Month: September 2011

Driving In Kuwait

Driving in Kuwait can at best be described as an adventure

People seem to think of their cars as an extension of their own ego’s and therefore it takes very little to get their fragile ego’s bruised.

Today morning was no exception-, as I left home for work, bright and chirpy listening to my “Yippe it’s a new day- Music Mix”, I came across an accident. From the looks of it the guy had reversed his car on to the road while leaving his building (presumably at great speed) and got rear ended by a bus. As I waited for the traffic to move – I realized that it was the attitude of the people passing by that was causing the chaos – the habit of rubbernecking  just leads to more traffic build up. If you can’t help then don’t hinder – move on and if the emergency services are required then they can come in faster! Anyway so while trying to traverse this anarchy I met the second cause of the chaos – people who need to get somewhere before anyone else. 20 minutes of listening to someone honking away because he needed to get ahead of me lead me from being bright and chirpy to moody and grumpy. So it got me thinking, I really didn’t need this first thing in the morning. – Why can’t people be more pleasant? All that is required is a smile or a hand wave to make everything go smoothly instead of this early morning aggression.

So people of Kuwait be safe – drive safe, be kind and smile. You can make or break someone else’s day with your actions!!

How WIDE is your love?

So here’s the story: it’s 1728 and you live in Amberg, a little Bavarian town somewhere north of Munich. You and your lady friend really, really want to get married, but there is a little snag; the council laws permit only homeowners to marry, and you’re still stuck renting a place. But all is not lost! You pick up a little strip of empty land between two other buildings – just 2.5 meters wide. You run up a quick wall on the front, another on the back, slap a roof on top, and presto – you’re a homeowner. The council falls for it, and allows you to get married.

But now what? Well, it’s not liveable, so you head back to the rental place to live, but you recoup your investment by selling the Eh’häusl (Little Wedding House) to the next couple with the same problem. And so on, and so on …There is no reliable record of how long the practice continued, but the building survived, and in 2008 it received a complete refurbishment, transforming it into a luxury hotel. Total size? 56 square meters. Maximum number of guests at any one time? Two. [Google street view]But there’s more! According to an old legend told by the locals, couples who spend their wedding night at the tiny hotel are guaranteed* to live happily ever after and never get divorced

 

Chocolate’s Dark Side

A study shows that 97% of women and 68% of men experience food cravings with chocolate being one of the most craved foods. This I can personally vouch for ,having gone through a couple of bars of chocolate in one sitting knowing fully well how many calories I am consuming and yet not attempting to stop myself.

Having said that, after reading this morning’s article on “The human cost of chocolate” I find it shocking that the chocolate we enjoy could come from the hands of children working as slaves.

I feel guilty now!! It’s sad to see the children who should be enjoying the sweet and the smooth texture of chocolate, have to slave away in the making of it 🙁

Link:  The Human Cost of Chocolate

Avoid Avoidance

The unwashed cereal bowl that’s been sitting in your kitchen all day . . . the spot on your car window left by a bird . . . that e-mail in your inbox that you should send a quick reply to . . . So often, we ignore these things, we look the other way, choose to forget or put off, even when it would just take a minute to deal with it. Are you an avoidance expert? Why? Is it because. . . •the task is difficult or disagreeable •you’re tempted by alternative pleasant activities •you’re tired and need more sleep No matter how small or big the consequences of avoidance may be, it’s probably time to overcome your avoidance patterns. “Avoidance doesn’t have to be a way of life. With the right attitude and some practical strategies avoidance can be a thing of the past.” In fact, life’s success principle is: Avoid Avoidance

High Noon

The weekend was crazy as my son decided to invite some of his friends over – Six boys between 9 and 12 usually means a wrecked house and frayed nerves.Fortunately for me between the six we had 4 iphones and devious me installed High Noon on them and got the kids hooked (that’s me – your friendly iphone game supplier) 2:30 in the morning and the gunslingers were still at it. For those of you who haven’t played it – High Noon is multiplayer game that has you dueling people around the world to become the most feared outlaw in the west. The cartoony graphics are pretty good but where the game really shines is the way you holster your gun. You tip your iphone upside down and at your side like a real gun, hear the western music playing and when the bell sounds, draw your iphone, tilt, tap and release to fire.

Hey Gringo  – Draw!

Red Mango

Having tried Pinkberry a couple of times and falling in love with it, I thought about trying other frozen yogurt places here in Kuwait. Since I was at 360, I saw Red Mango and had to go for it. The name though – Why ? It seems too much in the same vein as Pinkberry , What’s next GreenBanana?

Back to the review – They have 4 flavors – Original, Mixed Berry, Vanilla and Chocolate as well as a some very interesting parfaits and smoothies. But since I was there for the frozen yogurt, I decided to go for the medium mixed berry with my favorite toppings – blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and mango.
End Result – Excellent! This could be the start of a new addiction, goodbye Baskin Robin (except Pralines ‘n Cream) – Hello Frozen Yogurt ! I will be trying out other frozen yogurt places soon – so if you wanna know the results , you know where to come back! If any of you have tried out other frozen yogurt places here in Kuwait, please feel free to share you review and experiences.. Have a bacciferous weekend!! 😉