'I'm gonna flip out like a ninja cos' that's what ninja's do...'

Man this aint good....I'm feeling pretty emotionally good of late but I'm just afraid that it'll all fizzle out if I just mope around at home and do nothing. Although having said that I did download a few nice Coldplay tracks today...woot woot! I like 'Talk' (I didn't know there were two different versions of that song with completely different lyrics so thats cool), 'A message' and 'Hardest part' which are probably the only decent tracks I think on the new X&Y album. Whether this counts as something constructive is another story but I guess its something.

Was visiting a site on my favourites list that I forgot about for a while, I don't know why I added it to my favourites list. I shortly found out why though, its filled with the type of rancor for the utter crappy triteness of modern pop culture that I so adore to hate! This guy says it all for me and in a more articulate and eloquent manner. I think you'll find this site pretty random and basic-looking but you'll soon find out thats its more to do with substance rather than visual panache. So here it is The Best page in the Universe! I should warn you that this guy completely lets loose on all sorts of subjects and political correctness is not something he takes seriously.

Another site I love visiting just to top up on my random spurts of happiness from time to time is rathergood.com, contrary to the name however its another pretty bland rubbish looking site, but again as always with me its more to do with substance rather than preeesentayshun! Before I go any further I want to stick this little link in cos' it's the only thing that actually links to the title of this entry so here's the one for the ninja song I just love (yeah I know its crap)!

Some of you British visitors might recognize the material especially the disturbing headbanging kittens on this site from late night shows on Channel 4 some time ago. And don't think you Yanks have escaped the wrath of Joel Veitch's crazy looking mutated/mutliated (use as required) gerbils from them wierd Quizno's TV commercials advertising the sheer freshness of the 'toasted bread sandwiches', here's a little uhh explanation about why this restaurant chain used these 'things' as their marketing mascots.

Anyhow I'm just using these links as filler for the lack of anything of 'substance' (ahh the irony) I could say. My weekend's been another one of complete boredom but I guess in the famous words of that Beatle's song 'I just don't know what to do with myself' or something like that, if I got the words wrong....BLOW ME!

No love for the jobless

Ahh the joy of not having any set routine in daily life, boy does it make you one lazy ass mofo! Anyhoo didn't manage to go to the council yesterday and its getting a little desperate cos I need to let them know I'm still a student and that I shouldn't need to pay local council tax and stuff before the end of the month. I just looked out the window and its pissing down so I think I'll just have to do it all over the phone thats if I get through the automated services!

On the upside I did manage to find some interesting looking jobs at the local job center yesterday, one that really caught my eye was for a local newspaper as a journalist, and I didn't even need any experience just a good command of English - hopefully my English isn't too bad - and good keyboard skills. And the other jobs were just some boring run of the mill type part-time jobs.

Nothing else happening today apart from the mechanic coming over to fix the wheel bearing on my car today. Don't know if he can do if its going to be pouring down all day today, guess I'll just have to wait and see.

On the attempted bombings last week, I believe they've caught 6 guys but I don't think any of them are the bombers. Either way Blair's pissing his pants right now, so much so that he's thinking of putting phone-tapping measures into law which is nice cos there's nothing more I like than having MI5 listening into everything that I DON'T say on the phone. I guess If I had to choose between this and having 7 slugs buried into my skull by 5 over-zealous Met officers IIIIIIIIIII think I'd choose the former.

Taskforce Tuesday!

Right hopefully this little spurt of serotonin in my head this morning will last long enough for me to make it out of the house and get some actual work done today! First stop, the bank and then the local council office for 'studenty' stuff. I just don't seem to have the amount of intelligent creative crap to write at this time of the morning like my good friend Nafie does! Somehow he just seems to spew it out by the bucketloads!

I personally find my stimulating crap writing abilities kick in sometime around my next episode of utter frustation with daily life, which is why my entries so far have been somewhat irregular and pretty much an impulse-driven affair. Whoa what a mouthful, hey now I see how he does it! Anyways I better get going and who knows I might just add to this here entry later on today depending on my mood!

ciao for now!

Ode to the one called 'Pesado'

Note: This really isn't an Ode but I felt like using the word.

So here I am again frolicking in my self-imposed state of denial of reality, and to be honest it feels pretty darn good - I guess ignorance really can be bliss. Anyways I recently caught up with my good online penpal/friend Vivian, she's Ecuadorian and a nice person....hey I don't know her too well apart from the fact that she loves Yuca bread! Vivian agreed to teach me everyday spoken Spanish on Skype and in return I teach her everyday English Slang, I'd say its a pretty fair exchange ;)!

Well anyways she asked me to post some pictures of her on my blog in the mistaken notion that she'd actually become famous because lets face it, who hasn't heard of 'http://www.thws.blogspot.com'! So without further ado - World I give you the amazing, the Glamorous Viviaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan! Ahem.






I presume this is Vivian in her bedroom






















Vivian, her sister and future brother in-law going to a football match...I think








Vivian, her boyfriend Ivan, sister and future brother in-law going to a football match and in an elevator...I think

Open season on brown people!

I've been feeling really down and depressed lately so that should neatly explain my absence. Well part of the reason for my feeling this way was sort of brought about with the bombings and an overall sad feeling I've been having because I've been dreading getting my final results for my degree. And my fears as far as the results go were somewhat realized as I have officially failed but at the same time I have been given the chance to retake my final year with it being counted as a 'first attempt' which means that the examination board won't take into consideration my first attempt at final year which is great (if that makes sense)!

On the down side I'm still going through the depressive cycle and because of this I'm really not feeling ready to retake my final year this October. On top of all this I'm taking heat from the folks who don't seem to see what I'm going through inside. Now I have tried explaining things to them but it aint working and its not likely to anytime soon. Anyhow I guess its all a test for me so I shall just have to take it in my stride.

On a slightly different note, I guess they've ID'ed the 4 London bombers and how they prepared for their missions. I'm sure you all know where I stand on this but I thought I'd add this interesting little link to a weekly BBC Worldservice radio show called 'The Interview' which I heard in the wee hours of last Saturday morning when I was dosing in and out of sleep. Its basically a 30 minute topical interview with interesting guests.

This week it was the turn of British-Pakistani Journalist and film-maker Naveed Akhtar, and the reason why I'm putting this link up now is because he so eloquently explains the entire background and environment from which the 4 bombers appeared it just begs to be understood without a doubt!

I hope you get a chance to hear (and/or record) the show before the link gets updated for the next show this coming Saturday (July 23rd). I guess this is what's been on my mind for the last few days and the general uncertainty of my own future as if things weren't 'interesting' enough already!

And with that bitter taste in your mouth I shall leave ye!

Nothing to report

Yes you heard me...I got nothing to say but I thought I'd fill the void as I'm sure you're getting slightly uncomfortable by the silence...or perhaps not. So ummmm....uhhhhh....have you lost weight?

Ok ok I really haven't been out today cos apparently most of the bombers have been caught or there are some still on the loose and I don't really want to make myself a target by going out unnecessarily. Nice time to be unemployed I'll say! Having said that I might just go for a jog after doing this.

There's an annoying kid from the neighbourhood riding around in his 'fartmobile' aka a Moped, the sound of which never fails to irritate me. I dread the day he manages to afford a banged up Ford Fiesta which he pimps with all his pocket money so it ends up looking like P Diddy's maid's car.

Right I'm babbling now so I'll call it quits but bascially this has been an uneventful day, one I'd say is in a long list of uneventful days. Oh before I do go, I was at the Osterley Park Pharmacy (my local pharmacy) picking some stuff up and I found out that my pharmacist died of bone cancer a couple of weeks ago so that's sorta brought down the mood for me today, she was a good person who always gave us some extra insight into the medication we'd be buying from her.

Oh well thats it for now.

Laterz y'all.

PS. Notice how I've used orange to make this entry look half as interesting as the others.

London's burning

It finally happened, the authorities have been saying it since 9/11 it was bound to happen sooner or later and there's no doubt that this is only the beginning if you know anything about the goings on in the Middle east and on Islam as not just a religion but an entire way of life by which 1.2 billion people on earth would ideally follow.

Alas this is one brush by which many (without deeper insight) in the West will paint all Muslims no matter what their politicians say and to me thats what's more important. Getting the message across to the billions of lay persons who simply don't know any better about this 'strange religion' they find themselves hearing of every time a bomb blows up in one of their major cities.

Now don't get me wrong, I am in no way condoning what happened here last Thursday and that killing innocent people of any race, creed and cultural background is completely wrong and what's more there's nothing in Islam that says you should do such heinous acts.

Having said all that, this seems to be the only platform from which these people will get their voices heard no matter how deplorable their methods of attention-grabbing are. I know what they're trying to say and there are many like me who know what they are trying to say but there are also high-ranking powerful people who hear what they're saying and just decide to ignore it and simply put a bland PC statement of spin thats acceptable from all quarters into the public domain.

This may not have anything to do with the war in Iraq, it might not even have anything to do with the war in Afghanistan or the current 'War on Terrorism' but one thing's for sure, these people have a lot of pent up anger within them and its an anger and a feeling of distrust that needs to be HONESTLY addressed and given some serious airtime. The terrorists who planted these bombs or flew the 2 aircraft into the World Trade center aren't 'Attacking our way of life' as our leaders put it, infact they couldn't care less how we choose to lead our lives.

All they want is for our governments to stop meddling in their countries and bleeding them dry of all their natural resources, now tell me is that too much to ask for from any person who simply is concerned about the well being of their own country? Before answering this question seriously think about this and REALLY put everything into perspective for once in your life.

If you still have any doubts about where my true feelings lie, they lie on the side of pure and unadulterated justice, I am not partisan on this very important issue, I just don't want to see the endless practice of double standards (when dealing with terrorism in poorer countries) by the rich and powerful countries of the world which just happen to be in the West.

All this unecessary carnage can end tomorrow if the strongest nations on earth will simply stop decieving the billions of poor and innocent people on earth by 'installing' puppet governments and thus fuel further hatred for those governments and in the end the West in general.

All this will do is give these powerful nations just another excuse to come and 'rescue' or 'liberate' the people of 'rogue states' from the governments they helped to install in the first place. I say to anyone living in the UK or US and any of the other member countries of the so-called 'coalition of the willing' to rally against the policies of your governments and what they deem to be rogue states just because they don't happen to agree with Washington's or London's idea of what a democracy should be!

Come on people wake up and smell reality, stop sleeping your whole life away, as long as there are people suffering in the world who are being ruled by unjust rulers regardless of being a bi-product of the West's foreign polices make your voices heard!

Rally against these governments even if they turn on you and threaten to kill you or your families.

This isn't just the Muslim in me speaking this is the Humanity in me as well and they are both very much intertwined ideals that I hold onto dearly!

Conclusion to my visit to Dubai

I thought I'd make a conclusive report to what I've seen and done in this pretty spectacular city rising from the desert as it were. So here goes nothing.

To visit Dubai is great as the novelty is not likely to wear off at least for another week, to live in Dubai simply drives the nail of self-obsessiveness and boredom further into one's head. I agree there's quite a lot of nice scenery here but at the same time I get the feeling that this place just tries way too hard to get your undivided attention by throwing money in the direction of major new developments such as the 'Burj Dubai' - the world's tallest buidling apparently.

Everything's a competition for these people, they have to have the biggest, tallest, most luxurious and expensive of everything. Anything less is simply not considered. Of course most of these developments are being built by the government through their development arm EMAAR so they can afford to splash their cash as it were.

And guess who has to toil away in the 45C degree heat day in day out building these superstructures without the possibility of ever being able to set foot inside these huge projects that their two hands helped to build and just admire their work. Yep you guessed it those same labourers I spoke about about 3 posts ago. What's more is that they may not even get paid for years of hard labour they put into making Dubai what it is today!

To me Dubai is really nice and beautiful, but it has no soul and probably will never have one because of the sheer fact that the powers that be are interested in one thing and one thing only...Money! They don't seem to see that you can't simply manufacture entire communities overnight and think that people will flock from all corners of the globe just because your flogging a few hundred square kilometers of land around in the middle of nowhere.

It all seems really artificial and contrived to me and you see it in the way the middle to upper classes behave there, none of it is real. So the bottom line is Dubai is a whole lot of nothing! Still I think it'll only manage to be a playground for mostly people without any idea of what stories of misery are made in this part of the world on a daily basis. If you thought slavery has gone the way of the DoDo then all you have to do is visit a construction site in the the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and I'm not sure about Oman but I would'nt be surprised if it were there too!

Doha to me still seems like home and it still has a sense of that 'small town charm' that Dubai seems to have lost somewhere on building its way to international glory, one that will probably be short-lived if the arab mentality is anything to go by.

Well thats all for now, hope my flight tomorrow is nice and smooth looking forward to taking some inflight pics and vids, don't know if you can post shorts clips here...oh well nevermind,

Ciao for now

I'm one bad ass son of a Beach!

So with my stomach now stablized and behaving itself time to go to Jumierah beach woohooo....albeit with a bunch of non-english-speaking people from the hotel who were Eastern Europeans (mostly Russian) and a few Iranians. I, being new to Dubai and not knowing anybody (very sad) had resorted to making a friend on the bus by the name of Ali, man did I regret making that decision for the rest of day!

The dude's from Iran and can barely speak English which I'm not holding against him but boy does he sound retarded when he opens his mouth and he seemed pretty slow. Anyways my making the hastened decision to choose this guy to hang around with was founded purely on the basis that there weren't any lockers to keep my stuff in at the beach and so I was hoping we could watch over each other's stuff and take turns to go swimming.

Little did I know how much of a repressed horn dog this dude was, I found us a nice spot just under the lifeguard's watchtower for some shade and this guy wanted to go off and aimlessly run after as many Russian chicks as he could find. Man that Mohammed Khatammi really knows how to keep his hairy subjects dry.

Ali asked me (more like strongly insisted) as I was looking for a nice spot on the beach: 'No no we go there, there are beautfiul Russian gerels there'. So I let him run off after them cos' I just wanted to chill at the beach and go for a swim while Ali was one hairy penis running around on a dead end mission on Jumierah beach.

And then when we met up later on he asked me if I could hook him up with a Russian chick because...now get this...I speak English! I mean WTF! Imagine an English speaking guy translating between an Iranian and a Russian none of whom speak English. Anyhoo I made a quick exit from that little conversation of ours....phew....

I was lucky enough to bump into some nice South London ladies at the beach which really helped because I didn't know a single person from the bus and really couldn't be bothered to make friends on the beach for the purpose of having someone to watch over my stuff, anyways thank god I stuck with my spot on the beach as it was right next to there's.

They were a mother and daughter and an aunt visiting Dubai for the first time, the mother's name was Joanne, the daughter's Kiya and her aunt's name was Marleen. Anyways it made it bearable having people to talk to whilst at the beach and we went swimming as one does. They're from Croydon to be more specific and they said they visit my University town of Kingston quite frequently which is pretty cool I guess. Who knows I might bump into them sometime.

So without further ado here are the pics I took at the beach, some of them are naturally gay looking but I guess that quality comes with the wet crotch-hugging shorts I was wearing then....uhh enjoy....




A panoramic view of the beach...sorta

Me chilling out on zee beach! Can you spot Ali?....no?.....goooooooooood!








Joanne, Kiya, Marleen and Me with crap hair

Doin the funky Chicken....Shawarma

Ever done the 'Funky Chicken Shawarma'? No?! Well here's how it goes:

1) Add 1 part hungry person to 2 parts chicken shawarma and falafel
2) Get over-zealous greasy Egyptian shawarma-selling guy to make you the sandwiches
3) Add lots of man-handled salad without gloves
4) Add 2 parts mayonnaise masquerading as 'Garlic sauce' that's been left in the 34C Dubai heat to shawarmas
5) Eat shawarma

And thats when the all-round funkyness started to sink in, I got up in the morning in earnest haste due to the severe bubbling sensation that I thought I left behind. The room was spinning and I'll say this: If projectile vomitting was an Olympic event I guarantee you I could take any one of your asses!

Anyhoo I know how I've set the bar really low by starting off with a round of overall nastyness with graphic precision in my blogs so far but thats only because my bodily functions have managed to keep me highly entertained and I thought I'd share a bit of love with everyone. Something tells me I've got a skewed sense of humour and that many won't share it...oh well tough funky Shawarma Y'all!

Right now for some completely random pics I took over the past few days.


Some gay ass pic I took while messing around with my camera on the first morning in Dubai around 6am


















Traffic jam on 'Skyscraper avenue' or as the locals call it Sheikh Zayed road. Its the main road in Dubai that leads to the neighbouring city of Abu Dhabi its probably apples and apples to you guys anyways...

This place reeks.....

First of all, whoa! Talk about development in this city, its turning into a nice little metropolis (my first oxymoron woohoo!) with a building shooting up like a mushroom every few weeks! Sometimes I feel that there's far too much wasted wealth here, far too many people leading their daily lives without a care in the world and the only places where you can get a semblance of inner peace it seems is when you're lying in your bed at night (that's if the thumping noise from the nightclubs 2 floors below don't get to you) and if you're the praying type then in the mosques as well. You could say this place reeks of all the wrong things!

I'm sitting in an internet cafe as I write this and I've got that annoying Crazy Frog playing in the background to keep me company. This seems to be one of the few fun things to do in Dubai (surfing the net in a smoky internet cafe that is) other than getting pissed in a seedy little nightclub and taking a hooker or two back to your place after shakin' yo booty for a few hours.

But I digress, I was talking about the amount of development over here, we already spent almost an hour looking for our home that was completed since July last year at the 'Springs' development on the outskirts of Dubai because of new housing and buildings being developed in the space of a few months in the area. We drove around taking pictures of the surrounding developments like the 'Meadows' and the 'Lakes' and yes yes I’ll put the shots up all in good time, the things that struck me the most is how few photos or videos have me in them because I'm too busy taking them in the first place! So today I put an end to that when we went to visit our tenants at our 'Springs' villa. Spent most of the time just taking pics of all the cracks and defects in the house to show the housing developer (EMAAR) who will hopefully be gracious enough to repair them gratis of course! The tenants are a nice Kiwi family who've seemed to keep the house in a good condition so far.

On a different note we had dinner at a friend's house last night and she brought in some professional chefs to prepare the food which was typically Asian. But I must say the highlight of the night was the dessert which was a really mellow strawberry terrine, and I had it with a fresh chocolate cake from Costa Coffee. Don't know what that does for the readers of this blog but it certainly made my day!

Righto this crazy arab bitch next to me is smoking like a friggin chimney and God knows I want leave this joint before my lungs give way so I'm going to get my 5 Dirham's worth of Internet time, check my e-mail and go.