Thursday, September 1, 2011

Out Of The Abyss...

Phew! Ha ha, yeah, I managed to write today. How so? Well, it's the Eid ul-Fitr holidays here in Kuwait, and so that has given me some respite from my summer internship. It's been keeping me real busy, working from the early morning until the afternoon. Time has slowed now as well since the latest bowling tournament has ended. Would you believe that I started competing in it within the last 4 days? Yep, well, I made up mind so late. In the end I didn't qualify, missed the cut by a mere 8 pins ><! Still, it was good fun. Now bowling is more mellow, and I'm only playing once a week in a team league, which is a great pace, allowing me to get back to all the little things I like to do.

I go back to my internship for one more week on Sunday (Friday and Saturday are the weekend in Kuwait). Then, on the 14th I'm off back to uni in Cyprus. Time has flown, and I must admit, that keeping so freakishly busy, and fasting in the Holy month of Ramadan has helped it along.

Okay, so I wanted to let you in on one of the best pieces of advice I think I've ever received.

"Start your own library, and never stop adding to it. Whenever you're traveling and you come across a book that piques your interest, buy it, and add it to your collection."

 Now, this advice, as "obvious" as it may be, had an immediate profound effect upon me. I'd been battling laziness and excuses concerning reading. I had stopped reading books! The horror! But this was the answer. So I went out and bought my first addition to my personal library (and consequently, I've added a library room to my imaginary house):

Architecture in the 20th century by Peter Gossel and Gabriele Leuthauser.


A great informative and referential set of books.

The books come as a set in two volumes. So far, I've managed to almost finish the first one, and it's been quite satisfying, reading from actual physical paper. As per usual, I got lost once again in my head, this time, daydreaming about my library. I wondered what my bookshelves would look like, what furniture would garnish the room, and how many levels my library would have. Studying to be an architect most definitely provokes me to salivate over an opportunity to design such a room. Perhaps in the near future ;].

Speaking of books. I'm also reading A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. I'm not sure how many of you recognize the name, but it most certainly is a famous one within the literary as well spiritual world. I admit it does look like one of those self-help books, and well, it is. But, I'd recommend this one. I've so far gone 1/3 and it's effect is amazing! From my understanding, it speaks of a much needed inner-peace, and one that is very much achievable. It seems to me that tolerance and patience is the most I'll gain from not just reading but fully understanding and incorporating what the book is talking about.

Overcome that stereotype that shadows the self-help book, and pick this one up.
 The basic premise is that it tries to explain to you the source of all dysfunction in our lives: Ego. And it explains it well. Already, through testing its application in my life, it has given me results. I exhibit an inner patience I never knew existed. You wouldn't go wrong by picking this one up.

 I've also drawn one more friend of mine. Here is his portrait. His photos provided me with an opportunity to do one that was slightly different. The angle here was a nice change.


 What I liked most was the way the glasses switched from black to white across his face. Not quite complete yet altogether there.

Importantly though, is a thought that's been running through my head concerning my blog. I realized, quite a while back now, that my blog has no distinctive topic. Rather, it's a hodgepodge of the various things I get up to, but with no real system. So I've decided, that very soon, I'll be splitting it all up into different blogs. I'm not going to start all of them right away, but rather I think I'll just make sure I compartmentalize the topics and provide a bit of focus. Perhaps that will also let me blog more regularly. Here's hoping ;].