i've been off of this baby for a while...mainly because the three people who read this site, i have direct contact with...one of them though still thinks i should keep this going, so she tagged me (check her out at www.newbienovelist.blogspot.com)
back to the tagging rules:
1) Pick up the nearest book.
2) Turn to page 123, find the fifth sentence and post the next three.
I'm at work right now and i have three books stacked to my right. the AP Stylebook. Marhaba - which is sort of the like the local lonely planet guidebook. and The New Earth. i'll pick the last one as it is likely the one that will be most interesting - or just gives me an excuse to flip ahead and see what's coming up.
When you give little or no help to others or put obstacles in their path, the universe - in the form of people and circumstances - gives little or no help to you because you have cut yourself off from the whole. The ego's unconscious core feeling of "not enough" causes it to react to someone else's success as if that success had taken away from "me". It doesn't know that your resentment of another person's success curtails your own chances of success. In order to attract success, you need to welcome it wherever you see it.
ok...so i added an extra sentence in there for good measure. i think it capped it nicely, don't you? new age crap to some, spiritual enlightenment to others. i'm just starting the book and it's really taking me longer than i thought to finish. i find myself re-reading passages to get its depth.
i guess i have to tag people too now...but i don't know other bloggers besides charmaine...my great friend, AND BRIDESMAID who's working towards her PhD. brilliant girl who's gonna bring peace to the middle east.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
Oh Doha…how I hate thee
At least not fully, but most of the time…allow me to count the ways.
Your unpredictable traffic and horrendous drivers allow me to reach a level of insanity I have never felt before. I wonder how your residents survive. Oh right. Your residents are few and far between…there are as angry as I am but lucky for them, they either drive million-dollar sport cars that let them slip through traffic and speed away or giant land cruisers which allow them to run the rest of us over.
Every day my shock for your lack of respect for life is renewed. To read “Labor Camp Available” or “Vacant Labor Camp” in daily classified adds and know they refer to rooms used by ill-paid and ill-treated workers turns my stomach. To justify it by saying these people have it better then they would back in their own countries makes it even worse. Doha!? Who are you to judge? How do you live in your luxuries knowing someone’s back broke under your weight? If workers are needed then treat them with dignity and respect and do not rob them blind because they are too desperate or incapable of fighting for their rights!
I look forward to the day when you don’t require exit permits. I look forward to the day when I don't live with the reality that my employer can approve my weekend trips out of town. I look forward to the day when I can count on transparency and honesty within corporations. But even more so, I look forward to being appreciated for what I do because quite frankly, no one I have met is qualified in the same way that I am. That goes for all the other expats who are gracing your shores. Your own population is decades away from being educated enough to run anything in a self-sufficient manner and the people you have outsourced are clearly favors towards certain countrymen. Tax-free living isn’t enough recognition. You are lucky that so many of us are challenged in our jobs enough to stay. Your lack of local labor allows us to move ahead much faster. A perk. Few and far between.
I wish you would let us tell you all these things openly. Things would get better if we could stop tiptoeing around the truth. We all know what’s wrong and wish you’d admit that you do too. This love and hate relationship could end and we would all sing your praises. People are already interested in you; imagine how many would support you if they knew of your kindness and generosity?
Sometimes I wonder what makes me stay. Family, friends, social life, freedom of thought and speech. How do I live without those realities? I am angry with myself for not being able to answer that. I’m taking the easy way out and saying that a few months out of life will only make me stronger. I will come out at the other end with a stronger CV and an even more solid work experience. I wish my wallet could have been as packed as I thought it would be.
Your unpredictable traffic and horrendous drivers allow me to reach a level of insanity I have never felt before. I wonder how your residents survive. Oh right. Your residents are few and far between…there are as angry as I am but lucky for them, they either drive million-dollar sport cars that let them slip through traffic and speed away or giant land cruisers which allow them to run the rest of us over.
Every day my shock for your lack of respect for life is renewed. To read “Labor Camp Available” or “Vacant Labor Camp” in daily classified adds and know they refer to rooms used by ill-paid and ill-treated workers turns my stomach. To justify it by saying these people have it better then they would back in their own countries makes it even worse. Doha!? Who are you to judge? How do you live in your luxuries knowing someone’s back broke under your weight? If workers are needed then treat them with dignity and respect and do not rob them blind because they are too desperate or incapable of fighting for their rights!
I look forward to the day when you don’t require exit permits. I look forward to the day when I don't live with the reality that my employer can approve my weekend trips out of town. I look forward to the day when I can count on transparency and honesty within corporations. But even more so, I look forward to being appreciated for what I do because quite frankly, no one I have met is qualified in the same way that I am. That goes for all the other expats who are gracing your shores. Your own population is decades away from being educated enough to run anything in a self-sufficient manner and the people you have outsourced are clearly favors towards certain countrymen. Tax-free living isn’t enough recognition. You are lucky that so many of us are challenged in our jobs enough to stay. Your lack of local labor allows us to move ahead much faster. A perk. Few and far between.
I wish you would let us tell you all these things openly. Things would get better if we could stop tiptoeing around the truth. We all know what’s wrong and wish you’d admit that you do too. This love and hate relationship could end and we would all sing your praises. People are already interested in you; imagine how many would support you if they knew of your kindness and generosity?
Sometimes I wonder what makes me stay. Family, friends, social life, freedom of thought and speech. How do I live without those realities? I am angry with myself for not being able to answer that. I’m taking the easy way out and saying that a few months out of life will only make me stronger. I will come out at the other end with a stronger CV and an even more solid work experience. I wish my wallet could have been as packed as I thought it would be.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Waxing Beds, Freedom, Sunsets and Ayad Allawi
work is AWESOME! i'm getting into reporter mode again...headed to the doha debates to hear ayad allawi try to spin himself out of the mess he created in iraq. there were tons of iraqis in the crowd who got the chance to give him a piece of their mind. quite interesting how far they were allowed to go with their language. www.dohadebates.com for those who're interested.
the magazine is ready for print...it went through censors and all. apparently i'm Nexus Journal will visit Uncle Censor every month. any day now our publishing company in dubai will dhl me the copy dummy before distribution. i just hope to god i caught all the typos and all the stuff that get overlooked when you read a copy 100 times!! i seriously will have a massive fit of epic proportions if there's something wrong. :I i'm working away keeping busy with finishing the december issue and getting january done before heading home. yup!!! going home mid-december for a MUCH needed break from this desert sheikhdom.
keeping with the positive note...there have been things that have made me smile out here. the salon i go to used towels on the beds we lay down on. i told the people running it that it's not hygienic at all and explained how we do it back home....the last time i went, they had stopped using towels and were using the method i explained!
so i finally got a car....i can't explain how incredible it is to be free to come and go as i please. to not rush through the grocery store and mall because the cab is waiting outside. to not be dependent on colleagues aaaallll the time. the driving is INSANE, i've gotten lost pretty much every time i've driven so far and the roundabouts are something else....but those are stories for a rainy day.
as much as everything else in this city gets to me, the sunsets are truly incredible. colors i've never seen blended together in the sky and not just on certain nights...EVERY night. the sun is red sometimes. BRIGHT red, with yellows pinks and purples. today is was orange and purple against the sky's blue backdrop. wow.
on the wedding front....i found shoes i love, love, looooooooooveeee and we've booked our honeymoon!!! i think i'm more excited about it than i am about our wedding. I CANT WAIT!!! i don't think it could get an better. so on that note....i'm gonna try to keep the positive vibes going for the next few weeks 'til i get home pour faire le plein!!!
the magazine is ready for print...it went through censors and all. apparently i'm Nexus Journal will visit Uncle Censor every month. any day now our publishing company in dubai will dhl me the copy dummy before distribution. i just hope to god i caught all the typos and all the stuff that get overlooked when you read a copy 100 times!! i seriously will have a massive fit of epic proportions if there's something wrong. :I i'm working away keeping busy with finishing the december issue and getting january done before heading home. yup!!! going home mid-december for a MUCH needed break from this desert sheikhdom.
keeping with the positive note...there have been things that have made me smile out here. the salon i go to used towels on the beds we lay down on. i told the people running it that it's not hygienic at all and explained how we do it back home....the last time i went, they had stopped using towels and were using the method i explained!
so i finally got a car....i can't explain how incredible it is to be free to come and go as i please. to not rush through the grocery store and mall because the cab is waiting outside. to not be dependent on colleagues aaaallll the time. the driving is INSANE, i've gotten lost pretty much every time i've driven so far and the roundabouts are something else....but those are stories for a rainy day.
as much as everything else in this city gets to me, the sunsets are truly incredible. colors i've never seen blended together in the sky and not just on certain nights...EVERY night. the sun is red sometimes. BRIGHT red, with yellows pinks and purples. today is was orange and purple against the sky's blue backdrop. wow.
on the wedding front....i found shoes i love, love, looooooooooveeee and we've booked our honeymoon!!! i think i'm more excited about it than i am about our wedding. I CANT WAIT!!! i don't think it could get an better. so on that note....i'm gonna try to keep the positive vibes going for the next few weeks 'til i get home pour faire le plein!!!
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