"Blessed" Has Tagged Me

I was asked by one of my precious bloggers, Blessed, to answer these questions:

1. Number of books I own.
2. Last book I read.
3. Five books that mean a lot to me.
4. And finally, the book I am reading since long but could not finish.

====================

- But before I start answering the questions, I'd just like to point out that it's been like two or three months and I haven't really read novels/books in general (excluding my university textbooks.)


++ Number of books I own ++

I don't know. Honest. And I don't actually own the books. We have a small library or so in our house and my brothers and I can come and read or use them. So, accurately speaking, I don't "own" a lot – a rough calculation would be 30-40 only, coz those are the ones I bought.


++ Last book I read ++

Dave Pelzer - A Child Called 'It'. The book is so, so, so moving!! I really mean that. Very creative, very unique. The story was brilliantly developed; wide in details yet, not going over board in telling unnecessary things of the over all story. The emotions as well were amazingly carried out in words. I felt like living inside the characters. It was just astonishing to the extent that I had trouble setting the book down to do other things. As I remember, it was talking about this child who suffered a lot from his evil mother. She used to torture him and rooted all the fear you could imagine in his heart! I won't spoil the story of the book to those who haven't read it yet. But I for one really enjoyed it. The next book I'll read (inshallah) is "The Lost Boy," which is the second part of the trilogy of the book I mentioned.

++ Five books that mean a lot to me ++

Believe it or not, it's so tough for me to answer this. All the books I read so far had something meaningful to offer. So in essence, there are no five special books to me because I value all of them. Yet, on another note, the books that touched me a lot are those with an ending that would blow me off my feet -- if you know what I mean. :P I like the unexpected drama. For example, when I was 16 (or maybe younger,) I longed for a book called What the Birds See for Sonya Hartnett. The story ended and next thing I know was tears in my eyes! *lol. I remember feeling sorry for the characters! Sounds crazy, doesn't it? I read it at least 10 times, if not more. Another book I liked so much was The Ugly Princess and the Wise Fool for Margaret Gray. You just can't expect how much you'll giggle when you read it! The comments in the story are so stupid yet really humorous. So you see, each book has something special that would pull you to read again. :)


++ And finally, the book I am reading since long but could not finish ++

Lee A. Jacobus - A World of Ideas, sixth edition. The writings and letters included in this book are very articulate, inspiring, and mostly very wise; especially after knowing that they are written from the most legendary people in the world! However, it's a little dark and mysterious. I find it interesting to read, but I'm not sure if other people of my age would want to dig for the deep meanings of this book as I did. Yet, I think it's a must read, especially for those who like critical readings.

--I'm Tagging: Echo and Esoz. Hope they answer the same questions. :)

..:: Last Week Diary ::..

First, I apologize for not updating frequently. There is so much I would like to talk about actually. But since I haven't updated my blog for a while, I thought I'd just post some of the events that happened last week so here it goes… Hope you enjoy reading this for now:

Tuesday 21, 2005: Well,, I couldn't find my Islamic class that I'm taking this summer. The class started a week before this day and I still couldn't find it. I asked, asked, and asked…I went to the administration office… and after maybe 2 hours wasted from my life trying to find this out of sight class, after I got a real pain in my legs from walking, I finally found it :D It was such a relief! I could finally attend, but I didn't. I went back home as I was awfully tired and already had enough. Just chilled and enjoyed my time with family…Rewarding myself for the accomplishment of finding where the class is.

Wednesday 22, 2005: Nothing so special about this day except the fact that I, at last, got my account back in Mp3 Search .They closed it for two months, or maybe even more; banned me from using the service though I have credit in their website. I don't blame them. I was such a pain because I hotlink to their mp3s a LOT! But I learned the lesson well now. I won't share the links I buy again. I'll download and then share. This way, everyone will be happy! :P But overall, it's a very excellent website. I found all the Mp3s I wanted there, be it movie or game soundtracks, or just music. The Mp3s are low-priced, clean and with remarkable quality.

Thursday 23, 2005: The terrible thing happened this day. I broke my Oud! The one I kept for so long… It's broken. It accidentally fell down while I was tidying my room. Yet, strangely, I don't want to fix it.



It's been along time I haven't played it so guess I'll just throw it away.

Hmm, yeah… My oldest brother started searching for a new house to live in and settle this day. Though I wind him up sometimes, I don't set with him often, and I don't actually like him :P… I still felt sad. I don't want him to leave. I don't like the fact that we will split up one day and everyone will have a house on their own. But what can I say… that's life. He said that once he finds a good accommodation, he'll be off.

Friday 24, 2005: Ahhh.. You know when you're so fed up to death yet you just want to achieve anything but don't know what… Well, that kind of feeling overwhelmed me this day. Everything was messed up. I called my old friends and no one replied. Some of them had their mobile off while others just didn't feel like replying. But I understand. Not calling them for along time and being so busy to just pick up the phone and say hi is just not so forgivable. Deep inside, I wish they'd consider… Anyway, some good things that happened: I finished Warda's blog template (mostly) on this day…really had fun and learned some new techniques while doing it. Plus, I had some quality time playing my favorite online game; Generals: Zero Hour with my family. We have a LAN network in our home and this game is what makes us all meet online. :D

Saturday 25, 2005: A7m A7m.. Got a nice hair cut in the night of this day. :D It's good to know I still have it! Here's a picture (with a forced smile) …


~~ Edited: Picture removed ~~


LoL Aye, enough laughing at me kids. Can we be grown ups now? :P So, anyway. After I made my hair, I had dinner.. you won't believe what I saw. A club sandwich that looks like … Or you know, I'll let you see and tell me what it looks like:



LOL! :P

Sunday 26, 2005: So much happened this day. I don't know from where to start… and I won't tell what events exactly took place. Let's just say that my heart saw the light again. :) I'm sure those who know me well are familiar with the reason why I'm saying this.

Monday 27, 2005: Just two things I want to mention. By coincidence, I saw on this day my dearest friend, Mantis, while I was on the university. I didn't see him for one whole week and it actually felt like missing something important from life. It was really pleasing to see him again. We sat together and talked for hours, had launch, and got back some old memories while drinking tea. For some reason, I value the moments I spend with this guy. Very wise, very funny, and very respectful.. Anyhow, the other thing I thought of mentioning, my brother who studies in Canada… He traveled today to continue studying there. I hate goodbyes I really do. I just hope he reaches safely.


Quote of this week: "Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and it'll be opened to you."

Catty

Yesterday I was working on Catty, the first painting I'm publishing online.. Now since the summer started, I was trying to learn this really amazing software called Corel Painter IX. It did actually take me a lot of time to know my way around and what I want to do with it.

I still have many things to learn, so this is just the beginning.

Anyway, here's what I ended up with yesterday (click for full view) :




Tech.Info:

Corel Painter IX to make the meaw Catty :P
Enigma's Albums. (inspiration source)


Comments & critics are appreciated.

Hope you all like it.

No one likes to be used

Looking around, trying to study and analyze the society, I eventually come to realize many facts. One of them is that a lot of people, especially the young, unfortunately waste their time on things that has no benefit but entertainment. It's actually strange how young people live nowadays. They judge each other on the clothes they wear, the kind of car they drive, and at which restaurant they eat! If you're a hard worker, they'll think you are poor because you're working hard to make money! You might also find some who will judge you even by the scope of how you are entertained during the day (i.e. if you don't own a play station, you won't make a good friend.)

The question is what has gone wrong??!

The way I see it, most of this happened because we come from a society that likes to have everything set and ready. We don't create the things we need, we BUY them… Just as simple as that. And with this pure fact, we became used instead of being the users.

A trick maybe most people are unaware of is that, business has its own system of getting around oppressive issues like selling things that harm people -- mind or soul. They do this by promoting the truth out of things. They can in fact persuade you that smoking is not harmful and that it makes you a tough guy or a cool gal. Even though human rights organizations persist on warnings on packets of cigarettes, it still remains a phenomenon that people buy and smoke them. In the end, many get sick and die.

Not only this, other harms can be found as well. Take for instance consoles and computer games. They are really time-consuming; yet, our young people tend to not pay attention to this fact. Why? I still don't know. But I assume it's because they can't resist the lure and enjoyment coming out of it. DVDs and movies.. Music CDs and Songs.. All these are 'killing' our generation slowly, overwhelming their time, teaching them things out of our culture and humanity, and most importantly, tricking them that they are the right things to have; so, in due course, young people buy them. Truth is, maybe all of us, including me, are actually tricked. I know some of you would say, "No I'm not: I'm in control and nobody uses me".. But please think it through again. What happens is that we're actually being controlled at some point. We're paying to be controlled, and we like it! Whether we admit it is not the question..

I just wonder… how do we actually spend our time? I just wonder what we have done in life, in addition to entertaining ourselves, that made the world a better place. I just wonder why people pay and allow themselves to be desensitized to the point that they will actually sit down at a computer learning, while playing, how to steal, murder, be a sniper or a hit man and say they are having fun?! Then they might sit and watch the news on TV and start complaining about the increase of the crime rate providing that it is no longer safe to go out at night.

While young people are being captive and addicted to hundreds of things, while they lose their common sense of reality, lose their uniqueness as members of the human race... And while the money makers who grow fat on the earnings of the films and computer games industry, lie around pools in splendid deluxe mansions paid by our money, our humanity, our life.. I just wonder.. What are we going to do about it?

Do nothing? Allow ourselves to be used and abused? Make the rich guy richer while he sips on his martini and eats at his caviar while some of us are addicted to his game or in prison for the crime he enacted on that film? Or maybe become a zombie and addict ourselves to being entertained to death?


..OR..

Avoid the things that are dangerous and show some responsibility? Get a life and learn to do/say things to make the world a better place for you & all the people to live in? Start a war against the 'users' of the world and encourage young people to think about their lives again and where they are heading?



The choice is yours..



Enigma

Smell Before You Buy!

Just something I want to share with all.

I read from a forward that lately, a Japanese company has produced a machine(see the pic) that allows us to get the smell of many perfumes you can find online. It has certain types of liquids inside that when mixed together in a specific ratio, it gives the exact smell of the perfume that you want to try before you buy!

It's really amazing how technology can reach. Honestly, I won't be surprised if I saw a website one day that would allow us to download perfumes :P It'd be really cool. Plus, we may need to look for cracks and patches as well to get the full perfumes for free~ haha okey just kidding :P :P

Targets of Sentiments & Resolutions

Hey again people,

Before I started this blog, I put pen to paper where I want to aim it to. Honestly, I have more than a few objectives that, with any luck, I would like to achieve here. Namely:

1) Religion is a source of enlightenment. Thus, I promise to attach some Islamic point of views on every occasion I see convenient/needed. Hopefully, that will help out some who don't know a lot about our beliefs.

2) I'm dreadfully interested in philosophy. With that in mind, be informed that many of the posts you'll see in the future will deal with my being so theoretical on certain aspects and events.

3) Out-of-sight 'talents' & 'obsessions' will be revealed here in the future inshallah...

4) There will be some personal posts about me every once in a while. Through them, mind will speak at times; heart will speak at others... (And sometimes both.) That's why I'm referring to this blog as Sentiments & Resolutions.

5) An approach to my country and the people existing in it shall be considered as well. Come on that's not dull! In this area, I'll try to discuss some major points that we , as Qataries, are mostly worried about... Sometimes one feels like shouting out loud to have his say heard. So, that'll be my place. (I'll be shouting & typing @ the same time. )

*a7m...

Alright, so this is basically my on-the-way circle. I hope you'll find it enjoyable and valuable to read... Occasionally, other stuff might jump off as well. You never know. =)


Anyhow, time for take off.

Nice day everyone,

Enigma

The blog is up

I'm Free at last!! It's a strange feeling how I've been waiting for this holiday so much.. and now that it comes, I really crave to carry out many plans; I don't really know where to begin… but off the top of my head... my main concern now is to spend extra time with my family; especially with my young sisters whom I haven't been around with for a long time. I truly miss them so much...

My nephew's birthday is today! He completed his first year and he's becoming really cutttie! We're going to through for him a little party.. And I so want to get a picture of him eating the cake haha =D

Anyhow, despite the fact that I'm still not through with the template of this up-to-the-minute blog, I determined to put it on the same day as promised on my prior one. Therefore, you might see several changes every once in a while. I hope you like how it looks now. If not, please drop a comment advising me on what to add or what you would like to see here so I can improve it =P

Well, that's all for now I guess… Feel at home, fasten your seatbelts, and get yourself in stand-by status to dive within the thoughts of my humble blog. I'll update in my second post the pointers I will discuss in Sentiments & Resolutions.


++ Time ran so fast. I still can't believe I'm done with exams. ++


Take care ya'll and hope 2 see you soon.

It's great to be back!