in a nutshell

haven't written anything in a while......let's see what's been happening lately:

taking another licensing exam next week, the beast of mechanical and electrical systems. I failed it exactly two years ago this month....but then again i was getting out of a bad relationship, partying every night with a friend who did the same, and went to mohegan sun the night before the exam to play craps - lost a hundred bucks, found an appropriate venue to say 'big dick daddy from cincinnati' and not get funny looks

slowly eeking out pre-design studies on the church, going slowly, i think this project will go on for several years, but gotta keep focused though and make the time

started a job that sounds glamorous, has its moments, but generally i just don't like it.... leaving at 8 is considered 'early', hypocritical bosses, not going to learn anything more about making buildings, only very zoomed out design, and i'm in the ugliest part of manhattan...on the bright side, i went on a last minute trip (12hrs from notice to flight) to dubai, abu dhabi, and beirut...... beirut is fantastic, beautiful in spite of the bombed out buildings and tanks peppered around the city, just so nice.....we went during ramadan and dubai was really toned down because of it, but seeing the world on someone else's dime is a great thing....still i am willing to give it up.....almost took a fantastic apt in downtown jersey city but, finally listening to my gut, backing out.....

i've been in a crapola mood lately until admitting out loud what would make me happy has changed that - returning to cambridge...i miss the scale of the city, it doesn't have a hundred of everything like in nyc but i really don't need 100 sushi restaurants....the beauty - nyc is ugly and dirty, cambridge is picturesque, i can live in the middle of things for the price of being far out of the city here....in other words, i think wherever you go you have to make compromises, there's no perfect city.....and the things that i've grown to like, i don't want to compromise on, and some of the benefits of new york, i can live without - i really don't want to party till 4am anymore.....midwestern transplants who move into a 3br apt in brooklyn and automatically think they are the hottest thing on earth, granted new englanders have attitude too, but its different.....its got alot going for it, and, in these political times, i think its time to know the difference between righting a mistake and 'staying the course'...so yeah that's about it...i think i should return.....

Back in USA - How YOU doin'?

I landed in Newark last night - whee. Now I have to switch from vacation mode to interview mode, my first one's at 4pm today.....

Newark Airport isn't half bad. Its been a long time since I've been there. When I got to the customs counter the cop greeted me with a "How you doin'" Which, since I haven't heard from anyone in ages, except from my own mouth, sounded very good.

misr

howdy from the land of the Egypt. I got in late last night, we went to a shawirma stand called Baraka (that's BA-ra-kah), walked on the streets because apparently walking on the sidewalks is for rookies....
Half a day in london was ok. It was very gray, I walked over to the Serpentine pavillion at the end of Hyde Park to find it was still under construction, Gehry's turn. Saw the gerhkin, the tate modern, lots of very expensive bad sandwich shops. I spent 50 bucks on a coffee, two train tickes, and a couple sandwiches. I walked so much, plus I hadn't slept, that I fell asleep at the airport and almost missed my flight!

OK gotta meet Mark downtown.....
PEEZ!

Turkey or Singapore

Turkey as in home cooking.....I was planning on going home for Easter and now people are asking me to go to Singapore that week.....hmmmmmm city I'm sick of where everyone people make an art of making no sense at all or home where I get free home cooking and can space out for a couple days.......

sorry Singapore, you smell funny.

the past week in a nutshell

Got an emergency haircut on Sunday. I had a dream that I didn't complain that she cut it too short. It came true. Best haircut ever. Taught the bartender at the middle east about scotch and green tea. He made a tasty mix.

Left for Hong Kong on Monday. Spent 15 hours on a United 747 with no TV and bitter bitchy flight attendants as old as the plane. The most rude and condescending group of people you can find. Don't fly United. I saw a flight attendant refuse to give a woman a band aid because she didn't want to bother filling out a report for opening the first aid kit. The only nice one on the plane snuck her one. She also snuck me some booze. Still, don't fly United.

Drank a lot on said plane. Scotch is about the only thing to get by on in such situations.

Spent a night at the Venetian Macau. Woke up at 2:30 (just like today), went down to the casino a few hours later and won 300HKD at a slot machine. I'm rich. A few hours of touring and meetings before we had to get on another United flight to Singapore. More scotch please. Don't fly United.

We stayed at a resort spa in Sentosa Island. It was very relaxing. In the morning I woke up to peacocks calling. At breakfast we watched a monkey steal a woman's chocolate croissant.

Two days of meetings, with no yelling or blaming (wow!) and almost no chinese food (awesome!). Our midnight flight out on Friday night was delayed. Went to a lounge that had individual jacuzzis. I was in there for an hour, right up to boarding time. The lounge was near the Emirates gate. It was one machine gun carrying guard for every five white robed passenger. They have no seats there, they lay out picnic blankets.

Qantas has the best in flight entertainment ever. On demand, movies, cd's, tv... I watched the Darjeeling Limited, Superbad, Interview, and a documentary about a movie called Emmanuel, and for that hour and a half my screen was pretty much filled with nudity. Cheeky Australians. Cathay Pacific eat your heart out. The food was good too. Marc Newson designed the cutlery and everything. Nice.

A couple hours in London, stretching out at another lounge. Drank tea. Looked at planes. Mocked United.

A short hop from London to Boston on BA. Got here around 1pm. A total of 50-something hours of travel. I fell asleep at 6 and woke up at 230 this morning. It's cold here. My apt has no room service.