Aaaah so this is what 'tagging' is...

I've been tagged by Mybrid/Hybrid (did you just change your blog name?) so here's my list cos' I've got nothing better else to do so this is a nice bit of filler for today...just when I was feeling lazy too! (Note: these are in no particular order of preference/importance):

Seven things you plan to do before you die:

1) Learn to truly live and be content with myself

2) Meet a girl who's as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside, and who isn't afraid to role up her sleeves and get her hands dirty or (GASP) break a finger nail!

3) Be the first to discover something or some place

4) Experience zero gravity

5) Meet all the nice friend's I've made online one day

6) Fix my Dad's laptop (that's right I'm still struggling with it!)

7) Learn Arabic, Spanish and oh what the hell Japanese! (I believe Mybrid's got me down for Hebrew as well!)

Seven things you can do:

1) Tie my own shoelaces on my right foot

2) Tie my own shoelaces on my left foot ;)

3) Think with reasoning and perspective (believe it or not)

4) My good friend Mohammed (you know who you are, Hamsta!) just told me I'm funnier than all his friends, so I guess I'm a good laugh - whether my audience is laughing with me or at me is another matter

5) I eat as much as I want and still never get fat (hmm maybe I'm tempting fate by saying that, guess its the metabolism and not me so I'm not sure if it really counts)

6) Ok now I'm really scratching the bottom of the barrel but my spelling and grammar's pretty good (kudos to MS Word LOL!)

7) The ability to verbally demean myself infront of people at very crucial moments (must work on that one)

Seven things you can't do:

1) Fix my Dad's laptop (really its friggin irritating!)

2) Watch reality TV shows, the corn factor just makes me break out in hives BLEH!

3) Not check my inboxes everyday looking for genuine e-mails

4) Sing or dance (which aren't the worst things about me I assure you!)

5) Drink alcohol or eat pork (doesn't bother me in the slightest really)

6) Grow taller

7) My inability to stop using parentheses (Have you realized yet?)

Seven things that attract you to the opposite sex:

1) Someone who's appropriate at the right times

2) Tomboyishness and can give as good as she gets

3) Someone who's rough around the edges and doesn't care cos' she BELIEVES in who she is

4) Minimal or no makeup OR that 'natural look' (I hate caked-up makeup)

5) Great skin (is there room for vanity here?)

6) Nice defined facial structure (ideally)

7) Someone who's easy to talk to and unpretentious

Seven things you say most:

1) 'Crap' (I'm trying to cut down on swearing in the traditional sense)

2) Scheisse (pronounced 'Shy-za' = Shit in German, hey swearing in a foreign language doesn't nullify my endevours from point No. 1 ...does it?! )

3) 'Hey how's it going?' (I'm gonna get so haunted by this now everytime I say it)

4) 'Why me?'

5) 'I'll do it later' or even worse, 'tomorrow' (you wanna know how to procrasitnate, you come to me!)

6) 'AAAAAAAAArgh' (the non-pirate version)

7) 'I forgot' as my parent's will be only too happy to testify (can't be too good once you're in a relationship LOL!)

Seven celebrity crushes:

1) Jessica Alba

2) Jennifer Garner

3) Liz Hurley

4) Jolene Blalock

5) Monica Bellucci

6) Eva Mendes

7) Jennifer Esposito

There ya go now do I have to send this to someone within 10 hours otherwise something 'Bad' will happen to me?

PS. Just surfed onto journalism.co.uk and found an interesting link about how to get people to read your blog and become regular visitors, pretty good stuff and the article's called 'How to: Run a Sticky blog'. Thought some readers might like it.

'Please insert Recovery CD # 2'

Ahhh if only life was as easy as an instant system recovery disc to quickly erase all past crap memories and reinstall a fresh copy of Life 2.0! I just want a fresh start dammit! Yes I'm still reeling from yesterday's crappiness but I've got lots of things to be doing today so I guess fixing dad's laptop by resintalling all the pre-installed software is somewhat closer to living the above dream!

Then its onto the main rig I'm writing this entry on to replace the Power Source Unit (PSU) - without it your PC will not work...at all, cos' I'm running it on the spare 330Watt one temporarily and I got Joe (pause for a pic of him muwahahaha!)

This is Joe at his 22nd a couple of years ago and I know he's gonna kill me for putting this up!

Note: The Barbie cake we bought him as an 'afterthought' nyuk nyuk (what are friend's for eh?)

to buy a decent 460Watt one for me on Ebay cos' he's that kinda guy! I have no patience for online bidding and stuff like that, to me its total mind-F***k. I just wanna make a straight up transaction like on Amazon or Play.

But I've digressed yet again, so where was I, oh yes after installing the PSU I gotta sort out the piling junk thats overflowing from my drawers, I've got an unhealthy infatuation with post-it notes (courtesy of my sister supplying me with a lifetime's worth from the numerous drug reps she sees and all of 'em conventions she goes to). So my mom's yelled at me to stop leaving all these annoying little scribbled notes all over the place and just get a little notepad or something.

Then I'll try and phone the MD of Azafady, a non-profit volunteer organization which specializes in conservation work in Madagascar. I've been meaning to volunteer for a long time now and I thought since I'm taking a gap year I might as well put my time to some use by helping others and maybe I'll feel a lot better about myself as a person and if I gain a few extra skills here and there then all the better! So as I'm still looking for a good stable job I'll start off work in the London office of Azafady and then they'll help me raise the £2000 I need to make the trip to Madagascar.

So there you have it, that be my itinerary for today, its pretty mundane stuff but I thought I'd share it with y'all cos' I'm sure you've enjoyed the ride so far! Oh Mybrid, I'm having trouble with posting pics on my blog entries and I wanted to know how you did with your pics in your recent entry. I tried the 'Add image' function when I was typing this but the pic just doesn't show up in the entry. Anyways holla back at me.

Adios!

'The jokes no longer with him, its about him, at him, on him....'

Why why why?!!! Why must the big G mock me like this?!! I've been feeling so crappy over the past couple of days and it all finally culminated in a great ol piss-down on me during the whole day. I thought I had my whole day planned out today, but I started feeling all sluggish from the morning onwards, breakfast time rolled into lunch and lunch ended up being my brunch. I watched crappy daytime TV and conveniently missed my creative writing class today and just ended up going down to Kingston to see Joe and take my Dad's F'ed up laptop to backup the hard disk up at his place. It's been raining all day and in typical shitty british (I'm denying the use of a capital 'b' here cos' I'm pissed off!) fashion, the sky clears up in the night when there's no sun no light no nothing!!! How F'in useless is that?!!

Anyways I only managed to make copies of his essential files and burn it all onto DVD and then bring back the laptop to sort it out at home so umm that was fun! The bus ride home was shitty, I was reading a copy of 'The Guide' a weekly supplement from last Saturday's Guardian, cos' I have nothing better else to read and its not exactly like the scenery outside's any better! I was reading a review of a local band called The Magic Numbers and I must confess I've never heard of them nor have I ever heard their music but I did sorta like their spirit from what I read. The reason? - because they totally dissed Richard Bacon (I'm not gonna even allow this prick the dignity of a link) this asshole of a TV presenter on Top of the Pops recently by being the first band/act/group to walk out on the show!

'But why?' I hear you say, because Mr Bacon's intro line before the band were to show up on stage was and I quote 'A big fat melting pot of talent'. Now according to the band members its not so much the fact that he was taking pot shots at their non-conforming commercially-unfriendly podgy figures but its the tone with which he referred to them. After all they openly admit that they take the piss out of each other's 'fattiness' on a regular basis.

Anyways with all the talk of controversy out of the way, is the band any good? I really couldn't say cos' I still haven't bothered to sample their musical talents as I'm gonna hit the sack in a few minutes and I really can't be asked to download anything right now especially as it won't prolong my life or general well-being in any way shape or form. But I'm sure they're a good band seeing as they consist of some pretty cultured folk (two sets of 2 brothers-and-sisters) 2 of whom grew up in Trinidad and then moved to New York and then back to London to meet their future band members who were at the time their neighbours.

So back to the crappy bus ride, I was feeling mighty queasy whilst thoroughly engrossed in these entertainment reviews, it must have been the horrible musty air quality in the top deck of the bus - this is usually enough to make me feel sick and reach the point of almost hurling onto the floor, so I just had to stop reading and just sit back and breathe in and out. I just couldn't wait to get out of the bus and into the somewhat fresher air of South West London (insert vomit here) and get drenched in the process. So I finally got off and on the tube home I was sorta feeling a little more relieved, I guess I felt the world was closing in on me today and I must say I have had these little bouts of travel-sickness, anxiety and clostrophobia all rolled into one before.

There's probably a medical term for what's taken me two paragraphs to describe but hey I like to elaborate. Anyways didn't I say I was gonna go to bed now? So go away and leave me alone to curl up and revel in my sorrow at least for tonight :(

Got Chi power?

Ni Hao!

So ya think ya got your karma in order or your chakras in check? No? Well then shame on you! I discovered this little gem of a game (still in development) by way of subscribing to the 'Steam' service of Valve software, the people behind the best gaming franchise of all time Half-life and Half-life 2. Anyhoo the game in review I guess is called Ragdoll Kungfu and its gotta be seen to be believed! Who would've thought that playing with a bunch of dolls albeit in a virtual environment could be so much fun!

I should point out that as the game is in development still I haven't had a chance to try it out but I will be one of the first to do so when it finally comes out! The sheer simplicity of the idea of toy mannequins used to beat each other up is just genius to me and why didn't anyone think of this before?! You control the doll with strings just like in real life but UNLIKE real life you don't have to worry about the strings getting tangled up during play thus freeing you to experiment with endless amounts of unique moves! Street Fighter, eat your heart out!

It takes me back to my days in primary school (Doha English Speaking School) when we used to play with Transformers and them ever-so-popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and we'd play fight with them as one does when one is a kid (nyuk nyuk nyuk).

I guess the market for a game such as Ragdoll Kungfu is gonna be pretty restricted at first but I can deffinitely see it catching on, on PC's around the world where kids and 'big kids' alike will just love playing this game. It's funny as hell to watch (with no gore at all) as well just incase you still think this is a blood sport!

Ok I got nothing else to talk about so I'm calling it quits for today. Download the game when it comes out or something if you're into general randomized silliness like me.

Zaijian!

Verdict on 'Crash'

Wow just wow! My god when did Hollywood suddenly get all grown-up? This film just blew me away, I mean I knew it was a deep film but little did I know how deep it was! Paul Haggis sure knows how to spin a yarn! Of course I shouldn't be too surprised seeing as he is responsible for the likes of Due South - what a kick ass cop show/series, and Million Dollar Baby (I must confess I still haven't seen this yet but it looks pretty good).

Back to 'Crash', this is one tasty movie, I followed every single second of this masterpiece from beginning to end (yes people, even the credits!). I let the whole film just sink in and it felt good! I could relate to it in so many different ways its unbelievable, from the way the Iranian shopkeeper treated the latino locksmith with contempt and suspicion to the way the upper-class black film director felt when him and his wife were racially mistreated by the LAPD.

I guess I really shouldn't give away much of the film cos' it's a film that really needs to be seen with fresh eyes and unadulterated preconceptions.

Hope to have some more interesting stuff to report this coming week.

The day salad saved my life

Mmmmmmmmmm crunchy, green, sweet and juicy salad consisting of mangetout sugar snap peas, baby carrots, little gem lettuce, green peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes a dab of salad cream and some Onion Salad Crispies for that extra crispiness.

Yes I have truly been saved by some good ol' homemade fresh salad, never have I looked forward to a bunch of everyday vegetables with so much glee...never I say! The reason for this sudden conversion to the ways of the herbivore? - I guess I was really craving some good greens today more than any other time in my life. My hands were literally shaking from not getting those crunchy veg's in me quickly enough. I must have been reacting to the 4 can's of fizzy drinks I had at work (cos’ they're free) after what like 3 months now!

Plus I'm sorta getting sick of the whole eat-meat-all-the-time regime. Anyways I was craving this salad during the whole day of work today I was like chanting a mantra inside me while I was munching away on Pringles and my salami sandwiches (Yuk meat!!). Oh well I guess this blissful feeling can't last for long, I wish I was always this addicted to vegetables, I mean I usually love vegetables but I gotsta have my meat too!

Besides I've got blockage and I need some good old roughage to get me regular again, there I said it!

Well as I can't seem to delve into what I did at work today courtesy of this entry I'll just move on and give you some interesting facts I learnt from today's Guardian:

Fact 1: Wikipedia- The world's largest free online encyclopaedia has a staff number of just ONE person, the founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales (here's his blog if you're interested). 'Wikipedia has become more than just a hobby - for some it is almost a religion.' reports 'Online', a weekly techie supplement in The Guardian. Thats't not surprising seeing that there are nearly 4000 regular users who actively partake in sharing their knowledge by making around 100 edits a month to the millions of Wikipedia articles, each! The nice thing about about the Wikimedia movement is that it strongly advocates the free flow ('Free' being the key word here) of information in the name of education...now isn't that a novel idea hmmm Microsoft?

Oh boy I'm so bushed now, I guess we'll just have to leave it at Fact 1 for today people, I need to take a shower and get some sleep before I wake up again at 4:30am to get ready for work. I might fill you in on more interesting things I learnt today.

Oh Mybrid I just read your entry for today, sorry to hear your frustrations of your workplace, see blogging's good for ya cos’ it helps you vent and hopefully in the process see some sense even though your husband sorta took care of the 'sense' department for you this time! I was sorta surprised to hear about it all especially after how you described it to me in such pleasant terms before and how you're getting on so well and enjoying it all.

Maybe you should look at my entry on getting into trouble for blogging about your workplace (August 9th), it’s my shameless attempt to get you to read my blog even more but can ya blame me?!

Ok its 12am now and I don't really see a point to writing an entry at this time of the day (or night…its all the same to me), suffice to say I don't have the luxury of a PC at work like SOME people cough cough Nafie! Righto I need to catch some Zee's.

Its time to get Lost

Ok so I've been looking forward to this show since I heard about its very existence and to put it plainly I just wanna know what all the fuss is about! The show is of course Lost and the pilot episode starts today in the UK on Channel 4 - the connoisseurs, in my opinion of 'real news', quality documentaries and quality entertainment barring Big Brother of course and its ilk!

Anyhoo here's the scenario:

A passenger aeroplane has crashed on a deserted (or is it?) tropical Island and they have to deal with not only each other's cultural, social and/or political backgrounds but also with the whole staying alive routine.

There's apparently a whole women's volleyball team in it so umm that should be interesting ;). And don't think you ladies have been left neglected cos' there's a hunky hero in the shape of Matthew Fox (the big brother from Party of Five).

There's also a typically shady dude from the 'Middle East' (although he looks nothing like an Arab, just cos' ur brown and you're the only actor who can fit the role of everybody's favourite bad guy isn't an excuse for bad type-casting by the largely ignorant/biased production studios!!). Anyways his name in the show is Sayid Jarrah (wow how Arab-sounding NOT!!) but his real name is Naveen Andrews (oh the irony!).

So thats my little input for the show...I'm expecting my commission from ABC anytime now...I SAID ANYTIME NOW!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those who die or have a coronary if they miss an episode of Desperate Houswives or GASP! 24. Which sorta leads me to a little impromptu list of my all-time favourite TV shows in no particular order of importance:

Due South
McGyver
Mission Impossible (the series)
The A Team
BUGS
Farscape
Stargate
Party of Five
ER

That's all I can remember for now but it should hopefully get some sort of a debate going between me and my two esteemed regular audience members Mybrid and Nafie.

Tokenism: The word of the present

Yes its been a pretty uneventful week and I'm pretty strict on what I and what I don't include in this blog now more so than ever. Ya see I came across an article online titled 'Can you be fired for blogging?' and seeing as I do pretty much work for one of the most secretive organizations on earth albeit on a part-time basis, I'd do well to steer clear of divulging on what I do for 8 hours a day other than the fact that I test the latest X-box titles and equipment.

Yes you guessed right I work for Microsoft and yes they will personally make your life a living misery if you dare to cross them. Other than that they're the nicest bunch 'o folks you could hope to meet...no really they are! I'm not sure if I've said too much or not, I guess I haven't said anything worth remembering or making a buck out of.

Moving swiftly on I went down to Kingston today to sort some stuff out for Uni and as my friend Joe wasn't at home I went down to blow some dough on some Haagen Dazs and a movie at the Odeon there. It was War of the Worlds if you must know and it pretty much sucked as only Tom Cruise knows how to suck. I was this close to buying a ticket for the much hyped about Skeleton Key courtesy of my man Nafie's blog, I'll spare you the link there cos' personally I think the film plot line stinks and if you're still interested in knowing the plot...you aint gonna find it here!

Hey I'm allowed to have strong feelings about the glossy airbrushed crapola that passes for a film in Hollywood these days! Besides I don't think I quite got the gist of the film from watching the trailer for Skeleton Key the first 500 times on TV! Its not so much a trailer as Kate Hudson isn't so much the daughter of Goldie Hawn, FFS! get it together people!

And I also wanted to watch Charlie and the chocolate factory but I sorta copped out at the last second cos' I thought It's better watched on DVD. Oh well maybe I'll watch it soon, that Crash film doesn't look too bad either, infact its JUST the kind of thinker of a film I'd like to watch cos' I've watched far too many no-brainers at the big screen and I'd rather watch something with a more meaty storyline.

Ahh about the title of this entry - Tokenism that is, its a subject thats at the forefront of my mind these days and I guess everyone to a certain extent is guilty of it, here's a few high profile examples to get your mental juices flowing:

Bush practices it when his adminstration decided to 'hand over' power to the so-called interim government in Iraq

Blair practices it when his government decides its high time it started listening to the Muslim youth in Britain by first inviting a choice few 'leaders of the Muslim community' to 10 Downing St to 'discuss' the London bombings and how to 'deal' with 'Islamic extremism in Britain' (Have I used quite enough quote marks yet?)

Michael Jackson practices it when when he promised not to invite boys back to his Neverland ranch (I honestly don't know I thought of this example cos' its pretty weak and as always I need filler)

Husband's to an extent practice it when their wives ask them 'Does my butt look big in this?'

Ok I think its pretty clear that my random thoughts are beginning to seep through so now's a good time as ever to conclude this entry and stop talking a complete load of Bollocks as the English say! But I think y'all know what I'm getting at.