^^^

^^ The whole of Somalia lives in that way, my dear. Why are you trying to drive people away from their ancient traditions? I sentence you to a week's hard labour in your local dahabshiil branch.

^^ You were not much help dee.

^^ All the good cards are gone by now.

^^^ Not when it is done every year. Again, it is not about having 'bottle'. It is about declining diplomatically. To just keep saying that you don't celebrate Christmas is so dry. Give me a variation on this theme warya.

^^ How can I stalk her my dear when I only have eyes for you, darling?

It's always been a choice you buffoon. Submit and adhere and youll probably have a tiny chance of going to paradise. Choose not to adhere and you'll probably go to hell. Still, as ever, you're nitpicking on the subtleties of language. Suffice it to say, these people are cutting a long story short. Imagine someone asking you why do you pray? You'll probably reply: because it is my religious obligation They'll ask you why do you have to adhere to it? You'll reply: because I believe in god and god ordered me to pray to him. They'll say why do you believe in god? You'll reply: because he's the creator of the universe. They'll ask, but why do you believe in him? You'll reply: because he's the almighty. They'll ask again but why do you believe? You'll eventually have to reluctantly spit out the word choice somewhere along the way.

We spend eight hours per day with these people. It is more than one spends with friends and family. A little consideration is in order. Besides, the majority of those celebrating don't believe in it either! I am not sure yours and Northerner's "I am a Muslim" stance is good enough on its own. A little bit of diplomacy goes a long way. Marka, bal ku so noqo oo ii yara fakar.

Originally posted by -Lily-: Wed. 'Smart evening attire' does not mean evening gown now does it? Yes it does. It means you must be dressed to the nines. Black tie stuff (or even white tie). send me a photo in my pm when you're done dressing for further makeup tips

Heh. Loving the Comments & Responses section.

Help me out here, I'm trying to think of a word that rhymes with snitching!

^^^

^^ They have a new place next door (for the younger people allegedly). That one shows the game. I hate going to that area to be honest but I have to watch the game in a crowd and pubs are out. Can't you make a doctor's appointment for Sunday and never go?

North, I will not predict anything, saaxib. But, let me just tell you that it will be a total rout.

^^^ Teams from the same country can't face each other at this stage, saaxib. It will either be Milan, Barca, Madrid or Seville (same for Arsenal but they get Porto instead of Seville). I think I'll go to Tayo on Sunday. No point watching such a big game at home.

^^^ The industry matters not, it's the bloody country saaxib. Or have you already forgotten? ps Which one of the kings were you in your school's nativity play? pps Serenity, I was born anti-social, darling. Besides, I find the whole party thing very dull. Still, when you say you don't do cards, does that also apply to birthday cards? Will you expect an anniversary party when you're married?

Nope. It is not what you think. I am not going to wish you a Happy Eid, Christmas, Hanukah or New Year. Well, not yet anyway. I was more concerned with this tedious tradition of receiving/ sending all these cards (for all occasions). If you're in employment (stinky students and Jacaylbaro don't count here) and are in the West, you will more than likely receive endless numbers of greeting cards at this time of year! You will also experience a constant stream of invitations to countless Christmas parties organised by customers and clients. If you can avoid these, you may struggle to avoid your very own office party! (I am getting images of Val dressed as Santa's little helper here.....) I usually succeed in avoiding all this fuss every year. But always fret, worry and stress about causing offence around this time of year. In fact, my desk is full of various cards I received. One of them even has a free voucher for a full Swedish massage! How do you people cope with any of this?

Heh. A subjective question that has one of two answers! But most people will only be allowed to give the first. If they dare give the second, the simpeltons here will tell them to respect the dead. Err, he was, erm..cool.

^^ Improve? With that uptight rubbish? You may as well stay there, saaxib.

^^ Three days. Today is the third not the second. الاربعـاء 03 ذو الحجـة 1428 هـ 12 ديسمبر

^^ When you arrive at the airport make sure you give the officer that will stamp your passport no more than a hundred liras (if he's a colonel you may want to increase it a little). Nice place, nice people.

Riveting stuff....

^^^ Wrong On Christmas Day 1889, the Liverpool solicitor and Muslim convert William Abdullah Quilliam opened the doors of what is England's first mosque. Source

This reminds me! I wrote the following a year ago(or was it more?)... ------------------------------------ Obituary For Over 70 years Muse Cawar worked, wrote and invented new and entertaining Somali songs. His death, yesterday, at the ripe old age of 95 came as a shock to all his fans and followers. Muse was born on the 7th of December 1910. Muse’s father was married to four women and Muse was his mother’s only child. Muse’s first brush with music came on his very first day on this earth, when his mother started singing him her sweet lullabies and hummed melodic nothings into his baby ears. He was raised in a village eighty miles away from the capital and spent most of his childhood there. Muse’s childhood as he recalled in many TV and magazine interviews, was a happy one and shaped what was to come in his future life. In a long interview I had with him two years ago, he reminisced about his young days and how his father’s punishments were the main reason he became a musician and poet. As a child of four or five, whenever Muse was naughty or needed to be punished, his father would send him out to the front yard and order him to sing to the mother goat. He was not allowed to sing the same song twice. Being a young infant who had no experience with that many songs - other than his mother’s lullabies - He had no choice but to talk to the goat in a singing tone, making sure that the conversation is not repeated when father was within earshot. As the years went on and Muse was introduced to Koran school, his vocabulary and musical ear both improved. Now, the mother goat was being serenaded with most of the popular love songs of that time. Songs such as: Mother, my she-camel got the hump! And, if my heart was a river, scoop my love gently and don’t spit back! Or, the Haynes laughed at my pain! Still, his father insisted that he never repeat the same song twice on the same day. Muse, by now very articulate and brave enough to devise his own poems, used the mother goat as his sounding board successfully. Indeed, it’s unlikely that there ever lived a she-goat that got serenaded with as many original love songs as Muse’s did. When Muse was twelve years of age, a mysterious stranger visited his village. The whole village was excited about the return of the ‘seaman’. Muse later found out that this seaman was a cousin of his father’s that lived in a far away land and was richer than the richest man in the village. In the nights that followed the seaman’s arrival, Muse learned about the world outside the village, the people with cat’s eyes and the big blue ocean. He memorised an amazing number of words, phrases and terms. Muse was fascinated with the seaman and his tales. His imagination led him to dream of a great world outside his village. One full of green trees, waters and pretty children with cat’s eyes. One day, Muse sneaked into the seaman’s bedroom and demanded that he take him with him when he returns to the land of the king that ruled the world. The seaman was taken aback and told him that he is but a mere child and that he’s not ready for such great journeys. Muse told the seaman not to worry about his ability, patience or strength. The seaman told him that he doubted if his parents would agree but Muse cut him short by saying: if you agree, they’ll agree; I’ll make them agree. Three months later, Muse found himself with the seaman in Aden’s Al-Aiderous mosque in Crater district, praying the noon prayer. Muse had arrived two days earlier and was staying (along with the seaman) with a strange looking Somali family. On the voyage to Aden, the seaman had told him all about this new life and about the plans he has in store for him. Muse promised to work very hard and do all that the seaman orders him to do. This promise was the same one he made to his parents before leaving the village. Later that day, Muse and the seaman went to the port again to seek work. The old seaman had already secured his own job and was sailing out in a week’s time. However, he could not arrange a place for Muse on the same ship and did not want to leave him back, alone, in Aden. He therefore decided that it’s best to keep returning to the ship every day to see if any other workers had dropped out or secured better employment elsewhere. Muse faced the prospect of his adventure ending very abruptly. He knew full well that if the seaman could not find him a job on the same ship, he’d have to send him back to the village. Aden was not a place for a lonely boy of twelve. As they walked around the port, Muse, just as he did for the previous two days, surveyed the faces around him and blatantly stared at all the strange looking people. He was later to find out that the soft haired Somalis were actually Indians, the pale looking and short Somalis were Arabs and the pink Somalis with the ocean in their eyes were Europeans! That night and the few that followed were the hardest in Muse’s life. For everyday, after they came back from the port without securing a job, the seaman would leave him in the room of their boarding house and go out to waste the night away in some bar or coffee shop. The loneliness ate away at young Muse’s heart and he daydreamt of all the stories he would tell his beloved mother when he got back home. But not yet, not yet. The next couple of days followed the same pattern but on the third day the seaman managed to secure a job for Muse on the same ship. Now the adventure can begin, now he can see lands and places even more amazing than the impressive Aden!

^^ Yes. Always. Alonso in the middle for me.