Stirred ..Not shaken

I hate it when I get sick. Let's face it - who doesn't?

But the fact is when I get sick, I get really sick. Any normal human being can get a cold and be finished with it with 2-3 days by maximum. Me? Oh, no. The little bugger has to stay with me for more than 1 week.

And this is what's happening, now.

I think my throat is infected with something and I have a hard time swallowing things let alone my own saliva.

Good thing that I have that appointment with the hospital on the 23rd of November.

Here's hoping that it would clear up by then.

In the meanwhile, soup, ginger tea, and cornflakes with hot milk will just have to do. I'm not a big fan of medicine.

Take care of yourselves, people..

Blue Ribbon Beauty - The Story

Her car pulled up by the kerb. There was a slight screech of the breaks.

Gotta get those breakpads seen to, she thinks.

It's late winter, and the wind is a little breezy. So as she leaves the car by opening the door, she felt her hair ribbon tugging away from her. She grabbed it just in time before it flew off. Just as well, too. The last time she lost her blue ribbon, it was to a man whom she thought her heart belonged to. But that was more than a year ago.

She's engaged now, and as every moment passed by she got closer to stepping into the golden cage. Something she had been longing for ever since she was a child with her Ken & Barbie dolls and their little big house and their fancy artificle swimming pool and their friends.

Although she was living the happiest moments of her life, she found it quite stressful thinking 'whatever happened to that man?'

She enters the coffeeshop she once entered a long time back. It was as if she was living her own story all over again. Everything was just the same. The tables. The arrangements. The whole layout. Even the people, though there were new people in and some old ones not around.

It was a nice tingling feeling inside her that sort of made her right at home in some kind of way.

True love is divine
The power it shines

Sundance in her eyes
The picket fences between our hearts
The defence I cannot hold
The rythem my heart unfolds

As she got her drink and made a turn to go for a seat, she picked up a weekly gazette - Divinitive Thoughts - one that pursued readers of any society and race to pump the establishment with their thoughts on what was on their minds on any matter.

She flipped through the first many pages with a flicker.

'Is this seat taken?', asked a man. 'No', she would reply.

The man just stood there, he never moved an inch. Nor did he grab the chair after she gave him his answer. She hadn't even bothered to look up and see who it was, either. She was consumed with reading the gazette and guzzling down her drink.

She noticed a pair legs at the end of her table and slowly, she lifted her head, to look up at the person's face to say, 'I told you I don't...'

Before she could finish her sentence, she realized who she was glaring at.

It was him.

It was the man she had her heart set on more than a year back.

Slowly, she lowered her cup to the table.

And silently - let a tear out of her eye.

ESO Lecture

If you're into plants and natural habitats, then you'll defintely be interested in attending this lecture that's being held at Majan University College in Darsait on the 26th of November, 2005 at 7:30pm (doors open 7pm).

It's all about planting trees in Oman and the importance plants play in retaining the actual cycle needed for the human kind to live longer on this Earth.

Hope to see you all there..

The Book

Folks at Starbucks and their head office have not come back to me regarding promoting my book Wonderous World in their coffeeshops. Too bad. They have missed a chance the way I see it.

Now I'm going to push forward my plan to put it in almost every bookshop that sells decent books here in Oman such as the The Family Bookshop & The Turtle's Bookshop. Details will be given later as to when it will be commercially available. In the meanwhile, there are still free copies if you so wish to grab yourself one, just email me about it at pennedthoughts@gmail.com .

I will also try to convince the bookshops to try and include my two books in the upcoming bookfair next year in the Omani International Exhibition Centre, on March, 2006. I'll see what Amazon.com say if I were to offer to sell my books through them.

The initial book price for the 2nd book is going to be 2 Omani Rials. There is also a chance some of the proceedings will go to charity, hopefully.

Negotiations are also in near end with Omanforum.com to advertise for the book, too.

There will be book reviews, prior to the release and probably a signing session and press release too from our beloved local media (radio, newspapers, etc.).

Please contact me if you have any queries regarding this issue, no matter how big or small it is. And if you live outside of Oman, please contact me and I will try my level best to send the book to you, where-ever you may be, free of charge.

*tingling feeling, innit?*

Official Cyber Vacation

I think I will take a little time off the web to keep in track of what really matters in life..

But I will be back. Maybe sooner. Maybe later.

I haven't the faintest idea.

Feel free to drop your comments on the blog, nonetheless..

I'll see you around

The Dark Prince..

Favoritism..

I don't appreciate favoritism. And I don't believe in it, either.

If there's one thing that I believe in my basic daily day-to-day life, it's that we are equals. Men. Women. We're all equal in some sort of way. And there's no way to make anything seperate in any way whatsoever.

That's the kind of thing that makes world nation leaders make mistakes by driving their countries into un-necessary battles, wars. All waged just so because so I can gain more land, money, power and everything else.

Prime example: the USA. Look at how much land they own. Look at how much their economy makes in a day. And how enormous their population is. And they can barely cope with everything. Look at what those hurricanes did to them. The world's superpower nation was kneeling on it's knees for mercy from tragedy after tragedy three times in a row. Their economy right now is at an all-time low with the biggest deficit ever known in American history.

Why is it we can't all live along with each other? Aren't we after all human beings? Aren't we all from Adam and Eve? Or were there aliens in the middle that took us up in their spaceships and evolutinized the human circle in some way? Either way, we all bleed the same red blood.

If you're with someone and you dislike them in someway. Why not comprimise the situation and make the best of the situation and try to find something in common and perhaps make all your worries go away. Not easy, true. But; have you tried?

Most of the men and women that I hang around with the idea stuck in their heads that they'd rather be around some kind of group but not the other way around. Why, because either they're not of their standard; popularity or thinking pattern. And all that from the first impression.

Don't judge lest you be judged.

That's all I am saying.

Somewhere..Over the rainbow..

The funniest thing happened to me when the time almost hit 4am here, Oman main time (popularily known as OMT - ha ha ha). I got this notion while listening to Michael Jackson's old album Dangerous, that I was going to make something of my life once and for all and put an end to the foolishness that I am letting control my path towards a rewarded destiny.

After all, I have my health back, thank God for that. And so far, for the last few months I feel as tough as a Bull - figuretively put, that is. I have a lot of skills in writing, and so far my second book - Wonderous World - has had returned great feedback from the people who recieved the promotional free copies (if you're interested into getting one, please get in touch with me - limited copies). I also have the fortnightly column in theweek, and although I may not admit it very much, but it is not only an output for my thoughts but rather also a place whereby I am recieving good toturing for honing my skillfull passion.

I am not missing out on anything.

I have everything I need, nothing that I would want more.

Makes you feel all nice, warm, and tingly inside, don't it?

----------

"This is my life. I will not be opressed." - Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones

Only The Lonely Will Talk - Of A Path That No One Should Ever Walk

What voice? Can you hear?
What focus? Can you steer?
What choice? Can you see?
The blood in my eyes
The torn soul in surprise
Sunset? Or sunrise?

Live a lie
Everyday
Live til one day you die
And your whole life's a mistake
Live and begone
The truth was always beyond

Figure a tale
Of a scene
A man, a lady
Crossing paths seemlessly

One day he was down
And she was around
And his heart would start to beat

The beauty, from her, that shined
The intelligence, in her, defined
But it seems it was never meant to be

The knife in the soul
Die and go cold
Tears from a rock
What feelings do I block

This is the road
This is the journey
This is the time I surrender my will
Forgive me

Nothing to talk about..

I don't know what to write about exactly right now. Can you imagine that?

Me? At a lost for words? Now there's something which doesn't happen everyday.

Actually, wait.

It does.

And when only someone asks me for an excuse that I come up quickly with one that it would seem too iratating to mention to them if they keep hearing them from me and in the end they say 'you have an excuse for everything'. And then I would be smiling so sly and they'd walk off the other direction feeling totally pissed off.

Not that I blame them, that is. Half the excuses I come up with are legite. The other half just come to me in the spur of the moment. ;oP

Speaking of 'spur of the moment', my parents just can't wait til I find someone and get hitched. Like that will ever happen. he he he. Good thing I brought along my good ol' buddy Mr. Conscience Guide. Had 'him' tell my parents that I would never set my eyes on a woman unless I totally feel that we have a basic level of understanding. Otherwise it's labelled kapoot from the beginning.

By the way, word from the wise; if you're suffering from a sickness and you need to take almost daily injection shots - like I do - then listen very carefully to directions on how to insert the bloody thing into your own skin. Mine's is supposed to hit under the skin. But since I missed that spot a couple of times I ended up pumping it into my own veins. God damn hurts, too. And I have the lovely blue tatoo to verify this lovely experience.

This reminds me of the time that when I was always young, I would always play around with my wounds no matter small or big. It's like I liked blood or something, I dunno. I remember this one wound that I had on my knee cap and it was almost that same size too, believe me. And, picture this; me, picking it, piece-by-piece. Strawberry milkshake is what I used to call it - blood, that is.

Who says a person can't have an active imagination?

And just so you know, I'm not kidding.

Sweet dreams cyberspace..

Omani taxi drivers, parking, and one DUMB woman

Situation #1:

It's Sabco centre. I'm approaching my parked car and there's a vacant space being accomodated by a man who works as a taxi driver - just by standing in it, because he wants to reserve the space for his colleage (who happens to be of the same profession). First of all, taxis don't pay for parking because the driver just sits inside the car. Secondly, there is a woman who has been waiting for that space to be vacated for a long while whilst it was being vacated by a previous attendant. As I approach my vehicle, the taxi driver asks if I am pulling out. I abruptly say that I am and I also happen to mention to him that I am not comfortable with the method he is using to get a space for his partner. He shoos me off.

Situation #2:

I am coming back to Starbucks MQ. It's almost 8:40pm. As I enter the parking area that gives you a choice of whether to park at KFC or by Starbucks, I take the left side (the Starbucks side) and I am met by a car stopped in the middle of the brick-road area. I wait. The person behind the wheel of the car decides to move on further but only to stop again because they saw a car trying to move out that they just passed by one parking slot. I am behind this person with another two cars behind waiting. Cleverly, this individual shifts into reverse and backs up the car just a mild spot before my front bumper with the reverse signal still and the indicator to indicate that they want the parking they just missed. I look behind. No room for manouvre. A woman passes by the driver in front, and talks, goes around and looks my way and gestures for me to pull back. Pull back where? On top of the rear car? 'You have space' - I'm not blind woman. I see a gap to the right of the car in front of me and try to make it through. And as I pass by, I recognize whose behind the wheel. A woman. Now this was the first time for me to encounter a woman with this much intelligence. Good thing I didn't step down and give her a piece of my mind. Otherwise, the ROP would have in for the night for 'harrasement'.

Don't you just love these kind of days?

Speed Demons..

What is it about people and time on roads? It's like if they're not somewhere a minute or two earlier the whole universe will collapse. And they speed like they have their asses on fire or something.

Jeez.

Accident rate ratios may have gone down but the mentality of people on the road has suffered enormously. Monkeys can drive better (provided they are taught the rules).

Ever since they installed the new radar systems on most of the roads of Oman, people have frantically upped their speed in a bid to challenge the law and the saftey of pedsitrians and automobilers alike.

They may not get tickets much these days, but rather put the metal to the pedal when a radar is not in sight. And when it is in distance, they simply grind their brakes against their wheel rims just so they have time enough to make a smiley gesture at the camera positioned in case they get caught.

And what's more annoying is the fact that everytime I am on the road (and I am talking about a general 'I', here), I risk my life putting my car, and the safety of the road between the hands of those lunatics.

They'll push way up you'll be coughing them up from your throat. They'll tag-tail you 'til you've got no other choice than to side-step them and continue with your life.

I'd like to take a nice stroll in my car for once on the highway without the worrie that I would be caught in that kind of nerve-breaking tension.

The ROP has a policy of handing over driving licenses to only people who are aged 18 and above; they should definitely change it to 21 and above. Kids are driving 4 wheel drives these days.

Insurance companies have no a negotiation policy towards customers who want to own their own sports car to people who own a valid driving license and are under the age of 25. And so they should. Half the cars that have smashed in front of me are Mustangs; old & new.

Want some good advice? Next time someone makes a pass of something like the above at you with their car, call up the Police and report their license plate and car model. It will do you no good chasing them down yourself, nor flashing or horning the person when they are 5 lamposts a distance away from you.

Be safe, people..

Me & Me?

Rosey petals
Poked thorns
Still awake
Close to dawn

Challenged by life
Greatest mysteries
Not time, nor love
But life itself

Change the world
Change yourself
Which change
Do you want first?

She came to know that you love her
There wasn't enough time for you tell her
The poked thorns in the bushes
The hidden feelings in your heart everytime you see her

Held down by time
Don't think to yourself on the when and why
This was how it was always meant to be
Forever, until you find the woman of your dreams

Heaven looks down with a smile
Doesn't pitty on you like a mother would to a child
The life given to you, is not to be spared, give it a try
Fortunately, you always have time

A flower is always a flower
A kiss is always a kiss
The burnt out desire to look for her
Is just a way to get over this

Time you will always have
Things, in the end, you will understand
And perhaps at some point come to meet the five people in Heaven
All to show you your lost lessons

So you're twenty-seven
Whose counting then?
It's just another day
You wake up and smile to the sunshine outside that hits on your eyes
And yet you're not dazed

Follow up to another career
The book is out and you're still here
I fail to see the mystery in all of this
You should be counting all your bliss

Rythem

I can't seem to think straight. Not because I am down or anything. But my mind, for today, is thinking in rythem. If I think of a sentence to start with I keep on chasing it with another that end the same level of rythem.

Its like there's something that wants to come out but it won't come unless its stated in a poem. This has never happened to me. Nor do I want to think in this way, right now.

I am trying to think of an issue to start with and I can't think in a way that would go straight.

Crap..

Can't sleep..

4 am here on a Saturday early morning.

I tried watching REMINGTON STEELE on DVD to get my eyes a bit tired. Didn't work. It only makes me more awake. I tried downloading a few songs with my 'faithful' dial up connection and I had already downloaded some 7 new songs by SANTANA. And, now, I am wide awake by listening to them while I blog this in.

I had finished the five people you meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom earlier today. And it was really inspiring. Really makes someone think, what Heaven could ever be like. And how everyone else imagines it to be. I found to be a great story. Can't wait to get my hands on Tuesdays with Morrie by the same author. Fascinating what this world of story telling can do in opening vast doors of imagery and play with your wild imagination in many scopes.

Sooner or later, before the end of this year, I will have changed my choice of '2nd permanent existense' from Starbucks to someplace else, inshallah.

I've sent out my third article to theweek for it to be printed this week; let's just hope that this time they will approve it. Don't ask me what the subject is about unless I say that it will not see it's way to the publication.

I guess also that not much will ever change in my life unless I really want to change it. I will still be more focused on writing poetry, articles, short stories and the such. And I guess my heart will offer it's passion to everything and everyone that passes it by. Not something to be proud of, to be honest. But I am told otherwise by people who really know me, by direct relation or otherwise. I find it highly unworthy of me to stay this way or any other way unless I can get what it is I have always been after.

Do I make the same mistake? Is it me that comes on to the point that finds me and myself into situations that I wish I was not in. In that case, I would only have myself to blame.

I have blead, gone through agonies and survived years of sickness to come to this point. To show I am a surviver. But after such trauma, do I really have the heart to move on? The wind of change is always around the corner, all it needs is a 'huff' in the right direction. Is it mine to make the move. I think not. I dare not say. I dare not make a move on anyone anymore. I don't want to. I will move on with my life. But my heart will forever stay the same.

Call it what you may want. This sudden unrest did not come with a rising of a blue moon in the distant sky. It was always there, forbidden to be spoken of. Forbidden to be felt. Just wrapped in the basement of my soul.

No One Will Ever Understand..

If only time was longer for me to know. What there is and what I could show. If only time held its breath. For me to discover instead of playing this game of show and tell. If only the two of us were here. On our own; for our concerns and secrets to be revealed.

The children run around. Playing hopscotch and on the merry-go-round. They laugh and play. Wish I had back my days. Turning of the hands of time. Wrinkles never go untnoticed - they shine. I am always a Cassanova. Broken by heart and tears. Ridden of lovely feelings, romantic gestures and scenes.

I am always the one with the lonely flower in my hand. Handing it out to everyone who is nice to me. My heart is at confusion. Dumped in frustration. Love? Love is just a dillusion. No one will ever come to understand.

An article, not meant to be..

Some two weeks ago, I sent to the theweek my third article containing big criticization about a certain organization here in Oman in line with it's competition when doors for the global markets were opened. It was rejected because it was found to be biased, misinformative and more-over, pointing hands at well deserved money-makers in the industry.

Today I bring this article to you to let you read it and tell me what you think about the article and if the right decision was made or what opinion you would have if you were the editor.

“Oman Mobile vs. Nawras: The Unfair Advantage”

Oman has finally decided to go on with the privatization plan of OmanTel and introducing competition into the telecom industry by adding a new mobile communications company, namely; Nawras, as part of the deal to be a member of the World Trade Organization.

But how far has that been achieved?

On one hand, OmanTel has been turned – by name – into a private company, until recently. But that still doesn’t mean that Oman has done its part, yet. It has a long stride to go on.

The introduction of competition by introducing a new mobile carrier such as Nawras has been hailed as a great move as it frees the consumers of having to deal with just one mobile company; Oman Mobile. But that’s just it. Nawras is by name and action a joint investment between Q-Tel and a group of Omani investors. However, on the other hand, Oman Mobile is still under the umbrella of OmanTel, a government-run company. Its funding come through local and international tenders and government investments. That is just one of the unfair advantages that Oman Mobile holds against Nawras.

Before the introduction of such competition, a royal decree was issued to establish a local Telecommunications Regulatory Authority here in Oman. Unknown to many, the head of the TRA, is the Minister of Telecommunications and also the President of the OmanTel Board Member table. The question here lies, how do you expect fair competition to be the focus if that was the case?

Not only does Oman Mobile hold that as an advantage, it also lacks the inspiration to innovate. Let’s be serious, here. How many times have we all seen Nawras come up with an offer that Oman Mobile counters with similarity?

Nawras may only have 100,000 mobile subscribers currently, with Oman Mobile boasting about over 1 million, but what Oman Mobile loses out on here is the quality and not the quantity. The network is worse as many subscribers to their network always complain about. Quality in service is also unavailable; you actually waste more than 5 minutes on the phone waiting for someone to pick up at the other end just so you can enquire.

Nothing’s perfect in this world. But that doesn’t mean that we leave such taqqy issues to solve all by themselves. The truth needs to be known.

Been A Bit Busy..

Sorry people..

I've been a bit busy with other parts of my life and lately I don't feel quite so well because I hurt my lung cage and I can barely breathe through it or even sleep on the side that's hurt. Don't tell me to go to the doctor and see what it's all about. Because I would just let it come out the other ear.

I've been busy with distributing promotional copies of my second poetry book Wonderous World to people who were interested in having a copy. If you'd like one let me know, the first 100 copies of the book are free, after that, they're all going to be sold. I'm planning to make the revenues partially towards a charity case, just haven't decided to which one, yet.

People have also been offering to work for their private companies because they hang around with me, so I am considering the options, too.

Plus I have bought the popular book 'the five people you meet in Heaven' by Mitch Albom. Very cool. And what amazes me is the fact as I am reading the book, I tend to vizualize the writer's imagery of what is going on. And I swear that Bruce Willis would do great as the main character; Eddie.

I also plan to read another one by Mitch Albom, which is called 'Tuesdays with Morrie'. But I can't seem to find it here in Oman. I am also interested in reading books by Wordsworth and Streinburgh. And another phylisophical book by the name of Utopia.

I have to also start working again on another article that the folks at theweek would agree to print this time, and I have a good title to start on. Which, is a good thing, by the way.

Other than that, I still hang out at the same place, drink the same drink day in day out, and just chill in the cool coming winter breeze.

These happenings all seriously make me fascinated. Wonderful.

Heck.

Even smile with delight. ;o)

Sometimes..

Sometimes I wish
I was just a tree
Waiting for the leaves
To fall beneath me

Sometimes I wish
I was just a star
To smile upon you
Where-ever you are

Sometimes I wish
I was just a breeze
Whisking through your hair
Gently, silently

Sometime I would wish
I was just your beating heart
To flutter; to pulsate
To show you that the first chance of joy is at the first spark..

Where there's one door closed..

We always come to a time that we think we are being victimized by something or someone. Being oppressed to do something that we can't or doing it without comprehension.

It's like walking in the dark, figuritively.

And what wonders the human mind mostly is how to manage the problem. Does the person actually give in by running away from the apademic by saying this is it, there's no solution and sit down with both hands on his head trying to comprehend what is happened? Or do they face up to the challenge, look up, chin high, and battle it with every last breath they have, so they can tell that at least, they 'died' trying?

There's always been the saying in Arabia (not sure if it's from Hadeeth or the Qur'an), that goes; 'Where one door is closed in your face, God opens a thousand more'.

It doesn't mean you don't give in to the reality of the situation. It doesn't you give up, either. It means you do your best to what it takes, with what you have.

And everything that ends up nicely happy, always...starts with a smile.