life begins with lie'
'The lie you believe'
'The deceit you trust'
'The agony that spins beneath'
'Where passion is disguised as a pain in thrust'

Of where does the story end?
Of where does the soul starts it's journey's end?

Land of life and anonymity?
Lie after lie, do you not care for me?

A single red rose withers away
Withers with the life it used to spread
Waved into the winds that bloomed it's very past life

This red rose was for you, m'lady
Now it is dead
As you have called my love for you, tonight

Another Denmark?

Earlier on today, mbc - the middle-east broadcasting corporation had aired on it's weekend program 'Yalla Shabab' (translated as C'mon Folks) a special episode on where they introduced a group of people from Copenhagen, Denmark and how they reacted towards the issue of the Arab boycott towards their products and how their perspective of the whole issue that they are totally innocent of the mishappenings that happened not to so long ago..

It was interesting enough to know that a lot of the Copenhagings felt very badly about the whole incident and were trying as much as they could go.

They had even gone as far as dedicating a whole site to bring the gap between the West and the Muslim world down.

The site is called Another Denmark.

Take a look and check it out.

See for yourself how people are aiming to change the world without having the need to make a war over it.

Maturity & Immaturity

Where does immaturity end and its major counterpart begin?

Does maturity begin when you start to assume responsiblities for your own actions and look out to become more responsible in everything you do? Does that mean that you have to become a nerdy fellow and be one of those people who officially turned 'geeky' - in the sense that you don't enjoy doing fun things anymore?

There is a child in one of everyone of us. And that child does at times, and sometimes more than often, ask to be let out of it's cage. And as the saying goes 'all work and no play makes jack a bore'.

The fundamental idea behind life is to always presume that your actions are your own responsibilities - always. And that, whether you choose to do them in a playful manner or seriously, is your business, but that you were already forewarned about the implications any of your actions would make in the near & direct or your far future.

Consequences are a lesson from life to teach you to assume your responsibilities and to help you reach that maturity stage whether or not you feel the urge to get there or not. And while some of us complain about what we would like to do in our fantasies to get a certain situation out of our lives, others take action and assume their responsibilities by changing that very situation they are living in.

The conclusion here, is that there isn't really a date or time or period that is set in time of which you would end immaturity and transform into a mature human being. Its just always there. And it will happen when it will in it's own desired time.

'I love you more.. even when I am dead'

..He said he couldn't live another day without her by his side
He wouldn't be able to sleep because he wouldn't be able to shut his eye
It was his dream to see her always there
Her inner beauty shining with all her care
She would gleam at him at the sign of new morning
Sharing a smile when he favors to frown in sign of mourning
Sharing the bliss and the agony
Sharing what could be of what was a fantasy

Now she's gone
He still can't believe
She's off to another world
So far, yet so near

Like an Angel she would be
Casting her wings over him
Smiling gracefully from up above
Guarding his every step because; eternal; was their love

Last thing he remembers on her death bed
His lady blossom with a rose, red
Smiling faintly into his eyes
Smiling and wiping the tears from his eyes
Her last words, as she said
I love you more even when I am dead

women & men are equals .. in everything

You may have heard this a dozen times before. And you may think to yourself; well, what is it of new, that I can add to this never-ending arguement between the two genders?

To answer your questions, I will only demonstrate an example at how men still think inferiorly of women here in Oman in a very personal matter.

Someone I have known for a very long time now, told me of something that very much displeased me to the point of almost going nuts. He told me that he had participated in a career fair at some private college here in Muscat to represent the oil company he works for. The situation was that he had encountered a couple of women, who, in his perception were only there to mock him, rather than looking for a potential job.

His interpretation was that one of the young women insisted on applying to the company even after he had thrown at her every disadvantage of the company and how it is to work in the fields for a women. Yet, she still barricaded down the obstacles of what he imposed upon her psycholigically. At the end of all that, he tells her to go and check with another company's booth because 'they' don't hire women in oilfields.

Needless to say, our 'friend' here had committed a number of mistake on his part.

He had treated them unrightly, even though he argued (with me) that it was a company policy not to provide jobs for women in oilfields because there would be a fear of sexual harrassment complaints. His interpretation lead me to one main conclusion, that as he was employed at that point in time as a representative of the oil company, that gave him no right to put down the women's application in that rude manner. Not to mention that he did not point out to them the full statement but he finished it at the point of saying 'we don't employ women in oilfields', which leads me to another point, that citing that quote means that he gave the women the impression that company has sexist policies although it employs women in other departments (another thing he neglected to point out to them).

In the end, I gave him the full fledge remark that he was biased and that he could've at least taken their job applications, and had they not met the company's standards they could have written back to them a regrettence letter.

He told me that his company wasn't professional enough to write back regrettance letters.

I rest my case..

Mdaad Forums - Pt. 2

There's been a mention about my first book Rapidly Blue in Mdaad Forums by my very dear friend, the Journalist; Hassan Al-Lawati.

Hassan is a reporter/photographer who works at the Sultan Qaboos University for a private University publication under the names of Horizon and Al Masaar. He also does some free-lance writing for Al-Watan & Al-Shabiba.

Link: Mdaad Forums focus on Rapidly Blue

Felicitations..

I wish everyone a great holiday this year on the occassion on celebrating the Prophet Mohammed's - Peace Be Upon Him - birthdate.

May this occassion restore peace to the Muslim population worldwide and diminish internal and extrernal differences between our brothers and sisters all over the world.

Do enjoy your holidays and take great care..

the golden years

Hasn't it occured to anyone what a golden age we are all living here in the Sultanate?

We bare no taxes apart from a mesely 15% taxes on sales from any five-star place, and the government provides aid in terms of paying off most of the electricity and water bills that it says would have come to a staggering amount had it all been payed by the public.

Why I say it is a golden age, is because - and although the government has denied that it will impose any more taxes in the future - the Sultanate is being drained of financial resources as it is since oil, gas can only be used for so long to give the Omani economy such a boost in the right direction. And the implementation of eco-tourism cannot be sustained so far into the future, sooner or later the authorities here in Oman will one day open up the doors for mass-tourism.

The point I am trying to make here is that one day we will be asked to pay for the services that we use as it is as of many individuals in many developed/developing countries, like cleaning streets of garbage, building streets and bridges and the sort.

The future of this nation will no doubt one day come to that situation. And the question at that point is what what would happen?

If the people by then start paying to the state financial box, then, technically speaking, that would mean that the state owes them the right to vote on many things politically, socially and otherwise.

Would it mean that we would come to such an age, after we have live the golden years?

Truth

I wonder through my mind and think
I wonder if there is some sort of way out of all this

I see you smile almost everyday
I see you flying with happiness, so tremendously
I see you when you talk and listen to your friends
And yet, you forget, that it is I, who is for your heart, awaiting

I walk the path of a different Rome
I walk and walk and ask myself where it is I should go
I walk along and see this innocent child
He has a tear in his eye
I ask him, of the tears; why?
He replied with sadness and pain
He said he had lived to live only to see his wedding day
To see his Angel live high above in the clouds
To see her smile so majestically with her wings spread about

Silence in the streets
Silence are the unspoken words that catch the fragrance of deceit
Silence of unspoken truth
Silence in the meadows that no longer - a heart so passionate - soothe

Crooked and long
Are the streets lain
A hand on the wall
Another on my chest from heart achening pain

Now that I have seen the pain
And know what not to do
Howcome is it
That you push away from this truth?

A Dream To Be

You go back every night at that same hour almost everyday
You smile away your pain to everyone as you wave your hands away
You get into your car
You turn to see
Is there someone following you
Would someone ever dare?

As you drive on, you look at the moon
You think to yourself over and over again, is it too soon?
And I think to myself, are you thinking of me, as I am?
Are you seemlessly daydreaming of where we could reach one day?

Life is but a dream to be achieved
Trying endlessly to move on to goals, realisticly

So you tell me; am I chasing a dream?
Or am I chasing a dream to be?

The beginning of the end of the beginning..

The Arab nations, most of all the GCC countries with all their oil surplus gained wealth, are now bent on trying to make their economies a much desireable haven for migrated Arab money in the Western hemisphere of the globe.

While this is a much anticipated move that would increase diversification benefits for the locals and foriegnors alike, it is just as much sought out to be the nation's nightmare, too.

For if we were to take for example, how the West lives in many immense populations using every resource attainable to make use of and drought it out, this is pretty much where we might all end.

Someone said a long time back that global warming could never happen to the Earth's atmosphere because of the many years that it would take for the process to evolve over time and now both polar ice capsules have disendegrated to but a few ice cubes. The Amazon that was once a flourishing habitat of wildlife; animal, insect; reptile and humans, too has now been torn down to half it's original population to the increase in demand of wooden houses in the country side as last shown in a satellite picture not too long ago.

If we were to do the same here in the middle east, taking the United Arab Emirate; Dubai into example and the radical overflow of structual development in highrisers, roads, factories and other recreational facilities all due to the high surge in population demand of which Dubai is aiming at a 60 million mark, then by all means, we are all set on a path to say goodbye to our natural resources from now.

Earth as it is, holds now more than 6 billion people and is already suffering in low resources that barely benefit it's own population. So how do we ever expect, still sticking to the Dubai example, should we ever follow their footsteps that we would compromise for natural resources in our own countries, respectively?

The not too far away earthquakes that had happened in the region in the UAE were not because of a malfunction in Earth's crust along the surface. It was a warning. A warning to head that we should not overcross our borders to defy nature, and most of all, not to defy the logic of gravity that is slowly fading away (i.e.: because the Earth is slowing down there could be a possiblity that gravity would be overcome one day even though it is an unlikely event) of which was set by God Himself.

Mankind must head this warning and slow down on his development plans on breaking up what God built for a reason such as the mountains. Or even furbishing the oceanside with manmade islands that as such take sand and concrete to be their only base.

Although it is something that human beings do not want to see ever happening, amongst which, is this writer, the possibility still stands of the nightmare beginning already.

When Are You Going to Give?

There are everyday things that cause your feelings to move way beyond imagination can ever try visualize. These 'everyday things' could be the environment you live in. The life you live. Your basic every day-to-day lives. Or perhaps just a change in your mood.

No one should ever consider that day to be a bad day. Simply because you have it better than others around the world who are in a far worse situation than you are.

There are people in Africa who cannot find food or drink or even shelter for themselves and their starving families. Africa is now mostly a drought area.

People should give.

Asia and the South Pacific are now what they call an exploding time-bomb due to the immense rise of births and much lower rate in deaths because of the advancement in medicine and technology.

People should give more.

The Americas are now being tagged as a regular 'natural disaster area' because of high potential of hurricanes in 2006 than that of 2005 as predicted by weather forcasters earlier on this year.

So the question lies with you.

Do you still think you are in bad situation right now?

And if not; when are you going to give?

Donate to any charitable fund in your country, area, district - you could help make a change in someone's life. Be that through physical, social, financial help or even guidance. It doesn't take a leader to do the right thing, it's the right thing that leads us to do what's right.

Bad Dream

A drink of the potion
The tear from an eye
The leaf of autumn
The trade of a spy

Blood spilt all over
Bent in agony and pain
Favored in bliss in bitterness
Remorse is but the happiness of yesterday's
The fun, the child that was
The drive, the life, the pulse
The smile we favor
The spirit, the killings, the purpotrators
The dminishing factor, that's all around
The fact that it is now the last day before death is about us, bound

Father to mother
Soldier from brother
Nurse from sister
The smile they decieve
The lies they fill you in and leave
Folded pains of agony
Surprise you with the terrains of love's forgotten reality
Bird caged chirping in sorrow
What tomorrow holds, no one knows
Sunrise rises above
Clouds diminish away
Flowers upon the green meadows
Children play swiftly with their hair in the air

Wake up
Wake up
Drug's effects going away
Shaken in a cold shower
Born to a world of colder weather
The smile that was of yesterday, has now faded away
A hand on his cheek
Swiftly breezes away his pain
She whispers his name
Only to see her shedding in tears, hugging him in bed, not wanting to let go

Realization hits..
It was just a bad dream

Extremes

How extreme can one get?

Is there a line between extremism and moral grounds? And whose right is it to run such a test?

Rarely in our community are asked as to why we need to do something because of a decision making process that commit to, internally. Fact of the matter, no one dares to ask us why we did anything because they know better than to ask of what is not their business.

But in times of peril, or haunting problems that involve nations of other relegions, societies, communities or even countries that are twice the size of ours, where do we draw that line?

9/11 asked itself a question; Why does the world hate the USA? In some nations the answer is obvious, relating to which the violence that is erupted in a day-to-day lifestyle in the Palestinian occupied territories and the so called state of 'Israel'. Others had led the same opinion only to expand further of what the super-power's foriegn policy during the current Bush administration could be called 'a baby's rattle' to be played about as it pleases to it's likes and dislikes.

Then there was 5/11 which included the London area bombings by a group of unknown terrorists. Of which the reason behind that tragedy is still unknown, yet, whatever it could be, is inexcusable in all relegions and ethnic societies, no matter what nation they belonged to.

Extremists live within us in silent cells, working their way as they deviously plan ahead to devour the nation, the population, and most importantly, the innocent of their very day-to-day lives. Putting a more 'strong statement' to world leaders that whatever it is needs to be dealt with right away.

The solution behind such a battered genre of groups is not to go back and trace their footsteps and what they have done but rather take action in the most unkilling way possible that would rid these societies of these 'creatures' before the disaster cultivates itself amongst the nation to become a societal norm.

Wars are not the answer.

Swifter action in a more quite pretence is.

Sweet Harmony

I forgot to say to you .. goodnight
I forgot to tell the moon and the stars to .. watch over you tonight
I forgot to say to you .. that you are my life
I forget to say .. that you are my one and only true delight

I remember upon a nightly breeze
Whisked upon the scent of love and mellow ease
That I thought I saw you
Smiling my way
Thoughts bounced and swayed
Starlit desires of an ocean of devotion
Found its way to me

I remember the time when we would just talk
When all we could do is just let time hurdle past us, not walk
That we would smile to each other every other while
That we would take a one-second-glimpse into each other's eyes
I don't regret a day I knew you
You were the one who turned my world red instead of blue

So in sweet harmony I give my word to you
This red rose that speaks of love and never-ending truth
Should you desire to be
My one and only
I would be truly blessed
For I am but a peasant to your heart's majestic warm embracing chest

Life: mythical magical moments to possible realities

Never mistake anything. A lesson you just can’t get enough of. And too many times have I been bitten the same bite – past, present, and future.

Only years ago was I on the verge of giving up everything that was so dear to me; my health;; my life; and most importantly, the people who loved me the most. I was so down that that I had fled off to my own world. My …own fortress, if you will. Things were so jumbled up in my head that I didn’t know what to do and how to start my life off again.

At a moment’s sickness, I thought the world was closing every door in my face. I tried to look for the light that would guide me again to the right path. I was looking for that hand that would take me down that narrow road through the world’s perils of which we live today.

I took the step of going boldly into that unknown spehere where only God knew where it would lead me later on in the future. It was a step into the right direction but it wasn’t as paved as I thought it would be. I paid a price for going that way and the price was dear enough to live a different life altogether. You would think that at that time it would be the end of my worries. But it wasn’t. It was just merely the beginning.

I didn’t have to look into my health issues later on as much as I had to before that stage. But when I did, it was for a long time. And out of what I thought was my end was yet another new beginning in another new way that had possibly opened my eyes in ways that I hadn’t managed to look at the world as I had thought it could be done before.

I was always the pessimistic type. And I always saw the glass half empty but never half full ‘til just a short period before. Where I seem to look at things in a much more brighter perspective. Where challenges that make my mission almost impossible only make my aspirations more desireable. Where I choose to push the line to where I would get more and more out of the least of what I have right now.

I had always wanted to become a writer. And now I manage a few blogs, write a semi-regular column in theweek, I also have had the blessing of a loving family and few mind-noted friends who have been by my side, and now that it’s my time to own up, I choose to blow it all out.

Plans can always be rearranged in one way or another. But I will get there no matter what. The main thing is always keeping the target in mind.

Why I wrote this is because I had seen The Last Holiday starring Queen Latifah. And if you see the movie you would understand my angle and what I am trying to point out here.

You only get one chance to make your daydreams a reality, you might as well do it now while you’re alive.

everyone's a human being

I hate it when people look at a person who has this disability and they either keep staring at that poor person or just point him in a horrible manner that is just so rude.

I was always taught in my childhood that it is considered rude to look at a person with disabilities because they'll know you're looking at them over pity and that would be the last thing they would ever want anyone to give them. Disabled people, as such, want to be looked at as a normal human being, want to be treated as fairly as those who don't have the disability they do.

I have gone and extended that concept to even talking about them rudely - whether it was in front of them or behind them. It's just completely offensive. It's almost as if you're asking God Himself to bestow that bad feature upon you.

It's just not funny in any way imaginable.

The True Artist Genre

John Mayer, Joss Stone, Kelly Clarkson.

Those are only a few of the names of the artists who actually compose, write, sing and play their entire songs in their albums. A true artist that dedicates their own time and talent to the songs with careful consideration of different tastes and cultures.

If you ever want to listen to any of the above artists, listen to their live solos. They're not brilliant. They're fantastic.

A must have for anyone whose into music as much a music-aholic as I am.

Oman Vs future challenges

Everyone seems to be on the rush to get employed by the oil sector these days looking for that green dough better known as the US Dollar which goes so highly respected in the financial sector more than often.

What they don't realize is that as much as it is a demanding sector for employment and manpower services, the future for it does not bode well. Already a lot countries are have dried up of their reserves of oil foundation and now rely heavily either on importing what they need to run their economy or perhaps even diversifying their economy so that it can cushion the impact it may have on it in the coming future.

The Sultanate, much like it's other GCC partners - apart from Saudi Arabia - is one of those economies where it can be stated that it's oil sector is slowly dying out, even though with the government through its main oil company PDO, saying that it would pick up once again to where we might not have to worry about it for quite some time; it just seems like the oil rush is now evaporating. Thus, pushing countries like Oman to diversify into gas, tourism, and other reliable sustainable resources of income for the country.

In effect, we will now be suffering, in ages to come, major socialogical, economical, and perhaps maybe political changes. Which as much as it is invited will nonetheless hold a grave risk for a country that has just opened up its borders to the world only 35 years ago.

Major challenges still lies ahead.

The question of the hour would be now: is Oman up for it?

Us

I love the sunshine
I love the rain
I love the day
When I get to see your face

I love it when you smile
Your spirit fills me with a spirit that's wild and free
I cannot contain myself when I am with you
I cannot lie to myself when I'm around you
I'm simply so into you - can you not see?

The clouds in the sky
Draws your face with a smile
And I look up high to see
That this world is for us, both, our future, it holds, for us to seek

Wonders

Wonder why the sun shines every day?
Wonder why the wind breezes the way it does everyday?
Wonder why the beach is so beautiful for walkers to walk it's way?

Wonder why the sky is so blue?
Wonder why children often cry when leave for kindergarden school?
Wonder why Mom and Dad still think that their most spoilt son will one day pull through?

Wonder why the grass is often green?
Wonder why women fake a smile over a sadness they try to conceal?
Wonder why love is as much passion as it is torture, like a soul, in a body, it leaves?

Wonder why you smile at me this way?
Wonder why you ignore me when I look at you at times?
Wonder why you seem to confuse me in your most mysterious ways?
Wonder when and if when that you should say anything to me that would lift me up some day?

International Orphan's Day

There have been a few calls on public satellite TV stations to join into a special day for orphans benefit, to fund them and the places they live at, to go and visit them and give them presents and make that specific day an unforgettable day.

I have no quarrels with having to take care of orphans around the world in such a way. On the contrary, I think it is a fabulous idea that everyone should take up. But I think there should be a more expanded program of this sort which would take care of them all year around pretty much like what most (if not all) Muslims around the world do through the zakat program that is exclusively to take care of orphans financially and socially the whole year round.

It doesn't cost much. It's a matter of making a small donation for a period of 6 - 12 months of every year of as much as you can give to any charitable society in your country that takes care of orphan children and are in desperate need of financial aid in order to support their daily goals of helping these children to live an almost normal life.

The alleged program is supposed to commence and finish on April 7th, 2006.

Forevermore

Oh wonder of quest with vary to the East
What fathoms have you ignited unto the beast?

Tread it's path, I ask you not
Cherish what you have, for forever, it is not

Venture the load
The challenge you heave
The centre of the world
You choice, to listen to deciet

Live heartly, but true
Vanish not, for forevermore is a lifetime is a judgement due

tewwowism

There was a small news article today in the local newspapers that pointed out that a 13 year old child is being charged with 'terrorism' against President George W. Bush and Vice Presdient Dick Cheney.

The young boy has been sending anonymous e-mails to both parties threatening to kill them both. The newsclip said that the boy had been sending unsigned death threats to both parties that had been intercepted by the secret police and after thorough checking, found the address to be of the boy's house. Asked as to why he commit such a thing the boy kept silent.

He is now awaiting to be trialed at court for a sentence.

-----

"Dear Bushy Wushy..

For your belated Christmas present I am sending you a box of cracker jacks for all the good deeds you have done for our proud nation.

PS: I love you."

Love beyond the grave

I heard about this poem by coincidence while watching an old DVD series of Knight Rider. It's an excellent poem that was written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861). It's called 'How Do I Love Thee, Let Me Count The Ways..'

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Link: How do I love thee?

The Effect You Have on Me

I swear
You have the most gorgeous eyes
That goes along perfectly with your smile
The way you laugh just makes me go wild
The Earth shatters under my feet and I am still solid on the ground

You turn in me every motion any man should ever know
You think I am saying this because I am a man that would play with his words but I am not
I am being sincere about what's in my heart and what it can conceal not

You fill my every moment with loving desires for life
You make black clouds rain
You turn my life upside down and up again
You've breathed life into me yet again

You just don't know what it is this effect you have on me
The devotion I hold for thee
The smile on my face, the feeling of glee
I feel like laughing even when something bad happens to me

Did you know you have this effect on me?

Patience is a virtue

Patience has never been one of my virtues. I have always wanted from the day I was a toddler to have what I want; in a sense to own everything that I ever liked. You name it, I had it. DVDs, game consoles, and other stuff that no other parent would ever think of giving their children - ever.

So, in an indirect way I am admitting that I am one pampered guy whose had everything my heart desires. And now that I am facing the world on my own without any help I am now trying to make things more difficult on myself to better cope with realities that I will further have to deal with when I grow older when there's no one at all around me that would offer help.

I am trying to learn patience in a very weird way in everything. And I am hoping that this would work especially for my writing career.

I know I can do it and I know that one day it may backfire on me and if so, then I will only be more strict on what I must and musn't do in my current period of life.

I've learned my weakness - now to deal with it.

No Work - No Happiness - No Life

She'd come by smiling everyday
Everyday he'd see her wishing that she would come his way
To talk to him
To laugh with him
That was his dream, always

She'd sometimes flirt with him
She'd sometimes look his way that confuses him
Now she's no-where to be seen
He's trapped in the sadness of not fulfilling his dream
His mind wonders, it tries to lend comfort in the idea that she wasn't his

A few days later he got word
She was in the hospital living on life support
He went there to see her
To have a look before God took her
She was still in a comma with a smile on her face, as if to say 'life is all about being happy and the rest you have to work on

He still thinks of her from time to time
Thoughts of her bring tears to his eyes
Her smile is the only thing he considers is his drive
For no work, there is no happiness, there is no life

mimics of the Omani society

I have touched upon the subject of guys wearing the Pink color once before and how I think it states that they are somewhat gay. But what if I told you that things were going beyond that? That children of the new generation are now wearing earings like it's a new style other than wearing hip hop objectionable clothing with impulsive rude statements that is nothing short of being a total insult to the eye of unwanted spectators, (i.e.: guys). Younger women are still into wearing things that often show more than just the curvings of their figure and I need not go further beyond that to make my point clear.

What is going on? Is the fashion industry so far out of nice clothings to show some decency or is it that we are going through the trend of ups and downs of the teenage drama phase?

From my point of view there are a lot of things that need to be disciplined and taken care of. Such behavior is completely out of line.

What do you say on such a thing?