Can I please use this opportunity to tell all the Jumeirah Jane cows (or rather Emirates Hills Jane cows) who drive like blind snails in the fast lane during busy hours of the morning in their Range Rovers full of kids, to #*$@^& @##!! Or go back home, or use the school bus, or I dunno, hire a decent driver with a smaller car, or at least use the freaking slow lane???

Half of the morning traffic is due to them! With their oversized shades and peroxide ponytails, looking at their kids in the backseat rather than the road, they are a menace to all the other drivers! If the meaning of your life is to drive your kids to school, that doesn't mean you should deprive other people from being on time for other activities. Like, you know, WORK.

Yesterday was the highlight. Two of the cows happened to meet on the road, and they actually drove alongside each other, windows open, talking, at a speed of I kid you not, 22 km/hr for like 10 minutes, bringing the traffic behind them nearly to a standstill.

So yes, the planning of the roads is crap. For such a massive estate as Emirates Hills, there are only two exits, and the presence of these delinquents on the roads doesn't help. I only hope their kids won't grow up to be the same.

I'm still at home, getting ready for work. And I am sure that when I drive out of the house and onto the road, there will be a bunch of cows in the fast lane, taking their sweet time returning from the school run. One of these days I'll ram my car into one of them, swear.

1. Serena kicked Henin's ass 62, 60. I could kiss her.
2. I get about 5 friend requests on Facebook every day, from people I don't know.
3. RPM classes at my gym rock.
4. Is it just me, or do the people in Dubai get shallower?
5. It's summertime!!!
6. Matt got a BMW for his birthday. Lucky sod!
7. Today is April Fool's day. I wasn't fooled, didn't try to fool anyone either.
8. I am re-reading Harry Potter books, on the 6th now. It makes much more sense without a year long gaps between each book!
9. My new favourite movie is Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. I almost wet myself laughing.

I wish you all a great April!

;-)

I can't open my blog. I can't open anyone's blog, to be precise. Only applies to Blogspot blogs by the way. I wonder what's wrong, because people are telling me that they can open blogs just fine, but I can't - not at home, not even at work (not that I have time to open blogs at work, but I tried just to see if I could). It pisses me off. I won't even be able to see THIS post after I post it.

I am off to Egypt again in a few hours, more work to do, and I haven't had enough sleep in a month as my mom was here and we couldn't help staying up late every night. I won't get any sleep in Egypt (if my previous experience is anything to go by), so I'm kinda looking forward to being back just in time for a long weekend - Thursday is the prophet's birthday and Sunday is Easter. The only time I really enjoy religion is when I get days off.

Tennis is going great. Fed is yet to win a title, and Shara is yet to lose a match, and that's the best result I could hope for. Now if only Nadal would impress me by defending his Pacific Open title, I'd be in tennis heaven.

Work is... well... WORK. All-consuming activity. Still in love with my job, even though the stress level is rather high for my liking. Boss says I should go to the gym every day to deal with it, apparently it helps. Might give it a try.

I was reading this blog (NOT Blogspot) the other day, and the blogger was describing his most sexy car moment. It got me thinking about my most sexy car moment. There was this someone who always drove very sensibly. Seatbelt, indicators, speed control, the lot. And one day he gets a new car at work, and we take it for a spin. That one time he drove the car like there was no tomorrow. Pushing 200 and flashing all the stray cars out of his way, going crazy and really enjoying it. Grown up man acting like a fearless kid. I was undone. Apparently, speed and good guys gone crazy really turn me on. Le sigh...

Last embarrassing moment: Watching "Rumour has it..." with mom, and during THAT scene in the airplane, she asks me whether I'm a member of a Mile High Club. "Err... what's a Mile High Club, mommy???"

Last significant achievement: A week ago I finally managed to get to Wafi without getting lost in Sharjah first.

Ok, gotta run, boys and girls. I won't be able to read comments (if there will be any) on the blog, but I get copies in my email, so do comment! I want to hear from you.

=^..^=

I've just realised that the domain of our forum, www.qatarblahblah.com is suspended for non payment, ROFL. Yeah well we have lives, people, we don't have the time to maintain domains!

Those who couldn't access the forum because they're silly enough not to bookmark the actual forum page - here is the link to Qatar Blah Blah forum.

Another piece of wisdom from your Middle East expert Cat - this time for those who are looking for jobs in the Middle East online:

Forget Bayt & Monster. Well, it doesn't hurt posting your CV there, but the chances that it will be seen are slim. Under no circumstances should you use AlJazeerajobs - not only it charges you (apparently it is for "translating your CV into Arabic"), but it is the least helpful site out of dozens available - employers can't search CVs and keep track on the applicants.

Try Gulf Talent instead. It offers employers great search options, and your CV will get better exposure. The site is free for job-seekers and extremely user-friendly. I have already hired 3 people through Gulf Talent, and lined up another 9 for interviews next week.

When posting your CV online, remember that prospective employers will not open and read your CV unless it contains the desired keywords. Therefore put as much relevant information in your CV as possible, and don't forget to write detailed job descriptions. It is always a good idea to list the equipment you worked on if you're an engineer, goods you sold if you are into sales, and so on. Also, don't make a mistake of stating desired salary. While it helps employers to figure out the seniority of your current position, you may lose out on potential interviews if they think your expectations are too high or too low. You are not obliged to disclose your last salary either. Let the employer make you an offer, then negotiate your way through.


=^..^=

You might have noticed that my RSS Calendar stopped working for unknown reason, and refuses to share my (busy) schedule with you.

Nevertheless, I guess I don't have to remind you that Valentine's day is upon us once again. So I am reintroducing my hugely successful Valentine day calculator again this year. All you have to do is click on the link, follow simple steps - and all your Valentine day dilemmas will be solved!

And even if you are not planning on giving a card this year, this might help you guess whether you will be getting one!

And it rocks. For the first time I don't have any extra work to catch up on over the weekend. But oh boy, will I be busy over the next couple of weeks? You bet.

My lip by now is all swollen and I look like a victim of domestic violence, LOL. For those who don't know what happened to me, it was an accident! Had to jump out of one car and into another at the traffic light, smashed the car door in my face while opening it in a hurry. Wonder how I didn't break a tooth or two. My teeth clanked against the car door through the lip! Ouch. Hurt like hell - still does, actually. And of course I had to go back to the office after that, and the entire office gathered around me to have a look. Some kind of a freak show, hehe. The boss invited me to his cabinet and said: "sit here for 10-15 minutes, I'll see how this develops, I bet it'll GET MASSIVE!". Thanks, but no thanks, it was mercifully late in the evening so I went home to see "how this develops".

The funniest thing is that when I was running towards that other car (a taxi), I looked perfectly normal, and had eye contact with the driver. He didn't know I injured myself while getting into the car. Then, 30 seconds into the ride, I turned to him with my lips and chin all bloodied up, and he panicked! Swerved to the curb across the traffic and went into shock. Took a lot of persuasion to convince him to actually drive me all the way to the office! LOL! I guess the fact that blood was dripping out of my mouth every time I said something didn't have a calming effect on him. The poor guy must have thought I was some kind of vampire, or a very, very sick woman.

So yeah, I'm only too happy it's a weekend, and I don't have to present myself in front of anybody for a couple of days, and hopefully it will look better come Sunday :P

I fell in love with Cairo.

That was unexpected, never liked it much before.

Will go back there in a few weeks time - anybody cares to recommend good Egyptian wine? That was the only drawback: they served Egyptian wine and nothing else everywhere I went, and since I am not an expert I tried a couple (not all that, to put it nicely) and then stuck to water. Beer is not an option for me.

:^)

Dreams are a strange place. We are different people in our dreams. We are with different people in our dreams. We love, we hate, we run, we fly, we cry in our dreams and most often than not we wake up oblivious to the drama we played a central role in just minutes ago. We enter strange houses, we are placed into the weirdest of situations, and they all make perfect sense to us in our dreams - until we wake up and realise we can't piece it all together anymore, and wonder at the weirdest of things we have said, done and seen.

There is a guy at work I don't like. Nothing wrong with him, but he is not the person I would like to go for lunch with. He makes me feel uncomfortable. He looks at me as if trying to say "I don't know why you are here". We don't work on any projects together, we are in different departments in the office, but our paths cross quite often in the building. We are always nice and polite to each other, but every such meeting leaves me with a bitter aftertaste - I don't like the way he makes me feel.

All that changed overnight.

Two days ago I had a strange dream. I dreamed that I was sitting alone on a bench in the park, and there was a fireplace next to me. The coal was cracking in the fire and I edged towards the fireplace to keep warm. Suddenly, a woman appeared out of thin air - don't you wonder at how people just appear in your dreams? I didn't see her approaching, I didn't hear her footsteps, she was just there and she was not a friendly type. She sat on my bench, pushing me further away from the fireplace, taking in all the warmth by herself. I was devastated. I was crying and feeling miserable. Then suddenly, there was this guy from work, standing right in front of me, asking me what was wrong. I complained about that evil woman who took my place on the bench, and without any hesitation, he walked to the fireplace, scooped two handfuls of burning coals and dropped them on her lap! I felt vindicated. We walked away together, that guy and me, towards the morning and the sound of my alarm clock. I woke up feeling very happy and a little in love.

When we happened to see each other in the office that day, I smiled at him remembering the dream, he smiled back, we went our separate ways. I looked at him over my shoulder, saw him walking away, and realised that meeting him made me feel good. He popped into my office to ask me something during the day, and I enjoyed talking to him. I made the conversation last a few seconds more than necessary, just to take in the sight of the person I'd disliked, and now felt absolutely fine about. He is not going to become my friend, and I will never tell him about the dream, but I wouldn't mind going out for lunch with him and his group now. I refused so many times before I don't think they'll ask me again, but if they do - I'll definitely say yes. If only to check whether he has burns all over his hands! ;-)

There must be something in hypnotherapy, after all.