Isle of Skye

I NEED TO DO SOMETHING WITH MY LIFE!

They only let me touch his feet. To ask for forgiveness, they say. I refuse to do so. I just want to touch his hair, because I can still remember how soft it always was. And I haven't touched it in ages. But when I move towards his head, the lady in charge clears her throat and says to me curtly, "Only touch his feet; it causes less pain." But how can he feel pain at all? He's been like this for the better part of the day. My dear boy. He's only 28 years old. That's young, isn't it? I think it is. I don't want to touch his feet at all. They actually look asleep; the veins have enlarged and it looks as though he stepped in an inky puddle on his way here. I don't even need to ask for forgiveness, it's just another one of those century-old traditions which I have never understood and what I have always rebelled against. In mind, at least, if not in action. He can't hear me, anyway. I don't care what they say. They have said ...

I am ashamed that I have ripped off the title of this post from that crappy Bob Dylan film, with Cate Blanchett and Heath Ledger. I hate Bob Dylan's music, it's too nice. But I like Dylan Thomas' poetry. Anyway, this title is apt because I am no longer 'there'. I have hidden myself away and am acting on autopilot; which basically means I sleep a lot, eat a lot, watch a lot of telly and reminisce of London, because of course, that place is so much better than this place. Even though I have tried to rationalise the fact that because of the recession, living in Karachi is the cheapest option, I still feel that I have no life here, that there really is nothing I will be happy in doing here. I have a massive list of gripes with this place. - There is not much room for non-conformity with the mores here. - All they'd rather do is make bigger malls than feed the hand-to-mouth citizen. - The traffic is murder. - I can't just go out for a walk whenever I want to, fo...

"A painter thinks, 'I can't fix the whole planet, but I can at least make this square of canvas what it ought to be.' And a sculptor thinks the same about a lump of clay or marble. A writer thinks the same about a piece of paper, conventionally eleven inches long and eight and a half inches wide. I suggest you set as your goal the putting of some small part of the planet into something like safe and sane and decent order." Kurt Vonnegut "We live in a society where a superficial definition of strength often takes the cake. Those who are physically strong, emotionally unfeeling, distanced, and stoic are often seen as the mightiest. Those who are vulnerable, feeling—dare I say human—are often seen as weak." Author (Unknown) "What most people need to learn in life is how to love people and use things instead of using people and loving things." Author (Unknown) "Cynics are only happy in making the world as barren for others as they have made it...

"Counsel from a Veteran of the Writing Wars" Irving Wallace Chicken Soup for the Writer's Soul I once overheard a professor say to a beginning writer: "Everything has been written about already, and written better than you can do it. If you intend to write about love, tragedy, adventure... forget it, because it has all been done by Shakespeare, Dickens, Tolstoy, Flaubert, and the rest. Unless you have something absolutely new to say, don't try to be a writer. Take up accounting." That was silly - really stupid. Everything has not been said, and will never be said. Human emotions may have always been the same, but there was never anyone on Earth before you who was exactly like you and who saw love and hate exactly as you see them through your eyes. And you need not have lived something to see it, to write about it. You were provided with imagination. Use it. Da Vinci did not have to attend the Last Supper to paint it. Use your imagination daily. Writing is no...

"Find a subject you care about and which in your heart you feel other people should care about. It is the genuine caring and not your games with language, which will be the most compelling and seductive element in your style." Kurt Vonnegut The only thing I ruddy care about is my mental health and that people should take humanism and MBTI and enneagrams seriously. That's it; I am not really as passionately about saving our world, because it just seems humanly impossible to change ideas and thought processes. Right, so I like Rogers and Emerson and Coelho, but how would I take on a subject at graduate level to show how these work together? God knows. Anyway, I thought I had decided that I am not going to write, at least not for a living: it's too much pressure.

Free personality analysis from ColorQuiz.com. Generated on Wed Jun 11 12:45:00 2008. Your Existing Situation Relatively inactive and in a static condition, while conflict of one sort or another prevents peace of mind. Unable to achieve relationships of the desired degree of mutual affection and understanding. Your Stress Sources Unfulfilled hopes have led to uncertainty and apprehension. Needs to feel secure and to avoid any further disappointment, and fears being passed over or losing standings and prestige. Doubts that things will be any better in the future and this negative attitude leads her to make exaggerated demands and to refuse to make reasonable compromises. Your Restrained Characteristics The situation is preventing her from establishing herself, but she feels she must make the best of things as they are. Becomes distressed when her needs or desires are misunderstood and feels that she has no one to turn to or rely on. Egocentric and therefore quick to take offense. Your De...