Stay at home? Close the airport? Don't go abroad?

These are the types of comment I have been hearing and reading lately here and there. Honestly some people get a keyboard and lose all sense of reality and reason.

According to the brainiacs, in order to avoid the swine flu life must stop and one should be secluded at home for...eternity? or until a vaccine is found? Anyway, forget about work, forget about shopping, forget about travelling, going out for a walk, forget about getting on a bus...mortal sin!

So, what about tourism and business trips? You know, tourism which is basically the main source of income in this country?

How am I supposed to move from one place to another if I don't have a car? Should I walk all the way from Sliema to Valletta if I have to go there?

A friend told me some days ago that she should be fine because she doesn't need buses. And I replied: "Pity that I do, and we are talking now, and I might sneeze..."

The Isle of MTV concert? Some people said they would think twice because of the swine flu. But they failed to notice that some of their friends were going, friends with whom they liaise on a daily basis.

My way of seeing things: I live life as normal because there is really no other option. I can't stop going to work or using buses or walking down the street or going to the supermarket if I need to. And human contact can't be totally restricted. I already wash my hands very regularly and well...panic is definitely not the answer.

It must be boring to be smiling all the time

I have just finished watching Miss World Malta. It's a slow day and I haven't felt like doing much except for zapping from one TV channel to the other.

Anyway, I was watching Miss World Malta. The contestants were all very pretty and I loved their dresses!

I started thinking that it must be boring to have to smile all the time because if you don't , people notice and it doesn't look nice on the participant.

We are all so...complex...and so are our emotions. I guess that a beauty contest is the perfect place to try that of always smiling even if you don't feel like it. Nothing wrong with giving your smile a break when you just don't feel like brightening the day with a smile ;)

Diamonds and Truths

"Diamonds are found only in the dark places of the earth; truths are found only in the depths of thought"

Victor Hugo. Les Miserables. Page 156. Woodsworth Classics.

Winding up at home with the book I am currently reading :) A beautiful, wonderful book.


glitter-graphics.com

Yesterday I was a chair

Guy comes into a room where there are three people, me being one of them.

He introduces a group of people to the other two next to me and totally ignores me because maybe he thought I was a chair.

I don't care but I notice.

One of the other two persons introduced me instead.

The Self-Righteous

I can't believe that I received what appeared to be a spam message on my mobile. phone..sent from...France?? From a number I don't know. The SMS was an awful comment regarding Michael Jackson's death. Or maybe the person sent it to me by mistake but I don't think so.

I have also read a couple of comments here and there on Facebook that left me speechless. What he did right or wrong? Who am I to judge him? How does that go about the first one to throw the first stone? Honestly, the things that are written when there is nothing relevant to say.

Today I was a peach

And then I felt remorse although I was right. I struggled with my conscience whether I should apologise blaming it on a tough day or just not to say anything at all. I opted for the latter.

I felt like having a bowl of rice for lunch from this place where the food is really good but the service is really bad.

I got a table and took my book out. I started reading and after about 10 minutes nobody had come to take my order. I had a look at the counter and there were three or four waiters/waitresses just joking about. They didn't look very busy to me.

I got angry and went to the counter. I told the girl, one of these non -Maltese girls whose English is not exactly fantastic: "There is no service I assume" to which she replied "Yes" and then I said "Well, I have been waiting for the last 15 minutes and nobody has come to the table" She said: "15 minutes?" and I replied affirmatively. She said that she was sorry but that she hadn't seen me which made feel like telling her "so am I invisible or are you blind? because my table is in a very visible angle from the counter" but I didn't say anything.

I just sat down and the girl came all smiles and all and then I started feeling a bit guilty but when I paid I said "what the hell?...no tips, I was right"

High Heels

Social norms and etiquette...I am not so good at that. I must admit I value comfort over elegance. I always have.

Therefore, I am not used to wearing high heels...or heels for that matter. So I have this activity on Saturday and I am planning to wear a summer dress and I realised oh wonder of wonders that I didn't have shoes, I mean, fancy shoes.

Red and I hit the shops in Sliema and it was all kind of confusing as the prices of heels ranged literally from 5 euros to 80. I had previously checked a bit on the Internet trying to find what colour would go nicely with a cream dress and found that oh surprise, surprise: cream shoes would do :)

So, any bets? Will I be able to walk without falling during this event? I will let you know afterwards but in the meantime I was thinking on how feasible it would be to bring a haversack and change into the heels there, you know, to walk with them for as little time as possible.

The shop assistant (a guy by the way) told me when I said that those heels are kind of high for me: "High? Those heels high? Those are medium/normal height" Well, I will take his word for it but for me they are like stilts :)

Oh yes, the heels are the ones in the pic above. Like them?

Lovely, lovely award

Sweet G has given me the "One Lovely Blog Award" Thanks G! I am passing it on to Zen and Grandhillmom :)

This phase of blogging

I am going through a blogging phase that reminds me very much of my first months of blogging way back in 2007. The posts were very, very short and mainly described what was going on on a specific day or week. Sometimes I would only share a quote I liked or that I had just read, or a video I enjoyed.

I was quite used to the idea that not too many people visited and I barely had any interaction due to lack of comments.

How do I differentiate between other phases of blogging I've had so far? Well, there was this phase when I blogged passionately and very, very frequently. I used to visit my friends 'blogs on a daily basis and I would blog hop also discovering new blogs. That's a thing of the past as I barely have any time to blog and visit my friends' blogs from time to time. I try to keep up with the reader but it's not easy ;) life is so hectic!

I have also gone through a phase whereby I just didn't feel like blogging...at all...that's the lazy blogger phase of mine and I haven't had it very often I must say.

This phase is different. It is like a 'back-to-basics' sort of thing and it makes me feel more...relaxed could be the word? more 'al suave' as I would say in Spanish. Enjoying it like a glass of wine while I am sitting down on the sand taking a look at the stars.

16th June: Ulysses

16th June is the day when Joyce had his first date with the person who would become his wife. I haven't read "Ulysses" but it is in my 'to read list'. I am reading another one of his books at the moment and I am loving it.

16th June is also the day that is described in the "Ulysses" and it is apparently commemorated as such. I found this quote whilst reading one of my favorite sites: Guardian Books :) Isn't it fabulous?

"A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery" Ulysses, James Joyce

“Our birthdays are feathers in the broad wing of time.” Jean Paul Richter

So, another day, another year. We are all a day older than yesterday but I am officially 29. The last year of my twenties. The third decade of life is just round the corner. I really need to get round to reading this book of reaching your 30's I bought the other day.

How time flies! I still remember my 5th and 7th birthday celebrations as though it were yesterday.

Red has a surprise for me. I am very curious to know what it is.

The birthday cake above was sent to me by M :) Thanks a lot! ;)

The Shifting of Power

So the stars are shining on the centre/far-right parties. After reading the disturbing comments of an MEP hopeful in Hungary about Hungarian Jews, I wonder if this is really 21st century Europe. It looks full of fear, bigotry and backawardness to me. It is definitely not showing its best colours at the moment I must say.

It is rather disappointing to see that the Maltese political arena doesn't offer a chance for the Greens or for an open minded third party anyway.

Isn't it ironic? Latin America is shifting to the left. Even my country has just elected its first leftist government in its history. And Europe is moving towards...anti-immigration and far right?

I still believe that the immigration issue in Malta and perhaps all over Europe has been handled in such a bad way that they gave the centre-right parties a golden opportunity. Well, I suppose that like everything else, democracy is also about balance and power shifting. I just hope that the power shifting won't imply choosing parties that threaten principles and values based on human rights ideals and progress for all.

That's all folks!

So, this is it. Yours truly feels humbled that my posts regarding the elections were featured on MaltaMedia alongside the likes of Jacques and Robert Micallef who are used to writing about elections and politics in general whereas I am definitely not used to doing so.

It was the first time I wrote so much about elections and well, I am proud I managed. I hope you enjoyed the ride. I will get back to my usual stuff and will finish watching "La Dolce Vita" which I have been trying to watch for the last three days and will get back to my Alan Benett's "The uncommon reader".

But before that I must tell you that Red and I have just come back from Hamrun (walking) as we wanted to see a bit of the mass meeting. I am not much into that type of thing and there were (understandably) too many people for my liking (how snobbish that must have sounded LOL) but I will leave you with a picture of the mass meeting. Hope you like it,

A clear message

So the first sample is showing that the Labour Party won the majority of the votes with a 57% and basically PN has lost these EP elections with just 40%.

Maybe the perception I had the day before the elections and what some people had told me was correct: that people wanted PN to get the message. Maybe there have been too many issues that they have neglected, maybe certain sectors of society are unhappy, maybe the campaign was not up to standard, maybe the financial crisis, maybe the illegal immigration issue was underestimated and started to be discussed by them too late, maybe it was the whole package.

The message is maybe that the ruling party doesn't really count with the vote of confidence of the majority of Maltese who this time voted for the Labour Party or who chose not to show their support towards their party for one reason or another.

I imagine that Simon and Casa will keep their seats. I wonder who will be the Labour MEPs.

I am rather disappointed to see that the Greens are apparently performing badly. I expected better results though not specific figures have been announced so far.

Anyway, I will leave you for now because the honking in the streets is already kind of annoying and Red wants to go out to see what's going on outside.