I miss it when I can't blog!

The only connection I have to internet is on my phone. And even that isn't working at the moment. It's so annoying, 'cuz I really miss blogging!
The weather here is so weird. I'm never sure if its fog, or just plain dust. When it was hot it was so so hot. Now that it's cold, damn it's cold.
Everything was such a huge culture shock when I first moved here. The people, the food, the traffic...everything! I can't even cook here...do you know how much i miss putting pictures up on blogger?! I haven't even put pictures up here...Sigh.
I'm trying to connect the internet from my phone to my laptop via bluetooth...yeah I don't think technology and me get along very well. It's never gonna happen!!? Ugh! And I don't know what this place is doing to me, I forgot my best friends birthday this weekend! And silly time difference, I couldn't even talk to her...Sorry Bonito! :(
Apart from all of that I'm sleeping on average 3-4 hours every night. I just to run away to the mountains. Anyone interested?

Why I shouldn't blog when I'm emotional.

I want my blog to be something I look back to you know? Look back and smile, look back and cry and look back and feel sad or something... Which is why I always try and tell myself to blog only after a certain life changing event so that it would be a 'reflection' of what happened...

Problem is I always feel the urge to write when I'm in the suckiest mood of all. Which is why a lot of my posts are still stuck as drafts. I would publish them...but those are my deepest darkest secrets and I don't think I'm ready to share those, even if it is with strangers. Does anyone else do that? I mean I'd love to be anonymous on here, and I take assurance in the fact that there's millions on blogger and no one I know will easily stumble upon my blog...but still!

Like my last post...I mean I was so disappointed when I wrote that post. Now looking back at yesterday I realize that I shouldn't even have made such a huge fuss about it. Yes the money is a huge huge huge issue but I had an awesome talk with my brother on our way to manchester (aaah, whole different story) and I explained things to him. He responded well to our little chat, taught me all about the post rock movement in the 80s and we're back to normal! I don't think I'm very good with handling my feelings. I don't really get angry...I just cry. I always hold my tears in when I should be crying and the tears come at the most random times!! Sigh, I'm such a nut.

But I still have reason to rant! Okay? Like the Manchester thing. My brother has an accountancy exam coming Monday (mind you he did all the science subjects for his IB so he knows jack squat about anything to do with Finance) and he tells me he doesn't have the textbook for it yesterday. I had reason to get annoyed right? The exam is 25% of his final mark for his first year in this module! I tried to get hold of it, but that darn book wasn't available anywhere in Liverpool! We had to go to Manchester uni yesterday evening (and this is a little bit of a confession, forgive me God) to pick up one I reserved there and turns out my reservation won't be available for the next few days. Due to a misunderstanding on the part of the guy working at the bookstore, I finally did manage to get the book but it was meant for someone else. He mistook me for a woman that called in a week ago to reserve the same book (which no one could get anywhere since it was out of stock with the publishers) and the woman hadn't left a name...For my brother's sake I knew I had to get a hold of that stupid book. But I didn't correct with the guy that I wasn't the person the book was reserved for, forgive me God!

Speaking to my mum today and updating her on how cooking lessons are going with my brother even she commented on how I'm doing the mum's job around here. I don't think I really want to! I'm the sister...I wanna do that job! Ok I think I'm just being hormonal and cribbing now...Anyway, today's shopping day and I better run if I'm gonna get anything good from the sales. Plus I finally did make that doctor's appointment and I need to go pick up my repeat prescription. Now if only the weather in Liverpool would not be as icy....!! No seriously my joints are hurting walking around here, its icy AND windy, and the wind chill factor counts for a lot!! But on a happier note, here's a happy picture :)

Hula Hoop

I want a hula hoop. I was to spin it forever around me. I was a secret portal from another world to open up while I do so and I want to vanish completely forever into it.
Everything's been so weird lately. I thought me and D hated each other and couldn't stand each other anymore. I had completely given up...till I got the sweetest phone call last night that the snowfall in London reminded him of me. People change so randomly. I had complete faith on Mick. My dad said some things which should have made me wanna change my opinion but I didn't. Suddenly I find out not everything is the way it used to be. I've always treated my brother like an adult and he's respected that. Maybe its about time I treated him like an 18 year old for a change 'cuz I've just realized he's the most irresponsible jerk of a brother and I have to clean up after him. I don't know how I'm gonna cover up for him and face my dad. I'm trying to call my mum but she's in India 'property ke silsile mein' and I can't get to get at 6am IST. She's the one person I can generally talk to...will she be disappointed in her kids if I tell her the truth? Being an adult is hard man...Having the flu is hard too! I missed my flu jab appointment with the nurse this morning 'cuz I had to cook and clean for my brother. Why the heck don't guys learn how to cook? What is up with that? It's not like thats something only women do!! Geez, how much money are you gonna spend on 'instant' food...just learn how to freaking make pasta, a sandwich, two minute noodles!!!
I need to pack up all my shit too...How am I gonna do all this?!?! There's so much shit to sort out. I need to go to Sid's to get it done but I don't know why it's weird between us now. Is it because I wanted to leave and I actually made an active decision about my life? Everyone's judging me about moving. I know it. I felt the stares in the mandir yesterday. I knew all of them were thinking about it as they wished me Happy Diwali. Whores.
Why is there weed in this world? Why do people waste their money buying and why do people waste their time smoking it?
I'm such a mess right now I don't know where to start from...It's driving me a little insane...I just want to run away...

Hanging with my brother...

I'm back!!!!!

Oh dear lord have I missed my blog! Almost two months!!! =) But I am back, for now, in Liverpool...which isn't the internet devoid place I had been living in for the last few weeks and a lot of updating is baaki!
Happy Diwali to everyone and I'll be writing in loads soon!! =)

sigh

so much to say...so much to do...im just so blah right now!!! why is it so darn hot here!! i cant wait for the winter and for it to cool down...today was mum's bday! i dont think anyone's sure as to how old she is...but happy birthday mummy!!!!!!!!!!!

The hardest thing...ever!

I've moved. Not like moved houses...or phone numbers...but I've moved countries.
This time last week I was on holiday and I had no idea I'd have to make such a huge move! But now I'm here and it still hasn't sunk in. I keep thinking, maybe I'm just on holiday or something but nuh-huh. I'm here for good, atleast for 2-3 years...This is so crazy it's making my head spin out of control.
This week I have had to pack my life down to 3 bags and just go for it. I'm trying to think positively and think of this as a little bit of a fresh start or a change of scene or something...but its pretty weird. I spent all of yesterday furnishing my new place. A years rent here cost me 200 pounds! I used to pay 260 pounds a month in Liverpool! Lol! Life is so ironic...You can plan the whole damn thing out but that's so not what life has planned for you. Darn it... It seriously still hasn't sunk into my head!!! This really is weird...Plus jet lag wants to be my best friend and this is contributing to the spinning head thing...
Anyway, I need to go shopping again so I'm out. I have no idea what I'm doing??!?!!

Missing dancing like nutters...

(Boring dancing) ....can you tell how *bored* we are!!

Dancing dancing dancing. Dancing is so much fun! You know, everytime I leave Singapore or India or Australia, I'm always like- I'm gonna miss the food, people, etc soooo much! But whenever I leave the UK I never miss anything. The one thing I know for sure that I'm gonna miss like crazy now is the dancing.

As a kid I always managed to find all those latin ballroom dance movies on HBO and would sit in such awe watching them. My mum and I would dance in the TV room too sometimes and I would day dream for hours about the gorgeous women, how amazingly they danced and swirled around in their gorgeous frocks...Someday my day would come I would tell myself and boy it did!

I remember the trying out for the team for the first time. The Liverpool University Dance Club was prestigious, snooty yet glam. I just wanted the opportunity to get the bling bling dresses, shoes and hair, and then do the cha cha cha on the dancefloor. My palms were sweaty, I could feel my dance partner's nerves too! We did fine :) and we got in, no worries. He even got on the committee! As the only two brown people on the team we officially were spared from the 'white people' rhythm...Although some of them could shake it like no one's business. But we certainly spiced our routines up with a little *bump bump bump* and never really bothered about the iron clad 'rules' of the 'international dance federation'. I quickly lost my fascination for ballroom and was entranced completely by the sultry sexiness of the latin dances. It is in those that we excelled and even won our first award in! 2nd place in the Jive at the Northern chapionships '06-'07.

I haven't been dancing for a while now. I miss it...I know salsa is really popular in India. But has the latin and ballroom caught on? The Samba, the Waltz, the Jive, the Paso Doble, the Quickstep, the Rumba, the Tango...I live, breathe, eat, sleep these...Trust me, if you don't, you'd want to- right now!

Here's a basic cha cha that everyone can enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ngz4hPC328&eurl=

Here's a brilliant Jive video, no one can shake it like Michael and Beata. Shame they stopped dancing together!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLVNRry-8iU&feature=related

And here's a whole load of pictures that I love from dancing!! =)

Amritsar

London

Father and Sons

Pictures of Kabul from the cockpit.

Saavariya!

Grand Legacy PLANE FOOD!

Jallianwallah Bagh

Sat Shri Akal from Amritsar!

This city is awesome. India is ridiculously cheap. I love it. It being everything here. OMG! Yay! =)

My flight here (incase you're wondering) was brilliant. I had no idea Jet Airways had such cute stewards! They followed me around everywhere carrying my hand luggage for me (and don't I just love it) and this one guy even bandaged my finger. I had the most ridiculous tiny cut, but they were all so...'loving!'...Heehee! I'm looking forward to flying with them tomorrow, back to London I go! I can't wait to see all my friends.

Amritsar has been great, I'll put up pictures from Harmandir Sahib when I get back to Liverpool. I didn't get to the Wagha border, which I want to one day, but I did see the Jallianwallah Bagh which was someplace everyone should visit atleast once. Anyway, my mum flies out tonight so I've gotta run to drop her off!

iloveindiaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!

My pampered brown ass.

I was really looking forward to flying economy! Honestly I was! When you have a pilot for a dad, that's not something you get to do really often. And 'cuz I booked a Jet Airways ticket last minute I didn't expect the usual red carpet treatment. I mean, SQ's first class is absolute heaven and that's the one aspect in my life where I love to pamper myself! I've travelled mostly in style (and immensely thankful for it Lord!) or in the cockpit itself...But today when I expected nothing from my flight and was getting ready to wear track suit bottoms on the plane dad calls and says, oh by the way the pilot is your cousin's mamu. Whom we know darn well. So I guess I wont be wearing jeans or pyjama's while travelling today! I'll be all dressed up and pampered! Oh I love it! I'm gonna go change and catch my train :)

I'm going to In-di-yah!!

(To be sung to "I'm a little teapot...")

I'm a little bonkers, short and stout!

=)

I'm going to Amritsar!!!!!! And I'm super excited! It's 5:47 AM and I still can't sleep, hee hee!! *hugewidegrin* I just booked the tickets, everything is last minute. My dad asked me to book a ticket to Delhi this afternoon, unfortunately I had to pay a cancellation charge when dad changed his mind and got me to book one to Amritsar instead. Anyone know what Jet Airways is like? It'll be my first time! And I'll be going in economy, actually the shittier economy, like the one below the regular economy...and I'm used a slight bit more pampering so this should be interesting! I'm armed and ready with my camera, my shallu-kameezes (as Squid calls them) and I'm not coming back without going to the Golden Temple!!! I'm also going to Faridkot and Patiala and stuff, maybe even Bhiwani...or Bhiwanigardh. I haven't been to Punjab in atleast 6-7 years, maybe even more! I can't remember! *bounce bounce* ~so excited~ lol!! I'm going for serious work stuff, lekin mama's gonna be there and I'll get to shop hence the ridiculous excitement! Can you imagine I wasted all that money on getting waxed and ruining my eyebrows just this weekend?!?!?! Who would have guessed I'd be in India like a week later, I could have just got it done there, but the irony of it all is that there isn't any hair to tweeze or wax right now! Ugh! I know you can't feel my pain, but sympathize regardless!! Anyway, I'm gonna see my mamu ji's and mami ji's, my cousins and all my nieces and nephews- yay yay yay YAY!! =) The only *ugh* thing is that I have to leave my brother here alone & pray he doesn't burn my flat down. But I know Squid's here for him incase he needs anything...but I feel sad 'cuz he's sick! Infact when we went shopping at Tesco's for him today I picked up loads of Coke, crisps, microwavable meals, pizza, ready in seconds burgers...basically whatever he calls happy foods and I felt awful leaving him with junk food although I know he's gonna love it! He's not coming to India 'cuz we got some awesome news today that he too got into the Uni of Liverpool (lemme hear a woot woot!) and he needs to compete some formalities next week. I know he's not gonna leave the room except to meet Squid to 'jam' on the guitar and is probably gonna OD on TV & Fifa, but as an older sister you can't help worrying!

Anyway I'm getting back to London late Thursday night so will be back on Friday to cold cold Liverpool. I might stay over at B's or N's in London, I can't decide who to call between the two. Any guesses on which initial is the guy & which is the girl? ;)

Photo blogs.

These are some real awesome blogs. The photos on here are brilliant and I wish I was as talented as these photographers!

http://dynax5d.blogspot.com/
http://rohittalwar.blogspot.com/
http://sandig.blogspot.com/
http://coolclix.blogspot.com/
http://blog.becauseofb.com/fotu/
http://chromaticaberrations.blogspot.com/
http://rightmore.blogspot.com/
http://indianimagery.blogspot.com/
http://www.lensimpressions.net/index.php
http://apwatw.blogspot.com/
http://picturejockey.com/
http://marenmaren.blogspot.com/
http://www.vikas-garg.com/pad2007/

Enjoy!

Munna bhai!

MUNNA BHAI : Circuit, bole toh yeh Ford kya hai?
CIRCUIT : Bhai, gaadi hai.
MUNNA BHAI : Toh phir, yeh Oxford kya hai?
CIRCUIT : Bole toh, simple hai bhai, Ox mane Bael, Ford mane gaadi. Oxford bole toh Baelgaadi.

===============================================
CIRCUIT : Aye Mamu, tereko papad aur jhapad mein pharak pata hai kya?
MAMU : Nehin.
CIRCUIT : To kha ke dekh le, pata chal jayega.
================================================
MUNNA BHAI : Mamu, apun bachpan mein dus maley ke building se gir gaya tha.
MAMU : Aarey, phir kya hua. Bach gaya ki tapak gaya?
MUNNA BHAI : Yaad nahin hai yaar. Bahut purani baat hai.
===============================================
PRINCIPAL : Agar koi ladka girls hostel mein gaya toh first time 100 Rs fine, 2nd time 200 Rs. Fine and 3rd time 500.

MUNNA BHAI : Boley to Monthly paas ka kya lega Mamu
===============================================
CIRCUIT : Bhai, woh apnay bachpan ka dost aarehla hai aaj raat ko dinner pe. Mera sara chain collection apnay kamray mein chupa do na please.
MUNNABHAI : Kyun tera dost chor hai kya?
CIRCUIT : Nehin Bhai, woh apnay chain pechaan lega.

http://juliettehistory.blogspot.com/ How cute is this baby!!

Blogs I want to share.

http://baldylocks.blogspot.com/2008/08/i-dos.html
This is a blog of a very brave person undergoing chemotherapy, however the post I've provided a link to made me smile. There's a brilliant picture of a little bride and bridegroom doll on there, do check it out!

Here's an article about the 'Baldy blogger'. This is about an amazing man who was suffering with Leukaemia. Has sadly passed on, but I'll post the link to his blog...do give it a read. He was an amazing inspirational person, and will always be missed. God bless his soul. RIP Adrian Sudbury. http://baldyblog.freshblogs.co.uk/

My weekend.

Hair removal. Friday evening.

Me and squid were getting pretty hairy. Like seriously hairy. We needed our waxing lady so so bad. My arms looked like a jungle, I had a unibrow. If I start telling you about Squid's hair and then she reads this one day she will kill me so I shall shut up on that front. Being the stingy asses that we are we decided to go to this Indian lady that had given us her brochure, as opposed to the gori Lisa who charges a bit too much, and boy did we regret it. This lady started talking (and never stopped) about everything under the sun, one of those 'Hai Mrs Arora ko dekha, kya pehna hua tha' types. We were greeted by a funny damp smell and clothes everywhere! Her house was a very weird eclectic mix of tacky souveniers from all her travels and I half expected to find a skull and bones lying among them somewhere. We felt so awkward as she told us about her neighbours and how the police visited them recently. Voh log haina itna shor karte the sex karte time, unko ab ban kardiya gaya hai. I had nothing to say as she told us ke usually toh main badi chudiyan pehenti houn, lekin aaj western pehna hua tha na, toh utaar di. What we should have done is run, but we stayed 'cuz we were desperate for some hair removal! What me and Sid ended up with were misshaped eyebrows and scalded limbs from the ridiculously hot wax she lehpofied all over us. I learnt a huge lesson this weekend. I don't care how much it costs and I don't care how 'professional' people say they are. I'm never going to a 'beautician' again unless I see her do her thing on someone else first!!

The Ice-cream story. Saturday evening.

I decided enough is enough. Me and D hadn't seen each other in weeks so I realized a surprise dinner was in order. I had a lot going on Saturday and was running around town with ridiculous errands, I barely managed to get home, get all my ingredients together and call a cab to rush to D's before D got home. It was pissing it with the rain and I waited ages for my cab. When nothing showed up 15 minutes later I decided to walk down to the main road hoping I could catch a black cab there. As I stood struggling with my umbrella, which kept flipping inside out 'cuz of the crazy wind, getting super drenched I saw the original cab I'd called turn up at my door. So then I ran like crazy carrying all this major load and managed to get into the cab and for once!! Thank god!! there was the sweetest (cute) cabbie who chatted me up all the way to D's house. Once I got there and started cooking and lay the table and put out all my nice crytal, I realized I'd forgotten a bag with crucial ingredients and the most important ice cream somewhere at home! I called Shai and asked her to look around the kitchen, she didn't find it. I knew she had an exam this week so I asked her to forget about it. When D got home and was all surprised (everything looked so nice!) I told D about my poor ice cream, melting somewhere, hopefully not on my bed! On my new satin sheets I might add. I called Squid, asked her to go to the porter, get my spare keys and find the darn ice cream. Her fiance Shay Zee was over, visiting from London and D heard me tell Squid to not take Shay Zee into my room 'cuz it was a mess! D and Shay Zee get along really well & hadn't seen each other in ages so D called Shay Zee and asked him to come over so we could all hang out. Meanwhile my ice cream was still melting somewhere and Squid called and told me that the porter doesn't have my spare keys as they were checked out. They were with me ofcourse as my brother had my original keys and they were with him in London. So now Squid and Shay Zee came over and here I am still panicking about my damn ice cream! So I decided to call a cab to go home and get it myself. It was still pissing rain so the cab didn't come for ages, by which time I realized I could just take Shay Zee's car and get home. So Shay Zee drove me home and Squid came for the ride. D called us on our way there and asked if Squid could bring her Ludo over so we could play but Squid had left her house keys at D's so back we went to D's to get Squid's keys so we could get the Ludo. My ice cream was still melting somewhere. Take two, we got Sqid's keys and drove down yet again to try and salvage the ice cream and pick up the Ludo and D calls us again. I'd left my phone at D's and apparently Shai by this time had found the ice cream (D read Shai's text message on my phone) and had put it in the freezer. The ice cream had been sitting on my shoe rack. But we still went home, never you mind, picked up the ice cream from my freezer, and the ludo, and went back to D's. At the end of the night once we had all cheated our way through Ludo and were totally stuffed with pizza no one even ate the darn ice cream.

The next morning I'm getting ready for church. I'm rushing, getting my things together, I had to pick up Clement along the way and he was waiting. I wanted to blow dry my hair and decided whislt doing so that I wanted some ice cream for breakfast. I took the ice cream out of my freezer and went back into my room to answer my phone 'cuz I had heard it ringing. Clement was waiting, I was getting late, but we managed to get to church in time. As I walked into church something hit me. I'd left the stupid ice cream on my dining table!!!!!

(Don't worry, the ice cream was saved by Shai yet again, I texted her and she found it immediately this time. I know that a lot of you will not want to read all this and probably think it a pointless story, but this is my blog and when I read it 10 years down the line I want to remember all the silly things that happened in my life!)

King is Singh. Sunday evening.

I love going to Trafford center. Manchester has an brilliant vibe and I think it's a great city. I love going with Shay Zee and Squid too, we always have such an awesome time together! We watched 'Bachna Ai Haseeno' which I thought was such a sweet movie! It is such a chick flick! The first half was typically Bollywood, but I really enjoyed the second half of the movie which was more fun because 1) of Kunal Kapoor- what a hottie! 2) Ranbir Kapoor's dancing, that guy can move! 3) it was just more funny. Oh and Deepika Padukone is just plain hot. D didn't particularly enjoy the chick flick, all I could hear was huffing and puffing coming from that end of the cinema. When Deepika Padukone says in the end of the movie 'Ladkiyan hameinsha sahi hoti hein, we have a right to change our minds whenever we want' (or some dialogue of the sort) the whole cinema heard D yell out 'Vah, vah! Saala mein saath pound deke yeh sun ne aaya houn, yeh toh mujhe ghar pe roz sun na padta hai!!'. According to D the movie should be renamed 'Bachna ai Ladkon' and his advice to all men out there is to not go watch the movie, or take a chick with you if you do. Especially not your girlfriend/wife/significant other. We did see Singh is King just after that as well, yes two movies in one day. Two HINDI movies in one day...was a bit of an overload, what the heck. But everyone was happy with SIK in the end. A couple of minutes after it started D yelled out 'Yeh hoti hai asli movie, pata nai kya kabaad dekh rahe the pehle!'. Me, Squid & Shay Zee being pubjabi's absolutely loved it and Squid had to hold me down 'cuz all I wanted to do was get up and dance when all the songs came on! Haha :) I have no idea how Snoop Dogg was related to the movie, but did anyone see his huge jhumka attached to his pagg with a safety pin?? Hahahaha! Plus him eating samosa's was classic!!! Chalo, atleast that waxing lady we went to did get something right i.e. Hai, kaunsi pikchurr dekhne ja rahe ho? Voh King is Singh dekh ke aana, maine suna tha kya badhiya pikchurr hai haan...

Where was I when the fastest man in the world was making a new world record?

I was watching him!! Haha! I can't believe that I'm gonna say that he didn't do as well as he could, well, 'cuz he set a new world record! But I'm sure his personal best was better than what he did do!! I mean you could see him looking into the crowds and just cheering (and slowing down a little) even when he was like 10 meters away from the finish line. But he certainly made the mens 100 meter finals at the 2008 olympics something I'll always remember & I'm sure every Jamaican is just so so proud right now! Usain Bolt ran 100 meters in 9.69 seconds, a minute less than I would have certainly taken. He did have a previous record, but check out 'Lighting Bolt' in action as he literally jogs to the finish.

I also saw some Indian women runners, and I have to say the Indians are looking pretty good! By the way, happy Independence Day people! =) T'was yesterday I know, but I figured everyone would be wishing each other so I just decided to do it today. And a happy Rakhi to all my brother's out there and all our desi men in general! Here's me and my brother with the Rakhi I gave him! =) (Oh he might kill me when he sees this pic, but what the hell!)

FYI: Check out http://abhinavbindra.blogspot.com/ and if you like LFC then check out http://theredcauldron.blogspot.com/

Thing's aren't looking any better...

...but I still find reasons to smile.

Today has possibly been one of the hardest days in my life. I'm kicking myself in the head because of the way my past has past, and I don't know what the future has in hold for me. My brother's here, my parents are there and we're all just at loggerheads at the moment. We've got a ton of decisions to make, everyone's all antsy & I can't help but feel a little guilty, 'cuz I'm causing all this trouble. Plus my brother's uni stuff needs to be decided and that's not always easy. Sigh, it's so hard being a child. You don't want to dissapoint your parents. It's so hard being a parent! You want to do the best for your kids!

Everything's so mixed up right now Lord. I know you're sovereign, you see what no one else sees & you do have a plan for me.I know I'm not supposed to understand it, or even see it but I really need strength right now to make it through all this. Please help me keep my mind straight, focus on the work to be done and be patient with members of my family and my friends. I find myself easily breaking down and tears just start to flow like crazy whenever I get emotionally ovrwhelmed (which is a lot these days) plus I want to move countries and go live somewhere else, but running away isn't the solution. I understand that, please Lord just cut me some slack and help me be strong. I need it! See you Sunday.

I was wigging out majorly this morning. I think I've cried like 7 times. Earlier I checked my mail and someone smart had sent me this poem which I didn't understand completely. After this lovely person sent me a translation back I realized something very very important that helped me make it through today. The past isn't mine. It's never coming back. It's gone, it's history. What IS mine is my future. And I have the power to make it what I want to be. It's a blank canvas & I can paint it any color I like. If I sit here moaning about the past all it'll help me do is waste precious time I could have used picking color's to paint my huge white canvas with. So no more moaning! Or atleast I'm gonna try =)

For now I'll just leave you with the poem. If anyone needs a full English translation, I can now happily oblige =)

"Raho Jameen par asmaan ke khwab rakho..

tum apni soch ko har waqt lajawaab rakho...

Khade na ho sako itna na sir jhukao kabhi..

tum apne haath main kirdaar ki kitaab rakho...

ubhar raha jo suraj to dhoop nikalegi...

ujaalon main raho mat dhoondh ka hisaab rakho...

milo to aise ki bhool na paaye tumhe...

mehek wafa ki rakho aur behisaab rakho...

akalmandon main raho akalmandon ki tarah...

aur nadaaanon main rehna ho to raho nadaan se...

woh jo kal tha aur apna bhi nahi tha doston...

aj ko lekin sajaa lo ek nayi pehchaan se...."

PS: Thank you Ravish, god bless you!

Paris.

Paris was amazing. Infact it was so dreamy that I just want to live there, forever! On our flight back to Liverpool we even saw the Eiffel tower from the plane. Aaaah, so romantic! I'm still so in love with Paris I'm not ready to write about it just yet. I thought I'll just share pictures instead. Enjoy!

Oh and that purple hat cost like 500 euro's!! No, I didn't buy it.

I *hate* puzzles!

I know hate is a strong word. But I really hate puzzles...They're so!!! difficult!!! I've gone nuts trying to help my housemate out with one of them. Coco is such a dodo. She's got this 2000 piece puzzle, lord knows where she finds such things. And its a huge puzzle of this palatial garden with a huge building behind it, lots of fountains and statues everywhere. And the sky. Oh.my.god, the sky. I tried sorting out different shades of blue for the sky and within 3 minutes I was ready to yank my hair our of my head! It really doesn't help that the puzzle pieces are soooo tiny!! How does one have the patience to sit through such a thing....geez. I'm getting frustrated just _writing_ about this, you have no idea how frustrating it was trying to actually find pieces that fit! I was just going 'aiyoh rama swamy!!' in my head! (Translation- oh dear lord!)

On the other hand it was pretty funny 'cuz we were saying if a person was actually listening in to our conversation they'd think we'd committed a murder or something. 'Cuz we were trying to put bodies together... I was trying to sort out all the pieces with parts of statues on them and this is something like what stuff sounded like in our kitchen.

Me: Ugh, this is so hard. Hmmm, here's a head. I have a head. I need a torso.

Coco: Here, I found an arm, maybe this will fit.

Me: Naah, thanks anyway. Hey I found another body.

Squid: Body?...Here's a leg...

Me: I don't need a leg, I need a torso. Wait, this other guy, I've got from waist down, the rest is missing. I have another thigh that fit on the other guy. I need a torso! This is so annoying.

Coco: Patience S, I've been sitting here since this morning. It'll take time, okay?

Me: You guys have no life.

Coco & Squid: *offended looks* Excuse me, whateverrrr! Loser.

Me: Will you just help me find a darn torso!!! I'm so confused, I just have all these bodies lying here. Hey look, I found this other chick's hand!! And it fits! Yay, I fit a hand!! =) Now I need to find this guys boob. Torso. Whatever!

Oh, and I need a head.

Chai.

I like chai. Don't get why some idiots call it chai tea. But I like my cuppa cha. I like making my own usually with some ginger, cardamom and cloves if I have a cold. Or some instant green tea with vanilla and strawberries. Yum! Recently my housemate showed me how to make some very soothing mint tea too. Will show you guys when I make it for myself sometime :)

As I listen to some Tiesto in the background (yeah I'm in that annoying loud trance music phase, it's rare but it happens) I've just come to realize a shocking fact! 41% of you (poll on the top right of the page) think that toilet paper is the one thing you couldn't live a day without! What are you gonna do if you're stuck in a jungle in Brasil? You're gonna have to use leaves people. Leaves and water. Imagine if you were stuck in the Sahara...I shudder to think what you're gonna try and find to wipe your ass! Actually, I don't shudder, it'll be pretty cool to find out ;P

Toilet paper is closely followed by -a-tie-between- 'walking' and 'your teeth'. Hmmm. What if you were stuck on a hijacked plane & obviously couldn't walk...and use toilet paper either (HAHA! suckers) and had to just sit there and shit in your pants? Whatcha gonna do then eh? Huh? And I'm sure people (why isn't that word spelt poepel...how much cooler is poepel?) that have dentures sometimes go a whole day without their teeth.

In third place for the thing you could not live one day without is another tie between money-shoes-dancing-water-pooping. Which materialistic asses among you voted for money & shoes? Yeesh! I agree with the pooping and aqua part...and dancing, hmmm, well, I definately wouldn't die if I didn't dance at any point during the day. But considering I dance from my bed to my sink when I wake up in the morning (and that's just for starters) I definately would lose some part of me by not dancing every single day...But that's just me.

I'm really interested to see that all 12 of you that voted, wait, all 11. I had one vote. =) Yeah, so all 11 of you that voted, none of you need your car! That's totally awesome! But the romantic that can't go a day without his significant other, or the very cool person who can't live a day without their scissors please reveal yourselves. What in the world were you thinking? :P

On a more exciting note, not that my poll results weren't exciting enough and you've got another 2 days to vote people, my brother and his best friend Craigie-Waigie are coming over to visit me!! Super yay! I've missed my brother, I want to hear all about his Euro trip and mostly I just want to give him a super gigantic bear hug!!!!!!! They're staying at a friends place in London till Tuesday and I am counting down the minutes till I see them both!!

Hopefully I'll be able to drag them both to the new 'Singh is King' being screened in cinema's worldwide!!! Whoot! I need a mindless evenig of Kat's thumka's with wild bollywood music and crazy action from Akki Kumar. I've had my fun filled evening with The Dark Knight some days ago and I must say that movie was brilliant! Plus I was amazed to see a full cinema and we had to watch the movie sitting in the front row! My neck hurt after following them running around the screen for the duration of that movie, but let me say it was so worth it! The Joker was played brilliantly, I have loved him since his 10 things I hate about you days & he's really outdone himself! God rest his soul, I think Mr. Ledger would have been more than ecstatic about how well recieved this movie is...

Things on my mind...

Life always has that annoying way of getting to you eh? All of those 'You don't know what you got till its gone' is kicking me in the head right now. No point even asking to go back in time huh? Anyway, as I sit here brooding on my fate I'm really enjoying eating lunch and watching the olympic games. The British are all about their atheletes and have such high hopes for them. There's even this American swimmer who is up for 8 gold medals, no pressure!! I do enjoy watching the winter olympics more...There's something about people gliding on ice in sequins, but this is good fun too. I wish I could spin on bars and balance my body weight on one hand, but that's not happening for a while I guess. I'm jealous of gymnasts! Thin, skinny, flexible gymnasts!!

On another note, why do men hate women drivers? We're not all incompetent idiots on the road, and aren't men worse drivers with all that speeding they get into? I mean, I can get you from A to B in time, even if you're running a bit late. I prefer reverse parking, I can parellel park fine, I don't honk unless there's dire need for it, I don't choke up lanes. I use my head & I drive but still everytime I see something go wrong on the roads my dad has to say- I bet its a woman driving. Men, why must you continue to put us down? I continue to see dodo's reving their engines at a red light, inching their way forward onto the pedestrian crossing even though we've got more than a couple of seconds to go for the green light & I'm assuming it's got something to do with their ego's but you don't see women dissing men drivers? I don't care if you think me boring, but it IS unsafe to have loud music blaring in your car, you can't hear anyone honking at you & I've seen people block up lanes with ambulances behind them 'cuz they couldn't hear the sirens! None of those drivers happened to be female =P

Before I go off in a rant about which is the better sex, let me deviate your attention to something that's been bugging me for a while. Which came first? Stools or chairs? I mean obviously man sat on a stump on a tree or a rock, or something, and that idea evolved into a 'stool'. But maybe man rested against a tree stump or rock, or like in a cave or something, and realized a chair would be a handy thing to have around! I mean did people first invent chairs and thought it'll be kinda cool to have a stool to rest their feet on, or have their slaves sit on. Or did man first make a stool, and then think, hang on a second, this would be much more comfortable if it had a back rest, and hence the stool evolved into the chair. And you thought the chicken or the egg mystery was bad enough.

Thinking about what lies ahead.

I've got a few decisions to make. I wish I could rewind back into 2002. If anyone invents a time machine I promise I'll sell my soul to use it first. PROMISE! But apart from all that...

I watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics this evening. Just for a little while but it looked awesome! I definately want to be there when it happens in London in 2012. The Indians looked good! I wish them all the best and hope they get to pick up a medal or two. I'm sure we're all proud of them just for getting there, it's such a huge feat...

I also made cheesecake. It was yum! The pictures are from my phone so the quality isn't brilliant, but the cheesecake was! No recipe for now though...Too much going on.

Why don't people actually take part in the poll on the top right of my blog? Dudes, if you make it on this page, then vote!

When I was in Paris, mum and me got some portraits done. We were staying in Montmatre, a very artsy fartsy district of Paris and it was amazing. These people just sketch you within minutes! I like this one the best, we got mine and mum's done on the same canvas and it looked brilliant! I don't even look that good, he made us look so sophisticated! I'm just gonna let the pictures do the talking.

Facts.

The human brain uses approximately as much energy as a 10 watt light bulb.

Fire causes $15 billion in damage each year in the US.

The Giant South African Earthworm (Microhaetus rappi) can grow up to 7 meters (22 feet) long and 2.5 cm (1 inch) in diameter.

Before prohibition, Shlitz brewery owned more land in Chicago than anyone else, except the Catholic Church.

Antarctica holds about 70% of the world's freshwater in its ice.

The combined internal surface area of a pair of human lungs is equal to about the area of a tennis court.

101 Dalmatians and Peter Pan are the only two Disney animated features in which both the parents are present and don't die throughout the movie.

Approximately 1 in 10,000 eggs has the Salmonella bacteria.

60% of the world's geysers are in Yellowstone National Park.

Americans consume approximately 6 gallons (23 liters) of ice cream per person per year.

The world's largest fruit are giant pumpkins. The world record is 1061lbs (481.3 kg)

In 1996 Americans bought $2.6 billion worth of gum.

There are twice as many Kangaroos in Australia as people.

Mary Shelly's Frankenstein is the most widely taught novel in America.

The lifespan of a tastebud is ten days.

There are more bacteria in your mouth than people on the earth.

Over the course of a lifetime the average man spends $3300 to remove their whiskers.

Beelzebub is Hebrew for "Lord of the Flies."

Alaskan citizens do not pay any state taxes; instead every person over the age of 6 months receives an oil dividend check of about $1000 per year.

The US Mint makes about 20 billion coins per year.

Each worker bee, in it's entire lifetime, produces only one twelfth (1/12) of one teaspoon (4.167 ml) of honey

The human heart creates enough pressure to squirt blood 10 meters (30 feet).

Only the US Mint produces money faster than the gambling industry in Las Vegas.

Non-dairy creamer is flammable.

80% of Publishers' Clearing House $10 million winners did not purchase any magazine subscriptions.

The warmest temperature ever recorded on Antarctica was 3 degrees F.

The bubbles in Guinness beer sink to the bottom - no one knows why

If all the ice on Antarctica were to melt the sea-level around the world would rise 67 meters (230 feet).

An oyster takes ten years to produce a pearl that is about the size of a pea.

During the average human lifetime a person's heart will beat about 2 billion times

Humans have about 100,000 hairs on their head; sea otters have this many on one square cm.

Frogs sometimes eat enough fireflies that they themselves glow.

The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds.

elephants can't jump, every other mammal can

When possums are playing possum they are not "playing", they actually pass out from sheer terror

the most sensitive finger is the forefinger

according to the federal center for substance abuse prevention "for kids under 21, there is no difference between alcohol and other drug use and abuse", incredibly, it makes no distinction between a self reliant 20 yr old toasting his love at their wedding reception with a sip of champagne and a drug-addicted 20 yr old doing crack cocaine!

the oil from hemp seeds has the highest percentage of essential fatty acids and the lowest percentage of saturated fats

a snail can sleep for 3 yrs

the only member of the band ZZ Top without a beard has the last name beard

if the population of china walked past you in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction

clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them used to burn their houses down - hence the expression "to get fired"

When you have a black eye, you have a bilateral periorbital hematoma.

There was only one pointer, the hour hand, on the first clocks made in the fourteenth century. The minute and seconds hands were added in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

There are more television sets in the United States than there are people in Japan.

When a journalist asked her what she wore to bed, Marilyn Monroe replied "Chanel No. 5."

Experts have come to the conclusion that additional U.S. freeways does not automatically ease vehicle congestion. An example was shown in Springfield, Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C. The 8-year, $434 million freeway construction project resulted in commuters shaving only 30 seconds off of their drive time. The conclusion was that motorists lost more time in delays during construction than they could make up once the construction was complete.

Over 180 million Cadbury's Creme Eggs are sold between January and Easter each year — that's more than three Creme Eggs for every man, woman, and child in the U.S.

Crystals grow by reproducing themselves. The come the nearest to being "alive" of all members of the mineral kingdom.

Baskin-Robbins introduced the flavor "Lunar Cheesecake" to commemorate America's landing on the moon on July 20, 1969.

Irving Berlin never learned to read music or to write it. He hummed or sang his songs to a secretary, who wrote them down in musical notation.

Sylvan N. Goldman of Humpty Dumpty Stores and Standard Food Markets developed the shopping cart so that people could buy more in a single visit to the grocery store. He unveiled his creation in Oklahoma City on June 4, 1937.

In 1893, Chicago hired its first police woman. Her name was Marie Owens. While the city was progressive in its hiring practices, Chicago's female police officers were not allowed to wear uniforms until 1956.

By law, Bourbon must be produced in America, made from at least 51 percent corn, and made from a fermented sourmash of grains.

Pheasant hunting is believed to be Iowa's single biggest outdoor sporting event.

Miami Beach, Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Palm Beach, Pacific Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach — there are scores of U.S. coastal cities and towns with "beach" in their names. Surprisingly, there's only one city in the United States named merely "Beach." It is found in North Dakota, which is a land-locked state.

The island nation of Cyprus is proudly reclaiming its ancient honor of being the birthplace of the Greek goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite, and now offers a tasteful re-creation of her ancient rites for visitors and locals.

The Humane Society estimates that there are 800,000 dog bites that require medical attention every year. Dog bites rank second behind sexually transmitted diseases as the most costly health problem in the United States. Over 60 percent of those bitten are children, and 80 percent of the fatalities are also children.

The Humane Society estimates that there are 800,000 dog bites that require medical attention every year. Dog bites rank second behind sexually transmitted diseases as the most costly health problem in the United States. Over 60 percent of those bitten are children, and 80 percent of the fatalities are also children.

Migrating geese fly in a V-formation to save energy. A goose's wings churn the air and leave an air current behind. In the flying wedge, each bird is in position to get a lift from the current left by the bird ahead. It is easier going for all, except the leader. During a migration, geese are apt to take turns in the lead position.

In England, corn means wheat. In the Bible, corn means grain.

The eighteenth-century politician and playboy John Wiles was arguing with a fellow politician, Lord Sandwich, who exclaimed: "Sir, you will die either of the pox or on the gallows." To which Wilkes reportedly replied: "Depending on whether I embrace your mistress or your principles."

Eddie Arcaro, one of the greatest jockeys in horse race history, rode 250 losers before he won his first race. Ultimately, Arcaro won 4,779 races — including five Derby winners, six in the Preakness, and six in the Belmont Stakes, on such famous horses as Whirlaway, Citation, and Kelso.

California is the second-largest cheesemaking state after Wisconsin. It is the leader in producing Hispanic-style cheeses such as Monterey Jack.

According to the Detroit Free Press, 68 percent of professional hockey players have lost at least one tooth.In 1996, a Nevada panel designated the Las Vegas Strip a scenic byway, saying the glitzy neon lights and erupting volcano, sinking pirate ship, pyramid, castle, and other casino attractions are culturally enriching.

Every time it erupts, Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park spurts up to 8,000 gallons of 199-degree water about 140 feet into the air.

At the turn of the century, most lightbulbs were handblown, and the cost of one was equivalent to half a day's pay for the average U.S. worker.

An average-size aardvark weighs about 150 pounds.

The coffee filter was invented by Melitta Bentz, in Germany in 1908. She pierced holes in a tin container, put a circular piece of absorbent paper in the bottom of it and put her creation over a coffee pot.

The grebe, an aquatic bird, has an effective means of escaping danger while protecting its young. At the first sign of danger, it will sink into the water until its back is level with the surface. This allows its offspring to swim over and quickly climb onto its back. The parent grebe then rises up to its swimming position and ferries the chicks across the water to safety.

Ancient Egyptians regarded the heart as the center of intelligence and emotion. They believed the brain to have no significance whatsoever, and in the important process of mummification, the brain was removed through the nose and discarded.

No one knows how many people live in the country of Bhutan. As of 1975, no census had ever been taken.

The Earth moves in its 585-million-mile orbit around the Sun approximately eight times faster than a bullet travels.

It was the style among 18th-century Englishmen to wear pantaloons so tight they had to be hung on special pegs that held them open, allowing the wearer to jump down into them.

When astronauts first shaved in space, their weightless whiskers floated up to the ceiling. A special razor had to be developed which drew the whiskers in like a vacuum cleaner.

Canadians eat more Kraft macaroni and cheese packaged dinners than any nationality in the world.

UK group The Tornadoes' hit single "Telstar" was the first UK single to reach Number 1 in the USA on December 22, 1962. This was more than a year before the Fab Four made it to Number 1 in the USA with "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on February 1, 1964.

If the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was doubled, the average temperature of the Earth would rise by 4 degrees Fahrenheit. Many forecasters expect carbon dioxide to double by the year 2025. The world would then be warmer than at any time in the last 100,000 years.

Adult polar bears usually eat just the skin and blubber of a seal. They leave the meat for cubs and scavengers. One seal will sustain an adult bear for 11 days.

Because of the speed at which Earth moves around the Sun, it is impossible for a solar eclipse to last more than 7 minutes and 58 seconds.

The names of Popeye's four nephews are Pipeye, Peepeye, Pupeye, and Poopeye.

In Las Vegas, local 911 operators took two million calls in 1996, about half of which were non-emergencies. One communications supervisor said he had a man call who insisted they help him find his uncle at a hotel.

Every three seconds, an area of the South American rain forest the size of a football field is cut down.

In the latter part of the 18th century, Prussian surgeons treated stutterers by snipping off portions of their tongues.

The invention of typing correction fluid is credited to Bette Nesmith, the mother of former Monkee Mike Nesmith. In the 1950s, Mrs. Nesmith was a typist. One day, she brought with her to work a small brush and a bottle of white paint which she used to correct her typos. She shared her "Mistake Out" with other secretaries, and was soon approached by an office supply company to market her invention. She later renamed the product Liquid Paper, and in 1979, sold the rights to the Gillette Company for $47.5 million.

Not all Broadway musicals have had happy premises or happy endings. Popular stage musicals over the years which featured death or murder include: Carmen Jones (1943), Carousel (1945), Evita (1979), Irma La Douce (1958), Lost in the Stars (1949), Man of La Mancha (1965), Oklahoma! (1943), Oliver! (1960), Perchance to Dream (1945), Porgy and Bess (1935), Redhead (1959), Rose-Marie (1924), Sunset Boulevard (1994), Sweeney Todd (1979), The Ballad of Dr. Crippen (1961), The King and I (1951), and West Side Story (1957)

Shakespeare spelled his own name several different ways.

The seed of the redwood trees are so small that 123,000 of them weigh scarcely a pound.

It is estimated that 4 million "junk" telephone calls – phone solicitations by persons or programmed machine – are made every day in the United States.

Pieces of bread were used to erase lead pencil before rubber came into use.

There are buffalo in Poland. They live mainly in the area of the Bialowieza Forest and are known as "zubra." The well-known Polish vodka Zubrowka, which means "buffalo brand," takes its name from these animals.

Tony the Tiger, cartoon mascot of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes since the early 1950s, was called "Tom-Tom the Tiger" in the island nation of Grenada.

One-fourth of the people who lose their sense of smell also lose their desire for sexual relations.

Pandas spend about 12 hours a day eating bamboo.

Your brain is more active sleeping than it is watching TV.

The brain is surrounded by a membrane containing veins and arteries. This membrane is filled with nerves of feeling. However, the brain itself has no feeling; if it is cut into, the person feels no pain.

In Muddy, Illinois, the post office measures only 7½ by 10½ feet, about the size of a garden shed. If it wasn't for a sign hanging above the door stating, "U.S. Post Office, Muddy, IL., 62965," finding the tiny, wooden building could be difficult. It is believed to be one of the smallest post offices in the United States.

Macaws are the largest and most colorful species of the parrot family.

The literary collections in the New York Public Library expand at the rate of approximately 10,000 items per week, in dozens of languages.

The average life span of London residents in the middle of the 19th century was 27 years. For members of the working class, that number dropped to 22 years.

Ninety-nine percent of all forms of life that have existed on Earth are now extinct.

A recent survey reveals that one in four Americans "believe in" astrology, up from 18 percent in 1988. One third (33 percent) of those in the 18- to 29-year-old bracket believe, to some extent, that horoscopes and the stars influence and predict events in their lives. Only 18 percent of those 60 years or older put much credence in astrology.

Christmas trees are edible. Many parts of pines, spruces, and firs can be eaten. The needles are a good source of vitamin C. Pine nuts, or pine cones, are also a good source of nutrition.

A recent study conducted by the Shyness Clinic in Menlo Park, California, revealed that almost 90 percent of Americans label themselves as shy.

An alligator can go through 2,000 to 3,000 teeth in a lifetime.

It is estimated that within the entire universe there are more than a trillion galaxies.

For golfing enthusiasts, Maricopa County in Arizona boasts the most golf courses in the country with a reported 168, followed by Palm Beach County in Florida with 150 and Riverside County in California with 145.

The ball on top of a flagpole is called a "truck."

When commercial telephone service was introduced between New York and London in 1927, the first three minutes of a call cost $75.00.

The marquees of the fifty largest casinos and hotels in Las Vegas use enough electricity to run more than a thousand average U.S. homes.

If you add together all the numbers on a roulette wheel (1 to 36), the total is the mystical number 666, often associated with the Devil.

Only men were allowed to eat at the first self-service restaurant, the Exchange Buffet in New York, opened in 1885. Customers ate standing up.

Australia is the smallest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent in the world. It is the only country which is also a whole continent — 18.6 million people live here.

Goldie Hawn is a direct descendent of Edward Rutledge, the youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence.

If the fresh water of the earth (only 1.6 percent of the water on the planet) was divided equally among all the people on earth, each one would get 40 million gallons.

In most advertisements, including newspapers, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10.

Fleas can accelerate 50 times faster than the space shuttle.

There are approximately 100,000 glaciers in Alaska.

A "fulgerite" is fossilized lightning. It forms when a powerful lightning bolt melts the soil into a glass-like state.

In Sweden, it is a breech of etiquette for you to toast your host or anyone who is your senior in rank or age until after they toast you.

According to poetic legend, Lizzie Borden used her ax and gave her mother 40 whacks and her father 41. In actuality, the police accused her of giving her father 10 whacks and her stepmom 19. Lizzie was acquitted at her trial of the double murder.

Until the 1920s, babies in Finland were often delivered in saunas. The heat was thought to help combat infection, and the warm atmosphere was considered pleasing to the infant. The Finns also considered sauna as a holy place.

There are about 2,500 different species of horsefly in the world.

Rafflesia flowers can measure 3 feet across -- the biggest flowers of any plant. They are also the smelliest flowers, reeking of rotten meat. This is a trick designed to attract flies for pollination.

In one year, hens in America lay enough eggs to encircle the globe a hundred times

The short-term memory capacity for most people is between five and nine items or digits. This is one reason that phone numbers were kept to seven digits (not including area code).

People in Sweden, Japan, and Canada are more likely to know the population of the United States than are Americans.

American actresses Sharon Stone and Lara Flynn Boyle both have appeared in Japanese ads for cosmetics.

According to a recent study, there are more than 100 art galleries in Scottsdale, Arizona, which, surprisingly, exceeds the number in either Los Angeles or San Francisco.

All porcupines float in water.

Someone who speaks through clenched teeth is called a dentiloquist.

A bucket filled with earth would weigh about 5 times more than the same bucket filled with the substance of the Sun. However, the force of gravity is so much greater on the Sun that a man weighing 150 pounds on our planet would weigh 2 tons on the Sun.

The Coast Guard Academy in July of 1976 was the first U.S. service academy to admit women.

The McDonald’s in Ft. Huachuca was the first restaurant to have a drive through window. The drive through allowed soldiers from Ft. Huachuca to get food since uniforms were not permitted in business establishments.

Penny Marshall was the first woman film director to have a film take in more than $100 million at the box office — she accomplished this with the 1988 flick Big.

The Salvation Army's motto is "Blood and Fire."

In Japan, there was a time when a wife being left-handed was ground for a divorce. Today the prejudice against lefties has lessened.

An old Irish saying states, "The left hand of a dead man dipped in a milk pail causes cream."

In North American sign language, a raised right hand means "powerful" and "brave." A left hand place over a right hand means "burial" and "death."

Ambidextrous taken to mean "able to use both hands equally," really translates as "having two right hands."

Left-handed brains can often handle music easily, but have trouble with language. Bob Dylan, a lefty, wrote the music for "Blowin' in the Wind" in less than five minutes, but it took him a month to write the lyrics.

When painting the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo used both hands to paint.

The fish, turbot, is a "left-eyed" flounder and the halibut is a right-eyed flounder. Lobsters are also subject to handedness. If the left claw is bigger than the right, it's left handed, and vice versa.

Of the five people that designed the Macintosh computer, four were left-handed.

It is easier for a lefty to try "mirror writing" then a righty. This was a skill mastered by left-handers Lewis Carroll and Leonarde da Vinci.

According to SAT results, left-handed students have higher math scores than right-handed students do.

When hanging the United States' flag, it must fly to the left of any other flag when you look at it head on.

Most champion fencers are left-handed.

On a left-handed person, the nails tend to grow faster on the left hand than on the right hand.

According to biographer Donald Spoto, Alfred Hitchcock had a fear of eggs

Anne Rice has stated that she is afraid of the dark

Country star, Lyle Lovett, is reportedly afraid of cows

Some math: 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, and purple.

Canada is an Indian word meaning "Big Village".

There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.

Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.

"I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.

The most common name in the world is Mohammed.

The word "samba" means "to rub navels together."

The international telephone dialing code for Antarctica is 672.

The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.

Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.

Until 1965, driving was done on the left-hand side on roads in Sweden. The conversion to right-hand was done on a weekday at 5pm. All traffic stopped as people switched sides. This time and day were chosen to prevent accidents where drivers would have gotten up in the morning and been too sleepy to realize that *this* was the day of the changeover.

Dr. Seuss pronounced "Seuss" such that it rhymed with "rejoice."

In Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart never said "Play it again, Sam."

Sherlock Holmes never said "Elementary, my dear Watson."

More people are killed annually by donkeys than die in air crashes.

The term, "It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye" is from Ancient Rome. The only rule during wrestling matches was, "No eye gouging." Everything else was allowed, but the only way to bedisqualified was to poke someone's eye out.

A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.

Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt.

Money isn't made out of paper, it's made out of cotton.

Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie.

Coca-Cola was originally green.

The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time television were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.

The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.

The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle; G.P.

The nursery rhyme "Ring Around the Rosey" is a rhyme about the plague. Infected people with the plague would get red circular sores ("Ring around the rosey"), these sores would smell very badly so common folks would put flowers on their bodies somewhere (inconspicuously), so that it would cover the smell of the sores ("a pocket full of posies"). Furthermore, people who died from the plague would be burned so as to reduce the possible spread of the disease ("ashes, ashes, we all fall down").

The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%

The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%

My mosaic

1. Mallorca 2007 -- Waiting for summer to come, 2. Stir-Fried Salted Tiger Prawn, 3. Giant Moth!, 4. Sugar plum dining room, 5. anjelina jolie, 6. Sangria, 7. Paris, l'amour..., 8. Untitled, 9. Surfer Girl, 10. IMG_8118, 11. a glorious day ~, 12. So Glad We Get Along!