Proper Pronouncing

Ever since I came to Australia, I have been trying to tell the Aussies where I come from. When I tell them that I am from the Maldives (pronounced "all gives"), all I get is a blank stare. It is only when I pronounce it "bald wives", that I finally get a gleam of recognizance. Even then I have to explain to them where it actually is and how tiny it is.

In four years I have met only one Aussie who actually didnt recognize what I was saying when I pronounced it the aussie way. He actually pronounced it correctly or at least the way that I am used to pronouncing the name of my native country.

Lost and Found

On Wednesday of last week I worked from 7 in the morning to almost 8 in the night. And that is not counting the one and a half hours of travel to and from work. I was so tired when I got home that I put all my dirty clothes in the washing machine, took a shower and had some food that Dina had already heated up. After that I was going to go to bed and was looking for my mobile phone which I could not find and it suddenly hit me that I had not taken it out of my jeans pocket before putting it in the washing machine.

So I had to stop the machine and take out the clothes and look inside the jeans pocket but it wasn't there. Only then did I think of calling my mobile from my home phone and surprise, surprise the bloody phone was sitting on the table where I had put it when I came home. So with a sheepish smile I put the clothes back in the machine, turned it back on and went to sleep.

the next morning, as I was leaving for work I couldn't find my keys... And I looked in the washing again. I took every piece of clothe out and searched the inside and couldn't find it. I checked every bit of clothe and put them back in and still could not find it. I was feeling very annoyed by this time as I had lost my house keys two weeks before and we had changed the locks and this was a new set that had cost me qute a bit of money. I checked all the clothes again taking them one at a time and searching them thoroughly and still couldn't find them. Then out of the corner of my eye I caught a glint of silver. The keys were lying in the outer lining of the door to the machine...

This was not the end. On Friday when I was coming home I was searching in my bag for my chapstick and lo and behold what do my hands close on?? My house keys from earlier that I had "lost" couple of weeks ago... When I told this to Dina later on, she could not help laughing while I sat there feeling a bit embarrased... But I guess everyone ahs this sort of thing happening to them once in a while...

An hour of cycling

It takes me an hour to bike up to the place that I am going to be working at. They are starting up this new store at Essendon Airport and it is frigging far!!! I left an hour early because I thought it would take me about 45 minutes but it takes me an hour. Probably because most of it is uphill. It took me about half an hour to get home though because I just glided all the way downhill. The good thing about biking all that way to work every morning is that I am finally going to be able to lose some of the weight that I have piled on since coming here.

Today mostly I have been working in despatch moving crates of stock into the store from the warehouse. They have this cool toy called a walkie something or other which is a trolley that can carry upto 400 kilos and can reach 4 meters high. Its electrically powered and very very cool to move the crates around in. Too bad it was not charged and I had to move the crates with an ordinary, non-electric, back-to-the-stone-age type trolley. Oh well mebbe I get to use that tomorrow. I have to be there at 7 which means I have to get up at frigging 5 in the morning... Hmmm mebbe I shouldn't have volunteered for the job....

Oh well.. its good for me to get up early and go to work. About 4 years back, when I was working regularly I usually got up around 5 almost every single day of the week. Lets hope it won't take a long time to fall back to my old worktime routine.

Another year older

Its my birthday to day and I am a year older than I was last year. It has been a memorable year. So much has changed in my life and yet so much still remains the same. This is my first birthday as a married man but I have been celebrating my birthday with my wife then girlfriend for the past three years. It is the first birthday that I am celebrating in my new flat in Melbourne. It is the first birthday that I have recieved a present from my mother-in-law all the way from Norway. It is the fourth birthday I am celebrating away from my family in Maldives though I have already recieved their birthday wishes and promises of presents that will arrive in the mail sometime this year.

Last night Dina and I got all dressed up and went out for dinner. We went to a little but very famous Mexican restaurant in South Yarra. We found that it was a famous place because so many internation tennis stars have dined there. We saw pictures of Agassi and Leyton Hewitt. Also newspaper clips of Roger Federer being spotted there. They even had burritos on their menu named after Agassi and Hewitt. We did not order them. I ordered a Beef and Chiken fajita while Dina got the Beef Colorado. The servings when they arrived were huge and we had a little trouble trying to finish it though I did manage to eat all of mine while Dina left some of hers. The food was deliscious and we ordered one serving of caramel pudding for dessert which we shared. Needless to say I was so full I had trouble getting up. I am still feeling full and bloated more than twelve hours after that dinner but we are planning on going out to Southgate for lunch anyway.

I also got presents from Dina which were in three parts. The first part was just the card with a little post it note saying that could be exchanged for a fancy backpack of my choice whenever I felt like going out shopping for one. The second part was a novel called "Velocity" from Dean Koontz who is my favourite author. The third part was tickets to the comedy club next saturday. I am allowed to take a partnerto the show. Hmmm... wonder who that will be??

All in all it was a very good day and it is not over yet. I am hoping for more wishes and presents that will flow in from everyone so keep 'em coming guys. Ciao for now. I am off for lunch.

My birthday present

my sister sent me a gift
on the eve of my birthday
wrapped in ribbons of red
tied in a bow intricate
delivered on fluffy white clouds
a siren song playing in the background
trumpets heralding the arrival
of my birthday present...







It has been a year since my sister gave birth to my niece and I have still to see her face to face, still to hold her in my arms and give her a cuddle. I am hoping that I will see her before she grows up.

I wish you a very happy birthday, my lovely little lady and hope you enjoy all the presents I have sent you. Don't let your mom eat all the cake. Tell her to save some for me...

Love don't let me go

this is the best video for a song i have seen in quite a long time. the dance moves and atmosphere mesh well with the music and makes me wanna dance...

Interview with a marine

Radio interview quote from Marine Corps General Reinwald and a female radio host. He wants to host some boy scouts at the training center for some practise excercises. As follows

FEMALE INTERVIEWER: So, General Reinwald, what things are you going to teach these young boys when they visit your base?

GENERAL REINWALD: We're going to teach them climbing, canoeing, archery, and shooting.

FEMALE INTERVIEWER: Shooting! That's a bit irresponsible, isn't it?

GENERAL REINWALD: I don't see why, they'll be properly supervised on the rifle range.

FEMALE INTERVIEWER: Don't you admit that this is a terribly dangerous activity to be teaching children?

GENERAL REINWALD: I don't see how. We will be teaching them proper rifle discipline before they even touch a firearm.

FEMALE INTERVIEWER: But you're equipping them to become violent killers.

GENERAL REINWALD: Well, you're equipped to be a prostitute, but you're not one, are you?

The radio went silent and the interview ended. You gotta love the Marines!

Maldivian Students Abroad

Some friends of mine have started a website dedicated to all the Maldivian students who are studying abroad. They took it upon themselves to start up this site so that future students who go abroad will be able to figure out beforehand what that place that they are heading into will be like.

When I first came to Australia I did not really know what to expect and it was a little daunting to try and fit into this atmosphere that felt totally out of whack with what I had been used to. It took soem getting used to. Fortunaely for me I came with five other Maldivians and it was not that difficult adjusting to a new place when you have friends with you.

This is the reason for MSAi. It is to help students from Maldives to get to know some of the basics of the place where they will be spending a good part of their life in. Read what the admin of the site has to say about themselves....

With about 1500 Maldivian students studying abroad at any given time, we make up a very large information base.

The primary aim of this forum is to be a depot of useful information for prospective students from home who are aspiring higher studies abroad. What would make this Guide unique is that it will be written from our perspective. We can write about the difficulties we have faced and how to solve or circumvent them.

This is a community project. The success of this Guide rests solely on your shoulders.

The second aspect of the forum is as a discussion board where we can spend some time voicing our views on a variety of subjects. We would like to make this a friendly and social atmosphere, without any indecency or vulgarities. A place fit for educated people.

We can all work together to make MaldivianStudents.com a success.

So if there are any Maldivian students who are abroad at the moment or are thinking of going abroad to study please join in the community and help us make it something that would be useful for everyone.

MaldivianStudents(dot)Com

History of medicine

Heres the history of our medicine.

"I have a sore throat."

2000 BC : "eat this root"

1200 AD : "That root is heathen, say this prayer."

1500 AD : "That prayer is superstition, drink this elixir."

1800 AD : "That elixir is snake oil, Take this pill."

1900 AD : "That pill is ineffective, Take this antibiotic."

2000 AD : "That antibiotic is artificial, Here why dont you eat this root."

Tales of a Cop - Part 5

Rapunzel

He was working in the Villi Fulus in Sinamale when he got a call from a girl wanting to talk to another cop. But since that particular cop was not available, he would have to do. She would not give her real name to him so he gave her one. He called her Rapunzel because she said she had very long hair. Over the next few weeks, he got to know Rapunzel pretty intimately over the phone. It was a boring duty with not much happening so he would always look forward to the calls. He learned her real name and also her address and he gave his as well and they were very much girlfriend and boyfriend even though they had never met in person or knew what the other looked like.

One day he was off duty and going on a ride with a close friend when they passed Rapunzel's house and he mentioned to the friend that he knew this girl living there. The friend replied that he knew the girl as well and proceeded to give details of her. It seems that she was a very popular girl and one thing that she had failed to mention was that she was also a midget. Now this came as quite a surprise to him as he had been planning on going over to her house to meet her in person. After receiving this new information he did not know what to do.

He decided not to take her calls anymore. It wasn't just that she was a midget (although that also played a factor in it) but she had professed her love to him in a gift that she had sent to his house which had scare him somewhat. The person who delivered the gift was a friend of his older brother and he did not like that crowd at all. Also he was about to leave to an island as part of his duty and he wanted to make a clean break as quickly as possible.

The day before he was to leave she called him and broke down in tears telling him that she did not want him to go. She said that if he did, he would forget her. After much consoling he finally got her to calm down and ended the call. That was the last time he ever talked to Rapunzel.

About a couple of years later he was promoted into a new section and he got quite a shock when he learned his new boss's address. It was the same address as Rapunzel's. After talking to his colleague about this he learnt that Rapunzel was the boss's younger sister! He was real glad then that he had never gone to her house or even tried to get into a real relationship with her.

Day Off

Its my day off from work. I have been working for four days non stop starting from Saturday through to Tuesday. I have missed the sense of comfort that a day off brings. So today I have done pretty much nothing except sit in front of my computer and catch up on all the stuff that I have missed in the past four day which is pretty much nothing really.

A long time ago I had a job that involved me being available almost 24 hours a day seven days a week. In those days a day off was something to be cherished and I would screen my mobile for calls from the office. If it was really important the guys at the office would call from their mobile and I would answer them but most of the time even they knew the importance of a day off as it was the same thing to them also. So they would feign calling from the office line and tell the bosses that I was not answering my mobile. Later I would tell the bosses that I had left the phone somewhere and so was not able to answer it.

Its a bit too soon for me to start the same system here and I am not sure whether this new job would require me being available all the time. I am hoping not so. After all it is a job not a career.

About my writing...

I finished my "creative writing" short course last week. During the last class, the trainer made us write about what we felt for the writing of everyone else in the class. This is what the rest of the class had to say about mine...

*He demonstrates how much his (sense of) family and his home country means to him

*Your writing has always been very personal and coherent. I think you have told us a lot about yourself.

*Your sense of humour and fun belies the quiet exterior. I won't forget the "who invented milk" story anytime soon. My family also got a laugh from that one.

*Your writing is so warm, so inviting. Wherever your stories go, I want to follow because there's joy and delight in the journey and the end is wonderful.

*I've loved the warmth and humour in your writing. Youn may think you 'tell' rather than 'show', but a real warmth and heartfelt sentiment comes through.

Hard English

Some reasons why the English language is hard to learn...

___________________________________

The bandage was wound around the wound.

The farm was used to produce produce.

The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse

We must polish the Polish furniture.

He could lead if he would get the lead out.

The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

I did not object to the object.

The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

They were too close to the door to close it.

The buck does funny things when the does are present.

A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

After a number of injections my jaw got number.

Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

----

Weekend at work

It has been five days without a post but you see I have recently joined the workforce so I have very little time to sit down and write something. But I did get time but then I could not think of a thing to write so here I am, writing about the fact that I have nothing to write about.

But that is not true. so many things have happened in the past week that I can write about. It is sad that I am going to be leaving for work in exactly 30 minutes so I am not going to write about all of it now. but suffice to say that this weekend will be spent working which is going to be a first as I have not worked at all for almost 4 years now.

I want to wish a very happy birthday to my friend Saif. He will be leaving for UK pretty soon and I wish him all the best for this very interesting chapter in his life.

That should be enough for now...

HI HO... HI HO... ITS OFF TO WORK I GO....

Blog Overhaul - Part 3

It took such a long time for the blogger webpage to load that i have forgotten what it was that I was going to write about, so I am going to write another update about my blog's everchanging interface.

The google ads that I had placed in the right hand sidebar decided to turn invisible and no matter what I did, I could not make them visible again. So I did what any other self respecting blogger would do when faced with a problem that was above their ability to solve. I deleted them. Completely. I will put them back up once I have figured out what exactly caused the invisibility in the first place... but don't hold your breath.

I have put a linkbox in the right hand sidebar where the google ads were. These links are for my poems that I have written over the past few years. There arent many as I have lost some of the poems that I had written in a notepad (the paper kind not the computer software!) I have been trying to write more and probably will do so in another few years. Again... Don't hold your breath.

Also I put in a chatbox so that visitors can leave me a message or a comment about the blog in general. I have seen this kind of chatbox in lots of other blogs so I thought I would give it a try as well. However I am not expecting that many messages so I won't be holding my breath.

Finally I have gathered a thousand visitors to my blog and all it took for that was a year and some days. Another couple hundred years and i might have a million visitors... I think i might hold my breath for this one actually...

Addiction

The sea, so calm, so serene
reminds me of you...
The sea, violent with currents unseen
reminds me of you...
The lands, carpeted in green
reminds me of you...
The lands, riddled with monoliths obscene
reminds me of you...
The wind, a breeze just right
reminds me of you...
The wind, blowing with all its might
reminds me of you...
The sky, blue with tufts of white
reminds me of you...
The sky, dark with colours of the night
reminds me of you...