Happiness!

Goldfrapp - Happiness
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Nostalgia, Electioneering with a splash of Iced Toddy

The very world surrounding us is a changing. For worse or for better, who knows? 8th October maybe the day the world shifts for some of us. Or it may simply just carry on the way it did for the past 30 years.

I've tried to blog about politics. Gave it a few tries, deleted, tried some more, delete, delete some more. To tell the truth I was just one (or two, three) step behind the fast changing phase of Maldivian political scenarios, so I just made do with discussing them with my friends and family.

So instead of discussing politics I have a spanking great idea of making a nostalgia list. A Nostalgia List, you say?

Nostalgia: a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends -- Dictionary.com

So with the meaning aside. The list is a compilation of anything, anyone, anywhere that reminds of me the good old days. Others are most welcome to contribute.

* Remember those eyeliners we had that comes in a small tin. You rub a piece of rock (I don't know what it exactly is) on the solid eyeliner to turn bits into dust. Then you rub your fingers on the dust and line your eyes.

* The color pencil box that comes with a picture of a robot on the front. The robot had a 'TV' as a face.

* The plastic book bag with pictures of smiling fruits we carried for tuition.

* Majeedhuge. Majeedhu. (he can still invoke fear in me)

* Pencil Cases. Ones with Buttons!!!

* Bicycles. Riding them early in the morning.

* The sound of gun attacks on that eventful November day.

* Kao Shampoo!

* Phones at home. Real phones. Not mobile ones.

* Watching TVM. Only TVM

* Listening to Boduberu on radio early every morning.

* Waking up at 8:00am is considered sleeping in.

* Sleeping at 9:00pm is considered sleeping late.

* Iced Toddy

* Haunted school toilets

* Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper

* UB40, Duran Duran, Aha, MJ, Madonna, Rob Stewart, Dire Straits, The Bangles, Bob Marley etc

* Hindi Movies

* Bad copy English Movies

* Itty bitty shorts for boys, Huge, scratchy princess style dresses for girls with alice bands.

Ok I'm gonna stop for now... If I remember more, I'll include them.


To top it off I'll just add these lines as a sign off and dedication to Maldivian Politics:

I will stop, I will stop at nothing.
Say the right things when electioneering
I trust I can rely on your vote.

When I go forwards you go backwards
and somewhere we will meet.
When I go forwards you go backwards
and somewhere we will meet.
Ha ha ha

Riot shields, voodoo economics,
it's just business, cattle prods and the I.M.F.
I trust I can rely on your vote.

"Electioneering" by Radiohead

Hypocrites and Househusbands

This has been something I've been mulling about for several days. A friend of mine works, while her husband stays home.

The husband in question is currently taking a break from his studies and basically just stays home. He does help around the house, helps with the cooking, does the shopping, tries (and I put extra emphasis on the word 'try' here) hard to help his wife. Their's is a good marriage. 5 years courtship and 2 years of marriage. No children. The husband does make some money off by leasing some property, so financially they are both stable.

So I've been asking around, asking family members, friends what they think of 'househusbands'. Is it still a taboo subject? Are people warming up to the idea of staying-at-home dads? What do you think?

And I can't believe Nahula is going to sue that guy and make him pay Rf100,000 to Rf 500,000 when she herself would be the first one sued for plagiarizing all those hindi songs. Big fat hypocrite!

I divorced my dream guy in my dreams!

Writer's block. Writer's block. Writer's block. Lets start with a dream.

Last night I had a rather interesting dream. I dreamt my little sister's were getting married and not wanting to be left out I decided to get married along with them. I've really no idea who the guy was and in the dream I didn't seem to care less. All I can recall was a tall, quiet, slim guy who just left me to my destructive ways. Anyhoo I got married. The wedding was all blah blah same old same old things. I don't think they even played The Beatles there which by the way is my biggest wish.

So the next day (still in the dream) things were basically back to normal. I finished work. Met up with my friend, V who asked how my husband was. I paused for a while and remembered. "Good lord. There's a guy waiting for me at 'our' house."

I told her something as if like waving the question away and mentally began plotting on a divorce.

I can't believe it!! A guy can't even hold my attention long enough even in a dream. I got bored in one day!! I got up from my sleep feeling apprehensive and wondering how many marriages I would go through like this.

Annnnd in other news, my mom (of all people) are facing peer pressure from our neighbors. These women, me and brothers had lovingly labeled as 'Desperate Housewives', are actually lecturing my mom on wearing the veil. They chide her for her 'lack of attire' and have even promised to donate an entirely new wardrobe - for free. My mom had finally told them she would do it at the start of ramadan just to get them off her back. Hmmmmm... I wonder how she's gonna dig herself out of this. We'll keep you posted.

My resolution of cutting back costs is still ongoing with some minor glitches...

- Only one shopping spree and no impulsive shopping. (glitch: I've spent Rf 400.00 in one go for just cosmetics)
- No more shoes and heels unless I NEED them. (no glitches)
- Only ONE coffee outing. (glitch: The bad side is that my phone bill is increasing)
- No taxies! (glitch: My legs. My poor legs)

P.S: I just put up that Elijah Wood pic just for the heck of it. And coz I enjoy looking at him.

Face Veil, Pitchforks and Emotional Blackmail

A couple of weeks back I got a call from a cousin of mine whom I haven't seen in a very long time. Probably 5 years now. Well she got married at an extremely young age, has a bunch of kids now and lives in Vaikaradhoo (my mom's island).

One thing I can say about my cousin is she loves a good laugh. She never tends to take things too seriously. Well all this was way back then.

Anyway she had finally gotten my number and rang me up one night and decided to catch up.

(After all the hello's, how are you's, ho hum hums...)
Cousin: So when are you going to visit?

Me: Maybe later this year when I take holiday.

Cousin: Do you wear the buruga?

Me: No hehehehe

Cousin: Really? Then how are going to come here? Everyone here wears it. I wear Moonu Buruga now.

Me: (bit shocked) Really. Why do u wear that?

Cousin: My husband told me to

Me: Oh i see. I thought you should wear these things after making the decision by yourself. Not cause someone told you to.

Cousin: Anyway are you married now?

Me: hehehe no

Cousin: Why not? You must be 20 by now

Me: 25

Cousin: (laughs really loudly) My goodness! You're getting old. You should get married before you turn into a grandma.

Me: I'm young! hehehehe I'm not old yet.

(By this time my cousin was basically rolling around on the floor i suppose, coz she was laughing so hard and i was beginning to sound whiny) :P

The next day my cousin sends me a pic of her through my mom's phone. Lo and behold stood was my cousin against a blue wall, face veil and all. A second later she calls again.

Cousin: Well? Waddaya think?

Me: I barely recognized you

Cousin: (deadpan tone) You didn't???? Why not??

Heehehe it was nice hearing from her after all a long time. And I can see her humor hasn't changed much.

Now I'm wondering whether I should visit the island. It would be an experience I suppose. Either the local folks will drive me mad or they'll chase me off the island with pitch forks. My cousin's husband helpfully said he has a speed launch ready in case...

Anyway I was also wondering about Nahula's new movie Yousuf. According to my friend, all the shows were fully booked. I haven't seen it but I've seen a bit of the trailer. So my question is...

Nahula's Yousuf:

A) A work of art

B) Emotional Blackmail

The High School

Right first and foremost I'd like to state that I regret asking a certain someone to nag me. Not only did he not nag for what i asked he nagged for the wrong article all together. So there.

OK now that we have that out of the way, back to the post. Since my recent introduction into Maldivian blogs I couldn't help but notice certain "sects" in this sphere. Certain groups. It's almost like a high school. The popular crowd, the nerds (or intellectuals if I may), the artists, the goths and of coz cheerleaders. Let me describe them with a bit more flair ...

The Frat Boyz: They have a swagger in their writing. A certain strut. A certain “I own this bit of the universe and there ain’t nothing you can do about it” blogging attitude. They have their standards, they have their ideologies (some very highly opinionated ones as well) and they have their coffees. Plus you can smell the leather and the cigarettes all the way from the monitor.

The Pop Princesses: Mostly this group consists of teens and girls in their early twenties (and a very rare breed who are a bit older). You can recognize them first off with their username, which consist of a colour followed by some sugary sweet noun that might leave you feeling a bit queasy as if you had eaten an entire carton of sugar plus honey. You can also recognize them by their "MySpace-y" lookalike blog, with wedges in every crook and cranny. And they also have a tendency to write their blogs center aligned. And oh yea loads of (sugar sweet/ bittersweet) poems.

The Gang War Zone: These come in different areas. Be it political wars or religious wars. It’s basically like watching a tennis match. Nuff said.

The Chess Club: These are the intellectuals. The older and wiser bloggers. They normally blog intelligent articles on everything and nothing. The highs and the lows. Even if you’re not big on reading, you can still recognize them by their easy on the eyes, minimalist blog decoration.

The Starving Artists: In short, the flickrs. They flickr here. They flickr there. They flickr everywhere. If it’s not a flickr account it is a creative and cool blog designs and food for thought creative, be it photos, art or even written pieces.

The Class Clowns: The satire blogs that pokes fun at everything including themselves. You can’t ever expect them to take themselves seriously. Ever.

Well I guess that’s about all I can come up with. I’m sure there are more. Maybe you can help me out in the gray area where I had become fuzzy. =)

Zombies!

I normally have this unusual obsession with things that I'm scared of. I have always been terrified of zombies (yeah you can laugh here) but that never stopped me from watching zombie flicks, sometimes even alone just for the thrill of it, though recently I have sort of sworn off horror movies for some reason I can't remember. hmmmm.....

Anyway recently I saw this weird movie on HBO. The starting of it is curious. It had me guessing what genre the movie was. Was it a kids movie or was it a zombie flick. You can't tell... The movie was full of bright colors, quirky characters and whimsical background music. And yet there were flesh eating gory zombies running around everywhere.

I asked myself dare I watch this. I kept thinking of switching to another channel but I was already hooked. In the movie there is a boy and his family hires a zombie to do their housework. Yea, housework. Anyhoo the boy is at first skeptical about how safe the whole thing is (understandably) but later establishes a friendship with the decaying help.

By now I'm expecting the zombie to goble up the boy any time now. Didn't happen. Then I expected the zombie to goble up the boy's mom. Didn't happen. The boy's dad. That didn't happen either. By now I had sighed in relief that there would be no gobling of anyone in this movie. But then to my utter horror the zombie eats the boy's neighbor, old Mrs. Handerson. She in turn changes into a zombie and attacks someone else.... You get my drift by now I suppose.

I think the movie was actually pretty good. There are some squirmy parts like zombie kissing (eeech) but I'd still give it 4/5. By the way the movie is called 'Fido'. Check out the trailer.

Simmering pick and pluck
Tenderize bone to dust
The sweetest grease, finest meat you'll ever taste

So you scream, whine, and yell
Supple sounds of dinner bell
We all will feed the worms and trees So don't be shy

Swallow and chew
Eat you alive
All of us food, that hasn't died

... mosquito song by Queens of the Stone Age

Fuzz Bucket

My friend calls me one day and asks me whether I'd like to adopt a new kitten. I patiently told her that I've reached my limit of one pet (my mom's rule). Anyway during work break I raced off to her house to see the new family member.

Let me first say that her house is full of all sorts of animals. They have two eagles, couple of birds, loadsa fishes. They also kept a couple of bunnies, snakes and chicks in the past. But when it comes to cats, her mom put her foot down on it. And oh yeah while I was there playing with the new kitten, her bro's tried to sneak in a white mouse and promptly got busted. Luckily instead of bursting a nerve my friend's mom just shook her head and sighed.

Anyhoo, the new kitten. He's soo adorable and very well behaved too. Since my friend's mom was threatening to have it thrown out on the streets I decided to adopt it temporarily till a proper home was found. Two days later I still have no luck and I'm running out of excuses to keep my mom from getting frustrated. Help!!!

Blowing Steam

I was going to make no mention whatsoever of the word 'football' but when I heard that the president himself was awarding about Rf 200, 000 to EACH player I just can't sit still. All I can say is we are truly and royally f*cked!!

I have already heard different views on this from work. Some say they deserve it. Other's agree but is of the opinion, considering at the current state of our country, that the amount a wee bit over the top.

There are people STILL living in makeshift homes after the tsunami and ours players get Rf 200,000 each. Like I said before we are truly and royally f*cked!!!

A blood sucking vampire or a thalassemia patient?

It doesn't really make me angry when a person confuse me for being sick. I've had countless teachers in the past give me sad, sympathetic looks whenever they saw my frail, skinny, little frame. It was understandable since I was a year younger than the rest of the students (my mom apparently couldn't wait to send me off to school). There were in fact perks for being so small. The teachers gave you a break if you don't complete your homework and some of them even forgo punishment. :D

Anyway now that I've grown and filled out a bit, I can't understand why people still come up to me and ask, "Are you a thalassemia patient?" .....really.....they actually ask me that. Normally in a quiet, worried voice. So anyhoo, I've decided to make a list of those who confused me for being a thelassemia patient...

* My Sixth Grade Dhivehi teacher : One day just out of the blue she asked.

* Some girl at Sheri Salon: She actually swore to the receptionist that I'm the first thalassemia patient to have undergone a bone marrow transplant. (who'd knew!!!)

* According to a work colleague, the office gossip states that I might be one of them thalassemia patient.

* One of the neighbors who lives below our office stops me one day in the stairwell and asks (same hushed, saddened tone) if I'm a 'T' patient.

* One of the women who goes to aerobics with me.

* A friend's husband (who asked his wife for confirmation)

* A friend's wife (who asked her husband for confirmation) - this actually happened this morning.


hmmmmm....i might've missed a few....anyway I keep wondering why this happens to me. This is what I got so far...

... Earlier I had assumed it was because I was scarily thin but that's hardly the case anymore.

... Next I thought there might be someone who looks exactly like me.

... One of people who asked me said it was because of my cheeks. Cheeks??! Yes, cheeks.

... One of them also said something about my forehead! (don't ask, I've no idea myself)

... My friend says, that I actually might be a thalassemia patient and that I just haven't realized it yet coz I turn into blood sucking vampire every night and feed upon helpless victims.


Personally I like that last one. Makes more sense to me considering how thin my close friends, V and D are...

The Gentlemen

The Gentlemen, my muse and the only characters on Buffy that really gave me nightmares. Yup they did! I swear I still wake up in the middle of the night thinking that they are standing beside my bed silently leering down on me. Apart from their evil grins, it's the fact they float around the streets gesturing to one another as if they are in deep conversation even though they make no noise whatsoever. And oh they are after our hearts and they have a box that'll take away your voice, so however hard you try to scream no one will ever hear you as the Gentlemen carves out your heart.

The Gentlemen are best described as humanoid, fanged, clawed, bald, pale, always smiling, mute and wear black suits.

Photoshoot

Tonight me and a friend are going to have our pics taken. So going to get all dolled up for tonight. Hope it turns out alright. gaaaaaaaaaah

The Round Table Bargain

There we were, all sitting around a round table. Me sitting right next to the devil. He pushes a piece of paper towards me.

Devil: Here you go. I believe this is what you had in mind before you came to our meeting.

Me: hmmmm.....(going over the paper)...wait... I also recommended pain's involvement in this.

Devil: Errmm...actually, we...er...had a problem with that.

Me and the Devil looked over at Pain who was sitting across from us.

Pain: (with a nasty expression on his face and shrugs) I want no involvement on this.

Me: Oh come on!

Pain: Forget it!!

Sanity: Please!! (looks imploringly towards me) Don't do this. Just think of the consequences.

Me: (ignores Sanity's pleas and faces the Devil instead). You also promised me no Pain.

Devil: Yeah...welll.. I'm afraid there's nothing I can do about it. Their mind is pretty much made up.

Me: hmpf... fine then. It's a deal.

Devil: (beams) excellent. I'm glad every thing's in order then. I've been after your soul for a while.

We all stood. Sanity still grumbling under her breath follows a couple of steps behind me as we all leave.

Pain: (standing behind everyone) and oh by the way... I might visit once in a while and if you don't mind I'll bring along Sick as well...

I shoot Devil a look and he shrugs and shook his head as if to say he can't help it.

Me: Fine. As long as I get my share.

A colleague of mine inspired me to write this. He always complains that I never take sick leave. So here you go. Here's the reason. Sick has been pretty mild with me whenever he visited. Pain as usual visits me often these days just for his sick pleasure. As for Death. He's keeping his end of the bargain.

PMS Sorrow

I'm in serious need of a pick-me-up. I'm basically teetering over the edge of my good and well kept patience. The stress of smiling through everything when all I want to do is bite someone's head off is tiring me out. So I think I'll just list out all the stuff that annoyed me through out this morning.

1- On top of having a bad knee I nearly twisted my ankle.

2- I nearly tripped over a fallen brunch. I mean for goodness sake, I well avoided all the puddles but I didn't see a freakin' three feet long fallen brunch.

3- I nagged. I loathe nagging. It's a waste of my energy. But I ended up nagging and I'm upset with myself over that.

4- My foot is having pins and needles as we speak and I just want to bang it against the desk.

5- I just want to sleeep, instead I'm stuck at work.

....... I'm sure there's more but I can't actually think of anything right now ..... so anyway I'm just gonna post one of my new favourite comic strips

Ok, now I'm just gonna go and drown my PMS sorrow in Slipknot

Fire!

This morning around 6 I get this sms from my friend, saying "Hot News! Our house nearly burnt"
I read it through with one eye still shut and went right back to sleep. My friend really does have tendecy to exaggerate sometimes. Besides she sounded excited rather than alarmed.

So after finally getting up around seven, I stopped by her place on the way to work. What I saw astounded me. Right in front of her house were this huge pile of ashes that used to be four motorcycles. The outside wall were blackened with soot. After shutting my mouth I went inside to find my friend.

Turned out someone set fire to those motorcycles (they belonged to a neighbor of theirs), the fire then in turn spread over to the outer wall of the house and nearly blocked the entrance. My friend told me that she and her family were trapped inside and had no way of getting out of the house. I knew the house well and she was right. The only exit is through the front door, there were no other doors or windows. She later told me her younger bro had run out with bucket of water and had tried to put out the fire by himself. According to her non of the neighbors had tried to help. She said they all just stood around gaping.

Thankfully at least no one was hurt in the incident.

Polygamy for the selfish man

This is an interesting little article I ran across this morning...

Women should accept polygamy, Malaysian lawmaker says

KUALA LUMPUR, May 23, 2008 - A Malaysian lawmaker told parliament that there would be fewer marital problems and a lower divorce rate if Muslim women were taught to accept polygamy, news reports said Friday.

Ibrahim Ali, an independent parliamentarian, proposed moves to address the issue in response to complaints that women were always blamed for marital issues.

"Such problems happen because women cannot accept polygamy. From a preventive point of view, what about doing a big campaign so that women can accept polygamy?" Ibrahim was quoted saying in the Star daily.

The ethnic Malay Muslim lawmaker said women who are pregnant or who have "problems" when they hit their fifties do not understand that men still want to "have fun".

Fuziah Salleh, an opposition lawmaker, had earlier questioned the qualifications of Islamic sharia court counsellors as she had received complaints from women that they were forced to take the blame for most marital problems.

"They are not counselled but given 'advice'. And every time, they are told that the woman is to be blamed. If it is a family problem, they must be patient. If they are beaten up, they must also be patient," she said.

Muslim men in Malaysia are allowed up to four wives. Activists and women's groups say polygamy is cruel and has deviated from its original purpose in Islam, which was to protect widows and orphans.

Islam is the official religion of Malaysia, where more than 60 percent of its 27 million people are Muslim Malays. Polygamy is illegal for non-Muslims. - AFP

Welll.....Not only are they saying that men has every right to marry any number of women they'd like, NOW they are saying that we should be TAUGHT to accept polygamy. What does this guy think women are?! Brainless idiots??!! Counting from personal experience, it was polygamy itself that had ruined my parents marriage, not to mention several other people's. Guys like these are nothing but selfish perverts.

Gummy and the aww factor

Aaah the weekend has arrived. Only 5 more days till payday. I just need to hang on to my coins and living off my mom for just 5 more days. I would need to buy a vacumme cleaner, a new bedsheet and a birthday gift for my friend (her birthday was in April).

Gummy blooper of the week: My cat was in one of her crazies this morning, playing a mean game with my mom on this double bunk bed in our house. My mom was cleaning the top bunk when Gummy decided to 'lend a help'. All I heard was my mom cursing and the sound of Gummy running around in excitement. Next thing I know poor Gummy was hanging off the top bunk by the tips of her front claws, meowing pitifully. My mom was laughing her ass off (sorry mom) but it was ridiculously funny. Finally I went over grabbed her heavier lower side and helped her up. Seriously Gummy you should really lay off the kitty biscuits a little, your kitty ass is too fat now.

I saw the sweetest thing on tv last night. Jay Leno's interview with a couple who's been married for 75 freaking years. Now before you go sticking your fingers down your throat, I suggest you watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtGaMJ7ma9E

Doesn't that just twist the 'awww' factor all the way up. :D

Anyway I'm off to enjoy the weekend.
byes

Yuppies and coffee shops alongside dreams

It's been a while since I've hung out with some of my friends. We normally hang out at some coffee shop (yes i believe the term would be 'yuppies'). But then nearly all of us are broke, there's hardly any of us could do except stay home and visit their homes. Visiting is hardly fun as the houses are normally crowded with other family members and we can't talk in private as we'd like.

And I saw 'Requiem for a Dream' last night. A beautiful sad movie. Been listening to the movie soundtrack all morning. It's sad how everyone just ends up being alone in the end. Either you leave someone you love or they leave you...

My First Blog

Alrighty letseeeeeeeee now....

When this year started I made two new resolutions (this is a first for me as i never made new year resolution before).

One was to exercise more. Which i did start in January itself (surprise surprise). I went jogging, everyday for two whole weeks before spraining BOTH my ankles. Then last month i started an aerobics class. (I'll explain all about that later)

The second resolution was to write more. Currently I'm going through this phase where I just don't feel like writing. Oh things are happening but I don't feel the need to share them. I've tried all sorts of methods. Keeping papers and pens in my purse so I can just whip them out wherever and whenever. Moving into my friend's apartment and staying in her guest room every weekend hoping the peace and quiet will prompt me (no luck there... I'm too busy having fun with my friend.)

I've even tried a no-talking experiment. For some reason i thought that if i talk less I'll write more. Unfortunately the timing was wrong, and for someone who hardly gets much social calls, that one hour when i decided to be quiet i get all sorts of calls.

.......wow well waddaya know I just wrote, 1, 2, 3 ....6 paraphraphs including this. :D Must give myself a good pat in the back.

And to sigh off I'll quote arnold swarzwhatisname "I'll be back!" (hopefully)