The Alchemist

I just wanted to drop a quick note to celebrate the 21st anniversary of The Alchemist (a novel by the Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho).

If you have never had the opportunity to read this book, go out there and get it ... do not pass up on this really beautiful piece of work. Not all of Coelho's novels appeal to the general public, and I understand that. But this one is different ... after all that's the reason for its huge success! It has been translated in about 67 languages and it has been on the tongue of the general public ever since.

I'm gonna leave you with the most famous sentence of this book:

"When you want something, the whole Universe conspires to help you realise your dream"

Villa Francia

Just wanted to let you know, in case you have missed it, that on September 13th, Villa Francia in Hal Lija will be open for public.

I've never been there myself, but I did see bits of a program about the extensive restoration work that was done on it, and trust me, both the work and the place seemed pretty impressive.

For more information about this place, check out this article and this article.

If I were you, I would make sure to keep my day free ... that's what I'm planning to do :)

[photo by Matthew Mirabelli, taken from The Times of Malta Online

information via: The Times of Malta Online and Office of the Prime Minister]

Pangea expedition: expanding one's knowledge

Last time I mentioned that I had the occasion to leaf through a magazine published by Mercedes-Benz.

One of the articles listed there was about a project sponsored by this same company - the Pangea Expedition. Basically there is this one guy, Mike Horn, who wants to share the beauty of the earth with youngsters. He plans to circumnavigate the world over 4 years with young people so that they really understand why they should appreciate earth, and work hard for protecting it.

When I read about it, I simply wanted to join in, but unfortunately I no longer appertain to the age range, which is between 13 and 20 years old. The participants have to go through training in Switzerland, as this is no easy task, but I bet that those that pass will be awarded the experience of a lifetme.

2 thumbs up for Horn ... and as for you, any reader, pass the word, who knows ... maybe it will one day fall on the ears of a young teen who might take this opportunity and expand his/her knowledge :)

social contribution ...

Yesterday, just as I was about to walk into my office's building, I was accosted by an African guy who asked me whether we were in Gzira, and where he could find "business women" (yes you have guessed right, he was looking for sexual pleasure, and no, I am not jumping the gun, he later specified what kind of women he was looking for). I gave him the directions and continued on my way to the office.

While I was waiting for my incredibly slow laptop to fire up, I started going over the events in my brain. After reeling from the initial shock that this guy might have thought that I was a "business woman" too, after seeing me stepping out from my father's car (!!!!!!), I moved on to more serious reflections (yes, I know that being potentially confused with a hooker is not a nice thing and that maybe I should reflect on that, but 1. I honestly don't believe I look like a hooker as I'm always in trousers and non-revealing (not that there is much to reveal) tops, 2. he might have approached me because I was in a quiet street with no one around, and didn't want to ask where he could find what he was looking for amidst people enjoying a coffee on the sidewalk).

The first thing that cropped to mind was that judging from his clothes and looks, this guy probably didn't have a job and if he did, I don't think he earns much more than the minimum wage. Most probably this guy received a monthly social contribution and this time round he wanted to use those finds to find some relief.

I want to make myself clear a priori, I'm not trying to be prude or anything, and I'm not saying this because he's black or because he wants the company of a prostitute. He triggered my mind and made me think about other persons who might be receiving some form of social contribution and rather than using it for their wife, kids, food for themselves, etc, they would use it for alcohol, gambling, etc. I'm not against social contribution, but do you think it's fair that this kind of money which is given out to help the economic situation of the needy is used in such a manner? Why should someone receive this money and use it to buy alcohol, instead of that money being given out to the poor widow next door who has minimum levels of education and still needs to raise a couple of kids?

There is also another thing which cropped to mind - illness. This particular guy is risking of catching some kind of disease, and there is also the possibility that the reverse happens - he has some disease which will be transmitted to the woman he sleeps with, which in turn transmits it to the rest of the guys who want to enjoy her company, who in turn transmit it to all the other ladies they sleep with and to any potential kid they might have. In my opinion this is unfair and even selfish. It brings to mind alcohol and cigarette abuse, and yes, why not, even unhealthy eating. Why should the general public pay for the health care of a person who has never taken care of one's care and that of others, when those funds could be channeled towards those persons with genuine needs?

As I said earlier, my intention is not to be racist, I'm just quoting this event as it has triggered some (what I believe to be valid) points. It's not my intention to be prude either and I'm not going to go into the matter of whether sexual relief should be considered vital to a person's well-being or not.

My whole point is that maybe the structure isn't as good as it should be, or hasn't been refined enough to curb down abuses / waste of such funds. Maybe we should really take into consideration the idea of legalising prostitutes so that they could be regularised through a licensee, regular check up and tests for diseases and assurance of better, cleaner premises. Maybe we should do something in health care where persons who induce certain diseases on themselves are asked to pay. These are just a couple of ideas, and I'm sure that there are persons out there who might be able to come up with better ideas and solutions.

I know that I have touched some really hot points here, but I felt that I should share them with you. And I would love to hear your reflections about this too :)

"My Beautiful Backside"

no worries ... this will not feature any nude pics and does NOT concern my own backside ... trust me!

So, today I had to take my car back to the dealer to get something sorted for me (not gonna delve into it, at least not today) and while I was waiting for the guys to weave their magic, I grabbed one of the magazines at hand to while away the time. It happened to be some magazine issued by Mercedes Benz, but it was not specifically about their cars; it had features about New Zealand, an artist, some projects the group finances and design in general.

While going through the latter pages, I stumbled on this photo:

It is a sofa by Moroso and it is called "My Beautiful Backside". Is it just me or do you also think that it simply looks lovely? (Follow this link and enlarge the photo ... it gives it more justice, trust me).

I would love to have something of the sort in my future house ... it's swanky and unconventional, but I'm afraid that I will never afford something of the sort (especially since I cannot find a price tag anywhere and it seems that it has been designed for the Salone di Milano expo of 2008) *sigh*

[via: (I'm afraid I do not know the name of the magazine)

Moroso - the designer label

Doshi Levien - the designer

Mocoloco - the source for the picture posted in this post]

summer roundup

sooo ... after quite a long hiatus, i'm back :)

What have I been up to in the past few months? Well, quite a bit actually :)

I've spent most of the time since my last post till mid-July at work ... covering shifts, etc. But come July the fun starts :)

I've spent a weekend in Comino with my better half. The plan was to spend a couple of days away from the madness of Malta, the Maltese and the madness of work, and to work on our sun tan, BUT ... it didn't occur to me that on weekends, a lot of Maltese go to Comino, until I got there and could hear the music blaring from across the beach. But we still managed to enjoy our time, until Sunday evening came round and we were in pain due to the sun burns we got in a space of a couple of hours (on Sunday itself!).

But all in all it was great ... I enjoy the landscape and seascape of Comino, the beautiful beaches, and the idea that you can't be reached by anyone (especially if you simply switch off your phone :))

After such a nice break, and ... how shall I put it ... after making some time available for reflection, it was time to undertake quite a daunting task ... that of buying a car.

I've whined a bit about this decision on this blog (not half as much as I've done with my boyfriend, poor thing) so as you can imagine it was not an easy one ... especially when you consider how indecisive a person I am. Anyhooo ... I had seen this ad on the newspaper for a 2nd hand car, and I had gone to see it. It was in a good condition and the price was within budget ... so all that was left was for me to take the decision. Anyway to cut a long story short, I bought the car so finally I have my own ride, which I'm not really keen on driving (but that's another story, might write it down some other day).

And once that was covered it was my time to cross the pond and go to Canada, precisely to Prince Edward Island, where I've spent 3 blissful weeks away from work *zones out for a couple of minutes ....* It's a lovely little island, and by little I mean that it's 22 times larger than Malta, hehe. It's a wonderful place, each and every house has it's lawn, there are trees on the side of most roads, and if you drive a few minutes away from the suburbs you will be treated with wonderful views of vast meadows, trees, grazing cows, sheep and at times even llamas!! From a consumerist point of view it is close to heaven - you will find anything you need and most of the time it is dead cheap, plus good customer support.

It was a great holiday, and I'm really grateful towards J's family for welcoming me into their own home, and taking the time to show us round and spending as much time with us as possible :)

As i told you in my last post, I have some special news for you :) While I was in Canada I've received an sms from my sister-in-law breaking the great news that in February I'll become an aunt!!! Aaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!! I'm finally becoming an aunt!!!! The news still overly excites me :) (hence the post about the Kookles Nursing cover giveaway ;) )

Now that those three weeks are over, we're back to this dusty, over crowded, but beautiful rock. I'm sorry that I'm back to work, having to listed to all levels of stupidity being spewed out of some of my clients (not the mention 75% of the commentors on The Times of Malta), but I'm glad that the "refreshed feeling" hasn't worn off yet ... let's wait till I get a bunch of overtime shifts to work just coz everyone went on holiday, then the b*tch will come out again.

Hope that everyone had a nice summer, and managed to take a couple of days off to unwind and maybe enjoy a dip in the sea :)