Thursday, February 18, 2010

Happy Birthday Miss Possible





I missed you at Christmas

I missed your first day of High school

And now....

I missing your 14th Birthday


Hope you have an absolute blast........

and if there is just one piece of advise I can give you for your party.......

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Who moved my cheese, a urban myth BUSTED and the joys of blogging

Ah - the joys of running out of things to say... can you Adam and Eve it??* yes me of all people running out of stories and inspiration - DOES THAT NOT TELL YOU HOW BORING MY LIFE IS AT THE MOMENT???

I lied - my life is not that boring - but I think it'll be boring to you - so decided to not subject you to the pain :) HOWEVER have now decided to share a few "juicy" thoughts... :)

Lets see where to start - where to start... so many stories - so little starting points... :)


Omani Blogs
===========
Firstly - let me clarify that label - I mean both Omani Nationals who write blogs as well as Expats (how I hate that word but am yet to come up with another one) who live in Oman who write blogs.

As I've said before I'm ADDICTED to blogs - I follow quite a few now - more than I mentioned in one of my previous posts and I've created little avatars of the blogger in my head - weird aren't I??

Now - a lot of people I chat too look at me strange when I mention blogging and following blogs - a lot of them are like "oh get a life woman" :) indeed that could be a true statement - HOWEVER in my defence - I want to be given the chance to explain myself

I started reading blogs cause I was bored outta my mind one day - and found a few listed on a social networking forum here in Oman - and of course as happens you read one, you get lead to another and then another and so on and so forth until you reach the level of stalking on which I am now sitting... :)

There are different types of blogging styles - journalistic, diarylistic (not sure if that is a word - but hey it goes with the first one), random thoughts, information into life as an Omani, etc etc and I follow a broad range of them.

The "diarylistic" and random ones I love reading cause they are generally all good, full of humour, and I can SOOO relate to them. And of course the journilist ones I follow because if you want to know whats going on in Oman really going on I mean - you need to read these ones

Recently 3 things have happened that made me realise that blogging is a HUGE thing here in Oman and real people actually read these blogs (not just boring old ex biz woman who's brain has turned to porridge - like me)

A) Suburban - author of Other Oman - recently blogged and tweetered about a stolen car (crime here in Oman I hear you all cry!!) you can read about it -->here<-- And thanks to blogging and tweetering - the car was recovered... YES indeed - it was thanks to putting it out there on a social media format that it was recovered.

B) Sythe - author of Muscat Mutterings - recently had "a dig" I think you call it at of the local radio stations - lo and behold - if it wasn't all over the radio station a couple of days later... You can read all about it -->here<-- AND PLEASE DO - I get a mention "whoop whoop" I made it to someone elses blog - YAY ME!!! fame at last!! But you must also read the previous blog to find out what it's all about... Apparently Da rren S hortt of the radio station googles himself everyday to see if someone talks about him on the net - LOVE IT - (psst - hence why I put spaces in his name!!!)

C) Undercover Dragon - author of Muscat Confidental - is IMHO** the King of Journistic Bloggers in Oman - in fact I had a arguement with someone recently about something small and unimportant - but he was being a a'hole about it - then I realised the guy was drunk and being a typical South African male - in otherwords - not listening to a word I said - I decided to end the arguement before I slapped him - and my parting words were "I wont believe you until I've read about it in Muscat Confidental" (side bar - in fact cant wait till I bump into him again - it aint been blogged about yet - so it aint true!!! haha)

Anyway back to the point - UD is a mine field of information about what is going on really in Oman and recent activity has brought the blog as well as other "journalistic" blogs to the lime light - and its in the paper here - I wont list all the blogs here - but please visit these sites it will give you more insight to not only the blogs that are available, but also the why they do it and the legal ramifications of being on the web and the need for being on the down low all the time.

Times of Oman article -->here<--
Muscat Confidential blog about it -->here<--
Dhofari Gucci blog about it -->here<--

Anyway - so thats my view on the happenings in the blog world around here at the moment - exciting stuff no?? :)

I was planning on giving you a full and comprehensive list of all that I follow and the reasons why - but decided not too - a) dont want you all to fall asleep b) this post is getting kinda long and I haven't even gotten to the myth or the cheese yet and c) seeing as around 50% of my "followers / readers" are bloggers themselves... what's the point... rofl...

HOWEVER there are 3 more I want to mention - cause I want to convince you to read them if you aren't yet... and because I want to be able to write like them :)

1) Angry in Oman - If I knew my mother wasn't reading this blog I SWEAR (excuse the pun) I would rant like Angry on a good day - do you KNOW how many times I read her blog and end up either p'ing myself or screaming at my screen - saying things like "Amen Sister" or "Hi 5" or just plain "fuck - I know what you mean"

2) Delirious in the Desert - I enjoy this one - I like Delirious' world... :) Delirious recently ranted about a Saudi blogger who has no heart and there was a few insults flung... I grabbed the popcorn and was getting ready for the biatch slappin... alas it didn't happen :) woulda liked to have seen that - am sure Delirious woulda won hands tied behind her back (you see she knows people... read UFC post)

3) Eternally Distracted - now this is the type of writer I wanna be... this woman is hilarious - I am not worthy... oh to be able to write like this... with such perfect timing and wit... I am soo not worthy...

My humble apologies if I offend anyone by not naming their blogs :) but seriously I'm running out of time here - am sure most of the readers are asleep already - and I do follow so many... SORRY...

Urban Myth BUSTED ++
=================
So - there's an urban myth that did the rounds in this place - apparently its illegal to have a dirty car - which makes sense - after a month of not washing the evil Ford I drive - it could be classed as a health hazard - there is so much dust on the windows you cant see outta them. I was NOT being lazy - I was doing an experiment to see how long it would take to completely block all views outta the windows... (thats my story and I'm sticking to it!)

I say this is a myth because come on the cops cant even police the bad driving here (will not go into that topic right now!) so really HOW ON EARTH will they police the dirty cars???

MYTH BUSTED - spin cycle was pulled over the other day - apparently because her car was too dirty... she managed to get outta the fine with a wee Assalaam Alaikum and a smile - lucky gal - I'm convinced the cop actually wanted her phone number :0

And finally - who moved my cheese???
I've noticed over the past few weeks - my fav cheese is not available on the shelfs in the shops anymore..... WTF*** - are there NO MERCHANDISERS employeed by the 3 largest chainstores here in Muscat??? It's not like its an unusal cheese - its the non coloured (white) Cheddar - you know the one that has no E chemicals in it to make it a sick orangey puky colour?? Surely the people employed by the supermarkets here are taught about something called supply and demand?? - if not let me give them a hint - if the product sells - stock up on it... and dont tell me the supplier has run out... then the supplier is an idiot - he could just make a batch of cheese and NOT throw the colourants in it... erg... no seriously how can large supermarkets run out of something thats popular - if it was an imported "luxury item" fair 'enuff - but come on its cheese made in *SHOCKED FACE* just went to read the label of the awful orange one - it is an imported product - its made in Germany... weird... is NOTHING made here in Oman?? well it's a common product anyway and it's always been available in the past - why now suddenly run out - its called thinking forward and planning ahead... :)

Anyways till next time - feel free to post me some colour free cheddar!

* Adam and eve it - Rhyming slang for believe it
** translated for my mother - IMHO - in my Humble opnion
*** again for my mother - WTF - what the fudge :)
++ of course when I say busted - I actually mean proven - but BUSTED is way better to say isn't it... :)

Monday, February 01, 2010

Okay THATS IT time for a name change....

Just a quicky today.... (I hear you all gasp! - me a quick one - not bladdy likely) :)

As you know from my previous post - I have a new kitty... cute little bugger - roughly 4 months old, extremely loveable, and he's managed to integrate himself within the Gatvol mad house within the space of a week. Both Cat and Dog are enjoying his company.... well the dog keeps a wide berth - BOY can this little kitty HISS!!! :)



Cant say hubby is happy tho'- the little bugger has decided that hubby's office chair is HIS... and if hubby is sitting there - no problem - I'll just walk all over the key board a few times until he gets upset and walks out... problem SORTED.

He was initally called Gizmo - then fatty decided to change it to Gizma - from Cuzco on Disney Channel - HOWEVER - I've decided to change it again - from now on he's gonna be called HOUDINI...

I live in a largeish villa - basement, groundfloor, 2nd floor and roof... since I bought over my Dog and my Cat from RSA - I made the house escape proof - there is no where for any animal to escape here - C & D have been living in this house for around 7 months now and NOT ONCE have any of the two gotten out - NOT ONCE NEVER...

All the windows are shut, or rather - now that it's "winter" they are open - but since the arrive of Houdini I have shut them slightly so now there is just a small gap in each window - else the useless non working mossie screen is over the window. The back door, front door and sliding door are permanently shut now - we used to keep the back door open so C & D could come and go outta the side driveway / alley as much as they wanted - but with Houdini joining we've been extremely vigalant in keeping then shut. The door leading to the roof is open YES, but in my defence - I keep the kitty litter out on the roof - erg - that has got to be keep out in the OPEN...

BUT again, the roof door has been open for 7 months - no escapee acts whatsoever.

So up until about week and a half ago the stats were

House 2 - Escapees 0

ENTER HOUDINI....

So - initally the first week he was locked up in fattys room, where we slowly intergrated him into the rest of the madhouse.... me, hubby, fatty, Dog, Cat and Terrepin.... it went so well that within 5 days he had the run of the house...

So lets say within the last 4 / 5 days or so - we have found him outside TWICE - once making a hell of a noise at the front door, and now this evening - I noticed there was no cats running around creating havoc - so I went investigating - couldn't find him - peered over the edge of the roof and there he was crossing the road!!! 0_0 (my weak attempt at a shocked face)

If someone could please just tell me how the hell he is getting out of this house - we have CHECKED everywhere and can find no loopholes, hidden tunnels, and I have tonight checked all animals for tattoos (a la Micheal Scofield) NOTHING...

Now I have to try and convince the vet to "fix" him earlier than the usual 6 months. I, along with the rest of the family, will be devasted if anything happened to this little cutie pie - and my main concern that if he is "jumping of the roof" how is he gonna get back in....

Any other ideas for the interim???

anyways till next time...
xx