SUDAN MAN FORCED TO MARRY GOAT!!

Story featured on the BBC news website, waaaahahahahahahaha... Absolutely disgusting!

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A Sudanese man has been forced to take a goat as his "wife", after he was caught having sex with the animal.

The goat's owner, Mr Alifi, said he surprised the man with his goat and took him to a council of elders.

They ordered the man, Mr Tombe, to pay a dowry of 15,000 Sudanese dinars ($50) to Mr Alifi.

"We have given him the goat, and as far as we know they are still together," Mr Alifi said.

Mr Alifi, Hai Malakal in Upper Nile State, told the Juba Post newspaper that he heard a loud noise around midnight on 13 February and immediately rushed outside to find Mr Tombe with his goat.

"When I asked him: 'What are you doing there?', he fell off the back of the goat, so I captured and tied him up".

Mr Alifi then called elders to decide how to deal with the case.

"They said I should not take him to the police, but rather let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife," Mr Alifi told the newspaper.

SUPERMAN = GORGEOUSMAN

I went to see Superman Returns with some friends last night. About the movie: the story was okay, too violent I though and it shouldn't have the PG-13 rating it was given as I cringed many times due to the violence.

But ohhh I so recommend it to everyone. It isn't every day you get the chance to see two beautiful men together in one movie: Brandon Routh and James Marsden. Gorgeous, gorgeous!!!

Go see it, you won't be sorry ;-)

EDNITA'S CONCERT AND LOGAN'S

Had a wonderful night last night. First of all we went to Logan's, an Irish pub near my house. We talked, we danced, we laughed and talked to random people in the bathroom. Funny how everyone gets all sociable after a few drinks as Logan's is a place full of snobs.

After that we went to the Regional Celebrations of a town called Toa Baja where Ednita Nazario, Puerto Rico's most famous female singer, gave a free concert. It was absolutely amazing. She has to be pretty old but man, the things she does on stage!! Oh, and her voice, WOW!!!!

Had a wonderful night!

NO FAIR GO FOR AUSTRALIA

This story appeared in the Nine MSN website. It totally voices the way I feel. We are a nation who gives everyone a fair go, a nation that also expects the same from others. Yesterday's game showed that there are people who are just stupid and "starstruck" with a team that, although it has a history of being one of the greats, it has a history of diving and putting up a show.

Here's the story:

Furious Socceroos branded as a "joke" the contentious last-gasp penalty that cruelly ended their World Cup.

With a quarter-final berth at stake and a 10-man Italian side wilting in the heat, the match seemed headed for extra time and the boilover of the 2006 tournament was on the cards.

But Australian jaws dropped in disbelief when referee Luis Medina Cantalejo pointed to the spot after what they claimed was a "dive" by Fabio Grosso over the prone body of defender Lucas Neill.

Francesco Totti's conversion with the last kick of the match gave goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer no chance.

The Socceroos have mostly bitten their tongues during a luckless World Cup tilt marred by a string of refereeing atrocities.

But they were in no mood to hold back their anger this time.

"From the sideline and from what I have seen on TV it was a joke," said assistant coach Graham Arnold.

"A joke," he repeated.

"To give a dubious decision like that with 10 seconds to go, that hurts.

"We are a small footballing nation that gets no favours.

"All we ask for is a fair go, and I don't think we received it over the four games."

Midfielder Tim Cahill said he was "furious".

"One decision has changed Australian football and changed our lives as players," Cahill said.

"We should still be in this tournament.

"All that hard work, and we still don't get through.

"It's unbelievable. You fall over and you get a penalty.

"Everything has been against us.

"Lucas hasn't touched him (Grosso); he's just fallen over.

"We have watched it in there (on TV in the change rooms) time and time again. What more do you want us to say?

"Sometimes referees get star-struck."

Asked if Grosso could have been cautioned for diving, Cahill said: "Most definitely."

Fellow midfielder Jason Culina said: "A last-second penalty that wasn't even a penalty ... There are no words to describe the way we feel."

Captain Mark Viduka added: "To go out that way was cruel, very cruel.

"We really dominated. We had the feeling that if it went to extra time we were going to beat them.

"It (the penalty) was very soft. The guy tripped over Lucas."

Coach Guus Hiddink said: "There is no doubt, it wasn't a penalty. It's a bitter way to finish."

His Italian counterpart Marcello Lippi asked straight-faced at a press conference: "Is there anyone who doubts it wasn't a penalty?"

His answer came in the form of a babble of murmuring from a room full of journalists from Italy, Australia and many other countries.

"It didn't look like there was any contact," said Australian defender Scott Chipperfield.

"It looks like he (Fabio Grosso) dived over him (Lucas Neill).

"With a decision like that, it's really hurting."

Goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer said: "At the time I wasn't sure. It's easy in hindsight, but now that I have seen it on TV I don't think it was a penalty.

"The way the game went, we didn't feel we deserved to go out that way."

"We deserved more," said striker John Aloisi, who plays his club football in Spain.

"I don't really want to say too much because I have that referee in Spain."

©AAP 2006

NOT SO GOOD A START

Today I feel...

Today's the start of a brand new week but things haven't been so great. I've run out of money completely as I relied on a house bond I would get a few weeks ago of which I haven't seen a penny; a company we work with where we have trainees are being total dicks with us and today they cancelled a meeting we had to solve the situation; I'm getting a bad vibe from someone I haven't seen in a while (I havent yet figured out why); Australia got wrongly beaten by Italy so we're now out of the World Cup; and yeah there's many things we need to sort out and I feel: sad, frustrated and overwhelmed.

AUSSIES ARE THROUGH TO THE NEXT ROUND

Although I didn't watch the game (it wasn't televised here in Puerto Rico) , and although we were not victorious, WE MADE IT!!!

ABSOLUTELY EXHAUSTED

Harow! Have had a hectic 3 weeks with lots of work and people on holidays. Yesterday we held the first Member Review Board in YEARS here in Puerto Rico, and it was very successful. I feel Im nearing a physical breakdown soon as the last few weeks we've done more work than ever and my brain is turning into mush from having had to do a lot of everything!!!

It's also been rainning a lot, which doesnt help as I'm sitting here at my desk about to fall asleep :-( I need a break but I won't get one, will need to just keep chugging along and depend on the support of my friends. Ahh but 24 hours of sleep would be ideal.

Good news: we have our first trainee coming in to work for Heineken Caribbean, hopefully one of many more to come. He should be arriving tomorrow night.

I've recently got back in touch with a friend with whom I spent some time in far North Queensland before and today I'm reminiscing. What a beautiful place. When I think of tranquility, when I think of retirement, I think of Port Douglas or the beaches between Cairns and Port Douglas. I intend to move there someday.

Never in my life have I seen a more beautiful place, nor experienced the warmth and calm of North Queensland. I wish I was there right now. In the meantime, I'll keep on dreaming, imagine what it would be like, and hopefully re-energize to continue my work here.

By the way these two photos are of Port Douglas in Queensland


Ahhh tranquility...

RANDOM SAT NIGHT AND OTHER STUFF

These are Nane, Mari, Karlita (with friends) and myself at Brava on Saturday night. Check out the woman with the added air bags... ridiculous!!!

Anyway, we had a fabulous night which I hope will repeat itself. Some random went up on stage with me as we moved to the sounds of the oh-so-eclectic reggeton. What was up with that??

Much fun was had.

GO AUSSIES ON SUNDAY!!!

MY FAMILY LAST YEAR

This was my family last year, minus Brett who wasn't in Sydney at the time. I miss them all very much!

JUAN MARCOS'S BIRTHDAY

Hola! Here are some photos of Juan Marcos's birthday. He's an AIESEC alumn who is now doing his Phd in Colorado.

We all had an excellent night with lots of dancing, karaokeing, drinking and chatting. I can't wait to have a night like this again!!

BEAUTIFUL

MANTROPY THE SILENT KILLER

Check out the website and take the test to find out if you have been infected and what treatment is recommmended.

FIFA WORLD CUP 2006 AND AUSTRALIA'S IN IT!!

Anyway, as I think I have mentioned to some of you before, I am not a fan of soccer but this year, I'm really looking forward to seeing our country be represented at such an important event. I think more people get excited over this than they do over the olympic games, and it is great to know I have a team to go for this year.

So yeah, the world cup is due to start tomorrow, but for me it doesn't start until the 12th of June, when Australia plays its first
match against Japan. Well, that should be interesting... not that I understand the game much, but it'll be exciting to see our boys battling it out.

I can't believe I'm writing about soccer, I think I'd better get back to my work.

NATALIA'S BIRTHDAY

A week ago we had a surprise birthday party for Natalia (seen here on the photo, the one on the right), whose birthday is actually June 2nd, but June 2nd she was partying up in Spain.

Its a shame no-one took a camera to the surprise do as it was a crazy night, crazy! It was nice seeing some of the old faces, and some new ones too ;-)

How would I describe the night??

Drunken jacuzzi party

I think that pretty much sums it up. Luved it, but the next day I was totally ill.

Anyway, I just wanted to wish all the best to Natalia. I hope you had a nice night with us here in Puerto Rico, and an even better time in Spain. Love you very, very much and you know you will always be one of my very best friends in the world.

Miss you and can't wait for you to come back!!

MY BEST FRIEND EVON

This is my best friend Evon in Hungarian National Costume. She was in Hungary recently and seems to have had a wonderful time. I love this photo and thought it deserved a posting.

PERSONALITY TESTS

I was a little bored towards the later part of the day and ended up doing a few personality tests. They all gave me pretty similar results.

ENFP - "Journalist". Uncanny sense of the motivations of others. Life is an exciting drama. 8.1% of total population.

Free Jung Personality Test (similar to Myers-Briggs/MBTI)

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

SEND A BRICK, BUILD THE WALL...

This is an issue I had no idea about living my, shall I say "sheltered" life in Australia. There are talks of building a wall in the US- Mexico border to stop illegal immigrants from crossing. Call me naive, but I always thought there was a wall at the border anyway.

I've been reading quite a bit about this very sensitive issue, looking at both sides of the coin. I still don't know how I feel about it... I can, however, say that there are certain things that are coming out of it that really do bother me. Like for example:

The two videos at the bottom of this page!

And comments such as this one

"When people come from abroad to make a new home for themselves, and they are committed to the goal of becoming part of our nation – that's immigration. When they come to exploit economic opportunities while proudly flaunting their determination to continue in their allegiance to a foreign flag – that's colonization."

Alan Keyes (Former Reagan Administration Officer and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Social and Economic Council).

Coming from a multicultural country, Australia, I don't understand this way of thinking as we like to celebrate our multiculturalism as that is what makes us Australian. I realise this is not the issue at hand here, but the more I read about it the more it seems to me like it has become a witch hunt. At list from my perception, illegals are being demonised and, in some cases like in those two videos, they are being regarded as terrorists.

Now in their point of view (illegals), they come to the US to work and make a living... Okay, fair enough, I'm still of the belief that one shouldn't break any laws, but then again, if I were in their place and desperate to live peacefully, I'd probably think otherwise.

I don't know. Random thoughts...