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Where Do You Come From?     One week ago I scraped a swab against the inside of my cheek to send a DNA sample to National Geographic's Genographic Project -- "The Genographic Project is seeking to chart new knowledge about the migratory history of the human species by using sophisticated laboratory and computer analysis of DNA contributed by hundreds of thousands of people from around the world. In this unprecedented and of real-time research effort, the Genographic Project is closing the gaps of what science knows today about humankind's ancient migration stories. The Genographic Project is a five-year research partnership led by National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Dr. Spencer Wells. Dr. Wells and a team of renowned international scientists and IBM researchers, are using cutting-edge genetic and computational technologies to analyze historical patterns in DNA from participants around the world to better understand our human genetic roots." I had my DNA sample mailed to them and find myself quite intrigued by the initiative and its potential. The way I see it, it's more than just gathering the data for the world's first genographic atlas -much more- I think this project will provide a good ground of fairness to people, it'll show that -in the end- we're all the same, that we all go back to Adam & Eve. If it does indeed trace back that far, this project will stir and invoke an open conversation of religious comparisons of different beliefs and the elements they have in common. I'll be looking forward to receiving the details of my test, and if this stirs up your curiosity too, you can purchase your DNA sample kit here, & find out where do you really come from. Labels: Daily, La Dolce Vita $7 in my moola box | link | email this post Speed Dial On my speed dial: [1] Voice mail (as if I ever use that!) [2] Emilda, my maid [3] Rasheed, my driver ;p [4] My ponies' groom <3 [5] My sister <3 [6] Iman <3 [7] Personal Assistant [8] Concierge [9] Domino's Pizza lol Who's on your list? & with this post, I'll tag Ethabella, Nyxx, Latifa, Indestructible, & karoozi Sent from my BlackBerry® Device $13 in my moola box | link | email this post Basking Luck               You know it's your lucky week when: 1) You find your favorite coat on 40% off 2) You've found the antique edwardian corset you've been searching for, ..for oh-so-long 3) You go through a 3-hour technical aerospace meeting AND enjoy it (okay,that's a qualifier for geek) 4) Your best friend calls you to tell you she's coming for a sleep over 5) You find yourself in show-jumping heaven 6) Discover that the purse you've been wanting for 5 months is only 160km away 7) Get your favorite board game tailored around your favorite subjects, objects, and places around the globe ;p 8) The universe sends you a Grand Prix dressage rider to train your horse, served on a platter of gold <3 Anyway, I was searching for Jason Mraz's video "Lucky" for this post on youtube when I discovered that just about every link of the official release has been taken off of the website for copyright reasons, & instead found these.. enjoy x Original: Cover: How good is that cover? I'm wondering why he chose the girl's part of the song though. Very cute smile nonetheless ;p More: Lotsssss of love coming your way you gorgeous people, g'night x $4 in my moola box | link | email this post The Kit  An empty desk that still feels foreign; A cubicle neighbor that is now many cubicles away; ..And on my desk, a box labeled: Workstation stationary kit; I'm back to mother-ship, & I'm the captain; Labels: Daily $9 in my moola box | link | email this post Which Camera?  Everytime I want to take photos with a depth-of-field (DOF) I must drag my ancient & over-sized Canon 300D, because none of my smaller cameras is equipped with a lens that could produce photos with a decent DOF. So, despite the fact that I adore my super cute Leica delux, I'm toying with thoughts of a new camera: small, convenient, powerful, & with a great lens capacity to produce a satisfying DOF. Any suggestions? Must run now, my pilates session is only an hour and a half away -- Bear in mind that I've just washed my hair & tossed it in a towel, towering on top of my head like one of those.. well.. you don't wanna know lol ttyl x Image by PhotoGeek $5 in my moola box | link | email this post 37: Thirty Seven  IB wishes everyone a very veryyyy happy national day x Poofy hair: apparently I'm not the only one who gets giant poofy hair when I wake up lol French-braid view from top side-view, I just loooove the neck of a stallion Having his share of banana treats Doing his business, just look at the look on his face Haha! He looks like a draft horse in this photo lol Using the massage-blanket on his for the first time, obviously he wasn't very happy  The moving electric blue thing stirring up his curiosity.. Finally giving up and getting on with the program, while munching on a snack ;pYesterday: made a french braid out of Sultan's mane again, I didn't get around posting photos of his first one so I'm doing that now. I never thought of this before, but he has a prettyful neck that was hiding under his mane all the time. Or perhaps I just like this look on him just because it looks a little closer to what you'd see on professional dressage horses, only their braids are so better than mine. Today: Happy 37th to my beautiful, beautiful country. The national day spirit on the streets of Abu Dhabi (& I presume the rest of the Emirates) is just astounding. Never did I see so much patriotic festivity ubiquitously scattered everywhere -- i love it! Labels: Daily, Pony Tales $13 in my moola box | link | email this post Tokyo Drama    Gorgeous people, je vous presente Tokyo, my little male toy poodle. Nevermind the pink boots though, I got them a few of years ago from Tokyo {the city} before ever getting any of my other dogs {yeah, sort of like buying the button before the jacket? lol} -- Of course, when I got Chanel & Tantra, I realized that my chis are unbelievably tiny that not even the smallest boots were small enough for their paws. I put the boots aside in case someone from the family or a friend had a dog and fancied dressing them. Why a poodle? I dunno. I just love their energy, & temperament level. They're also extremely smart & social... and well, the different grooming styles? Trés tres tressss cute <3  Drama Scenes in the House Needless to say, Chanel & Tantra didn't like the new addition to the family; hardcore feminists? Perhaps. But I've seen Tantra make scary faces that I've never seen before, unveiling her fish-teeth ready to bite any minute. The two fired up barking at him and attacking him the minute he stepped into the house, ..he sat there helplessly in the middle of the room waiting for rescue while the other two barked at him ready to attack. The fact that I picked him up & put him on my lap didn't seem to put their issues to sleep, instead, in their eyes, he became this intruder that stole away their flash light {no one loves attention more than Tantra, she -is- the drama queen of the house}, therefore, no one hates Tokyo like Tantra does. Tokyo is only 4 months old, even though he's physically bigger than the other two, which I think is intimidating for them to a certain extent. When it came to bedtime, I put them in two different rooms. Chanel & Tantra were fine in the company of each other, but Tokyo was crying like there's no tomorrow.. like any child, he doesn't like being alone, I picked him up & brought him to my room.. he slept quietly that night. Day Two I had sent my driver to pick up some important documents from AlAin, in the meantime, his vaccination after-effect starting acting up, coughing, shivering, low energy level, & a fever. It was getting worse by the minute. I felt so utterly helpless & useless at the car was right before my eyes, only that I couldn't drive it in a situation like this. I called up the vet asking them for their home-visit vets for emergency cases as there was no one to take us to the clinic at the time.The lady who answered the phone suggested if I could catch a taxi -seriously- to get us there. I felt awkward for a minute for I knew there was no way I could say it without sounding like I'm above and beyond a taxi ride, but I had to be honest and say it in the most sensitive manner: - "I've never been in a taxi"BIG MISTAKE! I think she hated me for saying that, I couldn't help but notice a condescending sneer ruffling in her voice as she dropped all will to help. "Well, I'm sorry, I can't do anything for you" she said. I Hated her too. My cousin S was out of town when I called him sobbing, if there's anyone who understands my attachment to my pets it would be him. He said he'd call me in 15 minutes with a solution, but seeing how Tokyo was breathing on my lap, I knew I didn't have 15 minutes to wait. Rawan was in a lunch meeting when I called her, & even though she's not one with a heart for pets, she was at the front door in 15 minutes, picked us up & took us to the vet. The first one we saw {yes, we saw more than one} blew things out of proportion, & even though she couldn't tell what's wrong with him she still wanted to keep him overnight the hospital, take blood samples & x-rays. When I asked her what is wrong, she just said "We don't know what is wrong, but have a very sick puppy, we would like to observe him" I stood there thinking to myself: He's going to be left in a cage, in a cold white room with other sick animals, .. overnight, & they call that observation? Something just didn't sit right, is it really possible that a doctor who went to animal med-school really couldn't translate ANY of the symptoms? Or is it the fact that they didn't want to take liability for the double-vaccinations they had given him the night before? I didn't know. All I knew was that I had two options: 1) Be the idiot they want me to be & leave him there exactly as instructed, or 2) Seek a second opinion. Of course, you know which option I chose. The four of us, Rawan, Tokyo, my maid & I headed out to another clinic to seek a second opinion. We waited half an hour before being able to walk into the examination room, plenty of time to reflect on the voices in my head; my mind was telling me that I was taking a risk, but I couldn't silence the voice storming in my gut - I knew I was doing the right thing. After 10 minutes of flipping, touching, scaling, and temperature monitoring, the doctor came out with the verdict: Canine Influenza. Period. Simple as that. She gave him an antibiotic injection, and gave us the same medication in liquid form for the next 7 days. For a second there, this little puppy's entourage cheered for the doctor, and walked out of the clinic very very very happy. Labels: Daily, Poochy Mamma $16 in my moola box | link | email this post A Groom for All Seasons Things always have a mysterious way of working themselves out somehow - you lose some, & gain some. And other times, you gain some, & lose some. I found a groom at the current stables, a young chap with very little experience, but a great amount of interest to learn. Having said that, I must confess that I really don't think I'm the best judge of character -haven't been for the past many months at least- Thinking that everyone I meet is genuine & has my best-interest at heart is a mistake I've been reminded of over & over again.. So I thought it would be a good idea to preserve my opinion of the groom & keep it to myself, and in the meantime observe what my trainer has to say about him. A few hours after meeting him and 1 jumping session later, my trained comes with the verdict: "This guy has huge potential, & exactly what we needed. I'll take it upon me to train him to be a master-groom for jumping ponies" -- needless to say, I nearly fainted with extreme happiness. Two days into the process, and I'm feeling very lucky. I've thrown in a couple of tests for him & he passed them both - plus, he speaks English & a little French, it doesn't get better than this =) The day after, however, held an unexpected surprise. I wish surprises only came in positive packages, but no, apparently they can be disappointing too. When I was 4, & knew that our nanny Helen was going back home, I ran through a hall in our house & threw myself on the ground sobbing with at a maximum lung capacity of a 4 year old. A very dramatic scene that some members of the family are still unable to forget (& if I may add, still enjoy reminding me of). That was then, & I'm certainly not 4 now, but when I received the news of Um-Munir's departure I learned -the hard way- that I never grew out of that drama. The feeling was so foreign, & yet so familiar. I've mentally trained myself to disassociate from people, and devoid sense of attachment to anyone or anything; that if I were to suddenly lose something or someone, I would shrug & say "too bad, & hasta luego my friend!" before I've found myself a better alternative.. There are people who make the process of forgetting them really easy & quick, and then there are those -the likes of Um-Munir- who make it hard, simply because they're just so good & the mind cannot recall a single upsetting incident to capitalize on and aid letting go. Never did I morn reducing the people-count in my life, somehow they all gave me reasons to make them of little or no concern to me, some even to the point of indifference. But then, how do you breed indifference to a person so full of love & guarded moral principles? This got me to thinking of all the things that consumed mental & emotional energy over the past weeks, or months.. The grooms, the ponies, the job, the people, and even the birkins; I realized that my sister was right, my life was never a plateau, & probably will never be. There will always be drama, lots of drama. To makeup for all of the consuming emotions, I decided to camp at the stables, .. that & do lotsssssss of tack & pony accessory shopping. Sultan was trained in-hand yesterday to do the side-walk, & my boy looked so cute walking sideways against the paddock bars. And IB was bored with the same jumping obstacles, so today setup a proper course for him to jump from one of my jumping-training books, we'll see how it goes. I'll keep you posted x Labels: Daily, Pony Tales $5 in my moola box | link | email this post Sel de la Terre Or in other words "Salt of the Earth", an expression that came to mind when I met a couple of people whose addition to my life I consider an added value. We spent hours in the morning breeze shuffling subjects on culture, equine arts, shooting stars and sandstorms, and exchanged religious philosophies and objects of desire. It was the perfect fluid to the soils of my mind, & in the past, I've only experienced this kind of mental rejuvenation through conversing with my favorite Gemini. It was so refreshing, so engaging, and sooo pleasant. As you can see, I've been engaging in activities and things during my day that would keep my mind occupied from pondering upon the future of my ponies' livery & groom. In the meantime, I'll do whatever I can to make them ponies happy & look at the brighter side of this: I'm spending more time with them doing the things I love, i.e. bathe them, massage them, & braid their manes. Yesterday evening IB looked like he had just gotten out of a cat fight, his mane was all over the place, so I decided to hook him against the wall with a head collar, & grabbed a brush & started french-braiding his mane.. It was lovelyyyyyyyyy.. & he looked annoyed, in a veryyyyy cuuuuuuute way. Of course, it took him only 3 minutes to pulls some hairs out of the middle of the braid, and a good 10 minutes to completely undo half his mane. Perhaps next time I should consider using a super-rock-hard hold spray? Or maybe ribbons would do? I dunno. My maid has a relatively short hair, practice on her first? *evil grin*  A desert-rose from the Emirati-Saudi border desert, J insisted that I take this one home with me, & I found just the perfect spot for it at home  IB's mane in a french-braid  first stray hairs  Homemade burgers: whoever said burgers can't be healthy?  Jumbo prawn shopping with Shaima  It may not look like it, but this spider crab here was alive & kicking, ..and of course, the hostess had no problems picking it up & stuffing it in a shopping bag to be sent to the kitchen =/  Steamed crab on my plate Labels: Daily, Pony Tales $4 in my moola box | link | email this post Of Temper & Other Feelings There are many things I don't understand about myself, & I've already made peace with that fact, but one thing that's intriguing me the most these days is my unbelievably short temper. I mean, I've developed a tolerance level of zero, which is a horrible thing really, because I end up make no allowance for others' mistakes. I -for one- know what it's like to be on the receiving side of a temperamental person, & I don't think it's fair for anyone to have to put up with it. So, in order to be able to solve this issue, I had to assess it, and observe myself over the past week or so to find the thing(s) that trigger this feeling, and here are the findings: 1) Time is precious. Mine is very precious. I hate waiting for people to show up, if you know you won't make it till 10:30 it's fine, really. Just TELL me so I don't wait for half an hour. I could've done something else more useful than surf the net on my blackberry while waiting for you. 2) Food. When I'm hungry, I get twice as angry. Which is why I started stocking up on delicious crackers in the drawers of my work desk. 3) "No" for an answer. It's not the wisest thing, and it doesn't make sense either, & I know that I'm bound to hear it sometimes, ..I hate it nonetheless, and it often triggers either one of two reactions: a. I would do it anyway, with or without validation, or b. Bleh! 4) Smoking. My admiration for smokers is rather shaky, they not only have bad breath, but also black lips and husky laughs. Creepy. 5) Giving directions. I'm horrible at that, and I admit it. If you ask me to give you directions to a place, I need you to understand two things: a. It's extremely difficult and frustrating for me to do that, and b. You may never get there. DON'T MAKE REMARKS on my embittered and despairing sense of location, I already do that often enough on my own. Combating Temper The only time my mind disassociates itself with dismay and apprehension is when I'm around my horses doing something that requires a little more physical effort than keeping my seat on a canter. For that, I've been taking him jumping every single day, and I think he has finally developed an appetite for the obstacles. I can tell he's happy going over the jumps because when I approach them, he speeds up with eyes looking like X's (X_X), & jumps with audacity and skill, and lands on the correct diagonal (right for a right turn, left for a left turn) without my leg aid on the jump. The pony now uses his mind as he approaches the jumps, & I try to give him full and utter freedom to count his own strides without my help. At one point long ago, my groom & trainer said that this horse wouldn't help me learn jumping, and that if I really wanted to learn, I ought to get myself a master-jumper, a pony that operates on "auto pilot". My question is: Where's the challenge in that? When it comes to IB, I don't love him for his accentual and rhythmic canters (although that's part of the reason) but more so than that, I love his mind -with all it's anomalies and flaws. I love the feeling of challenge he brings about, knowing that both of us are bound to make mistakes, and both of us will learn how to correct them together, isn't this what makes the horse-person harmony? You developing a feel for your pony, and him developing a sense for your riding style? I don't care if it takes me longer to learn the techniques of jumping, this is an infinite stream of knowledge that the likes of Rodrigo Pessoa, and Meredith haven't sealed yet -- I just want to learn it the right way, & the way I see it, the right way would never be "auto pilot". It would be okay to try it sometime, but there isn't enough challenge in that to sustain my interest. IB was not bread to be a jumper & yet, he jumps better than all jumping ponies at the stable. I know for a fact that he belongs on the first percentile of a curve, that he is truly an exception in horse-ville. He wears his attitude and nonconformity like stars on an armor, & predictability is not his character's most evident streak -- He gives you the choice to love him for what he is -everything that he is- or leave him. I chose to love him, of course. He now somehow knows it, and my reward? He willingly teamed up with me. Several people have commented on our chemistry together, on the jumps, some see him as an extension of my legs, and on the flat an identical mind. Can you imagine how that makes me feel? I try to stiff my lip and compose myself firmly not to break into the scariest smile ever, but I can't. It makes me want to hug him & kiss him and somehow melt to run through his veins (okay, that's a tad bit alarming, I agree) My love for IB is the only thing that's keeping me from exploding with work-related pressure. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do, but what I do entails putting up with a lot of people-politics, and for an INTJ like me this can be consuming, very consuming. Horses take me for what I am, and only judge me by what I do -- I think to find that in people is so rare, most people I've met came with a preconception, an idea of some form, either of me or of other people before meeting them. Sometimes I envy the groom for his job, I mean, to spend so much time in the company of such pleasant creatures is therapeutic. When your job is taking care of something you love so much, it's no longer work, it's play -all the way. Having said that, now that we've wrapped up twofour54 & it's on the spin, I'll soon be switching industries, going from Media to something a bit more rigid, I've been contemplating the move for quite sometime, mainly because I have so much respect and admiration for the way the director of this team runs his unit.. I'm hoping to love this new industry to the point of it becoming my version of play =) All of you fashionistas have probably seen these commercials in Harper's Bazaar & the likes, but I'm soooooooo in love with these ads from Hermes & LOEWE -- the Hermes pony looks like my boy Sultan, I swear I nearly hug & kiss the screen everytime I see these ads.. see for yourself & notice the resemblance ;p     But for now, we'll stick with pink lol            Labels: Daily, Pony Tales $9 in my moola box | link | email this post |
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