Today has been one of the craziest in a long time. It started off at 0300 with my cell phone alarm vibrating in my pocket so that I wouldn’t wake the other 4 guys racked out in the little room we shared at the temporary billeting at Baghdad. Some quick pushups in the dark, a shower and shave, and 5 hours of corporate BS. “Stand here, sign there, go yonder, click your heels…” But finally I found myself on a Jordanian Airways 737-500 headed to Dubai, and ultimately, the real world.
Dubai or rather civilization in general, has been quite a culture shock, which kind of worried me. I think I’ve been disconnected from the world for too long. The last time I was here for any longer than a day or two was back in…2006 I wanna say. It’s 1930, I’ve been here for 7 hours and already I’ve gone from being dumbstruck by the most stunning Persian girl smiling and winking at me in the elevator of my hotel to gorging myself on Thai food to almost beating down a couple of Arab guys who were trying to pick on my taxi driver. And all of the cute little Filipino girls who work at the malls and stores must have seen me coming a mile away, a big sleepy looking gringo wandering around trying to figure out what to eat next. They would come up with their cute smiles and say, “Here sir, eat this! Here sir, try this!” Somehow my trip to pick up some postcards turned into me buying a new camera (I needed one anyway), getting a guided tour of the brand new aquarium, getting a massage, eating 4 separate Asian meals, and buying a buttload of awesome books. Today was an adventure, tomorrow I’m going to sleep in as late as I can, and then sleep some more. Then I’m ordering room service and watching the Discovery channel all day. Vacation is good! Even though it means 23 hours on a plane, I am looking forward to making it to Denver next.
On a separate note, I was gently reminded the other day by the forces that compelled me to begin this blog that I have certain minimums that I have to meet as far as content goes. To that I say…gimme a #@%! break! I’ve always struggled with keeping a journal but I’ve actually come to enjoy this a lot more than I thought I would. And everyone else in the group seems to like my stupid stories, how about we go with quality over quantity here? I can’t always find the time to write according to the schedule.
And in spite of what I thought at the beginning, I most likely will be keeping my blog after the class ends.
Whoo Hoo! I like your reading your blog and I will for sure tell you to keep it. Even though my stories and experiences are pointless to others, I very much enjoy it. Good News! I remember you! I never could tell what you looked like until this last picture you posted of yourself. Amazing!
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