More whining from the rich (relatively speaking) American Guy
More whining from the Rich (realtively speaking) American guy.
What an interesting day. I think I'm beginning to like sitting behind a big desk. Im so used to being project oriented. I was the worker bee, got consumed on a project and didn't rest til it was finished. Now, I have others that I can throw deadlines on. Its really different. We were going to do a Demo Reel for KSDI and I was about to get started on it and I thought wait!!! I have an editing staff that can do that. i can be a supervisor...woo-hoo for that. I feel like Im not really working, just delegating to others to have them work. Maybe that is what management is all about. I could get used to this.
Its late in the office right now. We just had a late night meeting. We are going to do a shoot on Sunday in Abu Dhabi, which is one hour from Dubai. Its a pretty prestigious party at the Royal Palace. Its going to have, flame throwers, Fireworks, Cirque De Soleil type acrobats. I'm going to go with the crew to direct and shmooze. We should get a lot more business out of this.
I went apartment hunting with a realtor today and got depressed. I just have such a hard time justifying spending $2500/month on an apartment, two bedrooms at that. What makes this even more sobering is that I was able to give our office boy a raise today. He was thrilled about it. He got an increase of 25%, what that means is that his salary rose from $200 to $250 per month. Can you believe that? How can someone live like that...but he does and hes' quite happy and content. i just compare myself to him and it just makes me feel so unworthy. I am blessed, but why me and not him. Sometimes life isn't meant to be fair. Priyesh's salary and attitiude help me keep everything in perspective. I've very very very spoiled compared with the rest of the world. i heard it said once, that if you woke up in the U.S. this morning, you are 85% richer than the rest of the world. After seeing it first hand...i believe it. OK back to the real estate (along with extremely poor...there are the extremely rich, thus the real estate prices are so exorbitant). I saw one, one bedroom apartment in high rise that had a spectacular view of the Gulf. Nice furniture, luxurious...but still it was one bedroom and $2000. I think I'll need the extra bedroom when the kids come out to visit in the Summer. Hmmmm the kids coming to visit. Unfortunately my ex is really fighting me on that one. She is adamant about them not coming over here. We tried to go to mediation before we left, but she wasn't willing to negotiate. So I have to spend thousands in order to protect my right to visit my kids. Bahrain is an incredibly safe place to live. For comparison sake, 250 people were murdered in Houston last year, compared to 0 in Bahrain. Violent crime is also rampant in the U.S. and is virtually non-existent here. There has never been a terrorist attack on the island. So despite the media's perception, Bahrain is much safer than the U.S. My ex even visited when we lived Saudi, still she's not convinced. With all the deadbeat dads in the world, you'd think that me making such an effort to preserve my relationship with them would be looked on favorably. But unfortunately in her mind, I haven't done one thing right in five years. So thus she feels justified in fighting me. The sucky thing about it, is the kids are caught in the middle. Im not partipating in the poisoning of their minds, and im also not defending myself. If I defend myself from wrongful accusations, I only serve to undermine her authority/opinions in a back handed way. If i defend myself i would essentially be calling her a liar. I refuse to say anything that might damage them. I think a lot of bad things though.... I can't do anything to make her stop. i can just love my kids and pray that they will see it. My daughter hasn't seen me since July, before that its was back to March. It breaks my heart but she is a teenager. Everyone tells me she'll come around when she's in her 20's. I hate to wait that long, But i guess I don't have a choice in the matter.
Im so tired...The jetlag is really kicking my butt the last couple days. I can't sleep until 12 a, then i wake up at 4 or 5. In the day time in late afternoon, i get incredibly drowsy like I am now. So i'll cut this short. Im still looking for a place that serves breakfast here. I'm a little addicted to my routine of fast food breakfast, big diet coke (my coffee/caffiene) and a morning bible reading. Not even McDonalds or Burger Kind serve breakfast....Ahhhhhh the culture shock.
If you want to write or ask any questions, please feel free to post.
Rick
What an interesting day. I think I'm beginning to like sitting behind a big desk. Im so used to being project oriented. I was the worker bee, got consumed on a project and didn't rest til it was finished. Now, I have others that I can throw deadlines on. Its really different. We were going to do a Demo Reel for KSDI and I was about to get started on it and I thought wait!!! I have an editing staff that can do that. i can be a supervisor...woo-hoo for that. I feel like Im not really working, just delegating to others to have them work. Maybe that is what management is all about. I could get used to this.
Its late in the office right now. We just had a late night meeting. We are going to do a shoot on Sunday in Abu Dhabi, which is one hour from Dubai. Its a pretty prestigious party at the Royal Palace. Its going to have, flame throwers, Fireworks, Cirque De Soleil type acrobats. I'm going to go with the crew to direct and shmooze. We should get a lot more business out of this.
I went apartment hunting with a realtor today and got depressed. I just have such a hard time justifying spending $2500/month on an apartment, two bedrooms at that. What makes this even more sobering is that I was able to give our office boy a raise today. He was thrilled about it. He got an increase of 25%, what that means is that his salary rose from $200 to $250 per month. Can you believe that? How can someone live like that...but he does and hes' quite happy and content. i just compare myself to him and it just makes me feel so unworthy. I am blessed, but why me and not him. Sometimes life isn't meant to be fair. Priyesh's salary and attitiude help me keep everything in perspective. I've very very very spoiled compared with the rest of the world. i heard it said once, that if you woke up in the U.S. this morning, you are 85% richer than the rest of the world. After seeing it first hand...i believe it. OK back to the real estate (along with extremely poor...there are the extremely rich, thus the real estate prices are so exorbitant). I saw one, one bedroom apartment in high rise that had a spectacular view of the Gulf. Nice furniture, luxurious...but still it was one bedroom and $2000. I think I'll need the extra bedroom when the kids come out to visit in the Summer. Hmmmm the kids coming to visit. Unfortunately my ex is really fighting me on that one. She is adamant about them not coming over here. We tried to go to mediation before we left, but she wasn't willing to negotiate. So I have to spend thousands in order to protect my right to visit my kids. Bahrain is an incredibly safe place to live. For comparison sake, 250 people were murdered in Houston last year, compared to 0 in Bahrain. Violent crime is also rampant in the U.S. and is virtually non-existent here. There has never been a terrorist attack on the island. So despite the media's perception, Bahrain is much safer than the U.S. My ex even visited when we lived Saudi, still she's not convinced. With all the deadbeat dads in the world, you'd think that me making such an effort to preserve my relationship with them would be looked on favorably. But unfortunately in her mind, I haven't done one thing right in five years. So thus she feels justified in fighting me. The sucky thing about it, is the kids are caught in the middle. Im not partipating in the poisoning of their minds, and im also not defending myself. If I defend myself from wrongful accusations, I only serve to undermine her authority/opinions in a back handed way. If i defend myself i would essentially be calling her a liar. I refuse to say anything that might damage them. I think a lot of bad things though.... I can't do anything to make her stop. i can just love my kids and pray that they will see it. My daughter hasn't seen me since July, before that its was back to March. It breaks my heart but she is a teenager. Everyone tells me she'll come around when she's in her 20's. I hate to wait that long, But i guess I don't have a choice in the matter.
Im so tired...The jetlag is really kicking my butt the last couple days. I can't sleep until 12 a, then i wake up at 4 or 5. In the day time in late afternoon, i get incredibly drowsy like I am now. So i'll cut this short. Im still looking for a place that serves breakfast here. I'm a little addicted to my routine of fast food breakfast, big diet coke (my coffee/caffiene) and a morning bible reading. Not even McDonalds or Burger Kind serve breakfast....Ahhhhhh the culture shock.
If you want to write or ask any questions, please feel free to post.
Rick
Comments
sincirly, ricks son.
P.S. It's not that I didn't want to see you anymore. It's that I wanted my last memory of you before you go to be a good one (you waving to me at the football game) and not one that ends in a fight. Please understand, you and I both know that would've happened. I still love you.
-Lindsey