--Elite Writer Alias: Beulah Name: Beulah Els ASL: been there/F/SA in Dubai Bio: [ Quick Bio ] Website:[ Education ] Days Away: 1 Life Story: Undercover artist [ Ignore User ]
Favorites: 48 Forum Posts: 20 Shoutbox Posts: 3 RP Posts: 0 Signup Date: 1484 D 4.07 Years 0.41 Decades 49.47 Months 212 Weeks 1.48400e+8 Heart Beats -There you go eggman Quote: Here today gone tomorrow...
Journal: Checking In -------------------------------------------
Mood: The Usual
Is it really possible for time to fly by this fast... it seems like yesterday since my last journal entry but my quick calculation shows nearly nine months since my previous update. So much has happened and I am at a loss of where to start...
Since my last update I've traveled so much... again to far off places - some well known - others too remote to even start explaining how to get there and then how to get back!!! But it's been life enriching and awe inspiring to say the least and I will try to capture some of the magic I gathered along the way.
I spent the past six months in and out of Lagos, Nigeria and have come to love and respect this complex city and culture. It is a world of contradictions but so vibrant and alive with wonderful, friendly people and sights and sounds that you will not find anywhere else on earth... A kaleidoscope of tastes and sounds wrapped up in a constant stream of never-ending traffic chaos and street vendors.
I've been working on a project with the national carrier and have had to deal with all the challenges Africa offers... from delays in getting launched to not being able to find the right suppliers. But it's been an amazing experience so far and I've met incredible people and friends along the way. I'm going back mid March and will probably be back and forth between Lagos and Dubai for a few months to come.
I've also traveled to the UK a few times for business and also managed to see my sister and her family who have settled down in Yately just over a year ago. How different living in the UK is to living in South Africa or even Dubai. Very peaceful... and she's been able to even spend more time on writing - I envy the peacefulness of her surroundings but am not quite ready to give up the glitz and glamour of Dubai just yet!
Last week I traveled to Kazakhstan to attend a meeting and was pleasantly surprised with the picture-perfect setting of Almaty... carefully cushioned between majestic snow-capped mountains with beautiful old buildings and fabulous restaurants. I had Schasslik for dinner and unfortunately did not have time to visit the ski resort but I'll be back again during March for a follow up meeting and will make sure I 'happen' to arrive over the weekend this time around.
Other than that it's been really hectic. Dubai is becoming so incredibly busy and you can probably get stuck in traffic jams for a good 3 - 4 hours per day if you travel at the wrong time. But it stays an amazing place and I'm so happy to be part of such incredible growth. I encourage everyone to visit if you can and experience the magic of this stylish, exuberant city.
I hope all of you have been well and writing... I've been writing quite a bit and will hopefully be able to catch up with posting and commenting on the wonderful poetry on the site.
I only quickly looked at another piece, 'despair' as it is... I just wanted to point out a typo in the last verse (it says 'it's' where it should say 'its').
Well, I would commit myself to your work... but it's hard sometimes to find the inspiration. And I don't mean for you to take it personally, it's just that as a person I've a lot of demons to fight within myself and most of the time, that takes away all of my energy. Not to mention that most of the time when I do put myself to commenting, very few actually do appreciate it. I guess I might be overestimating my own words, but putting energy into something that leads to absolutely nothing is just ... draining?
You have to really want things on this website to get them done, and I'm not usually strong enough for that. But I can spice up your life if you want me to - and if it'll push you to try poetry some more.. that would be more than enough recompense.
What do ya say?
No, they are lovely... Refreshing, and remind those like me that poetry is not always the complicit crime of chaotic thoughts. I also personally dislike it when a piece is too heavenly weaved with certain information from say a book, or a story, to the point where one couldn't follow the piece without having an in depth understanding of that story. That is why the references in that piece that I do make to pilgrim's progress are either extremely well known (the beulah detail), or things like the stanza about the man bellowing, or the stygian river; details that can be understood independently of the book.
And no, I am not better than what this website has to offer. There are those on here who are a lot more poetic than I am, and those who are a lot more humane, and even those who put more intricacies in their pieces than I could ever imagine doing. I am merely incomprehensible... Thus ignored .
That is hot! When I went back to South Carolina in June, it was 38, and it was close to 100% humidity. I think 46 is the hottest I've ever experienced.
Oh, that's lovely that they came to visit. I'm sure it's a shock to the system to got from Blighty to Dubai.
I'd love to come visit, but I have a few trips planned for next year (France, Greece, and the US) , so I'll have to see how my finances hold up.
A friend of ours and his son was in Dubai for a wakeboarding competition in June, and they loved it. (The kid is only nine, and he just won a silver medal in the national championship). My sister-in-law also loves Dubai.
In the valley of humiliation, christian and the destroyer (apollyon, or abaddon are all names for him) fought for three whole days at the end of which christian "defeats" him in the book. The ending of my piece suggests that anything beyond that point is but a dream (thus the whole climax of being near beulah, thus heaven, the accomplishments of his sons.. etc. They are all but a dream...).
I thought this to be more appropriate given the name of the valley. I also found the idea of THE destroyer lulling somebody to sleep as a means of destruction to be more... stunning?
)
Currently Stalking: 
Last 20 Submissions
.
