domingo, 27 de mayo de 2007

A bit of Me

No ideas come to my mind. It’s the first time something like this happens to me. I am sitting in the front of my PC screen drinking a hot cup of coffee. I fell as I knew anything. My brain is as clean as a white sheet. But, all in a sudden, all my past memories come back to me once again.
I imagine myself playing with FUFI my favourite doll, or singing in the school chorus. Why can’t I go on swimming in my pool with my brother till dark arrived? Why can’t I be a child again?
My mother says I still being a child! Isn’t it funny? She always tells me I am spontaneous. In fact, Iam. As one of my friends said: “your spontaneity is great for those who know you well. Yet there may be others who do not see that spontaneity but they think as disrespect. You can’t hide your feelings you show the world your deceptions your point of view and that can hurt people o at least bother them. You are a white sheet that can easily be read.” May be that’s true because Iam not cynical but direct.
But I have to tell that I have grown up! Being spontaneous is the same as being childish, but a virtue.
The first I realize Iam talking about my self, am I crazy? Left judgements for the rest of the spectators in this world wide stage.

A Silly Verse
My imagination has gone
My semblance is blunt
My weight is that of a feather
My hurt is my spine

domingo, 13 de mayo de 2007

Natural Disasters: Floods

In 2000 the Province of Santa Fe, Argentina was hit by a severe flood. How devastating this natural disaster can result is out of discussion. The causes and the far-reaching effects on the environment of such a phenomenon are diverse. Both causes and effects depend on the type of floods, which can be classified according to its overall duration.

The so-called “Slow onset flood” usually lasts for a relative longer period which ranges from weeks to months. The causes of this type of flood have a natural basis. Geographical location is a vital factor to consider. Not only regions near a river or the sea can be liable to floods but also geographical zones where terrible draughts affect the soil qualities. So, when continuous rains fall down in deserted places the flood water can raze sites to the ground. Dreadful economic loses can be produced to such an extent that millions and millions of local currencies are estimated as damages on agriculture and other areas of production.

The one called “Rapid onset floods” lasts for a relatively shorter period: hours or days. The shorter the period, the greater the risk it poses to life and property, as people usually have less time to take preventative action. Many factors contribute to the formation of this type of flood. Besides weather condition, cracks in badly-built levees and dams and indiscriminate tree felling stimulate soil erosion and landslides. These catastrophic consequences lead to even worse effects. Death of people at the very moment the disaster takes place or afterwards. Many survivors who are injured get infected with micro-organism incubated in the putrefact environment. At environmental level, the destruction of entire habitats implicates the extinction of innumerable species of animals and vegetation.

Floods as a natural disaster are devastating. To understand why floods are caused and how they may affect us, slow or rapid onset floods have to be considered separately. However no matter how many different flood variants there might be, radical damage is always suffered by people and the environment from these natural disasters: floods.

Advantages and disadvantages of living at home past the age of 18

The last decades have witnessed a huge range of changes in society. One of them has to do with the age of which young people consider themselves mature enough to leave home and start a new life on their own. Some of them, however, whether single or married or single parents choose to stay because they say, they are pursuing a university career or they have started postgraduate studies or they have just got a new job and they need time to settle down. This situation, in which adults refuse to leave the nest, provokes widespread debates considering the advantages and disadvantages of living at home past the age of 18.
Diverse advantages can be found to the issue in question. To begin with, there are many adults who feel the necessity of being part of a family circle. Loneliness is probably the sensation most feared by this new generation of people. That is why; they continually resort to their respective families in any mishaps. What is more, these adults gradually take on more responsibilities concerning their households. From looking after their pets to cooking a meal, they engage in different activities that allow them to develop skills and lend a hand to their families. Another positive aspect to be considered is that family support encourages these adults to grow as professionals. All these positive aspects can be found when dealing with the situation in question.
Unfortunately, however, there is a tendency for young people over 18 to remain at home rather than trying to live a life alone. This can be demonstrated by this new generation, which still follows and accepts certain moral principles or rules of behaviour imposed by their family. In addition to dependence on family social codes, these adults are aware of irrelevant family problems such as who has to take the dog out or what to do with a piece of furniture not needed any longer. All these drawbacks can generate a denial to leave home and face life.
Finally, it can be said that many adults do not leave home immediately after they are 18. Some still consider their parental home as a shelter from everyday situations. This issue provokes heated debates regarding the advantages and disadvantages of living at home past the age of 18.

A desperate mail by a teenager

First, I went out with my friends last Saturday, don’t you remember I told you? Well, there, in the pub they introduced me to him… He was a burden a guy who likes to feel the company of someone. Second, he is my best friend’s friend. The guy invited me to dine on Monday…I didn’t think in that moment I was doing something wrong, quite the opposite I found the chance to tell him he was losing his time and I wanted to make clear that I am going out with you…Since then, I have never seen him again and I hope never to. Then, later that Monday, You and I met at the festival. I felt guilty for hiding things and I told you everything, every single detail. I couldn’t keep it silent. I felt I had the need to tell you the truth. And what was your response to my sincerity? Reproaches, you told me how bad a person I am but you never let me explain what really happened in that dinner in the restaurant. Come on! I kicked his chances out!?
I know you are right when you say I was bad in accepting the invitation, but I did it just because he is my best friend’s friend. I did it because I didn’t want to disappoint my friend Shenna who begged me to do so. I assume that I was childish in doing so but I accept my mistakes. Yet, you didn’t let me explain anything you just kept insulting me and you just turned round and walked away. I phoned you many times but you didn’t answer me back, not a single phone call, not even a text message in our cell phones… Please Mike.. look I am sorry can I have a words with you ? I want to explain this right now! I need you most than anyone, more than anymore. XXX Mary.

domingo, 6 de mayo de 2007

Shattered lives

Chorus
Feelings of despair invaded my room
My heart like a devastated fortress
Let them in
I am so sad
I have no words to describe it
I can’t even convey my frustration
My heart is aching
My soul is dressed in black
My lips dried
My eyes have died
My fingers don’t even move
My fears are stuck
That’s why I don’t trust
Any way who cares to be loved?
Different feelings play in my swollen heart
Life had left
My brother did the same
One not long ago the other since ages
Wherever I go
I carry my burden on my back
And I only gossip God my silence.
The little sister


“Good bye, mom” were the last words he uttered. It was a Thursday at midday. He had just finished his lunch. He joked with her mother and played with her little sister. He kissed his mother tenderly on her forehead. His broadly and gently smile and his coy glance were the last precious memories that her mother would never her forget and who by any chance brings them into her mind. He closed the door and he departed for never to return.
Hours passed, a mysterious telephone call interrupted the mother doing the housework. Suddenly, she started to get worried because something wrong was going on. He r son never arrived at his job. The little sister decided to help her by looking up telephone numbers of different hospitals in case of accident. But nobody saw, not even heard about him.
His mother desperately phoned even to the young boy’s girlfriend’s home. Nobody knew anything. Minutes later, the phone rang again, the mother picked it up and answered it, while his little sister was still looking for telephone numbers which to call. The mother’s eyes were full of tears. She cried her eyes out. She went straight to the factory where the boy worked.
Once there, she saw her son lying dead on the floor. Murder? Suicide? No, it was a sudden death that couldn’t be prevented, a death for all his family members. This was just the beginning of a night mare that has not finished yet.



Felipe

Under the oak tree, I sit with my notebook ready to start writing my entries. The sun like a ball of fire hit my legs who are extended and relaxed. Metres away, my mother knits a green scarf. She patiently looks at the magazine trying to copy the scarf model. At the distance, I see him coming lolling out his tongue. Felipe is one of the most beautiful beauties, if not the most, I have ever seen. Believe it or not, Felipe is my little puppy dog.
Purely white, his plump body moves graciously when I look at him run towards me. His sad glance catches anyone’s attention. Staring me fixedly, he posses his head on my knee just to be patted on his enormous head. His huge mouth eats the biscuits I give him but they are just not enough! He keeps on eating!
How can’t I love him? Felipe is more than a dog; he is my friend and companion. In the mornings, he gets into my room. I am still lying in bed awake but I stay quite when I hear him coming in. He approaches cautiously to me and with his humid snout pushes my back till I move. Then I move and fondle his white pale ears. Or when I leave home whether to work or to study, he starts barking at e through the spaces left open in the fence. And I chat to him saying. My friend I‘ll go back soon ok?” His sad look keeps me watch until I turn round the corner.
When I return home, he is the first one to wait for me. My mother says he enters my room poses his head on by bed and sniffs around it. After this, he goes back to the picket fence where his cute head approaches through the spaces left between each flat stick of wood and keeps watching towards the direction he last saw me and cries. Felipe is my sweet little dog who would say he is a dogo?

Love is not longer safe

Her long black hair shone under the hot sun in one street in Fez. Nourandine is 19 years old and as a Muslim girl, her parents overprotect her all the time. She is engaged to a man she does not know yet, a rich Moroccan businessman in his middle thirties.
She finished her high school in her natal city but she wanted to continue her studies in Europe.
She dreamed of being a University lecturer in France or Spain. Her ideals brought many problems to the young bride. Her future husband’s family refused their approval of letting her go abroad. No matter the noble cause Nourandine wanted to do, both families were worried about the partial freedom the girl might obtain if she travelled away from their town. But, what most frightened them was the idea that the girl might find a new man to love there in the crusaders’ land. Even worst the situation might turn out if this boy or man is a Catholic or a Protestant. Intermarriage is a widespread custom in countries such as France and Spain nowadays.
Afraid of conversion, both families agreed not to break the marriage contract by any means by sending her to France with two old ladies who might control her “·movements”.
At university, Nourandine studied law in Marsella where she met many students from other countries. Close friends did they became to her though the majority were Catholics. Yet, some of them were Muslim university classmates too.
After three years, she returned to Morocco where she finally married with the man her family imposed. What they did not know was that Nourandine was also engaged as a second wife with an Islamic boy in Marsella. The problems between distance and love; and not between religions, have just begun for Nourandine.