Current Mood: Tired

I “stole” this from an Only in Malta (formerly known as Malta Forums!!) thread…

End Of Year 2007 Survey

What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before?
Pretend to be nice to a person… One of my character traits is painful honesty; I don’t normally smile at someone if I don’t feel like smiling. But recently, I did. (And it didn’t feel good!)

Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I’ve given up New Years’ resolutions a long time ago. But during some quieter minutes “between the years” I usually resolve to look at the brighter side of life in the coming year… Alas, it has never worked!

Did anyone close to you give birth?
Nope.

Did anyone close to you die?
No.

What countries did you visit?
England and Germany.

What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
Some peace of mind.

What date from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
12th November. My return to tourism – and first day in employment after being my own boss for 2 years.

What was your biggest achievement of the year?
The publication of Leben und Arbeiten in Malta.

What was your biggest failure?
Trying to make a living with writing.

Did you suffer illness or injury?
Only a gross assortment of scratches and bites by Simba…

What was the best thing you bought?
Christmas present for hubby.

Whose behavior merited celebration?
Been thinking long and hard of an answer. Can’t come up with any, though.

Whose behavior made you appalled?
Hubby’s superior…

Where did most of your money go?
Hardly had any, to start with, but a clothes shopping spree in Berlin last March jumps to mind!

What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Getting my dad’s “old” Canon EOS 300D!!

What song will always remind you of 2007?
Supertramp – Know Who You Are

Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) Happier or sadder? Sadder
b) Thinner or fatter? Fatter
c) Richer or poorer? Richer

What do you wish you’d done more of?
Writing & taking photographs.

What do you wish you’d done less of?
Procrastinating – and smoking!

How will you be spending Christmas?
With family

Did you fall in love in 2007?
No.

How many one-night stands?
None

What was your favorite TV program?
24

Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
I’m trying hard not to, but – yes.

What was the best book you read?
Difficult to judge – I read so many… The one sticking out in my memory, though, was Caroline Smailes’ “In Search of Adam”

What was your greatest musical discovery?
None, I’m afraid. I pretty much stuck to my old favourites all through the year!

What did you want and get?
A SLR camera!

What did you want and not get?
Can’t think of anything… that’s good, no?

What was your favourite film of this year?
I’m afraid I didn’t watch any films…

What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Soak up some sunshine down by the water in Xlendi, as is our tradition on my birthday (weather permitting). It was my forty-eighth…

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
Slumber, mostly.

What kept you sane?
My PC.

Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Jack Bauer LOL!

What political issue stirred you the most?
Stirring is exaggerated; but the upcoming general elections – which have been “upcoming” forever – got pretty much on my nerves.

Who did you miss?
My dad.

Who was the best new person you met?
It’s just occurring to me that I’ve been living the life of a hermit…

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007:
Money isn’t everything – but having some sure helps in life!

Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
This is tough one – it’s impossible to sum up the emotions of this year, there have been so many of them, and so contrasting ones, too. But given my introvert character, this comes close:

It’s quite painful
It’s quite lonely
This is the way I want it to be
In my room to bleed

Messy… I was pretty close to giving up on this week’s PhotoHunt. After our Christmas Eve dinner the kitchen was extremely messy – but my messy braincells caused me to forget to take a photo (even though I’d meant to). Bummer!!

But one of my favourite subjects saved my PhotoHunt this week… the weather! The amounts of H2O that are coming down on us this weekend, are something to write home about. I took this photo a few hours ago out of my study window. In the meantime it’s dark, but raining just as heavily…

The following photo wasn’t meant for the photohunt… I took it last night on our way home from our family dinner. Republic Street was closed to traffic because of some activity or other. The barriers can be seen more clearly on the photo than with the naked eye while driving. Can you imagine how messy the aftermath could have been if hubby hadn’t seen them in the last moment? How intelligent to place two policemen to guard those barriers – it’s a shame that they’re not doing their job, though!

Technorati Tag: PhotoHunt

Update @ 18.45 hrs… OK, I relent. Since rain apparently isn’t messy enough, here’s my desk. Again. Must be the third or forth time that it features in my blog LOL!

Current Mood: Just fine

One of the things that make Christmas in Gozo special is that family still has a very important place in Gozitan life. If you have a large family, however, it gets increasingly exhaustive as Christmas week proceeds, but it really is only the “before” and the “after” that lead to stress at times.

In the past two years I organised a get-together at our house, too, and doing so was great fun. This year I had to chicken out; the preparations just take too much time, which I don’t have. I really hope that 2008 I’ll get a few days off for Christmas!

So yesterday we were at one of hubby’s sisters, today is his brother’s turn and tomorrow another sister’s. I’m not usually concerned with my weight, but with regular meals at the hotel plus at home plus all that extra snacking, I actually seem to be slowly spilling out of my jeans’ waistband! :eek:

I took quite a few pics yesterday, but I decided to give you only two of the “star”, who is the reason for all the celebrations, but often slips into the background. Even so, Baby Jesus – or il-Bambin in Maltese – is found in all Gozitan homes. The one shown in this post is my sister-in-law’s. :)

Instead of shooing him away, I thought shooting him was more rewarding! :D

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Current Mood: Surprised

Poetry is the one writing form I never could put my head to. It’s just not my thing. The lines below came to me yesterday morning, out of the blue. They don’t form a poem in any “classical” sense, and they don’t follow any rules, because I don’t even know those. They simply jumped into my mind, and I liked them enough to share them with you…

Four candles alight and shining so bright
Yet the room remained dark around me.
The spirit of Christmas, happy and light,
Was trapped and could not be set free.

Four candles, four walls – which would be stronger?
The blackness was cruel, and painful as well.
I could not stand the pain for much longer
but couldn’t find the way out of the shell.

This morning – a light! From where, I don’t know.
A resolve to brighten a little the world
For someone whose life seems too dark, too.

The spirit of Christmas has returned to my heart.

Merry Christmas to all of you!

And here are a few photos of Christmas Eve… :)

Current Mood: Tired & Pensive

(My photohunt post can be found further down)

I hadn’t thought I’d write such a negative post for Christmas… I am stressed out, and seeing that Christmas is just a couple of days away doesn’t make it any better. Having finally left the office around 6 pm yesterday, I sat in the car and paused a moment before driving off. I breathed a huge sigh of relief and said out loud, “Thank you, week, for being over!” It had been an extremely hectic week, but I knew that I’d tied up all loose ends at work until next Wednesday, and that I’d be able to concentrate on getting presents, prepare meals and do all the things one does two days before Christmas.

This is going to be a very sanitised version of what’s on my mind. Mainly that’s because I don’t even know how to spell most of the swearwords I’ve been uttering and muttering, more or less to myself since last night, when I received a work-related e-mail that put an end to my holiday plans. Fortunately that message came after I’d spent a few hours designing my electronic Christmas card, calmly and happily, because I didn’t have a hurry or worry in the world… or so I thought.

At 8.30 this morning I was sitting at my desk at home, utilizing the hotel’s webmail, trying to re-tie those ends which I thought had been tied up, but someone else delighted in unravelling again. Perhaps because that someone was miffed after receiving my out-of-office auto-reply?

I’m pretty demoralised about how things are going for me. The new job has its learning curve, which I was aware of. Normally, I’m a fast learner, but I feel too much is expected of me in too short a time. So far, whenever I’ve had those moments of doubt and self-doubt (which, I know, are a natural occurrence when one is faced with changes), I’ve been able to take deep breaths, pull myself up again and look ahead more or less confidently. But it’s eating away at me, and I wonder how long it’s gonna take until my resolve crumbles…

So that, in a nutshell, is my very personal turmoil that I’m unloading here. Right now I’m trying to calm down (that work thing isn’t over yet). I’ve lit the little candle stove on my desk (the scent is “Christmas at home” – how apt!) and I’m listening to Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s album Christmas Eve and Other Stories. I’ll finish my coffee and then will join the shopping crowds before returning to my desk…

Before leaving, I’d like to say a big, big THANK YOU to Kathy, Carin, Frances and Lissa, who sent me Christmas cards by snail-mail. They all arrived within the last couple of days, giving me those occasions for a smile that have been so rare recently. Carin, I love your home-made card, it’s beautiful! And Lissa… your photography is stunning (but you know that already), and your card design was a wonderful idea! :)

I haven’t sent out a single card this year… But I wish every one of you a beautiful Christmas and hope that you’ll be able to enjoy a peaceful time with family and friends in the coming week!

Current Mood: Creative & Tired

Not sure if I’ll get a word in before Christmas…. but for now, here are my PhotoHunt offerings for this week. The theme is Light. I was hoping to find some feathers somewhere to take photos of, but those only seem to show up when I can’t think of any use for them!

On the other hand, I’ve taken so many shots of lit candles recently that I could fill a whole book with them. And then I thought that was a little too predictable. OK. I’ve had a couple of glasses of wine, which seems to have loosened not only my tongue but also my fingers. I guess I’ll better just shut up and give you my pics!

This one I took last week after we left the Christmas market in Nadur. I photo-shopped it a little to hide my sister-in-law and her daughter… but I didn’t have a lot of time or patience for it, so it might be a tad too dark – it looks fine on my monitor, which, however, is brighter than most… Sorry!

And this one shows the Christmas lights in Victoria’s Republic Street again (the ones that were lit in my post of last Sunday) – on a rather bright day last week. The sky wasn’t that bright, though… again, I fell for photoshop’s temptations and yanked up the contrast a little…

Technorati Tag: PhotoHunt

Current Mood: A rant coming on

Last night at around 9.30 pm I was chatting over at my friend Kathy’s, when the electricity went off. For a moment we thought the circuit breaker was the culprit, however, all of Gharb – and beyond – was in pitch darkness. I waited a little while longer, hopeful that it would only last a few minutes, but bedtime came and that was that.

Today the game continued… from ca. 9.30 am the entire island of Gozo was without electricity – and remained so all day long. It came back on for an our in the afternoon, only to go off once more at about 5 pm. Obviously, the hotel has a generator, but we were without internet access, and e-mail is a rather vital tool, especially if you work in sales. Icing on the cake was the display on my mobile phone: “No Service”…

Driving in rather eerie darkness, my blood was simmering. Then, half way home, the street lights started coming on. Hallelujah. But the grapevine says we’ll have more of the same tomorrow and Wednesday…

I know I’m rambling. But I’ve really had it till up here! To me it seems priorities in this country are solely based on what people (voters!) can see with their eyes. Hence the manic road fixing and beautifying of roundabouts. We are just days away from 2008; traipsing to the bathroom armed with a candle really feels surreal…

Power cuts have been reigning for as long as I remember, contrary to promises and expectations nothing much has changed since the early eighties. The difference is that nowadays you don’t get them only during rough weather – oh yes, and the tendency is to blame people for consuming too much of the juice.

Allegedly Mater Dei, Malta’s new flagship hospital, is consuming as much electricity as the whole of Gozo. At least that’s what I read somewhere (I won’t waste time finding the source as I fear the next power cut might arrive before I’ll be able to click on ‘Publish’). Is it silly to suspect that Gozo has to suffer so Mater Dei can function??

Current Mood: Creative

Getting to grips with my Canon was (again) high up on my list of priorities this week, effectively killing my communication with the rest of the world outside office hours. (Big SORRY to all my friends who are uncertain whether I’m still alive or otherwise!!)

This is my third attempt to get a blog post done. When a whole week passes as quickly as this last one, I have difficulties putting things in writing, which, a few days earlier got me all worked up. Like Wednesday morning… while brushing my teeth, a piece of one front tooth, that had already been repaired once many years ago, vanished. Literally. When I was done cleaning and looked into the mirror it was gone. Due to various circumstances I had to wait until Friday morning to get it fixed. And yes, that really got to me. But now that it’s over and done with, well, it’s hardly worth a mention, really.

While I was waiting my turn, already sitting in the chair that I hate and fear so much, I tried calming myself down by concentrating on the view, which the dental clinic enjoys… and I actually was daft enough to snap just one photo, silently praying that Capt. Murphy wouldn’t send the dentist’s assistant – or the dentist himself – round the corner in just that moment…

One of the above-mentioned “various circumstances” was my duty manager shift on Thursday; basically being duty manager means being present for a stretch of 14 whole hours. Funny how the last 3 hours feel so much longer than the first 8! If you think I took my camera with me… you think correctly. I mean, you never know what kind of opportunity presents itself, right? This was one of them:

Having, somehow, brought Thursday behind me, I was pretty much dead to the world immediately upon hitting the pillow. And originally I had been looking forward to slumbering in bed until lunchtime on Friday, as I was off then and thus had a nice, long weekend in front of me. That sweet plan of mine was then, of course, wiped off the table by my chipped front tooth.

The rest of the week was spent, um, spending money… and then, spending some more. The past two Christmases were rather ‘poor’ in the Cassar household; as I was hardly earning anything, I pretty much ignored scented candles and other decorating temptations. Strolling through Victoria finally got me into the Christmas spirit too.

Back home after my shopping spree, I made a little raid on one of our conifers (which had grown a little out of control anyway!), and used some twigs for decorating. I’m pretty proud of this job (of the creation as well as the photo! :D)

There were a few rants in my mind this week, but somehow those thoughts seem to have mellowed over candle light… One topic was my disappointment when I learnt that a Maltese had been given the post of Head of Marketing for Gozo at the MTA (Malta Tourism Authority). I had applied for this post; however, to be honest, I wouldn’t have swapped my new job for it, had the opportunity arisen. But of course I didn’t have a chance – not even for a formal interview. My disappointment has nothing to do with my personal failure, though, but with the fact that the MTA couldn’t care less about Gozo. Maybe it’s a bit harsh that I condemn the person who got the job, outright, but in the twenty years I’ve worked in tourism I’ve only ever met two Maltese (as in non-Gozitans), who really cared for Gozo. And those two have been living and working here for ages. The Maltese in general just can’t wrap their heads around Gozo’s problems. Or rather, they don’t want to.

Open the newspaper and see what news you find about Gozo… If it’s a success story, it is bound to be an article about increased weekend visits to Gozo by Maltese. Some success, that. Otherwise it’s promises, promises about job opportunities that will be created if one party or another is elected to govern. And we all know the stuff that election promises are made of, right?

A few days ago a person working in the tourism industry in Gozo (no, not me :P) confronted some big authority head with the fact that hundreds of thousands of Liri are spent abroad on marketing for Malta, without even giving Gozo a mention. The reply that came forth was of stunning insight; the big head pointed out that Hawaii always advertised Hawaii, without ever giving prominence to any of its islands in particular. I rest my case (for today).

Public transport was another topic on my mind this week… But I’m sick and tired of ranting. Maybe next time.

I hope you are enjoying a peaceful third Advent. The weather is rather appropriate for a quiet and cosy Advent afternoon by the fireplace. I’m off to the sofa with a big mug of hot chocolate and a book. :)

I never thought I could ever be late for the PhotoHunt – but somehow Saturday has come and gone. I even had a concrete idea in my head what to post for the Small theme, as we have a lot of ants in in the garden. But what do you know… after a couple of bright and sunny (but cooold!) days I woke up to heavy rain this morning, and those little beasts are spending the day in, I suppose.

So here’s the next best thing. Needles and pins are small; I don’t know how often I dropped one and had difficulties finding it – and that didn’t even involve a haystack! But for me personally the size of a needle’s eye is the bummer… My eyes have gone from short-sighted to far- and short-sighted, and to get that thread into the hole has recently become a hit and miss mission. Need to get those reading glasses…

As an afterthought… I thought I’d throw in my ‘wordless’ wasps for good measure. So far, this is my favourite shot taken with my new camera, and they are small, after all!

Technorati Tag: PhotoHunt

P.S. I’ve started scribbling down my Sunday ‘mixed bag’ ramblings… hope I’ll finish them before Monday!