Well folks, I probably won't be posting for the next week. Heading up to Dublin tomorrow to sit those dreaded exams.
For the next week I will be holed up in a hotel room surrounded by papers, papers and more papers; caffeine tablets to keep me awake; ginger nut biscuits (because I read somewhere that ginger boosts brain power); and if I had one, I have no doubt I would be in possession of a lucky horse shoe too. Nevertheless, I am horse-shoe-less, and feeling quite jumpy at the mo.
I don't know if it's nerves, or denial, but I wasn't able to do very much studying today. I mean, really, not very much at all. 5 hours tops. Crap, the day seems so long until its actually upon you. Oh well, I think I'm taking this very well actually.
I'm just going to go in there and answer the questions.
If I put down what they're looking for, then brilliant!
If I don't...
*deep breaths*
...well, let's not consider that option. I shall assume that I will be putting down what they want.
And maybe I'll put a few smiley faces at the bottom of the paper to be on the safe side. You know, project the whole professional, intelligent, law student attitude they're looking for.
Absolutely. Brilliant Idea.
Now, if you'll excuse me... I can't seem to find my pink pen!
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Friday, August 18, 2006
A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing
So you've heard the latest?
Israel doesn't want to accept peace-keeping troops that do not recognise the state of Israel.
Israeli UN envoy Dan Gillerman made clear Israel's unhappiness with some of the contributors. "It would be very difficult if not inconceivable for Israel to accept troops from countries who do not recognise Israel, who have no diplomatic relations with Israel," he told the BBC. He said they would be "very happy" to accept troops from Muslim countries they have friendly relations with. "But to expect countries who don't even recognise Israel to guard Israel's safety I think would be a bit naive," he said.
I ask, what about guarding Lebanon's safety?? Oh, of course, how could I forget? Lebanon is an Arab country...who needs to protect the Arabs? It's the Arabs that are destroying infrastructure, and slaughtering innocents. Yes, that's right. So, let's forget about them, and concentrate on protecting Israel. The land of democracy, and equality and a policy of non-violence.
I think I'm going to be sick!
His comments were dismissed by Malaysia, which, along with Indonesia, has a Muslim majority population.
"We're going to be on Lebanese territory ... We're not going to be on Israeli territory," Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said.
Exactly!
Where is the Lebanese Government? Do they not have a say in what troops are stationed on Lebanese soil??
And you know the worst thing? People are going to start saying "Yeeeaahhh...Israel is right! Why DON'T these countries recognise it?" And the worlds attention is going to be distracted from the issue at hand, that is, the protection of a country and its people (I'm talking about Lebanon!), and be shifted to an issue that has nothing whatsoever to do with the situation. An issue, in fact, that has no doubt been raised as a sort of "wolf in sheeps clothing" to allow this violence to continue.
Let's just hope we're not that stupid!
Israel doesn't want to accept peace-keeping troops that do not recognise the state of Israel.
Israeli UN envoy Dan Gillerman made clear Israel's unhappiness with some of the contributors. "It would be very difficult if not inconceivable for Israel to accept troops from countries who do not recognise Israel, who have no diplomatic relations with Israel," he told the BBC. He said they would be "very happy" to accept troops from Muslim countries they have friendly relations with. "But to expect countries who don't even recognise Israel to guard Israel's safety I think would be a bit naive," he said.
I ask, what about guarding Lebanon's safety?? Oh, of course, how could I forget? Lebanon is an Arab country...who needs to protect the Arabs? It's the Arabs that are destroying infrastructure, and slaughtering innocents. Yes, that's right. So, let's forget about them, and concentrate on protecting Israel. The land of democracy, and equality and a policy of non-violence.
I think I'm going to be sick!
His comments were dismissed by Malaysia, which, along with Indonesia, has a Muslim majority population.
"We're going to be on Lebanese territory ... We're not going to be on Israeli territory," Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said.
Exactly!
Where is the Lebanese Government? Do they not have a say in what troops are stationed on Lebanese soil??
And you know the worst thing? People are going to start saying "Yeeeaahhh...Israel is right! Why DON'T these countries recognise it?" And the worlds attention is going to be distracted from the issue at hand, that is, the protection of a country and its people (I'm talking about Lebanon!), and be shifted to an issue that has nothing whatsoever to do with the situation. An issue, in fact, that has no doubt been raised as a sort of "wolf in sheeps clothing" to allow this violence to continue.
Let's just hope we're not that stupid!
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
What Loyalty Means
There's this guy I know...let's call him "X".
X grew up in America.
His parents are Arab.
He's currently finished his masters from a top US university, and is working as a paralegal in a well-known law firm. He plans to go to law school and then hopefully begin working for the US Government.
Since I've known him, which is about 7 years, X been trying to perfect his Arabic. He speaks it as much as he can, and is always going on about the Arabic food he eats with his parents and the Arabic things they do together. All in all, he proudly tells everyone who will listen that he is ARAB!
Brilliant isn't it?
Well it would be, if it wasnt so hypocritical.
You see, something that I should tell you about X is that he hasnt been to visit his family in the Middle East in a couple of years. His parents are always begging him to go with them and he refuses. In fact, he told me that he will continue to refuse until he finally gets that job with the US Government. Huh? That was my reaction. It could be 10 years before the job even comes up! Why? For what reason? Is it because he's too busy? Apparently not. Too broke? Again, answer in the negative. The reason he refuses to go to the Middle East, the country and area that he so proudly claims lineage to, is because he DOES NOT WANT A TRIP "HOME" TO JEOPARDISE HIS CHANCES OF WORKING FOR THE US GOVERNMENT!!!!! He said that before the US Government employs anyone, they run a complete check. If they found that he had visited the Middle East in the near past, then they would refuse to give him a job. And he accepts this!
Now, call me crazy, but isn't that a little bit hypocritical? So here he is telling the world that he is Arab, even though his accent and mentality are so very American, and yet, he then shys away from the connection for the sake of a job that he might not even get! Is America now putting conditions upon being Arab?? Can he not see that by abiding by this informal rule he is indirectly affirming their beliefs, and the beliefs that they insist on imposing upon the world, that being connected to the Arab world can only mean trouble. If that was him, I would tell them to take their job and shove it where the sun don't shine. How dare they restrict his access to the Arab world by a faint threat of future limitations upon his job choices! America will argue that as a Government employee one's first priority must lie with America. That the safety of America prevails. That by accepting to work for the Government, one has to accept limitations upon rights that one would otherwise have taken for granted. The 'right to travel' must take a back seat to the safety of the USA. This no doubt will include keeping away from 'terrorists', and countries where they come from. Fine, if that's the way they want it, they have every right. But perhaps X should stop and ask himself where his priorities lie. There are plenty of jobs out there, and I for one would prefer a job that paid a little less, if it meant I kept my dignity.
I am disgusted with his attitude to the situation. Will this attitude help the world as it stands? No, it will not. It is an attitude that merely affirms America's place to dictate what the world can or cannot do. X, you should be ashamed of yourself, and I have every intention of telling you this next time we speak. Don't call yourself an Arab, because one of the best traits of Arabs is their loyalty. And you my dear, I'm not even sure if you know what loyalty means!
X grew up in America.
His parents are Arab.
He's currently finished his masters from a top US university, and is working as a paralegal in a well-known law firm. He plans to go to law school and then hopefully begin working for the US Government.
Since I've known him, which is about 7 years, X been trying to perfect his Arabic. He speaks it as much as he can, and is always going on about the Arabic food he eats with his parents and the Arabic things they do together. All in all, he proudly tells everyone who will listen that he is ARAB!
Brilliant isn't it?
Well it would be, if it wasnt so hypocritical.
You see, something that I should tell you about X is that he hasnt been to visit his family in the Middle East in a couple of years. His parents are always begging him to go with them and he refuses. In fact, he told me that he will continue to refuse until he finally gets that job with the US Government. Huh? That was my reaction. It could be 10 years before the job even comes up! Why? For what reason? Is it because he's too busy? Apparently not. Too broke? Again, answer in the negative. The reason he refuses to go to the Middle East, the country and area that he so proudly claims lineage to, is because he DOES NOT WANT A TRIP "HOME" TO JEOPARDISE HIS CHANCES OF WORKING FOR THE US GOVERNMENT!!!!! He said that before the US Government employs anyone, they run a complete check. If they found that he had visited the Middle East in the near past, then they would refuse to give him a job. And he accepts this!
Now, call me crazy, but isn't that a little bit hypocritical? So here he is telling the world that he is Arab, even though his accent and mentality are so very American, and yet, he then shys away from the connection for the sake of a job that he might not even get! Is America now putting conditions upon being Arab?? Can he not see that by abiding by this informal rule he is indirectly affirming their beliefs, and the beliefs that they insist on imposing upon the world, that being connected to the Arab world can only mean trouble. If that was him, I would tell them to take their job and shove it where the sun don't shine. How dare they restrict his access to the Arab world by a faint threat of future limitations upon his job choices! America will argue that as a Government employee one's first priority must lie with America. That the safety of America prevails. That by accepting to work for the Government, one has to accept limitations upon rights that one would otherwise have taken for granted. The 'right to travel' must take a back seat to the safety of the USA. This no doubt will include keeping away from 'terrorists', and countries where they come from. Fine, if that's the way they want it, they have every right. But perhaps X should stop and ask himself where his priorities lie. There are plenty of jobs out there, and I for one would prefer a job that paid a little less, if it meant I kept my dignity.
I am disgusted with his attitude to the situation. Will this attitude help the world as it stands? No, it will not. It is an attitude that merely affirms America's place to dictate what the world can or cannot do. X, you should be ashamed of yourself, and I have every intention of telling you this next time we speak. Don't call yourself an Arab, because one of the best traits of Arabs is their loyalty. And you my dear, I'm not even sure if you know what loyalty means!
Monday, August 14, 2006
noone, not even the rain
ee cummings once said
"We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us something is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit."
Tonight I don't want to think of war. Tonight I don't want to think of pain, and sadness, and hunger and death. I don't want to think of statutes, and cases, and neverending notes. I just want to sit and enjoy the silence. I think tonight of what Oscar Wilde once said, that "Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no to-morrow. To forget time, to forgive life, to be at peace." Yes, tonight I want to read something, not because I have to, nor because it will afford me any tangible benefit; But, just for its own sake. For its beauty, and its poetry, and its simplicity and truth. To appreciate it. To sink slowly into its soft sweet rivers of emotion, and feel the shivers run down my spine. The aftertaste of its meaning lingering upon my tongue, the scent of its words clinging to my skin. I'm so sick of objectivity, impartiality and sensibility!
some ee cummings...
somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near
your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skillfully,mysteriously)her first rose
or if your wish be to close me,i and
my life will shut very beautifully,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the colour of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing
(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands
"We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us something is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit."
Tonight I don't want to think of war. Tonight I don't want to think of pain, and sadness, and hunger and death. I don't want to think of statutes, and cases, and neverending notes. I just want to sit and enjoy the silence. I think tonight of what Oscar Wilde once said, that "Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no to-morrow. To forget time, to forgive life, to be at peace." Yes, tonight I want to read something, not because I have to, nor because it will afford me any tangible benefit; But, just for its own sake. For its beauty, and its poetry, and its simplicity and truth. To appreciate it. To sink slowly into its soft sweet rivers of emotion, and feel the shivers run down my spine. The aftertaste of its meaning lingering upon my tongue, the scent of its words clinging to my skin. I'm so sick of objectivity, impartiality and sensibility!
some ee cummings...
somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near
your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skillfully,mysteriously)her first rose
or if your wish be to close me,i and
my life will shut very beautifully,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the colour of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing
(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Stupid War, and Stupid Exams!
I cannot wait for these exams to be over. Just so I can put my time and energy into something I actually think is worthwhile. That is, the ending of the atrocities being waged on the Arab world today. I am not naive enough to think that my actions alone can put an end to the madness, but I'll tell you this much, I have to try and do something.
Lubna Hussein claims that "Justice Is Dead; At Least If You're Born An Arab." Click here to read her excellent article.
Exams start in just 7 days. One minute I'm worried, the next I'm as cool as a cucumber. Although last week I did have a dream that I went into the Company Law exam unprepared. She kept calling my name to come up and sit the exam, and I kept asking for a little more time as I frantically scribbled down the last of my notes. In the end she cancelled the whole exam because I had held everyone else up with my time-stalling antics. Ah well, its inevitable isnt it that my subconscious fears will manifest themselves in my dreams. What really annoys me is the fact that as a student you're supposed to memorise case after case after case. Show me ONE lawyer that will advise his client or present a case to the court without consulting his case books, and I will show you a pig that can fly! It just isnt done, and personally I think it's stupid to think that as students we should be measured by our abilities to commit to memory facts which are written down in a million and one text books. We're people, not machines. Education is not, and should not, be measured by our ability to recite facts and information. Computers can do this; are they educated? I sure as hell am not going to go in there and reel out the cases. I refuse to. I'm actually going to try and put some insight into my answers. Which is probably not what they're looking for, but I really don't care at this stage. I'm just going to go in there and answer the questions. Why should there be only one way to do something? Let's do it my way shall we? :) [as I type I know that such an attitude will probably only lead to failure in the stiflingly traditional arena that is our legal education. The question remains, will I eventually cave and resort to the tried and tested methods of answering?]
I personally don't even think that we should have exams anyhow. But then, that could just be my bias talking, as Im going to have to go in there in a week and sit those very exams whose usefulness I'm currently questioning! I'd better get back to the books as to be honest, none of the examiners are going to give a crap about what I have to say about the said exams, and I'm really just wasting my time here. Later.
Lubna Hussein claims that "Justice Is Dead; At Least If You're Born An Arab." Click here to read her excellent article.
Exams start in just 7 days. One minute I'm worried, the next I'm as cool as a cucumber. Although last week I did have a dream that I went into the Company Law exam unprepared. She kept calling my name to come up and sit the exam, and I kept asking for a little more time as I frantically scribbled down the last of my notes. In the end she cancelled the whole exam because I had held everyone else up with my time-stalling antics. Ah well, its inevitable isnt it that my subconscious fears will manifest themselves in my dreams. What really annoys me is the fact that as a student you're supposed to memorise case after case after case. Show me ONE lawyer that will advise his client or present a case to the court without consulting his case books, and I will show you a pig that can fly! It just isnt done, and personally I think it's stupid to think that as students we should be measured by our abilities to commit to memory facts which are written down in a million and one text books. We're people, not machines. Education is not, and should not, be measured by our ability to recite facts and information. Computers can do this; are they educated? I sure as hell am not going to go in there and reel out the cases. I refuse to. I'm actually going to try and put some insight into my answers. Which is probably not what they're looking for, but I really don't care at this stage. I'm just going to go in there and answer the questions. Why should there be only one way to do something? Let's do it my way shall we? :) [as I type I know that such an attitude will probably only lead to failure in the stiflingly traditional arena that is our legal education. The question remains, will I eventually cave and resort to the tried and tested methods of answering?]
I personally don't even think that we should have exams anyhow. But then, that could just be my bias talking, as Im going to have to go in there in a week and sit those very exams whose usefulness I'm currently questioning! I'd better get back to the books as to be honest, none of the examiners are going to give a crap about what I have to say about the said exams, and I'm really just wasting my time here. Later.
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