62 = 26 sizor

I am now officially, before heaven and earth, sitting on 26’s. The head was taken somewhen between the ages of 5 and 10. And like any other normal kid of that age, my face used to be not-so-bright.

 

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61. Silehagere

I am shallow. As Cee Lo would put it, it is deep how I can be so shallow. I am more about style rather than substance: may be it is the Gemini in me (I said me!). I wish I could break Ethiopia down, write volumes about what it is how it is…. Better yet, I wish I had billions, somewhat could pinpoint people who desperately need what money can buy; somewhat reach these people before it is too late; leave just enough for me, the bare necessities; start a chain reaction of goodness, a pay it forward kinda shit.  All this not forgetting that the “bare necessities” change with the amount of money one has got. And what money can not buy, I wish I could inspire Ethiopians to be the supreme human beings they can be.

 

Wishes…

 

In the meantime, I post dull thoughts, mostly about myself.

 

But that does not mean I do not care.  From within the amphipathic cocoon of all I have been blessed with and my selfishness, I care.

 

I care that 6 million Ethiopian children are at risk of malnutrition; 3.5 million Ethiopians have been stricken by drought; about bomb explosions and the death and injury of innocent Ethiopians; about the unbearable increase in living expenses; about another  17 years of Ethiopia spent under another government who can not stay war-free and about neighboring countries who themselves do not fare better in that respect; about people living in sub-humane conditions and yet biher bihereseb vs. hager priority ,rights debates (as I remember from newspaper articles  in ‘93 E.C.   the priority thing was a major  point of disagreement between Prof Mesfin+ Dr Birhanu  and students in  the meeting  at Biherawi Lottery Adarash  i.e.   sew then biher  then Ethiopiawi /t  or  sew then Ethiopiawi/t  then  biher. I feel that the debate has continued in many circles lehitmet eskegebahubet gize dires. But I mean whatever yehagere lijoch ! Should not we be focusing on the sew part alone for  like  a hundred years from now  and let the rest two fall into place like I suspect they will? Kedmen sew binhon ayishalim?); about the decree of a Flag Day which is well and good except that it will vilify more our , I am sorry to say old flag.  People decided to take their grievances out on beauty.   

‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all

                 Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.’ Keats

 

Our flag was da truth yo! Take a good look at it:

 

                                          

That will always be my Ethiopia.

 

 

Like I said I care about Ethiopia. I care about her in more ways than the measly points raised above. I just do not write about her or do things for her enough.  Why? Sometimes things are way too complicated and other times I am too simple (as in zim bilo) to do anything about them. Will it change anytime soon? Will I change? That’s anybody’s guess.

 

Nonetheless I know one thing: that I want Ethiopians to get acquainted with another singer from Colombia. 

 

 

Told ya ! Shallow.

But it is the hundredth post-how perfect!

 

 

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guzo 2

I got up, turned on my laptop and checked the time. I thought I had one more hour and went back to sleep. Sure called immediately. My laptop was set in the UK time which was one hour behind! Saved again! As I left to the train station, I saw this poor bird which I had seen in the same position the previous night. Probably it was too dark for her to fly. It then occurred to me that the “big thing” the old man was referring to was this bridge.

In the train I met an American tourist who was heading back to her country. She was a grandmother but strong enough to go places. She wasn’t strong enough to carry her luggage when we reached Milan though J She offered “10 dalars for lunch” which I politely turned down. I got a big hug and took my train to Veronna, where I would meet Sure.

I was excited to meet Sure. In almost two years now I have met only two or three people whom I have known for a while. We then took the next train to Venice. The moment we went out of the train station was old architecture, lots of water and a swarm of tourists.

Since we had about six hours to visit Venice (we had to catch the last train to Sure’s place), the plan was to take the ferry to what we have been told as a must see and then walk back to the train station, visiting the city at the same time.

I didn’t know Venice was going under! The whole town is sinking. Boats are everywhere.

We got off in I don’t remember it’s name. There were big domes. Some were under construction, perhaps in preparation for the tourists coming on summer.

I enjoyed feeding the birds. One of them thought my head was a comfy black rock.

Everywhere we went there was something to see (except “gurangur” places which were different in some way too).

I got a caricature of myself too! I know, he could have done better but mastawesha yihonal!

Ok I was trying to take the chef’s picture with the pizza to show the perspective but I wasn’t lucky. Trust me when I saw these pizza’s were very big!

Time to go back. We caught the train to Trento, Sure’s town. We made shiro be qibe be dinich. Yummy! The next day we got up at 11 AM. The plan was to visit Trento. We visited a castle in Trento. It had a tower with drawings for each month. It showed what people did in each month. One interesting aspect of the drawing was that the “importance” of the figures was shown by their size. A peasant will be drawn in a smaller size than a landlord for example. It has its dumb side and interesting side. Sorry, taking pictures was not allowed in this particular area. I took pictures of the inside but they came out too dark. Note to myself: atkuatir, get a better camera.

We then met Semhal, talked for a while and visited an old Church

We took the cable car to the top of a cliff. Cable cars are fun. They are not at all scary (Semhal had warned me that I needed diapers).

We had dinner at THE restaurant in Trento. Lasagna and pizza. I will save you the details. Just go there and taste it for yourself.

Next day was too short since I had to leave at noon. Getting up early was hard too. I visited the town with Semhal.

Visited an underground museum,

had lunch at THE restaurant

and run off to Edinburgh! Quick, put your jacket on, and no shorts!

Conclusion: Visit Italy and take me with you!

guzo 1

I packed two bags. Got late as usual. I was hoping to get the bus to save the environment but calling a cab was unavoidable. I got an aisle seat. Very boring. I got to “mengoraded” here and there though. Two hours later the plane had landed. The whatever-he-is-called-guy inspected my passport closely. He gave it back without a word. I think he was unhappy because I was loading batteries when I should have appeared to be begging for his mercy. Enter Italy. Eat your heart out Betty! I took the picture of these lovely couple at the airport before rushing out to buy my bus ticket.

The bus from the airport to Milan took about an hour, longer than I had expected. No time to take pictures. I met “a brother” who was willing to take my hand and show me which train to catch.

The walls in Italy are full of drawings.

There was an Italian woman sitting in front of me. Luckily I had closed a window for her so she had the patience to try again and again to tell me where to get off. Then I started chatting with a German family. They showed me where they were going and what they had already visited. Suddenly I reached my destination and quickly got off. The train had started to leave when I just remembered that I had left my camera on the train. You can guess what I was hoping for when I heard someone whistling. Yes! The German guy was sticking his neck out holding the camera. I run with the train and he carefully threw the camera. I waved all I can to show how thankful I was. That was a feel good moment for them too! And I was in Varenna, a small town in the north of Italy.

It was around 9PM when I arrived. I saw two taxis leaving with a group of people who were in the same train that I came on. The place then became quiet. I thought the hell with taxis, the map says my hotel is 10 minutes walk away from the station anyway. But following the map turned out to be difficult. I went back to the train station to start all over again when I saw an old man walking out of his house. He understood that I was confused and started talking Italian to me. I spoke one of the phrases I had quickly jotted down on a piece of paper before taking the cab to the airport “non parlo italiano”. He understood, but that aside, communication was next to impossible. After a lot of sounds and movement of fingers and hands, we came to the agreement that I should go down the stairs, turn left, and when I see some big thing I should turn right. I said “gracie” and went on. I didn’t get what the big thing was but I found the hotel easily.

The woman at the reception (I think she is the owner too) told me my reservation had not been confirmed. I had seen her run out to hand a scarf that a customer had forgotten so I was not very alarmed when she said that. She then said she will give me a room nevertheless. It was room number 8, my lucky number.

I took a shower and went downstairs to have dinner. They said they had finished food. It was around 10 AM. I went out and walked the street. The street was quiet and the lights were red-ish. I realized that the town was even smaller than I expected (in fact I thought it was a city). Having looked at the wikipedia entry just now, the population is only 882! One of those places where everyone will know what everyone is up to. “Did you hear that entina just got off the phone with his ex-girlfriend” I entered a nice looking restaurant. The waiter was friendly and understood English. I ordered Calzoni. I had seen this in one of Seinfeld’s episodes (comedy show) and thought “I will have that when I go to Italy!”. It is a folded pizza, easier to eat. You can have it like a sandwich although it can get too big so you may need to cut it first. I had a chat with a guy next to me. The conversation started when I told the lady with him to put her phone in her pockets (it was about to fall out) and he then asked where I was from. I was surprised that he called out Addis Ababa, Asmara, and Eritrea. I forgot to take the receipt for dinner (my company should have paid for it). When I got back I met a coworker who had arrived earlier. Our task was on the next day. We talked for a few seconds, made an appointment for the next day, and I went to my room. There was an English channel but I thought Italian channel goes with Calzoni so I turned that on and slipped inside. The place was too warm but thanks to the journey, that wasn’t a problem!

The next morning I got up refreshed, took a shower and went straight to the training place. A coworker and myself were giving training as part of a week long event. It was located in a beautiful part of the town (actually the whole town is built on a river border so there is a scene everywhere you go.

I had lunch with the whole group. Pizza! The “real pizza” has a very thin base that you can’t hold a piece on one end and expect it to stay flat. You need to somehow fold it to have a bite, or you need to use knife and fork. I got the receipt this time because I was with the group!

At the end of the day I bought a train ticket for the next day and took the ferry to Bellagio, a town just beside Varenna (15 minutes by boat). Unfortunately the others had already visited the town so I went alone. The town lies right where the three major lakes in Italy intersect. Very beautiful town.

I got back to Varenna at around 9 AM, late enough to miss the dinner appointment with the group and the restaurant in my hotel had closed too. I went back to the place where I had dinner the previous night (many other places were closed too) and ordered another kind of pizza for take away. I forgot to take the receipt again!

It is then that things got tricky. I needed an alarm to catch the train for the next morning. My phone had run out of batteries and the hotel had closed (I could have arranged a wake up call). I thought I could work my laptop somehow but it refused to make any kind of sound. I then had to call Sure (my friend) to ask him to give me a wake up call!

60. Some kumneger and tasteless bualt for the most part

Reasons why I need me a gal pronto:

 

1. I need to donate my cornea. Months back the people at the bank told me how it works. One needs someone else to take the responsibility of seeing to it that the thing gets delivered in due time. Imagine me asking my parents “after I am dead and before you wrap me up, could you please make sure that…”- that won’t happen; at least not in the “foreseeable future”.

It would be nice to get someone to help me do one really good thing in my life/death. Why the urgency? Death is imminent! Do not read too much into that one though; I meant it as a concept.

 

 2. One of my examiners is going to be an Ob/Gyn. There is bound to be a lot of questions from a topic I am not well versed on-the workings of the female reproductive system. I am desperate for some schooling, a crash course if you will, so that I will not look like a chump in the defense. I hope and dread that there is going to be a defense somewhen within two months’ time.

 

3. I wanna make love in this lab. My days here are, fingers crossed, and toes curled, numbered. This calls for the realization of something memorable and daring. And should none of the lecture halls be available, the event will have to be moved to the lab. I will be damned if I mess up a defense in my bedroom.

 

4. This is no longer about me. Be it “key and lock” or “induced fit”, there is someone meant for me; someone looking for me. I can not make her wait any longer. I must put an end to her loneliness and I do not care about the people she used to think were me.

So it is all about her and I am going to find her.  I am going to find her if I have to tear another blackhole into the universe (I love to quote Jim)

 

But seriously, I have to stop regarding getting laid and the lead up to as bravado; I must consider it as something people do; and it should not have been the central theme of many of my posts. I mean, we were getting into this taxi at Kazanchis right; and there was this girl sitting alone on the seat behind gabina. Now, I would never have sat next to her given the taxi was almost empty; and I did not. But this guy sits next to her and he starts conversation with one of those voices you know; mind you his friends are in the gabina. And I am like wow! Not really, that was Peter Russell. I sat there fearing for him that she is going to set him straight any minute. The taxi stopped for the ritual of tirf mechan and another guy was added to the seat in question bringing the people in question even closer.

Moments later the new guy had relocated to a better position and the seat had room to sit three new people comfortably.

How about that for exaggeration, huh?!

 

Man, earth girls are difficult! And particularly when not talked to. So why not think more in the line of what a Vatican official has said recently? Aliens can not be ruled out. (And another shrewd statement, “I think the big bang theory is the most reasonable explanation for the creation of the earth”). Only when I am abducted by a femalien will I have a real chance. Then she will break it down for me, in one of those voices you know, (Clothes off-Gym class Heroes just came on),”What it do earthling! I come to make you come. Us doing the nasty is necessary for the future well being of both our galaxies. Take off your clothes”. Then I will go “Well,if you put it that way…Do your thing ma…rtian!”

 

Two of my latest favorites:

 

No hay igual-Nelly Furtado

 

Spanish is kicking my ass: got 61/100

 

And Girls-Afroman

 

The “come and go at the same time” line-priceless! So is the chicken thing that he does.

 

 

I had a guy die on me. It was in my dream and he was drowning. I pulled him out and pumped his chest and all. The water came gushing out alright but he did not make it.  Bummer because on the movies the person always gurgles and wakes up.

 

When I woke up one interpretation I could find for the dream was that the effort I am putting in to keep some things alive is going to fail. But quickly I downgraded it to a nightmare and hope was restored.

 

I have been wearing this wrist band for over eighteen months and today one of my nieces decided to chew on it. Look where the cut is:

                                               

 

 

 anyone who still believes there is hope for Ethiopia, take it up with the rubber.

 

 

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Egzer siyaweta

I was withdrawing 200 pounds to pay for rent. When the ATM gave me my card, lemin carden wesije guzoyen alketilim! After a few steps I turned back and pulled out my money. awtan new yemibalew meches. the same thing happened to me in the supermarket when I forgot my 5 pound change. but these days they got some beeping sound to remind you.

enante selam nachu?

rewire

I was down at Southampton a few days back. It has been one year and eight months since I had seen such a beautiful weather! We Edinburgh people are depraved of it! Man, weather has a big influence on one’s mood. When it is sunny and bright it is happy happy.

I also liked something that I saw at the airport. A muslim guy with one of those head coverings. I did some searching online to find out what it is called but no luck. There is something called Hijab but that is usually used to refer to womens coverings. This guy was wearing the one that usually Osama wears (at least what we see on TV) and he was loading luggages on the plane. Having being associated this head covering with terrorists, one would make a pause when they see a guy with the same dressing handling luggages on the plane!

I don’t know if they had done it deliberately to prove a point like “We don’t think all muslims are terrorists, and see we hire them at the airport” because there may be some dress codes at the airport. Maybe it is allowed at all, I don’t know. But in any case I was very happy to see him. Currently within some brains the “Head covering” wire is directly connected to the “Terrorist” alarm. Hopefully the “Head covering” will now be connected to “Muslim” or “Arab”. Or just “Head covering” because even non-muslim Africans wear these things. Maybe wire it to back to itself. We also have to rewire the “Muslim” which is connected to “Terrorist” in some brains. So many wires to rewire!

I was about to mark an email as spam but after seeing the contents I just left it in my inbox. The subject was “What is the secret of success?”

1) Decide what you want( Be Precise! Clarity is Power)
2) Take Action (Because Desire is not Enough)
3) Notice what’s working out
4) Change your approach until you achieve what you want

Do you agree?

59. Kidus yours truly and the hattrick that was not to be

  Lo and behold! (for I am about to get spiritual on your asses)

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Yesterday was Meazia 30.

You know how these days we are having no electricity for about 14 hours a day, twice or trice a week because of the shift thingie. Yesterday was one of those days and I was returning home from school around 8 in the evening. Took the usual route down to Mastawekia Minister, with its new found darkness, owing to the power shortage I suspect. Checked the situation at the taxi stop in front of Ethiopia Hotel and headed down to Lagahar. The taxis that recently had been more kind to Haya Hulet goers as compared to those headed for Arat Kilo (Lancha and Bole seem to be ever lucky) apparently had  decided to switch it up and I ended up taking the Higer ,Kendo or whatever its name is for the second time in three days ,for the second time ever. The problems with Lonchins and Higers, as I see it, crowding (the later appears to be better) and not being able to get off at the right stop. Why the second problem? I guess I am not assertive enough to yell out “woraj ale” among all those people, pass through all those people, get off and get on my way. I rather see if there are some people who have the same stops as I.

 

Yes,  Haya Hulet teshagro instead of Wuha Limat. While on the longer way home, I was wondering if I was about to do it for the third time. The last two days of our turn to be “powerless” and “in the dark”,  power had come back  the same instant, give or take thirty seconds, I walked into the neighborhood or home. You can imagine what an ego booster that must have been and especially happening  to a guy who gets off from associating things.

 

And so I walked; on the unfinished asphalt road; fully expecting to light up the barrio; like I was Mihiret Debebe; or more like the patron saint of hydroelectric  power. Moments later, I was sitting at home, in the dark, listening to mezmur.  When they finally decided that we had enough, this song was playing which had the line “chelemayen yaberaligne” in its chorus (an AAMW band song). I know that it is squaring off Jesus with EEPCO and I wish he could would smite them, show them the electric side of Him. What I really wish is that if He would help them get their act together-help Ethiopia get her act together.

 

Today is Ginbot and. Crap! Today is Ginbot and?!

 

I am at a particularly dark spell in my life for all the brightness surrounding me. I am so tired, physically and mentally, that I make a zombie seem like Chris Brown. I am having mood swings like it was the sixties. I know I have been doing a lot of self-diagnosis lately; and yesterday I was checking for the symptoms of bipolar disorder (some say Nina Simone had it). But not to worry: I am a few symptoms short and there are things which if I do a certain way, I hope might help relieve the existing “symptoms”.  If not, then I am screwed.

 

It is Ginbot and but I have not yet finished the lab work of the project. And the write up, I am only starting with writing the subjects and methods. The above facts are scary as compared to what they should have been. In my prayers I say ” I know you are already there on my behalf and thank you for that.But until I get there, help me to be strong enough to do my best and enjoy every step of the way”. But as you may well know, it is hard to live your prayers.

 

And so the 120 days have become 90, 60 and now 30; and I have not achieved what I set out to. I am at the final frontier, so to speak, but things have not yet been finalized. The days flow by and I am enthralled in the suspense of how things will turn out: I do not know the end to the film that I am making.

 

You know, I had dreams of turning the defense into an attack; get on the examiners faces and pull a “what you know about that huh!”  kind of shit. Now, I would be lucky to finish up and make it to the defense hall; and after that, I would be pretty lucky to make it out of the hall in one piece. Hell!by the rate I am going, I would gladly take three pieces. Forget the head and torso: all I need will be my two legs with my priapic prick mounted on them. Then I could be like the headless horseman from Sleepy Hollow. He had a sword though; mine is more like a  dagger . The dick used to be an individual organism just like the mitochondria and chloroplast so fear not that it can not be left to its wits. Just do not ask me how people or dicks used to procreate before their merger . 

I can just picture me, or some of me rather, roaming the streets at night; terrorizing the neighborhood; females scared to be on the streets after 7 and shit…

 

 

Like I tried to point out, I am in deep shit. Pray for me that the darkness surrounding me be lifted and on that day I give praise to the Lord and Him only; and I relegate myself to the shadow of His glory. And it is no all about the defense; it is about life. Thank you!

 

I remember writing some months back that Sofia’s sophomore album was not as good as her debut. I now stand corrected on that statement and actually think it was bangin’. It would be nice if she and Mirtnesh could do a duet. I am sure the thought only of two people who believe in the same thing but kept apart by technicalities getting together on a project about a common subject will be sooooooooo shocking to a lot of people. Sorry to offend anyone; and you are entitled to your opinions. But I think that is what they are-mere technicalities.

 

Henock  Abebe has come out  with a brand new release. I wonder if he has something as hot as “Dejish emetalehu” in there.

 

I guess it is safe to say that I was back with another long one,

 

 

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a comment turned post

 Arhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh………..for me this is scary and it all goes back once again to the environment and how it is changing. Man is a social animal too, what would become of us….. will we turn into canibals… who knows, but then again Callatians ate thier dead to honor them, their’s is a culture thing though.  What I am saying is, we need to sustain this environment that we live in. We are losing the amphibians that are the best indicator species of a healthy environment and through our greed we are destroying everything. I was actually thinking about saying something about this for a while now. For the past two weeks or so, everytime I am driving on the high way I have seen atleast one dead squirrel or raccoon on the road. And one time there was blood all over an intersate road, I assumed that would be a blood of a scared out of its skin deer that came out of the woods. It breaks my heart to see the carcass lying on the road. On the other part of the world there are people that carry toads from one side of the road to the other. Why cannot we care enough. We have Jack Hanna here,  he trys his best to teach us to appreciate the wild life and the world we live in. We have people like Jeff, who make even the most dangerous animal seem very docile, because in reality that is how the animals of the world are as long as we donot cross thier boundary. I mean seriously we are no different, even the most shy person would do anything to defend his/ her territory. We go into their world, take over thier habitat, then we blame them. The seal changing his normal habit, I strongly believe that it has something to do with climate change. Steve gave his life to help us understand how big the problem is, but we still donot get it. This is just more than Al Gore winning the NOBEL , this needs to be fixed. I am sad that Madagascar’s precious Lemur is dissappearing,  sad that we are losing the world’s medicine cabinet ( as someone called the Amazon forest) and others.

58.Ayizon ayizon ayizon ayizon…

Eskahun kalanebebachihut arif were new-anbibut!

Well,you and I both, my 16 stone buddy!

Where the penguins at? Bring ‘em out,bring ‘em out!

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