Realistically idealistic daydreamer, seasoned procrastinator, atheist and monarchist with a secret agenda and a slight inclination towards voodoo practices.
Islamic New Year (Hijra) starts today! Happy New 1427, everyone! I looked online for a nice Islamic new yearish picture to post here but couldn't find any. And those that I did find had some messages in beautifully written Arabic that I couldn't even read let alone understand (and I generally wouldn't post something I don't understand, who knows what it says???), so I am image-less. Help welcome!
On the 29th of January we celebrated Chinese New Year. It's the year of the Dog. As many of you know I was born in the year of the Cat, meow, so lets see what this year has in store for me. I found lots of pictures of dogs online, lol. I still want something that relates to Islamic New Year though.
My boss came over to my place yesterday for a drink (quite a few drinks, actually). Stayed until almost 1am terrorising A with diving stories and construction accidents stories. This morning this very same boss called me at 7.40 to ask me to bring some AA batteries to work. What work? What batteries? Pain, terrible pain... I can't hold my head up, my eyes can't focus, my legs are full of lead and my stomach is on fire. That's it, time to convert to Islam...
And by the way, New Year day is the perfect time to start catching up with the promised posts. So watch this space for the tag post coming up shortly!
I was busy busy busy... But I am back now! And I've got NEWS!
1. I have a new toy! I got a VAIO! I'd wanted it for so long and now it's mine :^) I will post a few pics of my new baby shortly.
2. Marcos lost to Federer in the final. Well yeah it's sad, but hey, he was in the Grand Slam final! Way to go, Marcos, and we all expect great things from you!
3. I was participating (as a sidekick recorder, lol) in the GCC Endurance Cup on Saturday - detailed report with pics coming up!
4. Yes I remember I still owe a dentist report for Kaza, a tag (separately tagged with the same tag by five people), latest pics of Doha post, and what not. I will work on all that over the next couple of days, so bear with me.
5. And to you (you know who you are) - thanks a million! Moo... And by the way, the diaries are not as crappy as I thought they would be - want one? :^)
It’s done. The tender is finally out of the door. Suddenly I realized that there are other things to life! So, taking a day off tomorrow to recover and do some serious NOTHING!
As I was preparing to pack the last bits and pieces into the tender box, the louder than usual noise of the jet engines brought me to the window. There were a number of military jets doing little stunts in the air, which culminated in a cloud of red smoke. I wonder what this is all about. Well, tomorrow is Indian Republic day… But I doubt that our Air Force would do something like that to honour Indian republic. Besides, the smoke would have been green, white and orange, lol. I honestly can’t think of any special occasion to merit such a display of air conquering.
Queuing at Ramada Signal today I came to the conclusion that driving styles and techniques are predetermined by one’s nationality and/or occupation. For example: Western people would mostly follow the rules and stick to the appropriate lane according to the direction they’re going. Indian people would usually hesitate when choosing lanes, which often results in them jumping from one lane to another trying to figure out which one moves faster, wrecking absolute havoc in bumper to bumper traffic. Local Arab people invent their own lanes (sometimes borrowing lanes from oncoming traffic, roadside, or simply making 5 lanes out of 2). Other Arab people fill in the empty spaces in any of the above scenarios. Taxi drivers honk in unison the moment the lights turn amber. I think they want to remind us that while we just happen to be there, THEY on the other hand have a job to do. Policemen usually drive faster and more dangerous than anyone else. Or, alternatively, 10 km below the speed limit, making everyone one else double check their speedometers. Ambulances, Civil Defense, Fire Engines, etc (whatever has a siren and is in a hurry, except Police) have the uncanny ability to generate most traffic in front of them.
And of course I absolutely have to share the following with you all: After beating Croat Ivan Ljubicic in quarterfinals yesterday, Baghdatis is hungry for more! Argentine, watch out!
I was late for work today again. Watched the most unimaginative and boring tennis game ever in the history of Grand Slam quarterfinals, Sharapova vs. Petrova. And although I root for Shara who eventually won in a suffocating 2 setter, if she doesn’t spice up her game I will root for someone else! What an empty threat, lol.
With all honesty though, I root for her dad more than I do for her! He’s such a character, Yuri Sharapov. I imagine myself in the girl’s place (yeah right, especially in that blue dress), and my dad in his – I’d love to see my daddy in some serious courtside action! By the end of the game the only people on the stadium Yuri didn’t curse or give the finger (or at times the whole arm) to were himself and his daughter. Such a show, thanks to the camera operators who zoomed on Yuri whenever his precious girl scored. Shara didn’t disappoint in the vocal department though. What a screamer! And here is the outcome:
In the office reality hit the Cat with vengeance. According to the new tender bulletin I just got, I will have to recalculate the whole bid! And this stupid thing is due tomorrow (recalculated, printed, signed, stamped, copied, packed, sealed, delivered to Ras Laffan). My boss is in Abu Dhabi. I am alone. My day suddenly got a little darker and unfortunately I can’t procrastinate any longer. O Tender, my Tender, here I come! (Yeah, yeah, I did watch “Dead Poets Society" last week).
Today is one of those days when I wish I could just go back to sleep and wake up tomorrow, and then this day would be over and I could resume my normal, sensible life.
First of all, it’s Saturday and I wasn’t supposed to go to work, but to work I went. We have a tender to submit, so for the last few days when I go to sleep at night I dream about either making a huge miscalculation in tender prices or forgetting to submit the tender, or sometimes even worse tender related crimes, all resulting in my wonderful boss being sacked and replaced with something like this:
Oh no, that was second of all. First of all, I got so cold at night that I was crying in my sleep! It’s really really cold in my house. I was wearing socks and warm jammies, and I had my quilt and everything, yet I froze solid. Needless to say, I woke up in a rotten mood. And then I had to go to work. On my weekend! Arghhhhhhh….
Third – I realised that I cannot write anymore! Today I decided to prepare a simple index page for the above mentioned document, and so I went through the completed sections and attempted to write the headings down on a piece of paper in order to type them up later. I could NOT! I was terrified! I was absolutely unable to write anything that looked remotely like written text. My fingers refused to listen and obey, and I even dropped my lovely pen a fair few times. What is wrong with my hand?? This is the same hand that went through a huge pile of sashimi with chopsticks only a day before, not dropping a single piece! And now – THIS? I remember I once had a handwriting. I had a neat and legible handwriting and I never had to write anything twice because I could get all my schoolwork done neat and correct from the the first time. That was at school. And I haven’t seen my handwriting since then. Now whenever I have to write something I either key it into my cell or type it, and it’s fast and easy and mess free. So today when I tried to write "surveillance" it came out as "surlace" and then I tried to fit the missing letters in all the wrong places, and then I couldn’t read anything. My hand has become dyslexic! I cannot write anything that could actually be read later, even by me. For when after a lot of painstaking effort I finally managed to write the headings down and went back to my desk to type the index page up, I had to go back to the main document many times to check the headings again.
So I decided that either I send my hand back to school, or I admit defeat and accept the sad fact that I am an educated adult who doesn’t know how to write.
On my second cup of coffee this morning, the phone rang. Here is the conversation word by word for your entertainment.
Me: Allo
Voice (male, bad attempt at American accent): Blah Blah International?
Me: Yep. What can I do for you?
Voice: I’m calling from China Investment something. Can I talk to ... ummm… Mr. So and So? (name of my boss, close enough for me to understand but not nearly good enough to pass the line to my boss)
Me: What is it regarding?
Voice (accent getting worse): Business. Oh and what is his nationality? If you don’t mind me asking?
Me: Yes I mind. What exactly do you want?
Voice: Business. It’s actually complicated.
Me: We don’t do complicated, sorry.
Voice: Oh maybe I can talk to you then…
Me: I don’t think so. Thanks for calling though.
Voice: Ok, #$%^& it then (Hangs up).
Me: ROFL
Dear Investment Companies, insurance and reinsurance, brokers and shmockers! We appreciate your fervour in trying to talk us into your schemes and out of our money but we don’t have any money worth your attention. So BUGGER OFF! And oh well, since we are talking money here, how much are you willing to pay me for my boss’ nationality? I’ll sell :^)
Free advice: Dear above mentioned,
Go learn some telephone communication skills already!
It's so cold outside now.. I don't do cold. I whither, shrivel and suffer. Today when I got in the car the thermometer blinked +15 C° at me. This is inhumane and cruel. Then again, my mom told me that it’s -31 C° where she’s at. No comment. For those who prefer Fahrenheit, I can say only that +15 C° is cold but you can live, but -31 C° is when your nose, fingers and toes fall off and then you die.
Temperature notwithstanding, it’s a beautiful day outside. My view from the office window is only slightly marred by my fast pacing boss who insists to walk by the window behind my back spying on what I type. Ok maybe not spying. But in case he is reading what I write right now – boss, honestly, just 5 more minutes and I will start on this damn tender. Pinky swear!
I got a laugh of a lifetime today, in the elevator. I pushed the button, waited for about a minute, the elevator arrived, I got in. I was alone. I pressed the button for my floor, doors closed, elevator started moving. Suddenly I heard heavy breathing and then someone said "Uhh, hello. Good morning". Honestly, I almost wet my pants. But a good mannered girl that I am, in about few seconds when I got to my senses I said "Good morning". I knew I was alone in the elevator, but I didn’t look around. Then the voice asked "Do you know me?" Ok now THAT was stupid and not scary at all. Besides, by that time I realised that the voice was coming from the speaker. Therefore it must have been some bored security guard in a CCTV control room. And I have a pretty good idea which one! So I answered back "No, do you??" and banged on the speaker/mike with my car keys. I walked out followed by the idiot’s howling. The moral of the story – when you do pranks like that, make sure you don’t use a headset.
My headache How do you tell someone you care about something important if you know that this someone is going to get really upset and the damage is definitely going to be permanent and your relationship will never be the same again? But if you don't talk about it, you won't be able to continue the way it is? Actually, what if you already know that you can't go on simply because there is a need for such conversation? I am so confused that I am confusing myself. Help!
My heart's desire I am craving more coffee and Baskin Robbins chocolate and raspberry ice cream.
My driving force I really want to inflict grevious bodily harm on a certain someone. This keeps me going. I simply can't rest before I get to do it.
My senses I can't stand the smell of the new candle I have at home. It is haunting me. I can actually smell it from my office which is half an hour drive away! The candle scent seemed quite nice in the shop. Go figure...
My task at hand I have a tender to prepare. Instead, I am blogging. The deadline for the tender is fast approaching.
My secret wish For my accountant to disappear. Without a trace. At least from my life.
I finally went to watch King Kong yesterday. At 11 @#$%^# pm! It finished around 2am today. I wasn't in bed till 3, and oh boy did I have troubles waking up in the morning? Actually, I don't think I am awake yet. And it's already 3.30pm.
Anyways... the movie. Yeah yeah well what do you expect from a girl who hasn't watched ANY of the earlier versions? I kept poking at A forever, asking stupid questions, like "will they get there?", "will she escape?", "are they going to kill the monkey?" and so on. But then again, I think this was the only reason he actually stayed awake. And did I get any appreciation??? Yeah, big time... how not fair.
Oh, ok ok the movie... It actually wasn't bad! Naomi looked like a cross between Kidman and Olivia Newton John though. There was only one scene obviously cut out (bless Qatar cinemas for protecting our morals and virtue!) And I loved the monkey! He was awesome. The visual effects were pretty cool; of course the movie itself is totally unrealistic, but the effects worked well. The Dyno run was amazing! The story, I believe, is the same in every version, but I was told that this one was closer to the original than most. People sail to the island, come across a friendly local tribe, girl gets the honour of being offered to the monkey, monkey takes off with the girl, the rest of the group pursue the monkey, retrieve the girl, capture the monkey, bring the monkey to America, show it off for a while, monkey escapes, finds the girl, climbs the Empire State building with the girl, airplanes shoot the monkey, girl cries, end of story.
What I really want to watch is Underworld: Evolution. Underworld is one of my favourite movies, and I am ever so glad they made a sequel! I hope it lives up to the hype.
Other sequels I am waiting for: X Men III, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Ice Age II: The Meltdown.
I also want to watchThe Chronicles of Narnia, Just Like Heaven, Memoirs of a Geisha,Bloodrayne(I will watch anything about vampires),The New World.
Seen any nice movies lately? Any recommendations? :^)
The 2005 is over, and I already miss it. It was a good year. I don’t think 2006 can quite match it; in fact I am sure it can’t. It will be very different, but whether better or worse, the time will show.
I’ve started making plans for the future again in 2006, after taking a year off and putting my life temporarily on hold. The future looks reasonably bright from where I’m standing. I just have to stay true to myself and make the right choices. I am very happy with all the choices I made last year. I wouldn’t want to change a thing.
I travelled a lot last year. I went to Oman for the first time. I went to Bahrain and UAE, again. I finally visited Moscow. I had a great time in London. I flew back home a fair few times. I really enjoyed it.
I started blogging again in 2005. I used to have this pretty little website thanks to my long lost friend Petra, who created and designed it for me, but then the provider started charging for hosting websites and I didn’t want to pay for something that had been free to begin with, and so my page was taken off the web. Ironically, shortly after that my friendship with Petra also faded away.
Last year I finally got my Masters degree. I can say now that I had a good time studying again, and I am glad that it’s over and done with.
I had a nasty operation last year, but thanks to the operation I feel so much better now.
I started horseback riding again (which was cut short by the operation, but hopefully I will be able to continue soon).
I went through heaven and hell emotionally in 2005, something I didn’t expect given the circumstances, and something I learned a lot from.
I turned 30 last year and realized that I don’t want to have kids. I used to brush these thoughts aside when I was younger, but now I can say it with all certainty. Whether I will change my mind and finally go for it - remains to be seen. But not now, not anytime soon, not in the foreseeable future… Probably never.
I started smoking socially again. Nothing potentially life threatening, and I don’t buy my own smokes, but I do indulge every now and then.
I got 1 Xmas present/card less than I expected. No biggie, and it’s nothing that I would lose my sleep over, and it really doesn’t matter anyway, but I was a bit sad. Yes, I am spoiled. And yes, I will stop mentioning it from now on. That’s it. Done. Over with. Finito. Never again. I move on.
What was the best thing that happened to you in 2005?
The Christmas and New Year celebrations are finally over. So here is what I got (and got to do) over the holiday season:
QBBF (Qatar British Business Forum) Christmas Ball in Ramada. It was really nice! Ours was the noisiest table, as we came prepared with all the party gadgets and a singing Santa doll that played Jingle Bells rather badly. It was fun! Food was OK as well, wine was… well, aplenty. There was a draw but although I got a number 69 ticket, unfortunately I didn’t win anything!
Christmas Eve at home with A. Great BBQ. Lots of phone calls to family and friends. Lots of washing up as well (thanks goodness for dishwashers and cleaning boys!)
Christmas day! Spent it at S&H’s place, H made her signature turkey which she didn’t touch as she’s a vegetarian/seafoodarian. Turkey was really nice. Spent a whole day with these guys, drank a whole monthly licence’s worth of bubbly and had tons of fun opening presents. So those of you who know what was on my Christmas Wish List, here is the lowdown: I didn’t get ANYTHING from the list! And the iPod whatsit thingy I bought myself few days later. But what I did get wasn’t bad at all. My favourite has to be a pair of socks that came with a Chihuahua key ring!
Pre- New Years BBQ at our place with S&H and a certain feisty female who had her eyes for A only and was rolling on the carpet in front of him most of the time. Food – fish and veg. Wine – whatever was left in the bar by the end of the month (not much). S&H were terribly late, and we were terribly hungry! But it was all good, and we had great fun till well past midnight.
New Year’s Eve party at Intercontinental, Za Moda. Same people plus another 2, so we were 6 altogether. It’s a fancy shmancy Italian restaurant with excellent food at ridiculous prices. We weren’t disappointed, neither in food nor in prices. Guys got to wear party hats and ladies - interesting feather arrangements. Adult atmosphere with nice classic dancing tunes and we even danced a little. Loved it.
New Year’s day spent home with A, slumbering and recovering. And then hit the malls in the afternoon. What I love about Qatar is that everything stays open whatever the occasion. And holidays are usually the cause for the shops to extend their working hours.
And oh, if you don’t hear from me anymore, that is because my boss is going to kill me when he gets back from his Xmas break in the UK and asks me how much work I actually managed to do in these 2 weeks! Happy New Year, one and all!
And that was it. I saw the announcement in the paper today that Eid al Adha holidays start from the 8th of January. So hopefully the traffic will ease down a little bit.
