Diverse Ramblings

It-Tielet Karnival

With apologies to the real programmers out there ;-) here's the third Karnival tal-Bloggijiet...

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Owen_Cutajar:Technology/Electronics/Digital_Media/Almost_bought_an_iPod

Jacques_René_Zammit:Society/Current_Events/Mediterranean/Ħobza_u_Sardina

Athena:Archaeology/Sites_By_Country/Malta/Wanton_destruction

Pierre_J._Meilak:Culture/Arts/History_of_Music/Stejjer,_laqmijiet_u_ritratti

Twanny:Linguistics/Contextual/Arabic/Ħarsa_msaħħra,_ħarsa_mħassra

Antonio:Business/Strategic_Management/Takeovers/Aħbar_Infernali

L-Imżebbel:Humanities/Literature/Autobiographical/Kelmtejn_Qabel_Immorru

Mistoqsija:Life/Interpersonal_Relationships/Intimate/Perché_l'amore

Toni_Sant:Geography/Physical/United_Kingdom/Now_I'm_Here!

MaltaGirl:Social_Sciences/Sociology/Children/Games_children_play

Sharon_Spiteri:Travel/Exploration/London/Out_and_about...

Robert_Micallef:Internet/Weblogs/Meta_Blogging/My_blog_experience

Feeling festive?

The third Karnival tal-Bloggijiet goes live in one week in three days tomorrow, on Thursday 1st September.

So now would be a good idea for you to think about decide on send me the link for which of your wonderful posts you want to submit this month :-)

There are no criteria (beyond that you be somehow involved with Malta), English and Maltese both welcome - you just pick one of your favourite posts and send me the link. You can do this by leaving a comment on this post, or emailing me; ~~ maltagirl ~~ at ~~ gmail ~~ dot ~~ com

Previous Karnivals are here and here :-)

Give blood - save a life

The National Blood Transfusion Service has sent out a message saying that there is a shortage of blood due to recent tragedies. The lowest stock is of blood types O+ and A-.

If you are in Malta, and are healthy, then please think about going to donate. It usually takes under an hour, and the nurses are really nice :-) Here's some answers to Frequently Asked Questions.

You cannot donate if you have tattoos, if you are pregnant/that time of the month, if you are sick, or on medication like antibiotics or to control medical conditions. Nose spray is OK :-) Men must weigh at least 50kg, women at least 47kg. A nurse and a doctor will check your blood pressure, temperature etc. to make sure you're OK to donate - they won't let you if it would be unhealthy for either you or the recipient (if your blood pressure is too low, for e.g.) If you have any questions you'd like to ask before you go, you can contact the NBTC on 25951599, 21234767 or 21238756.

If you're planning on going, you can (but it's not bil-fors) eat salty food and drink lots of water beforehand to raise your blood volume. I do this because I tend to have low blood pressure, to make sure that they will let me do it :-) You will be given water/juice/tea/coffee to drink during and after your donation. Avoid eating fatty foods beforehand like pastizzi because they might not be able to use the blood.

You can donate at the Centre, which is just to your right as you stand outside the gates of St. Luke's Hospital - it's open from 8am to 6pm every day, including Sundays and public holidays. Blood donors get access to a car park, but I don't know the details - ask at the reception. You can also donate at St. Philip's Hospital in Santa Venera 8am-11am on weekdays (Tel: 21449060). In Gozo, you can donate at the Gozo General Hospital 8am to 11:30am on weekdays and 8am to 11am on Saturdays.

IMPORTANT: you must take your I.D. card with you or you won't be allowed to donate!!! You must also be between the ages of 18 and 60 (17 with written consent of parents).

Give blood - save a life.

Brownies, mmmm...

Disclaimer: Before I get started, I would like to point out that this post is a complete and utter work of fiction, and when I say that Little Sis and I made brownies at twenty past midnight, I am of course fabricating the whole thing. *waves at Dad*. On with the show...

---

It was 17 minutes past midnight last night and I had decided not to join Little Sis in watching CSI: Las Vegas because it was a repeat of a repeat. I was on my way to bed when she switched off the TV and bounced towards me.

You see, some would say that the cool thing about your parents living elsewhere for a while is that you get to do whatever you want.

Not so.

The really cool thing is that you get to do whatever you want, whenever you want.

And what Little Sis wanted, was to make brownies. And who am I to disappoint her, miskina?

She has a great recipe that she discovered a few years ago when she conned her English teacher into setting the class a "Find a recipe, follow it, and bring what you make to school" assignment. In the next couple of years, Little Sis's brownies became legend even among the teachers, and proved a handy source of income at school bazaars.

So yes, of course I could stay up a little later if brownies were involved ;-)

I also had the brilliant idea of making a blogumentary - document the process with the intention of posting it later - so I dashed off to get the camera.

What poor Little Sis didn't know was that I had only slept for three hours in the previous two days... and extreme fatigue makes me hyper... she soon regretted her decision to involve me in her culinary arts. Oh well, you live and learn.

Favourite quotes (uttered by Little Sis)

• I knew this was a bad idea and that I should have waited until after you went to bed.

• Now all the bloggers are going to want to come over for brownies. Good Lord, can you imagine a bloggers' sleepover? You would be blinded by the constant camera flashes.

• Put the camera DOWN!

  
  

Favourite quotes (uttered by MaltaGirl)

• *giggle*

• *giggle*

• *snort*

  
  

(hey, I told you I was hyper)

Anyway, here's the recipe... it's very quick and very easy (Little Sis managed even while hampered by a rather punchy Big Sis)

And here's the blogumentary of Little Sis (and yours truly) making them at twenty past midnight a completely decent hour of the day. That clock? Is showing twenty past NOON of course. Not midnight. Absolutely not.

Piglet r0x0rs my s0x0rs

The principal disadvantage to wearing trousers is that people can't see the coolness of my non-matching socks...

I mean, it's a crying shame that dozens of people this morning were deprived of the chance of seeing Piglet!

At least YOU got to see him :-)

CHOGM trumps Graduation

Just now my mother wanted to know the date of my graduation ceremony because she'd been talking to my cousin (who will graduate in Law). Turns out he was quite right, the 2005 ceremonies have been scheduled about ten days later than usual, because of the CHOGM.

I'm already sick of hearing CHOGM, CHOGM, CHOGM, and no doubt it will just get worse over the next three months *sigh*.

And the really bad news?

My graduation is a MORNING ceremony.

9.30am, I ask you, what kind of time is that?

Judging by what I saw at Michael's graduation last year (and that was an evening ceremony!), I suspect that most of us will just go straight from Paceville *snicker*

Anyway, better go study or I won't be going to the ceremony after all...

Need an excuse to celebrate?

I just realised that it's been a year and a day since I began blogging at Typepad!

Happy Bloggiversary to me :-)

*passes around Kinnie and chocolate cake*

Bajtar tax-Xewk

I reclaimed the camera from Little Sis, so, more photo goodness on the way, yay!

Today I had almost arrived home when I passed a guy standing outside a truck in the street, peeling bajtar tax-xewk (prickly pears). I kept walking, but then thought "why not?" and went back and asked for a kilo.

I think I had tried them once, but I didn't remember the taste. I had learned about the soak-them-in-water-so-the-spines-fall-out trick from an itinerant greengrocer in Buġibba, though!

Watching this guy peel the pears today was fascinating - he topped and tailed them, scored a line joining the two cut ends, and just peeled away the skin as though he was opening a handbag. Then his little daughter scooped up the fruit and put it in a plastic bag :-)

I bought a kilo, but now I know that about 600 grams of it must have been seeds, lol, and most of the rest is juice.

I mean really, it's ALL seeds, with just enough flesh to hold them together - prickly pears seem hardly worth eating, really, except for the novelty value. I've had two, and now I have another ten to go... *groan*... oh well, at least it's healthy!

(they look rather like alien pods from a sci-fi movie, don't they?)

Talk about lousy timing

My relations seem to have an uncanny sense of timing, especially the international ones...

A couple of weeks ago, when I was right at the end of a fantastic movie on TV, the whole British clan shows up unannounced on the doorstep... and tonight, RIGHT when I threw a double handful of onion and greenpepper in with the chicken I was stir-frying, who should phone but my South African aunt, whom I only get to talk to about once every three years or so... oh well, we managed to have a quick chat (and me be invited to visit her in SA, lol) before the chicken got TOO burnt.

Sometimes I think it would be handy if Real Life (tm) came with signs like MSN has for "busy" or "away", lol.

Becky and Felix

I remember the first time I saw an episode of Dejjem Tiegħek, Becky.

My best friend was getting married in a week's time, (we're talking early October 2003) and I was at her house along with the rest of the bridal party for the "prova" for the make-up because I was the maid of honour. Watching women debate over shades of eyeshadow is less interesting to me than watching paint dry, so I joined the children and spouses in front of the TV. And they were watching an episode of the new season of Dejjem Tiegħek, Becky (where Becky is missing at sea, possibly drowned).

I liked it, but didn't get to watch it much at home, because in the evening we democratically agree over what to watch on TV, and I'm the only one in my family who wants to watch Maltese shows :-)

A couple of months ago, TVM began showing the last season of DTB as repeats three times a week, and I've managed to catch about a third of the episodes. My main reason for watching was to see Reesa ;-) and I also recognised some other actors from MADC performances... Alexandra Camilleri Warne (she played the leading lady in the 2004/5 Panto), Edward Caruana Galizia (Lucentio/Cambio in The Taming of The Shrew) and Angelica Coppini (Bianca in TToTS).

I didn't know beforehand, but today was the last episode of the season of DTB, where Eileen Montesin interviews various cast members. She only spoke to "Jamie", and not to Reesa *pout* but they showed a scene where Jamie tries to get his parents back together :-)

Speaking of Maltese soap operas (or telesirijals), I came across a new one a few weeks ago that I really liked. I found out that it is called Il-Familja Grech, and it's actually a season from 2000 that is being shown as a repeat. The show is all about a family of five; mother Marta and father Felix have three children, the eldest is Robert, then there's Antida, and finally a very cute Patrick. The credits don't show the actors' names, so I don't know who she is, but it was "Marta"'s acting that impressed me during the first scene that I saw, and made me want to keep watching.

The more I watch, the more I am impressed by ALL the actors. They don't come across as being at all stilted, as often happens during "telesirijals". The show is very different to DTB - it doesn't have that "hey, this is a soap opera!" feel to it.

I really like it :-)

After watching a couple of episodes, Felix really caught my eye during one scene where he was sitting on the sofa with his wife, and he was quite animated - he must have been explaining something or maybe trying to persuade her. There was something about the way he moved his arms and hands that seemed awfully familiar to me...

Then I twigged - it was Anthony Ellul, who I had seen playing Petruchio in The Taming of The Shrew!

Man, these actors really get around ;-)