All it took me today to get bitterly disappointed in where this world is going is one newspaper. Not some in-depth world coverage with emphasis on politics and war zones. Oh no. Just our local English daily - Gulf Times. 32 pages, world news in brief, subcontinent news in detail, 10 or so pages of sales ads and sports (included in the overall count). And this is what I read in it - the headlines in bold:

1. Boy, 12, held for double murder. Who did he kill? His mother and 9 year old brother. Why? Over domestic dispute. Where? Washington, USA.

2. Man cut and grilled his mother. Why? Because she was "pestering" him to get a job. Where? Tokyo, Japan. So what did he do? He killed her, cut her in pieces and grilled some of her body parts on an electric hot plate, cemented other parts in a bucket which he left in the yard.

3. Woman was alive when burnt by her son. What did the son do? Stabbed his mother and then burned her to ashes. Why? Because she looked like a witch. Where? Visayas, Philippines. The woman was still alive before she was burned.

What is wrong with the world if children do that to their mothers? Mothers we are supposed to love and respect? I would give my life for my mother. And it's not like we don't have domestic disputes (we had plenty, but we don't live in the same house anymore), and yes she does pester me to get a better job, better haircut, etc. etc. Is that a reason enough to kill her? How many mothers are abandoned by their children, helpless in old age, forced to live on a pittance or begging? I can't think of a single religion that condones such things.

I am not shocked. I am already used to these things happening. Kids killing their parents for pocket money, for more freedom, because of religious differences, for having to support them, under influence, for being ashamed of them, out of spite, for inheritance, for no good reason, for any other reason, or just for kicks. Kids who were brought up well, or not so well, from good families, bad families, complete families, broken families, religious families, atheist families, educated, not so educated - all sorts.

Yes I understand that mothers can be (how to put it nicely?) a pain sometimes. Mothers force kids to do things kids don't want to do. Mothers are not always right. Mothers are not always good mothers. They don't always look like movie stars, and they most likely don't have the paychecks of movie stars. They remain mothers, still. There must be a special place in hell reserved for those who kill their mothers, whatever the reason.

Would you kill your mother??

I wasn't going to post this here, but the sender dared me to not only post the questionnaire, but the coversation that ensued as well! So here goes - for your entertainment :p


1. Male Bashing

The plot thickens. Apparently, our new office building is not an "office" building per se. It's a block of flats, (slightly illegally) converted into offices. That causes a problem. Our commercial licence can't be renewed unless we have an office - which we don't. Apparently, all we have is a flat! For those who don't know the specifics of the local system, all I can say is that this little paper in Arabic that says the building is a block of flats is enough to put us out of business. I don't care how it happened, and who is responsible, but at this moment I feel like banging someone's head against the wall.

Is it because I liked the new office so much that I actually said I did?? Am I doomed to get stuck in corporate offices on the Corniche, again? Take your *&^%$ view and stick it up your @$$! Give me an office in Muntazah (10 minutes drive away from home, next to The Centre) and I will be a happy bunny.

Whatever they say about women and PMS - is all true.

Happy Easter, everyone!

According to the fatwa published on the Islam Online website of the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs, Muslim boys and girls can now chat with each other on the Net without fear of committing a sin. The conditions? They have to be of marriageable age. The catch? They will have to get married at the end, with the approval of their guardians of course. Still, the youth are advised not to resort to internet to select their life partners. It is advised that they turn to the "age-old practice of match-making through the word of mouth by the elders in the family". (I found this out thanks to our daily, Gulf Times). So chat away, kids!

Other recent valuable information offered on the site:

1. Can psychological problems affect Muslims?

2. Definition of the Evil Eye

3. How to be successful in life?

4. Can women practice sport?

5. Ruling on selling cosmetics

6. Is oral sex allowed?

Etc etc.

I sat for a few minutes thinking... what if I, too, had a reliable source of information to guide me in my day to day life? Wouldn't it be absolutely grand if I never ever needed to think for myself anymore and if all my questions were answered in the best way possible by someone else out there?

So I penned down a few questions I would love to have an answer to, based on today alone:

1. Breakfast or makeup? If this isn't a recurrent psychological problem, I don't know what is.

2. How to continue my wicked habit of procrastinating and still become successful? Can the two go together?

3. How to deal with unreasonable urges (i.e. chocolate bars)?

4. What are reliable sources of information or age-old practices for dealing with these and similar issues for a little infidel like moi?

5. Is it ok if I figure out for myself what to do in such or any other cases, without referring to any reliable sources or age-old practices?

6. How to react to the following example of how the authorised wise men (and yes, I stress MEN as in gender, too) implement reliable sources and age-old practices in dealing with problems of day to day life in Qatar (information from the same newspaper on April 16th):

An Indonesian woman and Egyptian man were arrested for "illicit relationship". At roughly the same time, the British man was caught driving under influence of alcohol (after consuming 4 bottles of wine!!!). Here we have three people, and only one of them has put other people's lives at a serious risk of injury or death. Now try to guess: out of the three, who is sentenced to 50 lashes and deportation, and who is "being investigated" by the police and will most probably walk away with a heavy (but by no means unaffordable) fine and a smirk?

Oh yes, moving offices. You remember a fab view I had from my office? Well, not anymore. It is a wrench to lose it, of course, but my new office is 10 minutes drive away instead of an hour (or more depending on traffic). The area is beautiful and quiet, I can only hear one guy calling for a prayer instead of 3, I have an A/C unit in my room instead of the centralised air conditioning which was either too hot or too cold, never what I wanted. In other words, I am happy with the new place, and as for the lost view... I have plenty pictures taken from my old office window, and I can always go to the Corniche for a fix, lol. I will miss watching airplanes take off and land, but I will definitely NOT miss congested traffic all around the buidling, and waiting 10 minutes for the elevator each time I had to go up or down. Definitely, view is not everything. Even this view...


The other day I had to go to the clinic for some routine checkups, and as I was sitting in the ladies' waiting room, expecting my name to be called, in walked the most covered up woman I've ever seen, even after 5 years in the Middle East. Somehow, I think these ladies avoid getting out of the house for any reason, and only venture outside in an emergency. So I guess it was an emergency doctor visit. Of course all Qatari women cover up. Most cover their face, too. But the fabric of the abaya and the hijab or veil is usually thin and light, and young girls either leave their faces open or go for semi transparent veil, muslin see-through material that allows you to see the face.. and yet it's covered, very pretty. Now this lady was wearing heavy, thick abaya and the material that covered her face... I guess it was black flannel. I don't know how she could see as there was no opening for eyes at all. She wore black gloves and I couldn't see her shoes as her abaya was so long it was trailing behind her like a wedding gown train when she walked. Not a milimetre of the flesh could be seen. I felt really uncomfortable because she sat right opposite me and I could never tell whether she was looking at me or not as I couldn't see her eyes. After few minutes of that I couldn't stand it any more and changed my seat. I couldn't resist the temptation of taking a sneak pic of her with my mobile.

Don't give up on me just yet :p

Ok so maybe I will never become a famous web designer, but I might yet make it as a photographer. You just never know. Apparently my pics of Doha Construction caught someone's eye at Skyscraper City Forums... and now I double up as an observer/recorder of local real estate development, lol. Look up some pics I took of Doha Sports Tower - here!

Ok so here is the lowdown: My parents called me yesterday morning and said that the WTA (yeah tennis again, lol) final in Miami is cancelled due to migration of mice. Or was it invasion? I was too sleepy to doubt anything, as my parents usually are a trustworthy source of information of all kinds. And of course early morning I couldn't remember that it was April 1st. Duhh. Yeah so I fell for it. I was devastated for about 10 minutes of conversation, and nothing could cheer me up. Then my dad goes: "And tell A that Formula 1 race is cancelled also. The mice invasion (or was it migration?) has spread across the world and reached Australia, too." That had me in stitches! Of course then I realised (albeit a little late) that this was a joke, hehe.

Later on that day I tried to play the trick on A and told him that the F1 race is cancelled due to mice migration (invasion, whatever). He just looked at me and said "Ok" and that was it. That left me speechless and I desided not to push the subject. Till now I have no idea whether he believed me, or realised it was a joke, or forgot it as soon as he heard it, or whatever else. Who in the world understands men??

So what I want you to do is tell me whether a joke was played on you yesterday, or maybe you managed to make a fool out of someone else, and the joke itself. If nothing of the sort happened to you this year - maybe you have a story to share from the past, or maybe you heard one. If not - then perhaps you can tell me how you would fool someone on the 1st of April, and who would be your ideal victim :^)

Want to know what the top 100 April Fool hoaxes of all times are? Look here!