I had a really nice day at work today. I am focusing my efforts writing and directing a project. That is my true passion and when I can do only that, Im in heaven. I realize that my duties as being General Manager has me doing a lot of different things. While Im good at the administrative and managerial aspects, my true love has always been creativity. This is why Im so fulfilled working on this project. I can spend a great amount of detail work on it. For example, I’ve been working on a nine minute video full time for about a 1 week. Im not even half-way done yet. Im really being meticulous. Today I worked for 8 hours and only covered about two minutes worth of video. I have 10 hours of footage at my disposal and I’ll I need to do is cover 9 minutes. I really enjoy being in a position where I can focus on the detail. Im really looking forward to going into work tomorrow to finish it up.
My cell phone suddenly stopped working this past weekend. You don’t realize how much you rely upon the cell phone till you don’t have it anymore. I can make outgoing phone calls and texts…but I can’t receive anything incoming, no calls or texts. So instead of looking at my phone and thinking why hasn’t anyone called me and asked me to dinner…I can now delude myself and think Wow…so many friends of mine must be upset because they can’t get through to me to ask me to go to dinner ;o) It’s a glass half-full thing. Still I need to get it fixed right away as Im starting to miss business calls.
During Ramadan alcohol cannot be sold. That’s why the week before Ramadan there was a mad rush as everyone was trying to stock up. Another aspect is that all the clubs are closed for the month as well. That actually is a good thing for me. I live right across the street from one of the most popular clubs on the island, a place called Cocoon Lounge. At first I thought it would be really cool live across from a hip place. That lasted all of 1 night. The second night I was here I noticed that the bars close at 2. Usually the people that stumble out of these clubs are three sheets to the wind. They are very noisy and sometimes argumentative with someone. I’ve seen a few fights. But what is more peculiar is they inebriated ones think its really cool to screech their tires and spin out. Or to impress the girls they like to scream and honk their horns. I’m not sure if it’s a turn on to girls to do this, but it sure does wake me up a lot. I would imagine my place would be akin to living in New York City since Juffair is surrounded by High Rise apartments. What I like about Juffair is that I am walking distance to about 15 American style restaurants right around the block from me. I went to one tonight that I haven’t been to in a few months. The owner greeted me…welcome back sir, its been a few months. I started feeling bad after that. The service was great and the people are so friendly.
I know I’ve said this before but I need to say it often because of the misperception. Arabs are beautiful people. They are so kind and generous. If you make the first move to be friendly they will really open up. But seldom does the Arab make the first move to be friendly. Plus most every male Arab I’ve met has some sort of facial hair. That has a tendency to make people look intimidating. If you combine that with the media’s perception you have an negative image that can be difficult to overcome. The thing Im finding with Arabs is that they are extreme. They are either extremely religious or swing the absolute other way. They are extremely friendly to you…or very cross if you do something they perceive to be harmful. What I have seen over here is the extreme good side. Im sure the bad sides exist as they do in all societies, but perhaps Im being protected from that.
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