Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Thursday, 19 November 2009
Creative Solutions...
I think the Western World should follow the Chinese model:
"Perhaps the most compelling evidence that Africa is now a business destination is China's new love for it. While the old superpowers still agonize over Africa's poverty, the new one is captivated by its riches. Trade between Africa and China has grown an average of 30% in the past decade, topping $106 billion last year. Chinese engineers are at work across the continent, mining copper in Zambia and cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo and tapping oil in Angola. Nor is this merely exploitative. China bought its access by agreeing to create a new infrastructure for Africa, building roads, railways, hospitals and schools across the continent. The current crisis is not expected to affect China's march in Africa: on the contrary, with the West's plans in Africa on hold at best, Beijing views it as an opportunity to extend China's lead. "We will continue to have a vigorous aid program here, and Chinese companies will continue to invest as much as possible," Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said in South Africa in January. "It is a win-win solution." Dambisa Moyo, who wrote Dead Aid, says those who need convincing about Africa should ask themselves if they are convinced about China, "because if you back China, you're backing Africa." Ecobank CEO Ekpe says part of the explanation for China's zeal for Africa is a new way of looking at Africans. "[The Chinese] are not setting out to do good," he says. "They are setting out to do business. It's actually much less demeaning.""
"Perhaps the most compelling evidence that Africa is now a business destination is China's new love for it. While the old superpowers still agonize over Africa's poverty, the new one is captivated by its riches. Trade between Africa and China has grown an average of 30% in the past decade, topping $106 billion last year. Chinese engineers are at work across the continent, mining copper in Zambia and cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo and tapping oil in Angola. Nor is this merely exploitative. China bought its access by agreeing to create a new infrastructure for Africa, building roads, railways, hospitals and schools across the continent. The current crisis is not expected to affect China's march in Africa: on the contrary, with the West's plans in Africa on hold at best, Beijing views it as an opportunity to extend China's lead. "We will continue to have a vigorous aid program here, and Chinese companies will continue to invest as much as possible," Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said in South Africa in January. "It is a win-win solution." Dambisa Moyo, who wrote Dead Aid, says those who need convincing about Africa should ask themselves if they are convinced about China, "because if you back China, you're backing Africa." Ecobank CEO Ekpe says part of the explanation for China's zeal for Africa is a new way of looking at Africans. "[The Chinese] are not setting out to do good," he says. "They are setting out to do business. It's actually much less demeaning.""
Sunday, 15 November 2009
The Romeo and Juliet Effect
The theory of psychological reactance states that when people lose their freedom of choice or action, they try to get it back. This apparently can have an impact on unmarried couples whose parents choose to interfere or object to their relationship. The Romeo and Juliet Effect does not apply in every case, but the adverse effect of increased feelings of "love" does happen occasionally as a reaction to its forbidden nature.
My parents once strongly objected to a relationship I was in, and I chose to ignore them, becoming very protective of the relationship. Most of my friends experienced something similar, but since then we have all pseudo conformed to their concept of appropriate.
They were more tactfull about their approach a few years earlier, when I was dating somebody of a completely different bakground. They used the oldest trick in the book, reverse psychology.
My dad broached the subject, "You've been together for two years, do you see a future with him?" I automatically reacted, "No, don't worry, no intention of marrying him!" And the most simplistic reaction followed, "Why not?"
"What do you mean why not?! he's Muslim... and Syrian... oh Lebanese educated father of mine... and raised in Saudi Arabia...?" He arched his eyebrows at me, "And all this bothers you?"
"It doesn't bother you?" I was just a little confused.
He babbled something about being a humanist, and then asked me if the whole background thing was the only issue I had with him.
Well of course, I had my 'other' reasons, I just never bothered to formulate coherent thoughts about them because I never had to. In fact all I ever had to say was 'religion', and everybody would nod in clear and unanimous agreement.
My dad caught me offguard and made me deal with all the real reasons I didn't want a future with that boy.
The boy still thinks we broke up over religion...
My parents once strongly objected to a relationship I was in, and I chose to ignore them, becoming very protective of the relationship. Most of my friends experienced something similar, but since then we have all pseudo conformed to their concept of appropriate.
They were more tactfull about their approach a few years earlier, when I was dating somebody of a completely different bakground. They used the oldest trick in the book, reverse psychology.
My dad broached the subject, "You've been together for two years, do you see a future with him?" I automatically reacted, "No, don't worry, no intention of marrying him!" And the most simplistic reaction followed, "Why not?"
"What do you mean why not?! he's Muslim... and Syrian... oh Lebanese educated father of mine... and raised in Saudi Arabia...?" He arched his eyebrows at me, "And all this bothers you?"
"It doesn't bother you?" I was just a little confused.
He babbled something about being a humanist, and then asked me if the whole background thing was the only issue I had with him.
Well of course, I had my 'other' reasons, I just never bothered to formulate coherent thoughts about them because I never had to. In fact all I ever had to say was 'religion', and everybody would nod in clear and unanimous agreement.
My dad caught me offguard and made me deal with all the real reasons I didn't want a future with that boy.
The boy still thinks we broke up over religion...
Saturday, 5 September 2009
West Ammani Bridezilla
Her life flickered before her eyes. Moments from her childhood, her past, her potential future, and she began to tear up. "Your make-up!" They all yelled... All of them... Her multitude of attendants, consisting of three hairdressers, her mother, and a couple of bridesmaids. This was her wedding. This wedding had nothing to do with her. It was the product of months of disciplined, almost military planning. It was less a celebration of love, and more the grand finale, the closing night, the end of the childhood fantasy. It was the bitter reality behind the fantasy, the beginning of a new type of loneliness. She sat amidst the bustle of activity, in all her bridal glory, the center of attention, entirely alone.
There's so much irony in the weddings of West Amman. Is it a global phenomenon? Do all brides feel so scared and alone? Do they all pretend? There's an appeal to small weddings (or in my case a newfound appreciation for eloping), that goes beyond the purely financial. I would hate to see 1000 people I don't know celebrate my future, it would scare the hell out of me. I miss having relationships that revolved around 'me' and 'him', and only 'us'. We used to be what mattered in our relationship. It seems like my emotional wellfare is absolutely irrelevent now. Even when I throw a party I'm usually fulfilling a social obligation of some sort. How did it come to this?
We dug our own graves, and created our own brand of superficial hell. Furthermore, we learnt to depend on it, and thrive on it, and our lives spiralled out of control as every little decision became premeditated. Our occasional bursts of alcohol induced spontaneity are often followed by self-deprecation, then more alcohol induced outbursts, as we subconsciously rebel to free ourselves from our consciously manufactured mental jail cell. And even consciously knowing, we can't stop. Like an out of control addiction, our choices, our decisions, are predictable. We are so brainwashed, we can rationalize our behaviour with the eloquance of an attorney giving the final summation that will convince a jury of a defendents innocence. We're so good, we believe our own arguments... So thats what the extra year was for in our Americanised Europeanesque highschool, proficiency in mental mooting. I don't want to brag, but I'm really good. I once debated against my own pro freedom of expression stance, and very nearly persuaded myself that open dialogue would be globally destructive.
Does anyone else exerience a personality switch when they cross International lines? My thought processes are bordering on a personality disorder. How can your thoughts, hopes, fears, be so dramaticlaly altered by the mere crossing of politically drawn lines? When I step of the plane, it's liek a little mental device in my brian does a complete 180 deg spin, and my other personality emerges in all its disfunctional glory, almost as if awakened from a hypnotic state by some trigger. Maybe I'm looking at this all wrong. Maybe I just have an uber-phenomenal ability to adapt to different cultures. Effective adapatability is a Darwinian trait for species survival, and I could be at the top fo the pyramid. Too bad the more effective trait is the ability to survive hours of painful labour, after 9 months of carrying another human being against your bladder. In the past all men ever had to do was hunt, and to add insult to injury, now a few well-timed, properly placed ejaculations will do the trick, how is that fair?!
....Viva las Vegas!
There's so much irony in the weddings of West Amman. Is it a global phenomenon? Do all brides feel so scared and alone? Do they all pretend? There's an appeal to small weddings (or in my case a newfound appreciation for eloping), that goes beyond the purely financial. I would hate to see 1000 people I don't know celebrate my future, it would scare the hell out of me. I miss having relationships that revolved around 'me' and 'him', and only 'us'. We used to be what mattered in our relationship. It seems like my emotional wellfare is absolutely irrelevent now. Even when I throw a party I'm usually fulfilling a social obligation of some sort. How did it come to this?
We dug our own graves, and created our own brand of superficial hell. Furthermore, we learnt to depend on it, and thrive on it, and our lives spiralled out of control as every little decision became premeditated. Our occasional bursts of alcohol induced spontaneity are often followed by self-deprecation, then more alcohol induced outbursts, as we subconsciously rebel to free ourselves from our consciously manufactured mental jail cell. And even consciously knowing, we can't stop. Like an out of control addiction, our choices, our decisions, are predictable. We are so brainwashed, we can rationalize our behaviour with the eloquance of an attorney giving the final summation that will convince a jury of a defendents innocence. We're so good, we believe our own arguments... So thats what the extra year was for in our Americanised Europeanesque highschool, proficiency in mental mooting. I don't want to brag, but I'm really good. I once debated against my own pro freedom of expression stance, and very nearly persuaded myself that open dialogue would be globally destructive.
Does anyone else exerience a personality switch when they cross International lines? My thought processes are bordering on a personality disorder. How can your thoughts, hopes, fears, be so dramaticlaly altered by the mere crossing of politically drawn lines? When I step of the plane, it's liek a little mental device in my brian does a complete 180 deg spin, and my other personality emerges in all its disfunctional glory, almost as if awakened from a hypnotic state by some trigger. Maybe I'm looking at this all wrong. Maybe I just have an uber-phenomenal ability to adapt to different cultures. Effective adapatability is a Darwinian trait for species survival, and I could be at the top fo the pyramid. Too bad the more effective trait is the ability to survive hours of painful labour, after 9 months of carrying another human being against your bladder. In the past all men ever had to do was hunt, and to add insult to injury, now a few well-timed, properly placed ejaculations will do the trick, how is that fair?!
....Viva las Vegas!
Friday, 10 July 2009
What the hell is virtue????????
Moral, good, chaste.....
Does virtue really mean anything? Its standards are purely subjective but its implications are not. Virtue is a medieval trait that embraces hypocrisy! There's no such thing as a virtuous woman or a virtuous man... Though you could potentially have a naive or virginal and religious woman, and possibly a courageous man... When a word has a different meaning (not just implication but meaning) when applied to different genders... Or depending on your mood... Well then it's clearly impartial and legitimate, exemplifying virtue!
Does virtue really mean anything? Its standards are purely subjective but its implications are not. Virtue is a medieval trait that embraces hypocrisy! There's no such thing as a virtuous woman or a virtuous man... Though you could potentially have a naive or virginal and religious woman, and possibly a courageous man... When a word has a different meaning (not just implication but meaning) when applied to different genders... Or depending on your mood... Well then it's clearly impartial and legitimate, exemplifying virtue!
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
The road less traveled...
This has been my favourite poem since I was around 12 years old... Maybe it's time to start taking it's message to heart!
ROAD LESS TRAVELED
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth
Then took the other as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet, knowing how way leads onto way
I doubted if I should ever come back
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference
Robert Frost
ROAD LESS TRAVELED
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth
Then took the other as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet, knowing how way leads onto way
I doubted if I should ever come back
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference
Robert Frost
'Catch' the boy...
'What wrong with him? - He's arab, christian and rich?' Sounds like a bad line from a really bad 'lesbian' movie... http://www.enlightenment-productions.com/index.php?page=films_icts But that's another story! Its the reverberating words that echo in your head time and time again in multiple voices... 'But he runs his dads company in Dubai, and they're expanding, and he drives a Porsche!' Personality - Irrelevent! Who needs a personality when u have a credit card?! And what the hell am I gonna do with a Porsche when im stuck in a miserable marriage! Your a hot commodity... Yup, aha, a commodity... And then they can buy me, and I'll be the trophy with the pretty designer dresses, parked right next to the Porsche! Sounds lovely, and what's kinda scary is that's the aim, the target, the Promised Land! Find the boy, then 'catch' the boy... And then what, release the boy? Or get stuck with him for a freaking eternity! Waking up next to him every morning... 4 ever! What possesses women to do that to themselves? Insecurity? It's usually the most 'secure' and accomplished women who have the confidence to target. Maybe Im a little misguided but Id rather focus my efforts on professional accomplishments and categorize men where they belong, in the extra curricular parts of my brain!
Sunday, 5 July 2009
Spiritual Banter!!
There can definitely something calming about spiritual books, despite their mind-numbing, rhetorical banter. The trick to understanding the depth behind the simplistic words and even more simplistic concepts, is being in the right somewhat pensive, pseudo depressed, overwhelmed, and emotionally exhausted mood. In that particular mood the simplest and most basic concepts appear enlightening... Each idea comes in the form of a revelation. The funny thing is the more popular the book, the more simplistic the concept, the wider the scope for personal interpretation. Then the writers take credit for your own ingenious interpretation of whatever nonsense they managed to communicate. I'll give them some credit for having a basic understanding of human psychology and their detailed observation of human behaviour which when communicated to us (but only at that point of mental desperation) somehow has a mind-altering effect.
Now take that same book, and read it while alert and analytical, and see if you achieve the same emotionally elaborate reaction... I am reading a book, that seemed substantially significant to human growth 2 months ago, and I just didnt have time to get through the last chapter. Now, i have ten pages left and enough time, but I don't seem to want to get through them. The entire books 'meaning' has been reduced to one idealistic man's marxist fantasy for an ideal world of equality, communicated through stages of human emotion (and growth). If I'd known from the beginning where the book was going, i don't think I'd have bothered wirh it!
Now take that same book, and read it while alert and analytical, and see if you achieve the same emotionally elaborate reaction... I am reading a book, that seemed substantially significant to human growth 2 months ago, and I just didnt have time to get through the last chapter. Now, i have ten pages left and enough time, but I don't seem to want to get through them. The entire books 'meaning' has been reduced to one idealistic man's marxist fantasy for an ideal world of equality, communicated through stages of human emotion (and growth). If I'd known from the beginning where the book was going, i don't think I'd have bothered wirh it!
Monday, 29 June 2009
Legally Blonde Moment
For the last three days I have had a desperate urge to paint my nails hot pink. After 1 month of almost transparent white - trying to keep it classy! - I finally did... And now I'm happy!
Saturday, 27 June 2009
While rummaging through a box of momentos, I found a little rhyme that I wrote about a year and a half ago at a creative writing seminar - We were asked to think of our previous evening and write a poem about it on the spot.
She sat on the couch,
Cross-legged and complaining,
She'd finally found him, the one,
I poured another glass of wine
and she whined about his mother,
I stared into the fire consumed by it,
As she devised a plan...
... They are now happily married!
She sat on the couch,
Cross-legged and complaining,
She'd finally found him, the one,
I poured another glass of wine
and she whined about his mother,
I stared into the fire consumed by it,
As she devised a plan...
... They are now happily married!
Drum Beat
If you stop for a second you might feel your heart race,
It’s rate betrays the pace of your days,
Like a drum, beating fast and rhythmic,
But the thing is, you never stop.
It’s rate betrays the pace of your days,
Like a drum, beating fast and rhythmic,
But the thing is, you never stop.
Never have I ever...
More pleasant memories....
We sat there,
Drinking our liver to nothingness,
Music in the distant background,
Reverberating laughter and a bottle of vodka up front,
“Never have I ever…” It began,
The sharing of stupidities,
Drug induced sexcapades,
Stories that ten years earlier would have enthralled and captivated us all,
We still laugh now despite the irony of the setting,
Despite the emptiness it proves we all share.
Never have I ever loved and lost.
Everybody would have had a drink, only nobody said it.
Never have I been heartbroken or lonely or desperate,
How human, how weak,
We would all rather sound like adolescents,
Than feel exposed,
Oh its my turn now,
Never have I ever…
We sat there,
Drinking our liver to nothingness,
Music in the distant background,
Reverberating laughter and a bottle of vodka up front,
“Never have I ever…” It began,
The sharing of stupidities,
Drug induced sexcapades,
Stories that ten years earlier would have enthralled and captivated us all,
We still laugh now despite the irony of the setting,
Despite the emptiness it proves we all share.
Never have I ever loved and lost.
Everybody would have had a drink, only nobody said it.
Never have I been heartbroken or lonely or desperate,
How human, how weak,
We would all rather sound like adolescents,
Than feel exposed,
Oh its my turn now,
Never have I ever…
The Circus
Another pleasant memory from last summer...
Spotlight.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Welcome to my one man show.
It’s a multilingual, multicultural, multiple personality event.
I aim to please.
Watch me on the tightrope,
One step at a time,
Always in control.
As I twist and turn,
You think I might fall,
But I know better.
I can juggle too,
Even from up here.
Watch me as I toss one ball in the air,
And then another, and another.
I have the agility of an acrobat,
And the innate clumsiness of a clown.
I miss!
I lost a ball,
The shows over.
I dive down into the net,
Into oblivion.
Wonder how long I'll last this time!?? I've re-evaluated and slightly altered my technique!
Spotlight.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Welcome to my one man show.
It’s a multilingual, multicultural, multiple personality event.
I aim to please.
Watch me on the tightrope,
One step at a time,
Always in control.
As I twist and turn,
You think I might fall,
But I know better.
I can juggle too,
Even from up here.
Watch me as I toss one ball in the air,
And then another, and another.
I have the agility of an acrobat,
And the innate clumsiness of a clown.
I miss!
I lost a ball,
The shows over.
I dive down into the net,
Into oblivion.
Wonder how long I'll last this time!?? I've re-evaluated and slightly altered my technique!
Tug of War!!!
I wrote this last summer...
I pull with all my strength,
With every fiber of my being,
It’s getting closer and closer,
I could win,
In one shining moment I let go,
I take one look at my broken rivals clinging to their prize,
And I walk away.
Damned if im gonna go down that road again!
I pull with all my strength,
With every fiber of my being,
It’s getting closer and closer,
I could win,
In one shining moment I let go,
I take one look at my broken rivals clinging to their prize,
And I walk away.
Damned if im gonna go down that road again!
Amman Summer 2009!!!
I saw it approaching... A swirling mist of fog heading towards me. But did I run, or even duck? In one swirling sensation, I was catupulted into another dimension, an alternate universe, and the mind-numbing drama begins again!
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