Here There and Everywhere

Expat wanderer

La! La! La! (No! No! No!)

Re: Don’t Trash My Kuwait, NBQ found this adorable video from the Keep Kuwait Clean Campaign – looks like maybe 2003? (update: Oops, no, nbq says the ’80s!) Oh! These children are so cute! This song is so good!

Just in time for the trash-filled holidays coming up! La! La! La!

February 20, 2009 Posted by | Blogging, Community, Entertainment, Events, ExPat Life, Kuwait, Social Issues | 10 Comments

LOL Catz Funny for Today

funny pictures of cats with captions
more animals

There is nothing so aggravating . . .

My son was telling me that I Can Has Cheezburger started with a bunch of people who once a week would publish funny cat photos, and they called it “Caturday.” Look at it now – an idea that lives on and on and on. It must be me, but I check it about once a week, and it always makes me laugh.

Recently, in the US, a kid posted a video of himself beating up the family cat. Bloggers were able to track him down, even though he had posted under a bogus name, and report him to the authorities in his home town. The cat (who is fine, by the way) has been taken from the home and is with a vet, looking to rehome him. My son says he is sure that cat will have many many offers. The kid, meanwhile, is meeting with the district attorneys.

Mistreating animals is a classic symptom of a person who will later abuse people. I wonder if there is hope that this young man can be rehabilitated? Who would think torturing a helpless animal is fun???

This is one hodgepodge of a post, isn’t it?

Some days, it just makes me happy to think there is a blogging community with a sense of community and responsibility.

February 20, 2009 Posted by | Blogging, Crime, Humor, Interconnected, Kuwait, Law and Order, Pets, Random Musings, Rants, Women's Issues | 4 Comments

3baid, Today’s Sweetheart

Have you seen the Friday Kuwait Times? If not, run right out and buy it now, or go to the blue link where it says Kuwait Times. There is a FULL PAGE story in the Friday Times on PaperDump, the eco-friendly blog where all kinds of menus, schedules, telephone numbers, etc. are stored, saving paper.

You can go to PaperDump by clicking on PaperDump, although most of you already have it stored on your blog favorites. I learned, reading the article, that they get 10,000 hits a DAY. Now that is public service.

Wooo HOOO, 3baid, you are getting just a small portion of the recognition you deserve for the great public service you are making, donating your time and energies to this valuable service. Woo HOOO!

February 13, 2009 Posted by | Blogging, Character, Community, Customer Service, Kuwait, Living Conditions, News | 9 Comments

Seattle Equivalent

My sister Sparkle sent me this photo in an e-mail, saying these are the Seattle equivalent to the perky electric palm trees Adventureman so loves. Thank you, Sparkle!

They are from a Seattle blog where they post a new photo of Seattle every day: Seattle Daily Blog Spot. Right now, they have some Valentine’s Day photos, interesting, and not what you would expect.

This is the photo that inspired Sparkle:
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I have to admit, these are pretty cool. Do I want them in my yard? I think not. 🙂

February 11, 2009 Posted by | Arts & Handicrafts, Beauty, Blogging, Community, Humor, Living Conditions, Seattle | 11 Comments

Life Lessons from a 90 Year Old

Thank you, Momcat!

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio

To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me.

It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90, in August, so here goes:

1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first p aycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry
13. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: ‘In five years, will this matter?
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.
35. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.

“It seems before Truth sets you free, it puts you through the wringer…”

February 10, 2009 Posted by | Aging, Beauty, Blogging, Character, Community, Family Issues, Financial Issues, Friends & Friendship, Relationships | 8 Comments

FaceBook and 25 Things About Me List

The New York Times has published an article called 25 Random Tips for the Busy Facebook User by Amy Harmon

They talk about FaceBook, and FaceBook users, and give the following guidance for preparing the “perfect” list of 25 Things about me:

How to exalt your achievements while appearing humble? How to convey your essential originality while coming off as reassuringly familiar? How to illuminate without oversharing?

A Times analysis of 2.5 million lists (okay, maybe more like six or seven) yielded the following formula for the perfect list, which we offer in the interest of – well, which we offer, anyway, in case someone wants to read it.

1. Say that you hate things like this, and are doing it only to get the (oh, so many) friends clamoring for your list off your back.

2. Describe “embarrassing” high school incident that makes you look cool.

3. Confess to crush on a) third-grade teacher b) obscure indie actor or actress c) your significant other, especially if he or she is on Facebook.

4. Identify real, but minor, flaw.

5. Identify major flaw by suggesting how it may also be major virtue.

6. Cite mean nickname you were given as a child.

7. Follow with offhand mention of receipt of high professional honor or athletic or artistic achievement.

8. Describe meeting a celebrity and how it a) disillusioned or b) thrilled you or c) if it’s a really good celebrity just the name will do.

9. Mention small adversity, like long commute or annoying neighbor, and the unexpected, preferably funny, way you overcome it.

10. Cite an actual random thing that comes to mind while writing this list.

11. “Admit” that you always identified with weird ancillary character on popular TV show in 7th grade, as if you didn’t know that everyone in retrospect agrees that was the best character.

12. Expose something genuine and poignant about yourself, such as untimely death of close relative or rare genetic condition.

13. Express heartfelt thanks to friends or family for helping you through #12, or just for being there, or whatever.

14. Conclude sentimental portion of list by citing the scene in movie X that always makes you cry. Could also be a lyric, or a memory, so long as it involves crying.

15. Something about drugs.

16. Tell a story of how you stood up to authority. Dwelling on descriptive details can help it not seem like you are making yourself out to be a hero even though you are.

17. Recount a dramatic moment, like having your heart broken or getting arrested, but withhold details, forcing readers to ask for them in your “comments’’ section. In case you didn’t know, comments equate to status on Facebook even more than number of friends.

18. Make one up.

19. Say “one of these is completely made up.”

20. If you have kids, a) cite weird names you wanted for them and how your more rational, if less creative, spouse rescued them from a lifetime of torture,

21. and/or b) relate story that appears to expose your inept parenting while in fact highlighting their precocious brilliance. If you don’t have kids, relate a cute anecdote from your early life to show everyone that you’re still a kid at heart.

22. If you have a pet, you have one item only through which to convey its superlative nature. If you don’t have a pet, talk about how much you yearn for an obscure breed of cat/dog/reptile or, alternatively, how much you hate animals and the people who love them.

23. Something about parents.

24. Name skill that you are proud of by recounting unexpected way you acquired it.

25. Close with the unusual: a) recount a genuinely traumatic event you witnessed or b) name an exotic location that is your favorite place on earth or c) cite a dubious world record that you performed.

26. This is important: Do not add “bonus” items.

February 8, 2009 Posted by | Blogging, Communication, Humor, Lies, Marketing, Mating Behavior, Relationships | , | 4 Comments

Mubarakiyya Souk Magic

These are not part of The Great Kuwait Market Magic Challenge. (If you haven’t voted, please go there and vote for your favorite.) These are photos I take to document what places “used to look like.” In Germany, I took photos, but twenty years later I could take the same exact photo. Most of the buildings built a couple hundred years ago are still standing – even some built three or four hundred years ago still have the same foundations (and problems with seepage, etc. )

Not so in places like Kuwait and Doha. You look away for a second and something is gone. Can anyone tell me where the Tarek Rajab Museum store has gone? Do they have a new location? It used to be in Salmiyya; the last time I took people there – it was gone. Just gone! And entire block of stores has disappeared.

So here, for posterity, are some photos I have taken of Mubarakiyya Market, because I love the quirkiness of the place and because there is some really interesting public art there. Also, because so many of my readers are in schools across the US and Europe, and they are hungry to see what different places look like.

00mubart

00mubartoutside

00mubbrooms

00mubcoffeeshisha

00mubfish

00mubfoodstuffs

00mubhallway

00mubhousewares

00mubkitchensink

00mubmeatareawalls

Delicious olives, every one different!
00mubolives

I am totally addicted to these dried pomegranate seeds, which are also called anardana:
00mubpomegranateseeds

These portraits of two different butchers show such individuality. These are not some stylized ideographs; these portraits give the impression of being real butchers. I wonder if I could find the originals and stand them next to their portraits?
00mubbutcher1

00mubpubartbutcher2

Look at these painted carpets! They lift the entire mood of this utilitarian area. Look how bright and clean this area is, easily washed down, entirely of tiles and washable surfaces:
00mubpubartcarpetwalls1

Look how this artist extended his painting to include the store on the right:
00mubpubartintegrated

Where does anyone else sell slingshots these days? I fear for the poor market cats, when young men get their hands on these.
00mubslingshots

00mubvendor

February 5, 2009 Posted by | Arts & Handicrafts, Blogging, Community, Cultural, ExPat Life, Kuwait, Living Conditions, Photos, Public Art, Shopping | , | 4 Comments

Vote Now! The Great Kuwait Market Magic Challenge

We had some thoroughly splendid contributions to one of my favorite challenges of all, the Great Kuwait Market Magic Challenge.

Here are the challengers – please visit their photos before you vote:

DaisyMae
Bu Yousef
ShoSho
TeaGirl

Fewer entries – but every entry a gem. This is going to be a very difficult vote.

Thank you to our great photographer-participants. Your photos were truly Market Magic. 🙂 It was a thrill for me to see each and every one.

February 3, 2009 Posted by | Adventure, Arts & Handicrafts, Beauty, Blogging, Community, ExPat Life, Kuwait, Living Conditions, Local Lore, Photos, Spiritual | | 11 Comments

Bright, Shiny Day

The clouds are gone, and it is looking like a beautiful day in Kuwait. With the schools out for winter break, the roads are even driveable! Wooo HOO, Kuwait, get out there and have yourselves a great day!

00brightshinyday

In the hard copy of yesterday’s Kuwait Times (unfortunately, not the electronic edition) there was a small article featuring a Kuwait meteorologist who said that due to the south (easterly?) winds prevailing at this time of year, we could expect rain frequently throughout February. We sure need it. Yesterday was such a treat, but to quote Jewaira we need “More! More!”

February 2, 2009 Posted by | Blogging, Blogroll, ExPat Life, Kuwait, sunrise series, Weather | 4 Comments

Stat Bump Laugh

Kuwait bloggers, if your statistics matter to you, if you want one great day, get blogger Mark, at 248am.com to give your blog a shout-out, and a link.

I got a one day bump of nearly double my daily traffic when he referred to me in a blog entry. LLOOLLL; you can see the spike so clearly!

statlaugh

At one time he used to post his stats; he had over 2 million the last time I saw them, which was a long time ago, and got over 10,000 hits a day. Imagine . . . . 🙂

January 24, 2009 Posted by | Blogging, Community, Kuwait, Statistics | 2 Comments