Beyond Samarkand

Browsing Flickr for pictures of motorcycles led me to looking up the Shangri Las classic "The Leader of the Pack" on YouTube. That led me to bizarre find in the annals of 80's cultural anthropology, a big hair band I had long since forgotten. In time for the New Year, behold! Happy New Year!

A name website a friend pointed me to, my interest in astrology and related arts is only for the use as tools in Jungian analysis, or self-analysis. Still, interesting stuff: The name of Kevin creates an overly-sensitive nature which causes you to sense and feel far more than you can understand or put into words. You have a deep, artistic, and creative side which shows through a love for music and literature. Writing is a more natural mode of expression for your deeper thoughts and feelings than the spoken word. You have an ability to concentrate and work intently on anything which holds your interest. However, you prefer to avoid routine, monotony, and mental tasks. Kabalarian Philosophy

I got confirmation I am registered for courses in a masters program, well, I'm in the certificate version but will be able to transfer into the MA program after this semester. Decided on the program too late to get a proper applicant package together. Still, I'm really, really excited about this. The program is in eLearning and course design . Pertinent to my current job, and pulls together the teaching and web experience over my career, careers? Not sure. But really glad to be back in school. All we really need to be happy is something to be enthusiastic about.

I've really been enjoying taking pictures and posting them on Flickr. Lately, I've done a lot of self-portraits. So, I was delighted when one of my photos was invited into a group. In this case a group for men that look like "Papa Bears". Bears from Brazil Hmmm... After flipping through some of the pics there, maybe I shouldn't be so delighted. Ah well.

Yesterday I discovered Wahat, a national park area between Shafa and Taif. I'm planning to go out next Thursday morning with the camera. The battery had run down on mine so I didn't have it with me. Always travel with a camera!

I read the news a lot living here in Saudi, and have been following the campaign material enthusiastically. With all the hype about Guiliani's hospital stay, I'm amazed not to see one topic addressed - the symptoms reported sound like a mild stroke. Maybe that's too conjectural for main stream news to mention, or seems like some kind of defamation. But, on reading the articles covering it, sounded like a stroke to me. Incapacitating headache in an adult male past his prime? I know if it was me, I'd be worried about a stroke. Worried enough to go to a hospital. Even if I had to turn the plane I was on around to do it. Oh...

Spending a lot of time on your own gives you time to reflect. On yourself, on life, on what you are doing. It also gives you time to indulge things you might not otherwise, fearing the reaction of family and friends. For a long time now, I've been wondering what I would look like bald. The hair at the back of my head has been thinning out in an annoying fashion. I recall it starting that way on my older brother when I was in my twenties. I told myself if my hair went the same way, I would shave my head. The result, well, you can see and decide for yourself. Surprisingly, I'm pretty happy with the look. If my beard wasn't coming in with so much grey already, I'd consider getting it shaved every week. As it is, I'm letting it grow back out. Just won't have to worry about getting it trimmed for a while.

I've been living in Saudi Arabia for almost eight months. A few months back, I picked up a new nickname, Haroun. I did this for a couple of reasons, the main one being that is made interactions with people around here much easier. When you provide someone with a name in their own language, they immediately feel on step closer affinity to you. As I'm dealing with Saudis, the most xenophobic of Arabians, this is a big help. When I tell them I'm a Muslim as well, they immediately latch on to me and want to hear my story. While I've no intentions of changing my name "officially", I'm pretty happy to use the name at this point. It feels comfortable. I've gone by a nickname for years and years already, so it seems natural to acquire a new one at this point in my life.

I'd set up an account on WordPress and then got a web address for Beyond Samarkand. I pushed a bunch of old material over. Thankfully the Kyrgyzstan accounts still exist in Yahoo and other places. And finally it was ready to go. I didn't use it. With the new year close at hand, and feeling confident that the problems with my e-mail are over. I thought I'd try setting up on Blogger again, as the problems I was having apparently weren't their fault after all. This is the test post to get things started. No fanfare this time.