11 years later and I am considering a relaunch.

Would it be worth it? Are there still some bloggers out there yearning for my return to the blogosphere?

A few in the past have asked for me to resume my blog, but I didn't... So I am knocking now.

Will anyone answer?

Brit Jew marries dolphin

In Israel/Palestine a Jew and a non-Jew cannot get married (they can get married abroad and this is recognized). However, it is obviously possible for a Jew to marry a dolphin! Link.

Racism a la Kuwaiti Style

I am completety and utterly incensed!

Last night, I went to Souk Sharq with a couple of Egyptian friends. We sat in my car for almost a 1/2 hour, waiting for a parking spot to open up. When one finally did, I tried to maneuver my car into the spot but it had a sharp turn before it, so it took me a failed few tries. Finally my friend's husband, Freddy, said "Why dont u girls get out, and I will try parking the car for you". So as we were getting out, this other car, with 2 Kuwaiti muhajabat and 2 little girls, attemted to take our spot. I quickly ran and stood in the empty spot to ward them off from taking stealing it, for they had seen our left signal, and that we were trying to park there for the last few minutes. My friend and I proceeded to quickly tell them that this spot was ours, and that we had been waiting a long time for it.

The woman in the passenger side rolled down her window and with an unpleasant tone asked my friend "Where are you from?!" "Ana misreea" she replied, and pointing in my direction, told her "Wa heya Kuwaitia".

I was very pissed and waved them off dismissively.

WTF! So, if you're not Kuwaiti, you're not entitled to your rightful parking spot?!

Oh, but it didn't end there. The 2 women with their brats found a spot up ahead, and later on, in the mall, they set their brats on us. Whenever they would run into us, or be within earshot proximity, their girls would let out a mocking laugh. Man, I just wanted to spank the crap out of them.

These 2 women were encouraging and raising their daughters to be as ugly, racist and unpleasant as they were!

What is it going to take!? I say all foreigners leave, and let Kuwaitis friggin fend for themselves. Let them clean their own streets, and carry their own trash, and clean their own toilets, and bake their own falafels and fatayers, do their own construction work in the mid-day summer heat. Maybe that is what it will take for them to treat foreigners with more courtesy and truly appreciate them!

I have seen this very kind of mentality and prejudism on a blog belonging to a Kuwaiti woman, and I have seen in in real time. And it all disgusts me.

Peace.

The 30's.

Yup... I'm about to turn 33, and I find myself reflective on the good about being in one's 30's and what it took to get there.

Looking back on my 20's, I try not to wince as I recall in detail some of the horrible screw ups I have been through and I am thankful for having survived them.

The mindless mistakes and foolish risks taken, pushed by naive curiosity and warnings gone unheeded. In my arrogance I did not listen to those who were wiser in years and had been where I was about to head. Back then, I thought I knew it all. Little did I realize that they had survived to their age for something, and not nothing. It wasn't random. They earned it.

Today, I too have earned my age and look forward to earning my 40's.

Peace:-)

From the Desert to the Sea

It was just a thought that turned into a weak plan, that ended up getting cancelled, or rather morphed into something else; a bbq at the chalet.

The gang and I (7tenths, Doctor Lost, Misplaced, Satisfied Nina, Death_In_Technicolor and some of our non-blogging members) had all decided to go spend Friday in the desert, and bbq our heads off, and then build a massive bonfire once dusk arrived.

The problem was that we were severiously unprepared for this, so we settled for an impromptu beach bbq at the chalet at the very last minute.

Misplaced, Laser (golden labrador) and I arrived first, opened up the house and got started on cooking. Then the others arrived about an hour later, and brought the noise, games and cameras with them.

One of our friends, the Engineer showed us his skills on the BBQ while I made a large amount of jalapeno cheese poppers (from scratch! thankyouverymuch!) and Misplaced made a tray of brownies to complement my plate of cheesecake cookies.

Nina went for a walk down to the pier...

Also with us was Pretty Eyes (I call him that on account of the size of them, their greenish colour, and super long, and thick lashes). He had arrived with his cousin, and Doctor Lost.

Doctor Lost... he decided to go for a swim, and begged us to keep him company in the pool area. I think it was because he wanted us to admire him, so instinctively we turned him down. However, some time later, we decided to go in and do him favour.

So there we all were, in the pool house, looking at the next Man From Atlantis, then somehow our attention shifted to Laser. We started playing hide-around-the-pillar with him, and petting and lavishing all our love and affections on him, when suddenly, from the corner of my eye, I noticed that Doctor Lost was no longer swimming. Instead, he was standing in the shallow end of the pool looking forlonely at Laser... wishing he could trade place with him and be the one to get the love and attention. I almost felt bad for Doctor Lost.

So then we turned out all the lights, exited, and left Doctor Lost pleading in the pool, alone. But only for a few seconds, after which Misplaced turned the lights back on.

At this point, we were chilling in the main room. Engineer and his little bro were playing chess, and we were watching DVDs. Doctor Lost exited from the pool area, and strutted around while drying his bulging pecs off. I guess his play shest sessions have paid off...

After cleaning-up, everyone went down to the pier for a last stroll, then we packed up our vehicles and drove back in the rain fall.

The Undefeatable Brunette

Clairol can insist all they want about blondes having more fun, and redheads being wild. In the end, its just a marketing ploy, cause they know that Brunettes are the all-time favorite.

Thanks to all for participating in this poll.



results:

Brunettes 55%
Blondes 33%
Redheads 12%

The Big DIFF

I received news that one of my best friends, Bintfilm, was arriving to Dubai along with a few other of my friends from Los Angeles. They were coming to promote their film, Alliance, at the Dubai International Film Festival. Naturally, I immediately proceeded to buy myself a ticket and book a hotel room with my friend, Misplaced, who happens to be an amazing [professional] actress.

I ended up flying there without Misplaced cause she had missed her flight (because Satisfied Nina was late in picking her up!). So She caught the next plane out.

Meanwhile, I had resigned myself to staying in over a splitting headache, and was about to doze off, when I got the call from downstairs.

"Hello MA"

"Hello..." (thinking who's this?!)

"I'm here, I'm downstairs"

"You are...? Who is this?"

"It's Misplaced!!"


3 Panadols later, we were on our way over to meet Bintfilm and friendly crew over at The Al-Qasr hotel.

Fantastic place! Truly a structural fait accompli. I felt like I was an ant standing infront of an Ancient Egyptian temple, or even a Mayan one at that, and that God was going to smite and destroy this huge palacial structure, as He had done with the previous empires. Retribution for our inflated egos and boastful vanity!

I met up with Bintfilm and our friend the Producer and took a boat ride to a restaurant for a late bite and coffee. Being with Bintfilm once again was truly a pleasure, and brought a sense of LA to me. We caught up on each other's life since the time I had left her, almost a year ago. Misplaced, Bintfilm and I headed back to our hotel room at approx. 3AM.

Following day: Bintfilm and I showered and took off back to the Festival site at Al-Qasr, while Misplaced slept in. Over breakfast, Bintfilm and I were accompanied by 2 Spanish filmmakers, Alberto y Maria, who are friends with Huweida Araf, the wife of a friendly acquaintance Bintfilm and I had dinner with some time back; Adam Shapiro, founder of the ISM. We discussed their documentary, which was an expose' on the IDF and the Palestinians who suffer under their occupation, entitled "Internationales en Palestina".


At the next table sat a very old friend I'd not seen in 20 yrs, Jillali Ferhati. He was there promoting his film "Memory in Detention", (Nothing to do with G'itmo). In addition to him, I also ran into the Moroccan film director Farida Benlyazid, another old friend I used to live with when I first moved to Morocco in '79. Her film there was entitled "The Wretched Life of Juanita Narboni". Again, I caught up on our lives, and reminisced about the old times.

Later on that day, Misplaced went to the festival's conference room so she could watch some of the submitted films in the library, while I hung out with Bintfilm and Producer at Trader Vic's for a late lunch. We then proceeded to happy hour at a luxurious circular lounge bar with open, airy spaces framed by billowing curtains. The place was fitted with comfy recliners and cushioned seating, as well as rug upon rug covering the floor, and birds flying through, and walking on the rugs, all I needed was a slave-man to feed me grapes... next to our table sat Terence Stamp with a couple of plastic-faced [bad surgery] friends, sans make-up.

Misplaced joined us after a few hours and drinks, then we headed out to the valet podium. As we walked up to the hotel front, we passed Lawrence Fishburn, who was casually sitting on a bench waiting for his ride.

Me: Hi Lawrence... how are you doing?" [friendly smile]

LF: Hi, good thanks, how are you?

Me: "Im good... see ya" [slight wave]

Played it cool, basically. I turned around and saw Misplaced in a state of shock and wide-eyed... "That's Lawrence Fishburn! Oh my god! It's Lawrence Fishburn!" So amusing!

Misplaced and I flew back, yakking all the way till touch down. I hope to go back again next year. I'm expecting Bintfilm and Producer to be there again to screen Driving to Zigzigland. In the meantime, I have my sights set on attending the Amnesty International Film Festival in Amsterdam. This would be my second Amnesty Film Fest. Im looking forward to it...

Any legal eagles flying around?

I was wondering... Is it legally permissible, by Kuwaiti Labour Law, for an employer to cut his worker's salary by 50%, after having worked for them almost an entire year?

A few of my peers have been telling me that it isn't, however, I thought I would ask on here.

Thanks!:-)