WHATEVER YOU DO IN LIFE

DECORATING KUWAIT FLAG WITH MESSAGES AT SHARQ MALL

While I was at Sharq Mall last night, there were lots of people writing messages on a huge Kuwait  flag to express their love for Kuwait. This must be a part of the Hala Februray 2013, National and Liberation Day celebration. I enjoyed the opportunity to write 'Love you Kuwait'. All the wonderful feelings I have for Kuwait, having lived here for almost all my life, is condensed in those three words. What more can I say? God bless Kuwait all the people that live in this beautiful country.

LET THE CHANGE HAPPEN BY SHOSHANNAH QUEL SUEZ

My friend Shoshannah Quel-Suez has a beautiful blog Alpha, Omega, and Everything in Between where she posts amazing inspirational articles that are intended to guide, enrich and empower every day journey of  our life. I would like to share her recent post 'Let Change Happen'. Do visit her blog to check out more posts and be inspired!

Image source: Astrea Sri Ana's facebook page

LET THE CHANGE HAPPEN

Source : http://www.alphaomegaandeverythinginbetween.blogspot.com/

CIRCUS AT SHARQ MALL

Saturday March 2 will be the last day of the ongoing circus event for families and children at the Sharq Mall as a part of the Hala Februrary 2013 celebration. There are two shows, one at 5.30pm and 7.30pm at the amphitheater. It will certainly be fun for children. I happened to be shopping at Sharq Mall last evening. I could only see the last bit of the circus, because we had arrived late and I had some shopping to do besides being busy taking photos around the mall.  It will certainly be fun for children. So pay a visit to the Sharq Mall amphitheater today and enjoy the circus.

LOVE IS INFINITE

HUMOR - IMPULSIVE BUYING

MY PHOTO FOR THE DAY - CELEBRATION AND MINDLESSNESS

Some of the mindless behavior I noticed while we went to see the  Lights and decorations in Ahmadi  during the National Day Celebrations, was 

* People picnicking in the evening and leaving the trash and left over food in the grass despite  so many trash bins installed for public convenience.

* Children were pulling at the mushroom and flower structures covered with lights. The parents could have stopped them. Not only the structure and lighting could be spoiled by mishandling, it's not safe for children to be playing with electrical wires and light bulbs. Many of the children were seen walking over a broad carpet of tiny blue lights spread on the ground. Their legs, feet and footwear were getting entangled in them  and they had to struggle a bit to come out, while the parents just stood there watching. Those lights are not meant to be walked all over. It's was just a part of the lights decoration which we supposed to stand back and enjoy. 

* In many areas, as a part of the Ahmadi landscape, there are colorful and pretty flowers growing at ground level which children and people were trampling upon. It was evening, and well, it wasn't all that dark either. If one were to look, the flowers, stems and leaves are visible.

Trash thrown mindlessly in the grass with left over food

JENNIFER LAWRENCE THE NEW FACE OF MISS DIOR

Jennifer Lawrence the stunning young actress aged 22, of the Hunger Games fame and who won the Best Actress award at the Oscars  2013 held recently for her role in Silver Linings Playbook, is the new face of Miss Dior. She is shown wearing the new Spring collection  for 2013 from Dior as well as the Miss Dior handbags. 

"Dior represents beauty and strength in women, and that's how I feel when I'm wearing his clothes, it just makes you feel so confident. I've always been a huge fan of Dior, and being a part of something with such an incredible history is an honor." says Jennifer Lawrence.

Creative Director of Dior, Raf Simons said in his statement,  “Like everyone else, I first discovered Jennifer Lawrence in the roles she played in action movies, I was, of course, struck by her incredible on-screen presence in these blockbuster films , but also impressed by her powerful interpretations of subtle, more rounded characters. Her youth and her classic beauty, but also her force of character and the complexity she's capable of embodying at such a young age, are, for me, both unique and very moving."

Prestigious showbiz magazine Vanity Fair just named Jennifer, the world’s most desirable woman. After her break up with her boyfriend,  British actor Nicholas Hoult , she has been romantically linked with Bradley Cooper, her on screen love interest in Silver Linings Playbook. 

Jennifer says she hates shopping and spending money! "I was raised to have values and to have respect for money, and even if you have a lot of it, to still have respect for it. I still drive the same car I’ve been driving for a long time and I haven’t bought a house yet. And I can afford a house but I don’t really think I’m ready.” says Jennifer. 

MEXICAN PRIEST USES WATER GUN TO SPRAY HOLY WATER

Mexican Priest, Father Humberto Alvarez uses water gun to bless young children by spraying holy water on them. Father Alvarez wears robes with images of comic book superheroes, including Batman, Superman and Spider Man at his church Ojo de Agua in Slatillo, Mexico.

He says the characters on his robes were chosen as they inhabit traits that he wishes to pass on to the young children, that stand for the superheros' "struggle and effort to overcome fear and find peace and forgiveness", 

Though the methods are unconventional, Father Alvarez who has been a priest for 14 years,  hopes this would bring a smile on the children's faces as the community has been affected by drug-related violence and crime in recent years. However, he wears normal robes and does not use a water gun during adult mass.

IF YOU DIG IN THE WRONG PLACE

MY PHOTO FOR THE DAY - CELEBRATION AND WATER GUNS

Did you realize wherever you looked around during the National and Liberation day celebrations, there were children with huge water guns ready to shoot liters of water and drench passersby and motorists. And getting wet is not everyone's idea of fun.  I had to keep my eyes open to watch out for kids who catch you unawares. Well, good, no one sprayed on me. There was this one time while I was in Ahmadi busy clicking pictures of the beautiful lights, I had to tell a young child a big 'Noooo', when he began to aim his water gun at me. And he turned his gun away! The last thing I want was get drenched. Oh when we walking around looking at the lights, there were these bunch of kids who were spraying water at the motorists and suddenly one the cars stop, the man gets out of his vehicle,he was clearly upset, scolds the kid,  seizes the water gun from him and drives away! 

The water gun is almost as big at the child !  Imagine the amount of water that  gun could contain. A huge splash of water from that gun and you'll need a change of clothes!!!!!

McLAREN CARS AT 360 MALL

Here are a few photos I took of the McLaren Cars that were displayed at 360 Mall last week and throughout the holidays. 

British automotive manufacturer,  McLaren Automotive produces high performance elegantly designed vehicles.  Ali Alghanim & Sons Automotive Co. is the sole dealer of McLaren Automotive Ltd.  

DESIGUAL NEW COLLECTION AT 360 MALL

I was at 360 Mall last on Saturday and noticed that Desigual has creatively displayed at the entrance to their outlet, a lovely a collection of fashion wear hung from the clothes line suspended by clips! They had an equally beautiful window display as well with their new arrivals. I am always enchanted by the bold and expressive colors in their clothes range. 

ROSA PARKS - MOTHER OF CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people. - Rosa Parks

If Rosa Parks, the Mother of Civil Rights Movement, were alive, it would have been her 100th birthday on February 4th. She died in 2005 aged 92.  To commemorate her 100th birthday, the U.S. Postal Service issued a postal stamp in her honor. In 1999 she was the recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal. On Wednesday 27 Feburary 2013, a 2700 pound bronze statue of Rosa Parks was unveiled by U.S. President Barack Obama at Capitol Statuary Hall, Washington D.C. to honor her memory. President Obama stated that Parks statue was an enduring reminder of what true leadership requires, "no matter how humble or lofty our positions."

Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955 for refusing to give up her seat  to a white passenger in the bus she was travelling in Alabama. According to the city ordinance passed in Alabama, Montgomery, the bus drivers were allowed to segregate passengers by race. The black citizens were to sit or stand at the back portion of the buses they would travel. When the bus driver asked her why she did not get up and move and she told him that she did not feel that she should have to. The bus driver called the police, who then arrested Rosa.

In her autobiography Rosa Parks stated :

"People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in. I knew someone had to take the first step and I made up my mind not to move. Our mistreatment was just not right, and I was tired of it."

In an interview Rosa Parks gave at the National Public Radio in 1992, she said, "I did not want to be mistreated, I did not want to be deprived of a seat that I had paid for. But when I had to face that decision, I didn't hesitate to do so because I felt that we had endured that too long. The more we gave in, the more we complied with that kind of treatment, the more oppressive it became." 

Her arrest led to Montgomery Bus boycott by 17,000 black citizens for 381 days. The boycott was led by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., that sparked the struggle for racial equality in the form of civil rights movement. The boycott came to an end when the U.S. Supreme Court found segregation in the bus unconstitutional. In the years that followed African Americans continued their fights for equal rights and finally, in 1964, the Civil Rights Act  was passed.

Rosa Parks received the Congressional Award in 1999

Rosa Parks commemorative stamp by U.S. Postal Services 

Unveiling of Rosa Parks Statue on Wednesday 27 Feburary 2013 at Capitol, Washington D.C. 

AUTHENTIC LIFE

HUMOR - AGE HAS IT'S ADVANTAGES

WHEN YOU FIND YOUR BLOG POST REPUBLISHED AS SOMEONE ELSE'S WORK

This morning I was checking my personal facebook account and by chance I happened to come across something shocking. My recent blog posts on Ahmadi Lights and Hala February Carnival 2013 were republished in a facebook page Namaste Kuwait, without seeking my permission nor having the courtesy to give  my blog name and blog link as reference or source. 

The photos I take and the posts I put up in my blog have a huge amount of my time and effort invested behind it, fueled by my love for writing and photography. I would appreciate that those who seek to re-publish my work to do the following. 

* Do not publish my work as 'yours'.

* If you like my posts and want to 'share' on your 'site', magazine, facebook, whatever, I'd appreciate you seek prior permission from me through my comments column or email me at kuweight64@gmail.com.  When you share my blog posts, please ensure to give my blog link and blog name as 'source'.

KUWAIT LIBERATION DAY 2013 - MORE PHOTOS OF AIRSHOW AT MARINA CRESCENT

Yesterday, I had posted some photos of the airshow that was held at Marina Crescent. Today being Liberation Day of Kuwait, there was another airshow held at 4pm today. It lasted for about 20 minutes and it was really nice to see (from my balcony). There were different fighter aircrafts that went up in the air in formations and creating patterns in colored smoke depicting the National Flag of Kuwait. There were other acrobatic stunts as well by the fighter planes.  After the air show, I did see some colored smoke rising high from the ground level, which means, there would have been land and/or water based army/navy/marine activities perhaps? Wish we could have been there at the venue, only thing was I wasn't keeping well for past two days. Anyways, I managed to take some photos of the airshow that was held today.