We Had An Accident

Friday Night we were coming home from some grocery shopping. It was a pretty ordinary day and the roads were ordinarily busy for around 7 PM at night. Unfortunately for us, a little to busy. As we were coming up from a tunnel there was a stoppage in our lane ahead of us. I stopped the car as it was too busy to get around the car in front of us and put on the emergency lights. As we are waiting I see it. In the rear view mirror. A big ass Mitsubishi SUV. I knew it wasn't going to stop in time. It was 100 feet away and I knew.

The art of waiting is not something I excel at. And this was especially excruciating. Knowing you are going to be rear ended while your pregnant wife sits next to you is pure fucking agony. I warned her as best I could but other than that, we were helpless. And then it hit. Hard. The Focus did a damn good job of absorbing as much of the blow as possible and THANK GOD, wifey and baby are OK. I don't even want to put into words what you feel when you know that's going happen. Your family and your life and you can't protect them. Awful. Just awful.

The man that hit us was a middle aged indian man with a mustache. When some of my other company team members were in Dubai we used to joke about this. How they were the worst drivers on the road. And here this fucker was. At my side window. Laughing like a school girl because "He tried his very best". Fuck you and your very best.

People from India have no idea how to handle emotions. When they do something wrong they just wiggle their head and smile. When someone tells you that you just butt fucked a car with a pregnant woman inside and why the fuck are you laughing, you should really stop and think instead of acting like a puppet with a hand shoved up its ass.

Christmas is a comin

So it's weird to not have been home for Christmas in so long. I think this will be my third in a row. Next year will be our first as I will definitely be bringing Broox home for his first Christmas. I downloaded Michael Buble's Christmas album and Ozge and I were listening to it this morning. Brought back memories of going to my aunt's house every Christmas Eve. This was my Dad's side of the family so it was a huge gathering as there are like 8 brothers and sisters and tons of cousins and such. We had a Santa dressed up and everything every year. As Grandparents died and family moved away, the event slowly faded away. The family still gets together, but not on Christmas Eve anymore. Usually a weekend day after Christmas now.

I don't have a lot of exact memories of those Christmas Eve nights, just a fondness that they existed. I do remember the Christmas after my Dad left and being spoiled by the family. I don't think they knew how to react to having their own brother walk out on his family. But they were always great about it and helped as much as they could, every year after. I remember getting a gift certificate to the Finish Line from my aunt and buying my first pair of nice shoes, an expensive pair of Nike and also getting a Raider's baseball hat. The hat was eventually stolen from me when I got stopped riding my bike home from school one day and being threatened to give up the hat or getting beaten up. Back then I quickly gave up the hat.

The funny thing about looking back at these Christmas memories, or most memories, is that they are usually void of my Dad. I am not sure if its because he just wasn't around that much or if I have deleted him from my life entirely. I remember we played video games together a lot and he always used to beat me. I remember he used to get angry watching the Browns on TV. I remember going shopping like the morning of Christmas Eve for Mom. Way to wait until the last minute. And I have two specific memories of him.

The first is him trying to teach me to hit an outside pitch. I got very frustrated and exaggerated stepping towards the plate enough that I was standing ON the plate. My father threw a pitch over my head. I cried and we went home. The second is a random one where my father was eating mac and cheese in "his chair". He spilled some on himself and I guess it was hot as he proceeded to throw the plate across the room. We found mac and cheese in the drapes and carpet for days afterwards.

And then I remember the months before and after him leaving as if they were yesterday. Drinking Scotch after work. Coming home late. Fighting with Mom. Telling us he didn't love her anymore. Me bawling my eyes out. My Dad being surprised. My Mom asking him how he thought I would react (I was a pretty sensitive kid). Trying counseling half assed. Going out with Mom to see Major League when it was released. And then the day it finally ended.

But that's really it, right. That's the summation of what I know of my father. And if you look at that, I mean, my father was a fucking douche bag even BEFORE he became the ultimate douche bag. A lazy, temperamental prick. Maybe that's why I never miss him or want him back in my life. There's nothing to miss. But lot's to learn for how I want to be with MY son. And it's going to be a hell of a lot better than what my "father" was to me.

Being an American living in the Middle East 10 years after 9/11

So the tenth anniversary of 9/11 was uneventful, thank goodness. I think it helps there is so much unrest in the Arab world. They have enough to worry about other than antagonizing Americans. Or killing them if they're successful.

If you would have told me 10 years ago I would be living here I probably would look at you with an astonished glazed over stare. I remember that morning very clearly. Driving to work listening to Howard Stern. Listening to the reports come in. Getting to my desk and reading over the internet more and more about what was happening. I remember work sending out an e-mail asking everyone to stay and work, it was a financial institution after all and people needed their money. I remember trying to contact my friend P to make sure him and his wife were OK. They had moved to NYC right after college and luckily, P did not have to go to that area that day for work. I remembered how just 6 months earlier P and I had been at the Statue of Liberty looking at the Towers. P asked if I wanted to see the view from there. That it was awesome. I'm not much of a sightseer, more of a doer. I said next time, they're not going anywhere.

After the 9/11 event I did not develop hatred for Muslims or Arabs. And to be honest I didn't really see that from anyone I knew. Sure there was animosity but most of all I saw fear. Worry. This is why I never would have considered coming over here, not because of hatred but because of fear of what zealots might do. Of what these people might do to an American in their land.

Obviously I am fine living over here. I am safe and don't have to worry about anything bad happening to me. But being over here you see what the Middle East is like. And there is apprehension over meeting an American. There is hate here. People will GLADLY criticize America. And that is what strikes me the most, and really appalls me the most, about people in this region. Everyone here talks and talks about what America does and did wrong. And no one, from what I have seen, has shown remorse for what happened 10 years ago. From Australia to Paris to parts of Asia, people are giving their respect to those that gave their lives that day. But here, the region that CAUSED IT, they just don't care. They are too self absorbed and I really feel they think America brought this on themselves. Articles in Gulf News are just criticizing us over and over and calling America Arrogant. Talk about calling the kettle black. Arrogant? This region has the most pride filled people I have ever met. Stubborn pride. Destructive pride. Pride that will, in the end, prove to be a difficult hurdle for them to get over.

LA LA LA LA LA LA

Wifey 'n Me are going to go see the Smurfs in 3D this weekend. I have stayed away from reviews just in case it sucks but it has Neil FUCKING Patrick Harris in it so its going to rock. That dude is my gay hero. My straight hero? Myself of course! DUH. We actually see a ton of movies. Looking forward to Captain America as well. The fact that the Avengers was filmed in Cleveland just makes it that much more enticing.

I saw X-Men:First Class on the flight home and it was REALLY good I thought. I actually wish they had went a little more focused on the Magneto/Professor X dynamic and left the other characters out a bit. Really wish I could get my movie writing career going but I'm so damn busy. This blog just takes up all of my time! Riiiiiggghhhhttt. But work does and that blows. Maybe someday I can get enough off my plate to sit down and finish something.

OH and I also started a new routine based on Tim Ferriss' 4 Hour Body. This was the first "Test" week and I think it's going to work out just fine. Next week will be the first "real" week and then we'll go from there.

Some other notes. I beat Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, and Bulletstorm. All 3 are great games and I highly recommend them. Next is DeadSpace 2. Those are all on the PC, my Alienware m11x I love so much. Best $600 I have spent on a PC to date. I did purchase Read Dead Redemption for the PS3 but I just cannot get into it. How did this get game of the year is beyond me. Coming up will be Dead Island and Star Wars the MMO. Hmmm, I think I just discovered why I have no time to write my book. TOO MANY HOBBIES.

Swimming in the Mediterranean

So I am back from vacation. Back to the desert. To the sweltering heat. To the land of rude people. Cesme in turkey is a great place. BEAUTIFUL waters and beaches. The water there is so blue, I had never seen anything like it. It's COLD COLD COLD water though but of course you get used to it. And the sun really gets your ass tan. Not just your ass though. Your WHOLE BODY. I think Destin could give it a run for its money, but Destin is missing shops and things along the beach. It has no boardwalk or "corniche" as they say.

I did get a BIT tried of Turkish food by the time we left. It's delicious, it really is. But everything is composed of 3 groups of things really. Sandwiches, stuffed vegetables, and kebabs. You can find some "family style" restaurants that have some pretty killer dishes though. But I think the best thing about Turkey is how every area is different. You could spend a month in Turkey and only see a fraction of all the amazing things to see there. Every city is like it's own little ecosystem.

One other thing I have learned in my travels, not just in Turkey, is how spoiled we are when it comes to Beer. How many bars can you go to around your home that carry over 10 types of beers? How many grocery stores can you go to that have over 50 types of beers? In my travels, you get less than 10 choices at every bar and every store you go to. 10 is actually a GOOD number. The norm is about 5.

I have also learned that Americans about the LEAST rude society I have seen. The worst is definitely here in the Middle East. Now America, being as big as it is, has its states or cities of rudeness. And that is where I think the misconceptions come in to play. Think about it. Where do people go in the States when they visit? NYC, L.A., Miami... Now think of where you have been that in the country that is pretty rude. They match up pretty well, right? But most cities I have been to in the States, people are pretty casual. Here though, no matter where i have been, just dicks. You're surrounded by so many dicks and assholes, you feel like you're at an orgy. And expats can be just as bad, we all know how I think about expats (wait do you all know what I think about expats?), but this region, as a whole, is like a dirty sweaty orgy.

I went to Saudia Arabia

Well I think I've seen just about as much of the Middle East as I can see without being shot. UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi have all been hit by this Agnostic traveler. Saudi is definitely the most strict out of all of them. It's also boring and pretty mundane. There isn't much to look at either as its very flat with not many buildings above 5 stories (I was in Riyadh BTW). There is one cool building, the Kingdom tower:


And yes it does look like a gigantic bottle opener. It's pretty straightforward though to go there and not as much crazy "Check the American Out" that I expected. The security guys do carry AK-47s though. But they do that in Turkey too, so no big deal.

It's Ramadan! YIPPEE

So it's the holy month all of August this year. For those of you ignorant in your Islam, this is a month of fasting where followers stop eating and drinking ANYTHING from sun up to sun down, approximately 7 AM to 7 PM. It's also the most dangerous time to drive in this country.

When fasting occurs, people generally go home around 3 PM for a nap. They then get up around 7 PM to eat. A lot. Then they nap again. Then they get up before the sun rises and eat again. A lot. And then the cycle begins again. So people are driving around all crazy. I mean people here ALWAYS drive crazy, but now they are tired, hungry and generally more irritable than normal. There are accidents every day and usually multiple ones with multiple cars involved. I thank God I do not have to drive the 160 kilometers from Dubai to Abu Dhabi anymore.

The fasting is done to experience being poor and destitute. It's like a learning experience to understand what others have to go through. I tend to think it might be more productive to spend this time trying to help the poor and destitute and actually change the problem, rather than experiencing it. But that's just me.

Man I hate politics

This whole debt ceiling thing has just gotten me really confused and disappointed with the political systems even further. And I still don't really get this whole "Tea Party" thing. I wish there was like a "American Politics for Dummies" series. I feel like America is a hamster on a wheel right now. Just running in place and not getting anywhere. What we did pass for the debt ceiling seems really stupid. Like we just spent the last 30 days working on something and then called a timeout because we have to go do our homework, but we will start again at a later date.

The problem as I see it is we have politicians arguing and fighting over financial matters. And how good could a politician possibly be at finance? Wouldn't it make more sense to higher financial experts to work this shit out instead of a bunch of douche bags that like to hear themselves talk? And how annoying are these Tea Party folks? We finally get a new political party in the system and they suck my ass. It's all very frustrating. And Obama sucks at getting things done. Really. He's going to go down in history as the least accomplished president. Killing Bin Laden will be the nice big asterisk next to his name and that's it. And while he does get credit for giving the big F U to Pakistan and just raiding without them, that's not enough to justify saying he was successful.

Terrorism, oooh, ah, what is it good for

Definitely absolutely nothing. Does terrorism really scare anyone anymore? Maybe we should rename it to annoyingism. Has it even lead to any significant change or accomplished anything other than murder? I'm guessing no.

When I first heard about this "En Bomber", en is Norwegian for one, I kinda figured he was just a lone lunatic. And then the manifesto came out. And then the possibility of having these other cells involved. So OK, the guy is mad AND an annoyingist. And once again, this man's hate and furor are rooted in religious ideology. Yes, there is a political agenda in there too, but while many analysts see these things as political first and religious second, I happen to think of religion being the driving factor. Of terrorism AND politics. Even the US of A, with it's freedom of religion, does have a religious element to many of it's historical virtues.

And this where the problem with religion lies. It is too powerful and consuming for most people. When you feel you know what God wants of you and the world around you, how can people not go to the next level of Jihads, suicide bombs, etc.?

If you can believe God would single out one or two people in all of HISTORY and say to THAT singular person or group "Hey Buddy, come here. Gots somethins to tell ya. I'm God and here is how things are going to work.", if you can believe THAT would happen, I think it's fairly logical you might believe that same God would want you to enforce that ideology. That he said. TO ONE FUCKING PERSON. This is a common theme among most of the world's religions. But what kind of God would be so manipulative? To have us put our faith in one human being and believe that God is speaking through that person. It makes no sense. And the irony of it all is that these faiths believe they are our salvation. In reality, they could be man's downfall.

Harry Potter: Chosen One or Bumbling Idiot

So Wifey and I saw Harry Potter in 3D this weekend and I thought I would write a post dedicated to this series given that it is now over. I must say I hated the very ending of the movie. Everything after "19 years later" just sucked. I really wish they had left that out. I hear this is much different than the book, and thankfully so. But why bastardize the movie at the very end for a "feel good" moment. It's just not believable.

So let's get back to the subject at hand. Was Harry Potter special or not? I'm going to have to go with Bumbling Idiot on this one. Before we went to see this last installment I re-watched many of the earlier films and in doing so saw a pattern emerge. Harry is a lucky prick. Some of his most magical moments are pure accidents and others are brought about only when Voldamort is around. In seeing this over and over, the conclusion can only be Potter is nothing without his arch nemesis. Think of when he makes his piggy cousin fall into the snake pit. Or blows up his Aunt. Incidental moments. When he produces his biggest spells, Voldamort, part of Harry, is there. He even needs to cheat off of Voldamort to pass classes, i.e. Tom Riddle's diary! He continuously gets beat down by Snape and that little blonde bastard. The only gift he ends up having is resilience and courageous. Great attributes to have but they do not make one "Chosen" and apparently they don't make you a very good wizard either.

That being said the series is still a great one. While Harry is inadequate, he is surrounded by a great cast of characters including Luna, Neville, Hermione and Snape. Which, in the end, is probably the point. The thought of one person being the "Chosen One" belongs in fairy tales and religions. Same thing really. But in the real world it takes a group of people of all different types to make magic happen. And in the end, this series accomplished that.

I'd also like to say this was a movie where I thought the 3D was very good. I'm still not sold on it and think it's gimmicky, but this one got it right for the technology that exists today.

The Blog Re-Visited

I will be trying to update this bad boy more and with that is a new format change. I'm going to try and become all professional like and give my posts a real title. Sure you may still see movie and song quotes if they are appropriate but more than likely you will be able to tell what the blog is about now. I'm going to try and re-organize the last FIVE years of posts over the next few months. That is a LOT of crap. It's kinda funny to read about stuff I was dong five years ago though. What little did I know back then...