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Dear Friends, It’s been a while since my last article in here, I think the cold weather has affected my appetite for writing!! So enough said here is my last blog entry for 2007: 2007 has been a challenging year for me as I had to adapt to unexpected situations that changed my life completely, some of them for the good and others for the worse, but here I am a survivor of a year which is fading away. I think it’s the same for many of you, as long as you are still here you are all survivors, no matter what. It’s the month of December, a month to celebrate and a month to prepare for a fresh new start. Christmas passed away too and soon all the festivities will be over, but for me there will still be place for celebration as it was in December of 2006 that I created this website. Back then it was just an idea to have a website, a place where to express myself on different aspects of life so that people would come to know me better. It was another medium which helped me communicate with people ahead of the Local Council elections. As soon as the elections where over, I wanted to keep the website as my personal address on the web. I kept on using my website to air my views, but I also used it to give information about my hometown, Ħamrun. I also used my website to give a voice to other people, for instance I remember about a family which gave me some pictures which showed the black smoke coming out from the milk factory’s chimney at their backdoor. In May, this website brought you also exclusive information regarding the Eurovision Song Contest. It was the first website in Malta to reveal some interesting facts about Vertigo’s performance such as the body paint on the male dancers! After that it focused on the first ever maltese saint, St.Ġorġ Preca . Then came the demolishion of a 77 year old sign which showed the inefficiency of the Ħamrun local council, and which only this website noticed! Anyways, that was the first year of www.renaldmicallef.com. I want to thank all visitors which made up 3,000 hits in just a year. I also want to thank all of you who sent emails and signed my guestbook. And for those of you that bothered to read my articles, here’s the biggest thank you!!! Whilst wishing you a great finish to 2007, I hope 2008 will be a year filled with Love, Opportunities and Excitement for all of us. Renald
24 
Dear Friends, Not more than 3 weeks ago I turned 24! It’s inevitably for me not to think about the past 24 years, especially in October, when I celebrate my birthday. I bet it’s the same for a lot of people out there. I am who I am today because of my past. All the experiences, sad and not, throughout my first 24 years helped in creating me. The way I speak, the way I listen, the way I live, the way I think it’s all conditioned by my experiences. Experiences are supposed to change us. Whoever does not embrace change is doomed to stagnation. For now I am not going to tell you the story of my life, not because I don’t want to, but because it is difficult to keep it concise. The only thing I can tell you is that my life so far was like a fast track. A lot of things happened in such a small span of years. I had to grow earlier than other people of my age. I always felt that people my age could not understand me because they weren’t experienced in life like I was. The thing is I always felt bigger for my age. In a sense I feel lucky that I grew up faster, stronger and mature. I came to see things in a positive perspective even when life kicked me down. No man is an island, that’s what the saying says. I believe fully in this saying. I feel special because in my life I always met people who at a certain point in time helped me, loved me and cared about me. Some of those people moved out of my life, some of them went to a better place, others are still there for me, others are far away but yet so close and others are new gifts which life has given me. These are the people that know me, my story, my life. They chose to love me unconditionally. For those of you that stood by me in my struggles through life, I wanna thank you all. You are the greatest gift I can ever receive for my birthday. I feel special because you make me feel so. Your love gives me the strengths which I need to keep moving on in this journey we call life. This is how I want to remember my 24th birthday, by remembering how fortunate I was to meet you all. Renald
Ħamrun Traskurat
Fil-Ħamrun dan l-aħħar bdew ix-xgholijiet fuq il-proġett tant mistenni tal-kumpless Daniels , proġett utli ħafna għal-lokal tagħna li ser jieħu post bini li għal dawn l-aħħar snin kien abbandunat. Filwaqt li ntenni l-appoġġ tiegħi lejn dan il-proġett, ninsab urtat ħafna għal mod kif iġġarfet l-opramorta ta’ dik li kienet il-fabbrika l-antika ta’ l-injam. Fir-ritratt wieħed jinnota d-data MCMXXX li tfisser 1930. Għalhekk din l-opramorta kienet ilha hemmhekk għal dawn l-aħħar 77 sena. Nifhem li din l-opramorta ma kellha l-ebda valur arkitettoniku, pero nħoss li kellha valur storiku għall-Ħamrun. Peress li nagħmel parti miss-sottokumitat dwar l-aspett tal-patrimonju Ħamruniż, ħassejt li kelli nagħmel xi ħaġa biex nipprova nsalva din l-opramorta. Għalhekk xi xahrejn ilu jien kont ċempilt personalment lis-Sur David Agius wiehed mill-iżviluppaturi ta’ l-imsemmi proġett. Kont tlabtu x’kien ser jagħmel bl-opramorta, hu kien weġibni li kellu l-permessi neċessarji biex iwaqqagħha pero qalli li kien lest jagħtiha lill-Kunsill Lokali jekk xi ħadd imur għaliha. Ovvjament irringrazzjajtu għal ġenerożita tiegħu, għax li kieku ried seta’ iddeċieda mod ieħor. Jien irriferejt b’dan kollu lil Kunsilliera Judith Bugeja li min-naħa tagħha tkelmet ma xi Kunsilliera oħra. Għalhekk għandi nifhem li l-Kunsill Lokali kien infurmat bil-każ. Mid-dehra ħadd mill-Kunsilliera ma kellu l-kapaċita’ li jsalva din l-opramorta li 'l quddiem setgħet tiġi nkorporata jew esposta x’imkien ieħor. Issa din intilfet darba għal dejjem. Dan huwa każ wieħed li juri it-telqa li teżisti fil-Ħamrun fejn jidħol l-aspett storiku tal-lokal. Il-Kunsill Lokali li taħtu jaqgħu dawn l-affarijiet x’jirrispondi għal dan? Renald
B for Britain...B for Brighton = B for Beautiful
Dear Friends, In July I had an unexpected holiday in Britain. It was unexpected because I would never have chosen to visit the Uk in the middle of our maltese summer, moreover I would have never predicted that my cousin would come with such an offer to pay for the holiday! This was my first time in Britain, and if God shall keep me alive, it will not be my last. I really felt in love with Brighton and London, the cities I visited. I knew before hand that Brighton was going to be a nice place, but I really was amazed by London. My impressions before I went there was that it would not suit my taste. I can now admit I was wrong. The great part of the holiday was done in Brighton, with 7 out of 9 days. I went to visit London for 2 different days. I managed to see the major attractions of the capital, but I will have to return and spend at least another week there for sure. I have been to the London Zoo which is really huge, it was my first time in a zoo and I really enjoyed it. I managed to visit London's major landmarks from the Big Ben to Tower Bridge. I can also recall St. James Park, Tower Bridge, Downing Street and loads more. Hopefully next time I will have to pay a visit to Madame Tussaud's and get a ride on the London Eye.
Regarding Brighton, It is simply great. I loved every little bit of it. It is a small city compared to others but it offers a lot of attractions. On the other hand I felt that spending 7 days there, was a bit excessive. After 2 days I had really a good orientation of the whole place. The major attractions in Brighton are very close to each other, these include The Brighton Pier which houses a huge games room and luna park, The Royal Pavillion which is an oriental palace, The Brighton Aquarium and The Lanes which is a fishing village turned shops. Then there is the pebble beach where a lot of people hang out during the day.
Brighton is also described as the gay capital of the U.K. There are a lot of gay bars and all the other bars are all gay-friendly. Homophobia is really deemed as ignorance and even the police take it seriously. If you are gay, Brighton is the place to be. I really was amazed of how the straight and the transgender communities really go along together. If other places will take Brighton as an example the world will have solved at least one of its problems!
Renald
Love me or Hate me
Dear Friends, A few weeks ago I have chosen Ira Losco’s hit “Love me or Hate me” as the opening theme for my website. It is really amazing how a song can help us alleviate our daily problems and that’s exactly what this song did for me! The actual title of the song already says it all...its the perfect message I can send to anybody who judges me without knowing me. Every now and then in our lives we find ‘people’ who hate us simply because we are different from them. Such ‘people’ (if they deserve to be called that way) make it a purpose in their uninteresting lives to gossip on us, to discredit us, to mock and humiliate us. By so doing, they get the necessary attention from their fellows. This attention helps them to become more noticed and therefore important. Out of these there exist those who do it on purpose and others who do it indirectly. No matter the means, the outcome on their victims is pretty much the same. Stress, frustration, sadness, low self-esteem and anxiety, coupled with others, are the effects on the victim’s feelings. They can literally destroy a person from within. Having a strong character helps a lot in dealing with such situations, but no matter what, they still have repercussions under the form of nervousness! Often than not you may find such ‘people’ at your workplace, in the street, in a disco or in whatever place you can imagine. Actually there is nowhere to run or hide…you just fight back not in the physical sense but in an intelligent smart manner. I found that the best option is to be indifferent and treat those ‘people’ as insignificant rejects of the human kind.
Life is already difficult as it is, we already have our problems, so its useless caring about what other people have to say about you. No matter what you do, even if you are a saint walking on earth, you will always find someone who is there to make your life difficult, so why care? I only care if by my actions I hurt others, in that case I try to better myself, but for those ‘people’ there is no cure. It would be nice if such ‘insignificant rejects of the human kind’ become aware of how much life is beautiful…so please make me and humanity a favour…GET A LIFE!!! And as Ira Losco says …“what is certain you never gonna make me feel small, not in this life, not in my mind, not ever again..” Renald
Spiritual times
Dear Friends, As many of you already know, lately we had the first maltese to be proclaimed Saint i.e San Ġorġ Preca. Many people had their say about this man and his achievements. I deemed it proper therefore to write something myself too. I start by admitting that I'm not the religious type of guy, if you happen to see me in a church its because of an occasion or else because its one of those very religious days! I'm that kinf of person who believes in God and live my life according to good values. I'm a christian but I don't agree with the Roman Catholic church's approach on various issues. My religion is to help people in need and doing no harm to anyone, love other human beings and try to live in harmony with everyone. I'm a sinner like anybody out there. I think that the essence of every religion is the spirituality and the common good. Having said that I can say that wether one is a catholic or not, there are great people that their importance goes far beyond their religion, and appeal to the spirituality of the 'universal religion'. I look at San Ġorġ Preca as one of them, not because he was declared Saint but because he preached what he deemed was right for humanity. Wether one agrees with his beliefes or not is irrelevent as the purpose of San Ġorġ Preca was surely to instill good values so that people can live in harmony. San Ġorġ lived his life for others, he was and still is an example for everyone. He loved other people no matter who they were. If many of us just take his example and try to help each other I am sure we will all live a better life.I recall with great nostalgy my childhood years at the M.U.S.E.U.M, it was a social and religious experience that instilled in me good values. If it was not for San Ġorġ Preca I would surely be a different person. The last think I want to say is that I'm proud not only because I'm maltese but also because I come from Ħamrun, the town where San Ġorġ Preca lived the greatest part of his life and started his work. Its because of that that I also feel ashamed that in Ħamrun nothing was done to erect a monument to San Ġorġ yet. Can anyone of you imagine Assisi without a monument of St.Francis? or Pietralcina without a monument of St.Pio? Here in Ħamrun we have monuments for politicians, for singers, for religious persons etc, but for San Ġorġ we don't. To add insult to the injury a bust of the Saint was erected in Marsa, a nearby locality which frankly its not associated with San Ġorġ.So please Mr.Mayor wake up. I am sure you got the point. Renald
Post Mortem
Dear Friends, Two weeks have passed since the Eurovision Song Contest 2007's final. More than enough discussion has taken place so far and I decided to write my analysis now so as I can see the picture from a clearer perspective. I am sure all of you know Serbia won and Malta did not make it to the final...so I won't repeat the obviuos as it now belongs to history. Trough the years not a single Eurovision Song Contest passed without critcism, controversies and surprises. This year was not an exception of course ! Although it was anticipated from weeks before the ESC took place, that this year was going to be difficult to predict the winner as there was a good amount of good songs, I still believe this was the worst ESC I have seen.Actually I'm not talking about the songs but about the voting farce! Every year there are countries which vote for their neighbours and this is fair enough in my opinion, but never such neighbour voting has influenced the result in such a scandalous way as this year. For me it was scandalous that Eastern European countries gave all their votes from 1 to 12 to countries from their area. I agree with those of you who say that such countris have similar tastes and cultures but how come not a single western song was good enough for their liking? I mean even Western countries vote their neighbours and we all know that, but they always give points to a good song no matter what.
With this I'm not saying I want the juries to comeback, actually its far from that. I believe in 100% televoting because it brings the ESC closer to people. The thing I'm against is that all the countries vote on both the semi-final and the final. In my opinion this is what is ruining Eurovision. It would be fair that only those countries participating 'on the night' should vote, this will at least diminish the chance of a block vote. The Eurovision Song Contest was created to unite Europe in music, there should be no division between East and West, on the other hand there should be fair televoting system which guarantees that all Europe is represented on the final night. I hope that things will change for teh better next year for the sake of peace, unity and music. I take the opportunity to thank Olivia and all the maltese contingent that represented us with dignity. I believed in Vertigo before the Eurovision and I still believe it is an original song. Last February I voted for Olivia and I don't regret it. Renald
A week to go before the fever begins!
Dear Friends, Here we are again, its that time of year that we, Eurovision fans, are all looking forward to. For us May means only one thing ...The Eurovision Song Contest! Although I've been feverish all these last weeks, the true fever will come next week as I watch Olivia on stage. It would certainly feel like Vertigo! As you noticed , I've been busy updating my website with ESC news constantly. I tried to give you different information from the other 2 maltese esc sites, I managed to give you exclusive news too, and I am really glad you appreciated it so much. I thank all of you who signed my guestbook, sent me emails with suggestions and compliments and the others who just visited.
During the last week I had the opportunity to meet Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Koulov, who will represent Bulgaria in ESC 2007 with 'Water'. They are both nice people. Although Bulgaria is not one of my favourites this year, I wish them all the best. I also met our representative Olivia Lewis on an unexpected occasion, she was kind enough to take a photo with me. As you see the photo is not so clear as it was taken with a mobile phone, I wished I had the digital camera with me! But better than nothing...although I look horrendous in this photo lol. So that's all for today, I take the opportunity to wish good luck to Olivia and all the maltese contingent. I am sure all will do their best to make us proud. The Eurovision Song Contest is one of those days that re-unites the maltese people, so whatever the result will be, we have already won on our diversities. Good luck Malta, good luck Olivia, good luck all the team behind Vertigo. Renald
10 days in Tuscany
Dear Friends, Its been a month since I last wrote something on my blog! As from now on I will start using english instead of maltese so that everyone can understand. Besides, I was using maltese as the articles I already wrote were meant for a maltese audience. Between the 16th till the 26th of March I was on holiday for the 4th time in Tuscany, Italy. Actually the purpose of this holiday was to meet my italian friends, a year had already passed since I last saw them. Being the 4th time for me, I have re-visited cities and villages I already knew. I've been to Florence, Siena, Pisa, San Gimignano, Barberino and Prato. My friends took me also to Padova which is situated in the region of Veneto! There I saw the Basilica of St.Anthony. I also visited some new museums such as the Torture Museums in Siena and S.Gimignano. Its really unbelievable how people have tortured other people trough the centuries in the name of the church! I call it madness.
In those ten days the weather was awful. Everyone told me that all winter had been great and I really chose the worst week for my holiday! It seem I was unlucky then. I really hate winter and all the bad weather it brings, Im used to the Maltese sunshine. My friends in Malta told me that they had bad weather too. I was really pleased to hear this news as I felt some consolation lol! This week my intake of food was enormous.....we've been to Chinese and Italian restaurants and I tasted the Greek cuisine for the first time too. I found the greek plates very abunding and I did not ate it all in fact. I'm used to abundant plates here in Malta but the greeks surpass us.
Grazzi mill-qalb
Għeżież ħbieb, Issa li għaddew l-elezzjonijiet tal-kunsilli lokali nixtieq nieħu din l-opportunita` biex nirringrazzja lil dawk kollha li appoġġawni. Nibda speċjalment minn dawk li urew fiduċja fija bil-vot tagħhom, grazzi lil dawk kollha li laqgħuni f'darhom kif ukoll lil dawk kollha li ħadu sehem fil-kampanja elettorali tiegħi. Lilkhom kollha grazzi mill-qalb. Għalija kienet esperjenza tal-ġenn mill-bidu sa l-aħħar. Ħadt ħafna gost niltaqa magħkom u nkellimkom personali. Mill-kappell li kelli sellimtilkom u ċert li apprezzajtu l-ħidma li għamilt bir-riżorsi li kelli. Kif tafu jien ma ġejtx elett iżda rnexxili ntejjeb l-ammont totali ta' voti b'100 fuq tlett snin ilu, fil-fatt ġibt 250. Nistqarr li għall-ewwel kont xi ftit diżappuntat bin-numru ta' voti fl-ewwel għadd, biss kont sodisfatt bit-tieni u t-tielet preferenzi li tgħajtuni. L-importanti fl-aħħar mill-aħħar kien li n-nies jkollom l-opportunita` li jagħżlu lil min jirrapreżenthom. Ċert li l-kunsillieri li eleġġejtu ser jagħtu l-kontribut tagħhom biex ikollna Ħamrun aħjar. Min-naħa tiegħi nwiegħedkom li ser nibqa nagħti l-kontribut tiegħi fejn huwa possibbli. Fil-fatt ġejt mitlub biex nsir membru fil-kumitat sezzjonali tal-Partit Nazzjonalista għal-Ħamrun kif ukoll ser nagħmel parti minn wieħed mis-sotto kumitati tal-kunsill lokali Ħamrun. Għal darb'oħra grazzi mill-qalb. Renald Micallef
B' Impenn fil-lokal tiegħek
Għeżież ħbieb, Kien il-PN li mpenja ruħu biex f’Malta jkollna l-kunsilli lokali u għalhekk ma jistax jonqos li jkun l-istess partit li jġedded l-impenn tiegħu ta’ kull sena fil-lokalitajiet tagħna. Meta bniedem jemmen fl-ideal tiegħu dan ħa jagħmel minn kollox biex iwettqu, b’hekk ikun impenjat li jwettaq dak li jixtieq. Hekk ukoll aħna l-kandidati nazzjonalisti irridu nwettqu l-viżjoni tal-Partit Nazzjonalista għat-titjib tal-lokal fejn ngħixu. Dan ifisser li aħna qed nimpenjaw lilna nfusna biex nkunu ta’ servizz għar-residenti li wara kollox huma s-sinsla tal-lokal tagħna. Għalkemm aħna noħorġu taħt il-kappa tal-partit, xorta waħda l-lealta’ tagħna l-ewwel u qabel kollox hija lejn il-lokalita’. Il-Partit Nazzjonalista jiġbor fih l-istess ideali, viżjonijiet u valuri li aħna lkoll nħaddnu u huwa għalekk li niddeċiedu li ma noħorġux indipendenti. Kif jgħid il-Malti s-saħħa tinsab fl-għaqda u għalhekk bħala tim wieħed maqgħud nkunu nistgħu nsarrfu l-ideali tagħna f’realta’. Naħseb li lkoll kemm aħna bħala ċittadini, nixtiequ naraw pajjiż isbaħ, pajjiż b’saħħtu, pajjiż modern u pajjiż aħjar, fejn kulħadd jagħti sehemu. Wieħed mill-ideali tagħna bħala nazzjonalisti huwa li f’dan il-pajjiż ħadd m’hu għar-rimi għax ilkoll f’baħar wieħed ninsabu. Ejjew l-ewwel ntejbu l-lokalitajiet tagħna biex ikollna pajjiż aħjar. Għalhekk nitolbu l-għajnuna tagħkom biex fl-10 ta’ Marzu li ġej tivvutaw għal kandidati kollha tal-Partit Nazzjonalista għax aħna nemmnu fikom. L-impenn tagħna qiegħed hemm, jonqos biss il-vot tagħkom. Renald Micallef 18/02/2007
Xahrejn bogħod mill-elezzjonijiet tal-kunsilli
Għeżież ħbieb, Għadna kif bdejna s-sena 2007 u għalekk nagħtikom l-awgurju tiegħi biex ikolkhom sena mimlija ferħ u suċċessi. Din is-sena għandha tkun fost l-aktar importanti għalina l-maltin, dan għaliex l-2007 ser tkun is-sena tal-ħsad. Hekk hu ħbieb tiegħi, dis-sena ser ngawdu l-frott tas-sagrifiċċji li lkoll għamilna tul dawn l-aħħar snin. Bħall pazjent li jrid jieħu dik il-mistura morra biex ifiq , hekk ukoll kien pajjiżna. Kellna bżonn il-mistura b’togħma morra biex nirkupraw. Issa li żmien il-kura għadda nistgħu nħarsu b’ottimiżmu lejn is-sena li għadha kif bdiet. Kif kulħadd jaf iż-żmien malajr jgħaddi u fil-fatt minn hawn u xahrejn oħra terz tal-popolazzjoni maltija ser tkun imsejjħa biex tivvota. Għalekk Marzu li ġej ser ikun xahar importanti ħafna . Wisq probabbli dawn l-elezzjonijiet ser ikunu l-aħħar eżami għall-partiti politiċi qabel l-elezzjoni ġenerali. Ħafna nies ma jieħdux dawn l-elezzjonijiet bis-serjeta għax jaħsbu li mhux ser jaffetwaw il-ħajja tagħhom ta’ kuljum. Huwa veru li l-kunsilli lokali għandhom poteri limitati, pero huwa wkoll fatt li minn kemm ilhom li nħolqu għamlu ħafna ġid. Ħadd ma jista jiċħad li l-lokalitajiet tagħna saru isbaħ u aħjar. Illum bħal kull ħaġa oħra ta’ kuljum , il-kunsilli ndraw iżda bl-ebda mod m’għandna neħduhom ‘for granted’. Nfakkar biss lil dawk li ma jħobbux jivvutaw f’dawn l-elezzjonijiet li wara kollox il-vot huwa dritt demokratiku. Il-vot jieħu dimensjoni aktar importanti meta niftakru kif għadd hawn popolazzjonijiet sħaħ li ma għandhomx dan id-dritt. Huwa għalekk li għandna nħossuna xxurtjati li għandna iċ-ċans li nsemmgħu leħinnha. Kif ilkoll tafu aħna l-kandidati nipparteċipaw fl-elezzjonijiet tal-kunsilli lokali b’mod volontarju. Noħorġu għal-kunsilli b’intenzjoni li ntejbu l-lokalitajiet tagħna, kemm jekk aħna laburisti, nazzjonalisti, ma l-arternattiva jew indipendenti. Bħall kull ħaġa fid-dinja jeżistu l-eċċezzjonijiet , pero l-maġġoranza tal-kunsilliera għandhom għal qalbhom l-interessi tal-lokal. Nixtieq nara lil Ħamrun isbaħ u aħjar u għalekk aċċettajt li nkun kandidat. Nemmen li bħala zgħazugħ nista nagħti kontribut. Nirringrazzjakhom ta’ l-appoġġ tagħkom u nwiegħedkhom li dejjem ser issibuni hemm għax wara kollox jien wieħed minnkom. Nfakkarkhom ukoll li jekk għandkom xi lmenti jew suġġerimenti tikkuntatjawni. Renald Micallef 06/01/2007
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