Hearts With You (Japan and free nations)...

Well folks, it is a sad week all over the world. I don't think I'm able to write something here for the time being, so I've decided to give some space for some humble effort from my side to help with the catastrophe in Japan.
I've tried hard to imply here some links for donations and I've emailed some donation websites to provide me with some clues, unfortunately none did reply, except of PayPal, which actually guided me to put my own icon and I then, should transfer the funds to donating organizations, which is a responsibility I'm fearing to take care of. One of the trusted websites as I believe must be the Red Cross, you can start from there if you really want to give donations and help give a life to someone on this globe, and surely one of these would be The Red Cross, or The American Red Cross here, as well as similar Red Cross bases all around the world. Also, PayPal's blog got interesting information if you are willing to help in some other way.

君が代は
千代に八千代に
さざれ石の
いわおとなりて
こけの生すまで

Looking up the Japanese national anthem to post it here, opened my eyes on interesting information and history behind the shortest national anthem in the world.

Maybe my words are not eloquent enough to describe the sympathy with the Japanese after such a disaster, but I tried to write something, and hope the overall meanings of my words reach to their ears and hearts as well. You are not alone...

The Rising Sun

Oh land of the fury,
the past shame and glories.
The happy moments,
and the animated stories.
On the edge now,
passing the train off by.
Like the world stumbles,
for a rage down from the sky.

Through the hardships,
through all sorts of pain.
The light kept shining,
so it will be again.
Raise a rainbow,
flip up a frowning face.
Time is a healer,
this courage I praise.

Devastation,
mounts of desperation,
unconscious sensation,
several might knock you down.
Trust me,
the world looks down so humbly,
and just crying so simply,
for a smile at dawn.

Kneeling, while I'm praying,
begging and praising,
amid the cries and keening,
to the Grace of One.
Look over here,
over this shoulder,
a caress in a finger,
just watch, the rising sun...

Losing your faith?
I understand...
The tears are down?
just take my hand.
Is it blowing?
not a damn.
Feeling cold?
here I am.

Crazy world,
evolves so fast.
No respect,
not a simple heart.
Just who cares,
when you smile?
Innocently,
from the pile.

And then,
if you have to mention,
all about this tension,
that goes in your heart.
Then know,
I am in here also,
for sharing a rainbow,
that won't depart.

Kneeling, while I'm praying,
begging and praising,
amid the cries and keening,
to the Grace of One.
Look over here,
over this shoulder,
a caress in a finger,
just watch, the rising sun...

Oceans of troubles under your feet,
Shakes and shakes, nothing to be feared.
Just like the world's king,
eternity seeking.
you are,
just like a rising sun...

Please note that there are some fake organizations that do take donations under such circumstances, so please, check into it more and make sure they are official.

Our hearts as well go along with the peoples of Bahrain, KSA, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Oman and probably Syria on the way. Just like how the Tunisian poet ِAbu Al-Qásim Al-Sháby [English here] (1909-1934) said in his poem (and how ironic his own people started the flare of freedom in the Arab world as well):

إذا الشعب يوما أراد الحياة *** فلا بد أن يستجيب القدر

ولا بد لليل أن ينجلي *** ولا بد للقيد أن ينكسر

If the people one day desired life *** Destiny then must obey

And the night must clear out *** And the chain must break

The morning sun, will rise, definitely...

Alexander 6, V47.

Please God, let this month be finished. Amen.
Still coping with many aspects in my life, starting with the car maintenance and ending with building my PC back again. I've brought up the PC back home but yet, so much to install, and for this reason I will keep on logging to the net and surf from the laptop until I see that everything is somehow back again to normal in my PC. Photoshop is still not installed nor Canon drivers. I spent most of the day yesterday going over the critical updates and fixing the browser and the essential plugins like QuickTime. I do miss working with my camera indeed, and that reminds me that I have to clean it soon. It's a regular check.
Car-wise, the car had been a subject of overheating yesterday and the problem was solved (temporarily) just by adding more water. Yet, I do think there is something wrong with the hoses or the radiator itself. I've been driving and keeping an eye on the scale and until now, everything seems O.K. although, at moments, the needle goes little bit above the half. That makes me suspecious a bit whether this is useful or not, and I might have to go on another visit to the garages. On the other hand, I've changed the wipers myself and, after doing them, I would suggest to everyone to just do it in a garage! My movements were those of a jerk today (and still). I can't walk straight or do anything right. I wonder why despite the fact I'm having a HAPPY life indeed! (... and please note the sarcasm).

Well, trying to push myself back to writing again, as I said before, and this time with a poem I made yesterday. I called Stranger Boy. As to why I called it this, or what is it about exactly, that's something I do like to consider as a secret. As for Alexander's story, there are no hits at the moment and no reviews. As for now, it is time to get to work with my transliteration...
__________
1105. thus Alexander kept silent for a moment
1106. and then he said to Khaznútím: what I am doing here?
1107. and Khaznútím replied: no orders arrived to me from Above,
1108. to tell you where to go and where to settle,
1109. and no knowledge lies in me, to tell the future,
1110. but I do wonder, how come a man like you in faith,
1111. accompanies a sinner like this wicked Shágí?
1112. thus Alexander answered: but this Shágí,
1113. he is regretting his deeds and sins,
1114. is it just and fair to keep him in custody and pain?
1115. and for eternal unrest to be with no solution to his case?
1116. I am verily sure in Heavens there is a way for everyone,
1117. to be forgiven in his life or after his death
1118. the Khaznútím then became silent for a moment
1119. and then this he said: your talk is of a noble man,
1120. yes, indeed what you are saying is true,
1121. and for you, and only for you,
1122. I shall spare this mortal from my servants,
1123. if he can prove that he is good after his death
1124. and then Alexander wondered about the last sentence
1125. and this he did ask the Khaznútím: and how this is to be done?
1126. and the Khaznútím answered: his body should be buried first,
1127. and I shall tell him my tasks later on,
1128. but, no help from you O Alexander, or else!

Alexander 6, V29.

One heck of a morning. Thousand trials to get into my internet account here in my work place, and MSN keeps knocking me off from the network I'm already upset for the results I got after stitching my Guest Room panorama which was not, the least to say, good. Adding to this fuss, a device in my work place went into inhibit state during the weekend and thanks to my colleague who did not foretell this, since he is the one who took care of it for some time now.

Meanwhile, I'm still working on the Guest Room panorama. In the weekend, I've started to stitch the panorama after adding control points myself in PTGui and trying to render the optimization in good results. For people who don't know, control points are the points of matching features between 2 images, by the computer analyzes the features in each image and try to blend them together in some way.
After I got the O.K., let's say, from the optimization process, I started the stitching process and this time, for my arrogant nature, I've set the scale to the maximum dimension possible for this panorama... 25,000 pixels by 12,500 pixels. The stitching, literally, took over 32 hours approximately! The result of this was an image in OpenEXR format, sizing around 830MB, which could not be opened by Photoshop or Photomatix at all. Anyway, I didn't delete the file and kept it like that, and worked then on a smaller panorama which was rendered and stitched in one hour or so. The results then were never to my satisfaction. Too many broken lines that I can't clone out or fix by Photoshop. In my desperate situation, I started to generate a template from stitching a reduced series of images (of the same panorama) that were in JPG format. I wanted to perfect the stitch for this one only, and then apply the template on the larger form, the HDR series. Alas, it didn't work as well and still the panorama had many broken lines.

The Guest Room, or as I called, the Golden Room because of the tone-mapping effect by Photomatix.

Maybe the broken lines aren't apparent in the small version, but in the larger one they are. I don't mind the broken lines in the flooring and tiles, but there are hard broken lines that MUST be fixed and fit properly in the decoration of the roof, the glass door, and the edges of the rugs. I'm thinking seriously of running the shoot again, but this time with my camera in landscape position. I think is what is causing the whole thing; the camera was in portrait position. The funny thing though, I've forgot to remove my slippers during the shoot and hence, as I announced, iti s the most important aspect of my image! I named it kuchi kuchi!

Kuchi Kuchi

Why this name, don't ask me. It just occured to me like that. The next time I shoot I really should enter this room with bare feet. I sought help from Photoshop to at least stitch the JPG files, and it was like a hoax. The program froze and hence, "end task" was the solution. I'm not willing to try again now.

For a spark of a moment now, I remembered that I still have images taken from Ireland and not processed yet. I should take a go on them now, specially with the lack of objects that I feel like taking pictures of.

Been thinking today of the writing work that overburdens my back for some time now. I didn't write any poem for some time now and this is too much really. I feel I want to write something and there are words crossing my mind but I just can't make a string and rhyme out of them. I renewed my account in www.writing.com today and eventually, I purchased a lower level account, since I'm more like a casual visitor now and not like what I've been before one year.
I've been thinking as well to post my Alexander's story there along with the transliteration texts, but they do need a spell check up of course, for both sides, the English and the Ayvarith text. Of course the Ayvarith text is the latinized text and not the original Ayvarith text! The only available original Ayvarith text is actually handwritten on A4 papers, and I might consider scanning one or two of these papers and post it here. They are full of scribbles and marks and correction marks..etc. They are a real mess.
For the time being, and until I finish the transliteration of Alexander 6 story, I decided already that my new homepage (in Fortunecity) shall not be including Flash contents, if possible. Too bad I won't be able to make sounds work in an easy way like in Flash, but well, it will keep me some time for myself later on. The thing I have to think about for the time being is the façade itself. I'm so awkward when it comes to programming languages and those HTML stuff, but I'll try like I did before and made the Flash webpage in GeoCities before.

I received one joke this morning. One of my pictures was sold on Fotolia. I really forgot I have an account there even. The purchase was somehow big; an image of the palm, in XXL size. Along with that, they sent me some email asking me to check my personal data and see for some tax information in their website. I looked a bit and, I got really sick of all that text. I'm looking at it in some other time. Even if I was not living in US or even a US citizen, they say I have to deal with it. They are withholding 28% of the payment, as I saw in their website under my sales report. A tax taken from someone with 5 dollars in his account... voila!

__________
673. Alexander looked amazed at the dead man
674. he was breathing hardly because of the dust and exhaustion
675. he raised his head and gazed around him slowly
676. and in front of him there was a shade of a man from afar
677. the stranger man had a bow in his hands and covered his face
678. and with some steps he was walking to Alexander over some cracks
679. Alexander became ready for another combat
680. but the man of the nomadic costume showed his face
681. and under the dim light of the moon Alexander gazed
682. and with a loud voice he did shout: Utéfah!
683. thus Utéfah smiled and shook the hand of the hero
684. but the hero remained silent and did not know a thing
685. Utéfah then wanted to calm the hero down from his amazement
686. and started his speech: did he hurt you with his poisoned dagger?
687. the hero replied with some stuttering: yes... no... he did not!
688. then Utéfah said in a calming voice: it is over do not worry,
689. this man was Shalmún the son of Yáhúv the son of Inaf,
690. his father was a murderer and his grandfather was a thief,
691. he inherited the manners of his ancestors and went after you,
692. for he heard what you and Ázilis, the blessed, said together,
693. and he thought you are after some treasure in the desert,
694. thus I followed him when I did not find him among the men,
695. verily he was a man of treachery,
696. verily he was a man of no manners.

Back to Normal?

Today was not quite a busy day... but I spent lot of time chatting in some rooms. I miss going there for some time so went on to try my luck again and get some new "friends" if I should say. Although I dedicated this day for translation, but I couldn't do more than 2 pages til this very moment, and since the time is close to when I leave this place, I guess I won't work on more of it. It was kind of an active day at work however; watching over devices, and answering phone calls like a secretary.

I'm back to fasting again. I got my 2 nieces 2 gifts yesterday... some "sand coloring." Hope they'll like it.

Maybe I reached a deal with myself concerning how to plan for my writing progressing... I guess I will make one day for translating and the next one for writing my story, and so on. As for poetry, I shall pin it down whenever inspiration strikes again. Some words are hovering around my mind but still I can't collect my thought and write something. I guess it would be something about the Dandelion.

We have a religious holiday tomorrow and that makes this weekend made of 3 days instead of 2! Must use them somehow, but I just can tell how! If only I can go to Failaka island for more photos to snap. Well, I might try as well to do some photography around my place somehow, or try to catch the sunrise as I used to do in the old days... but the sunrise nowadays is so early that I'm not sure I'm going to catch it. Sometimes you get so frustrated about your holiday that you just can't think of what to do in it until it's all passed out!

Well, time for me to pack my stuff and get back home and have a nap... I might do some mischief tonight!

Busy Busy Busy

It was one hard day at work... running here and there (and yesterday was as well) and checking with the latest updates and news at work.

I hate Mondays, but not because they are the first day of work, 'cos they aren't here, but most of problems happen in this day. I had a plan to help my friend by making a contact to someone and pray for some hope that I would get a feedback, but since it is Monday, the person I need to talk to was not there. Also, while I was driving my car today and listening to the Superstation RKFM, I heard DJ Linda propose a question in some contest, and she mentioned a website, I really wanted to answer that question but I couldn't follow her with the website and google did not help either. Monday!

While I was googling though, I found out that many people hated the superstation RKFM and some hated Linda herself... I wonder why is that? I mean, well, to me I'm not a radio fan, and not a fan of Superstation as well, since they play lot of music that just don't meet my mental needs, but I would say such bad things or express my anger in that hideous way all over the blogs! Would I? I hate when they play rock music and rap in the early hours of the morning when people are just waking up and need something soothing to let them smile by early morning while they go to hell... OPS sorry, to work. After all, I see that Linda is doing her best... I don't know her personally, but I think she's funny at sometimes.

I still feel some guilt after leaving the little kitty on the grass jut before the Marina Crescent in front of the seashore facade... the looks in the mother's eyes, that stopped to be available all the time in our yard, were like talking to me and say "where did you take my son?" I hate this feeling, but then I reckon back and convince myself that I would feel worse, if he died in front of me without being able to do anything to protect him.

Ironically and amazingly today amid the busy ups and downs at work, I was sparked with a thought of a poem and I typed it down. I submitted the poem as a contest entry for the Bite-Size contest in www.writing.com. I called it "With The Voice of The Silence" and it is a short dedication to all the deaf friends I knew online so far.