I *am* alive and kicking. The lack of blog updates is a direct reflection of the effects the onset of winter is having on me. Winter has brought in that dreaded cold and gloom over the skies and has kicked the sunshine out of me. I prefer to hibernate than move about the slightest.

Most of the past week is up in a blur except for the last weekend, when I got myself to go visit my uncle and his family in Bristol. The trip from Reading to Bristol was quite memorable. The trip took a good two and half hours on the train with me having to switch in between due to a cancelled train route. I spent an additional two hours waiting for trains and another hour waiting for a bus in Bristol. The bus would have taken me right next to my uncle's place had I not been dumb enough to prematurely get off the bus in the middle of nowhere. I offered myself consolation by telling myself that it was dark and that anyone may easily loose bearings on an empty stomach. Luckily, my navigational abilities landed me at their doorstep with another half an hour of walking - which I wouldn't have minded were it not for the chilly air, the laptop and miscellaneous heavy scrap I had in my backpack. I was drained by the time I reached the warm coziness of their home and ended up falling asleep on their large comfy couch a few minutes later.

Despite the hassles in getting there, I had a fun weekend in Bristol. Being at the behest of a family and being smothered by their hospitality cheered me up (not to say that I was depressed prior to that). The little kids injected much needed energy into the environment ? especially the youngest one who seemed to be on a constant high on Speed all day around. I wish I had that much energy to burn. Hehe.

I hate colds and with good reason too. I don't mean to be disgustingly graphic but my nasal passage is being filled with phlegm as I write. Meanwhile, my head now feels like it weighs a ton - leading me to the conclusion that my paranasal sinuses have been filled with lead.

All this started when I risked taking a 20 minute walk to the Students Union building at the University a few nights back with just a shirt and jeans on. It soon turned out to be an unwise decision as 5 minutes into the walk, the wind brought with it bone chilling air and had me shivering in no time. That is the end of risk taking for the month - I've learnt my lesson. Common sense eludes me more times than I would be comfortable with... :S

I went rock climbing last night with a friend who kindly offered to play tutor. It was decided that we would be doing "bouldering" from the various types of rock climbing. Bouldering is quite fascinating since it is done without any ropes holding you safe and thus gives such an adrenaline rush. I stood in amazement as I watched the regular climbers scale the heights with seemingly no effort. They did not even flinch!

Not surprisingly, I had high expectations of myself when I made my first attempt. I was convinced it would be easy as it looked. However, I could not have been further from the truth. Climbing required a sharp eye - looking for place to grip and gain a foothold. It also required planning - organizing the route to take to get to the top in the least strenuous manner. I got the hang of it after repeated tries and much despair. However, I never seemed to get it done the way I plan it out in my head, which was of course very frustrating to say the least. It required fast thinking and decision making which was quite hard to do when I was dangling in the air and doubting the grip my trembling hands had on the holds.

An hour and half later I was in a slump, tired and worn out. My arms and legs were in cramps as I had stressed myself with more exercise than I have had in recent weeks. My fingers, hand and arms are still tense. Nevertheless, I enjoyed rock climbing so much that I have decided to try and make it a regular activity!

I am feeding myself. I realized that 48 hours had passed since I had a decent meal and of which the latter 24 was spent inside the confines of my room.

I can't even remember most of what I did for the first 24 hours of the 48. I remember going out the night. I remember meeting up with friends of a friend. I remember celebrating the birthday of a friend at the flat block in their student residence. I remember a cute chick, two drunken guys and blood. The cute chick had a lovely smile and greenish-blue eyes that set me ablaze. I know she talked to me but I can't remember what she said. I remember the drunken guys arguing and breaking into a fight. Blood spilt from one their noses, punched and smashed - but I can't remember why they had such a violent disagreement. I think I got back to my room. I think I even made tea after getting back. Or maybe it was much later... Whenever it was that I made the tea, I know I never drank it. It stood on the table top getting cold, never having passed down my esophagus, till I threw it out today. Why I never drank it, I don't remember.

I have been on fluids much of today - orange juice, tomato juice and water to be exact. I finally walked into the kitchen as the sunset and the fireworks began, yet again, with the excuse of still celebrating Guy Fawkes. I made beef curry, mostly because the beef had a "best-before" date of tomorrow. Well I usually do not take heed of those "best-before" dates. It says "best-before" after all. It would say "expiry" if it was going to be invalid after a certain date right? I chose not to ignore the notice this time since I still have the vivid memories of drinking funny tasting orange juice and ending up puking it all out to be flushed down the toilet - the juice had passed its "best-before" date... Must have been a freak accident I guess. Afterall, it never happened before - except for once when I ate a tub of yoghurt - throwing up a few minutes later. Again, it was only a few days past "best before". They really should start printing "expiry" instead of best before. They should realize that there are people who don't have too high expectations - people for whom "best" is meaningless, especially when used in combination with "before". These group of people do not care whether the best period has passed. They are numb to the high expectations everyone else seem to have. Then again, I can understand why certain products come with "best-before" dates. Lets take the shining example of women. Nature makes women with a "best before" of 35 while he chose men to only have "expiry" dates. Maybe there is wisdom in our food being labelled ?best-before? too?!

I shall share with you some of my lovely meals from the past week. These photos were taken to satisfy my mom, who gets utterly concerned over my eating habits. She wasn't too happy to know I still haven?t consumed the "theluli bambukeyo" she gave me when I came to Reading. Sadly, there is only so much one can eat of "theluli bambukeyo" with sugar without getting bored of the bland taste...

Eid Mubarak to all!

It's Eid tomorrow here in the UK. Sadly, I've got lectures spanning from 9am to 5pm so I can't chill and have fun like back home. I intend to cook up a lovely meal for myself in the evening though. Preliminary menu is tomato soup for starters, chicken curry and rice as main course and fruits-in-yoghurt for dessert. I seem to have almost run out of this week's food stock, so this menu is all I can conjure up without troubling my pretty legs to walk over to a supermarket. I wish I could make haluvidhaa too but I haven't found those packets yet. Oh well, next time!

Have fun and god bless.

It's been a week since I last posted. I've spent the days functioning like a completely autonomous entity devoid of thought of any substance. The gigantic task of attending lectures,tutorials and practicals in addition to satisfying the trivialties necessary to subsist seemed to take center stage the entire week.

Several interesting ideas did, however, manage to slip into my mind during the week. With each idea, I'd hop onto the computer late at night and try getting it down in a coherent and sensible manner but end up loosing the train of thought and drifting into the vast universe of my imagination. That said and on reflection, I think I've spent an increasing amount of time in my dreamworld: The happy place where I create and rule. A world which I've learnt to make as vivid and genuine as the real world.

I've also moved closer to insanity by confusing dream life with real life. The unreal met with the real and they had nasty clashes that got me in temporary but nonetheless annoying and unnecessary jams. Note that "dream world" doesn't imply that I've been sleeping too much. It's quite contrary to that. Much of my imagination occurs while awake - a day dream of sorts. It's like time slows and the ambient and the imaginary morph and merge to form seemingly real world(s). Sigh.

I shall now drift back into the portals of delight and enjoy few more minutes/hours of this mental pleasure. Toodles.

Another year, another Ramadan. Ramadan isn't the same when I am away from my family and it certainly isn't the same when away from Male'. It is over idealized I realize but I feel nostalgic nonetheless.

Ramadan was much looked forward to when I was a kid. I felt a dramatic shift in the atmosphere; it was beautiful. Piety provided solace and comfort - it was rewarding. The family got much tighter - we'd pray together, eat together and have fun together. Relatives would invite me over for breakfast and I would end up receiving much affection in addition to the variety of tasty food. I would be allowed to while away the day playing, reading or doing whatever crazy stuff that erupted out of my imagination that day. The fun kept me busy - oftentimes too busy to forget about the essence of fasting and ending up with a scolding from my parents.

The magic of Ramadan for me, for the most part, has been lost. Maybe this is another manifestation of the capacity for the human mind to desensitize itself - much like it finds no longer amused by a joke or no longer tingling at the sight of a romantic partner or bored by the same song that was your favourite 5 days ago and even no longer achieving the same sensory stimulus from masturbation. Maybe the magic of Ramadan has disappeared due to the loss of innocence. Maybe it's because of a diminished spiritual belief. I don't really know.

As if to make matters worse, Ramadan is the month that carries my hijri calendar birthday. The day has already passed and I am left a year older - something I do not wish to acknowledge wholeheartedly. Then again, few years from now on, I'd be totally desensitized to growing older too and be left totally oblivious to the concept of birthdays. Everyday will seem similar to the previous and the next day will be as depressing as the current... Sigh.