My Nephew and Niece

Louise
Johan

Old Shemaissy, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Old Shemaissy, my home for the last 4 years of my stay in Saudi Arabia, it's an area teeming with life and culture from various ethnicity. Here you may find living together Filipinos, Pakistanis, Indians, Bengalis, Sri Lankans, Saudis, Badus (Black Local Saudis), Yemenis, Syrians, Jordanians, Turkish, and some Chinese. One can just wonder the mingling of these people, it's like a mini world within a world.

I have had my own fair share of life's experiences here, one fact is that for the last four years I have move six times around this small area, yes six times! But I think I am settling with the last, otherwise I told myself no more for moving out and in a new place is not for the faint hearted, it is not easy!

Here, I find everything I need without going far (unless I want a more uptown atmosphere, I'll go to the malls), grocery stores or "bakalas", bakeries, barbers, tailoring shops, mosques, fish, chicken, vegetables and fruits stores, banks, atm machines, restaurants with choices of Indian, Arabic and Filipino foods, or if you want the commercial fast foods, you'll find KFC, Kudo, Pizza Company, Pizza Hut, Seattle's Best, Cinnabon and Krispy Kreme, what is unbelievable is that ALL of these are just a few walks from each other!



I also have a lot of experiences meeting all these ethnicities here in Shemaissy, and you get to know their lives and cultures in one way or the other, some were nice people, others were too proud of theirs, some are only nice because they need something from you, others doesn't even care, there were those who thinks their the best people, whence others I feel sad because they do the lowliest work just to survive.

But regardless of that, I found real friends here, a handful, one-handful that is. I found life here, find new experiences everyday and I am not sure how long will I stay more, but I am sure I will be missing this place when I leave, and when I look back, I could say that in one small town far, far, away from where I was born, along the winding streets, mud houses and twisting corners, in a busy town called Shemaissy in Riyadh Saudi Arabia, I was there, and the memories will linger on.

At 38, Not Bad At All

...woke up feeling good and refreshed, like I always do, after saying my morning thanks, immediately I would drink two glasses of water and start my morning activity, working out...


...after 45 minutes of continuous lifting to the beat of Madonna's Give It To Me, I looked my self on my lifesize room mirror and I was happy, at 38, less than 10% body fat and 32 inch waistline...not bad, not bad at all...thank you very much!

Taking Chances

"...what do you say to taking chances, what do you say to jumping off the edge,
never knowing if there's solid ground below, or hand to hold, or help to pay...
..what do you say?...what do you say?..."
So the song goes as Celine belted it out...Taking Chances, eversince I heard this song, it has been sort of a mantra to me, just to keep me going everytime I am feeling a little on the low side and looking for inspiration. Sometimes opportunities present themselves and we are too afraid to take it, we almost always look at the bad side of the opportunity even before we understand the good it will do.
Then we miss it, a new job, a new love, a new experience, we let it slip away, just because our confidence and faith is not that strong enough to take that step.
Faith, that only comes from having a relationship with the Maker, putting our trust in Him and going by blind faith that He will not let us down, I remember a something like, "The will of God will never take you where the grace of God will not protect you.". God always presents a path for us to follow, but it is up to us to choose if we want to follow that path or not. So faith and trust has a lot to do with us taking chances in life.
So what do you say? Let's take a chance in life, remember it's not what's at the end, but how we got there, it's the journey that makes it all worthwhile, but that journey will not start unless we take that step, that chance, even though we don't know where it will lead us..."never knowing if there's solid ground below, or hand to hold, or help to pay...what do you say?...what do you say?..."

Hope - When Life Seemed At Its End

My Idea Of A Perfect First Date

I am a hopeless romantic, and what makes me so is that I find first dates very special. But honestly, I seldom go on first dates, and if I did, it usually not what I expected it to be, no, I am not saying they were bad dates, or not so special dates, like what I just said, it was just not wha I imagined them to be.
So what makes my first date perfectly special? Let me count the ways...


...actually, for me, there are no perfect first dates, as each one is unique and different in it's own way. Every moment is special, regardless the situation is, why, because you are with someone you like, someone you are fond of. So, be it under the rain, by the bus stop, in a coffee shop, a park, along the beach, on a rooftop, under a tree, where ever you set it up, what matters are the moments you will be sharing together that will linger on...

Ok, ok, you may ask, how do I picture my perfect date, really, fine. I would like my perfect date to be by the beach, walking along the sands, watching sunset, and the birds flying overhead, talking about anything we could think of, some laughters, holding hands, watching each other, trying to read each other's thoughts, watching the smiles and the twinkling of the eyes, head on a shoulder, feeling someone alive beside you, hear the breathing, some awkward silence...that's how I imagine mine. Sounds like a cliche, but, people do silly things when they're in love right? Or when I you like someone that much?

...so there it goes, a perfect date would depend upon how you really like the person, and how each moment count.

A New Look

Sometimes a little courage and a little self-confidence can do it, you see I never have had a semi-skinhead cut, ever! I am always scared as to how it would turn out or how will I look. Being slim and all, I am scared to look like Mac in the "Mac and Me" movie I saw years ago.
One summer night, I am feeling itchy and sweaty due to heat, uncomfortable and all, I went out of the apartment and went straight to the barber. Along the way I was thinking of what kind of haircut to have, and I noticed most of the men I met along the way are skinheaded or semi-skinheaded, we call it the No.2 cut. (Maybe because of the upcoming Ramadan, those who went to Umra, has to have their hair on their head razored clean (all the hair on their body for that matter, too). So a thought began to play in my head.
When I reached the barbershop, the Pakistani barber was busy with another customer having his head shaved, then, my heart started to beat faster, and something in my mind tells me to have the same, but somewhere a voice also tells me no. Outside the barber shop I was pacing here and there, deciding on going through it or not. Then, a father and son, I think they're Syrian, passed me by and both had the same cut, and the little boy is so cute, and I took it as a sign to have the same.
Thirty minutes later and after a heart pumping moment; seeing myself in the mirror slowly losing my locks; catching them fall on my lap; playing them in my hands; how thick and black they were; I went out of that shop light-headed, literally.
The wind blowing on my head feels like a breath of fresh air, I thought to myself, this wasn't too bad, I am guessing. The verdict would be when I come to the office the next day, but who cares, I think I look fine. So there, maybe a new look would bring fresh inspiration and new beginnings, I am praying it would.