Days of my life... in Gozo!

Angelina's Ghost

2006-05-18T15:31:00.000+02:00

Since I still get a lot of hits on this blog by people who unfortunately don't keep travelling to my new blog home (which, by the way, is http://scagozo.com/blog/ ), I'd like to announce here, too, that my first novel - ANGELINA'S GHOST is now available for sale online at lulu.com.

You can read the first two chapters here!

Hope you'll like it. Here's a link to the books details on lulu.com:

I moved my blog!

2006-04-03T09:35:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone,

As of this morning my blog is going to be integrated with my website. It took a lot of huffing and puffing and little html fights, but in the end I defeated all odds and arrived where I wanted to! You can get to my blog either directly, using this link, or via the menu in my site.

I like blogger, but the advantages of having it hosted directly on my own site are greater. See you there...

The Da Vinci Code

2006-04-01T09:05:00.000+02:00

Thanks to the numerous history teachers who without exception managed to bore me stiff right through my entire school career, I am often hard pressed to see anything exciting in history per se. Even though, I must admit the lecturers we had during an MTA course a few years ago - Malta, t-turist u int - were amazing, inspired and inspiring teachers, who I wished I had met sooner! But I digress...

I am a voracious reader... But because of my bad head start into the subject of history I have taken to the habit of giving give wide berth to books whose title even remotely indicates their contents being connected with history. It's shameful, somehow, but I just can't help it. Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code was no exception. For a few months, while the debate about its story began to simmer, I withstood the temptation with ease. Then the subtle advertising techniques of the Catholic Church worked on me, too, and I succumbed. Against my expectations, I devoured it within a couple of days, thoroughly enjoyed it and went on to read three other books by the author. Controversy has always been the best marketing tool!

(Just a thought on the side: should I build some silly controversy into my novel and have the Church rave about it?)

Now a group of Maltese Catholics that consider themselves holier than the pope are striving to have the film banned from being screened in Malta... I will not go into detail about the scandalous issues surrounding the Da Vinci Code. I am not a Catholic and I have no intention of hurting anybody's religious sentiments. Suffice to say, I have trouble understanding just why it is so scandalous. First and foremost, the story is a very well-told work of fiction. And why should it be shocking to imagine (the keyword for fiction!) that Jesus was indeed married and had a daughter? Last but not least: Today, in 2006, who can give definite proof that this was not the case?

And I reckon that exactly is the bone of contention. The Church has a long history of making every effort to keep the common people out of the know. (Funny this snippet of information has stuck in my anti-historian memory...) Knowledge is power, and power is a dangerous thing for an ordinary person. The strange twist here is that it is ordinary persons who are going out of their way in their endeavour to prevent the Maltese people from watching this film.

It seems they are indeed making their own valid contribution to the movie's box office success!

Update 27/04/2006

...and the story continues - read here!

Attn Literary Agents & Publishers :-D

2006-03-30T21:24:00.000+02:00

I don't think literary agents are a species known in Malta, at least I haven't heard of any. To publish a book in England, for instance, you'd need one of those - at least having one considerably heightens your chances of getting published. Now, to get in touch with them when you're based in Gozo is a rather tedious task. When I finished my first - and so far only - novel a couple of winters ago, I got hold of a copy of the latest "Writers' & Artists' Yearbook" and did some severe homework. Subsequently I sent my manuscript to several agents as well as publishing houses directly. Each time freshly printed, of course, and attractively presented.

Needless to say, they all came back to me (at least they do return them... Maltese publishers - judging from my experiences - don't bother!), all minus the attractive folders but plus those dreaded refusal letters, telling me off in a polite way.

In the meantime I've read it myself often enough to practically know it by heart by now. I still believe in it... And while I updated my new website's archives page I had this idea to use - once again - my online resources to maybe, just maybe, attract someone to it who could start believing in it, too. The synopsis and first two chapters can be found here.

Even if you cannot help me getting it published, I'll be very happy with your feedback - be it positive or negative. If I were just seeking blind admiration I wouldn't expose it to all and sundry in this way! ;-)

I know this smacks of moderate despair, but it really is not much more than one of those spontaneous ideas of mine, which I just as spontanously put into action. It won't hurt, that's for sure!

Eclipse! What Eclipse?!

2006-03-29T12:54:00.000+02:00

I have no quibbles to describe myself as an unphotographer. Oh yes, I'm quite good at inventing new vocabulary on a daily basis :-) I'm totally content with my little digital camera, for which I own no special lenses or filters and whose various functions that go beyond the "auto" settings I'm happily ignorant of. I have enough learning curves to fight through at the moment, so getting into unnecessary depth of photography is not exactly what I need right now.

Notwithstanding... I was dying to capture today's partial eclipse in pixels. If you'd seen me you'd have had a grand laugh. I was giggling all by and at myself, actually - I was confident that nobody observed me! So there I was, equipped with a tripod (oh yes, I do have one of those!) and several strips of old, blank negative film.

I'll spare you more details - if you've even read this far. It was all utterly useless - even though I did see the eclipsed sun through those filmstrips! What I captured are countless suns in blue skys... no sign of an eclipse, although it was strangely cold in the sunshine. Perhaps the blue of the sky was a little more intensive than is usually the case. Or that was just my imagination.

So here are two specimen of the Mediterranean just-about-afternoon sun (12.20-12.30 pm). That it was eclipsed by the moon to about 68% - well, I'm afraid you'll just have to take my word for it! Or see a proper picture in tomorrow's newspapers. :p

__________________________________

N. B. "Spank" of Malta Forums fame had the better equipment/knowhow to take photos! (Just so you have proof that there really was an eclipse! :-D

Tuesday

2006-03-28T10:58:00.000+02:00

Good morning! I just read an interesting piece of information on my beloved Malta Forums; Melliehasimon writes:

A new survey today says one in three workers says Tuesday
is the day they do the most!Monday's are generally spent
checking E mails and recovering from the weekend....while
by the time we get to Thursday and Friday we are too busy
planning the next one to do much!

But Tuesdays are actually 'do a bit of work' day!!!

Oh well... today is Tuesday (and a glorious spring day, at that) - and this quote actually made me feel a wee bit guilty. It seems I'm destined to always swim against the tide: so far it has been an extremely unproductive day for me! But then, I've also kept unusually busy for the last week or so (including the weekend and even yesterday!), which is a reasonable excuse for my falling into an empty hole today. So if I'll still remember by then I'll watch out for my output level next Tuesday!

On a different tack, there are two little things in my life that I truly consider balm for my soul. One of these is my garden; this is a photo that I took a few minutes ago:

My other mood-lifter is music. I just received a precious gift from a fellow German who's also a Roger Hodgson fan, and who I met for the first time in Kathy's chatroom a couple of Sundays ago. He sent me two concert recordings, one of Supertramp dating back to 1983 (I actually attended a concert on that "Famous Last Words" tour!) and the other of Roger Hodgson solo, from last year. Soooooo nice!! Thanks so much, Gregor!

Summer Time

2006-03-26T19:41:00.000+02:00

Today we switched to what is officially called daylight savings time... Most people call it summer time, which sounds less forced and a little nicer. For me it means plainly that I'll be robbed of an hour's sleep each night for the next 7 months.

Funny thing is, we remembered to turn all the clocks in the house forward by an hour before going to sleep, but I totally forgot all about it today. Kathy, forgive me: I'm going to be late for the chat because we're going to eat now instead of an hour ago...

Not only do they cut your beauty sleep short by an hour, they also turn your life upside down (and to think that today's only Sunday)!

Anyone who'd like to join us in the chatroom of Roger Hodgson's best fan-site? A warm welcome is guaranteed! Chat - supposedly - starts at 8 pm - in ca. 15 mins! But it doesn't matter if you pop in a little later. ;-)

About BLOGTWIDDLING and API keys

2006-03-23T18:08:00.000+01:00

If the word Blogtwiddling didn't exist - well, it does now. Did I say in my last entry I didn't have time for blogging? Darn right. But then WordPress didn't leave me my peace to work (in the sense of earning money). While I had a "last look around" before closing the door on WP, I came across an item "import" - which does exactly that: it very nicely imports your existing blogger blog... And here I went again!

Importing this blog over there was a breeze. Too easy to be true, actually! So I thought, well, let's do a little more, while we are at it. Because, while blogger incorporates the very neat function of word verification, WP does not. What it does have, however, is a nice utility called Akismet that sends spammers where they belong, sitting readily there and waiting to be activated.

From that moment on I went downhill again. In order to activate it, you need an API key, which - it tells you in the FAQ - you should find in your profile page. It doesn't tell you that you're not really regarded as a registered user if you host WP on your own site. To unearth that little but vital snippet of information took a google search and subsequent browsing of several dead links, webpages and blogs. Probably I simply didn't get it because I couldn't believe it! In essence, I had to sign up for yet another account on wordpress, activate it, check out my account information - and finally, lo and behold, take possession of my precious API key. Why are they going to such great lengths to make their own users miserable? I haven't got a clue!

I'm still not convinced WP is the way to go... Gotta think about it - not today, though!!

Blogging

2006-03-23T15:07:00.000+01:00

A friend of mine recently gave her blog a fresh look, and by doing so tickled me into trying it too. WordPress seems to have a thousand features and is tweakable at every corner. And the fact that you can integrate it with your existing website (instead of being hosted separately) gave me the final push to have a go at it.

As a natural conclusion to all of the above, I fully expected this entry of mine to be all about how to find my new blog... However, there's nothing there (and won't be in the foreseeable future)! Learning the hard way, I had to make the profound discovery that a thousand tweakable features are just too much for me right now. I don't think I'll be changing over too soon!

The result of my blog-tinkering is that I don't have time to blog today... Must catch up with my deskload of work!

****

N. B. @ Kathy:
Thumbs up for your new blog! It looks great... in fact it looks like you have loads of spare time LOL!

Għandi bżonn ta' għajnuna... OR: Help!!

2006-03-22T15:01:00.001+01:00

Hurray! My website is nearing its completion, and that's something I'm happy about and proud of. This morning I put the last finishing touches to its Maltese version. Now, that was a drag - but I'm content with the result. - Until someone starts pointing out the lousy mistakes in it, I guess!

If any nice Maltese person among you would give it a daqqa ta' għajn and let me know of any stupid mistakes, I'd be very grateful. It's not really much text, but where I usually scrape by in spoken Maltese, the writing of it is so much more difficult. For example, is prezzijiet jirreflettu il-volum ta' xogħol correct or must it read volum tax-xogħol?? My head's been spinning, and my mind boggling...

Well, if you have a minute to spare, please do have a look and tell me what you think. Since I cannot afford to pay someone to do a professional translation for me I rely on my blog as advertising tool! ;)

Grazzi!!

The island where time stood still...

2006-03-21T09:46:00.000+01:00

Blessings in disguise… we all know what they are, don’t we? This morning my DSL connection went bust, and at a rather inconvenient time, too. Alright, alright, there never really is a convenient time for that to happen. But I was just in the middle of something when it happened, and it was rather upsetting.

Walked around the house like a tiger, returning every few minutes to my desk to see if that little green light on the modem had come back on. On one of my rounds I passed by the enormous mountain of clothes to iron - and that was an excellent opportunity to let off my steam (oops, what a pun!) and prove myself what a capable housewife I can be. When there's no internet, that is! ;)

For these past few weeks Simba has been following me everywhere, and he made no exception for my ironing spree. And the little bugger - as usual - knew full well where to make himself comfortable for maximum effect: as soon as the blackest t-shirt was done he decided that was the best bed to shed his hairs on...

Well, my clothes mountain has shrunk by two thirds, and the internet's working now. Better get back to work before it goes off again. Funny, though, how this island time and time again proves the slogan right, which some bright spark (many years ago!) invented to promote tourism: "the island where time stood still". Makes you wonder how broadband internet made it to our shores at all!

Light

2006-03-18T23:29:00.000+01:00

Not that much to blog about today; it was pretty similar to yesterday, which was freaking around with my site and trying to make it look good and hopefully interesting too... Inbetween I sent and received e-mails and it just so happened - I can hardly believe it - that I seem to have sold one of the articles that I had already prepared for the upcoming Gozo Plus (which isn't to be now) to one of Malta's major Sunday mags. Needless to say: that lifted my spirits by not a few inches!

All in all I can say I'm feeling good right now. I'm actually finding out that there really is always light at the end of your tunnels. So thank God for the tunnels, because one wouldn't notice the lights!! And thank God also for the great people who are holding that little light for you...

Well, I'm going to finish my glass of Chateau de Font (made in Gozo, of course!) and will call it a day. Take care everyone! :)

Glorious Spring

2006-03-17T16:35:00.000+01:00

Finally fulfilled my promise and took a few pics in my garden. And what a beautiful spring day we were given today. It's 4.30 pm and still 17°C! Now just 5 degrees more and I'd be content. Unfortunately, though, it won't take more than a couple of months until we all start moaning about the heat again...

Here are the photos. I really wish I could attach the flowers' smell with them - it makes you want to stay outside all day!

It's a shame one has to work...

In my study grow no flowers

2006-03-16T19:17:00.000+01:00

So much for my wanting to take photos of my garden today. I didn't even see much of the weather today. I worked for something like 10 hours straight on my website, partly due to my own stupidity with a little nastiness thrown in by Frontpage, and all rounded off nicely by the application of Murphy's law.

I actually managed to turn the whole site utterly upside down - that's what you get when you want to handle a website in three languages simultanously without making a proper plan first. The saddest part is that I discovered several hits during my worst time on the site!!! I hope that their first impressions of pages not found, pages moved and funny links won't have sent them away forever!

Well. I think I'm on top of it now, although I've put the Maltese version on the backburner until the rest is sorted! If you take a look and find some funny problem with the site, PLEASE do let me know! It's here, by the way... ;)

Back to the weather: I think it was actually pretty good today as I could glean from an online weather report. I mean, ok, I could see from my windows that it was sunny, but I had no idea about the temperature! Tomorrow I will take those photos...

Today's blog title is a play on the title of a Maltese novel called "Fil-parlament ma jikbrux fjuri" (by Oliver Friggieri), which translates to "No flowers grow in parliament". I actually meant to write the title in Maltese too - but when I was searching for a Maltese word for "study" my dictionary came up with "il-kamra fejn wiehed jistudja bil-kwiet u bil-gabra". For the benefit of my English-only speaking friends: That would have caused my title to be something like "No flowers grow in my room where I study quietly and with concentration". I do sympathize with people who use English words within the Maltese language...

Before every Maltese language aficionado in (and out of) this country is tempted to rip me to pieces: I apologise, just in case, because of course I am aware that this was a somewhat stark exaggeration. But I had a lot of fights with the dictionary today, and I'm just in that silly mood. There's nothing I can do about it - and neither can you! :p

Busy times

2006-03-15T23:08:00.000+01:00

I don't seem to find much time to blog at the moment. I'm busy setting up my own website, I'm even attempting a verzjoni bil-Malti! Apart from that I've been working on translating the English webpages into German for a local company, and on top of it just got a new website to set up for another company. Work in earnest on the latter will not start until some time later this year, but it sure is nice that things appear to be moving!

In the few idle moments I allowed myself today to clear my head a little, I logged onto Maltaforums, where unfortunately the proverbial sh*t was hitting the fan, and heavy discussions about banning or otherwise of a particular member were underway. Too heavy for me to join in and cope with at this moment in time... I was only seeking some fun - sorry, today that turned out a wrong number!

At least that left me with a few minutes for my blog; alas, there's nothing to report really. Which is a good thing for a change I suppose!

If one doesn't know whatelse to talk about, the weather always comes in handy (tried and tested!) ;-) Well, it's still so bloody cold, and without my laptop warming my lap I'd be under my quilt by now! It's really hard to believe that only 6 days are left till spring. The garden doesn't seem to mind the temperatures though: there is a profusion of colours coming up; all the freesias must have decided to wake up from their winter sleep at exactly the same moment! It's so beautiful, and definitely good for your soul! Will try to remember taking/posting a photo tomorrow.

Good night!

Breath of Fresh Air!

2006-03-13T15:27:00.000+01:00

If I had opened the two windows of my study simultaneously this morning, and perhaps left the door open to boot, the resulting mess of flying papers would have made me freak out! Well, it's a bit too chilly for such a draft anyway, so the solution in preparation for a fresh spring breeze in here is: THROW EVERYTHING OUT before it's too late!

And that's what I've been spending my time on today. Actually I started my metaphorical spring cleaning last night: Out of the blue, about thirty minutes before witching hour, a little fairy whispered into my ear that I'd better get my own website. Oh wonderful internet age (no tongue in cheek here!!), which knows no office hours: scagozo.com is already up - if not exactly running but rather crawling under construction. Can't do everything at the same time now, can I?

Hope you like the background; I chose a photo that I took myself (see my blog a coupla days ago!) of my favourite place and photoshopped it just a tiny little bit. Somehow it's a perfect match for my mood right now, a little melancholy, delicately laced with hope...

As for the background melody, I'll probably have to change it soon... It is one of my favourite Supertramp songs, "Even in the quietest moments". But I've been hearing it almost to the extent of overkill this morning, while I was setting up the webpage, previewing it every few minutes!

At the moment, I'm in the middle of the literal part of my clean-up action. And funny enough, it actually is a relief to throw out the enormous amount of Gozo Plus-connected paperwork that's been occupying every horizontal space in this room... Even Simba didn't like my desk anymore!

Gozo Plus

2006-03-12T14:08:00.000+01:00

Not much to blog today, but I was just informed that my ex-partner in the Gozo Plus venture is going to continue on his own. Strangely my blog about its demise made the round extremely quickly, apparently due to a plug on Toni Sant's blog. So there: Gozo Plus might be rising like Phoenix, but without me. Good luck Chris!

In Limbo

2006-03-11T16:07:00.000+01:00

To soften yesterday's bout of acute depression a little, George and I spent an hour in Xlendi. Out of all places in Gozo and Malta it's the only one that till today can actually instill an illusion of being on holiday in me, probably because it was the first place I fell in love with when I came here so many years ago.

Today I'm feeling slightly better, if a little "lost". We watched the formula 1 qualifying sessions, which I actually greatly enjoyed. Forza Ferrari!!! Other than that, I have been thinking about what I'm going to do. Qaminante reminded me - without really knowing it - of the novel I had started last year, then stopped because I had no time nor frame of mind for it. Perhaps I should really dig it out again. Now is probably the best time ever for that! Thanks for the hint Qaminante! :)

The weather, once again, matches my mood. Very grey, pretty cold, awfully windy. Unfortunately we did have to leave the house in order to fulfil our citizen's duty that is voting in the local council elections, which meant that I more or less carefully straightened my hair and appearance, only to arrive at the polling station in a totally ruffled state. Sometimes I envy those housewives who do daily errants outside their homes without giving a second thought to their appearance - coming to think of it, not even a third - oops: should that read "first"?!

Local council elections also mean today one shouldn't turn on radio or TV. If I hear one more statistic about how many votes were cast in how many hours or how many less dutifully inclined citizens did not bother picking up their voting documents at all, I'll scream. Right now, Fleetwood Mac (Dreams) is much better for my nerves! Thunder only happens when it's raining....

R. I. P. Gozo Plus

2006-03-10T18:35:00.000+01:00

After a short but painful disease, suffered - more or less - in silence, Gozo Plus, the only publication exclusively for the island of Gozo, was buried today. I actually shed a tear or two. This mag was my dream come true - only very few people know just how big a dream it's been! But to publish it was sheer luxury; even if everyone and his brother suspected us to get bloody rich from its revenue, I assure you that we did not even manage to get paid for hours and hours of hard work it cost us.

The bitter part of it is that I only ever heard praise for it. And then there were all those who were happy to try and get a free ride. Some of them were original enough to get it, others made me want to cry and scream with frustration.

'nuff said. It's part of my past; hopefully I've learnt some lesson from it, which I'll keep in mind for long enough not to fall for my dreams again. It really doesn't feel awfully great when you end up with all that egg in your face! (That one's for all those who - rightly, it seems - doubted my ability to pull this off...)

Well, now it's off to pastures new. Need a ghostwriter anybody? Or perhaps a website? It would appear that I'll have lots of more spare time available now. Go on, don't be shy, drop me a mail! ;-)

___________________________________________

N. B. Things have changed slightly, although not for me. Please see my blog entry of 12th March.

Feline company

2006-03-08T13:16:00.000+01:00

Now that George has to work more or less regularly again (he was off since November to get rid of an astronomic number of overtime hours he worked last year!) it's me and Simba "home alone" practically all day.

Simba is very particular in his taste of humans... First and foremost, he loves Daniel. I have the suspicion he sees Daniel as his "mother", because in the early days of his life Simba lived almost exclusively in Daniel's room.

Second in line is George. If Simba is left with the choice between my husband and me - with Daniel out of the picture - it's my husband, no questions asked. (The only question here is, why he sort of dislikes me so much!)

And now... If Simba could speak, there's no doubt he would say something like "Oh, alright then, guess it's just you and me left - let's make the best of it!" At least that's what his facial expression says when he joins me in my study, which he funnily enough does every single day. I reckon I ought to feel honoured by the company he gives me. I mean, there is nothing to stop him from retreating to other places in this house. Perhaps he doesn't dislike me that much, after all!

What's another year?

2006-03-04T14:19:00.000+01:00

A sunny day today - just the usual weather for my birthday. Indeed, it does make me feel good on my birthday. Always! The dark thoughts usually come before or after (never mind the weather!), but on a sunny 4th March I'm just fine. Go figure...

George and I went shopping together this morning, and for a coffee afterwards. Then brunch (we never ever manage to take breakfast like "normal" people...), followed by my chocolate birthday cake. Yummy! An especially nice touch was the idea to leave out the number of years we're celebrating.

Oh yes, and my dear sister phoned from Berlin. She came up with the idea that we should have a big party for my 50th - and promised to come to Gozo for that occasion... that subtle hint rubbed it in better than any number on the cake could have done!

So this is it: 47 years in this world. That's quite a long time. It would be less depressing if one didn't have to be reminded at every corner how quickly time is passing by. Not to mention one's inability to simply forget certain numbers and dates! I can't even forget that my first schoolday was 19th April 1966... weird, that!

In all honesty, I don't feel 47 - as a matter of fact I couldn't put into numbers how old I feel. When I came to Gozo for good I was 25 and I don't feel that much older now. Not even much wiser, although I've learnt a thing or two but nothing much in terms of earthshattering discoveries you expect to make when you think of the future at the age of 18!

Tonight we're going to have dinner at XiXi in Xaghra. Chinese cuisine at its best! My son asked me if I minded him not joining us... Well, what could I say? I reckon, that's where the real sting of ageing lies: Suddenly our kids aren't kids any longer!

Thanks to all my great friends from cyberspace who sent me messges, mails and cards. This one from Wade stands for my good mood today!

Life...

2006-03-02T15:24:00.000+01:00

I've just read the blog of a cyber friend, who seems like a great guy. He recently lost his job, moved temporarily in with a friend, and as of next Saturday he'll find him self both job and homeless. What do you say to someone who finds himself in such horrible circumstances?? I can't comprehend how something like this can happen, much less how it must feel when it happens to you.

What it does, though, is make me feel really shitty about my moaning and being unhappy with my life. I have been guilty countless times of ignoring my blessings and seeing only the "bad" things in life - which sometimes even turned out to be those famous blessings in disguise in the end!

Greg, I hope your life turns around - and soon!

One of those days

2006-03-01T21:46:00.000+01:00

Today is one of those days that I'll be glad to see the last moment of before diving under my quilt. I spent most of it trying to come up with about a total of 300 words. No, it's not hard to produce 300 of them - but it's a bitch to construct something intelligible and meaningful without going over that threshold! ;)

Other than that I'm going through some trouble I really don't need right now but can't talk about in public. Moreover, if I told you what today's Super5 numbers were, you'd understand that to me it felt like they were laughing right into my face! Well, probably they would be right to do that too... (Just in case you actually want to know the numbers, you can find them here :p )

Last but not least, I received my dad's birthday card today - he always sends it early to make sure it won't arrive late. In fact I expected it today! It reminded me that another year is over and I still haven't got more to show for it than I had for the one before. And time's running out, if slowly so.

I'm feeling soooo sorry for myself today. If you feel like it, send over some hugs. I need them...

What colour is your brain?

2006-02-28T12:40:00.000+01:00

Here's a little something to take a few minutes break from what you're doing... My brain's blue - funny, just what I expected: blue is my favourite colour!

Thanks for this, Qaminante! :)

BLUE:

At work or in school: I like to be with people, sharing with them, inspiring them, and helping them. I work and learn best when I can take into consideration people and the human element. I flourish in an atmosphere of cooperation.

With friends: I always look for perfect love. I am very romantic, and I enjoy doing thoughtful things for others. I am affectionate, supportive and a good listener.

With family: I like to be happy and loving. I am very sensitive to rejection from my family and to family conflicts. I really like to be well thought of and need frequent reassurance. I love intimate talks and warm feelings.

What Color is Your Brain?

Carnival at last!

2006-02-26T23:08:00.000+01:00

Carnival weekend turned around quite nicely, thank you very much! :)

After a hell of a hail shower came down on us early afternoon yesterday, the weather became pretty reasonable later in the day. A couple of showers here and there were hardly worth a mention and could not do much to dampen the merry spirit!

The highlight of the weekend was without a doubt that several maltaforum users came up to Gozo! There were Drunkenangel and Toothwaste, Johnbull, and later we also met Sharatan and top-mods Phreakles and Tuxka - all of them made for great company!

After pigging out on D-Bar's delicious spare ribs in honey crust, it was off to Nadur to admire all those weird and wonderful creations. I'd say we had a great time; it's so amazing how much fun you can have with people who you've never met before outside cyberspace! I laughed so much that my muscles are still in recover mode today. Not to mention the hangover. Too many drinks making the rounds when you're in a group of many people...

Here are a few pics capturing the typical Nadur atmosphere. If you missed out on it this year - Johnbull actually admitted he'd never been to Nadur before and had no idea at all what to expect!! - well, I hope you'll be there in 2007. Don't miss out again! ;-)

Grey Weekend...

2006-02-24T10:35:00.000+01:00

This view from my living room window perfectly describes our carnival weekend weather... It's wet out there, and stormy - in short: sad! It looks like we're going to pass once again on roaming Nadur's streets - does St Peter know when to bless us with bad weather?! The weather forecast for the next 5 days promises more of the same!

Gozo will miss out on a lot of weekend "tourists" from Malta. Not that I'm particularly missing such invasions, but the island as a whole heavily depends on them, and it's unfortunately such "action weekends" that draw the Maltese to Gozo.

What a let-down... :(

Prinjolata!

2006-02-21T08:15:00.000+01:00

A couple of weeks before Carnival weekend, the local carnival sweet starts appearing in the shelves of sweets shops and supermarkets around the island. It is a very sweet and rich kind of cake, which I'm soooo looking forward to every year! It is instantly recognisable by its peculiar shape and icing, but the quality varies considerably.

<< Prinjolata in its virgin state...

<< ...and on the inside

(Explanations are obviously for the benefit of my foreign friends!)

After buying one a couple of days ago, I have for the first time looked up prinjolata recipes on the internet and was surprised how many references to it I found. I don't expect to feel adventurous enough in the near future to try it out myself, but I really wanted to know what actually goes into it - I don't really know why I've never bothered trying to find out in all these years...

If you are interested too, you can find recipes here and there!

Sting is coming to Malta!

2006-02-19T15:57:00.000+01:00

Hey, some good news for music fans in Malta and Gozo: The Times of Malta carried an article yesterday, announcing a concert by Sting in Malta on June 6th!!! (Please note newspaper link will be active only for one month after publication!)
[Photo (c) Times of Malta]

In the article, Herman Grech calls Sting "one of rock music's foremost icons", who along "with Elton John, ... is arguably the biggest music name ever imported into Malta."

I think that's arguable indeed... Now, don't get me wrong, I'm very excited about, and looking forward to, Sting's concert. I'll definitely be there! But other than Elton John we had Jethro Tull, Fish, Steve Hackett and last (but definitely not least!!) Roger Hodgson coming over a couple of years ago - none of whom could be classified as "small fish"!

Truth is, I'd actually prefer Roger to return to Malta, instead of Sting... I skim every news item about forthcoming concerts of his, alas Malta hasn't been on that list so far. However, I'm still hopeful as the list continues to grow! This is my favourite photo of Roger that I took standing just a few metres away during his concert, which took my breath away:

Ticket prices for Sting's concert range between Lm15 and Lm50, pretty steep in my opinion. I mean, you wouldn't go for a 15 bugs one... might as well stay home and watch a video!

Anyways. It's really good news that the "stars" are considering Malta as a venue. Let's hope that many more will follow! Oh, and Roger, don't forget that you promised to come back!!!

:-)

N. B. In connection with this, I'd like to invite all Roger Hodgson fans to log into Indelibrella's fansite chatroom tonight, from 8 pm (Malta time) onwards. Would be great seeing you there!

Carnival!

2006-02-18T13:11:00.000+01:00

Now that New Year's and Valentine's Day are over, the next milestone of the year's passing is carnival. This morning I dug out old photos; you know, those real ones that you stick into an album, which you can browse even in times of power cuts. This one (more exactly, it's 2 pics merged into one) is of my first carnival in Gozo in May 1984. For the first night of the carnival weekend, George had dressed up as a woman (pity my skirt he's wearing doesn't show!) and I tried to portray the image of a tough male, not quite successfully as those curls didn't want to stay under that cap!

In those days carnival was celebrated in May because the weather had been considered more accommodating; celebrations were put back to their rightful place before Easter by the Nationalist Party, once they took over government from Labour.

I must admit, the weather was rather more pleasant in May; I hope temperatures will not drop too steep at the end of next week. In the last couple of years we didn't bother to go to Nadur because of the cold weather. Nadur is the main hub of the carnival action! The "spontaneous carnival", which is scattered throughout its streets, has become pretty famous. There are no rules as to what you have to wear; you don't even have to dress up. But it truly is a stage of the weird and wonderful, many revellers transforming themselves with amazing imagination, often leaving you to guess without success who is behind the mascerade.

This photo was taken in Nadur; we spent quite some time in the company of the masked guy - he only communicated by means of gestures and didn't utter a single word. In fact, we never got to know who he actually was!

In all these years - my goodness, it's twenty-two of them!! - the local carnival traditions have remained the same. I am looking forward to the next crazy weekend and hope the weather won't let us down!

St. Valentine's Day

2006-02-14T15:16:00.000+01:00

Hello - and a happy St Valentine's Day to every one of you!

This morning I stayed in bed a little longer than usual - that's one of the luxuries one enjoys when no boss is expecting you to show up in the office at 9 am sharp! ;-) At about half past eight George brought me a cup of coffee and a red rose; unfortunately the latter was in grave danger from attack by Simba, who just loves gobbling up flowers and greenery... So that meant I had to jump out of my cosy bed to bring that beautiful flower to safety! And that was the start of my day.

I know a lot of people are against those "celebration days", like Valentine's, Mother's & Father's Day etc. Well everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion of course. The most-quoted argument against is - rightfully so - the over-commercialisation of such events. The "contra" people reason that appreciation should be shown all the year round. That is true, but let's face it: it's nice to be pampered on Mother's Day, or have a nice dinner out on Valentine's Day. Who would be able to enjoy such extravaganzas every single day of the year anyway? And would it remain special if you had these treats as a matter of course??

Well, whatever you might think about all this, I will definitely enjoy our special meal out tonight - while knowing that I will still be appreciated tomorrow and all days ever after!

The page cannot be displayed...

2006-02-11T17:14:00.000+01:00

Today is one of those days... Every third or fourth webpage results in this most-beloved display in my window:

Poor soul who's new to surfing the net and attempts to follow the instructions in that silly message. Why can't a sophisticated operating system (as Windows pretends to be) simply tell me that I'm apparently not connected to my friggin' ISP any longer? The first sentence in that page should read: "Make sure you're connected to the internet"... Instead, it sends you off dabbing in your connection settings. It's tragic!

Have you ever attempted to peruse the Windows help system, by the way? Although I know by now that I cannot expect any real help, I sometimes follow all those step-by-step instructions just for the pure masochistic fun of it. In the end I always win, of course, as Windows gives up and does what it should have done half an hour earlier: admit its failure and advise me that I really would be better of contacting the vendor of the product I have problems with... You have got to have a very calm personality to remain sane in such a situation.

And even though Windows just took the brunt of my misgivings, it's really the customer service - or lack of it - that's freaking me out. This morning my internet connection was not active, for some reason I'll never get to know. By the time I dug out the telephone number of my ISP the connection was restored, and by then I didn't want to know any longer why! Then it went off at around 2 pm: about an hour after office closing time of the said ISP... So I'll have to swallow my frustration until Monday morning. Customer service my foot!

While I'm writing this (online), I save every sentence by way of copy/paste into notepad. Because Murphy dictates that when I press "Publish Post", that dreaded window (see above) will re-appear! Yes, it's in part due to me being blond that I'm not using notepad or Word for writing it in the first place!! I've even downloaded the Blogger utility for Word, but posts only appear correctly when it's just plain text I'm typing.

Oh yeah, just now Blogger displayed a message on the screen's bottom inviting me to test my connection because it can't connect. Now there's artificial intelligence! Microsoft please note, Google just might catch up with ya!

I'm giving up for today. I'm going to click on "Publish Post" now. If you see a big "BOOM" on the screen it'll mean I blew it. LOL!

OMG, this is really not good for my nerves... :-(

On the Edge

2006-02-10T18:53:00.000+01:00

I thought I'd buffer the effect of this morning's distasteful photo a little by showing off the nicer side of Gozo again...

Enjoying a public holiday with near-perfect weather we were drawn out into the countryside again. A little less wind would have made it just a tiny little more perfect... but you can't have it all, can ya? This time we even thought of taking along some goodies for a picknick, something we sorely missed during our last walk and gobbled up ravenously almost as soon as we arrived at a suitable spot!

We parked the car just outside Kercem and before reaching Ghadira went off into the fields to the left. Ever since I came to Gozo for the first time, I have been intrigued by how easy it would be to just walk off over one of the island's numerous cliff edges. When George took the photo below I felt like killing him (well, just one very timid push would have sufficed...). I would have preferred going home without that picture, rather than watching and nagging him to stay away from that edge! Care for a dose of my hubby's humour? He left the car keys with me, "just in case", so I wouldn't have to go home on foot...

Apart from that little episode this afternoon was quite blissful!

A tourist's impressions of Malta & Gozo

2006-02-10T11:29:00.000+01:00

Jumping from blog to blog this morning, I came across an entry by Sharon Buttrey on Wired Temples that I liked. Apart from that interesting description of her vacation in Gozo and Malta over the Christmas period, the autor also shows off her holiday photos. According to her, she chose 34 out of a total of 650 photos. In view of that it is especially sad that this one should have made it into her album:

Quote: "Yes, this is a photo of dog poop. The reason? Well, first, Troy stepped in a nice pile of it, and it was then that we noticed that there is an unusually large amount of dog crap all over the whole country! Some serious poop-and-scoop laws need to be introduced."

It reflects badly on the general attitude in this country that a "poop-and-scoop" law has been introduced a long time ago! Now that we also have the brand-new anti-littering laws I can't help suspecting that the enforcement of those will go the same way... Oh well, time will tell.

In my humble opinion it is a shame that a visitor considers a holiday snap like the above worth taking home as a memory of her vacation.

About Appreciation and Apprehension

2006-02-09T17:24:00.000+01:00

Sorry, yesterday I really didn't feel like writing about anything - except for the one topic, which I promised I wouldn't mention! And so I didn't.

Today was nice and sunny again, but unfortunately full of things to do, tomorrow being a public holiday. Among other things, I had to cash that little precious cheque and do some shopping that was long overdue. And just putting the shopping list together for the long weekend ahead took about half an hour. But that's because I am a person with a short attention span!

In the afternoon I went for my second stint as volunteer at Dar Guzeppa Debono (I wrote about this at the end of January). The home is in a wonderful location, and I'd have loved to just sit up there on a wall and watch the ferries come and go. Obviously that wasn't an option, so I just took a quick snapshot, disturbing wires and all, to linger over at home:

My job at the home is filing... I feel really good about it, even though I'm not doing anything out of this world. But the funniest part is: I hate filing. My home office is a disaster zone and if I had some money to spare, I'd employ someone to file away the mess!! I reckon that has something to do with work being appreciated by others. Well. Perhaps it's time I started appreciating myself a little more?

My son went to Malta with friends after work and is going to spend the night over there. I always feel a little apprehensive about that... blissfully ignoring the fact that when I was his age I was renting a small flat on my own, and went abroad with friends! But then, where I grew up that was considered the normal thing to do, and part of becoming an independent person.

Mmmh... a thought worth pondering! Why the heck should it be different here and now, and what am I worried about?? It's not that I don't trust him, because I do. It's too late now to ask my mother what she thought about my wandering off... Do all mothers feel like that?

Ramblings of an Addict!

2006-02-07T21:28:00.000+01:00

(Kathy, stop roaming my blog so often, that makes me feel like a real slug!!! LOL!)

It looks like I just might be taking the smoking habit right there with me where it's taking me... into the grave! While I was still bragging here yesterday about being smoke-free, my downfall was already in the making. I'm not giving up on it just yet... but I don't really believe that I can kick the habit anytime soon. I feel like one big failure!

Today's cold weather spell had everyone talking over here. Maximum was less than 9°C, even though it was sunny (or probably because of the clear sky!). I know that I will complain bitterly about the heat in a few months' time, but right now I really could do with a little heatwave!

With all my concentration on the no-smoking issue, life literally passes me by at the moment. I should try to get out of my 'cave' more, but of course the cold out there doesn't exactly help it. I can see you chuckle - yes, you over there! Of course you're right: once it's nice, warm and sunny out there, I'll find other excuses. Pathetic!!

So this little pathetic human failure is going to sleep now. When I sleep there's no urge to smoke ;-) On the other hand, sleep has not exactly been coming easy these last three nights. Have a lot of catching up to do. Tomorrow I'll turn over a new leaf: While I'll still make an effort - I vow that I won't bore you stiff by telling you all about it. Expect to read something totally different... Do I hear a sigh of relief? That's ok, I totally understand.

See you tomorrow!

A cheque in the post!

2006-02-06T10:52:00.000+01:00

I just received a cheque... not just any cheque (and not a huge one either!): it is the payment for an article I wrote for the December issue of a local Sunday magazine. More exactly, the first ever payment for something I've written. Yes, for me that certainly is a big deal!

I feel like framing the cheque and hang it on the wall over my desk, but my financial situation dictates that I cash it and frame a photocopy instead! ;-) May many more follow...

Smoke-Quitting Update: Day 3 without nicotine!

Smoke-Quitting Update!

2006-02-05T10:07:00.000+01:00

This one deserves an entry on its own! Would you believe it (can't quite believe it myself!!): I have been smoke-free for almost exactly 24 hours. No shoulder-patting please... I'm very far from over the hill!

I was quite fine yesterday, between noon and 4 pm. Then I started to get itchy when I realised it was the time when the shop opposite my home opened for the afternoon. However, Nicorette gums and all kinds of food stuffs got me over the next few hours. At 7 pm - shop closing time! - another little panic attack as the last chance to buy another pack of coffin-nails withered.

Cooking and dinner time were ok, as expected. But then... No internet, no Eurovision song contest could provide me with the relief I badly needed. The only thing I could do - except for buying cigarettes - was going to sleep. I actually managed to stay in bed from about 9 pm till 9 am... even though it wasn't a restful night. I slept fitfully, had the weirdest dreams and awoke every couple of hours. I wonder whether these were psychological or physical symptoms - not that knowing would have made a difference!

It is said that the first 24 hours are the worst, after which things are bound to get better. I sure hope so because another night like this and I might just call it quits!!!

Photography in Malta and Elsewhere

2006-02-03T12:39:00.000+01:00

Phew! Good to see that blogger is finally online again!! Was afraid I'll never get this uploaded...

If you want to enjoy some really great photography I recommend you visit a duo exhibition to be inaugurated on 9th February 2006 at Il-Forn in Birgu, which is open for public viewing between 10th February and 9th March 2006. Kenneth Borg shows his amazing photos alongside Roderick Abela's oil paintings and pencil drawings. To put you into the right state of mind, visit Kenneth's website, which is a brilliant showcase of his talent! (Can you tell how much I've been impressed??)

While on the subject of photography, this is probably a good place to thank a cyberfriend of mine, Wade from Washington/USA, for always sharing his latest productions of beautiful photographs with me. He usually also shows them off on this page. However, momentarily that has fallen victim to the all-American obsession with the Superbowl XL (sorry Wade, couldn't resist :-p), the extent of which exceeds even the Maltese hysteria connected with the Song for Europe! But do visit the page every now and then because it is updated with new photos frequently! Here's just one beautiful example of his work:

(Photo copyright Wade B Clark Jr.)

Smoke-Quitting Update: Nothing new on that front... but my resolution for the weekend still stands (yeah right: it stands until I fall!). Can you tell me just how an intelligent person can be so stupid?

To blog or not to blog...

2006-02-02T08:06:00.000+01:00

...not a very imaginative title, I know. It's a strange thing with blogging - for me at least: During the course of a day I happen across a hundred things worthy, in my opinion, of mentioning here. I would take mental notes, but by the time I finally get down to writing, there's not much more than thin air up there!

Then there is also a strange kind of pressure: When I check my blog stats I find that some folks are dropping in several times a day. Imagining their disappointment when they don't find anything new, I feel coaxed into writing more. That's when I draw a total bank!

It also came as a huge surprise to me seeing how many of you have been reading this practically from day one - not to mention the fact that you actually keep coming back for more! Perhaps a little naively I thought I'd keep some sort of private diary here, which might or might not attract the attention of a handful of surfers out there. Coming to think of it... are there any publishers among you, by any chance? I'd love to sell the novel I wrote a couple of winters ago and haven't managed to find a publisher for! Only serious requests by e-mail please ;-)

I'm glad to report that the gloomy weather that tormented me since last Monday has decided to call it a day! There isn't the slightest breeze out there, and the sky as blue as can be - and should be, this being Gozo after all. Lovely! Amazing how the weather always lends itself as a willing subject when other ideas run dry...

Smoke-Quitting Update: Oh that... Yesterday I was a good girl, with the count going only up to 8. Today 2 so far. Maybe it's time to go for total elimination - I'm targetting the weekend for that. I do hope George won't file for divorce by Monday!!

The dark side of business!

2006-01-31T21:45:00.000+01:00

Weather-wise this must have been - well, still is!! - one of the worst days of the season. The rain has hardly ever stopped since the early morning, while the wind has been steadily increasing little by little, until it reached force 8 tonight (so far).

This afternoon we had a long overdue meeting with an accountant. Even after an interval of four hours my head's still spinning! It's funny how they tell you that much importance (plus all the help they need!) is being given to SME's (that's small & medium enterprises, I believe) and on the other hand they try so hard at making your life a living hell... Especially if your enterprise happens to be much smaller than medium!

Also funny is that I usually use they when I talk about those in power... The Maltese often say he, in translation of the masculine "il-gvern". Probably feels much better accusing him of making my existence miserable? I ought to give it a try ;-) By the way, emoticons are something I'm missing badly in this blog...

Tonight there was a real weirdo roaming the threads of Malta Forums. He was sort of put off by the fact that posting in MF is in English. Goes to show my personality that he really made my blood boil. In my fury I coughed up a whole paragraph in Maltese to make sure he gets my drift. He really was kind of crazy - or a crazy imposter, more like it! Insisted on spiking/wrajting inglix lajk dis - probebli dis is ownli rili anderstendebel for Moltis-spiking fowks...

Well, he did provide some pretty welcome distraction from my VAT and income tax confusion. Why am I not simply grateful for that? Almost midnight again... Good night everyone!

Smoke-Quitting Update: Sorry, I almost escaped without giving due coverage to my stupid, silly and annoying smoking problem. Especially in view of the fact that a few hits on my blog come to pass only for the purpose of seeing me succeed (or fail?!). I went to such extremes today that I stored the cigarettes in my car in the garage. In this weather an ugly challenge, to travel across the garden just to get a smoke. But travel I did. :-( Might have done 12 today, but I didn't even bother to count. Tomorrow I think I'll give them to George. Will be pretty tough to beg him for a smoke!!

Voluntary Work

2006-01-30T21:48:00.000+01:00

This afternoon I had an appointment for an interview with Maria Attard, who is in charge of Dar Guzeppa Debono, a home that cares for, helps, and gives advice to single mothers, mostly in their teens and early twens.

Maria is a full-time teacher and guidance teacher, and spends virtually all the rest of her time on the running of the home, which is entirely operated and run by volunteers.

While talking to her it became clear to me that all the idle time I have at my disposal at present is quite a luxury. Of course I'm very much hoping that the workload connected with my business will suddenly shoot up tremendously (miraculously!), but until then... To cut a long story short, before the hour was over I happily offered Maria my help with administrative stuff for an afternoon each week, starting next Wednesday, which she gratefully accepted.

I've never done any voluntary work whatsoever; I'm not really ashamed to say that I've never even thought of it... After all, never before had I so many free hours available to me. Another reason might well be that subconsciously I associated "voluntary work" with "carer job", which I admit wouldn't really be me. But organising, typing, filing... that's something I'm good at, so this is a very good way to start. I'm very much looking forward to it!

That's all for today. I'm off to MF now... haven't spent a whole minute there today, I'm beginning to suffer withdrawal symptoms! ;-)

Smoke-Quitting Update: No progress... 10 per day. Well, at least no regress either! Hey, here's another positive aspect to voluntary work: it'll take smoking off my mind for at least an afternoon a week!

Nice walk down to Dahlet Qorrot

2006-01-28T16:50:00.000+01:00

What a wonderful walk we had, from the village of Nadur down to Dahlet Qorrot. But just before reaching the bay, we veered off onto a footpath to the left and discovered a landscape I'd never known existed in Gozo. (Yep, shame on me!!) Need to do this more often!

Afterwards we drove by a bakery in Nadur and bought a delicious fresh, crispy loaf of bread - which we almost reduced to breadcrumbs while still on the way home. We vowed that next time we'll prepare for a picnic that we will have somewhere out there. It was mainly hunger that made us return after about an hour and a half...

There are more photos in my Yahoo photo album!

Smoke-Quitting Update: I'd left home without cigarettes and didn't have a single craving during our outing. It was great! (Another reason why we should do this more often!!)

Thank God It's Saturday - Why?!

2006-01-28T09:43:00.000+01:00

Don't know why, really. It doesn't make a huge difference to me whether it's Saturday or Tuesday. Psychologically, perhaps: It feels more "right" to slouch during weekends rather than midweek. On the other hand, I do work during weekends too. So... Totally irrelevant, all this!

I meant to blog yesterday but somehow didn't get around to start. The title I had in mind then was TGIF. When I took a look at Indelibrella's blog... I found out that that's how she'd entitled hers. Great minds eh?

There's a very bright blue sky out there, almost to good to be true! Probably I will not give myself to slouching today; it's a perfect day to do some walking with the camera. Maybe I can tickle George into coming with me. Will make a nice change to these last weeks' monotony. During the Summer months I often dream of a really bad, grey, rainy and thundery day, and I always greet the first rain of the season with great euphoria. But when there are too many of such bad weather days in a row, it certainly gets depressing!

Well, better get into gear and going. Wouldn't be the first time that it's all clouded over by the time we're ready to go out...

Smoke-Quitting Update: No, I didn't forget all about that! I'm just trying not to bore the readers too much with the subject. Thursday and Friday saw me consuming one packet (not 1 each day!). I couldn't do "cold turkey". I am trying to go outside to smoke, and I already cherish the different, cleaner smell of my study when I come back in!! This morning I smoked the first cigarette at 9.30 am, a definite improvement over lighting up the first one while still in bed!

Euro - Ewro - Whatever!

2006-01-26T14:36:00.000+01:00

OK. Finally my own three cents worth of contribution to the discussion about what the "Euro" should be named in Malta, as it is being taken to new heights. While everyone's running out of arguments to bring up for or against one or the other, we can now witness a little banter about how - wait for it! - the French should be calling the euro, which as a matter of fact they call... euro.

Last Friday, Victor E. Ragonesi, wrote in The Times of Malta: Now that it has been decided to call the European currency ewro, we should on the basis of pronunciation request the UK to spell it "yourow", France "eró" and Germany "euro", with the umlaut. We shall then be in the happy company of silly countries.

Frank Farrugia retorts in today's Times: Sorry but Victor Ragonesi is wrong when he says that the French ought to write euro, "éro". It will be more correct to say that it ought to be written "euro" with an acute accent on the "é" and pronounced as é-u-ro. While "éro" is read exactly like the French noun "héro", where the "h", though grammatically is sounded, is not pronounced. (It reads like the Maltese three letters "ero") which is quite a different sound from turo.

Incidentally, the former also takes the German language ad absurdum. There is no umlaut in euro, and there never will be! There might be if it was written uero... Oh what utter rubbish!

It is heartening indeed to see how much energy people are putting into solving the country's most pressing problems. Keep it up!

Smoke-Quitting Update: I did smoke 2 cigarettes so far today. With considerable embarrassment I admit that I fell for it at around noon... Well, not all is lost yet. Tomorrow I'll be even better!!

I'm going to quit!

2006-01-25T21:13:00.000+01:00

Apologies for the disgusting photo. This was one of the permanent fixtures on my desk; didn't even bother cleaning it anymore... I'm going to throw it out as soon as I'm finished here!

I think I'm ready to finally quit. While it might be easy to say such a thing as I'm still dragging the poison of the last cigarette into my lungs, it is a fact that it is the last one I have - and I don't have any secret stores I could fall back on in case of an "emergency".

I have been smoking for over 30 years, and have thought of quitting countless times. Real attempts there were few, though, and none of them really lasted that long.

This afternoon I opened a thread about quitting on Malta Forums. The response of the others was great. I'm hoping that the more I talk about it the lesser the chances that I pull out... It's hard to do it all on your own! These last weeks I've cut down considerably from the over 2 packets a day I smoked until the end of 2005, to about a pack. And now I'm going cold turkey...

I really do feel like a junkie - and truth be told: nicotine is hardly less addictive than heroine or coke. I'll sure let you know tomorrow what it feels like to have been without it for a day!

Horoscopes again, I'm afraid...

2006-01-24T11:31:00.000+01:00

Pisces
Some absolutely wonderful news could come your way, dear Pisces, possibly about career or financial success, perhaps involving positive changes in your near neighborhood. If you've been thinking about seeking success in writing or publishing - or any art for that matter - this is the day to set events in motion. Your imagination is operating at a high level and so is your ability to communicate with others. Go for it!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Are you wondering just why I'm so obsessed with this subject? You see, today's horoscope fits my life to a T. Again. How they do it, I don't know. Especially in the light of a discovery I made a couple of days ago:

Into my entry of the 20th January, I had pasted my Yahoo horoscope of that day because it had impressed me a lot. A couple of days later, however, I found a link in my blog stats that led to another blog of a person with exactly the same horoscope. "No big deal", I thought at first. After all, with billions of people on this planet there are bound to be a few with the same horoscope ;-). BUT: The blog entry in question was made almost 3 years ago!!! And they didn't even bother to change the wording at all. Food for thought!

Best Pics of 2005

2006-01-23T23:38:00.000+01:00

It's late. I'm tired... But I don't want to go to sleep before letting you know about the 50-something best photos of 2005, which where posted (bless her patience!!!) by missC on Malta Forums tonight. Even if a couple of them are not strictly 2005... who cares! They're really great pics! - Waiting for the last one to be put up prevented me from going to sleep LOL!

Good night!

An Unlikely Horoscope

2006-01-22T13:09:00.000+01:00

Pisces
This is your day, dear Pisces. You may find that other people are gravitating to you for advice and support. People are apt to strip down their guard and be more openly accepting of the things you believe in. Conversations may lead to topics of a more spiritual matter and you may find yourself giving lessons on the meaning of life. Suddenly the things you have been thinking are coming out to a huge audience that is eager to hear your words.

[So come all ye faithful! ;-)]

* * * * * * * *

Horoscopes, for me, are a source of entertainment that often is tinged with astonishment. If I happen across a horoscope in magazines, newspapers or as in this case, online, I always read it with great interest. I don’t actually believe in them… I’m cheerfully aware that most predictions never materialise – especially not those that I would be dying for to happen! And still, I’m hooked, mostly because I almost always find my current situation described with amazing accuracy.

Today, however, I feel Yahoo let me down. Being a Sunday, I am with 99.9% certainty not going to have any encounters with people asking me for lessons in life. Sunday has always been the one day to indulge in my hobby of slouching, which pretty much excludes the possibility of outsiders invading my space and quavering in expectance of hearing my pearls of wisdom.

Of course there’s still the possibility that my blog suddenly becomes a place of pilgrimage for surfers, who are in search of a deeper meaning to life. However, judging from the site statistics of my blog, that is also virtually in the realms of the impossible.

Oh well, I’m off to my slouching now. Enjoy the weekend as long as it lasts. See y’all!

N. B. If you are a Roger Hodgson fan, you might like to meet tonight in the chatroom of Kathy’s fan site. We are a bunch of very friendly people who meet there every Sunday from ca. 20.00 hrs Malta time onwards (19.00 hrs GMT).

Short Story from and about Gozo: "Lorraine's Return"

2006-01-21T22:33:00.000+01:00

Some time last year, I entered a short story into a competition organised by Showtime, a cultural supplement of the Times of Malta. The winner was announced in the first week of December; sadly it was not me... First place went to Katryna Storace, whose story "The Androgynous Aphrodite" will be published in a future edition of Showtime.

Since my story was mentioned among 10 "runner-ups" of sorts (see clip) I was content enough. I'd have expected for it to be totally lost among the many entries they surely must have received.

Well, nobody asked me if they may publish it (nope, I hadn't expect that either!), and I have nothing to report in my blog today, so I thought I might as well publish it here, thus affording it a tiny, exclusive audience!

So here it is:

Lorraine’s Return
(c) 2005 Sabine Cassar-Alpert

Lorraine opened her eyes tentatively as she felt the last rays of the autumn sun on her face. When her eyes adjusted to the light, she realised the taxi had already crossed the first third of Channel Bridge. “I must have dozed off”, the young woman thought, and stared in wonder at the tower of Comino, which they were passing just then. A moment later the enormous steel construction of the bridge came into focus, leaving the ancient watchtower to fade into the background.

“What a monster”, she meant to think but probably had spoken out loud, because the driver eyed her in his rear-view mirror with a peculiar mixture of hostility, defensive hurt, and curiosity all rolled into one.

“That tower’s over four hundred years old ta, Miss,” he said, perhaps a tad more grumpily than he had meant to, “to call it a monster is outrageous!”

Lorraine held his gaze in the mirror and retorted wryly, “I’m talking about the bridge, not the tower!” She shook her head but could not help being awed at the sight of the huge bridge, which could easily compete with San Francisco’s Golden Gate. They had not even stopped at putting in an exit from the bridge to Comino! The tiny island between Malta and Gozo had been car-free in the days when Gozo was home for her.

“Ah!” And both, his voice and face took on a more amiable hue when he continued, “Ghandek ragun. I guess you’re right. Doesn’t do much to enhance the landscape, hux? Imma, you know what? For me it don’t matter if it’s nice or ugly. Most important thing is, I can cross over any time, day or night!”

Lorraine left his last remark without reply and hung after her own thoughts, careful not to voice them aloud again. The concept of ferry queuing – or worse, cancelled trips because of rough seas – was totally foreign to her. She tried to remember what little experiences she had had of the ferry between the two islands. Her family had whisked her away to England when she was only seven; she could just about recall one outing with her school class to Malta in grade one, when they had been herded through several museums, not quite old enough to appreciate their country’s treasures. And then, of course, the last crossing, heading for the airport. The minibus they had hired for the occasion was jam-packed with suitcases, trunks and bags, and Lorraine herself had carried her school satchel, and a heavy heart. That had been fifteen years ago, almost exactly to the day.

Lorraine could not stifle a sigh at the thought of those days. The summer of 2006 had been a catastrophe in terms of tourism, which had been Gozo’s main money spinner until then. The frantic counter-measures taken by the authorities in the run-up to the elections had been the proverbial too little too late, with disastrous consequences. Needless to say, she had been much too young to be aware of the negative ripple effects on the economy as a whole. What was of significance to her at the time, were the less crowded beaches and, more importantly, the fact that her dad was more available – which certainly was good, rather than bad! Towards the end of that summer, however, her secure little world had collapsed like one of those card houses she used to build with her dad. Her parents had explained carefully that she was to leave her school, her friends, and her home behind: They were moving to England where her father was getting a well-paid job.

Her daydream almost succeeded in luring her back into her earlier doze, but just then Our Lady of Lourdes Chapel came into view, causing Lorraine’s heart to take up a faster pace. This was very close to home! Hardly noticing the exit marked “Mgarr Marina” and ignoring the handful of sparkling yachts mooring just visibly below, Lorraine’s eyes where riveted to the end of the bridge, which adjoined the road leading up to Xewkija, her home town. As they continued their journey on solid ground, Lorraine held her breath in expectance of the moment the church dome of her native village would come into view, but was to be disappointed bitterly: where once open fields had allowed a glimpse of the magnificent dome on approaching the village, these had now given way to an endless row of terraced houses, leaving her to guess where the village of Ghajnsielem finished and Xewkija started.

After clearing away the lump that had formed in her throat, Lorraine asked the driver, “Would you mind passing through the centre of Xewkija?”

“Mela le, no problem. – You got connections there?” Visibly relieved that the long silence was finally broken again, he gave her an encouraging nod in the mirror.

“I lived there once, a long time ago.”

“Ah.” He eyed her with renewed interest. “Where about?”

“Soil Street, do you know where that is? There used to be a grocer’s right next door to our house, on the corner…” She wrinkled her forehead in concentration. “Can’t remember its name though.”

“Haqq id-dinja! Don’t tell me you’re the daughter of Ganni ta’ ballija? Um… Lorraine, hux?”
“Yes, that’s me alright.” She gave him a puzzled look. “I’m so sorry, but I don’t seem to remember you… How do you know my family?”

“Know them…” For the first time he laughed openly, which lent a surprisingly handsome quality to his face. “Ganni’s mother and my grandmother were sisters! I’m Giovann, we used to play together at the centru, you really don’t remember?”

Now it was Lorraine’s face that lit up. “That’s crazy! But… I guess some things never change – in Gozo everyone’s related to one another! So… we’re second cousins then… well, I’m sure pleased to meet you, Giovann!”

She felt more comfortable in her backseat now, and when a moment later her former family home came into view, Giovann slowed the car down to a crawl so she could take her time examining the neighbourhood. It still looked quite the same as when she had last seen it. Only the street looked deserted, lifeless, and where in former times the neighbours had competed for precious parking lots, now hardly a car seamed the flawless tarmac of the road.

“It’s almost unchanged, and at the same time different,” Lorraine observed. “Aren’t there any people around?” Suddenly she remembered vividly Guza and Karmni, the spinster sisters from next door, always sitting on stools in front of their house and scrutinising each passer-by with aplomb. Jonathan from further down the road had forever been washing and polishing his ancient but precious Ford Escort, and there had been a constant coming and going at the little corner shop next to her home. Now the whole place was deserted and reminded her of a film city that had long since served its purpose.

“You guys weren’t the only ones who left Gozo, although the real exodus happened about eight years ago,” Giovann explained. Shaking his head, he added, “Just when the bridge was finished, how’s that for irony!”

Giovann steered the car back to the main road and they resumed their trip to Xlendi, where Lorraine was going to stay. Rita, her best friend during her all too brief schooldays in Xewkija, had arranged a small flat on the seafront for her. After they had lost contact about a year after Lorraine had moved to England, they found each other again with a little help by the internet, in a chat room that was mostly frequented by Gozitans. It had been on Rita’s insistence that Lorraine had finally decided to spend her vacation in Gozo. Lorraine felt excited and apprehensive at the same time, but now that she finally approached her destination, she was just glad that she had come.

As they left Xewkija, Giovann asked, “Are you in a hurry? I’d like to show you something. It won’t take more than ten minutes,” he added pleadingly.
Lorraine knew that Rita was expecting her at the flat, but she didn’t have the heart to disappoint her newly re-discovered relative, and so she agreed. Giovann took a left turn and headed for Sannat. Again Lorraine was dismayed at the sight of missing fields that had been replaced by dwellings.

“If it’s true that so many people left the island, then who are all these houses for?”

Giovann explained how the construction industry had been the one trade to survive a little longer than all of the others. Cut-throat pricing had made building cheap, and banks had facilitated the dream of your own home further by granting loans at low interest rates. One disastrous side-effect was the further decline of tourists – the whole island had become one huge construction site. In the end, the only survivors had been the houses. Apart from high-quality roads, membership in the European Union had given Gozitans excellent education – and the possibility to work abroad. Giving green light to building the bridge had been the government’s last desperate attempt to attract Gozitan workers to employment in Malta. It failed.

As their ride took them into Sannat, Giovann turned left again, in direction of the Ta’ Cenc cliffs.
“Are you going to show me the golf course?” Lorraine asked. She knew that years ago there had been a heated debate whether to have one at Ta’ Cenc or not.

“Golf course my foot!” Giovann replied with a smirk. “What you are about to see has probably been the biggest victory for the greens in Gozo’s history!”

Curiosity made Lorraine search the horizon for anything extraordinary, while the taxi inched its way forward on the potholed ground. This was the only road she had seen so far that had been bypassed by the craze of having ultra-smooth tarmac everywhere. And when it did come into view, it caused her to open her mouth and not shut it again. Like a fish on dry land, she seemed to be gasping for air, but what she was really lacking, were words. Where once the unique rocky terrain had given view to the open sea far below and all the way to the horizon, there was now a vast field of evenly spaced, huge white wind-turbines. So gleaming white, they almost hurt the eye. There was hardly any breeze, and their propellers were turning at a slow-motion pace.
“… And there I was thinking the bridge was a monster! This is…” An appropriate attribute evaded her. ‘Hideous’ sprang to mind but did not do it justice. The rough beauty of the area was destroyed in its entirety.

Giovann killed the engine and opened his door. “Ejja, let’s have a closer look!” he invited her. Together they walked a short distance, accompanied by a constant, eerie hum in the air. About fifteen metres from the nearest turbine an electric fence stopped them in their tracks. For a while they just stood quietly, and stared at the eyesore; then Lorraine broke the silence.
“Let’s leave,” she rubbed her forehead, “I think I’ve got a headache coming up. It’s been a long journey – and Rita is probably starting to worry about me.”

“I don’t think the headache is from your trip, ta! It’s the turbines. And they don’t only give you a headache. People have moved away because of stomach trouble. And migraines. There used to be a hotel not far from here, but it had to close down because of these things… You should hear them when it’s windy – it drives you nuts! All the neighbouring villages get their share of noise and vibrations!”

They turned away from the fence and made their way back to the car. As Giovann opened the door for her, he told her about how birds continuously flew innocently into the turbines’ turning blades and into their death. Taking in everything she had heard this afternoon, a cold chill came over her all of a sudden.

“How could they do such a thing and get away with it?” Lorraine shouted angrily. Then, still shivering, she looked around and slowly became aware of Rita sitting next to her with a concerned look in her face.

“Who did what?” Rita inquired.

“What?” Lorraine searched her friend’s face, wondering what she was on about. Their beach mats were in the shade now, as the sun had vanished behind the rocks. Hastily she pulled a sweatshirt over her swimsuit. Then she started shaking with laughter. “What’s the date today?” She asked breathlessly.

“Today’s the first of October, and it’s your eighteenth birthday, silly woman!” Rita rolled her eyes.

“I just had the most peculiar dream ever!” Lorraine rolled around onto her belly, gazing into the distance while she tried to recall the dream’s details.

“Well, we’d better get going, because at seven Giovann is going to pick us up for dinner!” Furrowing her brow she added, “And on the way home you’d better tell me all about that dream of yours!”

Giovann… Oh yes, they’d better hurry. He had promised to take them to the best restaurant in Malta; they were going to take the ferry at 8.15 pm. It was going to be one of the highlights of her vacation this year. Giovann… She had been coming to Gozo every single summer since she’d moved to England, but ever since she had met Giovann last summer, Lorraine was toying with the idea that she actually might stay for good one day. Gozo was certainly not the worst place to live in.

Oh, and of course, Giovann was not related to Lorraine outside her weird dream!

What goes up.....

2006-01-20T23:20:00.000+01:00

Should've just shut up when the going was good... But what can I say, that's me: always need to spit out what goes through my mind!

For starters: weather changed dramatically again. For the worse, needless to say. The entrée followed in the form of our special edition's cancellation. A bit blue-eyed, perhaps, we thought Gozo's business community would just ache to sponsor our little Eurovision supplement, and thus give a push to the popularity of Gozo's contestants. Yeah right. Did we really not know better?!

What's for main course? My wireless network saga - an extremely boring (but equally annoying!) subject that I consciously left out of these realms - just rounds up this nasty day perfectly... Judging by importance, especially when compared to the failure of our supplement, it's perhaps rather to be classified as dessert, even though it took up most of my time for two afternoons and evenings.

But what the hell! Wouldn't life be truly boring if all was plain sailing? I'm trying to be positive, counting my blessings. Have a roof over my head, and both computers are still working - co-existing if you will, if not exactly cooperating. Not to mention that I can tug into my cosy bed now, and no alarm clock will interrupt my beauty sleep in the morning.

What more do I want? Well, better not go there...

N. B. My Yahoo horoscope never fails to amaze me; this is today's:
Pisces
To understand the major shift taking place, dear Pisces, you must look at events from a lofty perspective. A slow-acting liberation process is gathering momentum. In the next seven months, you will be unable to refuse an opportunity to rid yourself of an oppressive part of your past. You'll shed your old complexes and emerge renewed. Don't be alarmed if some family relations suffer as a result; the distress is only temporary.

Bright Days!

2006-01-19T11:35:00.000+01:00

Third sunny day in a row... still cold, but definitely a beautiful day! We're in the middle of preparing the "Malta Song for Europe" special edition of Gozo Plus. Although we are still in dire need of a few more sponsors, it looks like we will meet next week's deadline of going into print.

All at the same time we've been finishing a brochure for a major hotel, are working on the regular edition of the mag (coming out in March - watch that space!). Not to mention that a contract for a website development & management seems to be materialising very shortly. Life is suddenly and undoubtedly looking brighter all around! (Yep, that pun's been fully intended.)

For a change I'm glued to my keyboard not only to post silly stuff on MF, but actually doing some serious work. Awesome!

Have a good day everyone!

Best Blondes Joke Ever

2006-01-18T10:53:00.000+01:00

I can't resist. Although (because??!) I'm blond, I have a very strange affinity for the blondes jokes of this world. They are a fascinating phenomenon indeed. They make me wonder just how many individuals with brown, black or red hair are out there, who are even more intellectually challenged than they think blondes are - but possess a certain craftiness that makes them try to make people believe their hair-rising stupidity is due to blond roots.

So especially if you're not blond, let me know how much you like this one, which Toni Sant kindly brought to our attention in his blog of the 13th January. It is arguably the best blonde joke ever! :-p

Aaaargh!!!

2006-01-17T16:36:00.000+01:00

At times when I'm already stretched to my limits, trying hard to cope with life’s major problems and disasters, it’s the little things that can annoy the hell out of me, such as…

… motorists who tail me, road hog style, but once they manage to get in front of me slow down to a crawl…

… people with nothing to do, standing at the kerb of a zebra crossing without any intention of crossing…

… toilet paper and kitchen rolls that refuse to cut in places they’re supposed to cut…

… my dustbin greeting me in the middle of the road five doors down from my home after garbage collection…

… English television documentaries that are voiced over in Maltese on the local channels – while Italian ones are left in their original language…

… the lady in front of me at the supermarket checkout line who gossips with the cashier, then pays her bill of LM 2.98 with her VISA card…

… the first heavy rain of the season that always chooses to fall just before and during rush hour in the morning…

… those telephone callers (and there are a lot!) who answer my polite ‘Good morning, XYZ Company, how may I help you?” with “Hello? Hemmhekk XYZ Company?”…

… people who insist on a meeting to be scheduled at 11 am because noon is “way too late” – and then show up at 11.45…

What do do you think? Did I leave anything out??

Writer's Block & Malta Forums

2006-01-16T22:39:00.000+01:00

I suspect I'm just finding out what it means to suffer from writer's block. That's something I never had to deal with - normally my head's full of stuff I feel I need to write down... and now that I actually have to I'm drawing a total blank up there!

Perhaps it's just the lack of a looming deadline. I mean, the deadline is there, it's just not looming close enough yet! I seem to have way too much time on my hands. Add to that my newly-formed addiction to Malta Forums... If you have some time to spare, pop in: it's great fun! There aren't many subjects that are not talked about. And if you're missing one - just create it. You'll get the others' opinions in no time at all, and almost all MFers are fun to talk to.

Handle with care, though. You'll be hard pressed to push the responsibility for your face being glued to your computer screen all day/night long, onto someone else!

I, for one, can hardly blame MF for my lack of productivity... People would think I'm nuts! Well, probably I am...

So, you think I'm writing convoluted nonsense? Tough cookie! That's what I have my blog for, after all!!

Gozo Times Disappeared!

2006-01-15T14:26:00.000+01:00

I wonder if I’m the only one to have noticed that the “Gozo Times”, a monthly 8-page supplement of the Times of Malta was missing this month. What a pity! With the Gozo Times, the Times of Malta had provided a space for people to contribute ideas, problems and other interesting items pertaining to Gozo. Even so, I was given to understand by its editor that only a small number of Gozitans actually bothered to do so.

Uttering one’s opinion in public seems a very hard thing to do for Gozitans – unless they are already in the public eye, that is. There is a wide-spread fear to be characterized as “blue” or “red”, or to suffer repercussions of some sorts. So I reckon it’s the Gozitans themselves that are to blame for the Gozo Times to be quietly put to rest after two and a half years.

For the time being, what we are left with is the weekly Sunday Times column “Gozo Newsletter” which more often than not reads like a parish bulletin. Following are this week’s earth-shattering headlines:

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Gozo Newsletter
Commentary - Labour's plan for Gozo - Castelain At the end of this month, the Malta Labour Party's general conference will meet to discuss the party's plan for the future named "New Beginning". Among the various documents put forward...
MUSEUM leaders receive Gieh il-Qala award - Castelain Four members of the Christian Doctrine Society (MUSEUM) are this year's recipients of the Gieh il-Qala award. The decision, reached by the local council, recognises their life-long dedication to their work...
Coming up - Castelain Outgoing Gozo Bishop Nikol Cauchi leads a thanksgiving, farewell Mass at the Cathedral in Victoria today at 5 p.m. After Mass the Bishop will be presented with gifts by Vicar-General...

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I’m still hopeful that the Gozo Times might re-appear on the second Monday of February. Gozo needs and deserves that space!

Lovely People! (NOT!)

2006-01-13T10:06:00.000+01:00

This is Gozo for you: Our neighbour - who's Maltese and comes over to Gozo only sporadically - has a couple of planters with bougainvillaea outside his house. They don't disturb anyone, don't block the street or hinder traffic, simply are there to look "nice". A few days ago someone apparently (I didn't see it happen only heard the noise) crashed his car into one of them, reducing it to an ugly heap of rubble in the process. Since the house owner was not in Gozo at the time... well you can imagine: the heap is still there and I doubt very much that anybody but the owner will have to fix and pay for the damage.

I do love this island, it's been my home by choice for many years. But this is one character trait of its people I just hate. Finding your parked car scratched or even bumped into after a day of work isn't unheard of at all. As for getting to know who did it... forget it! If there are no witnesses you don't stand a chance. And if there were witnesses? Don't hold your breath waiting for them to come forward and tell you!

The motto seems to be: Hit and if you're sure nobody saw you, just run. It'll be ok. Sad isn't it?

When will it snow in Malta?

2006-01-12T17:42:00.000+01:00

I really think it's only a matter of time when snow will fall for the first time on our islands. It's getting colder and colder! This afternoon we had 10°C - that's about 50°F - not even the sun made me feel warmer. That's quite unusual, even in Winter!

Inside the houses it's not much warmer - central heating is a luxury I can only dream of! Simba, however, always finds ways and means of keeping warm! Here he decided to wear George's jacket which he had left carelessly on an armchair :-)

Working morale in sunny weather...

2006-01-11T08:51:00.000+01:00

At last, a sunny day! For five days in a row the sky was thickly covered in so many shades of grey - it was like living in a black and white movie. After two or three days it affects your mood! Even working is more bearable when the weather is friendly...

And work I must. Having jumped into the leisurely life of a self-employed 2 months ago it now becomes increasingly clear to me that a boss is in fact needed to lift one's working morale. In absence of such creature kicking my ass I guess I'll have to do that myself. I only hope I'm not going to start hating myself in the process!

Off to work you slug!!!

Hello World, here I am!

2006-01-09T16:31:00.000+01:00

OK, now I’m all set to start off my blog… Actually I can’t really see why I would want to start a blog now when I have so much other stuff to write. The preparations for the magazine I’m editing are in full swing – I should hate writing in my free time too. Strangely, I don’t!

Been sitting at my desk since about 7 am, with very few interruptions for food & drink. That's just over 9 hours - with very little to show for it. So perhaps that's what I subconsciously need the blog for: so people can see that I'm not totally unproductive! On the other hand I wonder who would want to read this!

It's been raining in what they call "sunny Gozo" almost non-stop since Friday, that's four days of water coming down on us! Meanwhile, Kathy in Texas is praying for even just a little shower. Crazy world!