The grass is always greener on the other side..

When I was in Sri Lanka I always used to wish the country was located a few latitudes further up from the equator, so that it wouldn't be so hot and humid all year round!

When I was growing up, I wished that we had the four seasons so that I could see all the flowers bloom in the spring, the sun shine in the summer, leaves redden and fall in the autumn and cold days in the winter with some snow!! Well, I got over that once I grew up, but I still wished that it wasn't so hot there.

Now, I've been in Australia for almost one year and have experienced the four seasons, it's not as wonderful as it sounds in the books. It's pretty difficult to distinguish between the season changes in the first place, there's no clear cut boundary between spring & summer, summer & autumn etc.

And I can't think of more than a couple of days where I actually enjoyed the weather, it's either too cold that I would start shivering from head to toe or either too hot that I simply have to take at least 5-6 baths a day!

Just a couple of months ago - in the summer temperatures soared past 42 Celsius. It was like living inside an oven! you can literally feel your skin burning! Now it's winter (just starting) and daytime temperatures hang around 10-12 Celsius, and it's like living inside a fridge! Nights are even worse!

How I long for a beautiful tropical climate like that of Sri Lanka!!!

Papadam in 45 Seconds!

I don't know if this is common knowledge, but it was certainly news to me when I first heard it on a cookery programme on tv a couple of weeks ago. So I thought of sharing this with anyone who enjoys (or rather don't enjoy the hassle of) cooking! Just to make life easier.

All you need is some papadam and a microwave oven. Keep the papadams towards the outer edges of the rotating dish in the microwave (I'm assuming the dish is clean enough!) and turn power on 'High' for 40-45 seconds. Times might slightly vary depending on the thickness of the papadam. Once you hear the 'beep' open the microwave and 'ta-da!!' You've got ready to eat papadam! and without the unhealthy oil.

Bushism

Found a good book Mr President?

• The attack on the world trade centre in NY

-"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

• Flattening out Afganistan in the search for Bin Laden

-"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him."

after some time...... when they couldn't find a trace of him

-"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."

• Iraq

-"We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories...for those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they're wrong, we found them."

I see....I wonder where they are now?

-"Free nations don't develop weapons of mass destruction."

“Governments accountable to the voters focus on building roads and schools—not weapons of mass destruction.”

The U.S. has over 10,000 nuclear weapons

-"Oh, no, we're not going to have any casualties [in Iraq]."

-"We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur. "

-"I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future."

-"These people are trying to shake the will of the Iraqi citizens, and they want us to leave...I think the world would be better off if we did leave..."

Finally he's talking some sense

-"Iraq and Afghanistan ...are now democracies and they are allies in the cause of freedom and peace."

yeah right!

• Refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol

-" It isn't pollution that's harming the environment.
It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it. "

-"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."

????

• Hurricane Katrina

-"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is, 'to be prepared'."

That's only one word

-"Brownie (Michael Brown of FEMA), you're doing a heck of a job."

I wonder why Michael Brown had to resign from his post.... becuase his handling of the situation was so good?

• Foreign Policy

-“I don’t have the foggiest idea about what I think about international, foreign policy.”

Tell me something that I don't know already!

• General

-"The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country."

-"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure."

-"For NASA, space is still a high priority."

I didn't know that NASA has other priorities..

-" Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children."

hmm.....

-"The problem with the French is that they don't have a word for 'entrepreneur'."

'Entrepeneur' comes from the French language..

-"'There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — (pause...confused look) shame on you. Fool me (pause...) you can't get fooled again.'

-"To the C students, I say you too can be president of the United States."

-"I'm the commander — see, I don't need to explain — I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being president."

-"I believe God wants me to be president."

I wonder whether He's is the only one..?

-"God told me to strike at al-Qaeda and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East."

Never have I seen such an entertaining president..in the history of the world

:)

Dictator of the (so called) Biggest Democracy

Democracy or Dictatorship?

In 2002 Bush decided to attack Iraq, why?..... because they had weapons of mass destruction hmm.....
The UN opposed, the American public opposed, the general public of most other countries including Britain, Australia and France protested. Jacques Chirac heavily condemned and so did the Pope... but did that matter to Bush? .....nah!

Since then everybody has been talking about when the troops in Iraq are going to be withdrawn. Just a few weeks ago, after a lot of drag, the US passed a congressional bill to withdraw troops from Iraq, only to get De vetoed by Bush...




Thanks Powell, I couldn't have said it better!

Glorifying Death

I thought of writing this post when I saw this news article in the BBC. Two girls aged 16 in Perth, Australia had killed their friend (aged 15) and buried her. Why?... just to see if they would feel any remorse afterwards. This has taken place almost one year ago, after the court hearing they have now been sentenced to life in prison.

Isn't that shocking?

In a slightly unrelated note recently there has been a lot of talk about a certain 'EMO sub-culture' here. Due to a double suicide of two teenage girls in Melbourne who belonged to that culture, and a murder of another teenage girl in Adelaide.

Emo means something close to over emotional, and are usually unhappy and pessimistic. Self-infliction i.e. cutting or harming oneself with knives or sharp objects are common among them. (I'll write a separate one on this) But generally their view of life is gloomy and they have a way of 'glorifying death and murder'.

I seriously don't know where these people get this attitude from. But I have a feeling (I maybe wrong) that tv programmes contribute to this mentality.

Last night on tv, there were 2 crime scene investigation stories on one channel back to back, another murder story on another and a violent prison break story on another.
The day before I watched half of CSI-NY which is a very popular tv series all over the world. And not forgeting the other CSI Miami and CSI Las Vegas which have become quite popular. Anyone who watch this type of drama know how in agonising detail they present the murder. Every small step taken by the murderer to cover up, and every little clue the investigators pursue to find out the truth. The stories really are captivating and addictive.

However, I personally believe that these put ideas into people, specially young ones. Teen years are quite hard for children, and they can be confused and mislead very easily.

I very well remember when I was little there was a drama on tv in which a person hangs himself and commits suicide. Later on in the week there was a news on the paper (I remember my parents talking about it) A boy had tried out the suicide to see if it really works, and had died. Therearfter there was a roar about what should be broadcasted on tv.

My companions back home

That's Bingo and Bussy at home back in SL : my brother sent me the photo.

They are not really best friends :)

Bingo likes to come in and sit in front of the cat, blocking its way - just to show him who's the boss around here.

Gilchrist and his squash ball

Here we go again..

After I finished the post 'bye bye world cup' I was pretty resolute in not writing about the world cup again. But the hot topic of Gilchrist and his squash ball which keeps popping up in a lot of blogs and discussion groups just pushes me into writing some thing on it.

The first time I heard that he's got a squash ball inside his glove to help him with his grip I also asked the same question from myself "Is that........legal??" And I've been debating it with myself and my husband....well, if some extra object does enhance a players performance, it doesn't truly reflect his/her abilities, does it? No doubt Gilchrist is a great cricketer, but in this innings he did seem like 'superman'.

There are a lot of arguments going around, and I beleive the question is to be taken up at ICC's next meeting.

http://different-stroke.blogspot.com/2007/05/sri-lanka-cricket-to-question-legality.html
http://andhracafe.com/index.php?m=show&id=22452
http://wordpress.com/tag/cricket-etcetera/

Anyhow, my question is that if he's allowed to do that, does that mean that any batsmen can stuff in any object of their preference under their gloves to enhance their performance?. Surely there has to be some regulation in this.

If the wicket keepers are not allowed to put on extra padding in their gloves, and bowlers can't wear bandages when bowling, and definetely fielders can't wear gloves (even inner ones) to improve their grip on the ball..........how come that batsmen can?

Farm in the City

This farmyard was in the middle of the city's busiest shopping street.....

No idea why they were there.

Wesak - The Festival of Light

Today is 'Wesak' full moon poya day. 'Wesak' is the Sinhalese name for the month of May, and 'poya' refers to the full moon days that fall once every month.

The significance of Wesak lies with Lord Buddha, it was on a Wesak full moon day (somewhere around 6th century BC) that he was born as Prince Siddhartha to a regional king and queen near the now India-Nepal border. And it was on a Wesak full moon day, 35 years later that he attained enlightenment. It was also on the same day another 45 years later that the enlightened one passed away.

Buddhists all over the world celebrate this day for its symbolic significance. Some prefer to observe 'sil' which means that they will spend the day, disciplining themselves to behave in the fashion of an 'arhath' disciple. Practicing 'morality', 'compassion', 'humility' and meditation to calm the mind.

In Sri Lanka (I'm not sure about other Buddhist countries), towards night fall people light up the whole country with lanterns and creative work, filled with lights, candles and colours. The creative aspects of children and adults alike come alive during this time. And there's so much to see no matter where in the country you live.

The symbolic aspect of this 'light ceromony' is the depiction of 'enlightenment'. Which brought the light of 'wisdom' and drew away the darkness of 'ignorance'.