Oh, eyebrows!

When somebody asks me which part of man’s physique I value the most, normally, my reply rises eyebrows as the answer is “Eyebrows!” 🙂  Yes, I believe, nothing gives so much masculine charm as a pair of dark bushy eyebrows. And on the contrary, plucked eyebrows on men (and overplucked on women) make the whole look so incredibly stupid that can serve as an indicator of no brain. To be more general, I’d say that to me a man is attractive when he is slightly hairy and looking a little wild.

Maybe I would not have written this post if not reading a few articles discussing the ‘pro’ and ‘against’ reasons of hair removal. Men are becoming victims of the war declared on body hair, just like women. Does anyone have an idea why some men shave their chest, underarms and, the worst, legs? Humans and hairless plastic dolls are not the same thing. Needless to say, everybody does what s(he) wants to, but is that what THEY want or numerous ads are advising them to?

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Case study: workaholism

Workaholics were all around her, that’s why they became a natural object of observation. Almost a case study. They were so different in characters, all physical and mental parameters, except for one single obsession – workaholism.

One was a loud type. Every morning he turned to the office looking as, at least, Charles Darwin who had just published “The Origin of Species”. With his every word, every motion he sent a loud message “I am so busy!”. His desk had a full collection of paper, dust, envelopes, pencils and, probably, many more things, buried under a tick layer of everything else.

Another one was a diligent type. All life interests of this guy were sacrifices for work. Work was a kingdom and he was a king and a subject in one. Trying to perform a million of tasks with an excellent diligence, he enjoyed being busy in a masochistic way – grumbling about it every moment but still enjoying it. He felt nice about himself, he felt useful. Maybe once somebody told him that we live to work and he decided not to question it. Maybe work for him was a way to keep his minds busy and free from other thoughts and doubts. Actually, he was a nice guy, much nicer than other two.

The third one was a complete freak though. She never managed to reach her own standard of perfection. She exhausted herself chasing this perfection in every tiny detail. This case was particularly curious – all people around her were classified as “professionals” and rubbish. Professionals could be described as always polite smiling robots that were ready to perform any task given by their superiors.

These three had one (maybe the only) similarity – all of them were sure that being busy makes a person more important, more useful for society and that society needs to be grateful in one way or another. The first one was a biologist, the second – all about maths and physics, and the third one was an administration queen. The biologist, who called himself a scientist, was rather an expert in self-promotion. He made it look like there would be no phytoplankton in the sea without him (not the other way around, no). He demanded admission for lack of free time and was totally convinced in his importance. The administration girl did not even doubt that without her input the whole institution will stop. The maths guy really loved what he was doing.

That is it! When someone is really in love with what he is doing, he does it for his own interest. I love those nutty and inspiring guys who have a true deep passion for what they are doing, no matter whether it is science, administration or even being a cleaner – every labour is respected. Being a scientist does not necessarily mean a higher social importance. Great minds were appreciated in all times and I am one of most passionate admirers, but not all working in science-related areas have great minds. And if their main claim for admission is sweating for their own promotion (ops, I meant society) then it is a delusion to ask for admission.

Getting back to the obsession of keeping busy: “doing something is better than doing nothing” is ambiguous. It all depends how you define “doing nothing”. Sometimes sitting and staring at the sky has a higher intrinsic value than just looking at the monitor checking one more report that will dust on shelves. I believe, reduction of working hours may enrich us emotionally and culturally. Leaving slavery mentality to live for work behind, we can enjoy beauty of this world and cherish it much more.

Cannabis March in Malta (5th May 2012)

Legality status of this cute plant and its derivatives varies in different countries: from legal in a very few countries including Spain, Netherlandsand Czech republic to confirmed illegal in majority of others.

Growing cannabis for personal use is legal in Russia since 18th November 2010. Although smoking it in public still remaining illegal.

In Astrakhan, my home town, Cannabis ruderalis  grows right on sidewalks, not to mention countryside where it grows in wild and feels perfectly fine. I remember we even made a herbarium of cannabis during university botany practice. Considering such availability of cannabis there it was pretty hard for authorities to enforce the illegal status.

Decriminalization of cannabis defiantly was a logical action but still far from return to its glorious status. Historically, in Russia cannabis was one of the most cultivated cereal grains, its fiber was used for hemp and textile manufacturing; status of cannabis was as high as of wheat and sunflower. In fact, you can see cannabis leaves right between wheat sheaves on the fountain of the International Friendship in Moscow.

Everything changed in 1961 when USSR adopted UN Convention on Narcotic Drugs, initiated in USA (weird enough that USSR adopted something initiated in USA but it was Khruschev´s “snowbreak” time). Nowadays cannabis is still cultivated on microscopic scale for agricultural purposes.

In Malta growing cannabis is illegal and there is nothing surprising about it. What would you expect if legalisation of divorce happened only a year ago? Although not everything is so clear: drug trafficking in Malta is as active as everywhere else and authorities do not try hard to wipe cocaine from the island: places of trade are known to many including police. On Saturday 5th May supporters of legalization of cannabis gathered in Valletta in front of the new Parliament building. The march was a pretty peaceful action, some even brought their children :).

I do not believe cannabis is banned to protect us from any harm. Otherwise, how to explain the fact that alcohol and cigarets are available in such a broad variation? And even if so, if an adult person decides to harm himself, doesn’t he have the right to do so? There is a strange perception that “dangerous” things controlled only if banned, and their legalization would be a total disaster – everyone would be trapped by their power. Strange perception, isn’t it? Are all married Maltese in the process of divorce now?

I remember, in my teenagerhood we used to gather on the staircase in some block of apartments and some of my friends smoked cannabis. I know how it smells, I remember how they used to smile and laugh after. Something kept me from doing same thing, maybe I wanted to be different in the company of weed-smoking and heavy drinking still kids. Cannot recall any harm to anyone. Some became wonderful parents, some finished bad but cannabis did not have anything to do with it.