I am ...

... 27 years old today, being born on the 27th of March 1983 at Karen Grech Hospital, Malta.

Yes, it is my lucky birthday.

Did I every have any plans for this day? Well, you know, when you are a teen, you make a few plans or rather have a few dreams.  I said that at 27, I'd probably be old enough to be married, and maybe have a kid or two.  Wishful thinking.

I am not at that stage, but let's say, I am getting close.

First step: looking for a home for Baanisuu and myself.

Off to a ski holiday

Today, I am off for a long-awaited ski holiday in the Austrian Alps, specifically the Arlber, partly sponsored by my aunt to reward my efforts in achieving my Masters degree last year.
I will be joined by my sister and my better half too.
It will be freezing up there, as seen by the following screen dump from http://www.lech-zuers.at



While there, I shall be hoping for a deal at Copenhagen...

I hope I will hear good news from there.

Until then! Auf wiedersehen!

Plans for 2009

The new year has started.

What were my expectation for 2008?

- Masters Graduation: - Done (with distinction :))

- Italy winning Euro 2008: - Not quite...

- Holidays:- City weekend breaks to Paris (for Valentines) and London (Unholy Trinity gig)

- also trip to Maremma (Tuscany) as part of my Masters

- Inter:- won Serie A, kicked Mancini out, brought Mourinho...so far so good

- A calmer year:- not quite, but having more time for myself and Baanisuu

- Started playing football again with Kirkop F.C.


So what about 2009?

- Supporting Baanisuu during her final year at University

- Baanisuu's Graduation (and commencement of Masters??)

- Swimming in summer (have not enjoyed a swimful summer for years)

- Hoping Inter will win the Serie A and reach at least the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League

- Skiing holiday (hopefully December 2009)

That is it, my list for 2009. Not too heavy as you can see and nothing that cannot be achieved.

2 October 2008

Yesterday, back from training, I had a quick shower to get ready for a traditional Maltese horse meat dinner. After the shower, I grabbed my mobile and found a missed call. Interesting!

I tried calling back on my way to the bar&restaurant but the caller did not reply.

I arrived at the bar&restaurant.

The caller might have phoned me in error. It happens sometimes. I considered sending an sms, wrote half of it but then discarded the idea. As soon as I put my mobile back in my pocket, it rang. I went outside and answered the phone:

(lots of background noise)

Caller: Hello! Who is this?

Me: Hi! It's me! I have found a missed call from you and tried phoning you back.

Caller: I am sorry who?

Me: It's me!

Caller: Oh yes, I have some news for you!

(to be continued next week)

Another week gone by

Another weekend gone by. This time, Baanisuu and I spent the weekend on Gozo, the sister island. We were staying at Ta' Marija farmhouse in Gharb. It accommodates 16 people (though it has 5-6 rooms), has a huge pool, well stocked kitchen and a large living area. We did not use the pool much.

This weekend came on the back of two large events.

One was the visit to London the week before (blog post in the working). The other was my dissertation viva on Thursday 25th. Basically, this was a sort of a 30 minute interview in front of some 7 people. You may think it is intimidating, but alas, the setting was not. I was situated at the head of an oval shaped table. That reduced the confrontation element. I knew all the people in the room except for the foreign examiner. Questions were though and at times rather tricky, but I think I answered them well. As expected, the trickiest came from one of my tutors...

So know I am waiting for the disseration and degree grade. In the meantime, I have some corrections to my dissertation to do.

22 September 2008 (Monday)

This day did not start well. First of all, it was the first day back to work after the brief spell in London. Second, on that Monday, primary and secondary schools restarted. So you can imagine all the hassle on the roads. Traffic is getting worse by the day. It will worsen at the beginning of October when University and sixth forms start and remain so until May/June of next year.

Not a good Monday morning at all.

It's over

I am done with it! No more Mirming! After having spent a week in Maremma doing our final credits, I had two weeks left to finish my dissertation.

The corrections that I had to do in the end were not much. At this exact moment I am printing my second copy. I need to hand in the copies by tomorrow noon.

Actually I still have the viva left. It will be held on the 25th September. But let's not worry about that now.

Daqshekk! Finito! Fertig! Chan gun!

Welcome back life!

Still alive

Just a note to tell you that I am still alive. My dissertation has taken up much of my life for the past weeks. It is due on the 4th of August. In the meantime, I also went a week to Maremma, Italy for a week of hard work (fieldwork and presentations) as part of the MIRM course.

Anyway, hope to be regularly back in a few weeks, and finally get my life back!

Painful Emptiness

It is more than a week now that the dentist took out three wisdom teeth from my mouth. Yep, three at once. After corrupting my stomach with a three time daily (at minimum) dosage of painkillers, one side of my mouth decided to give me a break and the pain eased off. However, the same is not true for the right side of my mouth. Only one tooth was taken out on this side, but pain is never ending.

I visited the dentist, worried about my situation a few days back. His reply: 'It is healing'. Ok I thought, thank God the pain is there because it is healing.

However, why the two teeth (or better, holes) on the left decided to heal days before the one on the right beats me.

Surprise party pics

Pictures taken during my surprise birthday party (25th year on this blue planet) can be viewed online here:

My Surprise Party 22-03-08

25...

It's official.

Three cheers for living a quarter of century on planet Earth.

Thank you all (including Earth) for sustaining and sharing with me your lives.

Dumbfounded

Tuesday I received a call from the dentist, telling me that my appointment on Thursday (for tooth extraction) had to be changed...

My dad told me that on Saturday we were having a barbecue at my dad's farmhouse at 9pm...

Organised and paid for by English friends of ours...

The time was chosen so that my aunt could go for the Easter Saturday mass and we meet afterwards...

That meant missing the Inter vs Juventus match (which ended 1-2 for Juventus)...

On Friday, my friend told me he had not seen my sister for quite a while...

On Saturday, mum went to help my aunt with the food preparation (for the barbecue)...

My sister came early home (she was away for Easter weekend), we saw Lost and then she left to to talk to a friend of hers...

At around 8.55 Baanisuu and I were walking to the farm...

I noticed a parked car similar to that of the drummer...

Baanisuu notices that there are quite a few clouds and it could rain...

We enter the farmhouse, I notice the outdoor barbecue is unlit...

Lost for words

This blog has been quite dry lately, not much to say, not much to write. But, I have some news I would like to share. On Thursday 14th of February, I am off to Paris for a short break from this country, MIRM and politics. I shall be back on Sunday night, so if you want to catch me at the airport...

I shall not be alone of course. Baanisuu will join me.

A wonderful Valentine's Day present.

Album of the Month: Dave Gahan - Hourglass

One of the things I like about winter is to have to keep the windows of my car shut while I am driving. This makes for an excellent opportunity to better listen to music since the sound waves are not distorted with the turbulence coming from open windows.

I grabbed this opportunity to get some new stuff. My pal R had made me listed to some staff from Dave Gahan, which I liked. I then managed to get his album Hourglass which was released last October.

My impression? Wow what an album! I must admit I was not much of a Depeche Mode listener so I cannot compare nor contrast. But Hourglass is really a good listen to, especially in a month like January where you are stuck with exams, assignment deadlines AND really tight work schedules.

Hourglass is for sure a welcome addition my list of favourites.

Busy Busy Busy

I have my first semester exams today week. So I have to do much reading and memorising the basic theories. That will most probably stress me out a little but then Sunday 20th I shall rejoice!

Anyway, the New Year has been good to me so far. I have already given Baanisuu her Valentines' present. I know it is still early and still fresh from the Xmas presents dash but circumstances led to it.

Ok so I am off to continue studying. Please....

Silence!

I kill you!

(Thanks Achmed!)

Welcome 2008

The first post of the year has to be a welcoming one. Looking back at 2007, I must admit that it was characterised by a number of lows that were not experienced in the years before. Nonetheless such events help to make people stronger and love each other more.

So what do I expect from 2008?

Well there are two major events: Hopefully My Masters Graduation in November and a good result for Italy in the Euro 2008.

I have no holidays plans at the moment but I am sure that Baanisuu and I will run away from the country for some time.

I also hope that Inter will keep on doing well as they did in 2007. 2008 is the year Inter will be 100 years old. For that occasion, they are playing with a special gear that was designed on the original way back in 1908. I have one such gear, given to me by Baanisuu for our fourth anniversary.

I also hope that 2008 will be a calmer one, one where I will also have more time to spend on things I enjoy. I shall hopefully be returning to playing football after I finish with my MSc studies. With the extra time at hand, I shall be also spending more quality time with Her.

Anyway, farewell 2007, I expect more from 2008.

Merry Christmas

It is Christmas Day and my Baanisuu is taking her shower before we go out for a Xmas drink with friends. So I have a little spare time to wish all of you blog readers out there:

Merry Christmas!

Ticking away...10 days to go

This is the season to be jolly fa la la la la la la la

I might add, this is the season to be stuffed, stuffed with all the food that I am going to eat. My Xmas party bash started last night with a meal with my MIRM mates. The meal was at Peppino's in Paceville. Food was good. Afterwards we had a couple of beers in the bars.

Today was my last day at work for the year. We finished early, at around 2pm and went off for lunch at Vino Veritas. Had a pizza with some wine. Tonight, I have a five course meal, courtesy of Alleance Francais. My god!

Tomorrow for lunch I am meeting my former geography mates. Then in the evening, I have a meal with Baanisuu's Uni mates.

Sunday and Monday are dedicated to our mates. We shall be hanging out together at the usual place. That means lots of food, lots of drink and lots of laughter.

Come Xmas day, another big meal. I can better define it a marathon meal. I am not exaggerating if I say that such meals at my aunt's may last up to almost six hours!

Then Boxing Day is another meal, the official meal with the 'marmalja'.

Jesus....that's so much of food.

Hail and Bali

A rather particular event happened to me on my way to work this morning. The sky looked heavy and grey with hugu cumulus clouds waiting for any moment to pour their contents. I was driving along the main road and got stuck in traffic under the 'University Tunnel'. As I was reaching the end of it, I realised that it was pouring heavily on the outside; I entered the tunnel dry. To add to the 'shock' most of the rain was actually hail. So bang bang bang loud on the car, I had to turn up the volume to continue to listen Ghost Reveries (Opeth) (Yeah! Quite a wakeup tune!!).

Apart from that, the temperature is really cold today, at least at work. The a/c does not seem to be providing enough heat.

Anyhow I admit I am a little anxious at the moment. I am awaiting the outcomes of the Bali Conference which, I believe, will have an impact on the way we know and shall know our Earth. Climate-related concerns are very high. The climate itself is already responding with record low ice levels in the Arctic. An expert believes that the Arctic Ocean will be ice free by 2013! That is five years from now!

Let us pray that he's wrong.

Weekend Break

I am off to Gozo for the weekend. I hope the weather will be fine, although the forecast says that it will rain. My guest shall be Baanisuu. I have booked a room overlooking a popular bay in Gozo. Want to now where? Check this space early next week...

Enjoy the weekend!