Offender's Perspective

This is not exactly something I wrote but after reading it I thought that one needed to share it.  It gives a lot of insight and it highlights a lot of points that need to be given their due consideration, because only if they do one can hope for a possibility to manage the situation before it is indeed too late.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2170274/CHARLIE-GILMOUR-I-broke-law-paid-price-But-I-learned-prison-fills-dread-rioters-rampage-again.html

Italy vs England

So, at the moment there is the EURO 2012 going on, football practically every night.  Italy passed second in their group and since England passed first in their group, these two groups will be facing each other on Sunday.  This means that next Sunday, in Malta, it is going to be like World War II, with people shouting at each other for being so stupid for supporting Italy, if the supporters are English or vice versa.

For someone who was not brought up in this country, it may sound crazy, and well indeed it is, but for someone who has, well supporting Italy or England was something we were brought up doing. Maltese football team never made it to such cups, and so people always found the need to support other teams to get that feeling, that buzz, during such events.  After yesterday, when it was official that England will be playing Italy, all you could see on facebook, was comments like, "We're coming to get you", "Prepare to go home", or something like the below.

Needless to say, the supporters of the team that looses on Sunday, will be made to suffer poorly, and the result of this game will be talked about for the century to come.  In future games, even when England and Italy won't be facing each other, people will just say, "Don't you remember Sunday 24th, where you lost to us".... hahaha hilarious... will be fun to see.  ON MY PART.... OHHH WELL I HOPE ITALY WINS :)

P.S.  Against all odds... Italy did win against England... it also won against Germany and now is heading to the final against SPAIN...

Living alone

Some say that living alone is the most exciting thing one can ever do.  Whilst this is may be true, especially in the beginning, I think that most often it is something that can be described as lonely and if one is not able to entertain himself, or if one does not have a life which is filled with things (work, school, activities), one should really think well before doing it.  

Freedom is awesome, there is no other way to describe it, but one needs to remember that there are a lot of other issues attached to it.  One may say that life will be filled with friends, and parties and opportunities of fun, and that is true, but one also needs think about the fact that your friends have their lives too, their families.  They will be there for you, once, twice, three times a week, but the rest of the time, well they cannot be there all the time now can they.

Right now this is exactly the life I am living everyday.  I have been living alone for about seven months and I like it on the whole.  I like the independence. I like living on my own terms, my own routine, my own pace. I like that I can do whatever I like without having got to answer to anybody, or to give unnecessary explanations.  I like it enough that I don't regret the decision, I don't want to go back, but at the same time, I there are still those moments where one feels lonely, and so, if anyone is pondering on the idea, they need to remember that like everything else, there are two sides of the story, and that they need to look well at both sides before taking the decision. 

Finally back

It has been so long since I last wrote.  I started slacking because I had finally a life and so, well, I preferred living than writing about life, make sense don't you think?? But than, have to say, I grew lazy and I forgot about the blog altogether.  But now I'm back and well hopefully I will be producing shortly.  In the meantime I have to start preparing myself for Malise wedding :)

cu later alligator 

First Planking Now Owling.....

To whoever has said that the new generations lacks creativity, than s/he has never seen what they have been coming out with.  Mind you, it's not as if with these creative outbreaks they are anything remotely important or lifesaving but it's creative nonetheless, nobody can say the contrary.  But what am I referring to?  As the title clearly states, I am obviously referring to these new trends of Planking and Owling which have gone round the globe in no time.  It is interesting really how both these activities started off somewhere, nobody really knows where, no one can actually tell, but in a matter seconds (not literally, but almost) people, in every part of the world started following these trends, posting photos online.  The Media was also highly involved in both these phenomenon, and if you were someone who didn't have any idea what these were, people tend to give you that look as if saying...YOU LIVE ON THIS PLANET OR WHAT???

But, just in case, there is someone out there who has still no idea on what I am talking about, here is a brief description of what these two trends are:

PLANKING - The lying down game or planking is an activity consisting of lying face down in an unusual or incongruous location. The hands must touch the sides of the body and having a photograph of the participant taken and posted on the Internet is an integral part of the game. Players compete to find the most unusual and original location in which to play. The location should also be as public as possible, and as many people as possible should be involved. The term planking is described as the practice of lying down flat with arms to the side, to mimic a wooden plank. Unfortunately or fortunately, that's up to you to decide, this trend died as quickly as it started and it has been replaced by owling.

OWLING -  Owling, as the Washington Post explains, is the act of taking a picture while crouching in an owl-like posture. Also, presumably, while in a strange location.

Are these things useful? Well I don't think they are. Why do they do them? Well in their minds I think these are things they think it's worth spending time doing. It is definitely not something I would spend my time on. My opinion, time is too special to waste on such activities. What I do think it is interest though, is the amount of people who actually do and follow these trends and the fast means by which they spread.  These both make it easier to understand the Maltese term - L-ezempju jkaxkar - (it's very easy to follow the examples of others).  It would be nice if this also happens with more important things as well.

And ARRIVA came

They have now officially been over a week in the service but unfortunately 

no real improvement has been noticed.  

They've come with a lot of promises, better services, politer bus drivers, more comfortable and air-conditioned buses, more frequent buses, more routes.  All beautiful things that made the Maltese look really forward to their arrival.  But what did they really get??

People, such as myself, who use the service every morning to go to work, are forced to wake up and go wait for the bus much earlier than they used too. Mind you, I am not talking about a couple of minutes earlier, I am talking as much as an hour earlier.  But than what happens?  Are the Maltese people at least rewarded for their early departure??  Of course they are not.  At least that's the case in my home town.  You go to wait for a bus at 6 in the morning.  The first thing you see is a mass of people all piled up on top of each other already waiting for the bus.  Some of them have actually already been waiting an hour for the bus, waiting for a bus that never came.  People grumble because let's face the truth, they are going to be late for work.  But nobody seems to care.  It may pass as not much of a problem once or twice but which employer welcomes you with open arms when you arrive later for work day after day?? 

So you're there, waiting, and you finally see a bus coming.  When it stops in front of the mass of angry people, they actually realize that it is not the right bus, it is not a bus going to Valletta which all the people are actually waiting for but a bus going to a remote place called Bahrija. One has to ask, who the hell goes to Bahrija at 6 o'clock in the morning??  If truth be told, who the hell goes to Bahrija at all.  So you stay there waiting some more, cursing and looking at your watch, hearing the church's clock chiming a quarter of an hour after an other.  You see another bus coming, but guess what, it's not the correct bus either.  This one is going to the beach.  Would be actually nice to go there, there's only a tiny bit of a problem, you are actually waiting for the bus to go to work.  Who in their right minds sets up routes to remote places in the early hours of the morning instead of sending buses to the capital city where everyone is actually going.

But that is not it.  When the bus actually comes it takes almost an hour to arrive in it's mid destination where some people have to stop to change buses.  It used to take buses half an hour to arrive at their destination, Valletta, but now it takes almost an hour to arrive mid way.  And one asks, why the hell is that?  It is true that the traffic has actually increased because of the inefficiency of the Arriva services, but the reality is that the length of time is not wasted because of the traffic.  Just yesterday, it took us 40 minutes to make it through Siggiewi, 40 BLOODY MINUTES.  And obviously the reason is that differently from before, when we had more than 6 buses available in the morning, where the people using the buses would be divided in these, and where both the buses and the drivers would be on the first stage before it is time for it to leave, NOW the buses come (sometimes actually on time) but it takes them minimum 15 minutes on the first stage to get all the people on board as obviously most need to pay for the fare.  By this time the bus is already full so from than on it is sort of a fight, a fight with yourself trying to make yourself as small as possible so that all the other people could actually make it on the bus.  Sardines have more spaces in their can.  

Needless to say, so far, this has never happened, and you are left feeling guilt for those other poor souls who have been left to wait, God only knows for how long, in the hope that another bus shows up.  But mind you, that is not the end of it.  When you have to change buses you have to pass from this same process once again.   This is definitely not what I call the best way to start they day.

Being the social scientist I am, it has been interesting for me looking at the way people reacted.  It has to be said some reactions are typically Maltese, which never seize to surprise me. You have to explain to me how such such an issue is also discussed and fought on a political basis.  People who grumble from the service are accused that they are Labour Party supports and that they are the people that grumble no matter what.  Whilst on the other hand, the people who don't grumble and who are actually in favour of Arriva because of the new buses etc, are accused of defending the Nationalist Party no matter what.

Well I don't know what else to say.  So far this has been the Arriva situation. It is true the buses are air-conditioned but you spend hours waiting outside for the bus, in the sun.  Most of the drivers I came in contact so far are definitely a bit better behaved, but than they are hardly of any help because they themselves have no idea of what is going on Arriva wise. The buses are neither more frequent nor do they come on time, especially if you live in a small town. The buses are definitely more comfortable, but it is difficult to see this if you are packed like sardines, where you have to fight your way in and out.

I can

It is becoming common and common for me to be forced to things on my own, you know like travelling alone, attending functions (weddings etc) alone.  I have to admit that I don't like it one bit but I'm happy to say that I am managing to do them.  It's kind of difficult at first. Just the idea that I have to do something, ones more, on my own, well it's kind of depressing.  But then, at the end of the day, when I manage to do these things successfully, I can't help but being proud of myself.  It is just a confirmation of what I am capable of if I don't give up.  I know this may sound as stupid for some, because let's face it, it is not like I am saving someone's life.  BUT, still, for me, this is like a small victory for me every time I manage to do something on my own.

  

me and Tony

Every time I am faced with these kind of things, like a wedding reception, like the one I had to attend yesterday and ended up going alone, get me thinking.  I can't say I am the sociabilest person that exist but I'm not unsociable either.  I'm friendly, I know how to have fun and I love being in the company of others. So, when these things occur, I end up thinking...thinking of the small number of friends I ended up having. Mind you, I love my friends with all my heart and soul, and I am so lucky to have them.  But you know how it is.  Usually when one of your friends can't make it, you turn on to the other, and then the other.  The bigger the pool of friends the more likely you'll find someone to share your experiences in life with.  But if this is not the case, well, truth is that the probability of ending up alone is much bigger, with a friend living abroad, with one sick, with one having another commitment and with the other too tired to come to the wedding, well I ended up going alone, and I actually managed to have fun.  

me and Thea

As time passes, and I am forced to keep living these kind of experiences, I don't know, but somehow, I have these kind of feeling that these are some sort of trials.  You know how they say that everything happens for a reason.  Well, it's like that for me.  Don't know if I am managing to explain myself well, but amidst all the disappointments, I am ultimately finding myself stronger.  You'd ask stronger in what way.  Well it just feels like every time I manage to accomplish something alone, I make a step forward in the direction of my life.  If I keep managing to do loads of things alone, well why can't I make that huge step forward later on, leaving Malta and living abroad, hopefully the States alone?  I know these are small things compared to leaving everyone and everything you know and going to live 7hrs plane away, but it feels like it some sort of training in preparation.

As I said before it's not something which I like doing.  Going into a place alone and looking a bit lost, not sure what to do, not sure where to go, well it's not exactly a nice sight and it is definitely not a nice feeling. Moreover, I'm not really good with starting small talk, starting chatting people up, so it is not the first time that I find myself quite lonely, searching frantically for my mobile phone and texting people, or simply play with it just to have something to do.  But at the end even these pass. At one point, you just settle down and you just try to enjoy yourself.  You just try to make it work.  And so far I have to say I managed, and that is indeed a beautiful achievement for me.  

I always say that I hope that I do not have to relive, once more, similar experiences, and I don't, really, but all in all, it really is through these kind of experiences that you can see your potential, what you are really and truly capable of achieving on your own.  At the end, it is just good to know that you are actually capable of taking care of yourself whatever the circumstances, whatever the situations, that you can always count on you.