The results are in.

Yes, after a week and a whopping 19 votes - okay, I cheated... 18 votes - it has come to a conclusion that most of you (42%) check out the blog when I inform you of it. Which proves my point that in order to get views, you need to spread the word yourself.

I shall make another poll which will last exactly a week like the first one, so check the right of your screen.

Nom nom nom.

We baptized my baby sister Anabel today. Quiet little ceremony, just the family with my uncle, a priest, celebrating mass.

And what does that mean? A hearty meal at an expensive restaurant right after! The place is called Iċ-Ċima ("Cheema", don't ask me what the fuck that means), and it's situated in Xlendi. A ground floor and a first floor with a nice view, which you can reach by means of a lift.

The menu didn't really have the greatest variety in the world (but then again, not every restaurant should make pizzas and hamburgers), but they sure know how to decorate what they make. The most presentable food I've ever seen. When you order a soup they decorate the surface with grated cheese in the form of a giant cobweb. And that shit takes some talent.

They have the largest plates I've ever seen as well. And I mean they're totally bigass. My bread-encased mushroom fondu (yeah, you don't see that often here) was like, half a Maltese loaf of bread. That was the starter. Then the peppered fillet was the size of my fist but it was LOADED with pepper sauce and potatoes on the side.

So, if you want to go somewhere with a view, particularly in the summer, and you have a full purse but an empty stomach, this place is for you. The food's all good, the presentation is great, the staff is nice, and the money is worth it. You pay big, but you eat big.

Checkmate.

All these neverending wars. Wouldn't it be better if two countries battled it out in a more enjoyable way for all, say, I dunno, an epic chess battle between each country's best chess player? Winner wins the war for his country. Or a football match. Or a virtual war online. So much less bloodshed. Although if you were representing your country and you lost, you'd have your balls cut off by your own people.

It's still a case of one country beating the shit out of the other, but not literally. I hate having to keep seeing pictures of bloody children crying and men holding dead babies. Fuck your wars and the "threats" you see. Fuck your patriotism and your pride. And fuck you for fucking other people's lives.

A comical and serious blog entry in one.

Yesterday, Today, or Tomorrow.

So let's say you have an exam coming up, and you're in one of the groups that will take this exam. Each group will have a different exam date, and your group will be the first to go.

In this group you will find two types of people. The first type will say "Good, we're the first, I'll get it over with quickly and I can move on." The second type will say "Shit, oh fuck shit no, why do WE have to be first, can't we do it later?"

Life is full of experiences which are not so desirable, but you'll know about them beforehand. An exam, a doctor's apppointment, a date with that girl your grandmother keeps telling you about, and so on. Now personally, I think time is the key, in which the sooner you're over it, the better. Others will prefer to prolong the time it takes for that Godforsaken day to arrive, and I really don't get why. The shit's going to happen whether you like it or not, so just let the doctor examine your ass and get it over with. There really is no advantage in extending the time length for D-day.

So you're the first to do the exam, with a few others. The others groups will have the comfort in learning how the exam was from you, but in the end, when they're doing the exam, you'd have already been in Hawaii for a week. You'll be thinking, "What exam? Oh that shit, that's long gone, I forgot I even did it!" and you know those motherfuckers are crying their asses off in the examination hall, cursing you for getting a full body massage while they're trying to figure out what the hell the answer to the Poission Distrubtion question is.

Someone spare me a few bucks.

I need to buy one of these sexy beasts. I might go with the '98 Civic, seeing that it probably has the cheapest price tag. The Mazda M3 is a close second though. The other two, well I'll just have wet dreams about them.

Learn 4 chords and become a millionaire.

A warm welcome back from Malta.

I'm not exactly a keen photographer but, to give you the idea of what the hell's going on in the pictures, I had to trudge through water almost knee-deep because the bus couldn't pass through it.

It's good to be back.

Engrish by people who speak English.

In a country where English is one of the national languages, you'd expect its people to actually know the basics of English grammar. Below is a list of the most common yet easily avoidable grammar mistakes in the English language made by people who, if not speak English in person, use English online all the time.

• Writing "loose" instead of "lose". "Loose" generally means the opposite of tight. People normally want to say "lose", i.e. the opposite of win or the act of misplacing something.
• Switching "you're" with "your". "You're" is short for "you are". "Your" refers to when something belongs to you.
• Mixing up "they're", "there" and "their". "They're" = They are. "There" = e.g. There they are; There is. "Their" = When something belongs to them.
• Adding an apostrophe in a word's plural form. Two balls. Not two "ball's".

Those are just a few but some of the most common grammar mistakes found on the Internet. Call me a grammar Nazi, but we learned this stuff right after we stopped wearing diapers. So get them right.

A new feature.

Yes, it's there on the right panel and it's called a poll. I just discovered these so-called "gadgets", and learned that, more often than not, they don't even work properly. You have 7 days (seven daaaaaaays) to vote, please do so, I'm interested in how often you like to waste time reading my online blabbering.

How to successfully maintain a blog.

At first I was going to call this "How to maintain a successful blog", but who am I to say that my blog is actually successful? Anyway, I noticed that there are people out there who like the idea of blogging, but refrain from doing so for certain reasons. Also, there are others who started a blog and, well, abandoned it in its wee beginning. So, based on my amateur experience of 3 months worth of blogging, I've compiled a list of useful tips which I think should all be necessary for being a good blogger.

• Be devoted. Before you start blogging, make sure you really want to keep doing this in the long run, because a lot of blogs tend to have "Epic Phail" written all over them after a couple of entries followed by abandonment. It really doesn't take much of your time, 15-30 minutes a day should be plenty of time. You don't even have to blog every single day, but avoid long intervals.
• Know your blog. A lot of people are afraid to start blogging or abandon their blog early because they don't know what to write about. This can go one of two ways, in my opinion - either dedicate your blog to something specific, like for example video games or football, or have very general blog, like mine. Having a specific blog is easy, especially if you're really into the subject. I'll give tips about general blogs in the following points.
• Be easily inspired and expand simple ideas. Knowing what to write about shouldn't be a daily nerve-racking experience as you stare in front of the computer screen. Let random thoughts that come to your mind during the day be your source of inspiration. It can be about virtually anything. Usually however, literally writing down a random thought wouldn't take up more than a sentence or two. So take that thought, analyse it, build up on it and form an expanded topic from it.
• Don't just write about your daily experiences everyday. Come on, your personal life isn't that interesting, we all know that. It isn't any different from any life of your peers, so no one wants to read predictable and redundant stuff. Especially when every single day is the same. If, however, you battled a T-Rex using a light sabre handcrafted by Chuck Norris while he was arm-wrestling Bigfoot, then yeah, you might want to choose that day to write about what you did in the past 24 hours.
• Don't use the same old formula for your posts. Let me use my own blog as an example. Entries I write include random discussable thoughts, reviews on music albums, movies and books, and personal experiences. This also applies for specific blogs. Don't just write about your favourite team's game results. Write about the team history one day, statistics about a player another day, find a random interview the next, and so on. In both types of blogs (specific and general), throw in a different entry format for every day.
• Exploit the use of multimedia. This is the Internet. Use that to your advantage and include video clips, pictures, and audio clips in blog entries. Spice it up a bit, no one wants to just see entry after entry of non-stop text.
• Acknowledge the reader. The reason you're blogging in the first place is so that others can read what you have to say. Without them, you're wasting your time. Sure you're getting your thoughts out but it's much more effective when you know others are actually paying attention to what you're saying. Write about topics which can be discussed, criticised, used for reference, etc. If the reader suggests subjects to talk about, take them into consideration for your next entry. Reply to comments with your own comments.
• Promote your blog. Do a bit of advertising, get the word out. Don't spam the hell out of everyone, just post a link on your Facebook/Myspace/Hi5 profile, inform your readers of updates, and ask your friends to tell others about it. With a bit of time, your fan base will grow. Also, get in touch with other bloggers, they'll surely help you out.

Well that's it from me, I think I just about covered everything you need to know when it comes to starting your own blog. For those about to blog, I salute you. Good luck, and adios.

Don't take it for granted.

Apart from the holidays where you sleep during the day and stay up all night, it's very rare to be able to sleep in. Sleeping in is, by far, one of the best feelings in the world. The worst feeling in the world, on the other hand, is hearing that goddamn alarm at 6.30 in the morning when you're in a deep slumber after staying up till 2am the previous night.

So here's what you ought to do, you ungrateful nitwits. The next time you sleep in and wake up at 1 in the afternoon, relax in bed and say "I will cherish this awesome moment in time, a moment so rare yet so great that I will not take it for granted." Because the next day, right after you throw your alarm clock at the wall at 6.30am, you're going to hate yourself for not realising just how awesome sleeping in really was the day before.

Oh Lord how I love my bed.

Twenty-o-nine.

I've been thinking about this for years. A century ago the year would have been "nineteen-o-nine". It had been pronounced the same since, well since forever, up until the millenium. Then some fucker decided to call it "two-thousand". Two-thousand? Why not "twenty-hundred"?

When you refer to the 20th century you call it the "nineteen-hundreds". So how are you going to refer to this one, hmm? So yeah, and saying for example "the year two-thousand, one hundred and ninety-six" doesn't sound very promising.

The new movie "2012" should be pronounced "twenty-twelve". You know how fast that is to say? Twenty-twelveWHOOSH!you're done. Two-thousand and twelve, pshh come on.

Hi, nice to meet you, I like to exaggerate and talk about little things in my own spare time.

2009 is actually over. Sort of.

First off, a happy new year to you. Hope you enjoyed your evening and actually remembered what happened by not getting utterly wasted to the point of having to get escorted by members of the Red Cross (yes Josmar, you wanted an honourable mention in my blog, now you got it).

At lunch today my uncle came up with the argument that we're not really in the year 2009, because technically 2009 years have already passed. We're merely adding days to those 2009 years as this year goes on, so we're in the 2010th year.

I don't exactly know how that's really interesting. Or how it's even a valid argument. I'm not quite sure. I think it's more entertaining to just imagine a wasted Josmar getting escorted by the Red Cross.

EDIT: Okay so Josmar didn't really get wasted to the point of needing Red Cross help (unreliable sources). But still, let's just imagine he did anyway for the lulz.

Do you feel alive?

I do. Hope y'all had a great year. I know I did.

Happy B-day, Pops, Happy 100th post, Blog.

My dad's forty-uhh, forty-something today. Forty-six? I dunno, mid-late forties. Happy Birthday to him, my classic rocker, bird shootin', politics-hating dad. Yeah he's still quite young. And what's the best way to tell him? By telling him that his favourite hockey team, the New York Islanders, lost to their rivals, the New York Rangers, who happen to be my favourite team, last night 5-4 after blowing an early lead.

And this marks the 100th entry on my blog, and it's still going on strong. I wonder how many blogs I follow will reach this milestone.

2008: A Look Back At This Year In Pop Culture.

Jo, the puppy cam's dedicated to you, pal.

They should've mentioned Rick Rolling.

Why American sports are different from (and better than) European sports.

Let's take one example of a sport played in both continents. My favourite, ice hockey. Observe, America:

Now Europe:

What's the difference? Oh the European sportswear must be cooler, look at all those decals! Wait a minute. Decals? As in, advertisements? The guy's covered in them! I can't even tell if there's a team logo on the bloody thing. Look back at the first picture. What do you see? Team logos, standing large and proud right in the fucking middle of the jerseys. Advertisements? Nope, just the brand of sportswear being used, example Reebok. Small patches, like in normal clothes.

See, the thing is, if I want to play in a sports team, I want to show it by wearing the team logo proudly. Not be a walking billboard.

And the distinction is clear in many other sports. Let's take American baseball now:

A giant NEW YORK right across the shirt. And you know that guy loves it, just look at him. Hell, he's even sporting some shades.

Baseball isn't that popular in Europe. Okay, how about European football?

Hmm yeah, I don't follow football but I know that that little white patch - come on, look harder - across from the Nike logo is the team logo. But fuck that, get insured with the American International Group (AIG)! What if you play for a team sponsored by a company that you think sucks? You're gonna be spending a good chunk of your career running around practically saying "Oi, support this company even though it probably sucks! I hate it, but hell, I support it anyway!"

Be proud of your team, wear the team LOGO, let the sponsors have a bit of advertising space in the arena and during game intermissions, not on your body.

And while we're on the topic of wearing your gear proudly, what do team captains in football wear? Arm bands, or wrist bands? Whatever, those cheap removable things nobody even ever notices. In America, team captains and assistant captains have giant "C"s and "A"s (look at the guy in red and white in the first picture) STITCHED onto their jerseys. Now that's something I'd be proud to wear.

American sports 1, European sports 0.

Walking billboards, pshh.

Oh and another thing. In American sports leagues such as hockey and baseball, athletes know how to be, you know, ATHLETIC. They put their bodies to the test during gametime and take their physical strength to the limit. In other words, they know how to play rough and not be pussies. Go ahead, tap an Italian footballer's leg.

OUCHIES, MY A-LEG, IT IS A-BROKEN, I CAN NO LONGER A-PLAY!

American sports 2, European sports 0.

No longer allowed to feel.

It seems that as more time passes by, the more focused we are on labelling others. Everyone has to fall under a specific category, and no two cliques can interact, socialise, or even dare to merge.

What's that one annoying label we like to use on everyone? Emo. Nowadays, when you see someone feeling down or lonely, your first reaction is to call him emo and then tell him to get a life.

I'm not going to give a definition of "emo", that shit's been done over and over again. My point is that now we're associating a normal human emotion with something negative that should be abolished forever, therefore discouraging people from expressing their emotions and hence encouraging them to bottle everything up.

Being sad or feeling lonely isn't emo. It's normal and it happens all the time to everyone. Thank God that shitty trend is on the decline now - human emotions should not be associated with trends, fashion or whatever. If you're down, speak up.

P.S. This isn't some reaction to a personal experience of my own or to anyone specific, it's just a general thought. If anything, I'm as happy as a nun who just got her negative pregnancy test results back (kudos to anyone who gets the reference).

Come on, make our lives easier.

Out of every single nation in our world, only three haven't adopted the Metric System as the primary or sole system of measurement. Two of them - Myamnar and Liberia - are practically irrelevant to the rest of the world, while the third hard headed nation is... yes, you guessed it, the United States of America.

Why must they insist on keeping something no one else in the world uses? Why not just get rid of their method of measurement - inches, feet, miles and whatnot - and save a lot of time on converting from that crap to metric system values?

Then there's that region shit with video games and DVDs and so on. NTSC and PAL. Bloody hell, that's so annoying. Why? Why do that to us? I loved my Playstation when I was a kid. Then we moved here and all the games were PAL, I couldn't buy a damn thing until I illegally chipped the console. I tried watching a DVD yesterday on my laptop and I couldn't because it was region locked. Give us a break, you sell us consoles and DVD players and laptops here, then you sell us games and DVDs which we can't even watch on them?

They're doing one thing right. They're going to make accounting standards the same worldwide. Same methods of accounting everywhere. Of course you are, how annoying is it to do business internationally, only having to realise that you have to do all your accounts ALL OVER AGAIN in THEIR bloody method? Very.

Abolish the United States Customary System for units of measurement!

Why that name?

Why is it called Boxing Day? In certain countries, the 26th of December is based on the tradition of giving gifts to the less fortunate members of society.

So a couple of thoughts. First of all, why on the day after Christmas? Isn't that disrespectful? I mean, you're dividing the time of giving into two days - the 25th for the people you know and care about, and the 26th - the day AFTER the wonderful time of (a very commercial, but whatever) Christmas - for those who are socially inferior, probably have no relatives, no friends, and are in need of more attention than the extra attention you already give to your friends. It's like, you ended up with a bunch of extra stuff from Christmas and you don't know what to do with it so you'll just get rid of it by giving it to less fortunate people. Well, that's bloody nice of you isn't it, why didn't you just visit the poor chaps on Christmas eve or Christmas evening and say "Here you go pal, a little something on this special day!"? Oh that's right, YOUR special day is the day after everyone else's!

And another thing, what's with the name? It's supposedly a day of giving, yet it gives the impression of giving blows to someone's face.Why not call it Getting-rid-of-stuff-by-giving-it-to-the-poor day? Here you go old man! Pow! Right in the kisser. Happy Boxing Day! What, can't handle a Round 2? Come on, I'm being generous!

Oh and, Happy Birthday to that drummer we love, hate, and love to hate for being such a dick sometimes. Here's to another 45 years, Lars Urlich!