Vegetarianism rocks.....

I found this article just now. And I got so excited I had to come put a link up. Okay, so I have a friend who is OBSESSED with BBC news. Every little while I used to wander past his blog, and there'd be an article up about the weird and wonderful articles he'd find, but he's never mentioned this one to me, and it's really old! It's funny how these things stick around in the most popular links - people see them and their interesting titles, keep clicking them, and the cycle makes them remain the most popular article perpetually. Like the Sudanese goat article. That's been passed around beyond belief. What's that? You haven't seen it? Okay, well the gist of it is....

A man wakes up in the middle of the night. He wanders out to see what's going on, and there's some random guy doing "things" to his goat. I mean, bestiality is not most people's thing, right? No, don't look at me like that. I'm not into that. Just because I bite... 8-) So he ties up the man. Brings him before the village's counsel of elders. They essentially dictate the laws. They decreed that since the man had had experiences with the goat that one ordinarily would with one's wife, he had to pay a dowry. And get married to the goat. No joke. Really.

But anyways..... This one in question is about how I'm clever for not eating meat. Lol. Apparently vegetarians are more intelligent and live longer than non-veg. Live longer? Duh. Most meats are chockful of "bad" cholesterol [the unsaturated types]. Shame it doesn't make us pretty too! I got told last week that all the pretty people are non-veg people.

Meh. Two outta three ain't bad. Have a nice day!

BBC News - vegetarianism

PS.... Just in case you still didn't believe me about the goat! Lol! [First link originally written in Feb 2004]

PPS. Lol. I just searched BBC for the link. It's such a phenomenon. In May 2007, Rose, Sudan's married goat, passed away. My condolences to her widower, and all who will miss her.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4748292.stm">BBC News - original

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6619983.stm">BBC News - update

Shantaram....

I love reading. It's one of my favourite things to do in the world... To curl up with a good book, and be transported to another time, place, or universe. To see, hear and smell things from another lifetime with such vividness that you can lose yourself for hours on end. It opens opportunity, and lets the imagination soar. More so for a well-written book. I guess it's why I usually read the book before going to see the movie, and then am invariably disappointed, lol! It never looks just as I had pictured it. The colours are muted, the actors possess a different take on the emotions, and expressions. But when you're reading, the characters are truly of your own creation - the author merely provides the guidelines.

I rediscovered just such a book the other day. Shantaram. By Gregory David Roberts. There are no words to describe it. When reading it, I literally felt what he described. More than that, I was inspired by his words, his candid self-assessment... I walked along his path of self-discovery, was crushed by his disappointments, and soared with his realisations.

Yet more inspiring, the story the book tells is true - it's somewhat awe-inspiring to know that the life he describes actually happened, once upon a time. And if I were to repeat the blurb [as I do below], I have no doubt that you too would be incredulous at how much one can achieve in a single lifetime. The mental strength to survive so many hardships is actually real.

I remember how I felt the first time I read the book over a year ago. I wanted to embark on my own journey of self-exploration; to face my own challenges to not only survive, but learn from my experiences [and through which create my own opportunities to achieve wonderful things]; to save lives; to simply make a difference. I was sure that the lessons learned from the book would never leave me, its profound meaning would forever change my life.

That copy of the book has since been read by 3-4 more people. It returned to me last week, and I voraciously read it again - not just to see if it was really as good as I remember, but because often, the second time one reads something, the more insight one gets from it. [The same was true of Fight Club - the clues for that ultimate twist were there all along, try it! It's pretty incredible what you miss when you don't know what you're looking for!] I guess in terms of books, the first time, I read faster to feed my insatiable curiosity of the twists and turns within the plot that the underlying messages are only superficially recognised.

And it was just as good as I remember. Better. More inspiring. Yet somewhat depressingly, in the year since I first read it, none of my ideals have happened. Lol, it's not like I ever expected to go and live in an Indian slum and save lives or anything. But it's all the same. Well, on first thought anyways. I guess for the more ordinary amongst us - those not quite as adventurous as Roberts - the changes are more subtle.

- Like my last couple of posts for example. I've found myself appreciating the little things more. The beauty in my mundane ordinary and unexciting life.
- I'm more likely to take that spontaneous choice. Why not go out for that friend's birthday despite the shedloads of work I'll have to make up for? It's important to me, and them.
- And I guess best of all, I'm provoked into looking at myself a lot more. I'm happier with who I see looking back at me. By living my life more with each passing moment rather than for what's happened in the last 10 years, and preparing for what may or may not even happen in the next 10 years, I'm gaining more pleasure.

And I'd like to think, sharing that pleasure with those around me. Like I'm sure you've seen those stupid e-mail forwards. The one I'm thinking of in particular is about the smile, and how infectious it can be. I smile, so others around me will smile more. Smiling makes people happy [something to do with the endorphins (happy hormones) the brain releases, triggered by the smiling mechanism]. By my smiling more, I'd like to think the world is just a little bit happier, even if it is localised. You hear so many stories about those brave individuals who stuck to their belief that if they do what they can, one person can make a difference.

Starting small, I'm making a difference.... Give it a go, it's fun! :o)

"In the early 80s, Gregory David Roberts, an
armed robber and heroin addict, escaped from an Australian prison to India,
where he lived in a Bombay slum. There, he established a free health clinic and
also joined the mafia, working as a money launderer, forger, and street soldier.
He found time to learn Hindi and Marathi, fall in love, and spend time being
worked over in an Indian jail. Then, in case anyone thought he was slacking, he
acted in Bollywood and fought with the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan... Amazingly,
Roberts wrote Shantaram three times after prison guards trashed the first two
versions. It's a profound tribute to his willpower... At once a high-kicking,
eye-gouging adventure, a love saga and a savage yet tenderly lyrical fugitive
vision"
Written by Time Out

PS. Yes, I know he was an escaped convict, and a former heroin addict, and that he not only fought for, but rationalised and even maybe slightly trivialised Jihad. And that much of the book has probably been slightly overdramatised. But the majority of what happened is true. And he achieved much good in his life, to atone for his past sins. And who doesn't make mistakes? It doesn't make the book any less powerful.

Beautiful! *sighs*

Today I am expressing wonderment at all that is. It occurred to me today, mid-revision. Well, mid-supposed revision - the reality was closer to procrastination. The world is so much bigger than anything we know. Regardless of our woes; our joys and successes; and even our very existence, the world is relatively indifferent. Clocks keep ticking. People carry on about their insignificant lives. The sun continues to rise and set. Eventually we all will die. Even those who achieve a celebrity status. The kind of status that means they're remembered after their death - their existence has been recorded by civilisation as a whole. Like Shakespeare, or Caesar. In all likelihood, there will come a day when not a single person on this planet - not a single atom in the cosmos - is aware they existed.

So what then, is the purpose of life? Given that on our death, we can no longer experience life, and will henceforth eventually be forgotten? See, here's the thing... I don't actually have a clue. Maybe I'll save that for another day. This started out as an expression of amazement at the size of the universe; the efficiency through which it runs; and the beauties which it creates. The beautiful views of sunsets/sunrises; the ocean on a clear summer's day - indeed, the ocean on a miserable stormy day too! The tiniest little ant in itself is a wonder, there are so many rare species of whose existence we are even entirely unaware of! The list therefore, is endless.

Whenever it all gets a bit much, I know I can retreat to thinking of any one of these wonders, which will put my worries into perspective - nothing makes an impending deadline seem so trivial as the thought of miles and miles of the sea, whose waves will continue to rise and fall whether or not you write 4000 words, or 6000. The soothing sound of waves crashing on the shoreline. The deep blue translucent vision stretching as far as the eye can see, until it meets the bright sky at the horizon. Beautiful, no?

So that's my tuppence for the day. Appreciate. Savour. Make the most of every experience. Take a moment to ponder the beauty of natural creation. Stop to enjoy the beautiful view from the train window as you're squashed like a sardine in a carriage. Or to smell a rose as you stroll past a bush, instead of rushing to push rudely past everyone else on the road. Think about the miracle behind a fly's tiny little wings, instead of aimlessly swatting to cause its extermination when you hear a buzzing sound. Dream of lying on a beach on a hot summer's day as you fall asleep instead of worrying about how busy you'll be tomorrow.... Doesn't life already seem that little bit sweeter? :o)

London Underground.

So I was in a somewhat spiritual mood early this morning. Strange how the whole sense of the "miracle of being" never really lasts that long. I feel the need to redeem myself with a witty and less optimistic post. I found it in this delightful song I came across a couple of years ago.
Get ready..... Here's the four-step procedure.

• 1. Turn up sound.

• 2. Make sure you have Flash.

3. Click Here

• 4. Sit back and watch the pretty images. And laugh at the Jelly in the last picture.

Tee hee heeeee! And then tell me how great you think it was! Lol....

The Smell of Rain

So I got this story as an e-mail forward. It's not a true story. You see so many of these. And yet, this one touched me in a way very few have before. Not enough to make me send it on as a forward. I never do that, they're a waste of time. But because it really is the little things that matter.

So often, we rush through life. When it starts to rain [as it does SOOO often in England] we complain that we'll get wet.
If there's a long queue at the coffee shop we complain that we're wasting time.
If there's traffic we worry that we'll be late.
Same for tube delays, red lights, waiting for an intolerably slow lift [like in Holborn ;)] and so many more things.

We never seem to stop to smell the roses; to take a deep breath; to look around at the beauty passing us by. I'm considering sending it on. What do you reckon?



The smell of rain

A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in Dallas as the doctor walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. She was still groggy from surgery. Her husband, David, held her hand as they braced themselves for the latest news. That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana, only 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency Cesarean to deliver couple's new daughter, Dana Lu Blessing. At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously premature. Still, the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs. "I don't think she's going to make it," he said, as kindly as he could.
"There's only a 10-percent chance she will live through the night, and even then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future could be a very cruel one"

Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor described the devastating problems Dana would likely face if she survived.
She would never walk, she would never talk, she would probably be blind, and she would certainly be prone to other catastrophic conditions from cerebral palsy to complete mental retardation, and on and on. "No! No!" was all Diana could say. She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had long dreamed of the day they would have a daughter to become a family of four. Now, within a matter of hours, that dream was slipping away <>But as those first days passed, a new agony set in for David and Diana. Because Dana's underdeveloped nervous system was essentially 'raw', the lightest kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort, so they couldn't even cradle their tiny baby girl against their chests to offer the strength of their love. All they could do, as Dana struggled alone beneath the ultraviolet light in the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God would stay close to their precious little girl. There was never a moment when Dana suddenly grew stronger. But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here and an ounce of strength there.

At last, when Dana turned two months old. her parents were able to hold her in their arms for the very first time.

And two months later, though doctors continued to gently but grimly warn that h er chances of surviving, much less living any kind of normal life, were next to zero, Dana went home from the hospital, just as her mother had predicted.

Five years later, when Dana was a petite but feisty young girl with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life. She showed no signs whatsoever of any mental or physical impairment. Simply, she was everything a little girl can be and more. But that happy ending is far from the end of her story.

One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near her home in Irving, Texas, Dana was sitting in her mother's lap in the bleachers of a local ball park where her brother Dustin's baseball team was practicing. As always, Dana was chattering nonstop with her mother and several other adults sitting nearby when she suddenly fell silent.

Hugging her arms across her chest, little Dana asked, "Do you smell that?"
Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, Diana replied, "Yes, it smells like rain."
Dana closed her eyes and again asked, "Do you smell that?"
Once again, her mother replied, "Yes, I think we're about to get wet. It smells like rain."
Still caught in the moment, Dana shook her head, patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and loudly announced, "No, it smells like Him. It smells like God when you lay your head on His chest."

Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Dana happily hopped down to play with the other children. Before the rains came, her daughter's words confirmed what Diana and all the members of the extended Blessing family had known, at least in their hearts, all along. During those long days and nights of her first two months of her life, when her nerves were too sensitive for them to touch her, God was holding Dana on His chest and it is His loving scent that she remembers so well.

Tut tut... Shame on me!

I feel absolutely awful!!! It's been so long since I posted! So I better bring you all up to speed with what's going on.....

Well, first of all, back at uni, and back in halls, living it up (pretending - but not succeeding - to be a Fresher).... Which means I can wake up at 8:45, and make it to my 9 o'clocks, showered and all! (Very handy seeing as I can't function on little sleep like Freshers as I did back in the day!)... It means I get FT's for 20p.... It means I can go down to the bar any time of day and night, and still find people awake to play free pool with! (Of which I'm very proud, because I keep beating all the boys, who then throw hissy/stroppy fits!!! HAHA!!!). And best of all, it means when I can't sleep at 4:30am, I can do productive things like type up my blog, rather than pretend to be asleep as I would at home!

Another mega-plus point is that I got this very VERY funky poster, entitled "We all know boys are stupid... These are just a few reasons why." See below for extracts! :D I also bought some sexy sexy boots... Yayyyy! Don't you just feel so much sexier dressed up in some yummy boots as opposed to grotty trainers....? Life is good! Apart from the brokeness :S Hmmm, which pushes me to the issue of job-hunting, it takes SOOO much time!

And finally, I've done three homeworks already! Talk about organised! Gooo meeee!! *starts Chandler-dancing then realises everyone knows I'm Chandler-dancing and gets embarrassed and sits and continues typing...*

So of course all my other activities continue on in the background - wedding planning (no, not mine, my bro's!); moving/decorating new house (purple, of course! Well, my room anyways...); selling the old one; etc etc..... And all this activity has completely messed up my sleeping pattern - I find myself up half the night unable to sleep..... But it's late, so I better try.....

I'll finish, as always, with quirky quotes that get me through the day!

"It doth sucketh!" - For Ro, as this week's phrase of the week

"Boys are great. Every girl should own one." - Old magnet I found when redecorating my halls room....

"Boys are stupider... Send them to Jupiter." - aforementioned funky poster

"Boys eat boogers when nobody's watching."

And finally, "Boys are stupid, throw rocks at them!"


PS. You can get almost anything you want in this brand.... Check out www.davidandgoliathtees.com for a range of apparel publicising the stupidity of boys that includes t-shirts, mugs, blindfolds, hats, stationery, and much MUCH more! :)

Sweet dreams!
xxx

Guess who's back... Back again? Say she's back! Tell a friend!

Hi hi hiiiii!
How's it going? Missed me? So I'm back from India! And I can't believe how fast it's all gone.... It was a just a whirlwind of saris, shopping outfits, and fun experiences! It's unbelievable how much shops look after you.... You walk in, take a seat, and all these salesmen start showing you saris, opening them all, trying to convince you how pretty they are!! And then they'll bring you drinks and lunch, and do anything they can to stop you leaving... Quite cool.... I love all my pretty new clothes :)

It's all so service oriented.... I was really spoilt, I could so get used to living like that! Everywhere we went we'd hear "Yes Ma'am", "No Ma'am", "3 bags full Ma'am".... And it was always accompanied with a little wiggle of the head.... You know what I mean? Like someone's put a piece of string through your ears, and is playing tug of war.... But you know you've been there long enough when you start to do it too.... :$ It's so infectious!

But of course, as with anything, there are highs and lows.... The smells have to be sniffed to be believed... And I won't even mention the hole-in-the-ground toilets.... *yucky* Lol!!!

But all in all, it's good to be back - settling into routine and mundaneness.... Even if I did have to spend the whole journey back on the plane! [And of course, my mum couldn't resist sharing the joyous occasion with the crew, who then announced it, leaving everyone gawking at me with nowhere to hide!!! But they were really sweet, and looked after me so well, even getting together to give me a bottle of champagne ;) ]

I go back to uni soon, which is awesome!! It's been such a hectic summer, it'll be good to see everyone again..... I got my halls room yday! It's quite nice - freshly refurbished (to the point that you can still get high from paint fumes!) Haven't met any of my flatmates yet..... But surely they can't be any worse than the last few years!!! (Jus playing....!)

So that's a recap of my life..... Fascinating, huh?! Lol.... So back to those job applications.... :) Except of course, procrastination is key... Maybe I'll go get something to eat first - not too early for lunch, is it? Lol!

Well hello there faithful blog readers....

I am very sad.... Well, not really, but this is an "Adieu" message, so I feel I ought to be! Lol, don't worry (or be too thankful :P ), I'm not going forever! Just off to India for a couple of weeks, which means my blog posts will be less frequent.... And yes, I'm not sad because I'm really REALLY excited!!! I'm basically gonna be shopping non-stop!!! What a dream come true! Especially since lately my shopaholic urges (I really have a lot of -holic addictions! Hmmm...) have been resurfacing, and it's all I can do to force them way back down til I get to India!

So miss me lots and lots while I'm away, for when I return I shall be forever changed.... Yup, I am getting old! I'll be 22, and am very excited about my birthday! But only because birthdays are happy times where you can eat cake without the guilt, and that cheeky smile that's giving away all the mischief you get up to is ignored for the day! And of course, who could forget the presents!!! I'm registered at Tiffany's for all you generous souls out there (HAHA, if only! - Not the generous bit, I'm sure you all are, but the registered bit....).

The age bit on the other hand is very saddening, because though I'm readily the first to admit my mental age of 5, all my i.d. suggests I'm well past the "entering adulthood" era of 18-21, and approaching "the mid-20's" era.... Subtle psychological differences, but very much felt nonetheless.... :(

So.... Think happy thoughts! As a very wise young lady once said, "Age ain't nothin' but a number"....

"We don't stop playing because we get old. We get old because we stop playing"... So let's all play some more! Monopoly anyone...? - Shamelessly plagiarised from Waz's blog

"Live every day as if it were your last.... And someday, you'll be right!" How depressing!!!

"You only live once..... But if you live it right, once is enough!"

"Time passing you by is only a matter of mind... Hence.... If you don't mind, it doesn't matter"

"Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today." - James Dean

"We all get heavier as we get older because there's a lot more information in our heads." -Vlade Divac, NBA basketball player

P.S. Uber sorry for any traumatising thoughts the last blog might have induced....