Can you cry under water?
How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?
Why do you have to 'put your two cents in'... but it's only a 'penny for your thoughts'? Where's that extra penny going to?
Once you're in heaven, do you get stuck wearing the clothes you were buried in for eternity?
Why does a round pizza come in a square box?
What disease did cured ham actually have?
How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?
Why is it that people say they 'slept like a baby' when babies wake up like every two hours?
If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?
Why are you IN a movie, but you're ON TV?
Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?
Why do doctors leave the room while you change?
They're going to see you naked anyway.
Why is 'bra' singular and 'panties' plural?
Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?
If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a stupid song about him?
If the professor on Gilligan's Island can make a radio out of a coconut, why can't he fix a hole in a boat?
Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours?
They're both dogs!
If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME crap, why didn't he just buy dinner?
If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?
If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?
Do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?
Why did you just try singing the two songs above?
Why do they call it an asteroid when it's outside the hemisphere, but call it a haemorrhoid when it's in your butt?
Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him for a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

Why, Why, Why
Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting dead?
Why do banks charge a fee on 'insufficient funds' when they know there is not enough money?
Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?
Why do they use sterilized needles for death by lethal injection?
Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?
Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you throw a revolver at him?
Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?
Whose idea was it to put an 'S' in the word 'lisp'?
If people evolved from apes,
why are there still apes?
Why is it that no matter what colour bubble bath you use the bubbles are always white?
Is there ever a day that mattresses
are not on sale?
Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized?
Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance?
Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the end on your first try?
How do those dead bugs get into those enclosed light fixtures?
When we are in the supermarket and someone rams our ankle with a shopping cart then apologizes for doing so, why do we say, 'It's all right?' Well, it isn't all right, so why don't we say, 'That really hurt, why don't you watch where you're going?'
Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that's falling off the table you always manage to knock something else over?
In winter why do we try to keep the house as warm as it was in summer when we complained about the heat?
How come you never hear father-in-law jokes?
And my FAVORITE......
The statistics on sanity is that one out of every four persons are suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends -- if they're okay, then it's you.
Naa you were made in the image of God must be one of them.

Kienet ila sejra xi tlett snin il-gwerra u kien waqgha ghaks kbir fuq Malta. Hafna min nies li kienu joqghodu madwar il-port il-kbir kienu spiccaw bla dar u diversi minnhom kienu marru joqghodu f’xi inhawi ohra ta malta bhal ma kien had-Dingli li ma tantx kien intlaqat mil-bumbardamenti tal-ghadu li kienu isiru kwazi ta kuljum.Had-dingli kien spicca mimli refugjati specjalment mil-kottonera u madwar. Hafna mid-dinglin li kienu bdiewa ghalhekk kienu xi ftit iffortunati. l-ewwelnett ghax ma tantx intlaqtu u it-tieni ghax billi kienu ikabbru hafna mil ftit frott u haxix li kien hawn allura ma tantx batew il-guh.Hafna drabi forsi gawdew ukoll ghax kienu ibieghu kollox bil-blackmarket u kienu idahhlu iktar tieghu billi mhux lakemm kont issib ikel sura ta nies.

    Il-gvern ingliz ta dak iz-zmien kien hareg ordni li hadd ma setgha ibiegh il-prodotti tieghu privatament. Kienu irid kollox jghaddi min idejn il-gvern ,u kien hemm pieni ta habs ghal min jinqabad ibiegh xi haga imma taf int xorta kienu jissugraw u missieri jghid li darba kienu gew xi nies li tghidx kemm talbuh bil-hniena biex itihom xi ftit patata u ghal ewwel ma riedx ghax ma riedx jghamel xi jumejn il-habs.Tant damu dawn jitkarrbu li ma kellhom xejn x’jieklu li fl-ahhar henn ghalihom u mar gabilhom gewlaq patata,imma ix-xitan ma ghandux halib u jghamel il-gbejniet jghidu.Min naha l-ohra tal-wied fejn hemm ir-razzett tal-fuli f’daqqa wahda tfacca ragel li beda jghajjat u ixejjer idejh u nghid il-verita dawk inhasdu specjalment missieri li qatt ma stenna li se jaqbduh kiesah u biered .Dawk li xtraw il-patata kellhom il-karozza qrib u ghabbew il-patata u harbu lejn had-dingli u sadattant ir-ragel l-iehor kellu jaqsam il-wied u billi kien hemm naqra l’boghod ma lahaqx rahom sejrin u allura ma setghax ikun jaf  minhuma. Insomma dan ir-ragel gie l-ghalqa fejn kien missieri u beda jargumenta mieghu li rah ibiegh il-patata u beda jheddu li jew  itih xkora ohra lilu jew jirrappurtah. Missieri billi ma kienx jafu beza li kien xi spettur tal-gvern u ma tahx patata u dlonk dak telaq lejn had-Dingli u mar irrappurtah li kien qieghed ibiegh bil-mohbi. Wara xi satghejn gew zewg pulizija u hadu mieghu l-ghassa ta had-Dingli u bhal hmar ghamel lejl maqful l-ghassa fuq gewlaq patata.Insomma spicca ressquh quddiem il-magistrat akkuzat li biegh bil-blackmarket imma kien iffortunat ghax dak ir-ragel billi ma kienx lahaq jasal fil-qrib ma kienx mija fil-mija li vera missieri kien tahom il-patata. Min naha l-ohra missieri kien imwerwer li jghamel xi sitt xhur gewwa u kien halef li mhux vera u anke li lil dawk in-nies  qatt ma kien rahom b’ghajnejh u ma kienx jafom. Allura kienet il-kelma tieghu kontra ta l-iehor u spicca helisha hafif. Kien zmien iehor.

In-nannu jien ftit niftakru nghid il-verita .Ghadda hafna zmien u ghalekk il-ftit memorji li kelli bdew jiccajpru.In-nannu Karm miet meta kelli xi seba snin. Kien ghadu mhux hazin ghaz-zmien li kellu u kien ghadu imur l-ghalqa jghin lil papa . Dak iz-zmien billi kien armel kien joqghod maz-zija Lorenza li kienet baqghet xebba.

Darba minnhom kien mar l-ghalqa bhas-soltu u ghal habta ta nofsinhar gie mar id-dar bhas soltu biex jiekol.Iz-zija dak iz-zmien bhal hafna djar ohra kienet ghadha issajjar fuq l-ispiritiera tal-pitlorju .Kienu ghadhom ma dahlux il-cookers dak iz-zmien u nahseb li jekk kien hawn kienu jiswew hafna u iz-zija zgur li ma kelliex biex tixtri wiehed .Insomma jghidu li ix-xitan ma ghandux halib imma jghamel il-gbejniet. Gara li iz-zija kien spiccalha il-pitlorju u marret ghand wahda f'razzett ftit il-boghod biex tiddobba ftit min ghand wahda habiba. Din tatha ftit go flixkun tal-luminata u hi xhin marret id-dar imliet l-ispiritiera u halliet il-kumplament li kien baqgha gol flixkun fuq il-mejda fejn kienet qieghda issajjar. In-nannu x'hin gie id-dar kellu ghatx ta barri u kif ra dan il-flixkun tal-luminata qabdu ma halqu u f'nifs tefghu gewwa minajr ma induna li ma kienx luminata.Iz-zija dak il-hin ma kientx hemm u x'hin giet lura sabitu ma l-art ghax kien hassu hazin .

Iz-zija ippruvat tghamel xi haga imma kien jidher li sejjer ghal aghar u marret malajr imwerwra, tghajjat lil papa li kien l-ghalqa u dak qabad il-karozza u harab isuq kemm jiflah lejn ir-rabat biex igib tabib .Dak iz-zmien ma kienx bhal lum ,ma tantx kien hawn tobba, u fuq kollox mid-dar sar-rabat dejjem ghandek ghoxrin minuta jew iktar .Sakemm mar sab it-tabib u giebu lura mieghu in-nannu kien qaleb ghal aghar u billi hadd ma kien ghadu induna li kien xorob il-pitlorju ,it-tabib haseb li kien xi attakk tal-qalb u minflok tah xi haga biex inaddaf l-istonku tah xi injection li kompliet bghatithu id-dinja l-ohra. X'hin iz-zija indunat li kien xorob il-pitlorju kien diga tard wisq.Fi zmien saghtejn kien mar fejn il-mulej .

    Fejn tobsor li kellu ihallina hekk kiesah u biered meta kien jidher ghadu daqshekk fuq tieghu.Kien xokk kbir ghal familja kollha u ghal dawk kollha li kienu joqghodu mad-dawra. Hekk kellu miktub fil-ktieb tad-destin .

Dejjem niftakar jien meta kien jigi lura mil-ghalqa u kien joqghod bilqieghda fuq gebla qisha siggu li kien hemm mal-gemb tar-razzett u jien kont immur nehodlu l-imghazqa u ta tifel li kont kont noghod nipprova nghazaq il-ftit hamrija li kien hemm. Kien dejjem jghidli ."Isma mur oqghod bilqieghda u hallik mix-xoghol . Ghad ikollok zmien tbati qalbi .Hallih ghal kbar ix-xoghol".

What the  hell what is going on with the weather this time of year? You wouldn't believe that it is already middle February. My whole body is frozen this morning especially my legs . I must have some kind of thermostat in my legs as when they go cold i go cold all over.I have already had about four mugs of tea and don't feel like they are doing anything to make me feel warmer at all.Seems like it's somewhere in England not bloody Malta here. It has been raining for the last month almost everyday now and in the house the cold penetrates inside me due to the amount of humidity there is everywhere. Have to keep the heater on or otherwise I'll freeze and with the cost of electricity it's not something i would like to keep going for long. Temperature today is around 9 degrees but feels like a lot less. I am on leave from work today. Just the right day to be away from work ,couldn't choose a better day,could i . I wanted to go for a long walk this morning but the plan is off now with all this rain. Has been coming down all night and I don't see it stopping soon. According to the met office there is more gloom on the way as they said it will last till Sunday at least and hail storms are predicted. wow. really nice. I hope we don't get snow now and lots of it like most of europe. All my life I've hated winter and especially the strong winds associated with it and the cold. I can't imagine living somewhere like Iceland where it's always cold. God, I would die within a week . lol.   Please no more of this bloody cold and rain. I'm waiting for summer.

So coming back from work yesterday quite tired ,I made myself a cup of tea and a sandwich and slumped myself on the sofa to watch the debate on weather divorce should be introduced here in Malta. The more i listened to the debate the more confused i got. I wasn't sure if i wanted to laugh or maybe cry at the things some of the participants were saying. Seemed like some of them have arrived from some other planet where they have utopia and these things don't happen.Some keep hiding behind religion for an answer but is this the reality we are living in? First of all i can't understand why to separate is ok to some people but divorce is not.What is the difference in reality? Can someone explain please? When a marriage breaks down altogether why do we have to bury our heads in the sand and keep hoping that it will go back to what it was before. Once one looses confidence in the other partner i don't think one will ever get it  back and even if one pardons the other ,at the first argument these things will be thrown at each others face.Separated couples of which now there are loads in catholic malta , are finding other partners and living with them trying to start a new life with someone they now love . I don't see anything wrong with this. We are just kidding ourselves hiding behind our supposed Catholicism. Our catholicism from my point of view is very shaky indeed .Some people seem to think that by imposing things they are making religion better. No way. For religion to grow it should come from the heart.Something one is free to choose and free to live the way one believes is best for him.The church's mission is to teach not imposeThat is why the church is loosing the appeal especially to the younger generation. I believe that if you are catholic you should follow the teachings of your religion and nobody will put a gun to your head and make you divorce if you don't want to .What about all the others who don't have the same beliefs? Are they allowed to make a new life with someone who they love. Can love ever be bad?
         One thing i didn't understand on the program is the way some politicians tried to avoid the question of being for or against divorce. Can't they give us an answer or they are afraid they might lose a few votes in the next election. No one expects all of them to be in favour but please at least they should have the decency to give an answer.I think we have to wake up to reality .We all wish that we never need divorce but reality is different.

Obituary
Common Sense
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, life isn't always fair, and maybe it was my fault.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they themselves failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer Aspirin, sun lotion or a sticky plaster to a student, but could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar can sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by three stepbrothers; I Know my Rights, Someone Else is to Blame, and I'm a Victim.
Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

George Carlin on aging!
George Carlin's Views on Aging

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions.
'How old are you?' 'I'm four and a half!' You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key.
You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.
'How old are you?' 'I'm gonna be 16!' You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life ! You become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony. YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!
But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?
You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, youREACH 50 and your dreams are gone.
But! wait!! ! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!
So you BECOME 21, TURN 30,  PUSH 40, REACH 50 and make itto 60.
You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!
You get into ! your 80's and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; 'I Was JUST 92.'
Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. 'I'm 100 and a half!'
May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

HOW TO STAY YOUNG
1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay 'them.'
2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
3.Keep learning. ! Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever, even ham radio. Never let the brain idle. 'An idle mind is the devil's workshop.' And the devil's family name is Alzheimer's.
4. Enjoy the simple things.
5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.
6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.
7. Surround yourself with what you love , whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever.Your home is your refuge.
8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.
10. Tell the people you love that you love them , at every opportunity.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER :
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but  by the moments that take our breath away.

Do we ever really know those people who surround us ? I mean mainly the family .Our parents and brothers and sisters who we share our every day life with.We live in the same place but it's incredible how much of their life we never get to know about. Most persons seems to have episodes in their life which they want to keep hidden in their innermost sanctum. They are the skeletons which we all have in our cupboard.Things we are ashamed we have done ,things we passed through in life which we'd rather never been through. We never seem to get over the mental block we create around these episodes.We try our best that they never get out even within the circle of our family. Even when somehow they come out we try to hover over them as quick as possible sometimes changing all the details trying to make the episodes sound  less embarrassing.

  Another thing that i find from experience is  that a lot of people are really good actors in life.They manage to create an image of themselves which is far superior to reality . Some of them are married and have been together for a lot of years and still they don't really know what the other is doing, not only in the distant past but now at present.Each has his secret life,bits of which the other never gets to hear about. I just can't understand how you can deceive someone who you are supposed to be in love with , faking your feelings for years on end.They even talk behind each others back as soon as they are out of earshot.Is this what it should be like? I find this really in bad taste.I can understand that you might not be happy in a relationship but at least shut your trap or leave .Why is there so much acting in real life ? Why is it so difficult to be ourselves with all the defects and mistakes? Does it make us less human? 

 
One of the best Maltese authors is no Longer  with us. A huge loss to Maltese literature.   I remember how much did I enjoy his writing in the local papers.When I was younger the first thing on buying the paper was to look for anything written by Kilin.His very well described articles about his simple childhood in Rabat were a gem describing the very simple life of a few years back. May he rest in peace.

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July 9, 2008 - 12:13:29 PM
Well known author Mikiel Spiteri, better known simply as Kilin, passed away at the age of 90. He was a novelist, poet, essayist and painter.
The Maltese political parties immediately expressed their regret and condolences at the news, praising Kilin for his outstanding contribution towards Maltese literature.

Kilin was born in Rabat in 1917. Throughout his life he published a number of novels and poems in Maltese with his best known work being Fuq il-Għajn ta' San Bastjan. The book is a collection of childhood memories from the 1920s. Other popular works include the novel L-Għafrit and the collection of essays Tlikki Tlikki ma' Wenzu. He also wrote Wayside chapels of Malta and Gozo in English, which includes a hundred pen sketches by the author himself.

Kilin started writing poems and stories late in life, when he became a grandfather, his first poem is called Jekk qatt ma doqt il-benna taż-Żebbuga.

On 13 December 2000, he was awarded the Midalja għall-Qadi tar-Repubblika.

In 2002, he was the recipient of the Premio Vicente Azzopardi, which is awarded to Maltese people who distinguish themselves in promoting Maltese-Spanish culture. Kilin was a founding member of the Centro Cultural Hispano-Maltés when it was established in 1984 and remained active in the centre for the rest of his life.

Quote FAREWELL TO DANNY

Let me start with the stories.

Back in the days of miracles, the frontier days when "Mad Dog" Lopez and his temper struck fear into the band, small club owners, innocent civilians and all women, children and small animals.

Back in the days when you could still sign your life away on the hood of a parked car in New York City.

Back shortly after a young red-headed accordionist struck gold on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour and he and his mama were sent to Switzerland to show them how it's really done.

Back before beach bums were featured on the cover of Time magazine.

I'm talking about back when the E Street Band was a communist organization! My pal, quiet, shy Dan Federici, was a one-man creator of some of the hairiest circumstances of our 40 year career... And that wasn't easy to do. He had "Mad Dog" Lopez to compete with... Danny just outlasted him.

Maybe it was the "police riot" in Middletown, New Jersey. A show we were doing to raise bail money for "Mad Dog" Lopez who was in jail in Richmond, Virginia, for having an altercation with police officers who we'd aggravated by playing too long. Danny allegedly knocked over our huge Marshall stacks on some of Middletown's finest who had rushed the stage because we broke the law by...playing too long.

As I stood there watching, several police oficers crawled out from underneath the speaker cabinets and rushed away to seek medical attention. Another nice young officer stood in front of me onstage waving his nightstick, poking and calling me nasty names. I looked over to see Danny with a beefy police officer pulling on one arm while Flo Federici, his first wife, pulled on the other, assisting her man in resisting arrest.

A kid leapt from the audience onto the stage, momentarily distracting the beefy officer with the insults of the day. Forever thereafter, "Phantom" Dan Federici slipped into the crowd and disappeared.

A warrant out for his arrest and one month on the lam later, he still hadn't been brought to justice. We hid him in various places but now we had a problem. We had a show coming at Monmouth College. We needed the money and we had to do the gig. We tried a replacement but it didn't work out. So Danny, to all of our admiration, stepped up and said he'd risk his freedom, take the chance and play.

Show night. 2,000 screaming fans in the Monmouth College gym. We had it worked out so Danny would not appear onstage until the moment we started playing. We figured the police who were there to arrest him wouldn't do so onstage during the show and risk starting another riot.

Let me set the scene for you. Danny is hiding, hunkered down in the backseat of a car in the parking lot. At five minutes to eight, our scheduled start time, I go out to whisk him in. I tap on the window.

"Danny, come on, it's time."

I hear back, "I'm not going."

Me: "What do you mean you're not going?"

Danny: "The cops are on the roof of the gym. I've seen them and they're going to nail me the minute I step out of this car."

As I open the door, I realize that Danny has been smoking a little something and had grown rather paranoid. I said, "Dan, there are no cops on the roof."

He says, "Yes, I saw them, I tell you. I'm not coming in."

So I used a procedure I'd call on often over the next forty years in dealing with my old pal's concerns. I threatened him...and cajoled. Finally, out he came. Across the parking lot and into the gym we swept for a rapturous concert during which we laughted like thieves at our excellent dodge of the local cops.

At the end of the evening, during the last song, I pulled the entire crowd up onto the stage and Danny slipped into the audience and out the front door. Once again, "Phantom" Dan had made his exit. (I still get the occasional card from the old Chief of Police of Middletown wishing us well. Our histories are forever intertwined.) And that, my friends, was only the beginning.

There was the time Danny quit the band during a rough period at Max's Kansas City, explaining to me that he was leaving to fix televisions. I asked him to think about that and come back later.

Or Danny, in the band rental car, bouncing off several parked cars after a night of entertainment, smashing out the windshield with his head but saved from severe injury by the huge hard cowboy hat he bought in Texas on our last Western swing.

Or Danny, leaving a large marijuana plant on the front seat of his car in a tow away zone. The car was promptly towed. He said, "Bruce, I'm going to go down and report that it was stolen." I said, "I'm not sure that's a good idea."

Down he went and straight into the slammer without passing go.

Or Danny, the only member of the E Street Band to be physically thrown out of the Stone Pony. Considering all the money we made them, that wasn't easy to do.

Or Danny receiving and surviving a "cautionary assault" from an enraged but restrained "Big Man" Clarence Clemons while they were living together and Danny finally drove the "Big Man" over the big top.

Or Danny assisting me in removing my foot from his stereo speaker after being the only band member ever to drive me into a violent rage.

And through it all, Danny played his beautiful, soulful B3 organ for me and our love grew. And continued to grow. Life is funny like that. He was my homeboy, and great, and for that you make considerations... And he was much more tolerant of my failures than I was of his.

When Danny wasn't causing chaos, he was a sweet, talented, unassuming, unpretentious good-hearted guy who simply had an unchecked ability to make good fortune and things in general go fabulously wrong.

But beyond all of that, he also had a mountain of the right stuff. He had the heart and soul of an engineer. He learned to fly. He was always up on the latest technology and would explain it to you patiently and in enormous detail. He was always "souping" something up, his car, his stereo, his B3. When Patti joined the band, he was the most welcoming, thoughtful, kindest friend to the first woman entering our "boys club."

He loved his kids, always bragging about Jason, Harley, and Madison, and he loved his wife Maya for the new things she brought into his life.

And then there was his artistry. He was the most intuitive player I've ever seen. His style was slippery and fluid, drawn to the spaces the other musicians in the E Street Band left. He wasn't an assertive player, he was a complementary player. A true accompanist. He naturally supplied the glue that bound the band's sound together. In doing so, he created for himself a very specific style. When you hear Dan Federici, you don't hear a blanket of sound, you hear a riff, packed with energy, flying above everything else for a few moments and then gone back in the track. "Phantom" Dan Federici. Now you hear him, now you don't.

Offstage, Danny couldn't recite a lyric or a chord progression for one of my songs. Onstage, his ears opened up. He listened, he felt, he played, finding the perfect hole and placement for a chord or a flurry of notes. This style created a tremendous feeling of spontaneity in our ensemble playing.

In the studio, if I wanted to loosen up the track we were recording, I'd put Danny on it and not tell him what to play. I'd just set him loose. He brought with him the sound of the carnival, the amusements, the boardwalk, the beach, the geography of our youth and the heart and soul of the birthplace of the E Street Band.

Then we grew up. Very slowly. We stood together through a lot of trials and tribulations. Danny's response to a mistake onstage, hard times, catastrophic events was usually a shrug and a smile. Sort of an "I am but one man in a raging sea, but I'm still afloat. And we're all still here."

I watched Danny fight and conquer some tough addictions. I watched him struggle to put his life together and in the last decade when the band reunited, thrive on sitting in his seat behind that big B3, filled with life and, yes, a new maturity, passion for his job, his family and his home in the brother and sisterhood of our band.

Finally, I watched him fight his cancer without complaint and with great courage and spirit. When I asked him how things looked, he just said, "what are you going to do? I'm looking forward to tomorrow." Danny, the sunny side up fatalist. He never gave up right to the end.

A few weeks back we ended up onstage in Indianapolis for what would be the last time. Before we went on I asked him what he wanted to play and he said, "Sandy." He wanted to strap on the accordion and revisit the boardwalk of our youth during the summer nights when we'd walk along the boards with all the time in the world.

So what if we just smashed into three parked cars, it's a beautiful night! So what if we're on the lam from the entire Middletown police department, let's go take a swim! He wanted to play once more the song that is of course about the end of something wonderful and the beginning of something unknown and new.

Let's go back to the days of miracles. Pete Townshend said, "a rock and roll band is a crazy thing. You meet some people when you're a kid and unlike any other occupation in the whole world, you're stuck with them your whole life no matter who they are or what crazy things they do."

If we didn't play together, the E Street Band at this point would probably not know one another. We wouldn't be in this room together. But we do... We do play together. And every night at 8 p.m., we walk out on stage together and that, my friends, is a place where miracles occur...old and new miracles. And those you are with, in the presence of miracles, you never forget. Life does not separate you. Time does not separate you. Animosities do not separate you. Death does not separate you. Those you are with who create miracles for you, like Danny did for me every night, you are honored to be amongst.

Of course we all grow up and we know "it's only rock and roll"...but it's not. After a lifetime of watching a man perform his miracle for you, night after night, it feels an awful lot like love.

So today, making another one of his mysterious exits, we say farewell to Danny, "Phantom" Dan, Federici. Father, husband, my brother, my friend, my mystery, my thorn, my rose, my keyboard player, my miracle man and lifelong member in good standing of the house rockin', pants droppin', earth shockin', hard rockin', booty shakin', love makin', heart breakin', soul cryin'... and, yes, death defyin' legendary E Street Band.

Sometimes I wonder if we see ourselves in the same way as other people see us. Do other people see the same me that i would like to put forward.Do we really know who we are ? Normally i try hard to keep to my principles but quite a few times it is badly misunderstood by others. I remain shocked at the things i hear other people say about me .It really irks me that my good intentions are twisted around to seem something else. Is this because i give a wrong impression of me or because others see a different me? How do i make sure that what i give out is the same as the others get? Most probably our character is all an illusion in our mind and nothing which is solid.

       At times i remain surprised about the things i do that a few days before i would never have done.Is this normal evolution of my character or is it that the parameters change depending on the mood of the moment?I know that life has to keep evolving all the time as a result of our everyday experiences but i wish i could explain the huge swings from normal behaviour.

Finally some good news at UEFA2008 for Italy . What a heartache it has been .Some how they managed to scrape a draw against Rumania most of it thanks to the best goalkeeper in the world at the moment, Buffon. Most probably not even him knows how he managed to save that ball. In general italy didn't play well and when they managed to get near the goal somehow they managed to squander all the chances they got.It looked like they were playing without centre forwards.

  Well today they woke up to the occasion finally . It has been the best match so far against a spent out France squad and then it was made easier by the expulsion of Abidjal and then the injury to Ribery. Italy started well and they constructed a lot of chances that somehow Toni managed sqauander . Seemed he had the fatirical iella  as they say in italy. 

THIS IS THE MATCH COMMENTARY FROM UEFA.COM

World champions Italy qualified for the UEFA EURO 2008™ quarter-finals in dramatic fashion on Tuesday as they defeated France 2-0 at the Letzigrund Stadion and Romania lost by the same score to the Netherlands.

Pirlo penalty
Romania had begun the evening second in Group C and would have progressed regardless of events in Zurich had they beaten the already-qualified Dutch. But their defeat opened the door to the Azzurri who seized the opportunity in clinical fashion, inflicting another painful defeat on France and condemning the FIFA World Cup finalists to last place in the section. The game's turning point arrived in the 24th minute when, after fouling Luca Toni, Eric Abidal was sent off and Andrea Pirlo converted the resulting penalty. Daniele De Rossi's second-half strike added the gloss to a wonderful evening for Italy, dampened only by the yellow cards for Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso which mean they will miss the quarter-final against Spain on 22 June in Vienna.

Ribéry injury
France almost gifted Italy an ideal start when Toni pounced on Abidal's slip, only to shoot narrowly wide. Having started slowly in each of their first two matches, Les Bleus were keen to seize an early grip and Franck Ribéry twice fired efforts wide before, to the dismay of the France fans, the winger injured his left leg in the tenth minute and carried off. Samir Nasri was sent on, yet France's focus appeared to waver and Claude Makelele immediately needed to clear a Christian Panucci header off the line.

Red card
Italy looked menacing every time they broke and after Simone Perrotta had narrowly failed to collect Pirlo's pass, France finally cracked. Abidal fouled Toni as he bore down on goal, prompting the referee to point to the spot and brandish a red card. Pirlo made no mistake, expertly dispatching the ball into the top left-hand corner. The double blow left France reeling and despite defender Jean-Alain Boumsong replacing the unfortunate Nasri, the two-time champions were in disarray. Toni might have scored three in as many minutes before the half-hour, but after skilfully back-heeling Antonio Cassano's cross fractionally past the post, the FC Bayern München forward twice missed the target with only Grégory Coupet to beat.

Gross free-kick
Thierry Henry had an opportunity to raise French spirits in the 34th minute but after racing on to Jérémy Toulalan's slick pass, the FC Barcelona forward struck a cross-shot past the post. With the strikers struggling to find their range, Fabio Grosso looked to show them the way just before half-time, curling a brilliant free-kick towards the bottom corner only for his Olympique Lyonnais team-mate Coupet to push it on to the post.

Almighty roar
Despite playing with ten men, France began the second period in the ascendancy, with Karim Benzema volleying over before Henry had two shots comfortably saved by Gianluigi Buffon. News that the Netherlands had opened the scoring against Romania prompted an almighty roar from the Azzurri faithful and the celebrating continued when De Rossi scored on 62 minutes. The AS Roma midfielder's 30-metre free-kick took a cruel deflection off Henry, wrong-footing Coupet and effectively ending the French challenge. Although Benzema subsequently saw his curling shot brilliantly tipped wide by Buffon in the 74th minute, there was no way back for France, who finished their campaign with just one point after losing back-to-back matches for the first time in 15 years.

Now to the quater finals match against spain now one of the favourites to win this tournament together with portugal and holland . Well i hope we don't have to keep eating all my nails like i have done all this week maybe the least of was today. I keep hoping things will get better . Keep your fingers crossed eh. Forza azzurri

Do you ever get over a broken marriage totally? Difficult question this for me. Worth a million dollars I'd say. Speaking from my own experience ,I don't really know but looking deep inside my mind i tend to say it is very hard and it will take up a long time till all the wounds heal slowly. Nearly five years have gone now since mine and i can say that the failure still seems to surface now and again especially at the moments when i am feeling low. Time seems to distort past reality most of the time making it seem rosier and less painful then it really was so the same happens to your judgement,it becomes blurred.After so much time the answers get more complicated as they have lost the perspective of being in the moment in time when they happened when the pain was at the worst.

   I still ask why,and what i could have done differently then not to have let it happen.What did i do wrong? Was it my fault ? Did i really do my best to keep it going? Should i have made the break a lot before maybe avoiding some of the pain?The signs were there to see ,so why did i close my eyes not wanting to see the inevitable? Why was i so stupid to keep digging my own hole pretending it didn't exist? Why did i choose to believe all the lies and half truths i was getting for the questions i used to ask knowing full well that they weren't the right answers? So many things pointed to me that something was wrong but i continued to trust at first and then looking the other way not to see the obvious while i was tearing apart inside.It's because the way i am,who i am, the way i think .Could i have changed that?

How can someone who you trust so much deceive you so badly. Is it so difficult to say the truth. One says " i have had enough and i can't live with you any more" and move out.It is much simpler then keep going behind one's back till it you get caught. Then the pain is so bad it will take ages for the mind to try and heal the cracks. If it does...................................????

One month has passed now since I last have been to hospital.Time goes on non stop. There was a period of about two weeks when i was still uncertain of the way i was feeling . My mind was imagining all kind of situations and when you are in such a state you start feeling all kinds of aches and pains. Any way now i am starting to feel a lot better  .I have kept up my walking though it is getting very hot now but i try to do it in the evening as much as possible just before sunset when it is a lot cooler. At the moment because of euro 2008  and i try to see as many of the games as i can,i had to change my times a bit as the first match starts at 6 PM and then there is only forty five minutes till the next match which isn't enough for me so this last week i had to wake up early in the morning so i could get a nice walk early before going to work and when it is still cool.

        I have tried to modify my diet as much as possible . I resemble a rabbit now  with the amount of green vegetables i have been having with my meals. Hope i don't start growing long ears like them.lol. It was quite hard at first ,not that i don't like veg really but trying to not to have sweets and switching from the beautiful Maltese bread to wholemeal wasn't easy .Slowly i am getting into it . Slowly i have managed to get my weight down to just below 90 kg which is 9 kg less then i was a couple of months ago.My aim now is to get down to about 85 kg . Lots of hard work and more veg and we'll get there i hope. At least i am feeling a lot better now so that will give me the needed strength to keep going even during the hot days of summer now at the door.

What a start eh. After all the hype and the betting shops placing italy as one of the top four i expected something better. They looked like anything but like  a team who are world champions. I just hope that somehow they make it throught the group .Here is the commentary by of the debacle by cnn.

World champions Italy suffered a calamitous start to their Euro 2008 campaign as they slumped to a 3-0 defeat against an impressive Netherlands side in their Group C opener in Berne.

The Dutch were fortunate to take a 26th-minute lead after Ruud van Nistelrooy turned in Giovanni van Bronckhorst's effort despite looking clearly in an offside position.

Wesley Sneijder then celebrated his 24th birthday in style by adding a stunning breakaway second on the half-hour mark.

Italy had numerous chances to reduce the deficit after the restart but Edwin van der Sar came to the rescue, making superb saves from Andrea Pirlo's free-kick and Fabio Grosso's close-range effort.

Van Bronckhorst then completed a wonderful evening for Marco van Basten's side by heading past goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon in the 79th minute as the Dutch celebrated their first victory against the Italians since the 1978 World Cup.

The Azzurri should have taken an early lead but Luca Toni failed to get behind Antonio Di Natale's dangerous cross while, at the other end, Rafael van der Vaart's left-footed strike forced Buffon to dive to his right to clear.

Italy replied with Toni's header from Gennaro Gattuso's cross going wide of Van der Sar's near post.

Then in the 17th minute, Netherlands should have broken the deadlock following a defensive mistake by Italy. Dirk Kuyt set up Van Nistelrooy, who got past Buffon but lost his balance and the opportunity vanished.

However, the Dutch soon made amends when Van Nistelrooy netted from close range despite clearly being in an offside position.

They doubled their lead five minutes later with a great breakaway goal. Van Bronkhorst made a crucial goalline clearance after a team-mate almost headed into his own net and, from that Italian attack, the Netherlands swept straight upfield to score their second goal.

Van Bronckhorst's long ball found Dirk Kuyt, who in turn set up Sneijder inside the area, the midfielder's first touch finish beating Buffon.

Italy could have reduced the deficit shortly after but Di Natale's close-range volley was saved by Van der Sar.

Three minutes before the break, Buffon made a fine save to deny the Dutch their third of the evening. A beautiful ball by Sneijder found Van Nistelrooy, whose strike was parried by the goalkeeper.

Italy showed more determination after the re-start and had a good chance as Gianluca Zambrotta did well to get past Kuyt but his effort went wide. Toni then fired wide on the hour mark as Italy moved forward.

Just when Italy looked to have found their rhythm, the Dutch scored a stunning third. Van Bronckhorst latched onto Kuyt's cross, after another quickfire breakaway move, before heading past Buffon.

"I'm very happy and proud with this result," said van Basten. "To beat the world champions playing football to the last minute -- it was for us a very nice game and also a historical game. We have never beaten Italy by three goals.

"If you think we were without players like Arjen Robben and Ryan Babel, the players reacted in a wonderful way. They fought like a team and if the spirit is like it was tonight, with all the quality we have, we can have nice dreams."

Italian coach Roberto Donadoni said his men had to move on and look forward. "The game started badly for us and ended up worse but it is already history.

"We made mistakes and paid for them but now we have to look forward to the Romania game, which is going to be critical now."

Watching TV tonight I came across a documentary about Bangladesh after being hit by a hurricane. The situation was already bad but now it is a lot worse. A lot of children were left without a family roaming the streets . Some of them still have a family but they have nothing left . They sleep anywhere  they find. All kinds of flimsy metal shacks or call them boxes become a home,really a palace for these people . For a few cents kids of eight or nine years had to work from morning till night, and then no schooling ,just  find somewhere to sleep for the night and then the same thing the day after. Whole families were living in the local rubbish dump all trying to eek out a living by collecting anything they could find and selling it out to anyone prepared to buy.Some of them were standing in the stinking polluted rain water that collected in the dump stirring the stuff trying to pick any bits of coloured plastic they could find. Their hands and feet were all swollen and distorted due to the infections from the brackish water. Why is it that these people can't have a decent life with their own comfortable home with all the amenities without having to loose their dignity like this?. Is this the justice we all talk about .Why can't we have a better distribution of wealth on this planet of ours. Their are a few organisations that are trying to do something but it is such a huge job that it is virtually impossible.It makes me really want to puke  when I see all this and then i hear on the news about the amount of money richer countries spend on arms and financing their wars for more wealth like the one in Iraq.Is it possible to get a small percentage of all this to go to help these people and give them some kind of education so they can lift themselves out of the gutter? Where is Mr Bush who believes that he has this god given duty to police the world? What a sad world.

Finally the day has arrived. I had to go to hospital for  a stress check yesterday . The appointment was for 8.30 am so I woke up quite early as they tell you to shave your hairy chest before you go. I am nothing near a monkey but I still have a few bristles on my chest so it took some time trying to shave myself smooth. wow. Imagine I had to do it regularly like some men do.Just imagine. Hope i don't have to do it very often.              

         One can say i didn't wake up really as i was so worried i didn't sleep properly at night. I don't know how many times i woke up. At the end i must have counted millions of sheep trying to get myself to get some sleep .

  I made my way down to the new hospital a bit early ,something i always like to do as i like to be on time whatever the reason is . I hate it when i have to wait for someone else .Well still remembering the last time i was there and how much i had to wait it is better to go a bit early.There were quite a few people waiting but surprisingly within an hour i was admitted in the clinic.You had to go on a kind of treadmill where you got wired to the machine so they got to follow what your heart was doing through all the exercise. You start slowly and then in phases they increase the speed till at the end you are running flat out. It was quite hard for me as i am not used to running on a treadmill and the exercise took quite a few minutes so i was gasping for breath at the end. Well thank god after all the exercise went well and they said my heart was fine as much as could be. That really made me give out a huge sigh of relief after all i have been through lately.

In this life nothing is worse than not having your health I think. Money is important but not that far. You can get better treatment but you cant buy your health.Since about two weeks ago when i felt ill i haven't convinced myself yet that i am feeling ok. Today i feel something here and tomorrow i feel something different.Is it my imagination running ahead?

         Since when i was young i never liked medical things and someone talking about diseases pissed me off even at school and i felt like i had to leave or especially at school i had to close my ears somehow not to listen to the teachers during biology lessons. Lately i am getting the impression that whoever i talk to the subject somehow is  always turning to who has this disease and who has that . Even on TV i keep hitting on programs showing surgery like it's something like making a cake or a DIY job in the house. Most probably it's only an impression but that tells you how much the mind is focused on the subject eh. One is thinking maybe i have the same thing as well or worse .How awful. Well now next Wednesday i am off to hospital again for some more tests. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that nothing turns out. Am i being too negative ? Maybe ,but that's me my friend .