I like these...

"Don't be so open-minded that your brains fall out."

"I must be a mushroom because I'm always kept in the dark and fed bullshit."

"Yesterday scientists revealed that beer contains small traces of female hormones. To prove their theory, the scientists fed 100 men 12 pints of beer each, and observed that 100% of them gained weight, talked excessively without making any sense, became emotional, and couldn't drive. No further testing is planned."

"A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices."

"When was a lad, there was only one Germany, Latvia, Estonia, Khazachstan, Eusbekistan, Bosnia, Herzegovina; and then it all changed. And then it all changed back again. Those changes cost the lives of 66 million people. But it didn't cost me a penny -- 'cause I kept my old atlas."

"There's too much blood in my caffeine system."

International Animal Rights Day

On December 10th each year, the International Day for the Rights of Animals is celebrated all over the world. Check out the history and why this day in particular came into existence as one of 365 dedicated to animals.

There's a demonstration planned for Barcelona by the organisation "Libera!" on Sat, Dec 8 at 12h in The Ramblas. See ya there!

Wounded in Love

So, I used to get these emails from Paolo Coelho's fansite or something, called "Warrior of the Light," which I unsubscribed from, cos I just got plain bored of the stuff... but then today, my sis who's a total sucker for the guy ('s work) and who continues receiving these emails, sent me this. and I think its pretty cool...


Convention of those wounded in love

General provisions:

A – Whereas the saying "all is fair in love and war" is absolutely correct;

B – Whereas for war we have the Geneva Convention, approved on 22 August 1864, which provides for those wounded in the battle field, but until now no convention has been signed concerning those wounded in love, who are far greater in number;

It is hereby decreed that:

Article 1 – All lovers, of any sex, are alerted that love, besides being a blessing, is also something extremely dangerous, unpredictable and capable of causing serious damage. Consequently, anyone planning to love should be aware that they are exposing their body and soul to various types of wounds, and that they shall not be able to blame their partner at any moment, since the risk is the same for both.

Article 2 – Once struck by a stray arrow fired from Cupid's bow, they should immediately ask the archer to shoot the same arrow in the opposite direction, so as not to be afflicted by the wound known as "unrequited love". Should Cupid refuse to perform such a gesture, the Convention now being promulgated demands that the wounded partner remove the arrow from his/her heart and throw it in the garbage. In order to guarantee this, those concerned should avoid telephone calls, messages over the Internet, sending flowers that are always returned, or each and every means of seduction, since these may yield results in the short run but always end up wrong after a while. The Convention decrees that the wounded person should immediately seek the company of other people and try to control the obsessive thought: "this person is worth fighting for".

Article 3 – If the wound is caused by third parties, in other words if the loved one has become interested in someone not in the script previously drafted, vengeance is expressly forbidden. In this case, it is allowed to use tears until the eyes dry up, to punch walls or pillows, to insult the ex-partner in conversations with friends, to allege his/her complete lack of taste, but without offending their honor. The Convention determines that the rule contained in Article 2 be applied: seek the company of other persons, preferably in places different from those frequented by the other party.

Article 4 – In the case of light wounds, herein classified as small treacheries, fulminating passions that are short-lived, passing sexual disinterest, the medicine called Pardon should be applied generously and quickly. Once this medicine has been applied, one should never reconsider one's decision, not even once, and the theme must be completely forgotten and never used as an argument in a fight or in a moment of hatred.

Article 5 – In all definitive wounds, also known as "breaking up", the only medicine capable of having an effect is called Time. It is no use seeking consolation from fortune-tellers (who always say that the lost lover will return), romantic books (which always have a happy ending), soap-operas on the television or other such things. One should suffer intensely, completely avoiding drugs, tranquilizers and praying to saints. Alcohol is only tolerated if kept to a maximum of two glasses of wine a day.

Final determination: Those wounded in love, unlike those wounded in armed conflict, are neither victims nor torturers. They chose something that is part of life, and so they have to accept both the agony and the ecstasy of their choice.

And those who have never been wounded in love will never be able to say: "I have lived". Because they haven't.


PS. I claim and declare and whatever else, that the text below is NOT mine or written by me. It was taken from the "Warrior of the Light" emails from Paolo Coehlo's fansite.

Thought for the Day

I think George W. Bush himself may have invented this:

"I believe in peace, even if we have to kill to get it."

Internet at home!

Yaaaay! I've finally got internet access at home! I'm making a comeback to cyberworld and I couldn't be happier. Its been a difficult separation :)

Boundaries

I've read a very interesting piece by an author that I happened to discover yesterday browsing the web. His name is Don Miguel Ruiz. He was born into a family of healers and raised in rural Mexico by a curandera (healer) mother and nagual (shaman) grandfather. In fact since I discovered him, I've gone and bought two of his books at the Fnac.

This article talks about how humans build barriers or boundaries around themselves and what is the origin/reason for these barriers we create. I was pretty amazed by the part where the author talks about building boundaries when we have awareness and when we don't have awareness.

I'm currently undergoing a phase in life whereby somebody close to me exhibits the first kind of boundaries... they have so many little boxes created around everything inside that they perceive as vulnerable, ie. emotional wounds, that its hard to get through to them. Any attempt at emotional closeness is rejected as a matter of self-preservation, the person closes himself in, in an attempt to not get wounded. The author in the article talks about the time when these wounds are healed.... and how then we create a new set of boundaries about us; those that are created with awareness.

My question is: how do these wounds heal? What is the process for throwing away the garbage? Where does it begin? How long does it take for a normal person to heal their normal wounds? By normal I mean someone who has gone through a "normal" life, ie. not been emotionally/physically abused, has lived a generally happy childhood and transitioned into adult life in a "regular" way... How do you learn to fly free again?

Disappearance

I'm back. My longest break since I started blogging is now over. I now hope to get back into the swing of things around here.

What I'm still to write about:

- trip home to Oman
- review Shantaram

and other crap.

Do stay tuned....