hello? i don't know if you forgot while you were doing your little political tap dance... but there is a real war going on.

i came across a disturbing new york times article this morning... discussing the american political debacle over the iraq war. in said article, this passage bothered me the most:

“senator lindsey graham, republican of south carolina, who worked to defeat the webb plan, said the republican support for the war could have a political cost. 'the republicans own this war,' he said. 'if it goes bad, the nation loses and the republican party loses disproportionately compared to the democratic party.'”

mr. graham seems to forget that it isn't a matter of political parties looking good or bad when it comes right down to it with the iraq war... he seems to forget that he is talking about the lives of hundreds of thousands of people - americans and iraqis alike. military and civilian alike. when it comes to the iraq war 'going bad,' as mr. graham so eloquently stated, it will not be the republican party or the democratic party that will lose 'disproportionately,' it will be the aforementioned thousands of people actually fighting this war and the countless number of people who have been displaced and/or who are living in constant fear that will suffer 'disproportionately' when compared to the majority of the world. they will certainly suffer more than a certain senator from south carolina, in his cushy government job, safe from the actual war going on half a world away.

i do know that some of the politicians seem to express 'concern' (i use this term very lightly) for the actual condition of those fighting and 'living' in iraq... but they need to seriously reconsider the manner in which they chose to talk about the war and the 'efforts' to shift the 'strategy' in iraq. they need to remember that they are talking about human lives, not loaves of bread, or rocks, or pawns on a chess board. they need to remember that it shouldn't be about party loyalty - or even worse still, party reputation - when it comes to re-evaluating the increasingly-deteriorating situation in iraq... it should be about doing the right thing for the soldiers and civilians there and especially for the iraqi people... but that might be asking a little much.

to think that the republicans have scoffed at a proposal to rely more heavily on diplomacy in iraq makes me so ashamed of and for the american political representatives. they are going out of their way to make sure that the proposal will not pass in the senate. umm... so i have a quick question: what is so wrong with actually trying to discuss a problem that is obviously not being solved by force? for the love of all things... i mean, honestly people... it's like beating a dead horse. it's just pathetic. sad. shameful.

welcome to the 21st century... marvel at how far we have evolved.

a war of tiny proportions

i am still moving... i'm to the unpacking the boxes i filled with all the 'super-important' stuff i schlepped from dubai to stuttgart and trying my damnedest to put my bloody ikea furniture together. we are not friends, ikea furniture and i... not friends at all. actually, one could probably say that we are at some sort of war, in my bedroom... me with screwdriver-used-as-hammer (seriously, don't ask) and ikea furniture with its minions of tiny, dull nails.

war, i tell you. war.

thankfully, my new roommates pulled me away for caffeine and alcohol... so my mood was in a much better state before trying to go to sleep (i say 'trying' because everytime i was about to doze off into one of my freaky dreams - more on that in a post to come, by the way - an ambulance or police car or some such nonsense would come blasting past my house... shattering eardrums with that gut-wrenching siren that i think i can safely say that i hate).

busy nothings amid a relocation crisis of sorts

i arrived in stuttgart, germany yesterday... a full day ahead of my luggage (convenient, you know, moving to a new place without clothes, without a toothbrush, or any of those normal hygienic comforts of home).

i arrived in stuttgart yesterday, to find that my living arrangements are now null and void. i guess that such is life... and i guess that this is what i get for counting on verbal agreements made among friends... but i'm feeling a bit freaked out at the thought of not having a place to live in a strange city where i do not speak the language (this language deficiency also makes looking for an apartment a teeny, tiny bit difficult, if you know what i mean). the current situation that i find the most amusing is that i am supposed to pick up my cargo, all 150kgs of it, tomorrow. i have nowhere to put said 150kgs of my stuff. this is me, almost completely freaking right the hell out. i know that everything will work out ok, but at the moment... at the moment, i'm not really sure what to do first and i'm feeling a bit discouraged about my spontaneous relocation. second thoughts and whatnot, i guess.

three cheers for the proverbial shit hitting the fan.
rah. rah. fucking rah.

i have not been kidnapped, nor have i disappeared... i have just been suffering from an intense case of writer's block (i think).

apparently, i needed a break from my blog. this is the only logical explanation i can find for not posting in about a year (give or take)... and my apologies go out to anyone who missed my bitter diatribes.

i have had my fill of the sandbox (for more reasons than i would dare to bore you with) and i will be moving to stuttgart, germany in about a week. i am honestly a bit nervous about the whole thing, given that i speak about four words of german and my first visit to the country was about a month ago... taking that into account, i am extremely excited to start something new. i am also extremely excited to actually be working for architects - as i have been working for engineers parading around as architects for the last year and it is not so much fun. don't get me wrong - engineers are brilliant people... they just shouldn't ever run an architecture firm. engineering ≠ architecture. but that's just my humble, slightly naïve opinion.

story time - so, much of my architectural education was based on the ideal of 'form follows function' - it is a lovely ideal. it is an ideal to which, one would hope, architecture and architects should strive. imagine my surprise, when my boss - the head of a multi-million dollar project in dubai - went on a rant about how the 'form follows function' principle is just an outdated, unfashionable 'observation' made by an 'alcoholic american'. he made a particular effort to look at me - the only american in the office - as he said this. never mind that this principle was one of the foundations of the modern movement in architecture and design. and never mind that a significant number of famous architects, designers, painters, photographers, poets, what-have-you are/were committed and enthusiastic drinkers. when we (my colleagues and i) pointed these things out to him, he angrily dismissed us as young an idealistic. he told us that our opinions needed to be updated, because 'architecture should be made, regardless of function.' - let me point out that this 'function in any form' architecture is what typical developers strive for. not architects. this is not architecture... he continued to rant angrily at us. refusing to discuss the issue like a civilized, intelligent adult.

i was disgusted. outraged. disappointed. baffled. i was a lot of not-so-positive things at that moment... so much so, in fact, that i had to get up and walk out of the room to keep myself from exploding at him for being so dismissive and childish and bullheaded.
this was just the cherry on top of the icing on top of the cake that has made me want to leave this place. i do realize that not all companies in this booming metropolis put arrogant, (again) dismissive, thick-headed, money-grubbing, clueless bastards at the top of the decision-making hierarchy... but it's disheartening enough to make me want to get out of here as fast as i can.

it's the little things

so, dubai is in the desert and all... hence, a serious lack of precipitation and my incredible longing to go somewhere like seatlle or london, where it rains most of the time. i enjoy rain. snow. fog (when i don't have to drive and/or be driven through it). ice (again, with the driving).

long story short... it's actually raining in dubai. at this current moment. raining. a whole two months or so early for the raining season (if a few days to a week can actually be construed as a 'season'). i'm happy. i have little spots on my shirt because i have been frolicking in said rain. i'm childish... easily entertained... but it's really the little things that count. yeah.

on the brighter side of things...

... i have apparently poisoned myself. i have food poisoning (thankfully not too badly), but i feel as if i've been hit by a truck. fully loaded. going 150 mph. life's just peachy.

david slew goliath. he didn't kick the shit out of him.

i find myself becoming very angry, nay irate, very easily of late. you will probably find me , most often, brandishing beautifully-strung-together strings of curses that would make sailors blush. i have found that cursing - i mean cursing really well - is a cultivated art form. these kind of things take years of practice.

this highly valuable skill is typically demonstrated by unique combinations of curses or 'shockingly obscene phrases.' these, mind you, are typically accompanied by very vivid mental imagery that make people either a] cringe, b] blush, c] look around to see who else is listening to your filthy mouth, d] scoff, e] pretend they are offended because of their virgin ears, or f] cover their ears/mouth and gasp in utter amazement at the most disgusting/offensive thing they've ever heard.

i find it very funny that my favorite targets of these outbursts seem to be inanimate objects. these cannot, of course, react to my tirades and incessant hurling of insults, but it makes it no less entertaining. granted, the situations that cause me to erupt in profanity are not particularly pleasant, but the realization that i've just allowed myself to become irate with something that cannot respond to my blathering is always incredibly amusing in hindsight. especially if there happens to be someone else around to think i'm nuts to be screaming at something that couldn't give a rat's ass about my obvious frustration.

things i've screamed at lately: mostly at computers - for not doing exactly what i want them to do... they're intelligent machines... shouldn't they be able to read my mind by now? people driving like morons - this is not just an arkansas phenomenon... people here make arkansans look like pros. holy. mother. of god. my sunglasses, for fogging up when i walk outside into the sauna that is dubai. the cabinet doors that i - without fail - slam my head into as i try to get something off of the top shelf (which, by the way is designed for a giant).

and, of course, the walls that i run into... because, you know? it's most definitely the wall's fault that i'm so clumsy. they're not stationary or anything... i mean, you have to be very alert to avoid running, toe-first, into them.

take my advice and watch those walls. especially the corners... they're froggy.

bring your own party party

i'm a slacker... well, not really. i've been quite productive since the end of july... i got a great job and i've been working like a crazy lady. i'm actually getting to design things - not bathrooms or window frames - but towers. actual buildings on a real site with a real client. and stuff. woo.

i've also been working on my first commissioned painting - it's really nerve-wracking to think that someone is going to have my painting in their house. oh - and my camera is fixed (thank you, arun), so i will be posting photos of dubai and massundam really soon. sweet freaking action.

other than that, i've been hanging out at the beach - watching the sun rise over the burj al arab, going to the buddha bar, speeding around dubai in my sweet ass alfa romeo (yes, i'm renting it, but indulge me anyway). i cut off my hair... i'm kind of regretting it at the moment, given the humidity and my new afro. oh yeah, and sleeping. a lot. i'm still working on that whole recovering-from-five-years-of-sleep-deprivation thing.

life is sweet.

better with age... like fine wine or something to that effect

so, my first birthday in dubai... 23 years and counting. yeah.

i have had the most wonderfully super dooper day... all starting with a healthy dose of friday morning cartoons and very strong coffee. then i was schlepped to a wonderful dim sum place half-way across town where the wonderful owner gave me a jade good luck charm because i know chinese tea etiquette. then ice cream cake - chocolate with reese's peanut butter cups (sigh) - and presents... not to mention that i had 'happy birthday' sung to me in africanse for the first time. so freaking cool.

and to top off this splendiferous day, i have been so very touched by the amount of my friends half way across the planet who remembered my birthday... i have received some sort of ridiculous amount of happy birthday messages today... kinda makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. i love love love my friends and i thank all of them for remembering me... sincerely. thanks.

3 cheers for chocolate ice cream cake and warm-fuzzies.
cheers. cheers. cheers.

freedom is...

amazing! i got to see ursula rucker perform last night at evory lounge in the emirates mall last night. i was awestruck by her sincerity, her incredibly powerful lyrics, and her performance. most importantly, the message she had to send needed to be heard (check out the lyrics listed on her website).

i was, on the other hand, appalled by the behavior of the people in the club. i have never been so embarrassed to be part of an audience in my life. people wouldn't shut up... in fact, as soon as ursula began to sing/speak, they immediately turned up the volume. idiots were shouting at each other to be heard over her... ms. rucker just kept performing as if people weren't behaving like morons. i would have jumped off the stage and tackled the drunken idiots stumbling and screaming in front of the stage... but then again, i have no patience for inconsiderate morons. c'est la vie.