Shambles & Rambles

2008-01-03T06:57:00.000+09:00

I can't believe I'm saying this but "I can't wait for work to go back".

I'm feeling an emptiness right now and I don't know where it's come from. Maybe it's the lack of breakfast or the disappointment that our dog destroyed my gf's bikini and now she's rightfully pissed off; I dunno.

All I know is that since the last time I posted on this blog everything has changed "for the better"; though at times it doesn't feel that way... In fact as the days go on I am beginning to get this sinking feeling that I'm only falling further away from a achieving a whole lot of my goals; especially the one where I get to see the world...

But hopefully that will change.

I think I need a holiday; and not just the kind where I get time off from work, but rather the kind where I get time off from life and commitments and get to go see new things, experience life outside of this repetitive cultureless little country I live in.

Either that or I need someone new to come into my life (and no, not at the expense of someone old)- to bring something refreshing into my life.

I can't smoke weed anymore you see; it's been so long since I could and yet I still long for it; though even if I was able to I probably couldn't afford it. It's amazing the hold on me that drug actually had and I still don't think it was a bad thing. I've been battling with ill-contentness my entire life and weed gave me some perspective on what I have. It gave me the motivation to look at other peoples lives instead of at my own and made me more selfless.

Yes some would say that i shouldn't need weed to feel that way; and their right. I don't.

But god it makes it easier to do.

In 30 seconds I could switch from unhappy or annoyed to relaxed, calm and open to ideas from outside the square.

So whats going to happen?

How long can I last in this current state of existence?

How long till I can earn some decent money and feel the rewards of the last 6 months of sacrifice?

And how long till I can go back to shaping my dream career and the future a really want?

I love Gee soo much, but god I don't think she see's how hard this is on me. It's not that I expect her to feel any guilt or remorse for it; infact it's the opposite- we are doing this together and I know it's hard on her too.

But she doesn't know what she wants to do; though she sure as hell knows its time for a change. It's time for gee to get outa retail and find something that will make her a little more happy- because i need her to be happy. I need her to be feeding me positivity at this point in time to help me through; but at the moment she's struggling just as much as me coz she hates her job too; not that I hate mine, just that I know where i'd prefer to be.

Anyway, if you read the rant all the way to here; thanks.

If not.... It's out now so who really gives a fuck?

not me thats for sure.

<3

Luke(y)

Police Wasting Resources!!!

2007-03-12T13:11:00.000+09:00

An article found earlier today on the ABC's news webpage announces that police have seized more than 1000 marijuana plants in WA's south western region after over-flights using infrared technology to discover the crops.

This is a huge blow to the already dying weed market here in Perth, the situation for those wishing to find marijuana for personal use is dire already with prices increasing significantly and supply dropping right off over the last few months.

I really wish the police would stop spending so much money on chasing down those who smoke marijuana, a natural plant grown in the dirt; and start spending more on it chasing down the dealers of Methamphetamine, or "Crack" the number 1 cause of drug-induced psychosis globally, particularly here in Western Australia.

I for one have seen many persons lives, including the lives of many persons very close to me, absolutely ruined by addictions to methamphetamine. On the contrary I know hundreds of persons who have been smoking marijuana for a long and sustained period of time with few negative effects on their life.

If the Government really was serious about combatting the drug problems we have here in Australia they would legalize marijuana and increase the penalties for those caught dealing in A and B class drugs (particularly manufactured halucinogens and carcinogens; but most importantly amphetamines). I charge that most drug-related home and car burglaries are due to addictions or trafficking of methamphetamine, and that very few persons who just smoke marijuana would be involved in such serious crimes.

I know many extremely respectable persons who have been smoking marijuana since their youth, without having intentionally broken the law in other ways (well, maybe they had driven a few kilometres over the speed limit, but I even know police officers and politicians who are accustomed to doing that aswell).

It's beginning to get to the point of pissing me off, the stupidity of allowing heavy-drinkers in the public, of producing legal drugs for un-natural purposes (ie, Viagra), the sale of ciggarettes etc, when marijuana is considered such a big no-no.

If your going to battle drugs, don't battle the ones which have little or no effect on society- indeed I think if a referendum was called in Western Australia on the legalization of marijuana, I believe it would pass- instead they should battle harder against the drugs which are proven to have a significantly negative effect on 9/10 people who use them, and the persons surrounding those 9/10...

This was a very brief outburst of annoyance, but I just want to say something to the State Government (and possibly the federal opposition): FOR ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PURPOSES YOU REALLY SHOULD CONSIDER A REFERENDUM ON THE LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA.

Unless you don't think it's right for the people to use their rights to make democratic decisions more than once every 4 years.

2007-02-16T14:36:00.000+09:00

Wow, it's a long way into the year already and still I have not posted on this blog; nor on the poetry blog. I guess blogging (well, writing a blog) just comes in spurs, sometimes you have the time and drive for it, sometimes your too busy, sometimes your life is just cruising along at a pace which leaves no need nor time to blog. Sometimes you write like theres no tommorow. Sometimes you hear something, some news, and all you can do is blog for the next month or so. I can feel this is coming soon, this time of writing my share.

I am back to studying Print News at university this semester, which begins but 10 days away. You'd be amazed at what I can get done in a day. Here is my study plan for this coming semester:

Monday:

wake 5:30am.
breakfast & cup of tea
email//messenger check.
check ob network for changes//hits
wake Gee up with a cuppa at 6am
get changed into work clothes
grab all my work stuff
online news check

leave for work at 6:30-35
work until 11:45am.
straight to uni.
Lecture 12:00 -> 1pm.

Eat Lunch & fill time until 2pm.
Tutorial 2:00-> 4pm.
Lecture 4:00-> 5pm

Leave 5:10-30

Arrive home 5:40->6pm.
Check e-mail, messengers & OBnetwork.
Chat to Iraqi and other online friends.
Read blogs//books//news for a while
Cook//Eat Dinner for // with Gee.
Clean up.
Couple of hrs with Gee until-
Sleep.

Thats monday. Fortunately thats the bussiest day of the week for me, though Tuesday and Thursday are very similar. (Any blanks in my Tuesday & Thursday afternoons will most definately be filled with reading // homework for uni.) I work each day of the week except sunday and wednesday. No uni on wednesday or sunday either so they are my two days off.

Friday only work no uni, but plenty of uni reading//homework and housekeeping to be done, plus I work saturday mornings at 3am or earlier....

Anyway, to finish my post here is another George W Bush quote; possibly the most intelligent thing he has ever said. It is in relation to the new Democratic Congress's decision to oppose the troop increase, even after unanimously agreeing to appoint the father of the idea to the command of US forces in Iraq.

"This may become the first time in the history of the United States Congress that it has voted to send a new commander into battle and then voted to oppose his plan that is necessary to succeed in that battle," - George W Bush Feb 16, 2007.

MmmMM The Holiday

2006-12-20T07:45:00.000+09:00

So I guess I kinda got lazy on holiday. I had been writing a great journal everyday for the first couple of days. But then we hit the Gold Coast and things got hectic. We became way too busy for me to bother writing.

So for the first few days I have a detailed description of events for you- after that I will give you some images and a rough run-through of what I can remember from a very very busy and very enjoyable holiday in one of Australia's beautiful tourist centres. For anyone thinking of going to the Gold Coast- this will be a good reason why!

Another Bush Bashing

2006-11-14T07:34:00.000+08:00

George Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld are flying on Air Force One.

The President looks at the Vice President, chuckles, and says, "You know, I could throw a $1,000 bill out the window right now and make somebody very happy."

The Vice President shrugs and says, "Well, I could throw 10 $100 bills out the window and make 10 people very happy."

Not to be outdone, the Secretary of Defense says, "Of course, then, I could throw 100 $10 bills out the window and make a hundred people very happy."

The pilot rolls his eyes and says to his co-pilot, "Such arrogant asses back there. Hell, I could throw the three of them out the window and make 56 million people unbelievably happy."

Many thanks to Chikitita !!!!

Is this the 21st century or what ?

2006-11-08T15:26:00.000+08:00

So I hear there was this big occurance sometime between when I fell asleep in the 20th century, and woke up in the dark ages; it was supposed to be the turn of the millenium; the dawn of the 21st century and with it was supposed to come a new world. What happened to all our dreams and aspirations of a better world and our plans to reach it? Now all I hear about is death, war, devesatation, starvation, poverty and some environmental crisis people keep calling "global warming".

Whats with that anyway? Things don't seem to have changed much physically. There are still dirty old cars spilling black smoke into the atmosphere that makes me cough everytime I drive behind one; there are still coal-fires fuelling the majority of this countries electricity requirements. Yet they say we are all going to die from it? So about this whole 21st century thing, when do we get flying cars, peace and prosperity??? When can I get my food made for me by a robot or live in a house on the moon? All these things still seem decades or centuries away, and from what I understand , well what I've learnt since I woke up anyway; we're all going to drown or freeze or burn or something along those lines in the next 1-200 years anyway!

So what are we going to do to save ourselves?

We should probably start with getting all those filthy, dirty smokey cars off the road and ban cigarette smoking in non-carbon-filtered area's all together!!!! Next after that has to be all these coal-powered electricity plants- they've gotta go too. I'm sure all these people watching TV all day doesn't help either, they should be out planting trees or something constructive you know; growing crops in their back yards or whatever- not just burning up more and more and more and more and more and more energy every day while sucking down tonnes of junk-food prepared at places that spew out hundreds of tonne's of grease into the air everyday. Just walking past one of those places makes new pimples appear on my face!!!!!!!!!!!

And why does everything come pre-prepared these days, don't people know how to make their own sandwhiches? why do they need to go to SUBWAY to feed their lazy faces? There so lazy they don't even smile when they mumble thanks in the least-energy consuming way they know! Then they go home, eat the subway with only "9 grams of fat", along with a huge bottle of coke and a whole lot of chocolate just to make themselves feel better- all while playing some mind-numbing, emotion softening shoot-em-up on their wiz-bang "XBOX 360".

It's all a little too much for me! I wake up in the mornings, walk outside for a nice fresh breathe of air- and hey, guess what, it's still sort of fresh! But by the time I get less than a kilometre from my house im choking on pollution as I go down the highway behind some giant mass-energy-consuming excessively-polluting truck full of tortured sheep!

What a random post this has been, it's not even factual and it's all just ramblings!!!!! ahahahahahahahaha. Well I guess its true in one aspect; if we don't clean up our selfish-mentality this world is going to kill our god-forsaken race off in order to save itself from absolute destruction!

The world is a sentient being and were the only thing stopping it from thriving. Watch out or we'll all die soon enough~!!!

Uni is back

2006-08-10T09:08:00.000+08:00

Uni is back already for 1 1/2 weeks; didn't realise how long its been since I last posted on this. Lots has changed. Life is better. Am moving on with things now; as long as me and gee can remain sane through the next few months of hard-work and no-breaks until november; we should be fine...........

More soon :) hope you like the picture below hehehehe :D

Israeli Checklist

2006-08-10T09:06:00.000+08:00

HAhahahahahaahhaahah. I love it. You will tooooo.

2006-05-29T08:11:00.000+08:00

Welcome back to my life as the hiatus in my personal blogging ends.

University is all but over with only one assignment left to go; a 1500 word essay on a topic of my choice. The hypothesis I chose for my essay:

Religious extremism has become prominent in Iraq as a result of the 2003 US-lead invasion.

easy enough topic (for me at least). I am actually really looking forward to it :)
anyway time to get back to the original aim of this blog and post something far-out and way-cool you know what I mean.

Something zany loooooooooooooooooney craaaaaaaaaaazy!
hmmm what fits this description?

(gee-oh a few years ago !!!!)

Moving right along

2006-05-22T17:11:00.000+08:00

And so life goes on- and I move right along. You can tell that my life has been hectic and I have been under pressure when my blogs are neglected.

But now I have caught up with my university work and got ontop of it. I have begun to save money and buy the things I need to move on with life- to fix my car, to pay up and tie up the loose ends. In two weeks I go on holiday from uni- I only have 4 assignments left (3 of which will be finished by this friday).

The last remaining one is on the subject of Religious extremism in Iraq- and so it will be just like writing for my blog; in fact it will be writing for both my blog and the Olivebranch Network . Speaking of which I guess the people here may like to know a little about where OB network has come from and has come to.

The OB network started upon my winning a competition run by Antony Loewenstein - author of "Australia's 2nd best blog for 2005", a journalist from Sydney. This was in the january just past. I decided I must make the most of the opportunity given to me; for many reasons.

For one I wanted to make sure that whoever else was vying for the prize (a free domain & hosting package for 1 year) wouldn't put it to better use. I also wanted to make Antony proud of his choice and use the chance to impress an Australia journalist//author.

I also wanted to do something in the area that is both most important and most well known to me; Iraq since the invasion in 2003. The scope expanded and eventually the OB network was created. Now only 4 months later there is nearly 20 unique visitors per day, and 23 contributors. Only 4 of these contributors are not Iraqi's either living in Iraq or living outside. The network is very popular amongst those who know it and I feel very proud of my achievements; although the network nearly caused me to overload ontop of my uni work.

Good to be back and posting; very very good indeed. It's also a sign that I am getting better emotionally and mentally. I now feel like I have coped with the worst of this situation and am finding my way out rather than being stuck in the middle.

hope to be back to regular posting within 2 weeks :)
stay tuned!

Dear Sister (A poem)

2006-04-30T18:11:00.000+08:00

Dear Sister…

Life may not be easy,
yet it never gets too hard.
Some times things may hurt you,
and some things leave you scarred.

But though life is not so easy,
it can never get too hard.

This does not mean,
you may not hurt,
this does not mean,
you may not cry.

Just don’t give up on loving; in-fact,
don’t give up on anything.

Remember what you have got;
no matter what is lost.
As your brothers we both love you;
no matter what the cost.

By [olivebranch] for Cazza 30/4/06

The Dream//House

2006-04-05T10:49:00.000+08:00

- The House//Dream -

I look inside a window,
no man is standing there.
I wonders had he seen me,
and did he really care?

Teary eyes had blinded me,
a man WAS standing there.
I whipe my eyes in hope to find,
another standing there.

I take a breath and then a step,
and walk inside that house.

My brother,
is in that house.

[olivebranch] 28/3/06
dedicated to Timothy Skinner- my long lost brother.

Time has passed

2006-04-05T09:36:00.000+08:00

It's been a long time since my last post on this blog,
infact it's been a long time since I logged into my blogger account.

If you were hoping for something funny-
you'll just have to wait a while.

I have written a heap of poetry over the last few weeks (for Uni), and I thought I would share a few with you and also announce the opening of the "Olivebranch Poetry Page", which will include myself, Attawie and Sunshine (you can join too if you like)!

here' are a couple of poems- I will add the links to the afformentioned page later! (busy trying to do a few things at once right now) Peace out and stay safe!

[olivebranch]

A Fly on the wall
(explosions in the street)

There’s a boom!
There’s a smash.
The man falls.

There is glass.
There is screaming.
The man bleeds.

There was TV.
There was couch.
The man cries.

There was son.
There was daughter.
Both died.

TV playing,
in the front room.
The front window,
the mans wife.

Their children.
A bomb.
The glass window.
The man’s life.

By [olivebranch]
(inspired by riverbend)

The Instant Message.

A boy sits at his desk,
pressing text under finger.
More appears upon the box,
And he stops to let it linger.

He places down his hand again,
pressing text under finger.
More appears upon the box,
And he stops.

And lets it linger.

By [olivebranch]

Less & More (no shelter//war)

There is east, there is west.
There is rich, there is poor.

There are nations, there are races;
yet there is so much more.

There is hunger, there is food,
there is greed; while at war.

There are mansions, there are huts,
there are boots; while feet are sore.

There is water while there’s thirst,
yet no bottles for the poor.

There are people below poverty-
with no shelter from the war.

How long...
will they take it for?

By [olivebranch] 5/4/06

The Brat // Leaving Home

2006-02-27T23:24:00.000+08:00

There has not been a week in which I have shed so many tears in my life. Well at least non in my memory.

Conditions at home have been such that it became impossible to live there and when my mother said "Perhaps it would be better for all of us if you and Gee found somewhere for yourselves", I sat wondering what the hell to do. I guess I had decided a few days earlier it was time to leave home, but I didn't want to let go of my little sister, my room, my garden, my kitty or the life I had developed.

Unfortunately I couldn't survive any longer and had been feeling the grips of depression, and when I feel depression it's time to make urgent changes, because I can quite quickly become a chunk of good-for-nothing depressed meat. Bound to the indoors and hiding from the public.

So I left.

Now I am around the corner about 1km away. Not so far from my sister or life and even my mother once this whole situation dies down a little. I didn't want to leave. I didn't know what else to do.

Stay at home and wait for the next journey to hells gates to begin?

Leave everything behind?

Just so you know mum- I regret this all having had to happen, but I tried, and I tried hard.

And to my darling little sister I'm sorry. You can't imagine the tears I have shed except to say they would be comparible to the ones you have and will shed. I never wanted to leave you. Never. I love you too much and am dripping tears all over the keyboard as is. You know I looked for every alternative; there just wasn't one too fit our situation. I miss you already :(

It's time for this post to end, and it's time for me to pray: Please look after my sister and my family through the potential problems we are sure to face in the future. I didn't want to cause more trouble but I thought it through and don't know what else to do. Please god, help me here.

Fong's Blog!@!!

2006-02-15T18:03:00.000+08:00

Hey guess what??? my best mate has launched a blog!!!
He's a funny bastard so I am sure it will be both cynical and amuzing.

However I warn you he is a NERD!

see FONG's blog "Kids With Guns" here: http://footlongfong.blogspot.com/

Read Between The Lines

2006-01-16T14:21:00.000+08:00

When someone wants to say something, but feels a person is reactionary, they may speak in tongues or riddles. This is one I found on a blog: "Write The Blog " it just goes to show that things are not always as they seem. If I believed marriage made any difference, I would say it is excellent :)

This is a love letter from a boy to a girl.However, the girl's father does not like him and want them to stop their relationship,and so the boy wrote this letter to the girl.

He knows that the girl's father will definitely read this letter:

1 "The great love that I have for you

2 is gone, and I find my dislike for you

3 grows every day. When I see you,

4 I do not even like your face;

5 the one thing that I want to do is to

6 look at other girls. I never wanted to

7 marry you. Our last conversation

8 was very boring and has not

9 made me look forward to seeing you again.

10 You think only of yourself.

11 If we were married, I know that I would find

12 life very difficult, and I would have no

13 pleasure in living with you. I have a heart

14 to give, but it is not something that

15 I want to give to you. No one is more

16 foolish and selfish than you, and you are not

17 able to care for me and help me.

18 I sincerely want you to understand that

19 I speak the truth. You will do me a favor

20 if you think this is the end. Do not try

21 to answer this. Your letters are full of

22 things that do not interest me. You have no

23 true love for me. Good-bye! Believe me,

24 I do not care for you. Please do not think that

25 I am still your boyfriend."

So bad!! However, before handing over the letter to the girl, the boy told the girl to "READ BETWEEN THE LINES", meaning-only to read 1.3.5.7.9.11.13 (Odd No.'s) go read it once again but the Odd Number lines.
When there is a Will, there is a Way...

thanks ali :) that was actually really intelligent and nice too :D
[olivebranch out]

Poor Josh

2006-01-14T16:15:00.000+08:00

It's the things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

MY friend Joshua (or Joshwaah as I like to call him) is going out with (in a relationship with) a very nice girl named Sam. Sam is a uni student, who goes to Curtin like me! She's nice, likes lotsa good music and I only ever see her & Josh happy together, so I imagine their relationship is very good, though I don't know Sam so well.

The problem is that Sam is going away for 12 months to Karratha (about 2000km north) for work, and Josh is left behind all alone. From what I can tell they have decided to break up for the time being, probably the sensible decision given their particular situations. Maybe/Probably they will get back together in the long run I think...

But poor Josh, you could see it in his eyes last night at Sam's going away party when he said "I'll come see you like, every month.. I can even sleep on the couch or something if you want."

It was cute, he meant every word whole-heartedly, and I don't doubt that if he had the resources and time to do so he would go visit.

Unfortunately for Josh, it is a long way. He will probably go up to see her 2 or 3 times, and she will probably come back at least once over the year; but to go straight from a strong relationship to such distance must hurt.

It makes me think about my future with Gee.

I want to be an investigative journalist, the kind who see's something he cares about, and goes to do something about it. The problem is this will take me away from my Gee for long periods of time, probably around 3 months, hopefully no more.

I don't know how I would handle these times, and seeing Josh last night nearly brought a tear to my eye...

What would Georgia feel like if I were leaving, departing to some dangerous location in a country far away? Maybe she will come with me for the first week or two of each trip, that would be more comfortable....

Just some thoughts I felt like sharing

oh, and please PLEASE please check out the post about 24steps to liberty & baghdadtreasure's friend Jill , an American Freelancer kidnapped by in Iraq- the post is on my other blog Olive Branch Optimism .
PCE

Drunk Pumpkin Bush Bashin

2006-01-13T12:27:00.000+08:00

I agree. Surely there must be some hot chick in the white house who could seduce a bafoon like G.W ???? Who's his secretary? I'll pay the bribe!

hehe and another for those without a political sense of humour

Got music apathy? I hope not!

2006-01-11T12:25:00.000+08:00

I was cruising around the news sites on the net when I stumbled on this story- I don't even remember where I found it now....

Anyway the article basically says that the mass media and music downloading has created a generation (the "Ipod Generation"- who the fuck are they? anyone from age 10-50?) who have lost touch with live music, who don't have their soul in the music.

Ok so I do agree there are way too many over-commercialized, sex-sells or video-clip orientated pop songs and poppy bobby little teenies and pre-teens- but they suggest anyone who downloads music is becoming apathetic towards music! Doesn't understand the emotional quality of live performance, so on and so forth.

Well BUGGER THAT.

Commercial radio and MTV killed live music, not the internet! In fact I would dare go as far to say there are many more people listening to live tracks and live recordings now than ever before, as a DIRECT RESULT OF INTERNET FILE SHARING AGENTS, AND e-BROADCASTS SUCH AS SHOUTCAST AND PODCASTS...

I for one have heard and enjoyed and helped to put on many live-sets, all of which was probably inspired by my love for certain types of music, most of which I never would have had the chance to hear without downloading them!!!

Well here's the article...

Hit me with some comments :D

[olivebranch out]

Music downloading creates listener apathy
Jan 10 11:44 AM US/Eastern
Email this story

Internet downloading and MP3 players are creating a generation of people who do not seriously appreciate songs or musical performances, British researchers said.

"The accessibility of music has meant that it is taken for granted and does not require a deep emotional commitment once associated with music appreciation," said music psychologist Adrian North on Tuesday.

North led a team from the University of Leicester, central England, that monitored 346 people over two weeks to evaluate how they related to music.

They concluded that because of greater accessibility through mass media, music was nowadays seen more as a commodity that is produced, distributed and consumed like any other.

It could also account for the popularity of television talent competitions, particularly in Britain, which allow viewers from the "iPod generation" a rare chance to engage and appreciate music and live performances, they suggested.

"In the 19th century, music was seen as a highly valued treasure with fundamental and near-mystical powers of human communication," said North.

"The pace of technological change has accelerated further over the last 20 years or so and these fundamental changes in the nature of musical experience and value have arguably become even more pronounced.

"Because so much music of different styles and genres is now so widely available via portable MP3 players and the internet, it is arguable that people now actively use music in everyday listening contexts to a much greater extent than ever before.

"The degree of accessibility and choice has arguably led to a rather passive attitude towards music heard in everyday life.

"In short, our relationship to music in everyday life may well be complex and sophisticated, but it is not necessarily characterised by deep emotional investment."

The academic's assessment follows a warning last week from rock legend Pete Townshend, The Who guitarist, that listening to rock music on an MP3 player through headphones could cause deafness.

The link between Al-Qaeda & Iraq

2005-12-17T03:47:00.000+08:00

Bahahahahahahah! :)

like this kind of stuff????? politics that is????? don't like bush???? don't like the war???

head over to Olive Branch Optimism at the following URL:
http://olivebranchoptimism.blogspot.com/

Atlenravite Bteis - and so do I

2005-12-17T03:12:00.000+08:00

Since I wrote the below letter a lot has changed, I got a verbal apology and got my pay check on time when I had arranged to pick it up. The boss cooled down and I think realised he was being an ass.

So enjoy the read, but it no longer has a real meaning

-------------

The bakery I used to work for fired me yesterday for unjust and unfair reasons, because of this purpose I am going to write a recount of what I recall happened.

I worked yesterday morning at a bakery in Bentley (Western Australia).

I came home from work after telling to the Production Manager that I refuse to work with Mike (an employee I can no longer stand after excessive, provocative personal attacks and him treating me like shit, calling me a shit-kicker etc.) and coming to an agreement that I would work only Saturdays from 1am from now on (my good old shift).

As I was leaving my boss (the production manager) Dave said "alright I will see you at 1AM saturday then, speak to you on the phone about Mick."

and I left.

This is at just after 7AM.

by 8:30 I am at home dozing, just about to reach a deep sleep when my phone rings and I notice it is from work. So I answer.

Dave said the usual casual greetings then got to the point "Nothing about mick... Herb has gone crazy about some link to the business on your blog".

DAVE: "when you google the business your blog comes up he wants you to remove it now."
- then something along the lines of "he's reallly pissed off, i've never seen him this angry.. He's pretty angry hey".

so I agree'd I would remove the mention of the business from my blog sometime that day (yesterday), hung up and went to sleep with every intention of removing it when I woke up- I could imagine was Dave was going through at the other end.

2 hours later (10:30 something) I got another phone call from work. This time Dave's all stressed out and tells me "Herbs never been like this before not even with Kim. He wants that olivebranch thing gone now, he's been calling and checking every 1/2 hour".

So I jumped on the net at home opened my blog and used the search tool on my blog for "Business name". NO MATCH FOUND.

Dave sometime while this was happening passed the phone to the office lady while he went back to his work out the back.

After a brief debate about me not having found the business name mentioned on my blog it was eventually explained that what was mentioned was actually "bussinesname", part of "http://www.bussinessname.com/".

So I asked for the exact URL of where this was mentioned eventually discovering it was way back in the first month of writing this blog, buried in the Archive section for April which was some 89 pages long.

The post HAD BEEN at this address http://olivebranchoptimism.blogspot.com/2005/04/went-to-work-today.html

A moment after I found it I deleted it, because I wanted to go back to sleep with no more hassles.

Go check for yourself. You will notice it no longer exists.

So it's deleted at this point some time before 10:45 and after the phone call began.

Then the lady from work says "but aren't you going to remove it from the front page" - confused I asked what she meant.

"On google it is still there he wants it gone from google".
"Thats what he is angry about"

I gave her instructions on how to open the page where it HAD been (archives for April) and to use the "Find in this page" function to search for "businessname". I said to show it to him to prove that I had removed it.

She found that it was gone and I explained to her that all I could do was send Google an email and ask them to remove it- otherwise if possible she should call them and try to have it removed urgently.

Here is a copy of EXACTLY WHAT I REMOVED FROM MY BLOG (whole post).

----------------------------------------------

Went to work today-
In more than one way I went to work today.

First I woke up at 4:45 for work,
then did my boring days work at the usual patisseri
http://www.businessname.com/
WHEAT AND GLUTEN FREE!

anyways, then the real work started,
I went for a treck to my old school,
Sevenoaks Senior College.

Found my old history teacher, and spoke to her class about stuff.

The main thing was, I brought up the Jarrar family emergency aid idea of myn,
and got a few helpers who sound fairly dedicated.... More on that later as I have friends over, again :)

Will post about Falloojeh, haven't forgotten about that, I also have some rough fliers made up for my fund-raising.

Going to ask my lil-sis to help me get money from her school and the parents :))

[olivebranch]
posted by olivebranch at 6:53 AM 0 comments

----------------------------------------------

Somewhere during that phonecall I was passed back to DAVE said Herbert (the owner of the business) "would not give you your pay until the link is gone from google". Dave also made it clear that Herbert "did not want me back after this". His exact words. I remember them particular words because of the feeling of betrayal.

I know that Dave didn't want all this shit. Dave was my friend as well as my boss. He had helped me out in the past and I tried to help him out as often as possible...

Sometimes you just get along with people, and me and Dave just got along.

I felt sorry for Dave. This was a baaad situation to be stuck in the middle of.

But Herbert, the man whose business I had saved from hitting the ground on several occasions- who I had worked 6days a week starting at 2:30am in the morning for a long period of time *not for a while now* was firing me and for what?

Because I had mentioned the business on my online diary? (many other websites have too, if you look up "Bussiness Name" in google you will see). Dave said "Herbert read some pages of the blog and was really pissed off, he says hes going to seek police action or something..."

So. I was being fired for mentioning the business I work for on my own blog.

And whats more is he thinks he can threaten me with legal action or the cops??? Other people mention the business in their websites too (and even a blog)- have a look, is he going to sue them aswell?

http://spaces.msn.com/members/kendall-wave/Blog/cns!1pAp9_81TEpTph2GV7RnRRqA!197.entry
one such example, ANOTHER BLOG INFACT that mentions the business.

No. He isn't threatening legal action against them.

So what is it about my blog that makes him want "Police action" against me?

If you understand how the internet works, it is impossible that I affected the sales in a any significant way. The hits to that particular Archive page of my blog had not even reached 30 in the whole 7 months since I wrote it. (in other words, the page had not even been viewed 30 times, let alone by 30 people since April 2005.)

And a large portion of them were not Australian, a few of them were my own friends (not customers of the business), and whats more half of those hits were more-than-likely me checking for quotes/articles from the Iraqi interim constitution (which I posted a copy of into that archive page for future reference).

Sometime in the hour between 12:00 and 1:00pm, I recieved another phone call- from the lady in the office again. She was telling me I had to remove it from google.

I tried to explain to her how Google works and how I have no control over their website and can only do what I have already done, except for writing an e-mail to google which I promised to do (and did do shortly after).

Unfortunately this lady doesn't understand the workings of internet search-engines very well, and nor do either of my bosses- because they are not particularly computer-savvy.

After getting confused and frustrated and receiving an earful of defensive computer talk from me, the lady said she would pass me on to Dave, the Production Manager, my boss.

Instead Herbert comes to the phone and says "Luke", I said "Herb", he said "I want this olivebranch business removed-"

at this point I cut him off and explained at full-throttle what was happening, a "shadow" from a post where I had barely mentioned the business.

He said "I know where it says I got up for work today at 4:30AM and this business, I have printed out the 89 pages. I do not care, I want it gone now!" (more or less a direct quote- not exact, but I wasn't exactly holding a pen&paper or writing everything down).

I continued to try explain the situation "I do not control Google, I will send them an e-mail otherwise you will have to call them".

"Luke I do not call Google, you remove it you get pay when it is gone."

ME(getting frustrated but still calm): "I can't. It is physically impossible. It is gone. I deleted it from my site and there is nothing more I can do except e-mail google."

"I call my lawyer and I seek Police Action and you will..." so I hung up.

He has no legal leg to stand on. I know all about freedom of expression and mentioning his business is the least worrisome thing on this blog. There is no law preventing me from providing a html link to an internet website- business or not, unless the contents of that website is bound by law to not be distributed. There is no law preventing me from disclosing my place of employment over the internet, and I do not have any control over google.

Besides, I removed it anyway! It's gone! I sent the e-mail! I tried my best!

Until I get my paycheck, and a written apology for the unfair treatment I have recieved- this post will remain on my blog.

At the very top of my blog.

The end.

Picturessss + Christmas

2005-12-09T14:04:00.000+08:00

BAHahAHhaahhahahahahaa. Ok I was going to post CHRISTMAS PICTURES thats right!

Vegi Garden & Vegi Shop

2005-12-08T14:37:00.000+08:00

The new job began today, well- the second job I spose you can call it.

The local fruit & veg shop owned by a nice Italian family gave me a trial today, which I think I passed with flying colours :) - Today was the first time I have ever had my employer tell me I that I was not under any pressure and should take my time...

Thats probably because I wanted to impress them, so I decided to work like it was a busy day- when to them it was only an average day. I prefer to work faster and get it over & done with anyway but there is only one problem with this way of working- if you get paid per hour cash, then if you work to fast like me you get what normally takes 6hours done in 4hrs and only end up with 2/3 of the pay you would otherwise have got.

Anyway, I was offered to have lunch bought for me by Maria, a lovely italian woman with a very heavy accent who always greets people she likes with "hello darlings!!!" in a very exciteable voice.

I had already made lunch though, and no one else wanted anything so the other 2 boys Rob&Mike ended up having rolls forced down their throats by Maria (wouldn't you love to be the son of an Italian woman?) :D

When I went to sit by the Apples I had been packing and continue to pack while I ate, Maria approached me and in a stern voice said "sit down! eat some lunch and have a drink darling, you work to much!" and then something about a young man needing to look after himself and to make sure I take drink breaks, etc...

so I pulled up a chair and flipped over a crate, grabbed my lunch box and my PUMP bottle of refridgerated tap-water and sat down & had a chat with Maria for 10 minutes- until she had to go out and serve customers. Maria is very inquisitive, not to the point of being nosey because she doesn't ask many questions, but is very interested in almost anything you have to say...

I reallly like these people and their shop, and have been a regular customer for quite a while. The produce is great and the prices are low, the service brilliant- the boys even offer to take heavy boxes of fruit & veg out to the car if you can't manage them (very appreciated when there is a 10kg box and a mother with 3 children in the shop for example!)

I am glad I impressed them and happy I worked so hard- shifting 400kg of apples from a huge crate into multiple smaller crates (about 25 crates I think in the end), this has to be done by hand & bucket so as not to damage the apples before they go in the fridge for storage.

I must have moved atleast 2 tonne of stock by myself today, mostly in 10kg packages- which is not bad in 4 hours including a 20 minute paid break!

and when it was time to leave and time to be payed, I was asked how much I wanted for the four hours and if I wanted anything from the shop. I said I only wanted the amount I had agreed on as a minimum per hour wage- and that I would have 1/4 of a watermelon!

lol, then guess what happens next? YOULL NEVER GUESS (unless your the child of an italian woman)

Maria gives me a giant punnet of strawberries insisting I take them :)

hehehe

well thats the end of the Vegi shop speel- now for the Garden.

As you probably don't know coz you probably haven't read this blog much and I probably haven't said it anyway- I have a vegi garden!

I started it this year, my first one. It's going great.

I have lots of different fruit veg and herbs, of which most are just coming into fruit now!

I have approximately 6-7 good healthy growing Zuccini,
the beginnings of 5-6 Butternut Pumpkins (this will be heaps by the end),
about 20 Brocolli (still in early stage, but wont be long now)
about 20-30 tomatoes formed so far, but there are another 60-70 flowers that have almost definately been pollinated, there are three different varieties
about 7-8 little Cucumbers forming (this will end up about 30-40 I think, WHOOPS)
a BIG load of spuds on the way (wont be ready for another few months yet, but will easily be 30-40kg)
7-8 Capsicum, which will be ready very soon and will eventually fruit 30-40
7 lettuce left (already eaten 2)
10 little mini chillies (that will be big and healthy and about 30-40 in numbers in the coming months, if not more)
lots of Gooseberries
heaps of Spring Onion
plenty of Parsley(s, 2 varieties) and much more :D (including normal pumpkin, cherry tomatos cabbage cauliflower thyme sage oregano marjoram rocketlettuce )

umm what else...

Aloe Vera plant....
Mint plant..
Some other random plant that I dont know what it is...
Garlic bulbs are in the ground....

We also have Mulberries on our giant mulberry tree, and many olives though not yet ripe on the olive tree, there is currently no fruit on our Lemon + Orange tree's because we cut them right back only a month or so ago.... Oh and our almond tree has all the almonds eaten off it by birdies the moment they grow, so there is none on that either!

I did have coriander, and I will have some Basil in the coming few days/weeks (probably next time I go to work I will bring a couple of little plants home, because they also grow many of their own vegis and sell little seedlings and slightly bigger, more established plants!)

and thats the end of that chapter(or is it the beginning of the next?)

[/olivebranch out]

The unpopular blogger

2005-12-06T08:00:00.000+08:00

Well it seems my blog Olive Branch Optimism was not good enough to get any votes from the voting panel at smartyhost. Infact, I didn't even get in the top 10.

:(

No one likes my bloggggggggggggggggs =(

Honestly though, the blog that one it is a travel-blog, and I don't think the writer is particularly talented and the blog itself doesn't have any special features or functionality.

I must admit though, it looks pretty.

Maybe that is the key, I should put some pretty pictures on my blog and change the template to something with a bit more WOW factor, then maybe my blog will be popular?

I guess it doesn't matter what the content is so much to them, it's just a competition that is used to disguise a large advertising campaign anyway so why do I care? BECAUSE I WANT SOME ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.

It would've been so gratifying even if they had announced the top 100 blogs, and I had been one of them. Then I could say "my blog is in the top 100 in australia apparently" and be all cool and stuff.

lol

well I am bored of this whingy post, but it had to be said.
I'll just stick to writing my views, beliefs and the stories of my Iraqi friends- atleast they appreciate it.

[/olivebranch]

The silly traditions of Christmas.

2005-12-04T13:16:00.000+08:00

Now don't get me wrong, I'm no anti-christmas or "what about christ" complainer, but I hate somethings about this time of year.

The shopping centres with fake santa's that aren't allowed to be cheery for fear of being accussed of being a paedophile. The santa that can't give out lollies or pat children on the head because of "religious reasons".

What kind of strictly religious person would be offended by having their child patted on the head by santa, AND STILL WANT THEM TO GO AND SEE A SANTA?

If there was religious problems, THE KID WOULDN'T BE GOING TO SEE SANTA IN THE FIRST PLACE.

ok that vent is out.

The next one is my worst dillema. CHRISTMAS CAROLS.

Ok it's nice to reminisce and enjoy some festive music and play up-beat happy tunes for a month. It's sure a break from the drowning melancoly sounds of blink 182 and other waaa waaaa EMO on commercial radio.

but do we have to be thrown back to the 16th century every time we do it? Hasn't someone come up with a new christmas carol in the last 50 years?

WHY does everyone just keep re-doing the old ones? can't we write better ones? Don't we still feel the love and compassion for each other that developed the originals?

anyway

the one part I love is when the family puts the christmas tree up. Mum enjoys it, so do the rest of them- and I enjoy the peace it gives me and having a look every 1/2 hr or so to see how much prittier the house is getting.

I am going to put up some pictures on this blog of our house getting "decorated for christmas", in the coming hours!

so sit tight and keep your finger on the refresh button!

(in the mean time go read the archives of my other blog olive branch optimism there's plenty of interesting stuff buried amongst the rest.

The amazing power of the human mind!

2005-11-30T18:01:00.000+08:00

You may find it ralely amzamnig taht you can read tihs so eislay,
the hmuan mnid rdaes wodrs as a wohle isntaed of idvinuaidl lterets. I cuondt bleivee it eihetr.

Isnt it amazing ?

The power of the human mind is great.

Also, I found a post on Khalid's blog Secrets In Baghdad , the parts that really interested me are below! :) enjoy

ahh screw it, I'll put the whole post there :)

Let's take a break:)

* I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

* I went to Majid ( my little brother who stopped blogging, anyone interested in studying a bunch of big IB boring books with him? ) complaining to him that mom and dad think that mishmish (my fat white cat) can understand what they tell her, and he replied: why, didn't you know? and my eyes gazed wide openned while i said: they got to you, you are one of "them" now! after that, i started to believe it myself, haha!!

What! she really does! mom says " mishmish go to the kitchen i put food for you in your plate " and mishmish leaves the bedroom immediately and goes to the kitchen to check her plate!

even better: mishmish always tries to leave the house when the door is openned, so mom was with mishmish in the bed room when she -mom, that is!- called one of us "the door is opened, close it before mishmish finds out" and believe it or not she -mishmish, that is!- jumped right away and rushed like a thunder out of the room through the hall reaching the door where she left leaving us all with a O_o expression.

* In one of the cafeterias in my university, they sell french fries sandwiches!! that is sandwiches containing french fries only!!! and when i went to some of my jordanian friends and told them they didn't think it's strange at all, and one of them said that i find it strange because i came from iraq where people eat meet only! (well it's partly true, Iraqis can eat meat in the three meals!)

* whenever i see anybody's foot i count his toes hoping that they would be six.

your turn , tell us something weird about you!

me*:)

Healthy food for the kids in my sisters class!

2005-11-29T09:37:00.000+08:00

Hey anyone who reads this (does anyone read this?)..
Yesterday (monday) I went down to CaZzA's school at 11am to help them prepare a healthy lunch.

I was allowed to choose which group of kiddies I would work with, and when I walked in there had been 2 kids who thought they were kings of the class smart asses, and had tryed to give me shit, so I chose to look after their group for an hour.

So I walk up to the little shit who pretended to punch me in the face, and i says in my most mean and scary voice (with my hand patronizingly placed ontop of his head) "I am going to look after this group for the next hour! Aren't you lucky?".

Poor kid looked scared out of his wits!!! Don't be scared of me, I'm harmless, really!

the kids made Pizza's, Nacho's, Mongolian Lamb, Thai green curry and a fruit salad (my group made the fruit salad, Cazza's the Pizza).

The teacher in my sisters class is a real looooser. She makes these 12 yr old children put their hands on their heads like 2 yr olds. If she had me in her class when I was yr 7, she would have quit her job (like my year 5 teacher did).

I hate authoratarian crap like that, where the only need for it is to feel in control and powerful. Wiht kids that age, if you want to get the most of them you have to feel in control, but so do they.

You should not feel powerful, because that means they feel powerless, and a powerless kid is a rebellious one.

It doesn't take much to get a kid on side, infact it took me only 20 minutes to tame the worst their class had to offer (all 4 of the worst in one group aswell).

A bit of respect, but letting them know you are ultimately in control of the situation by alerting them to the fact that the nicer they are, the nicer I am to them, and thus the more enjoyable things they can do (and the more they can get away with).

----------------------
Where's the respect?
----------------------

The respect your peers and parents,
and all those younger than you.

Respect your elders and respect the wise,
respect religion and respect your pride.

Respect is given not taken,
so you better give if you want to respect.

R

E

S

P

E

C

T

What does it mean to me?

Reality over fantasy and friends over fiction
Eternal trust and inspirations
Sometimes love and sometimes hate
Poverty unnecessary
Ethnic boundries left behind
Cultures combined
Tommorow we won't be blind.

Respect, that's what it means to me.

[by olivebranch 29/11/05]

System Of A Down

2005-11-21T18:25:00.000+08:00

I got the new System Of a Down albums (both of the ones released this year)

Mesmorize
and
Hypnotize

- I believe the next one will be called Open Your Eyes, and I must say I am impressed. The quality of the music, the sharpness and the harmony is so much better than the previous albums, in Mesmorize the singers finally get it together, and in Hypnotize it is the musical and lyrical quality that has truel improved.

Less clashy noise, so it doesn't hurt your head. They do intentionally incorporate some kinds of pop-lyrics into some of the chorus's, but with a few words that over time would have deep subliminal impacts. I love it.

You really should check it out, and you should also google this : "Armenian Resistance" and "Armanian Genocide + 1915", then you will understand where the singers emotions truely come from.

He is of Armenian bloodline, and his people are angry about their slaughter by the Turkish Government- and also the Irani government has had its part to play over the years.

Southside Returns- and so do I :)

2005-11-01T19:59:00.000+08:00

EXCELLENT :)

more posts from me here soon :D

My new name is: Flunky Pottybiscuits

2005-09-06T00:14:00.000+08:00

It puts a smile on my face too- found this from AnaRki13's blog -
http://come-getsome.blogspot.com/

I did it! My new name is: Flunky Pottybiscuits

How to choose your new name:

Once you have your new name, put it in the Subject box and forward it
to
friends and family and coworkers.
Don't forget to forward it back to the person who sent it to you, so
they
know you participated. And don't go all 'adult' ...

The following in an excerpt from a children's book, "Captain Underpants
And the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants" by Dave Pilkey. The
evil
Professor forces everyone to assume new
names......

Use the third letter of your first name to determine your new first
name

a = poopsie b = lumpy c = buttercup
d = gadget e = crusty f = greasy
g = fluffy h = cheeseball i = chim-chim
j = stinky k = flunky l = bootie
m = pinky n = zippy o = goober
p = doofus q = slimy r = loopy
s = snotty t = tootie u = dorkey
v = squeezit w = oprah x = skipper
y = dinky z = zsa-zsa

Use the second letter of your last name to determine the first half of
your new last name:
a = apple b = toilet c = giggle
d = burger e = girdle f = barf
g = lizard h = waffle i = cootie
j = monkey k = potty l = liver
m = banana n = rhino o = bubble
p = hamster q = toad r = gizzard
s = pizza t = gerbil u = chicken
v = pickle w = chuckle x = tofu
y = gorilla z = stinker

Use the fourth letter of your last name to determine the second half of
your new last name:
a = head b = mouth c = face
d = nose e = tush f = breath
g = pants h = shorts i = lips
j = honker k = butt l = brain
m = tushie n = biscuits o = hiney
p = chunks q = toes r = buns
s = fanny t = sniffer u = sprinkles
v = kisser w = squirt x = humperdinck
y = brains z = juice

Thus, for example, George W. Bush's new name is Goober Chickenshorts.

William Jefferson Clinton is Bootie Liverbiscuits.

Now when you SEND THIS ON...use your new name as the subject.

And remember that children laugh an average of 146 times a day; adults
laugh an average of 4 times a day.

Put more laughter in your day.

Donna Edmiston
Leasing Paralegal
Minter Ellison - Gold Coast

The Food Problem

2005-07-30T09:44:00.000+08:00

The food problem is a common one in MOST houses in western australia where the parents are not RICH. Western idea's and profit-driven advertising has forced most people to forget what real food is, and how good for you it is.
My mum too doesn't understand the conc ept of getting a 'healthy diet'.

Fresh fruit & vegetables should be #1 priority,
Bread, Milk, Butter & Eggs should be #2
Meat, Pasta's,Rice & Cereal should be #3
Coffee,Tea,Herbs,Spices and Cheese should be #4

condoments, sauces, pies/sausagerolls ETC should all come after these.

unfortunately, advertising has given parents in Western Australia the false conception that frozen, pre-prepared meals can actually be healthy, and substantial for growing children & teenagers (which, as a person who works with food for a living, is a LIE).

In my freezer/fridge/cupboard today you will find (keep in mind, that we eat better than most families, because I am teaching mum to cook)

Cupboard

Neccessities:

Bread, 3 different types of cereal (at least we always have these, which is good)
Sultanas (because I love them)
Spaghetti & Rice (great, mostly because I force mum to ALWAYS have these essentials, so I can cook)
Dog & Cat food
2 Onions

Waste of money:

Tinned: whole pealed tomatoes(why?), diced tomato(again, why?), bakedbeans(ok, this can be handy if you have nothing else), spaghetti sauces(but no meat), coconut milk(why?), beetroot (why?), creamed corn(why?)
Pupodums (that noone in my family likes? go figure..)
10 different sachetes of "just add water" sauces for "Beef Stroganough" or "Red Curry" or "Satay Chicken" or something or other like that, but no meat or fresh vegetables to go with it.
You will find also
AT LEAST 4 or 5 different types of spreads (jam,peanut butter, vegemite, honey (in a convinient but expensive squeeze bottle, which really is a waste of money and time), golden syrup).
different types of Biscuits and muesli bars (grab & eat)

And that is before we move to the refridgerator. What a waste of space that thing is:

Refrigerator Necessities (or useable ingredients):

Milk, Butter, Margarine
Tomato's, Lettuce, Eggs, Pumpkin
Cheddar&Parmesan Cheese, Garlic.
Mayonaisse, Sour Cream

Waste of money:

3 more types of spread for the bread,
4 types of Mustards (that hardly get used),
some type of pickles (that are not pickles, but a spread made from pickles)
black olives in a glass jar that have been there for a year or more,
pre-made Pie's, Whipped Cream

not to mention the different types of 'bread' - crumpets, raisin toast, muffins (all used for toasting and eating with just butter or a spread, nothing useful for the purpose of a substantial meal or healthy diet).

and more.

Then you hit the freezer.

Fortunately, there is always some necessities here.

Chicken, and a few peices of Red meat.

then- theres the rest in the freezer (waste)

Crumbed&processed "fish fillets", 3x of potato product(pre-cut, pre spiced SHITTY roast potatoes, Chips & Wedges) -- Note that we have no potatoes of our own in this house, which would be both more convenient and more tasty, useful and cheaper.
Frozen Vegetables ready-to-microwave (blanched and not very tasty, most are already diced and thus not useable as ingredients for most purposes) Peas, Corn, Beans, Carrot.
Frozen ready-to-put-in-oven Lasagna (that tastes like SHIT if you don't add stuff to it like spices, REAL cheese, and tomato, and has large amounts of preservatives in it so is not very healthy.)

other such unhealthy CRAP fills the rest of the room we have, except for the few loafs of spare bread and frozen milk that is in there.

Well there you have it, a detailed rundown of how CRAP our diets are over here, despite the fact that we have lots of money and all the resources of the world available to us, we are deluded by advertising into buying things that we neither need, nor are they good for us.

at least we don't have tons of chocolate and coke and lollies like most houses, these are not good for you at all....

Great News, and Bad News

2005-07-24T19:13:00.000+08:00

NOTHING could have been better to read than opening my e-mails today. Khalid Jarrar my good Iraqi friend who had been detained by the poorly trained Mukhabarat has been released! The Jarrar family are relieved, but now it is time for us all to work on saving the thousands of others in the same boat as Khalid had been. Innocent and locked up without contact to family & friends or a lawyer. Khalid was lucky to have good friends, and good family connections, so I believe anyway.

Now to the bad news. My grandad, who recently recieved a Lung Transplant, has also recently recieved a bacterial infection from that very same lung, and is consequently closer to death than he ever was before. The poor man has struggled through so much pain, and so much suffering over the last few weeks. He has managed to re-unite his own family though, and rectify the hurt he had caused in the past. He will live or die with a much clearer conscience and knowing that his family loved him through to the very end. I hope he will survive, though things are not looking good, my optimism has been perked by the release of Khalid Jarrar, another situation that was not looking good.

I will post more on Khalid later, but now here is a poem I wrote for my poor grandad.

Prayer for Grandad.

Writing for my grandad, who I have not seen for years.
It did not hit me until today, that your' death would bring me tears.
I do not know you though I still do care, and I wish that I was there.
To help you fight this through.

So I am doing all that I can do, which is pray for you.

I know you are struggling, fighting for your life.
I know about the first time, that tears have ever left your wife.
Though over years we have grown apart, the future holds for you to see,
you're own family, re-united by tragedy.

My aunties and my mother, they love you endlessly.
They are people of which you should be proud, like you are to me.

You've fought off the evils, infections and disease.
You're coping with rejection, and re-uniting your family.
Please do not give up, for long life, I pray for thee.

Here I have to say to you, that others who you do not know, are praying for you too.
They understand the suffering, and what struggling through every breath is like.
My girlfriend, myself and even my Iraqi friends, pray for you tonight.

For Phillip Wolfenden, My grandad struggling to accept his new lung
by Luke(y) Skinner 24/7/05

Jokes- slightly humorous

2005-07-23T22:34:00.000+08:00

All the below jokes are just for fun, so dont take me as a racist, a chuavanist or whatever! Just need to entretain and district myself somewhat

How the same joke, can be answered in many ways, most of which are funny :)

* Q: What is black and white and read (red) all over?

A1: A newspaper. (The oldest and most common answer, because red is also the pronunciation of read; this class of joke works only when spoken aloud so that which homophone is meant is misconstrued because of the inclusion of other colors. This is also related to Word play.)

A2: An embarassed zebra. (This is funny primarily because most people are familiar with the older joke and expect the interpretation to be "read" rather than "red." It is one of the most common "twist" answers, because it's one of the few G-rated ones. See Why did the chicken cross the road? elsewhere on this page for more instances of the same phenomenon.)

A3: A bloody skunk. (A penguin, a nun, or any likely wearer of a tuxedo can also be used in place of a skunk. Also "sunburnt" can be used in place of "bloody.")

A4: A blind nun trying to read a cheese grater. (This is a less tasteful variant on A2.)

A5: A Goth on her period.

...and so on.

Now for the STUPID JOKES

* Q: Why did the elephant cross the road?
A: Because it was stapled to the chicken.

Why did Tom fall off his bike?
Tim through a fridge at him.

Why couldn't Jill ride her bike?
coz' Jill was a fish.

Whats the difference between a Lady in church and lady in the bathtub?”
“One has Hope in her Soul and One has Soap in her Hole!”

What’s the difference between International entourage of intellectual midgets and a girls track team?

“One’s a bunch of Cunning Runts, and”.

* Child: "Mommy, when are we going to reach Europe?"
Mother: "Shut up and keep swimming."

How do you get 1000 people in a phone booth?
Use a blender.

The teacher asks everyone in the class to demonstrate something exciting. When Johnny's turn came, he walked to the blackboard and drew a small dot. "What's that?", the teacher asked, puzzled. "It's a period. "—"Well, I see that, but what's exciting about a period?"—"Darned if I know, but this morning my sister said she missed one... Dad had a heart attack, mom fainted, and the guy next door shot himself."

A Nubian crawls across Sahara and sees a magic bottle. He opened the bottle and a djinni came out. As djinn usually do, this one promised three wishes to the man who got him free. The Nubian thought for a moment and answered: "First, I want plenty of water, second, I'd like to be totally white, and third I want plenty of white women of all European nations on top of me." The man was turned into a flush toilet in a ladies' restroom at the EU headquarters.

An African-American releases a Jewish genie from the bottle and gets only two wishes, 'cause he's black. He says, "Easy. First, I want to be white, uptight, and outta sight. Second, I wanna be surrounded by warm, sweet pussy." So the genie turned him into a tampon. Moral? There's always a string attached when dealing with Jews.

A Portuguese was mourning a man beside the coffin when somebody asked him: "Who is the dead man?" To which he answered pointing to the casket: "It's him."

How do you fix a woman's watch?
You don't. There's a clock on the oven!

How do you get your dishwasher to work?
Slap her!

Win·dows

Noun.

A thirty-two bit extension and graphical shell to a sixteen-bit patch to an eight-bit operating system originally coded for a four-bit microprocessor which was written by a two-bit company that can't stand one bit of competition.

2005-07-23T21:44:00.000+08:00

Music - the saviour of humanities sanity.

Lately I have been hooked on a few artists, first and formost of these has been Sublime, whos' funky reggae and bouncy ska always makes me bounce and smile. Anyone who gets the chance should download or buy some Sublime tracks-

here's a list of the albums they have released:

40 Oz to Freedom
Jah Wont Pay the Bills
Look At All the Love We Found
Robbin' the Hood
Second Hand Smoke
Stand By Your Van
Sublime (self titled)

The self titled album is the one I currently have, but my brother used to have 40 oz to freedom and their Greatest Hits cd, they all absolutely cranked!!! And coming from me this is a compliament, I don't like much music unless it has either real talent, or real politics :) and these arent exactly all political songs (though there are some).

SpeAking of politics in music, Zach De La Rocha formerly from Rage Against The Machine is to release his solo album later this year, probably November... I am waiting in anticipation for this political hip/hop/rock/shocker =-)~

I also love drum'n'bass of all shapes and sizes, sounds and varieties. So much so, that I used to run a 6hr long drum'n'bass show once a week, first on Tuesdays, eventually on Saturdays until the last night mid 04.

My fav dnb' artists vary from time-to-time. But you can never pass up these:

Aphrodite, Goldie, Zinc, Hype, Ed Rush & Optical, LTJ Bukem, Pendulum, Klute, Bad Company, Cause 4 Concern, Usual Suspects, (some) Dillinja, John B, J Majik, Mampi Swift & Marcus Intalex to name a few....

[/olivebranch]

2005-07-23T21:30:00.000+08:00

This is a blog to distract me from the real world, I must keep a kind of balance to stop myself going insane *nods*.

here I can do what I like, I don't have to post about Iraq or War or politics. Though sometimes I will. However I will also post lots of everything I find interesting or important to my life.

Or anything at all really :)

*BiG cuddles to geeoh my girlfriend, who I have been with since April 18 2004..... A long time now and the bond has only strengthened.

Thanks for all your support bub, you know I probably couldn't do alot of what I do now without you and your comfort when I need it. I love you lots&lots&lots&lots.