I am still here, I just don't feel like blogging. I dunno for how long, and you can't say you didn't see it coming as I did quit blogging for a while a few times recently. There are many reasons for this, one of them is me being so busy that I literally don't have the time, and when I do have the time there are million other things I'd rather do. Second reason is that I have nothing meaningful to say. Well I do, of course, have things to say, but for many reasons I'd rather not do it in writing.

Anyways, to give you a short overview of what I was up to all this time:

1. Work. I usually come home after 6pm, totally knackered. I do love my job so this is not a problem.
2. Tennis. End of season championships are here and for the last two weeks I was following it closely, not everything went the way I'd wanted, but this is life, things rarely go the way we want them.
3. Shopping. Yes, you heard it right. Me, who hates shopping, I had to buy a gazillion things, and I am almost done. Takes a lot of energy and effort, and leaves me even more tired than the gym.
4. Gym. I've started doing kick boxing again since I can't do horse riding and it's going good. I'm bruised all over though.
5. Reading. I am re-reading the Forsyte Saga and falling in love with it all over again.
6. Watching second season of Rome when I have the time. Usually in the morning with breakfast :) James Purefoy is GOD.
7. BBQing and eating outside. Weather perfect. Now if only I could fix the stupid light which goes off every 3 minutes unless there is movement! ;-)
8. Cleaning my house every Saturday. I decided against hiring help, it's such a pain in the backside. The only things I don't do are ironing - I take my stuff to the dry cleaning to do the pressing and, well, some dry cleaning, suits and such stuff, and gardening - I've got two guys coming every week to do some cleaning and whatever it is that gardeners do. I am never there to watch them, the garden seems to be well looked after and that's all I want.
9. Posting on Blah. Now about that: I don't think I'll blog anytime soon, so if you really want to find me, email me or come find me on my forum, Qatar Blah Blah. I enjoy it immensely. It's a bizarre forum, the members are all crazy, and they're all actual friends of mine. Everyone is welcome.
10. That's about it. Drop me a line here if you want, I'll be checking the comments and maybe commenting on your blogs, too. I loved being a part of the blogging community, but now it's time for me to move on. I might be back, I might not. In any case - have fun! We had great discussions here and I met lots of great people through this blog. Thanks for everything.

=^..^=

To those brain boxes who love telling expatriates to leave the Gulf whenever we criticise something here:

I keep hearing "if you don't like it then leave" and "why are you here if you hate it?" things all the time.

Well, next time you feel the urge to tell someone "if you don't like it then leave", take a deep breath and say "thank you for staying here and making this country a better place for me" instead.

Because you know what is going to happen to you if we all actually pack up and leave, right?



The fact that I really like it here and praise as much as I criticise escapes most people.

So what's the deal with that? Prisoners get released or get their sentences reduced if they memorise the Quran. That could mean any of the following:

1. Bad people can't memorise Quran, therefore those who do so are good and shouldn't be in prison. Release them.

2. Memorising Quran is a punishment comparable to serving a prison sentence, therefore those who memorised Quran have been punished enough. Release them.

3. There aren't enough people in the world who have the time to memorise Quran and since the world simply can't be without*, prisoners with loads of free time on their hands are encouraged to memorise Quran by means of reducing their sentence. And when they do - release them.

4. Parrots rock.



If I were law enforcement here, I would test those criminals who were released (or had their sentences reduced) on their knowledge of Quran randomly within the duration of their original sentence. If they forget a line, I'd send them back to jail for a refresher course.

If they commit a crime again, they'd be released or have their sentences reduced if they memorise Quran in a different language (diversity is key).

Death row offenders will have a choice between death and memorising both Bible and Talmud.



PS. If you don't hear from me after this post, I'm probably busy memorising Quran.




*How the world benefits from people memorising Quran is a separate issue and will not be discussed here.