The desert was full of men who earned their living based on the ease with
which they could penetrate to the Soul of the World. They were known as
seers, and they were held in fear by women and the elderly. Tribesmen were
also wary of consulting them, because it would be impossible to be
effective in battle if one knew that he was fated to die. The tribesmen
preferred the taste of battle, and the thrill of not knowing what the outcome
would be; the future was already written by Allah, and what he had written
was always for the good of man. So the tribesmen lived only for the
present, because the present was full of surprises, and they had to be
aware of many things: Where was the enemy's sword? Where was his
horse? What kind of blow should one deliver next in order to remain alive?
The camel driver was not a fighter, and he had consulted with seers. Many
of them had been right about what they said, while some had been wrong.
Then, one day, the oldest seer he had ever sought out (and the one most to
be feared) had asked why the camel driver was so interested in the future.
"Well... so I can do things," he had responded. "And so I can change those
things that I don't want to happen."

"But then they wouldn't be a part of your future," the seer had said.
"Well, maybe I just want to know the future so I can prepare myself for
what's coming."

"If good things are coming, they will be a pleasant surprise," said the seer.
"If bad things are, and you know in advance, you will suffer greatly before
they even occur."

"I want to know about the future because I'm a man," the camel driver had
said to the seer. "And men always live their lives based on the future."
The seer was a specialist in the casting of twigs; he threw them on the
ground, and made interpretations based on how they fell. That day, he
didn't make a cast. He wrapped the twigs in a piece of cloth and put them
back in his bag.

"I make my living forecasting the future for people," he said. "I know the
science of the twigs, and I know how to use them to penetrate to the place
where all is written. There, I can read the past, discover what has already
been forgotten, and understand the omens that are here in the present.
"When people consult me, it's not that I'm reading the future; I am guessing
at the future. The future belongs to God, and it is only he who reveals it,
under extraordinary circumstances. How do I guess at the future? Based on
the omens of the present. The secret is here in the present. If you pay
attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve on
the present, what comes later will also be better. Forget about the future,
and live each day according to the teachings, confident that God loves his
children. Each day, in itself, brings with it an eternity."

Paulo Coelho - The Alchemist

I saw the movie 'Spiderman' on local TV maybe maybe five weekends ago, and something really struck me; that girl MJ.. the heroine.. at first she's going with this rich guy, then she falls in love with spiderman, then by the end of the movie she actually admits to peter parker that while she was literally in spiderman's arms, being rescued by him.. she was thinking of parker...

*sigh* and after five weeks, I still have absolutely no idea to begin with this! I think I'll just put an end to it now by hitting the commit button!

Was it Rita who did this song.. "I got so much 'tings to say right now.."

look at this video of a tour of one of bob marley's remaining concerns...

All I have to say, this guy's lucky bob's not around to see this...

So I ran into this new-ish old friend of mine, mr wheeler coming out of royal computers today, and of course, we got into the inevitable conversation about Computer Science... It was good too! we were there at least an hour, Hey, when an intelligent person asks me why I prefer Java to ASP It's like the matrix.. somebody needs to be rescued.. And I always have my red and blue pills handy! so we were there awhile..

Now, I remember seeing this barber chap who once worked in the same shop as a former barber of mine... I think I hailed him; but, of course this conversation was too good! we were talking about google and Software as a service by this time! So I remember noticing later on that this guy who, when I frst saw him, was not far away, was still there, hovering around us... and then still later I noticed where I first spotted him on mr wheeler's left, he was now leaning on a column on mr wheeler's right... I remember wondering whether this guy wanted to rob us!! I thought he might have wanted to say something to me, so I hailed him.. to give him opportunity to divert my attention momenaterily if he wished.. he hailed me back and that was it.. so I continued this interesting conversation

is this bad enough? eventually, the guy comes all the way over to us and leans on the railing beside me.. I swear this guy wants to rob me or wheeler or something! anyway, apparently he satisfies himself about the contents of our conversation and leaves...

What have I done to draw people's curiosity like this?

Someone on youtube sent me an indirect link to this singer Kina Grannis. She is amazing! I want to go into a rave now about how incredible this new world we live in is what with all these powerful tools like social media which provide such incredible fascilitatation for the cream's natural ascent... but I won't! I'll focus on this incredible talent which I've just found! I also won't show you any of her songs; because to show you one would imply that I like that one more than the others.. So here's her intro:

A friend sent me this email forward the other day, the kind that try to replicate themselves; This one I'd seen before, I couldn't just hit the reply button, I had to write a short essay in response to it; then I thought 'this is bound to be useful to other people'.. so here it is: